The Shrapnel family first appear in the Bradford Church registers in 1625. They are not recorded in the second half of the 17th century, but reappear in the 18th. This may be because they briefly left the Church of England; Henry Shrapnel, probably grandfather of the builder of Midway, was listed as an Anabaptist in 1662, and his grandson Zechariah1 leased the land on which the Old Baptist Chapel was built in Bradford to its trustees for a nominal rent.(1) But the family also had connections with Taunton. Henry's eldest son, Henry junior, was a cooper (barrel-maker) in Bradford. His first wife was named Elizabeth. His wife died in 1676, and Henry remarried Ann (probably Buckthought) from Taunton.
When he died in 1688, Henry left a will in which he left a field called Puddocks, on condition that he paid his sister Elizabeth's first child £10. To Elizabeth herself he gave a "broad piece of gold". He also left money to his Buckthought stepchildren, and 5s each to four poor widows of Bradford. As was customary, an inventory was taken of his goods and chattels. This shows that he was living in a Bradford house with three rooms on each floor and had property worth £430-what one would expect of a wealthy yeoman.
Henry was buried at Holy Trinity Church, where the family has a memorial at the west end of the south wall. The family continued to have connections with brewing; in 1754 John Shrapnel was a cooper with a house in Newtown, Bradford. (2) In 1766 William Shrapnel bought for £200n the Inn in Fore St, Trowbridge then known as the Hart and Cock, but later as the White Hart. It remained with the family till 1820, and is now the site of W.H. Smith's shop. (4)
Henry's eldest son, Zachariah I however was probably a Clothier, certainly his descendants were in a profitable business. By 1702 he was in Bradford, where he was paying rates on land and houses in Bradford, Leigh, Trowle and Winsley, and he is listed in the rate book as Mr. Zachariah, a mark of Status. (5). An Illegitimate son was born in 1713 to Dinah Seele, which suggests that Zachariah Shrapnel Seele, which suggests that Zachariah was established in the parish by the. (6) As we shall see, he was the most likely builder of the original Midway. He died in 1723, and left a will which contrary to custom at the time does not open by leaving his soul to God. (7) There is no mention of his wife, children or illegitimate son. His houses and lands in Bradford and Wingfield were left to his nephew Zachariah II, son of his brother Noah. There was also further lands which their father had settled on Zachariah I and then to Noah. These were to pass to Zachariah II, or Noah was to lose £300 left to him in the Will. Nephews and Nieces were left legacies of £100-£400, subject to similar conditions. Zachariah I made a number of gifts of mourning clothes- suits to his siblings and Niece Elizabeth black clocth to cousins Samuel an ironmonger and John, a clothdrawer, and Dr Authowe of Bradford. To his cousin John Bailward, a witness, he leaves dark grey cloth. To some people in Bradford who were probably his tenants he left suits of mourning "suitable to their degree and quality" The poor of Bradford received 40s worth of bread. Zachariah I had an apprentice, who was to receive 1 guinea at the ned of ihis apprenticeship. Zachariah II was his executor; the cash legacies exceeded £1,500. ZachariahI was buried at Holy Trinty. Zachariah II was a clothier. His marriage settlement was drawn up soon after his uncle's death, and his bride was Elizabeth Minifree of Staple grove near Taunton, with whom he received £2,500 as part of her dowry. (8) In return Zachariah II settled on her his Bradford and Wingfield estates, and this sheds more light on Midway's origins. The settlement begins with "a new-built mansion house" (which can mean anything up to 30 years old)., and then lists about 40 acres of land, the freehold of which had been bought by ZachariahI from Walter Greene. It continues with land which had been part of Rowley Farm* (but which was not the site of Midway), a house in Bradford Leigh, and six houses in St. Margaret's St, Bradford.
The deed in which Walter Greene sold land to Zachariah I has not been found, Greene, of Brooke House, Westbury, had bought the manor of Wingfield for £4220 in 1683; at that time the manor house was Stowford Farm. By 1709 Wingfield Manor was in the possession of the Cooper family. (9) this suggests that Zachariah I`s purchase of the land was between these two dates, and that the original house was built soon after his purchase. A year after Zachariah II`s marriage his eldest son, Zachariah III was born. There are no details of other children, nor did Zachaiah II leave a will when he died and was buried at Bradford in 1761.
* Land adjoining Midway is called Wetmeads Bottom. Rowley Farm also had land with this name, which from early times had been applied to a large area divided between several owners.
Zachariah III had married in 175, when he was 29 Lydia Needham, daughter of Joseph Needham, who was vicar of Colerne from 1725 until 1760.(10) They had nine children, the eldest of whom, Zachariah IV, died at the early age of 32 and in the lifetime of his Father . Three children died in infancy. The second son, Joseph, was named after Lydia's father, and like him entered the Church. He had matriculated at Merton College, Oxford. In 1776, obtained his B.A. In 1780 and his M.A. in 1783.(11) he died in 1821 and is remembered on the family memorial. The Third son, Henry who inherited Midway, was the inventor of the Shrapnel shell. Of the three daughters, Ann died unmarried in 1787, Elizabeth married in 1794 William Hamilton Warren and died two years later, and Rachel married in 1789 Thomas Biddulph, their son Thomas also went into the Church and died in 1837.
It is during Zachariah II `s ownership that we get our first hint of the appearance of the original house. In 1773 Messrs Andrews and Dury prepared a map of Wiltshire. They appealed to the wealthier inhabitants for donations towards the cost of production, and those whom responded were rewarded with their names on the map, together with thumbnail sketches of the houses. Zachariah was a contributor. It is not clear how accurate theses sketches were, but where we have seen surviving house they seem to be reasonable true. Midway is shown as a two-storey house, with central doorway and no pediment. To the left is a smaller one-storey range. This agrees with later photographs, allowing for known alterations. As mentioned above, throughout the 18th century the Shrapnel family had held a number of houses in Bradford, including six in St. Margaret's St. The Tithe map of 1841 shows them in possession of six houses and a building of four tenements in or near the street. These included no. 5, a late 17th-early 18th century house of quality in which Zachariah III was living at the time of his death. It is not clear whether the family used this as their town house from the early 18th century; certainly they were considered to be Bradford clothiers. Relevant taxation records begin to show the tenants as well as the owners of property in Wingfield from 1774 and from this time a succession of farmers are shown as at Midway, which of course had a good estate of land (12) William Couch, of an old Wingfield family, was there in 1774, and John Little in 1787. The Bradford records have Shrapnel as occupying no 5.
Zachariah III died in 1796 at the age of 71; in his will he asks to be buried without pomp in Bradford Church. (13) He left to trustees the mansion house in which he lived, with the house (no 6 and 7, St Margaret's St, then one house). And workshops adjoining. He also mentions a house at the bottom of "Nowhere Lane" and others in St. Margaret's St, houses at Bradford Leigh, and his estate called Midway Farm, with farmhouse and Mansion House, the occupied by John Coles Baily (who also had Church farm, Wingfield). (14) The Bradford house was to go to his wife for her life, and after to his son Henry, Captain in the Royal Artillery, and then to Henry's children. To his son Joseph he left an annuity of £100, and to Joseph's wife £100. Zachariah's daughter Rachel Biddulph received £100, and Elizabeth Warren £200. Henry Shrapnel had been born in 1761, and entered the army in 1779. (15) His career is given in some detail in the entry from the Dictionary of National Biography (c1900). He is, of course, best known for the invention of the Shrapnel Shell, which is thought to have contributed to British success at waterloo and elsewhere. In a letter written at Woolwich in 1804 Henry says:
I can only see that no enemy cares for round shot, but this kind of fire it is impossible for troops to withstand." (16)
A letter written by an observer at the start of the Great War noted that German field guns carried at the breech end the Shrapnel motto " Ratio Ultima Regis" (the last argument of kings). For much of his life Henry was abroad or living in London, but is shown as at Midway from 1822 until 1828(17) In a letter of 1839 he mentions that his second son Zachariah, is at Cambridge, and seems to be in need of a coach. Zachariah had been admitted to Powerhouse in 1833, and matriculated the following year, but did not obtain his B.A. until 1846. He died at the age of thirty. Henry also mentions in his letter his relations Rev. and Mrs Thomas Bidulph. (18) Henry finally lived , and died at Bradford in 1842 at the age of 80, but the family memorial wrongly gives the date as 1849. Copies of letters from his wife regarding his funereal still exit. A list of his battles is carved on the inside of the gateposts at Midway: waterloo, Table bay, Chuzneemeedanse, Kioze, Bidasoa, Tsage and Busaco. (19)
During Henry's ownership of Midway, tenants continued.. Jacob Carter was there in 1799, and from 1805-1809 Rev. Spencer, who was rector of Wingfield and a friend of Shrapnel. In 1812 a Mr Sartain was running a school at the house; an advertisement in the Salisbury and Winchester Journal has:
"Mr Sartain respectfully announces to his friends and the public that his School (at Midway-House one mile from Bradford) reopens on Monday January 20th. Terms 25 guineas per annum; Entrance 1 Guinea : Washing 2 guineas; and no other extra charges except for stationery. Midway-House, January 9 1812"
Henry was succeeded by his son Henry Scrope Shrapnel, born in 1812. Cambridge records note that he was admitted to Emmanuel College in 1848, but did not reside. (20) He followed his father into the army, and was Cornet in the 3 rd Dragoon Guards in 1834, and later Barrack Master in Ireland, Bermuda, Halifax and Montreal. (21) He is said to have re-fronted Midway as a memorial to his father, but perhaps only added to the front shown in 1773 the pediment with Shrapnel Shell, and pilasters, which appear to be of mid-19th century origin. (22) He partitioned Parliament without success for a reward for his father's inventions, and eventually emigrated to Canada, having previously married and had a large family.
The first detailed census returns were made in 1841. These show Stephen Mizen at Midway, aged 60, and of independent means. With him was his only son Thomas aged 25, a farmer, with a male servant and one agricultural labourer. Stephen died three years later, and in his will left £150 to his son Stephen junior, and £300 to each of his daughters Mary Ann and Hannah. (23) he owned a house near Whitehill in Bradford which was divided into tenements; this was to be shared between his five children as tenants in common, with his son Stephen receiving two shares. His household items, including dairy and brewing equipment, were to be shared by his two daughters. The Tithe Map of this year shows Midway with grounds and outbuildings. In the 1851 census, Thomas was still at Midway, but now only described as agricultural labourer. His brother James, ten years his senior, was the farmer, with six labourers (over the years the estate land had increased to 160 acres). With them was a shepherd, Thomas Harris, aged 75; no woman is shown in the household.
In 1861 the household were still at Midway; the land had increased to 170 acres, and was farmed by six men, five boys and one woman. James had married Sarah Jane, 25 years his junior, and they had a 7 months old daughter. There was a nursemaid and a new shepherd , aged only 16. Thomas Mizan was not then at Midway.
The 1871 census shows the Shrapnel family again at the house. Arthur N.S. Shrapnel aged 27 was presumably Henry Scope's son; he had been born at Gosport. His wife Clara came from Colombo, Ceylon and they had children Arthur, two Harold, one, and Ethel, 2 months, all born in Wingfield. With them was Arthur's mother-in -law Marianne Anion, and a visitor from Ascension Isle with another from London, Edwin Mizen domestic and groom, a general servant and a nursemaid. This surely reflects the family travels! The estate was mortgaged at this time and in this year Shrapnel finally sold to Samuel Gauntlet, a florist and nurseryman. (24)
In the 1881 census Samuel was 498, a florist from Trowbridge who had a warehouse in Back Street in the town. His wife Mary was involved in carpet bedding, high fashion in Victorian gardens, and his nephew Walter Knee, aged 17 was a clerk in the bedding office. Samuel's niece was a visitor, and they had a cook and housemaid. Samuel's niece was a visitor, and they had a cook and housemaid.
An advertisement in the Wilts and Trowbridge Advertiser of 12th February, 1876. Indicates that they also dealt in vegetable plants for growing on and cut flowers for button holes and bouquets for balls and parties. The 1887 Ordnance Survey map shows a number of greenhouses at |Midway , and a water pump. Samuel's wife made her will as a widow in 1884; she had no children and made her nephew Walter Knee of Midway Manor her executor and trustee. (25) She left him her trinkets and jewels to be sold. After some small bequests she divided her estate between her sisters; her estate was valued at £876.
Midway Manor was put up for auction in 1889, originally to take place on 20th November, later altered to 28th November. The announcement in the Wiltshire Times included Midway Manor, with an extensive range of vineries and green houses, arable and pasture land amounting to 52 acres, and a freehold warehouse in Back St, Trowbridge then occupied by Messrs. Burgess & Co general furnishers. The auctioneers were Foley and Mundy. Evidently the estate did not sell, for next year Walter Knee sold Midway to George L. Palmer of Trowbridge. (26) Palmer lived at Springfield House, a large house now gone, and was responsible for the gift of land known and Palmer's Gardens.
The next year's census shows John Coles, florist, as tenant, with his wife, son and daughter helping him in the business, and a boarder who was also a florist. Three children were scholars, and there was one visitor, a student.
In 1892 George Palmer sold the house and some land to Henry Summers Baynton for £2,000. (27) Baynton was living in Edgbaston at the time, but a family of that name had been in Wiltshire for centuries; in the 17th and 18th centuries they were at Spye Park, and had also had Rowley Farm in the late 17th century. (28) Baynton removed the front of the house however, and put his own initial over the front door. Little has been found about his personal life. There was a valuation of the property in 1925, which gave the theoretical rent of the house as £105 p.a., and of the associated 65 acres of land as £59. (3) Two years later Henry Baynton died, but his obituary in the Wiltshire Times says no more than this. (31) His widow remained at Midway until 1935. In 1939 Lt. Col. Auberon Godfrey Faulkner D.S.O., M.C. was at the house. More recently it was the home of Timothy Walker of the World Wildlife Fund, who died in 1988. At the time, Llamas and other exotic creatures were to be seen grazing in front of the house. Thanks are dike to Mr K. H Rogers and Mrs Joyce Jefferson for useful information supplied in the course of this history.

