Charles Willes Wilshere (1814–1906) was an English landowner, now best known as a collector of

early Christian art Early Christian art and architecture (or Paleochristian art) is the art produced by Christians, or under Christian patronage, from the earliest period of Christianity to, depending on the definition, sometime between 260 and 525. In practice, ide ...

Life

He was the third son of Thomas Wilshere of

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, and his wife Lora Beaumont, daughter of Charles Beaumont of Hartford Hill,

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

; he was the younger brother of William Wilshere MP (1806–1867), and nephew of William Wilshere (1754–1824) the banker. His sister Laura married Thomas Mills MP. Wilshere matriculated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1833, and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn in 1836. He supported the

Tractarian The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Uni ...

movement of the 1830s and 1840s, and later the English Church Union. In 1884 Harmer Green Chapel, a short way east of

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the nearby villages and settlements of Digswell, Mardley Heath and Oaklands. The village is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, to ...

, was built to a design by Wilshere and opened as a mission room. According to F. J. A. Hort's biographer, he was "a student of ecclesiastical history and antiquities." In 1858 Wilshere joined the

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

. In 1867, on the death of his brother William, he inherited The Frythe.

Collection and legacy

Wilshere is particularly known for his collection of

gold glass Gold glass or gold sandwich glass is a luxury form of glass where a decorative design in gold leaf is fused between two layers of glass. First found in Hellenistic Greece, it is especially characteristic of the Roman glass of the Late Roman Em ...

. The ''Vetri ornati di figure in oro: trovati nei cimiteri cristiani di Roma'' (1858) of Raffaele Garrucci explains the origins of the "Recupero collection", named for barone Alessio Recupero of

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

. Wilshire purchased from the collection at Capobianchi, dealers on

Via del Babuino Via del Babuino is a street in the historic centre of Rome (Italy), located in the Rioni of Rome, rione Campo Marzio. It connects Piazza del Popolo to Piazza di Spagna and is part of the complex of streets known as Tridente, Rome, Tridente. Hist ...

, Rome. At the time, the pieces were dated to the

4th century The 4th century was the time period from 301 CE (represented by the Roman numerals Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Mid ...

. A note to

Charles Drury Edward Fortnum Charles Drury Edward Fortnum (1820–1899), often known as C. Drury E. Fortnum, was an English art collector and historian, known as a benefactor of the University of Oxford. Life Born on 2 March 1820, Fortnum was the surviving son of Charles F ...

shows that Wilshere used the

diplomatic bag A diplomatic bag, also known as a diplomatic pouch, is a container with certain legal protections used for carrying official correspondence or other items between a diplomatic mission and its home government or other diplomatic, consular, or other ...

to have Recupero collection pieces shipped from

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

to the

South Kensington Museum South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. Left by Wilshere to Pusey House, Oxford, the collection was for many years on loan to the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

. In 2007 the Ashmolean purchased it. Wilshere had bought larger antiquities, but the rest of his collection proved harder to place. At one point he told Garrucci that he might create a museum of his own. Wilshere corresponded, in Italian, with the Italian archaeologist

Giovanni Battista de Rossi Giovanni Battista (Carlo) de Rossi (23 February 1822 – 20 September 1894) was an Italian archaeologist, famous even outside his field for rediscovering early Christian catacombs. Life and works Born in Rome, he was the son of Commendatore C ...

, and a collection of 69 letters from him to de Rossi are in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

Family

Wilshere married in 1840 Elisabeth Marie Farmer, daughter of

William Meeke Farmer William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

MP. The couple had four daughters. Florence (1848–1877), the third daughter, married in 1869 Guilbert Edward Wyndham Malet of the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. Although the cavalry link rem ...

, son of the Rev. William Wyndham Malet of

Ardeley Ardeley is a small village and civil parish in East Hertfordshire, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Cromer, as well as Wood End and Moor Green. Ardeley is located east of Stevenage. Description Ardeley village has a number of that ...

. Alice Augusta, the last surviving daughter, left no heir, and on her death in 1934 the estate was inherited by Gerald Maunsell Gamul Farmer, who took the surname Wilshere.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilshere, Charles Willes 1814 births 1906 deaths English landowners English collectors