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Richard Mattingly - 1710-1789
Richard Mattingly was born in 1710 to Richard and Hannah Mattingly. He was the second of six children born to the couple, which is fortunate in that it ensured the survival of this branch of the family. All the children were bought up in Baughurst, although Richard was to later move to Wootton St Lawrence, just six miles south of the village on his marriage in 1737 to Anna Winkworth. The record of this and that of their son, Robert baptism the following year at St. Lawrence Church are shown here.
The Winkworth family were well established in the village, with many entries in the Parish Records and the 1664 Hearth Tax list. Richard and Anna Mattingly had four children: Anna born 1748, Robert born 1738, Thomas born 1750 and Richard born 1754 all of whom went on to marry and have children themselves.
It is Robert who is shown as marrying his cousin, Sarah Mattingly in 1761 and they were later to have three children. His sister, Anna married Noah Parfitt of Overton and they remained in Wootton where she had a daughter , Anna who in turn married James Woodford.
To the west of the village of Wootton St Lawrence is the Manor of Manydown which is surrounded by a park of 250 acres and its neighbour, Tangier Park which were both owned by the Withers family. The village of Wootton St. Lawrence formed part of the Manor of Manydown, and the Mattingly family would have worked and rented their house from the Withers.
The celebrated novelist Jane Austen (1775–1817), and her elder sister Cassandra who lived just 6 miles away at Steventon, were friends for many years with three of the Bigg sisters then living at Manydown Park: Alethea, Elizabeth and Catherine Bigg . Life at Manydown influenced Austen's works and she stayed at the house often, and wrote to her sister Cassandra of a ball there on 8 January 1799. In late January 1801, Jane visited the Bigg-Wither family at Manydown. Lovelace's son Harris Bigg-Wither proposed marriage to Jane and was accepted - Jane was almost 27; Harris was only 21 and had just graduated from Oxford. Bigg-Wither family celebrations were soon curtailed, however, when next morning Jane announced a change of heart and was never to marry, which may well have been a loss to the world`s literature.
Wootton St. Lawrence is still a very attractive unspoilt village which has changed very little over the years.. There are a number of memorials in the Church to the Wither family and a beautiful window commemorating Manydown House, which was demolished in 1965.
