William Thoyts was High Sheriff of Berkshire

High Sheriff of Berkshire

The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'....

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William was born in 1767 in Bishopsgate

Bishopsgate

Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...

, the son of John Thoyts of Sulhamstead House in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

 and his wife, Mary, the daughter of Thomas Burfoot, the Treasurer of Christ's Hospital

Christ's Hospital

Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...

. He inherited his father's estates, centred on Sulhamstead

Sulhamstead

Sulhamstead is a village, electoral district and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It lies off the A4 national route between Reading and Thatcham, some west of central London.-Location:thumb|left|250px|1888 Ordnance Survey Parish Boundary Map...

 Abbots, at the age of only eight and shortly afterwards united them with the manor

Manorialism

Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...

 of Sulhamstead

Sulhamstead

Sulhamstead is a village, electoral district and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It lies off the A4 national route between Reading and Thatcham, some west of central London.-Location:thumb|left|250px|1888 Ordnance Survey Parish Boundary Map...

 Bannister. In 1788, he married Jane, the daughter and co-heiress of Abram Newman

Abram Newman

Abram Newman was a partner in one of the leading grocers in 18th century London that imported a wide range of produce including tea, coffee, sugar and spices....

 of Mount Bures

Mount Bures

Mount Bures is a small village on the Essex and Suffolk borders. It takes its name from the mount or motte believed to have been built shortly after the invasion by William the Conqueror in 1066....

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, the famous London tea merchant. They had a large family of ten children, including Jane, the wife of William Best, 2nd Baron Wynford

William Best, 2nd Baron Wynford

William Samuel Best, 2nd Baron Wynford , was a British peer.-Background:Wynford was the son of William Best, 1st Baron Wynford, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and his wife, Mary Anne, daughter of Jerome Knapp Junior of Chilton in Berkshire , Clerk of the Haberdashers' Company, by his second...

, and their heir, Mortimer George Thoyts

Mortimer George Thoyts

Mortimer George Thoyts was a Victorian High Sheriff of Berkshire and a Captain in the Royal Berkshire Militia.Mortimer was born 6 November 1804 at Sulhamstead House in Berkshire, the only son of William Thoyts of that place and his wife, Jane, the daughter and co-heiress of the famous city grocer,...

, who was the grandfather of the palaeographer

Palaeography

Palaeography, also spelt paleography is the study of ancient writing. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating historical manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and books were produced, and the history of...

, historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and genealogist

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

, Emma Elizabeth Thoyts

Emma Elizabeth Thoyts

Emma Elizabeth Thoyts , aka Mrs. John Hauntenville Cope, was an English palaeographer, historian and genealogist.Emma was born in Bryanston Square, Marylebone in Middlesex on 8 July 1860, the eldest daughter Maj. William Richard Mortimer Thoyts of Sulhamstead House in Berkshire and his wife, Anne...

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In 1795, William became High Sheriff of Berkshire. In 1800, he rebuilt the family home largely as it stands today, minus the famous portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

. William died in November 1817 and was buried in the family vault

Burial vault (tomb)

A burial vault is a structural underground tomb.It is a stone or brick-lined underground space or 'burial' chamber for the interment of a dead body or bodies. They were originally and are still often vaulted and usually have stone slab entrances...

beneath St Mary's Church, Sulhamstead Abbots.