March 1993 R. and B. Harvey Wiltshire Building Record.

References:
1. R.W. Oliver. Baptists in Bradford-on-Avon
2. Will AS, Henry Shrapnel 1688
3. 217/7
4. 1075/001/125
5. G20/990/18
6. Wingfield Registers.
7. Will, P.R.O. Zachariah Shrapnel, 1723
8. 212B/4890
9. 118/129;270/44
10. Bishop's License, 1753
11. Alumni Oxon.
12. A1/345/439
13. Will, P.R.O. Zachariah Shrapnel 1796
14. History of Church Farm, Wingfield, Wilts Building Record.
15. Dictionary of National Biography.
16. The Field, 24 October, 1914
17. A1/345/439
18. 768/42; Alumni Cantab
19. Pevsner, Wiltshire
20 Alumni Cantab.
21. Dictionary of National Biography
22. 2540/1
23/ Will, AS, Stephen Mizen, 1844
24. Owner's deed
25. Will Salisbury, Mary Ann Gauntlett 1886
26. Owner's deed
27. Owner's Deed
28. Victoria County History of Wiltshire, Vol. 7 p.71
29. 2540/1
30. G2/500/14
31. Wiltshire Times 16 April 1927
Also registers of Wingfield and Bradford. All at Wiltshire Record Office, except Public Record Office Wills.

