Biography

Theodor was born in 1833. He was the son of Johann Baptist Willmann and Crescentia Ketterer, Hannissenhof, Schweighöfe, St. Märgen.^[1]

According to his naturalisation papers, Theodor arrived in the UK in about 1854 "for the
 purpose of business and residence". He lived at Gravel Lane, Blackfriars
 Road, Surrey, for the first six years, so until around 1860.^[2]

Theodore Willman - as his name was sometimes anglicised - married Elizabeth Lywood in the Camberwell registration district of London in the Jul-Aug-Sep quarter of 1861.^[3] They had one known child:

1. Ernest George Willmann (1870-1955).^[4]

When Theodor applied for naturalisation as a British subject in January/ Feburary 1865, he gave his place of residence (since about 1860) as 116 Old Kent 
Road, Bermondsey, Surrey. He declared that he was married with no children, but wanted the right to buy a leasehold property. His naturalisation was granted on 15 February 1865.^[2] See Theodor Willmann's naturalisation documentation here.

He died in 1870.

Research Notes

1861 census entry

The 1861 census places Theodor at Frederick Place, Southwark St George, Surrey (later London) with his younger brother George (born Germany ca. 1841) and a Leopold Ketterer (born Germany ca. 1842), who was possibly related to his mother. All three young men were watchmakers. The FamilySearch indexing conflictingly puts Saint Georges, Shropshire in the citation, when the actual location is clearly Southwark.^[5] Further research required to ascertain whether this St George was connected to St George's cathedral or St George the Martyr, both in Southwark. It appears that Frederick's Place was still an address in the 1891 census, and was in St Saviour, the same district in which Theodor's son was born.^[6]

Children

FreeBMD shows other Willman(n) births in and around St Saviour registration district at the time Theodor was alive. Further research required to ascertain whether these were children who did not survive until 1865, or children of Theodor's brother George or other relatives, or entirely unrelated.

Location of 116 Old Kent Road

Part of the historic Watling Street, the Old Kent Road was in the County of Surrey in the 1860s, later in Greater London, and now forms part of the A2. It "runs from Elephant and Castle to Peckham. It’s just under three miles long, passes through Bermondsey and Walworth and leads to New Cross, Deptford and Lewisham."^[7] The present day numbers 96-120 are for a Lidl supermarket which is in Bermondsey, but historic numbering may have differed.

Farm

There is documentation of a Theodor Willmann purchasing the farm Kleinbauernhof in Unteribental at auction for 10,000 guilders in 1868. This Theodor Willmann said he was from St. Märgen and unmarried. In 1869 he sold the farm to Georg Maier for 10,700 guilders.^[8] It seems doubtful that Theodor Willmann, having become a naturalised British Subject in 1865, declaring that he was settled in the UK, both residentially and for business, and that he was in the process of making arrangements to pay an advance on a mortgage for a property in London/Surrey, would have returned to St. Märgen claiming to be an unmarried resident there, only to return the following year to sell the property again. It is also questionable whether he would have been able to purchase property in St. Märgen had his naturalisation as a British Subject been known. Further research has shown that there was an Isidor Willmann of an an age and marital status (born 6 April 1848, married 26 January 1882) to have been a more likely purchaser of the property, possibly with some confusion about his first name.

Sources

1. ↑ Staatsarchiv Freiburg, L 10 Nr. 1597, St. Märgen FR; Katholische Gemeinde: Standesbuch 1810-1838, Nr. 30
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Naturalisation Papers: Willmann, Theodore, from Baden, Grand Duchy. Certificate 4625 issued 15 February 1865., The National Archives. Ref: HO 1/119/4625, Date: 1865, (accessed 8 August 2023).
3. ↑ "England & Wales Marriage Index", FreeBMD Entry Information (accessed 8 August 2023), Willman, Theodore, GRO Reference: 1861 Jul-Aug-Sep in Camberwell Volume 1d Page 747.
4. ↑ "England & Wales Birth Index"FreeBMD Entry Information (accessed 8 August 2023), Willmann, Ernest George, GRO Reference: 1870 Jul-Aug-Sep in St. Saviour Volume 1d Page 29.
5. ↑ "England and Wales Census, 1861," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2MG-MY9R : 3 March 2021), Theodore Willman, Saint Georges, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO RG 9, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.
6. ↑ ‘A Complete Listing of the Streets of London in 1891, Beginning with the Letter F’. Accessed 9 August 2023. http://www.census1891.com/streets-f.php.
7. ↑ Old Kent Road. ‘Welcome to Old Kent Road’. Accessed 13 August 2023. https://oldkentroad.org.uk/the-area/introducing-the-area/.
8. ↑ Hofgeschichten, Stadtarchiv Freiburg, Dve4212, Seite 7

• Ancestry Family Trees, http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/AMTCitationRedir.aspx?tid=76442272&pid=155

• Willman-49 was created by Sarah Jordan through the import of Caunter.ged on Nov 23, 2014.