Celia, Sir Frank Markham in 'The History of Milton Keynes and District vol1" has a whole chapter on 'The Willis Family' and makes great play of the amounts of money Browne Willis spent: - 1500GBP on Bletchley church, - 'a large sum in 1710 to build a new mansion at Bletchley', - '1710 purchased the remaining two thirds of Whaddon Hall', - restoration of Whaddon Hall, - financial support for the buying of the land and the building of St Martin's church in Fenny Stratford, - financial support in saving the tower of St Mary Magdalene after the Stony Stratford fire of 1742, - financial support for Buckingham church, - financial support for Bow Brickhill church. Rev Cole apparently wrote in his diary sometime after 1760: 'Through his charitable gifts, his portions to his married children, and the expenditure of £5,000 on the building of Waterhall, he ruined his fine estate, and was obliged towards the end of his days to dress meanly and to live in squalor, becoming very dirty and penurious, so that he was often taken for a beggar'. After Browne Willis died in 1760 much of his estate went to his grandson, Thomas Willis who died two years later, and by 1766 the majority of Browne Willis's estate was sold off to pay off debts. So it certainly looks quite possible that Mrs Browne Willis might have had occasion to pawn clothes. Regards, Greg Davies Nash, Bucks ----- Original Message ----- From: "Celia Renshaw" <celia@morganhold.com> To: <bucks@rootsweb.com>; <eng-buckinghamshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 6:24 PM Subject: [BKM] MILLAGANs and Browne Willis no. 1 > > My question is this: Would Mrs. Browne WILLIS really have had to pawn her > clothes like this? Was the Dragon of Whaddon in such a parlous state? It > seems unlikely... I would welcome any enlightenment. > > Celia Renshaw > in Chesterfield UK