General Henry Shrapnell
Inventor of the Shrapnel shell, youngest son of a family of nine children of Zachariah Shrapnel, esq. (b. 22 Dec. 1724, d. 5 May 1796) of Midway Manor House, Bradford-on- Avon, Wiltshire, and of his wife, Lydia (Needham), was born on 3 June 1761. His brothers dying without issue, he became the head of the family. He received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal Artillery on 9 July 1779. He went to Newfoundland in 1780, and was promoted first lieutenant on 3 Dec. 1781. He returned to England in 1784, when he began, at his own expense, to make experiments and to investigate the problems connected with hollow spherical projectiles filled with bullets and bursting charges, and with their discharge from the heavy and light ordnance of the time-investigations which ultimately led to his great invention of the shell called after his name. In 1787 he went to Gibraltar, and remained there until 1791, when he was sent to the West Indies, and was stationed successively at Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua, and St. Kitts.
Shrapnel was promoted after his return to England to be Captain-lieutenant on 15 Aug. 1793. He served in the army of the Duke of York in Flanders, and was wounded at the siege of Dunkirk in September. It is recorded that at the retreat from Dunkirk Shrapnel made two suggestions which were successfully adopted: one was to lock the wheels of all the gun-carriages and skid them over the sands ; the other was making decoy fires at night away from the British position, whereby the enemy expended his Ammunition on them uselessly while the British were departing. He was promoted to be Captain on 3 Oct. 1795, brevet-major on 29 April 1802, major in the royal artillery on 1 Nov. 1803, and regimental lieutenant-colonel on 20 July 1801. During all this period he devoted not only his leisure time but all the money which he could spare to his inventions, and in 1803 he had attained such great success that his case-shot or shell was recommended by the board of ordnance for adoption into the service. In 1804 Shrapnel was appointed first assistant-inspector of Artillery, and was for many years engaged at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich in developing and perfecting this and other inventions connected with ordnance.
In 1804 Shrapnel shell was employed in the attack on Surinam, and favourably reported on. Its after progress, although frequently retarded by defects of manufacture, the imperfection of the fuse, and the difficulties incidental to all considerable novelties in artillery, was nevertheless steady and triumphant. 'This destructive shell, which in every country goes by the name of the inventor, is in more extended use and is more highly thought of, if possible, in the present day than ever. 'The testimony that Shrapnel received to the value of his shell was ample. The Duke of Wellington wrote to Sir John Sinclair on 13 act. 1808 to testify to the great benefit which the army lately under his command had derived from the use Of Shrapnel's case-shot in two actions with the enemy he considered it most desirable that the use of the invention should not be made public, and, as therefore Shrapnel would be deprived of the fame and honour which he might otherwise have enjoyed, he should be amply rewarded' for his ingenuity and the science which he has proved he possesses by the great perfection to which he has brought this Invention.' In the following year. Wellington wrote to Shrapnel on 16 June from Abrantes, to tell him that his shell had had the best effect in producing the defeat of the enemy at Vimiera on 21 Aug. 1808. Sir William Robe (q. v.), who commanded the artillery ill the Peninsula, wrote to Shrapnel from Torres Vedras on the same date that the artillery had been. complimented both by the French and all our own general officers, in a way highly flattering to us. ...It (the shell] is admirable to the whole army and its effects dreadful. … I told Sir Arthur Wellesley I meant to write to you. His answer was : " You may say anything you please; you cannot say too much." , Admiral Sir Sydney Smith in 1813 was so enthusiastic about these shells that he begged Shrapnel, in case the board of ordnance would not send him enough of them, to let him know how he might get them at his private expense, and soon after he ordered a supply of two hundred privately from Carron. Sir George Wood, who commanded the brigade of artillery at Waterloo, wrote to Shrapnel from Waterloo village, on 21 June 1815, that had it not been for his shells it was very doubtful whether any effort of the British could have recovered the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, .and hence on this simple circumstance hinges entirely the turn of the battle.' This was the general testimony to the value of the invention, and at a later date commanders in the field, such as Lord Keane, Sir William Nott, Sir Robert Sale, Sir George Pollock, Lord Gough, Sir Harry Smith, and others, wrote after Shrapnel's death to his son; expressing the very high estimation in which they held these shells.
Shrapnel was promoted to be colonel in the army on 4 June 1813 and regimental colonel on 20 Dec. 1814. On 10 Sept. 1813 he addressed the board of ordnance on the subject of some reward being made to him, and pointed out that for twenty-eight years
he had been unremitting in his exertions to bring his invention to the great excellence and repute it had attained, and that it had cost him seven thousand pounds from his private purse. The board's reply was simply that they had no funds at their disposal for the reward of merit.' In 1814, however, the treasury granted him a pension of 1,200l. A year for life for his services, in addition to any other pay to which he was entitled in the ordinary course. The government undoubtedly meant to act justly, but, unfortunately, the niggardly interpretation of the terms of the grant by the public departments charged with the scrutiny of expenditure construed it in such a way that Shrapnel ,would have been better off if it had never been made. Thus the grant was interpreted to include all his improvements in artillery beside the shell ; further, in consequence of Shrapnel being already provided for by this special pension, he was passed over a promotion to the commandant ship of a battalion.
Shrapnel was promoted to be major-general on 12 Aug. 1819, and retired from active employment on 29 July 1825. He became a colonel-commandant of the royal artillery on 6 March 1827 , and was promoted to be lieutenant-general on 10 Jun. 1837. A short time after this promotion Shrapnel ,was the guest of William IV at Brighton, When the king personally acknowledged his high sense of Shrapnel's services, and signified a desire to bestow upon him some honour. Shrapnel would appear to have intimated a desire for some honour which would descend to his son, as Sir Herbert Taylor wrote to him from Windsor Castle on 23 April 1837 expressing the king's readiness to confer a baronetcy upon the inventor; but William died soon after ,and nothing further was done. Shrapnel died at his residence, Peartree House, Southampton, on 13 March 1842, a disappointed man; he was buried in the family vault in the chancel of Bradford church, Wiltshire ,In addition to the invention of shell, Shrapnel compiled range tables, invented a brass tangent elide, improved the construction of mortars and howitzers by the introduction of parabolic chambers ; he also constructed a duplex disappearing mounting for two pieces of ordnance, so arranged that the recoil of I one gun lowered it under cover while it brought the other up ready to fire; he improved small arms and ammunition, and invented some fuses. Shrapnel married, on 5 May 1810, at St. Mary's Church, Lambeth, Esther Squires {b. 1780, d. 1852) of that parish. They had two sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Henry Needham Scrope (b. 26 July 1812, ~1 June 1896), educated. at Cambridge University, was a Captain In the 3rd dragoon guards and was afterwards barrack-master in Ireland ,Bermuda, Halifax, and Montreal. After his retirement from the service about I866, he pressed his father's claims for reward on the government and on both houses of parliament, but without success, and he , then went to Canada and settled at Orillila in Ontario. He married, on 19 Aug. 1835, at St. Mary's Church, Dover, Louisa Sarah Jonsiffe (b. 1818, d. 1880), by whom he had Fifteen children; six were living in British North America ; the eldest, Edward Scrope Shrapnel, was an artist in Toronto.
A portrait of Shrapnel, painted in oils by F, Arrowsmith in 1817, hangs in the reading-room of the Royal Artillery Institution at Woolwich.
[War Office Records; Royal Artillery Records; Gent,. Mag. 1842; Patent Office Records ; Proceedings Royal Artillery Institution, Vol. V., article on Shrapnel of the Past; Petition of Henry Needham Scrope Shrapnel to the House of Lords, 1868, 8vo, and to the House of Commons 1869; private sources; Letters of Colonel Sir Augustus Simon Fraser, written during the Peninsular War, and Waterloo Campaigns, 8vo, 1859 ;Wellington Dispatches; Kane's List of Officers of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, 1869, 4vo; Duncan's History of the Royal Artillery; Royal Mili- tary Calendar, 1820, vol, iii.] R. H. V.

