Dame Janet Stancomb Graham Stancomb-Wills

Dame Janet Stancomb-Wills was born about 1853, the eldest daughter of George Perkins Stancomb and Catherine Janet Lobb, at Aldersgate, London, and niece of the first Baron Winterstoke (Sir W. H. Wills). With the untimely early deaths of her father, and older brother, she and her sister Yda Emily Margaretha Stancomb were adopted by Sir William Henry Wills, and Janet and Yda officially changed their names to Stancomb-Wills.
Janet was the first woman to be Mayor of Ramsgate, Kent, an office which she held in 1923-24, and she was also the first person to receive, in 1922, the Freedom of this town. She was keenly interested in art, educational,

and social questions; she was president of the Royal West of England Academy and president of the School of Architecture at Bristol in 1921.
To her Ramsgate owes many of it's amenities. She laid out ornamental gardens for public use on the sea front near her home on the East Cliff; she bought the land for the town's largest sports grounds and built the pavilions on it. She had provided the money for a maternity ward and nurses home at the General Hospital, and had given the town a motor ambulance and modern fire fighting appliances. She also bought land for a new elementary school.

Extracts from The Times Tuesday Aug 23, 1932

1871 Census	RG10-2545	3 April 1871	Clifton, Bristol, Gloucestershire
Hawthornden House
William H. Wills Elizabeth P. (Wife) Janet S. Stancomb (Niece) Yda Emily Stancomb (Niece) Plus 5 Servants	Age 40 Age 38 Age 17 Age 15	Magistrate, Landowner, & Manufacturer Scholar Scholar	Bristol Trowbridge London London	Middlesex Middlesex	1 Sep 1830 abt 1832 abt 1853 abt 1855

1881 Census	RG11-0166	4 April 1881	London, Middlesex
Frognal Rise
William H. Wills Elizabeth P. (Wife) Janet S. G. Stancomb (Niece) Yda E. M. Stancomb (Niece) Plus 4 Servants	Age 49 Age 48 Age 27 Age 25	Tobacco Manufacturer, M.P. & J.P.	Bristol Trowbridge London London	Gloucester Wiltshire Middlesex Middlesex	1 Sep 1830 abt 1832 abt 1853 abt 1855

1891 Census	RG12-0732	6 April 1891	St Lawrence, Ramsgate, Kent
Easthill House
William H. Wills Elizabeth P. (Wife) Janet S. G. Stancomb (Niece) Yda E. M. Stancomb (Niece) Frederick Wills (Cousin) Frank Stuart (Visitor) Plus 5 Servants	Age 60 Age 59 Age 39 Age 35 Age 52 Age 15	Tobacco Manufacturer Tobacco Manufacturer	Bristol Trowbridge Aldersgate Aldersgate Bristol Bristol	Wiltshire London London	1 Sep 1830 abt 1832 abt 1853 abt 1855 22 Nov 1838 abt 1875

The Times, Thursday, Jun 8, 1893

WE, Janet Stancomb Graham Stancomb-Wills and Yda Emily Margaretha Stancomb-Wills formerly respectively called and known by the name of Janet Stancomb Graham Stancomb and Yda Emily Margaretha Stancomb, both of 25, Hyde-park-gardens, in the County of Middlesex, spinsters, hereby declare that we have respectively ASSUMED and ADOPTED the SURNAME of STANCOMB-WILLS, in lieu of and in substitution for that of Stancomb, and we now do, and at all times hereafter will, in all deeds and writings, and for all purposes and on all occasions whatsoever, use the surname of Stancomb-Wills as and for our surnames. In witness whereof we, the said Janet Stancomb Graham Stancomb-Wills and Yda Emily Margaretha Stancomb-Wills, have hereunto set our hands and seals this seventh day of June, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above named Janet Stancomb Graham Stancomb-Wills and Yda Emily Margaretha Stancomb-Wills, in the presence of Theodore McKinna, 17 and 18, Basinghall-street, London, Solicitor. W. H. Farley, Grantham-house, Nelson-crescent, Ramsgate, Butler.

J.S.G.STANCOMB-WILLS, (Seal)
Y. E. M. STANCOMB-WILLS, (Seal.)

