Above: Waye House
From my own collection
'Waye (north of the Newton Road), is mentioned as early as the year 1484, when "Thomas, at Waye" was one of the churchwardens, his name appears to have been Furse, and the members of his family are called indifferently by their own name, and the name of their estate for many years, eg "is. from William Waye, alias Furse, for rent of the Church House." In the seventeenth century it belonged to the old Devonshire family of Elford... and is now the property and residence of Mrs Rogers, the house is modern.'
Charles Worthy, Ashburton and Its Neighbourhood, printed and published by L B Varder, East Street, Ashburton, 1875, p46
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In October 1843 William Stark, a nurseyman at Waye, had 10,000 young apple trees for sale. John Caunter, of Waye House, was one of those testifying to the quality and reliability of Mr Stark's stock.
Western Times 21 October 1843, p2 col5
July 1845. John Caunter of Waye House, magistrate for Devon, was on the provisional committee for the proposed Ashburton, Newton and South Devon Junction Railway.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 5 July 1845, p1 col2
July 9th, 1848. Harriet Jane, daughter of Sir Matthew Blakiston, died at Waye House. She was 24.
The Gentleman's Magazine, vol 30, July - December 1848, London, p329
Lieut. Charles George Cottell, of the 45th Regiment Madras Native Infantry, married Fanny Northcott in May 1849. Fanny was the daughter of Mr William Northcott, of Waye, Ashburton.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 5 May 1849, p5 col6
John Potts, late quarter-master in her Majesty's 25th Regiment, King's Own Borderers, died at Waye in November 1849. He was 62.
Exeter Flying Post 8 November 1849, p8 col6
Widower William Eales, a retired chaplain of the E[ast] I[ndia] Service, was living at Waye House at the time of the 1851 census. With him was his unmarried 40 year old daughter, Winifred E., who had been born in the East Indies.
1851 census, HO107, piece no. 1871, p15
In August 1852 Lt-Col George Young H E I C S married Winifred Emma, the only daughter of the Rev W Eales, of Waye House, Ashburton.
The Annual Register 1852, London, 1853, p241
On December 29th, 1854, the Rev. William Eales, Chaplain in the service of the East India Company, died at Waye House. He was 82.
The Gentleman's Magazine, vol 43, January - June 1855, p325
Robert Coard Tucker, the eldest son of solicitor R Tucker, married Katherine Margaret Kitson in July 1857. She was of Waye House.
Exeter Flying Post 30 July 1857, p5 col2
On December 28th, 1859 John Caunter, eldest son of the late John Caunter of Waye House, died after a short illness in India. 'Deceased had been in several engagements during the late mutiny in that empire, and was much respected'.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 11 February 1860, p5 col4
Colonel George Young H E I C S, of Waye House, died at Leamington Spa in May 1860. He was 70.
The Gentleman's Magazine, vol 208, January - June 1860 p646
57 year old Thomas E Rogers, a commander in the Indian navy, was at Waye House at the time of the 1861 census. With him was his wife Mary, his step-daughter Grace Caunter, his brother Richard E. Rogers and his niece Ellen E. Speller. The two Rogers brothers had been born in Callington*, Cornwall.
1861 census RG 9, piece no. 1405, p11
* ? Looks like Collington
In 1864 Mr T E Rogers of Waye House was seeking to represent the borough.
Western Times 30 August 1864, p2 col3
He arrived at his residence from India in May 1865.
Morning Herald (London) 27 May 1865, p4 col1
Mary, the wife of Captain Rogers H E I C S, died at Waye House in March 1869. She was 71.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 2 April 1869, p5 col6
Thomas had married Emblyn Middleton in Bengal in 1845, and Sarah Coates in Kidderpore, Bengal, in 1852.
British India Office marriage ecclesiastical returns, available through https://www.findmypast.co.uk
He had married widow Mary Caunter, the daughter of John Eales, in Ashburton in June 1859.