Will of Henry Shrapnell - 1688
In the name of God Amen the last will & testament of Henry Shrapnell of Bradford in the County of Wilts, Cooper made & signed the 19th day of April A.D. 1688 in manner & form following .That is to say I having first of all made null & void all form & other wills by me made what form.do give my soul unto almighty god having assuredly enjoy eternal life through the only movity of ye dear Lord & Saviour Jesus Christ who loved me & died for my ...against for my justification and my body I commit to the dust from whenceI was taken to be buried at the discretion of my executors. And as .. My wordly estate my will is that it shall be disposed of as followes Imprimus unto Ann my dear & loving wife I give & bequeathe all the goods & various stuff that was hers before our Marriage and brought to Bradford and unto her also I give & bequeathe the sum of of one hundred and fourty pounds of godd & lawful money of England I give . What Interest shall remain due to me from any person that has or shall have the same in interest at the day of my decease, on this condition never the less that my said wife at the bequest of my son Zaccariah Shrapnel & Noah Shrapnell that .. For ever all her jointure and dower whatsoever that she may have or may challenge to have out of any of my lands ,houses or tenements whatsoever .. And .. Void all be .. My said wife & my children I do hereby .. that what money is owed my wife at Taunton. I never had nor hath any thing to do herewith nor it with 25 of 15 if on band in bradford 10 of on a mortgage in Melksham for with for shall not be accountable any person or persons whatsoever nor yet for any thing I do give delivered unto her always to be under stood that these bonds in my name or hobards name of any person or persons with in 5 miles of Bradford for 25 are to be ammounted part of the £180 of good & lawful money of England. Also unto my said wife I give and bequeathe all such provision I shall have in my house towards house keeping at the day of my decease together with all wood for .. For the fine and my will is further that so long by me after my deceaee as my wife shall continue in bradford she shall have the use of any of my household goods as are fitting for her house keeping leaving the same to my son noah at her marriage or from thence unto my son Zaccariah to give and bequeathe my ground called udduths for all my therein paying out of the same pounds of lawful money of England unto the first child that my daughter Elizabeth shall have he attain the age of one & twenty years and he or his executors shall not then pay the same ten pounds to such child then in my my will that child shall from thence forth have & to hold ground for at for me then to thereon item unto my daughter Elizabeth I give and beqwueathe one broad piece of gold and unto my daughter in law .. Buck thought I give a& bequeathe a gunny and unto her brother Robert s two children I give & bequeathe ten shillings a piece and unto a widower viz, Ann Batchellor Mary Ruth Mary Rogers & Alice Holbrook I give & bequeathe five shillings a piece my son Noah Shrapnell I give & bequeathe all the rest & residue of my personall estate not for in before given or bequeathed and my said son noah & the said Ann my wife I do hereby make & ordaine to be unto & executive of this my last will & testament in witness whereiof I have hereunto set my hand the day and given full above written Signed sealed & published to be the last will & testament of the said Henry Shrapnell.

Inventory of Henry Shrapnel in 1688
A Inventory table the 5th Day of May 1688 of ye goods money of Henry Shrapnel of Brdaford in ye county of Wilts. By Jacob Silby, Zaccariah Shrapnell, & Robert Taplin appraised as follows:
Imprimus
Brass & Pewter in ye Hall- - £7-9s-2d
A tableboard stools other lumber in ye same room-£3-0-0
In ye Kithche a furnace a .. Pans 2 foundery & other goods there £4-0-0
also in ye same room & in goods £1-0-0
In ye hall chamber a bed stead & all furniture £7-0-0
also in ye same 6 chairs a table board & other goods £2-10-0
in Plate £14-0-0
In ye Parlour chamber 1 bed & appertentures & other Lumber £3-10-0
In ye Garrats 2 beds & all apertenures & other Lumber £5-0-0
Wood Vessel in ye Buttery & elsewhere & in house of Broad Board & ye .. £5-0-0
In Timber & Timber goodsd £40-0-0
In Iron Goods £27-0-0
In wheat in ye ground £3-0-0
In ye ground called Paddox £20-0-0
In his wearing Apperil £10-0-0
In Debts owed him on book £65-0-0
Money in House £37-0-0
Money at Interest £173-0-0
total £430-9-02
signed Jacob Silby, Zaccariah Shrapnell

Marriage Settlement for Zaccariah Shrapnell in 1724
A Marriage settlement for the wedding of Zaccariah Shrapnell to Elizabeth Minifree in 1724 (W.R.O. 212b - 489)
Zaccariah Shrapnell, Clothier Marriage Settlement of a New House at Wingfield, Westwood, Wingfield + 6 Messuages in St. Margarets St + Morgans Hill in Bradford.
(1) Shrapnell, Zaccariah
(2) Minifrie, James, Esq. Of Staplegrove.
(3) Minifrie, Elizabeth, Spinster, Daughter of James.
(4) Clarke, Jepp esq, of Ninehead, Somereset. Henry Shrapnell of Taunton Dean, brother of Zachariah.
(5) Camplin, Thomas, Clerk of Brenton Ralph. John Bailward, Gent of Bradford.

1 st page of document deals with new built house (Midway Manor) at Wingfield and a list of related fields. The second sheet details:
…… half acre of Pasture lying by the Highway leading from Bradford to Westwood which last said mentioned premises are situate lying and being in the Parish of Bradford and Wingfield aforesaid and were lately purchased by the said Zaccariah Shrapnell partly are to him and his heirs in Fee Simple from Richard Guppy and others and also all those six several messuages or tenements and premises with their appurtenances there to belonging situate and being in a street or place called St. Margaret`s Street and Morgans Hill in Bradford aforesaid and now or lately were in the Tenure or occupation of the said John Bailward, Anthony Sims, Sarah Hopkins, James Morris, Robert Deverall, and Elianor Alderwick, and all houses , outhouses and ediffices, Buildings, Barnes, Stables, Orchards, Garden, Lands, Meadows, Pastures………………………….
………. Released to said Jepp Clarke and Henry Shrapnell, their
assigns………………………… term of 500 years to said Thomas Camplin and John Bailward, their executors……….. Elizabeth Winifree… intended wife …. Said Thomas Camplin and John Bailward

