William Edward Oakeley (1 August 1828–1 February 1912) was the owner of the Oakeley Quarry in

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,00 ...

. He was the son of William Oakeley (1798–1834) and Mary Maria Miles and the grandson of Sir Charles Oakeley, 1st Baronet of Shrewsbury. He inherited the

Plas Tan y Bwlch Plas Tan y Bwlch in Gwynedd, Wales, is the Snowdonia National Park environmental studies centre, administered by the National Park Authority. It is located approximately east of the coastal town of Porthmadog, overlooking the valley of the Ri ...

estate in 1868 from his father's cousin's widow, as she died childless. Educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, he married Mary Russell in 1860. He had four children but two of them died at a young age. The two remaining children were one boy and one girl. Edward de Clifford William Oakeley and Mary Caroline Oakeley (later to become Mary Inge.) His main home was Cliffe House,

Twycross Twycross is a small village and civil parish in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in Leicestershire, England, on the A444 road.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 8 ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

near

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire which ...

. During the 1881 census he lived there with his wife and daughter along with a teacher and 12 servants. He described his occupation as a Landed Proprietor. He died on 1 February 1912 and was buried on 6 February. His death was reported in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and six days later a description of his funeral procession was published. His coffin was transported from his home at Cliffe House to

by rail, and then by lorry to St Twrog's Church cemetery in

Maentwrog Maentwrog () is a village and community in the Welsh county of Merionethshire (now part of Gwynedd), lying in the Vale of Ffestiniog just below Blaenau Ffestiniog, within the Snowdonia National Park. The River Dwyryd runs alongside the villag ...

. The lorry was followed by hundreds of workers from the Oakeley Quarry.''

'', 7 February 1912: :''"The funeral of Mr William Oakeley, of the Plas, Tan-y-Bwlch, Merionethshire, and Cliffe House, Atherstone, took place yesterday at St Twrog Churchyard, Maentwrog. The coffin was taken from Atherstone to Festiniog by rail, and thence to Maentwrog on a lorry, which was followed by hundreds of workmen from the Oakeley quarries."''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakeley, W. E. 1828 births 1912 deaths People from Hinckley and Bosworth (district) People from Blaenau Ffestiniog People educated at Eton College Alumni of the University of Oxford