Transcript

of

William Edward Mugford

Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries vol. IX, (January 1916 to January 1917), p. 13.

by

Editors

Prepared by Michael Steer

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37. WILLIAM EDWARD MUGFORD. - It is with much regret that we chronicle the death of Mr. William Edward Mugford, of Exeter, a frequent and valued contributor to the pages of Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. Mr. Mugford was the son of William and Catherine Mugford, and was born in Exeter on the 10th July, 1861. He received his early education at the Practising School in connection with the Exeter Diocesan Training College, and afterwards at the University College in Queen Street. At the latter he carried off many prizes, including the Tucker prize awarded to the most successful student in science for the year. For fourteen years Mr. Mugford was chief clerk in the Bishop's Registry. In 1895 he was articled to Mr. Andrew, of the firm of Roberts and Andrew, solicitors of Exeter, and passed the intermediate law examination, but bad health prevented him from continuing in the profession. From boyhood he had been a great sufferer from asthma. He succumbed to an acute attack of bronchitis on the 14th January after only a few days' illness, and was buried in the Exeter Higher Cemetery. During the time Mr. Mugford was at the Bishop's Registry he acquired an intimate and thorough knowledge of the many and various original documents connected with the diocese, and his knowledge of local pedigree work was of the highest order. He bore his complaint with much fortitude, and his general manner and his readiness at all times to give a helping hand in genealogical and antiquarian research endeared him to a large circle of Cornishmen and Devonians, at home and abroad. Mr. Mugford was a member of the Devonshire Association ; and in addition to his contributions to our pages he translated and edited with the Rev. O. J. Reichel "An Old Exeter Manuscript," which we published as a supplement in 1907. His most recent work, and a very valuable one, was the issue, in conjunction with the Rev. Sub-Dean Granville, of the first part of "Abstracts of the Existing Transcripts of the lost Parish Registers of Devon, 1596-1644." For the purposes of the latter work Mr. Mugford sorted and tabulated the whole of the Devon Transcripts in the Bishop's Registry and compared them with a large number of parish registers. We sincerely trust that another enthusiast will be found to continue Mr. Mugford's share of this valuable work.