▶Date of birth:  6 February 1852        Place of birth: Stourport, Worcestershire

▶Father:  Stephen Richard Waller     Mother: Harriet Eliza Lea

▶Spouse(s): (1) Emily Shakespear; (2) Harriet Ann Wilson    Date(s) of marriage:  (1) 29 August 1878; (2) 23 April 1895    Place(s) of marriage: (1) Horsley, Gloucestershire; (2) St Paul’s, Cheltenham

▶Occupation: Clergyman

▶Lifestory: Waller was the third son of the Revd. Stephen Richard Waller, Rector of St Cuthbert’s, Bedford, by his second marriage, to Harriet (née Lea). His mother died when he was about five, and at the time of the 1861 census he and his brothers and sisters were living with their maternal aunt Ann Marie Lea. His father remarried later in the year, and the family was living together again by 1871, in Bedford. Percy studied at the London College of Divinity; he was ordained Deacon in 1875, and Priest (both Gloucester and Bristol) in 1876.

In 1875 he was licensed Curate of Horsley Green, Gloucestershire, and in 1878 became Curate of Clifton, Bristol. In the same year he married Emily, daughter of Colonel Richard Campbell Shakespear KCB, of the Bengal Artillery; the couple had three sons and two daughters. In 1881 he moved to St Barnabas, Edgbaston as Vicar, and remained there until 1894. In 1894 he was appointed Curate-in-Charge and from 1898 became the first Vicar of Holy Trinity, Cheltenham (originally a Chapel of Ease of St Mary’s parish church). One of his successes at Holy Trinity involved acquiring all the pews which were in private ownership (under an original scheme to repay Lord Sherborne for his loan of £1,000 when the church was erected). Percy Waller was a member of the Cheltenham Education Committee, and for many years was actively associated with the Cheltenham Training College.

After the death of his wife in 1887 he married again, to Harriet Ann, daughter of solicitor Richard Henry Greatheed Wilson, Esq. (he had lived with his family at 2 Wellington Square East, now Park House, Pittville from 1874 until his death in 1889); the couple had one son. He and his family lived at Holy Trinity Vicarage (then at Camden House, Clarence Square). He was a Member of the Committee of Dean Close School (and sometime Secretary) and was closely associated with many philanthropic works in the town. A Shakespeare lover, he was a Member of the Cheltenham Shakespeare Society, and was occasionally a reader at their meetings. He resigned as Vicar in 1912, after which he lived nearby, at 4 Clarendon Villas (now 12 Pittville Lawn). In 1912 he became an honorary diocesan missioner until 1920.

He died at his home, 4 Clarendon Villas, Pittville, in 1922, a month short of his seventieth birthday. His wealth at death was sworn at just over £3,000.

▶Moved to Pittville from: Edgbaston, Warwickshire       Moved from Pittville to: (deceased)

▶Date of death:   4 January 1922     Place of death: Cheltenham

▶Date of burial: 9 January 1922        Place of burial: Birmingham, after service at Holy Trinity, Cheltenham

▶Notes:        ID: 2252

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden