# Charles Wilshere

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English landowner and art collector

**Charles Willes Wilshere** (1814–1906) was an English landowner, now best known as a collector of [early Christian art](/source/Early_Christian_art).[1][2]

## Life

He was the third son of Thomas Wilshere of [Hitchin](/source/Hitchin), and his wife Lora Beaumont, daughter of Charles Beaumont of Hartford Hill, [Huntingdonshire](/source/Huntingdonshire);[3] he was the younger brother of [William Wilshere](/source/William_Wilshere) MP (1806–1867), and nephew of [William Wilshere](/source/William_Wilshere_(lawyer)) (1754–1824) the banker. His sister Laura married [Thomas Mills](/source/Thomas_Mills_(MP)) MP.[4]

Wilshere matriculated at [Trinity College, Cambridge](/source/Trinity_College%2C_Cambridge) in 1833, and was admitted at Lincoln's Inn in 1836.[3] He supported the [Tractarian](/source/Tractarian) movement of the 1830s and 1840s, and later the [English Church Union](/source/English_Church_Union).[5][6] In 1884 Harmer Green Chapel, a short way east of [Welwyn](/source/Welwyn), was built to a design by Wilshere and opened as a mission room.[7] According to [F. J. A. Hort](/source/F._J._A._Hort)'s biographer, he was "a student of ecclesiastical history and antiquities."[8]

In 1858 Wilshere joined the [Alpine Club](/source/Alpine_Club_(UK)).[9] In 1867, on the death of his brother William, he inherited [The Frythe](/source/The_Frythe).[3]

*The Frythe Welwyn, Seat of Charles Willes Wilshere Esqure J.P.*, 1877 lithograph

## Collection and legacy

Wilshere is particularly known for his collection of [gold glass](/source/Gold_glass).[10] The *Vetri ornati di figure in oro: trovati nei cimiteri cristiani di Roma* (1858) of [Raffaele Garrucci](/source/Raffaele_Garrucci) explains the origins of the "Recupero collection", named for barone Alessio Recupero of [Catania](/source/Catania).[11][12] Wilshere purchased from the collection at Capobianchi, dealers on [Via del Babuino](/source/Via_del_Babuino), Rome.[13] At the time, the pieces were dated to the [4th century](/source/4th_century).[14] A note to [Charles Drury Edward Fortnum](/source/Charles_Drury_Edward_Fortnum) shows that Wilshere used the [diplomatic bag](/source/Diplomatic_bag) to have Recupero collection pieces shipped from [Florence](/source/Florence) to the [South Kensington Museum](/source/South_Kensington_Museum).[15]

Left by Wilshere to [Pusey House, Oxford](/source/Pusey_House%2C_Oxford), the collection was for many years on loan to the [Ashmolean Museum](/source/Ashmolean_Museum). In 2007 the Ashmolean purchased it.[16] Wilshere had bought larger antiquities, but the rest of his collection proved harder to place. At one point he told Garrucci that he might create a museum of his own.[17]

Wilshere corresponded, in Italian, with the Italian archaeologist [Giovanni Battista de Rossi](/source/Giovanni_Battista_de_Rossi_(archaeologist)), and a collection of 69 letters from him to de Rossi are in the [Vatican Library](/source/Vatican_Library).[15][18]

## Family

Wilshere married in 1840 Elisabeth Marie Farmer, daughter of [William Meeke Farmer](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Meeke_Farmer&action=edit&redlink=1) MP. The couple had four daughters. Florence (1848–1877), the third daughter, married in 1869 Guilbert Edward Wyndham Malet of the [Royal Horse Artillery](/source/Royal_Horse_Artillery), son of the Rev. William Wyndham Malet of [Ardeley](/source/Ardeley).[4][19] Alice Augusta, the last surviving daughter, left no heir, and on her death in 1934 the estate was inherited by Gerald Maunsell Gamul Farmer, who took the surname Wilshere.[20]