LORD WINTERSTOKE DIES
Leaves much to Janet and Yda

The Times, Monday, Jan 30, 1911 Death

WINTERSTOKE - On the 29th inst., suddenly at Blagdon, Somerset, William Henry Lord Winterstoke, of Blagdon, in his 81st year. Funeral at the church of St. Andrew, Blagdon, Thursday, February 2, at 3:30 p.m. Train leaves Bristol 1:33 p.m. and returns from Blagdon 5:25 p.m. No flowers, by request.
LONDON 22 Feb 1911 Probate

Winterstoke, of Blagdon, the right honourable William Henry, baron of Coombe Lodge Blagdon, Somersetshire, and of 25 Hyde Park Gardens, Middlesex, died 29 January 1911, at Coombe Lodge, Probate, London, 22 February, to George Alfred Wills, esquire, William John Mann, solicitor, Frank William Wills, architect, and William Rennie Barrister. Effects £1,000,000
Resworn £2,450 253 12s. 1d. and £2,457,053 12s. 1d.
and £2,465,502 10s. 9d.

1911 Census	RG14-77	3 April 1911	Padington, London
25 Hyde Park Gardens W (20 Rooms)
Janet Stancomb Wills (s) Yda Richardson (Visitor) (Widow) Plus 6 Servants	Age 57 Age 55	Private Means Private Means	London London	City City	25 Jan 1854 31 Jan 1856

Death

Dame Janet Stancomb Graham Stancomb-Wills

Died 22 Aug 1932, Age 78, 1932 3Q Thanet 2a 1159

The Times, Thursday, Aug 25, 1932 OBITUARIES

STANCOMB-WILLS - On August 22, 1932 at Eastcourt, Ramsgate, Kent, Janet Stancomb-Wills, D.B.E. Funeral Service at St. George's Church, Ramsgate, at 11 a.m. today (Thursday), and afterwards at Golders Green Crematorium, N.W.11, about 4 p.m. No flowers and no mourning, by her special request, but contributions to Ramsgate General Hospital will be appreciated.

BRISTOL 8 May 1933 Probate

STANCOMB-WILLS, dame Janet Stancomb Graham, otherwise, Janet, of East Court, St. Lawrence-on-Sea, of Thanet, Kent, and of 25 Hyde Park-gardens, Middlesex, spinster, died 22 August 1932, at East Court, Probate, (limited to settled land) Bristol, 8 May, to William Inghram Gunn and Henry Somerville Gunn, esquires, Arthur John Grahame Stancomb, J.P., and Frank Oliver Wills, esquire. Effects £5,000
Former Grant D.R. Bristol 2 November 1932

The Times, Friday, Aug 26, 1932 FUNERALS

DAME JANET STANCOMB-WILLS
The Mayor and Corporation attended the service for Dame Janet Stancomb-Wills at St. George's Church, Ramsgate, yesterday. The ambulance brigade, fire brigade, and police force lined the route outside the church, where the coffin was met by the choir and clergy. The Rev. W. A. R. Ball conducted the service. The mourners included Mrs. Richardson (sister), Captain and Mrs. Alan Richardson, Captain G. C. Firbank, General and Mrs. Harding-Newman, Miss Gwendoline Wills, Mr. and Mrs. Ellison Eberle, and Mr. B. B. Wills. Mr. C. W. Denning represented The Royal West of England Academy.
Cremation took place afterwards at Golders Green.

Death

Yda Emily Margaretha Richardson Died 22 Sep 1936, Age 80, 1936 3Q Weston 5c 442

The Times, Thursday, Sep 24, 1936 Death

RICHARDSON On Sept. 22, 1936, at her residence, The Manor House, Abbots Leigh, near Bristol, Yda Emily Margaretha, widow of Joseph Richardson, of Potto Hall, Northallerton, Yorkshire. Funeral service, Abbots Leigh, 2:30, to-morrow (Friday).
BRISTOL 14 Dec 1936 Probate

RICHARDSON, Yda Emily Margaretha, of The Manor House, Abbots Leigh, Somersetshire, widow, died 22 September 1936, Probate, Bristol, 14 December, to Alan Joseph Macdonald Richardson, retired captain, H.M. army, and Flora Macdonald Firbank (wife of Godfrey Christopher Firbank M.C.). Effects £373,907 13s. 9d.