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Vidler, Vitler and Prior Too -
The History of an East
Sussex Family |
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William
Vitler Prior |
Our story begins in Hooe, a tiny village in East Sussex, when Ann Prior took her son to St Oswald’s Church to be baptised. His entry in the 1755 page reads ‘Vitler Wm, son of Ann Prior Sept 7th’. To my knowledge this was the first time a Vitler had ever been recorded in Hooe. We can assume that his father was probably William Vitler, as it was commonplace in those days to see an illegitimate child named in this way. It is possible that he originated from nearby Battle or Ticehurst, but to date this hasn't been proved. An entry in the Hooe parish registers for 1750 records an illegitimate child named Thomas Waite Prior. So it is possible that William Vitler Prior had an older brother. Subsequent entries in the parish registers record the family name as Vitler Prior, Prior alone, with the variation ‘Pryor’ on occasions. It is not until about 30 years later that Prior was omitted and Vitler used alone. It was later still that some branches changed to Vidler. We don’t know any more about Ann Prior; there are two possible burials recorded in the Hooe registers, one in 1779 and another in 1812.
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