Cudgegong Valley History Project

Death of Mr. William Wilton.

One of Mudgee's Pioneers. For months past the friends of Mr. William Wilton, J.P., have been expecting to hear any day of his demise, which took place on Friday last. The end had been long coming, still the robust constitution asserted itself to the last. Assisted no doubt by unceasing attention, medically and otherwise, marked vitality was perceptible in the unimpaired mind and the vigorous frame until, after those weary months of suffering, the King of Terror triumphed, and death was the happy release. The late Mr. Wilton was one of our landmarks; he belonged to the pioneer contingent, coming to the district in his young manhood, sixty years back, and until a year ago the deceased gentleman moved effectively in the front ranks of our citizen life. There are few amongst us who can claim sixty years' residence. In a few years the pioneer rank will have closed, its members will have passed to the Great Beyond, to the peace of their well-earned rest, and we trust to blest Eternity. We do honor at such a time to revive in the mind the men and women of the past, who laid the foundation of this community - they who came to a wild, unknown, unexplored land, so far from the dear home of their birth, into uncertainty, and the vicissitudes of circumstances and existence so fraught with dangers, to pioneer this to-day great and important link of the Empire. They paved the way for us, who profit by the result of their bravery, their sacrifice of home and kin, their hardships, their labors. Quite recently a quartette of the pioneers was taken - the late Mrs. Cohen, Mrs. John Wright, Mr. William Saundry, and Mr. James Nelthorpe. William Wilton was another of them - a sturdy, determined character, who, by great industry, intelligence, and rare personality, established himself a conspicuous unit in the community. In the political life, in the municipal arena, in the social citizenship and associations of Mudgee, he has ever been in evidence. A man with the courage of his opinions, and who by dogged pertinacity earned the distinctive sabriquet of "the Old General," by which he was popularly known far and wide. This passing reference to " the Old General" revives reminiscences of stirring incidents in municipal and political battles, in which the deceased gentleman was no mean or puny participator. He, indeed, was the typical John Bull, with all the inherent traits of the great bull-dog breed. For many years he was a solid colleague in local association with the late D. Cassin, Evan Richards, and other sturdy, unfaltering fighters for privileges that we who survive them, and they who survive us, will enjoy and cherish. Seceding from the ranks of the Cassin party, through differences in fiscal principles and other matters, William Wilton was installed leader of the opposite party. That the old party lost a strong and helpful enthusiast was generally admitted. Always ready for platform work, backed with a liberal purse, the secession was much regretted by the old, whilst to the new party the presence of one so strong was greatly appreciated. As a friend, he was generous to a degree, whilst in opposition he could be bitter to the letter. Handicapped by the infirmity of defective hearing, our deceased friend suffered considerably in his public functions. So that anyone not knowing our late friend as the writer knew him, and reading of him as we endeavor to sketch in this obituary, can realise that he played no mean part in his sixty years' residence. We are not claiming that he was the perfect man - that perfect man is yet unborn. - His deficiencies however were not great blemishes in a life that for the past 30 years in particular was devoted to public duty, often in conflict as he must have been with others, differing in ideas affecting principles, or as to methods of procedure as to the discharge of public office. The deceased is survived by his aged widow, five sons, Messrs. Samuel, Thomas, John, William and Frederick Wilton, and two daughters, Mrs. John Webster, of Mudgee, and Mrs. William McDougall, of Goulburn.

The late William Wilton.

The funeral of the late Mr. William Wilton, on Wednesday afternoon, was one of those occasions when people of all classes assemble to do final honor to the remains of a prominent citizen. On Tuesday afternoon, the remains of the deceased, followed by the members of the family, were brought in from his late residence at McDonald's Creek to the Cudgegong Council Chambers, from whence the funeral cortege moved on Wednesday afternoon. The coffin was of massive cedar lined with lead and was hung with the masonic emblems worn by the deceased. The assemblage of vehicles and horsemen was very large, embracing every class of the town and district, and many of those old-time friends who were reminded of the passing hour by the death of him whose figure had been a familiar feature in Mudgee for so many years. The members of the Lodge Edinburgh St. John followed their deceased brother to the grave, under the leadership of Worshipful Master Bro. William Shaw. The service of the Presbyterian church was read by Rev. T. D. Evans, the masonic ceremony being solemnly recited by the Worshipful Master. The remains of deceased were laid in the family mausaleum, and as the large concourse left the cemetery, it was felt that a prominent personality had been removed from our midst.