The Shrapnel Memorials in Holy Trinity Church, Bradford on Avon
The Shrapnel family first appear in the Bradford Church registers in 1625. They are not recorded in the second half of the 17th century, but reappear in the 18th. This may be because they briefly left the Church of England; Henry Shrapnel, probably grandfather of the builder of Midway, was listed as an Anabaptist in 1662, and his grandson Zechariah1 leased the land on which the Old Baptist Chapel was built in Bradford to its trustees for a nominal rent.(1) But the family also had connections with Taunton. Henry's eldest son, Henry junior, was a cooper (barrel-maker) in Bradford. His first wife was named Elizabeth. His wife died in 1676, and Henry remarried Ann (probably Buckthought) from Taunton. When he died in 1688, Henry left a will in which he left a field called Puddocks, on condition that he paid his sister Elizabeth's first child £10. To Elizabeth herself he gave a "broad piece of gold". He also left money to his Buckthought step-children, and 5s each to four poor widows of Bradford. As was customary, an inventory was taken of his goods and chattels. This shows that he was living in a Bradford house with three rooms on each floor and had propetry worth £430-what one would expect of a wealthy yeoman. Henry was buried at Holy Trinity Church, where the family has a memorial at the west end of the south wall.
The family continued to have connections with brewing; in 1754 John Shrapnel was a cooper with a house in Newtown, Bradford. (2) In 1766 William Shrapnel bought for £200n the Inn in Fore St, Trowbridge then known as the Hart and Cock, but later as the White Hart. It remained with the family till 1820, and is now the site of W.H. Smith's shop. (4)
Henry's eldest son, Zachariah I however was probably a Clothier: certainly his descendants were in a profitable business. By 1702 he was in Bradford, where he was paying rates on land and houses in Bradford, Leigh, Trowle and Winsley, and he is listed in the rate book as Mr. Zachariah, a mark of Status. (5). An Illegitimate son was born in 1713 to Dinah Seele, which suggests that Zachariah Shrapnel Seele, which suggests that Zachariah was established in the parish by the. (6) As we shall see, he was the most likely builder of the original Midway. He died in 1723, and left a will which contrary to custom at the time does not open by leaving his soul to God. (7) There is no mention of his wife, children or illegitimate son. His houses and lands in Bradford and Wingfield were left to his nephew Zachariah II, son of his brother Noah. There was also further lands which their father had settled on Zachariah I and then to Noah. These were to pass to Zachariah II, or Noah was to lose £300 left to him in the Will. Nephews and Nieces were left legacies of £100-£400, subject to similar conditions. Zachariah I made a number of gifts of mourning clothes- suits to his siblings and Niece Elizabeth black clocth to cousins Samuel an ironmonger and John , a clothdrawer, and Dr Authowe of Bradford. To his cousin John Bailward, a witness, he leaves dark grey cloth. To some people in Bradford who were probably his tenants he left suits of mourning "suitable to their degree and quality" The poor of Bradford received 40s worth of bread. Zachariah I had an apprentice, who was to receive 1 guinea at the ned of ihis apprenticeship. Zachariah II was his executor; the cash legacies exceeded £1,500. ZachariahI was buried at Holy Trinty. Zachariah II was a clothier. His marriage settlement was drawn up soon after his uncle's death, and his bride was Elizabeth Minifree of Staple grove near Taunton, with whom he received £2,500 as part of her dowry. (8) In return Zachariah II settled on her his Bradford and Wingfield estates, and this sheds more light on Midway's origins. The settlement begins with "a new-built mansion house" (which can mean anything up to 30 years old)., and then lists about 40 acres of land, the freehold of which had been bought by ZachariahI from Walter Greene. It continues with land which had been part of Rowley Farm* (but which was not the site of Midway), a house in Bradford Leigh, and six houses in St. Margaret's St, Bradford.
The deed in which Walter Greene sold land to Zachariah I has not been found, Greene, of Brooke House, Westbury, had bought the manor of Wingfield for £4220 in 1683; at that time the manor house was Stowford Farm. By 1709 Wingfield Manor was in the possession of the Cooper family. (9) this suggests that Zachariah I`s purchase of the land was between these two dates, and that the original house was built soon after his purchase. A year after Zachariah II`s marriage his eldest son, Zachariah III was born. There are no details of other children, nor did Zachaiah II leave a will when he died and was buried at Bradford in 1761.
Zachariah III had married in 1753, when he was 29 Lydia Needham, daughter of Joseph Needham, who was vicar of Colerne from 1725 until 1760.(10) They had nine children, the eldest of whom, Zachariah IV, died at the early age of 32 and in the lifetime of his Father . Three children died in infancy. The second son, Joseph, was named after Lydia`s father, and like him entered the Church. He had matriculated at Merton College, Oxford. In 1776, obtained his B.A. In 1780 and his M.A. in 1783.(11) he died in 1821 and is remembered on the family memorial. The Third son, Henry who inherited Midway, was the inventor of the Shrapnel shell. Of the three daughters, Ann died unmarried in 1787, Elizabeth married in 1794 William Hamilton Warren and died two years later, and Rachel married in 1789 Thomas Biddulph, their son Thomas also went into the Church and died in 1837.
A large rectangular memorial of white marble with a black border. This records the deaths of fifteen members of the family from 1676 through to 1852. The memorial is in several parts and has clearly been made to order over the years; the original having large spaces for later additions. Many of the Christian names are carried through the generations.

At the top of the inscription:
HENRY SHRAPNEL d.1688
ELIZABETH SHRAPNEL, his Wife d.1676
ZACHARIAH SHRAPNEL d.1723
ZACHARIAH SHRAPNEL d.1761, aged 67

Then, in lower case script, are three children:
Joseph Shrapnel, died 1756, aged 1 year
Joseph Shrapnel, died 1759, aged only 3 weeks
Lydia Shrapnel, died 1766, aged 10

Then again in capitals:
ANN SHRAPNEL, died 1787, aged 27
Z.SCROPE SHRAPNEL died 1787, aged 33
(1787 must have been a sad year for the family).

Then in larger capitals:
ELIZABETH WARREN d. 1796 aged 38
(daughter of Zachariah and Lydia)
In the same year, 1796, Zachariah Shrapnel died aged 71, and in 1797 his wife
Lydia died, aged 70.

