Biography:
1. John Wilday was appointed as a Labourer "at the Stoves at Night time" and had been in service for 8 months (Supply 5/114 dated August 1789 and extract from the Faversham Register).
2. Wilday continued to work at Faversham as a Labourer at the Stoves until 1796, when he was described as a Labourer in the Dusting and Reel Houses in Supply 5/72. In 1825 he was stopped 1/-d for medical attention. He was a Stoveman in 1826 at 2/4d per day (Supply 5/116 dated January 1826) and was still working at the Stoves in 1828 (Supply 5/116 dated 1st April 1828 ).
3. Some time after 1828 John became a Charcoal Burner, and was to be transferred to the Mills at Waltham Abbey (Supply 5/207 dated the 19th November 1832.)
4. John was a Labourer in the Charcoal Cylinder House with effect from the 19th November 1832 and was paid 2/2d per day (Winters, p.102). This information was confirmed in Return WO54/587 dated the 1st April 1833, when Wilday earned £33.16.0d per annum as well as £5.4.0d per annum for watching in turn, which brought his total earnings for the year to £39. He had been employed as a Labourer at Faversham since the 26th January 1789 until his present appointment, and his service was given as 44 years. He was a married man with 5 children, aged 67, and had originally been brought up in the Bakery Trade.
5. A Return of Domestic Properties (WO44/133 dated the 28th May, 1840) showed that John Wilday was living in a cottage in Powder Mill Lane, for which he paid 2/-d rent. It also recorded that his small cottage had been occupied by George Miller, who either retired in the summer of 1833 and moved away, or had died, and has been identified as part of Plot No. 61 on the Town Map in Appendix 1).
6. WO54/587 dated the 1st October 1833 updated his previous entry in terms of age and service etc., with all other details remaining unchanged.
7. WO54/593 dated the 1st April 1834, recorded that John was still employed as a Cylinder House Man. However, his basic annual pay by then had been reduced to £28.5.6d. He was allowed to watch in turn and this gave him a total annual sum of £33.9.6d, as opposed to his previous earnings of £39. His period of service was given as 45 years and his age, 68. This Return also recorded that, as opposed to that stated in Note 4 (WO54/587 dated the 1st April 1833), Mr. Wilday only had 4 children.
8. WO54/593 dated the 1st October 1834 confirmed the information given in the previous note; this Return also stated he was 67 and had served just over 45 years, but reverted to the fact that he had 5 children.
9. A Return of Property owned by the Board dated the 20th December 1834, showed that John had been living in one of three tenements numbered 61 in the List since the 11th Aprill 1834, paying 2/-d a week rent (Supply 5/237). Another Return of the same date recorded that he had been superanuated, and that his cottage was to be let to J. Wraight, Cylinder man. The cottage has been identified as being at the junction of Powder Mill Lane and High Bridge Street.
10 In a Return of Domestic Properties dated 1840, John Wilday was shown as "retired - pensioned."
11 John Wilday's name does not appear in the 1841 Census for Waltham Abbey.
