William Sewell Swendell (1781 - 1844) is my great, great, great grandfather. One of his sons is Henry Swendell, my great, great grandfather.
William was born in about 1781 and baptised on the 9th of December 1781 at Saint Clement Danes in Westminster.
He had two wives, Elizabeth Benjamin (1784 - 1819) and Catherine Curtis (1798 - 1882) who bore him five and ten children respectively.
William is recorded variously as a clerk and gentleman. While I’m certain he was a clerk I doubt that he was a gentleman.
Two, possibly three, of his sons were sent to Australia as convicts. He wrote letters to the king pleading clemency for William and Frederick. There’s no evidence that he did the same for Charles. Maybe William thought he was guilty.
Two of his sons fought in the Crimean War.
Another son, Benjamin Sewell Swendell, was killed after being run over by a carriage aged 11.
William had seven daughters of which only one, Emma, may have made it to adulthood.
William was buried in 1844 at Saint John the Baptist in Hoxton.