Then, in a different style of lettering:
The Revnd JOSEPH SHRAPNEL died in 1821, aged 61.
On another tablet beneath the original rectangle is recorded the death of GENERAL HENRY SCROPE SHRAPNEL, who died in 1849 (incorrect?). Probably the escutcheon in the apex of the pediment was added at the same
time, with a bomb fired.
On an apron below, obviously added later, is ESTHER, wife of General Henry, who died in 1852. Her age is left blank.
The Shrapnell Hatchment
High above the inner wall of the north aisle is a hatchment, believed to be that for Henry Scrope. This is a large lozenge-shaped, wooden frame, with arms painted on canvas to withstand the weather. A hatchment was usually hung on the front of the house where the deceased had died, or the family home, during the mourning period. Henry died in Peartree House, Southampton, but it could have been hung at Midway Manor, Wingfield. It has not yet been possible to ascertain how the Shrapnel hatchment came to be hung in Holy Trinity Church.
In his book Bradford-on-Avon, 1859, the Rev. Henry Jones describes the hatchment thus:
Arms, formerly on an atch"ment, I. Crusily, a lion rampant; 2 and 3 Quarterly I and IV., Argent, a bend or; II. Azure, a saltier or; III. Azure, on a saltier or, two bars gules; IV. Gules, a fess ermine between three nag's heads erased or; over all on an escutcheon a bomb fired. Crest, out of a coronet or, a plume of ostrich feathers. Motto: Ratio ultima Regum.
A study of Burke's General Armoury, 1842-1844 and Papworth's Ordinaries of British Armorials, gives no evidence that the arms were entitled. The entire achievement is therefore dubious (not uncommon in Victorian times). Of interest, however, is the bomb-fired in the centre and the motto, which can be translated as "(War is) THE FINAL ARGUMENT OF KINGS".

GENERAL HENRY SCROPE SHRAPNEL (1761-1842)
HENRY SCROPE SHRAPNEL was born in 1761, probably at the family home at the old Manor House of Midway at Wingfield. His father, Zachariah, was an important clothier of Bradford, but Henry Scrope became an officer in the Royal Artillery. He devised an exploding bomb, which was apparently used with effect at the Battle of Waterloo (1815). He left the army in 1825 and died in 1842, and was buried in the chancel. A brass plate records this location, but the date differs from that on the wall memorial. Henry married Esther, who died in 1852. They had a son, Henry Needham Scrope Shrapnel (1812-1896).
General Shrapnel
Henry Scrope Shrapnel was born in Bradford in 1761 and died on 13 March 1842. He was buried in the family vault in Holy Trinity church. (The year shown on the mural tablet is incorrect; a brass plate in the chancel floor records the correct one). He was the son of the Zachariah Shrapnel who died in 1796. Henry Shrapnel was a regular officer in the Royal Artillery so keen on improving the efficiency of artillery bombardment that he devoted over many years his own time and money to it. The most effective and sinister of his inventions was the exploding shell. Shrapnel filled a metal canister or 'shell' with bullets and added a small bursting charge just sufficient to split it open at a given point, so that, instead of lobbing at the enemy a hunk of solid metal on a hit or miss basis, in future it would be possible to rain death and destruction all around. His claim for reimbursement of the small fortune he had spent fell on deaf ears, even in the light of a despatch from the Waterloo battlefield itself that the shell's deployment for the recapture of the key position at the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, where the British line had been pierced, had been decisive. Shrapnel had hoped that the government would reward and compensate him. All he got was a pension of £1200 a year, which he would have been better off without as he was passed over for promotion and the award was construed in such a way as to nullify other claims he had made for improving fire-power. There was talk of a baronetcy and the king was willing and read y; but Shrapnel seems to have been singularly lacking in friends in high places and nothing came of it. He left the army in 1825 and died at Southampton a very disgruntled man. His son, Henry Needham Scrope Shrapnel (1812-1896), after retirement in 1866 made it his business to press his father's claims but met with no greater success.
Disenchanted with his native land he went to live in Canada. On the stone piers of the gateway leading to the house are represented shrapnel bombs and the names of battles claimed to have been won by their use: Waterloo, Table Bay, Chuzneemedanse, Kioze, Bidasoa, Tsage and Busaco.
Midway Manor, with some 109 acres, was owned until his death in 1988 by Mr. Timothy Walker, United Kingdom chairman of the World Wildlife Fund. With his wife Rosemary he maintained there a private zoo of rare and exotic animals. The property was later owned for a while by Mr. Ronald Scott, chairman of the Caspian Pony Society, and his wife Jane. The present occupants are Mr. and Mrs. James Robson.

MIDWAY MANOR and the Shrapnel Family
The Shrapnels were Bradford clothiers from at least the seventeenth century. A stone tablet in Holy Trinity church records the deaths of Henry in 1688, three Zachariahs in 1723, 1761 and 1796, the Reverend Joseph in 1821 and General Henry Scrope Shrapnel in 1849. The Old Manor House of Midway at Wingfield, three miles south of Bradford on the B3109, said to have dated from the twelfth century, was the boyhood home of General Henry Shrapnel, inventor of the exploding she]] known by his name. The old house was pulled down and the present one built by Henry Summers Baynton in 1893.