The Wolverhampton officials, however, rejected the proposal, in the hope they would win their case in the ecclesiastical courts. When the case eventually came to trial in 1755 an old parish book was produced, which showed that the exorbitant demands of Wolverhampton were distinctly illegal. In it was an entry of 1668, which ran in this wise:—
“This is the portion of Rates each Chapelry and Prebend shall pay towards the repairs of the Mother Church:—
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Wolverhampton | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| Bilston | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Wylnale | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Wednesflde | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Hatherton | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Featherstone | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Kinvaston | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Hilton | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Pelsall | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Bentley | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Stretton rent | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| 83 | 10 | 8 |
A writ of prohibition was forthwith filed to stay all further proceedings in the Spiritual Courts; and the law costs of the trial, amounting to £282 1s. 8d., were divided equally between Bilston and Willenhall (1756).
XVI.—Dr. Richard Wilkes, of Willenhall (1690–1760).
Willenhall’s most illustrous son was Dr. Richard Wilkes, Antiquary, whose house still stands on the Walsall Road. He came of good family of county rank, and his personal character raised him to the eminence of a notability in Staffordshire. His portrait appears in Shaw’s history of this county of which his (Wilkes’) valuable and voluminous MSS. formed the nucleus. Though settled in this locality, adding to their little patrimony from time to time for 300 or 400 years, the family came originally from Hertfordshire.
The pedigree of Wilkes, according to the Heralds’ Visitation in 1614, commences with John Wylkys de Darlaston, who was witness to a Deed of Roger, Lord of Darlaston, in the time of Edward III. (1331). There is a Richard Wylkys, of Willenhall, who witnessed a Bentley Deed in 1413. To this Richard and his wife Juliana, daughter and heir of William Wilkes, a grant of lands in Bentley was made by Humphrey, Earl of Stafford. The son of this couple was William Wilkes of Willnall (1505). Protonotary of the Court of Common Pleas, 15 Henry VIII. The family tree is very complete in Shaw.
One John Wilkes married a widow Parkhouse, nee Margery Garbet, of Nether Penn; another John, his nephew, was Rector of Lum, and evidently a Puritan, as his two sons bear the striking biblical names, Ephraim and Manasses. Richard seems to have been the favourite name for the eldest son. One Richard married Mercy Drakeford, of Stafford (see Salt. Vol. VIII.); his son, also named Richard, became the father of our Willenhall worthy, whose mother was Lucretia, youngest daughter of Jonas Astley, of Wood Eaton, in this county.
Richard Wilkes, M.D., was born in March, 1690, and had his school education at Trentham. In his 19th year he was entered at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and was admitted scholar 1710. In April, 1711, he began to attend Mr. Saunderson’s mathematical lectures, and became very proficient in algebra. In January,