William Berry (5 November 1774 – 2 July 1851) was an English

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

, known for various publications on family history and heraldry.

Life

William Berry was born on 5 November 1772, the son of William Berry and his wife Elizabeth. In his early career, 1793–1809, he was employed as a writing clerk to the registrar of the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...

. On his retirement from that post, he lived for some time in Guernsey, where he published an able work titled ''The History of the Island of Guernsey, compiled from the collections of Henry Budd'' (1815). Prior to this, he had published a work titled ''Introduction to Heraldry'' (1810). Returning to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, he lived at Doddington Place, in Kennington, south London, and in 1832 commenced ''A Genealogical Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland''. This was a carefully compiled family history, with beautifully engraved coats of arms, but did not receive much support, and after the issue of the fourth number, which terminated with an account of the

dukes of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in w ...

, no further parts were printed. His ''Genealogia Antiqua, or Mythological and Classical Tables'', published in 1816, met with more success, and a second and improved edition appeared in 1840. This work was dedicated to

Lord Grenville William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, (25 October 175912 January 1834) was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs for the duration of ...

. His next undertaking was entitled ''Encyclopedia Heraldica, or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry''. It was brought out in

numbers A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

between 1828 and 1840, eventually running to four

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

volumes. This was a valuable heraldic work, incorporating much of the contents of Joseph Edmondson's ''Complete Body of Heraldry'' (1780) and the work of other writers, along with much new and original matter. Perhaps the writings by which Berry is best known are his county genealogies, published in small

folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...

volumes, and sold at 5 or 6

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

per volume. These were ''

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

'' (1830); '' Sussex'' (1830); ''

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

'' (1833); '' Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Surrey'' (1837); ''

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

'' (1839); and '' Hertfordshire'' (1842). The last three volumes were printed by means of

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

from Berry's handwriting. The first portion of county genealogies, ''Kent'', was harshly reviewed in ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine ...

'', with exception being taken to Berry identifying himself on the title-page as "registering clerk in the College of Arms". Berry consequently brought an action for libel against the publishers of the magazine, J. B. Nichols & Son. The trial took place in the

Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

before Lord Tenterden on 1 November 1830, when, although Berry was represented by Henry Brougham, afterwards the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

, the jury, without hearing any rebutting evidence, almost immediately returned a verdict in favour of the defendants.

Personal life and death

Berry married Elizabeth Windsor (1776–1851), daughter of Other Windsor and his wife, Susanna de Young, on 24 July 1796, at the church of St Luke Old Street, London. The couple had five daughters and three sons.Boase and Lloyd 2020. Berry died at his son's residence, Spencer Place, Brixton, on 2 July 1851, aged 77, having survived his wife by two months.

Life

Personal life and death

References

Further reading