William WHITELAND was baptised 25 Apr 1801 at Tunworth as William WHEATLAND. The genealogy trail ends there, as no parents are named in the parish register. William married Phoebe HUNT at Tunworth on 8 Nov 1828, witnesses were George LOWE and Martha HUNT. Phoebe was born about 1803 at Monk Sherborne, Hampshire.
William Whiteland is recorded as an agricultural labourer on the tithe apportionments which accompany the tithe map of Upton Grey (circa 1840) as living at a property owned by a Reverend Carleton at Bidden, which is on the road eastwards out of Upton Grey.

Children of William and Phoebe WHEATLAND/WIGHTLAND/WHITELAND:

Ann WHEATLAND, bapt 23/8/1829 at Tunworth
Ellen WIGHTLAND, bapt 12/6/1831 at Upton Grey
John WIGHTLAND, bapt 27/10/1833 at Upton Grey
Maria WIGHTLAND, bapt 22/11/1835 at Upton Grey
Jane WIGHTLAND, bapt 21/12/1838 at Upton Grey; m. Morris SHRIMPTON 16/3/1861 Basingstoke; d. 17/1/1904; WILL
George WHITELAND, b. 28/5/1841, bapt 26/6/1841 at Upton Grey; m. Ann THORN; d. 7/3/1922
Martha WHITELAND, bapt 10/9/1843 at Upton Grey

This family has been difficult to trace. The parish register names the parents of Ellen, John, Maria and Jane as George and Phoebe Wightland and gives the abode for John, Maria and Jane as Bidden. The 1841 census shows the family living in the household of William and Phoebe WHITELANE at a location consistent with the tithe map record. I believe that the evidence points towards one family unit, with William also using the name George for a while in the 1830s. Separately accounted for is another family headed by another George Whiteland who was bapt in 1798 at Tunworth. Close relatives lived in the neighbouring parishes of Herriard, Bramdean and Weston Patrick. Any new information that may help clarify these families would be gladly welcomed.

Suicide

William hanged himself at Upton Grey 14 Dec 1858, aged 56.
The Coroner's inquest was held 16 Dec 1858. The records of this inquest no longer survive, but The Hampshire Chronical on 18 Dec 1858 reported on it briefly:

"At Upton Grey, on Thursday, on the body of William Whiteland, labourer, who committed suicide by hanging himself in his master's stable on the 14th instant. Verdict, Insanity."

The death certificate gives the cause as "strangulation" and that he "destroyed his own life being at the time of unsound mind". At that time, suicide was illegal, leaving the deceased person's family dispossessed and making burial in consecrated ground a difficult matter. However, the humane use of an official verdict of "while of unsound mind" allowed a bereaved family to bury their loved one with more dignity. William was buried at Upton Grey on 18 Dec 1858.

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e-mail: Mark Scott

My thanks to Terry and Sylvia Molloy, Brigid Fice, also to the Hampshire Local Studies Collection County Library, for their kind help with the above information.

Updated: 23 Feb 2008