According to a newspaper account after her death (1), Miss Willyams came to Budleigh Salterton forty years before her death.  She was living in Prospect (now East) Terrace at the time of the 1841 census and by this time she was already a published author.

 Jane was born in 1786 in Carmanton, Cornwall the fourth and youngest daughter of James Willyams and his wife Ann (née Champion).  Along with her older sister Charlotte Champion Pascoe she wrote a three volume novel called “Coquetry” which was published anonymously in Edinburgh in 1818 after it had been recommended by (Sir) Walter Scott to Robert Cadell, partner of the publisher Archibald Constable (2).  Scott corrected the proofs and arranged for its publication.  Her sister had married in 1815 but Jane remained unmarried and was a keen traveller and very interested in nature. 

Most of Jane’s later published written works seem to date from her time in Budleigh and some reflect her strong protestant convictions.  In 1845 she published a book entitled “Chillon: or Protestants of the 16th Century. An Historical Tale” based on a stay of four months in the Castle of Chillon. This was reprinted in Philadelphia and also translated into French. 

She doesn’t appear in the 1844 and 1845 town directories so it is likely she was travelling for some of this time (including her stay at Chillon). Later (1846-7) she wrote a series of three tracts against Popery entitled “The Reason Rendered” which appeared to indicate a certain missionary veal on her part. These were reprinted in several editions.  

At the time of the 1851 Census she was living on her own at 7 Esplanade in Plymouth but the absence of servants suggests it may only have been a temporary sojourn.  By 1857 she is recorded in Billing’s Directory as living in Myrtle Cottage in “Chapel Terrace” and it was around this time that she appears to have been the founder of the Budleigh Salterton Cottage Garden Society (1).  She was a very active member of that Society and assisted with the organisation of the annual exhibition, and in 1858 supervised the bazaar in Mount View a field provided for the purpose by Mr John Walters at which “fancy and useful articles were readily sold at remunerating prices” (3).  

At other times she was an exhibitor winning prizes for her fuchsias and ferns in 1860, and she was notable locally as always having a magnificent garden throughout the year.  It is interesting to note however that the organising Committee for the shows was an all-male affair up till 1872 when a Ladies Committee was added, and this included Miss Willyams. The remit of the Ladies Committee was to “attend to the cottage juveniles, encourage knitting, darning, and the cutting out and making of shirts etc” (4).  Miss Willyams also instituted a sewing class for girls which she continued to supervise. 

At some stage she moved to 6 Prospect (East) Terrace where she is recorded in the available town Directories as residing from 1866 till her death in 1878. (This house was re-numbered as number 7 at a later date and was at that time apparently called Louise Villa after her (5)). 

In 1855 she published a third book “A Short History of the Waldensian Church in the Valleys of Piedmont” (6), in the introductory chapter of which she describes the region in some detail and there can be no doubt that she had spent time living in the valleys.  The book begins with a brief account of the origin of the sect, continues with its rise, and ends with an account of its missionary work at the turn of the 19th century.  It was a schismatic sect of the Catholic Church which was persecuted and after the Reformation took on most of the protestant tenets of Calvinism, and its members migrated to several regions of the globe.  

The book went into a second edition.  The sales of the book raised £200 which together with money collected by the British Ladies’ Association was sufficient to found an Orphans Asylum and Industrial School in the Valleys of Vaudois, Piedmont (1), and Miss Willyams was one of the Honorary Secretaries of the fund raising committee. 

Her Protestant zeal led her to persuade a number of local young people to join the Temperance Band of Hope.  She provided an extra prize on at least one occasion at the Flower Show (in 1872) for … 

“the best specimens of summer vegetables, raised by the unassisted labour of a member of the Band of Hope who had not broken his pledge and has been constant in his attendance at the monthly meetings”.  

Unfortunately, (and perhaps not unsurprisingly), no-one received the award.   

The Band of Hope consisted of quite a large group of juveniles as evidenced by over fifty of them being entertained to tea and a lecture in Miss Goulett’s summer-house in Cliff Terrace in June 1873 attended by several ladies, including Miss Willyams.  The ladies all showed a “deep interest in the welfare of the children” (7).  In July of that year she appears to have been suffering with her health and the President of the Cottage Garden Society had intended to note her absence due to illness from the 1873 Flower Show but rain forced a premature end to the event (8). 

Miss Willyams published several collections of poems during her stay in Budleigh and one set circulated privately in 1868 (5).  A further book was published by Hatchards in London in 1871 and was called “Tower of the Hawk; Some Passages in the History of the House of Hapsburg”.  She also produced “A parting gift for a friend” and “Passing hours” (1). 

She died at her home on the 28th May 1878 but seems to have been active with the Cottage Garden Society up to the end as her name appears as a member of the Ladies Committee in one of the newspaper accounts of the event even though the Show was held after her death (9).  She would also have been gratified to know that her prize for summer vegetables grown by a member of the Band of Hope was actually won that year (by W. Teed). 

Her probate value was estimated at less than £9,000 and from this sum she made a large number of bequests mainly to family members but also to several people in this local area (10).  The local recipients included:-   

  •Miss Elizabeth Goulles £50

  •Julia Davis (another member of the Ladies Committee) £10 and a further £10 to her for the Budleigh Salterton Sewing School

  •Melany Helman of Otterton, former mistress of Salterton Girls School £10

  •Her gardener John Marker £30 and a suit of mourning (although this was reduced to £10 in a codicil)

  •Budleigh Salterton Cottage Garden Society £19-19 shillings

  •Very generous bequests to her servants Elizabeth Maeers £300 and Nancy Whitburn £120 (later reduced to £50 and a suit of mourning) plus household items 

Her leasehold house in East Terrace was left to a relative Henrietta Elizabeth Grylls. 

Researched and written by Roger Lendon © 2013 

(1)Exeter & Plymouth Gazette Daily Telegrams, 25th September 1878. “In Memoriam”.

(2)National Library of Scotland MS322, fol.285v (19 Jan 1818).

(3)Western Times, 26th June 1858

(4)Western Times, 13th January 1872

(5)Information in a file on houses in East Terrace at Fairlynch Museum

(6)A Short History of the Waldensian Church in the Valleys of Piedmont 1855 James Nisbet and Co.

(7)Western Times 20th June 1873

(8)Western Times, 12th July 1873

(9)Exeter & Plymouth Daily Telegrams 27th July 1878

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