Parish records
In the March quarter of 1870 Thomas Eales Roger married Harriet Eliza Poingdestie or Poingdestre
https://www.freebmd.org.uk
In February 1871 the wife of Thomas Eales Rogers gave birth to a daughter.
Western Times 7 February 1871, p5 col1
The Exeter and Plymouth Gazette reported it as a son.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 10 February 1871, p5 col4
Captain T E Rogers, late H M I N, died at Waye in May 1873. He was 68.
Western Times 14 May 1873, p2 col4
The Broad Arrow printed an obituary. Captain Rogers had entered the Indian Navy in 1818, and was involved in various activities in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. In 1837 he was made commander, and in 1846 was appointed Superintendent of the Marine Department of Calcutta. He retired in 1857. He left a widow and two children, with two sons by previous wives.
Broad Arrow 24 May, p25 col2
Higher Waye was for sale in July 1874. The estate comprised a house, coach house, stabling and farmhouse, gardener's cottage, pleasure grounds and over 60 acres of land.
Western Daily Mercury 4 July 1874, p4 col3
In 1878 a Mr Westaway, a market gardener and landlord, brought a case against Mrs. Rogers, a widow of Waye. The amount claimed was £9 4s 6d, the balance of a bill of £13 for work done, and trees and bushes supplied. Mrs Rogers had asked the plaintiff's advice the previous year, and as a result Mr Westaway had put in a variety of plants, much of the work being done whilst Mrs Rogers was in London. Mrs Rogers put in a counter-claim for alleged damage and replacement of trees with inferior stock, but the jury found for the plaintiff, for an amount of £5
Western Times 17 December 1878, p5 col6
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John Edward Geils
The 1881 census has John E Geils, aged 68 and born in Australia, at Waye House.
He was married, but his wife Josephine A A Geils (alias Mary McGill) had been admitted to a mental health institution in 1878. They had married in Carlisle, in the March quarter of 1870.
1881 census RG11, piece no 2161, folio 17, p13
Scottish Mental Health Institutions, registers and admissions, 1808-1883, archive ref MC7/4 p287
https://www.freebmd.org.uk
In December 1882 Mr Giels [sic], of Waye, distributed £10 in meat and coals to the aged poor of Ashburton. He had also lately been giving a shilling each to on average four people a day.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette Daily Telegrams 27 December 1882, p4 col4
The Ashburton and Buckfastleigh Company of the 5th D R V were invited to Waye House by Mr and Mrs Geils in August 1885. They marched from the armoury to the house, and after various maneouvres were served dinner on the lawn.
Express and Echo 24 August 1885, p1 col5
According to the records of the mental institution where John's wife Josephine had been admitted, she had died in 1884.
Scottish Mental Health Institutions, registers and admissions, 1808-1883, archive ref MC7/4 p308
John Edward Geils was an interesting character. To quote Patrick Pender, who has researched the family: 'His principal claim to notoriety is that he was involved in a very protacted and bitter divorce case in the 1840s/50s, which left both he and his wife socially ostracised by the high society circles they had been moving in. Neither the husband or wife seem to have been typical Victorians as we think of them, and both ended up leading rather unconventional lives.'
Frances Dickinson, John Edward's wife, was an 'heiress, author, amateur actress...friend of Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, Thackerery etc.
Her second marriage to a "Doctor A" she declared invalid, and she ended up marrying the Dean of Bristol and then leaving him as well.
Collins experts claim that their troubled story influenced several of Wilkie's works: The Woman in White, The Evil Genuis, A New Mind (a short story), and Poor Miss Finch which was dedicated to Frances.'
[For more on Frances, see Frances Dickinson: Friend of Wilkie Collins https://wilkiecollinssociety.org/frances-dickinson-friend-of-wilkie-collins/ - accessed 03-03-2022]
'John Edward was born in 1813 in Hobart Town, Tasmania, where for a year his father, Andrew Geils, was acting Governor. Andrew was a Scottish landowner in the Indian Army based in Madras, though they travelled the world widely by ship.
