wife, Annabella Robinson, died on 10 Dec. 1779, aged 60; a tablet to her memory and that of her husband is on the south side of the chancel of Great Canford church. The second wife, whom he married by special license at his house in Dean Street on 15 May 1786, was Charlotte, daughter of Mr. Locke of Clerkenwell, and widow of Samuel Strutt, assistant clerk of the House of Lords. She died at Dean Street on 11 May 1815, aged 69, and was buried in the south cloister of Westminster Abbey.
Willett's pictures were sold by Peter Coxe & Co. on 31 May 1813 and two following days. His library was sold by Leigh & Sotheby on 6 Dec. 1813, and the sale occupied seventeen days. He had been a patron of Georg Dionysius Ehret [q. v.], who spent the summers of many years at Merly, its library containing ‘a copious collection of exotics’ by him. The botanical drawings were sold by Leigh & Sotheby on 20 and 21 Dec. A list of the prices realised at this sale, nineteen days in all, was published in 1814, the total being 13,508l. 4s. His books of prints passed under the hammer on 20 Feb. 1814. Henry Ralph Willett, a descendant of the inheritor of his property, who died in The Albany, London, in December 1857, collected coins and pictures, including twenty-six paintings and sketches by Hogarth.
‘Observations on the Origin of Printing,’ by Willett, were included in ‘Archæologia’ (viii. 239–50), and reprinted at Newcastle in 1819. As regards the birthplace of the craft, Willett decided in favour of Mainz. A second paper, ‘Memoir on the Origin of Printing,’ was included in the same collection (xi. 267–316), and was reprinted at Newcastle in 1818, and again in 1820. A third paper, ‘On British Naval Architecture,’ also appeared in pp. 154–199 of the eleventh volume of the ‘Archæologia.’
[Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Hutchins's Dorset, 2nd edit. iii. 14; Chester's Westminster Abbey Reg. p. 489; Lincoln's Inn Reg. i. 417; Gent. Mag. 1795, i. 169–70; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. viii. 2–8, 158; Mayo's Bibl. Dorset. pp. 124–6; Pulteney's Botany, ii. 288; Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. viii. 337, 443, 520–1.]
WILLIAM the Conqueror (1027?–1087), king of England, natural son of Robert II, duke of Normandy, by Herleva or Arlette, daughter of Fulbert, a tanner of Falaise, whence he was called ‘the Bastard,’ was born at Falaise in 1027 or 1028 (Will. of Jumièges, vi. 12, vii. 18, 44; Freeman, Norman Conquest, ii. 581–90). His mother also bore, probably to Robert, Adeliza, wife of Enguerrand of Ponthieu (ib.; Archæologia, xxvi. 349). After Robert's death she married Herlwin of Conteville, by whom she had Odo [q. v.], bishop of Bayeux, Robert of Mortain [see Mortain], and a daughter Muriel. When Robert was setting out on his pilgrimage he caused his lords to elect William as his successor, and to swear fealty to him. Accordingly on the news of his death, in 1035, William became duke, having as guardians Alan, count of Brittany, Osbern the seneschal, and Gilbert of Eu, and being under the charge of one Turold. Disturbances broke out immediately. Many of his lords were disloyal, for they despised him for his birth, they built themselves fortresses and committed acts of violence. Alan was poisoned, and Gilbert and Turold were murdered. An attempt was made to seize William's person at Vaudreuil; Osbern, who slept in his room, was slain, but William was carried off by his mother's brother Walter, who concealed him in the dwellings of some poor people.
As William grew older he proved himself brave and wise. By the advice of his lords he appointed as his guardian Ralph de Wacy, who had slain Gilbert of Eu, and gave him command of his forces. While the number of those who were loyal to him increased, many were secretly disloyal and intrigued against him with Henry I, the French king. Henry complained that the border fortress of Tillières was an annoyance to him, and the duke's counsellors ordered its destruction. The castellan, William Crispin, only yielded the place at William's express command. The French burnt it and made a raid in the Hiemois. The governor of the country revolted and garrisoned Falaise against the duke, but the castle was taken and he was banished. William and his counsellors advocated the adoption of the truce of God which was accepted by the Normans at the council of Caen in 1042. In 1047 Guy, the lord of Brionne and Vernon, son of the count of Burgundy by Adeliza, daughter of Richard II of Normandy, and the duke's companion in boyhood, hoping to gain the whole, or a good part, of his cousin's duchy, conspired against him with the lords of the Cotentin and Bessin, inciting them not to obey ‘a degenerate bastard.’ The eastern, or more French, portion of the duchy remained faithful to William; the western, or more Scandinavian, portion rebelled. An attempt was made to seize the duke at Valognes; he narrowly escaped, rode alone through the night to Rye, and thence reached Falaise. He went to Poissy to meet King Henry and obtained his help. The duke and the king joined forces and defeated
