Hugh Barnes has the reputation of having been one of Wilford's oldest inhabitants. He resided in Ruddington Lane, Wilford, and reached the age of ninety-four, having taken milk to Nottingham for over fifty-three years.   He died in 1898.

Mr. Philo L. Mills was an American by birth, who settled down in England to take charge of the Lace and Curtains exporting business at Nottingham, of Mills & Gibb, New York. Mr. Mills in 1874 came to reside at Wilford Cottage, and here he began the growth of pedigree stock, in which he afterwards became so famous. He was not satisfied with the quality of the stock farmers usually have, but believed that it would give far more satisfaction, be better for the farmer financially, and be better for the food supply of the nation, for the best possible stock to be kept and registered. In 1881 he bought Ruddington Hall, and largely developed his plans. He was High Sheriff in 1897. He was President of the Nottingham Young Men's Christian Association. He died in 1905, aged seventy-three. His wife, who had greatly helped in his philanthropic work, died in 1906.

The Smith Family, Bankers, at Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Hull, and many other places, and in London. The house called Wilford House, is stated in the Stretton MS. to have been built in 1781 for Samuel Smith, Esq. He subsequently bought Woodhall Park, Herts, in 1801, which became the home of the Abel Smith family, who have represented their County in Parliament from that day to this.

Abel Smith, Esq. died at Wilford House in 1788, aged 71. He was a man of great energy, for he had established the banks at Lincoln and Hull, and in London the firm and business of Smith, Payne & Smith. He had been M.P. for Aldborough, in Yorkshire, St. Ives, in Cornwall, and at the time of his death he was M.P. for St. Germain, in the same county. He was a man of known integrity and wealth. He was buried at St. Peter's Church, Nottingham. Five of his sons became members of Parliament.

Robert Smith, Esq. was M P. for Nottingham from 1780 to 1797, when he was created a peer, with the title of Lord Carrington. (See "Mapperley and Carrington" paper, page 148).

Samuel Smith, Esq., fourth son of Abel, was M.P. for St. Germain, and afterwards for Leicester. He died in 1834, aged 80.

Henry Smith, Esq. was the third son of Samuel. His life was devoted to the unostentatious, able, and faithful performance of every known duty, and the management of the various charitable institutions, of which he was the acting trustee, occupied to the last much of his time and thought. He suffered many years from deafness. He built the Infant School. He was High Sheriff in 1841. He died in 1874, aged 80.

Lady Lucy.Lady Lucy.

Lady Lucy Smith was the wife of Henry Smith. She was a daughter of the seventh, and sister of the tenth and eleventh Earls of Leven and Melville. She was a woman of most active and orderly mind. Her benevolence was not a passing shower, but a perpetual stream. She would stand near the hall door of Wilford House for two hours in the morning attending to poor people. Of course she was imposed upon, but she gave much time to hunting out and finding the pious, aged, and needy poor. For more than fifty years she separated herself from aristocratic circles, and devoted her time, and attention, to religious and benevolent work. Three weeks before she died she wrote to the Matron of the House of Refuge for fallen women, in which she had for many years taken an active interest:—"We are called upon to awake, and being awake to watch, and whilst watching to pray, and whilst praying to work; and praise is to sweeten, sanctify and terminate all." A week before she died she sent £5 to a poor farmer, a godly man, who has suffered much from the cattle plague. She died in 1865, aged 71.

Henry Abel Smith.Henry Abel Smith.

A brass tablet in the church records the ages of Mr. Hy. Smith, and his wife Lady Lucy, and the date, of their deaths, and tells that "One in the Lord they lived for the glory of God and the welfare of His Church. While renouncing all merit of their own, and having a deep and abiding sense of their sinfulness, by the blessed teaching of the Holy Ghost, they enjoyed, through His anointing, the most firm confidence in the Sovereign Grace and Love of God in Christ towards them, and having perfect peace through the cleansing of the Blood of Jesus, they died resting on the Covenant Faithfulness of the Triune Jehovah."

Henry Abel Smith was the son of Henry and Lady Lucy. A window in the Church has figures of Daniel and Hannah, and tells that Henry Abel Smith was born in 1820, and died in 1890, and that Elizabeth Mary, his wife, born in 1826, died in 1877. He was High Sheriff in 1886.

The Misses Smith, being four daughters of the above-named, were distinguished for their Christian example and active philanthropy.

It was a grief to the people of Wilford when a family who had for more than a century been connected with all that was good left the parish, and it was also with regret that the people of Nottingham regarded the amalgamation of two great banking institutions, each having twenty millions of assets, because it involved the local extinction of a firm that for more than two centuries had conducted a great financial business in the city and district, with integrity and prudence, and all that makes for commercial soundness and permanence.

Rev. Edward Davies.
Rev. Edward Davies.

The Rev. Edward Davies was the first Chaplain of Thomas Adams & Co., Ltd., and in 1864 became Rector of Wilford. He, at great cost, and with much care, converted the arable glebe land into pasture. He had charge of the church when it was restored, as described on another page. He rebuilt the cottages on the northern side of the Green. He was assiduous in his duties, and was an earnest evangelical pastor. He died in 1891, aged sixty-four. His widow passed away in 1914. William Masterman, D.C.L., was Judge of the County Courts of Notts, from 1891 to 1903. and resided during part of that period at the Grange, Wilford, and afterwards at Clifton Rectory, until his death. He was of a London family, and connected with the Master Skinners Company, one of the largest of the old City Guilds, and they having made large grants to the Leeds University College, he represented that Company on the College Board. He was for some years Deputy Provincial Grand Master of the Province of Notts., one of the highest offices connected with Freemasonry. He took an active interest in the Voluntary Schools Association of Notts., was J.P. of the County, and took part in many social works outside his professional duties, including Carter's Charity, of whicn he was one of the Trustees. He was of a judicial mind, able, thoughtful, painstaking, and was highly esteemed, for while he upheld the dignity of his office, he had no personal pride, and was happy in being useful. He died at Christmas, 1902.

George Merchant was schoolmaster at Sneinton, where his health broke down, and he thereupon became master of Wilford Endowed School, as being a place involving less arduous duties. Here he continued from 1868 to 1883, during which time he compiled his "Examples in Arithmetic," carefully graded, each standard having its own grade, and printed separately in seven books, the "Answers" being printed apart, so as to aid teachers. How well this work was done is shown by the fact that the astonishing number of about three-and-a-half million copies have been sold. He is' now living in retirement.

John Harris succeeded Mr. Merchant as schoolmaster in 1883, he having previously been schoolmaster at Clifton. He continued twenty years, during which time was first introduced the scholarships and exhibitions connected with Carter's Educational Trust. He endeared himself to the scholars, and the people, and maintained the high reputation of the school. On his resignation he was presented by the old boys with a silver table lamp. He was many years churchwarden, and is now living in retirement at Southwell, where he acts as churchwarden at the Minster.