John Edward became a fairly impecunious Lieutenant in the 4th Light Dragoons, and the family were delighted when he claimed Frances in marriage. But they turned out to be pretty incompatible and the marriage was not a happy one to say the least.
After the divorce, money or rather lack of it was clearly a factor, and that may be why he chose to rent out his property Dumbuck House, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, and buy or rent Waye.
It seems he was nursed through a very severe illness by Charlotte Smith Avery, (1861- 1936, born Clifton, Bristol), presumably at Waye. A son seems to have been the outcome, as in a codicil to his will, John Edward wrote, "It is my earnest desire that my son John Edward Geils Avery shall after my death cease to use the name Avery and assume the surname Geils only, and that he shall become an officer in the British Army".
Both Charlotte and their son were well provided for in the will.'
With very many thanks to Patrick Pender for the above account
John Edward G Avery's birth was registered in the March quarter of 1889, in the Newton Abbot district.
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
He was baptised in Torquay, with his mother's address given as 44,
Higher Union Street.
Upton, Torquay parish records
The following year Charlotte married William Henry E Pook, and the family were at Torquay for the 1891 census.
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
1891 census RG12, piece no. 1702, folio 24, p41
John Edward Geils died in February 1894. In June H Mallaby Firth, solicitor for the executors, gave notice that anyone having a claim on the estate should make it known before the end of July. Mr Geils was formerly of Dumbuck, Dumbarton, but lately of Waye, Ashburton.
His effects after probate came to £13192 13s 5d
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 28 June 1894, p1 col4
England and Wales Government Probate Death Index, 1858-2019, available through https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
On the first of January 1895 the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette reported that death had been busy during the past year. Two magistrates had died - Mr H Steele, who had been thrown from a horse, and Mr J Woodley, of Halshanger - and 'Mr Geils, of Waye, and Mr T Smerdon, of Bowdley, are missed, especially by the poor.'
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 1st January 1895, p6 col7
In the 1901 census William H E Pook was a visitor to the household of Frederick Hines, of St Marylebone, London. John E Geils, aged 12, was with him.
1901 census RG 13, piece no 104, folio 49, p4
The Pook family retained a connection to Ashburton: William Henry E Pook was on the electoral register for Ashburton in the early 1900s, moving from West Street to East Street.
He was buried in Ashburton in February 1906, aged 38, but his abode was 111 Lymington Road, Upton, Torquay.
Parish records
Charlotte married a Humphrey Craddock in the September quarter of 1909
In the 1911 census for Kingskerswell John Edward Geils, stepson, aged 22, is with them.
https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
1911 census RG78, piece no 734, schedule 76
In 1912 John Edward Geils was recorded as living at Avenue Terrace, Ashburton on the electoral register. However, the qualifying property was Waye.
Register of electors 1912
In the same year John Edward Geiles [sic], Ashburton, was sworn in as a member of the Grand Jury.
Western Times 12 April 1912, p3 col2
John Edward Geils died in January 1916. He died at Fern Bank Kinskerswell, but his address was Rose Cottage, Ashburton. Probate was granted to Charlotte Smith Craddock, and his effects were £354 9s 1d.
England and Wales Government Probate Death Index, 1858-2019, available through https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
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Harriett Eliza Rogers, widow of Captain T E Rogers of Waye, Ashburton, died in October 1891 in Vienna. She had lately been living in Powis Square, Kensington Park, W.
Home News for India, China and the Colonies, 23 October 1891, p28 col2
Major C B Lyster of Waye was about to go abroad in 1903. Sawdye and Son were selling his surplus household furniture by auction, plus a grey pony, carts and harness, and a heap of stable manure.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 6 November 1903, p1 col2
Frances Anne Collins, a widow living with her unmarried daughter, Margaret Grace, was at Waye at the time of the 1911 census. Both were living on private means.
1911 census, schedule 81
Mr and Mrs J H Hayward, of Waye House, learned in late 1916 of the death of Stoker Petty Officer T A Hayward. His home was in Plymouth.
Western Morning News 4 December 1916, p3 col5
Frances Anne Collins died at Waye House in December 1917, aged 71. She was the widow of William Secundus Collins.
