Family and Education

b. c.1648, o.s. of John Wildman I. educ. Univ. Coll. Oxf. matric. 8 Apr. 1663, aged 17; L. Inn 1669. m. lic. 5 Sept. 1676, aged 26, Eleanor (d. 30 Aug. 1677), da. of Edward Chute of Bethersden, Kent, s.p. suc. fa. 1693.1

Offices Held

Capt. of ft. ?Oct. 1688-9, Visct. Charlemont’s regt. 1694-6, William Stewart’s regt. 1696-7.

Commr. for assessment, Berks. and Wilts. 1689; j.p. Mdx. 1689-?94, Wilts. ?1697-d.; sheriff, Berks. 1705-6.2

Biography

Wildman is said to have shared his father’s imprisonment after the Restoration, and was certainly given access to him in Pendennis Castle in 1666. He accepted his father’s political and religious attitudes, went into exile with him in 1685, and returned with the invading forces of William of Orange, when he raised a company of foot. He was elected to the Convention for Wootton Bassett, ten miles west of Shrivenham. An inactive Member, he is known to have been appointed to only three committees, for bringing in a bill for a new coronation oath, for drawing up an address on the danger from France and Ireland, and for the bill to restore corporations, in which he supported the disabling clause. He was recommended by the Earl of Devonshire (William Cavendish), Lord Lumley and the Hon. Thomas Wharton for a regular commission, and also applied without success for a place in the customs. On his death in April 1710, he bequeathed his estates to a Whig propagandist, John Shute, who changed his name to Barrington and sat in Parliament for Berwick after the Hanoverian succession.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Leonard Naylor

Notes

• 1. London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 1467.
• 2. Mdx. RO, MJP/CP5a.
• 3. CSP Dom. 1665-6, p. 288; Ashley, Wildman, 18; Add. 38704, ff. 51-52; Cal. Treas. Bks. ix. 325; Lysons, Berks. 367; PCC 223 Smith; Shrivenham M.I.