OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
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WHO WAS WHO IN OLD PLYMOUTH

WILLIAM ELFORD (1749-1837) 

William Elford was born at Bickham House, in the Ancient Parish of Buckland Monachorum, in 1749, to the Reverend Lancelot Elford and his wife, formerly Miss Grace Wills.

Nothing is known about his education.  In 1773 he settled at Plympton, where he was elected as Mayor.  He was a friend of two local artists, Mr Joshua Reynolds and Mr James Northcote.

On January 20th 1776 he married Miss Grace Davies, a daughter of the Reverend John Davies, a former headmaster of the Plympton Grammar School.

William Elford was one of the founding partners of the Plymouth Bank.  In 1786 he joined the South Devon Militia and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.  Ten years later he was elected as Member of Parliament for Plymouth and in 1800 was made a baronet.

Elford was an artist of some renown and exhibited at the Royal Academy in most years after 1774.

William and Grace had three children: Jonathan Elford in November 1776, Grace Chard Elford in 1781 and Elizabeth Elford in 1782.  The son represented Westbury in Wiltshire for a year but pre-deceased his father in 1823.

Following the death of his first wife, Sir William remarried on July 5th 1821, the lady being a widow by the name of Mrs Elizabeth Walrond.

His whole life crumbled in 1825 with the failure of the Plymouth Bank.  After selling his estate at Bickham, he moved to his son-in-law's residence, The Priory, Totnes, where he died on November 30th 1837.  His death was ignored in Plymouth and he was buried at Totnes Parish Church.  The youngest daughter, Elizabeth, also died that year.  He was survived only by his second wife and one daughter.

During his life Sir William had been Recorder for Plymouth from 1797 until 1833 and Recorder for Totnes between 1832 and 1834.  He was was elected to the Royal Society in 1790, the Linnean Society in 1813 and was deeply involved with the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway Company that linked Princetown to the quays at Plymouth's Sutton Pool.

Sir William was also the chairman of the local group that campaigned against slavery, of which Mr John Prideaux (1787-1859) was a prominent member.  He is credited with being the person who suggested that an illustration of a Liverpool slave ship "The Brookes" should be included in the group's anti-slavery pamphlet published in 1788.