Western Morning News 21 December 1917, p1 col2
In August 1931 Edgar A Ashcroft, of Waye House, nr Ashburton, was granted a patent concerning the metallurgy of ores or materials containing tin.
Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, vol 49, August 1931, p xiii
Waye, Ashburton, was for sale in November 1934. Described as a delightful country house, it comprised 3 receptions, 10 to 12 bed and dressing rooms, and included a farmhouse. In all there was 77 acres.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 2 November 1934, p1 col6
Brigadier-General James Eales Caunter died at Torquay in 1937. Aged 78, he was the son of the late J E Caunter of Waye, Ashburton.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette 5 November 1937, p15 col3
Edgar Arthur Ashcroft, of Roxburghshire, late of Waye, left £13,991 personal estate when he died aged 75.
He was a retired mining engineer.
The Scotsman, 1 October 1938, p15 col3
98 year old Captain E Kitson died at Knowles Hill Newton Abbot, in January 1939. Orphaned as a child, he had grown up at Waye, Ashburton, before leaving for India at the age of 17, after joining the East India Company.
Western Times 13 January 1939, p14 col1
Those looking to board in beautiful surroundings at reasonable terms were invited to contact Waye House Country Hotel in 1966
Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, 3 June 1966, p3 col6
There was to be a 'Roaring 20's Night' at Waye House on Boxing Day, December 1971.
Torbay Express and South Devon Echo, 22 December 1971, p6 col8
Waye Farm
NB. The following appear to refer to Waye Farm on the Waye House estate, Ashburton. There was another Waye Farm at Woodland.
As well as a Lower Waye Farm there was also a Higher Waye Farm - a white hen swan was lost from there in September 1864. It was the property of T E Rogers.
Western Times 2 September 1864, p1 col6
Thomas and Grace Huxham, aged approximately 50 and 45, were at Lower Waye in the 1841 census.
1841 census HO107, piece no 1253, book 8, p17
Grace Huxham, the wife of Thomas, died in July 1843, at Waye. She was 50 years old.
Western Times 15 July 1843, p3 col 1
Mrs Maria Cuddiford, aged 37, died at Waye Farm at the end of July 1846
Western Times 8 August 1846, p5 col2
James and Mary Edwards were at Higher Waye Farm in 1851. James was a farmer of 45 acres.
1851 census HO107, piece no 1871, folio 346, p14
Mrs H Maunder of Waye Farm gave birth to a daughter in February 1855. Presumably this was the same Mrs Maunder who gave birth to another daughter at Lower Waye Farm in April 1858
Western Times 10 March 1855, p5 col2
Western Times 24 April 1858, p5 col4
Peter Mann Seayell died at Waye Farm in June 1856. He was 38
Exeter Flying Post, 5 June 1856, p8 col6
Bartholomew and Grace Irish were at Lower Waye Farm at the time of the 1861 census. Bartholomew was 70 and his wife 69
1861 census RG 9, piece no 1405, p10
Mr Bartholomew Irish died at Lower Waye Farm in April 1865. He was 82.
Western Times 21 April 1865, p5 col4
Mrs Amery was offering accommodation at Waye Farm in 1959. She was offering bed, breakfast and evening meal, with 3 meals on Sundays, for five guineas and five and a half guineas. The farm had easy access to the main road for Exeter, Plymouth and Torquay.
Peterborough Standard 27 March 1959, p16 col6
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Waye Cottage
49 year old William Wilcocks, a Chelsea Pensioner, was living at Waye Cottage at the time of the 1851 census.
His wife Margaret was with him on census night, together with three daughters and a son.
1851 census HO107, piece no. 1871, folio 346, p15
The wife of Mr James Richards, gardener, gave birth to a daughter at Waye Cottage in February 1856
Western Times 1 March 1856, p5 col3
James and Susan May, aged 41 and 38, were at Gardener's Cottage at the time of the 1861 census.
1861 census RG 9, piece no 1405, p11