West Lulworth

a Registered One-Place Study and part of the Dorset OPC network

The Wordsworth Family

Bishop John Wordsworth (1843-1911)



John Wordsworth, the great-nephew of the poet William Wordsworth, became the Bishop of Salisbury. His first wife, Susan Esther (nee Coxe), died in 1894. In 1896 he married Mary Ann Frances Williams (1870-1938).

Bishop John and Mary Ann had four sons and two daughters, with one daughter, Rosa Salome Wordsworth (1900-1995) being born at Bishop’s Cottage, West Lulworth where the family often stayed.

Bishop John died in 1911 aged 67 but worked right up to the very end, undertaking two major foreign episcopal visits to Sweden and America in his final two years. Even when he was staying at West Lulworth, he did not always take things easy. According to the Bere Regis Parish Magazine, during the first week in February 1909 a mission was held, and … "on February 7th, Services were nearly incessant. The Bishop and Mrs. Wordsworth motored over from Lulworth in time for his Lordship to celebrate at 8.30. They stayed with us all day. The Bishop attended six services, preached four times, and confirmed two grown-up persons in the afternoon."