Ralph Willett (1719–1795) was a plantation owner on

St Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

and bibliophile.

Life

He was the elder son of Henry Willett of St Kitts, who married c. 1718, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Colonel John Stanley of

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Federation of Saint Kitts and Ne ...

. He matriculated at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

, on 23 June 1736, aged 17, but did not take a degree. Willett was admitted as student at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

on 4 January 1739. On his father's death in 1740 he inherited the family estates in the West Indies. A 1753 map indicates that he owned five plantations on St Kitts. In London, Willett had a town house in Dean Street, Soho, and in 1751 he bought the estate of

Merley Merley is a large housing estate in the unparished area of Poole, a mile (2 km) south of Wimborne Minster. Originally called Myrle, Merley was a manor in the tithing of Great Canford (or Canford Magna). The village merges with that of Oakl ...

, a manor of

Canford Magna Canford Magna is a village in Dorset, England. The village is situated just south of the River Stour and lies between the towns of Wimborne Minster and Poole. The village has a mixture of thatch and brick buildings, mostly serving as residence ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

. There he began in 1752, and finished in 1760, Merley House. In 1772 he built on two wings, the one the south-east being a library (adorned with arabesques and frescoes). A printed account of this room and a view of the house are in John Hutchins's ''Dorset'' (2nd edit. iii. 12); views and plans are also in Woolfe and Gandon's continuation of Campbell's ''Vitruvius Britannicus''. Merley House Wimborne

Willett was

high sheriff of Dorset The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government ...

in 1760. He was elected Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

on 5 December 1763, and Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

on 21 June 1764. He died at Merley House without issue on 13 January 1795.

Collector

Willett's library was rich in early-printed books and in specimens of block-printing. It has been characterized as the "finest library in Dorset."Thomas, Alan G. (1963)"Portrait of a Bibliophile: Ralph Willett." ''

The Book Collector ''The Book Collector'' is a London based journal that deals with all aspects of the book. It is published quarterly and exists in both paper and digital form. It prints independent opinions on subjects ranging from typography to national heritage ...

'' 12 no 4 (winter): 439-448 Many works were on vellum, and all were in the finest condition. He also collected prints and drawings. His pictures included several from the

Orleans Collection The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe d'Orléans, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Euro ...

and from Roman palaces. A description of the library was printed in octavo, in French and English, in 1776; it was reprinted by John Nichols, with illustrations of the designs, in 1785. A catalogue of the books in the library was distributed by Willett to friends in 1790. The pictures were sold by Peter Coxe & Co. on 31 May 1813 and two following days. Willett's library was sold by Leigh & Sotheby on 6 December 1813, over 17 days. He had been a patron of

Georg Dionysius Ehret Georg Dionysius Ehret (30 January 1708 – 9 September 1770) was a German botanist and entomologist known for his botanical illustrations. Life Ehret was born in Germany to Ferdinand Christian Ehret, a gardener and competent draughtsman, a ...

who spent the summers of many years at Merley House, its library containing "a copious collection of exotics" by him. The botanical drawings were sold by Leigh & Sotheby on 20 and 21 December. A list of the prices realised at this sale, 19 days in all, was published in 1814, the total being £13,508. 4s. His books of prints passed under the hammer on 20 February 1814.

Works

''Observations on the Origin of Printing'' by Willett were included in '' Archæologia'' (viii. 239–50), and reprinted at Newcastle in 1819. As the birthplace of printing, Willett decided on

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. 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 ''Archæologia''.

Family

Willett was twice married. His first wife, Annabella Robinson, died on 10 December 1779, aged 60; a tablet to her memory and that of her husband was placed on the south side of the chancel of Canford Magna church. His 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 Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. Willett's estate and residual fortune passed by his will to his cousin, John Willett Adye, later John Willett Willett, Member of Parliament for from 1796 to 1806. Henry Ralph Willett, a descendant of John Willett Adye, who died in The Albany, London, in December 1857, collected coins and pictures, including twenty-six paintings and sketches by Hogarth.

Notes

External links

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Willett, Ralph 1719 births 1795 deaths English bibliophiles Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London 18th-century English historians 18th-century British businesspeople British slave owners Bibliophiles