Hunt, William - P6719

William Hunt was a plasterer and builder who had been born in Eton, and later spent his life in Englefield Green, living near the church in Bond Street.
After the death of his second wife Elizabeth Dobson, he paid for a stained glass window in the church in memory of both wives. It was manufactured by the firm of Jones & Willis, and was erected in 1902.
It's a rather nice picture of the Good Shepherd looking down on 2 sheep for the two wives. The inscription reads: "I am the Good Shepherd. Erected by W Hunt To the Glory of God and in memory of his two wives Elizabeth died 14th Sepr 1873 Elizabeth died 26th Novr 1899".

His first wife was Elizabeth Sumpter. She belonged to a family living in the "poor" part of the village -- it was a fashionable village otherwise -- in the so-called "Sandpits" now between Victoria Street and South Road in Englefield Green.
There's a book of stories called "Neighbours on the Green", by Mrs Margaret Oliphant, published in the 1880s, that has slightly fictionalized accounts of Englefield Green village life in the 1870s or so, and it gives a good idea of the relationship between the rich folk living around the Green and the poor people living in the Sandpits. Apparently around 1900 people in Englefield Green used to entertain themselves working out who all the people in the stories were in real life.
William Hunt in his will set up a charitable trust which gave approximately £8 per year to St Jude’s Church on condition that the graves of the two wives were kept in good order. (If this was not done the income would have passed to Egham Hospital instead.) The trust was wound up in 1995, one of two that were paying out sums that had become ridiculously small by then, but the church still makes sure that the graves are tidy.