Download or read book Materials for a History of the Wither Family (Classic Reprint) written by Reginald F. Bigg-Wither and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-06 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Materials for a History of the Wither Family In the early sixties a young Oxford undergraduate, preparing for the history schools, as he leant Sunday after Sunday during the long vacation over the edge of the high family pew in the unrestored parish Church of Wootton St. Lawrence, near Basingstoke - gazed with increasing interest at the following monumental inscription on the opposite wall: - 'William Wither Esquire died Oct:31 1789 aged 86. On his death, all the male issue Of an ancient and well respected family, Who had resided at Manydown During the space of four centuries Became extinct." "Four centuries in 1789, that takes one back (he said to himself) to the reign of Richard II. I wonder what the succession of the Withers of Manydown was, and what sort of life a country squire lived in those days. Visions of the manorial system; of the estate divided into two portions, that in demesne and that held by the villagers in villenage; of the manorial courts and of the lord dispensing justice - rose before him. Some day I will write a history of the family and of the manor." Time passed. After Oxford came residence abroad. Then Holy Orders with exacting ministerial work. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.