John William Willis-Bund

John William Bund Willis-Bund CBE JP (8 August 1843 – 7 June 1928) was a British historian and local Worcestershire politician.

Biography

Willis-Bund was born in 1843 at Wick Episcopi, Worcestershire, the son of John Walpole Willis and his second wife Ann Susanna Kent Bund. The adoption of his mother's surname (in 1864) was necessary in order to inherit from his maternal grandfather. He was educated at Eton and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1865 with first-class honours in Law. He was also awarded an LL.B. (1865) and an M.A. (1868). He was called to the Bar from Lincoln's Inn. In the course of his legal career he was appointed King's Counsel. Willis-Bund was Professor of Constitutional Law and History at King's College London from 1869 to 1882, and Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol from 1877 to 1879.

Robert Thomas Jenkins noted that Willis-Bund wrote extensively about the history of the church in Wales but that some of his views were not generally held to be those of other academics writing in the field. Jenkins commented:

"Black Book of St. Davids (1902) — the work was but indifferently done". He also published a book, The Celtic Church of Wales, 1897, which propounded a theory of his own and was judged by Louis Gougaud to be "dubious and prejudiced," and by Sir J. E. Lloyd to be "very haphazard".

He served as chairman of the Worcestershire County Council, the Worcestershire Appeal Tribunal, and the Worcestershire National Relief Fund during the First World War. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours. In 1927 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law from the University of Birmingham.

Willis-Bund was appointed Vice-Lieutenant of the County of Worcester in November 1924. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

On his death in 1928, it was stated in Country Life that 'a finer old man, with a more dominating personality, than the late Mr. Willis Bund would be hard to find, even in this country'.

Personal life

Willis-Bund married firstly (in 1872) Harriette Penelope Temple, the daughter (by his second wife) of Richard Temple. Temple's eldest son, also named Richard, became the first baronet Temple of the Nash. The Willis-Bunds had six children. His surviving son and heir, Henry, MRCP LRCS, died, unmarried, nine months after his father, having received the Military Cross whilst serving in the R.A.M.C. Willis-Bund's daughter Margaret married John Henry Milward, of the Redditch needle-manufacturing family. Daughter Mary Susanna's son, Francis Leader MacCarthy-Willis-Bund (1905–1980), was Chaplain, Fellow and Dean of Balliol College, Oxford. Willis-Bund married secondly (in 1896) Mary Elizabeth Thackeray, the daughter of General Frederick Rennell Thackeray and Lady Elizabeth Margaret Carnegie (the daughter of the 7th Earl of Northesk). Mary Elizabeth Thackeray was the widow of Colonel Alexander Essex Frederick Holcombe, and second cousin of the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray.

Books and articles

• Some passages in the early history of Evesham Abbey, a paper read before the Worcester Diocesan Architectural and Archaeological Society, at the Guildhall, on 25 January 1895
• The Celtic Church of Wales, 1897
• Paper on Peckham in Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1900-1
• '[Documents of the parish of Feckenham, Worcestershire]'. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 2nd ser., 18 (1901).
• Extent of all the lands and rents of the lord bishop of St. David's, 1326, usually called the Black Book of St. David's (Cymmrodorion record series, 5). 1902
• The law of compensation for unexhausted agricultural improvements ... 1876 (3rd edition 1904).
• The Civil War in Worcestershire, 1642–1646, and the Scotch invasion of 1651 (Birmingham). 1905
• 'Worcestershire roads'. Reports & Papers Read at the Meetings of the Architectural (& Archaeological) Societies, 33 (1916), 376-95.

Works edited

• A selection of cases from the state trials ... Trials for treason (1327-1681). Cambridge, 1879-1882.
  • Vol. 1. Trials for treason (1327-1660)
  • Vol. 2. pt. 1. Trials for treason (1660–1678)
  • Vol. 2. pt. 2. Trials for treason. The Popish plot (1678–1681)
• Lay subsidy roll for the county of Worcester, circ. 1280, with John Amphlett of Clent. (Worcestershire Historical Society). Oxford, 1893.
• The inquisitiones post mortem for the county of Worcester. Pts. 1-2, 1242-1326 (Worcestershire Historical Society). Oxford, 1894-1909.
• Register of the diocese of Worcester during the vacancy of the see, usually called Registrum sede vacante, 1301-1435. 1 vol. in 2 pts. (Worcestershire Historical Society). 1897.
• Episcopal registers, diocese of Worcester. Register of Bishop Godfrey Giffard, September 23, 1268, to August 15, 1301. 2 vols. (Worcestershire Historical Society). 1898-1902.
• Worcestershire county records. Calendar of the Quarter Session papers (1591–1643) (Worcestershire Historical Society). Worcester, 1900. *Register of William de Geynesburgh, bishop of Worcester, 1302-7. Intr. by R.A. Wilson (Worcestershire Historical Society). 1907-29.
• Diary of Henry Townshend of Elmley Lovett, 1640-1663. 2 vols. (Worcestershire Historical Society). 1915-20
• Religio medici : Hydriotaphia : and the Letter to a friend by Browne, Thomas, Sir, 1605–1682,
• Victoria County History: A History of the County of Worcester (Volume 1 edited by Willis-Bund alone; volumes 2-4 co-edited with W.H. Page). 1901-1926
• Reflections : or sentences and moral maximsby François, duc de La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680