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Bateman, John (1879). [*The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Eb45AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA475). Harrison and Sons. p. 475.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Jensen, Robin M.; Ellison, Mark D. (20 May 2018). [*The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art*](https://books.google.com/books?id=GEZbDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT319). Routledge. p. 319. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-317-51417-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-317-51417-6).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-acad_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-acad_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-acad_3-2) ["Wilshere, Charles Willes (WLSR833CW)"](https://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2018.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=WLSR833CW&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50). *A Cambridge Alumni Database*. University of Cambridge.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Crisp_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Crisp_4-1) Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1919). [*Visitation of England and Wales*](https://archive.org/details/visitationofengl20howa/page/202/mode/1up). Vol. XX. London: Priv. printed. pp. 202–203.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Walker, Susan](/source/Susan_Walker_(archaeologist)) (30 May 2014). "The Wilshere Collection of late Roman gold-glass at the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford". In Keller, Daniel; Price, Jennifer; Jackson, Caroline (eds.). [*Neighbours and Successors of Rome: Traditions of Glass Production and use in Europe and the Middle East in the Later 1st Millennium AD*](https://books.google.com/books?id=idAVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68). Oxbow Books. p. 68. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78297-398-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78297-398-0).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [*The Church Union Gazette*](https://books.google.com/books?id=umMFAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PT35). English Church Union. 1877. p. 35.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Busby, Richard J. (1976). *The Book of Welwyn: The Story of the Five Villages and the Garden City*. Barracuda Books Limited. p. 40. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-86023-023-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-86023-023-6).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Hort, Arthur (1896). [*Life and letters of Fenton John Anthony Hort*](https://archive.org/details/lifelettershort00hortuoft/page/357/mode/1up). Vol. I. London, New York: Macmillan and co., ltd. p. 357.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** *The Alpine Journal: A Record of Mountain Adventure and Scientific Observation*. Vol. 62–63. Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green. 1957. p. 37.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** [Walker, Susan](/source/Susan_Walker_(archaeologist)), ed. (2017). *Saints and Salvation: The Wilshere Collection of Gold-glass, Sarcophagi and Inscriptions from Rome and Southern Italy*. Ashmolean Museum. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-85444-290-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-85444-290-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Garrucci, Raffaele (1864). [*Vetri ornati di figure in oro: trovati nei cimiteri cristiani di Roma*](https://books.google.com/books?id=AtYsAAAAYAAJ) (in Italian). Tipografia delle belle arti.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Art, Great Britain Department of Science and (1870). [*The First Proofs of the Universal Catalogue of Books on Art Compiled for the Use of the National Art Library and the Schools of Art in the United Kingdom by Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education: A-K*](https://books.google.com/books?id=MdL17aeYtEgC&pg=PA639) (in French). Chapman and Hall. p. 639.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** [https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/dept_projects/latininscriptions/resources/ashli.finalcatalogue.nonmonumental.pdf](https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/dept_projects/latininscriptions/resources/ashli.finalcatalogue.nonmonumental.pdf), p. 230

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["In Engeland., De Gids. Jaargang 32"](https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_gid001186801_01/_gid001186801_01_0081.php). *DBNL* (in Dutch).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-GAM_15-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-GAM_15-1) Morais, Rui; Leão, Delfim; Pérez, Diana Rodríguez; Ferreira, Daniela (11 March 2019). [*Greek Art in Motion: Studies in honour of Sir John Boardman on the occasion of his 90th Birthday*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LxYSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA313). Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 313. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78969-024-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78969-024-8).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Vickers, Michael, "The Wilshere Collection of Early Christian and Jewish Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford," *Miscellanea a Emilio Marin Sexagenario Dicata*, Kacic, 41–43 (2009–2011), pp. 605–614, [PDF](http://www.franjevci-split.hr/pdf/35_vickers.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171019105411/http://www.franjevci-split.hr/pdf/35_vickers.pdf) 19 October 2017 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). Vickers describes the whole collection, on loan to the museum from [Pusey House](/source/Pusey_House) until bought in 2007. The glass is described at 609–613

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Davis, Glynn J. C.; DeLaine, Janet; Kamash, Zena; Potts, Charlotte Rose, eds. (2023). *From the Palatine to Pirro Ligorio: Architectural, Sculptural and Antiquarian Studies in Memory of Amanda Claridge, 1949-2022*. Journal of Roman Archaeology, L.L.C. p. 209. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-9994586-5-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-9994586-5-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["A New Line from Rome to London"](https://www.ashmolean.org/a-new-line-from-rome-to-london). *www.ashmolean.org*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Malet, Guilbert Edward Wyndham"](https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U199870). *[Who's Who](/source/Who's_Who_(UK))*. A & C Black. (Subscription or [UK public library membership](https://www.ukwhoswho.com/page/subscribe#public) required.)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** ["Wilshere Estate, 1806-1954"](https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/4437c9a1-61e2-48d5-a1e6-e6d1ac8b1adf). *nationalarchives.gov.uk*. 1806–1954.

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