WILMER, Lewis Worthington
Lewis Worthington Wilmer was born at Naples on 25 September 1838 and baptised at the British Chaplaincy in Naples on 29 November 1838, son of Bradford Wilmer (15 April 1794-21 May 1886) and his wife Frances Chudleigh Worthington (5 August 1811-15 December 1885), daughter of Thomas Giles Worthington of Halse, Somerset, who married at Weybridge, Surrey on 14 May 1836. Lewis was educated at Cheltenham College and in 1855 commissioned into 90th Light Infantry and in due course proceeded to India where he was at the relief of Lucknow in 1857 and the later operations at Oude. Appointed Captain in the 12th Foot (Suffolk Regiment) on 25 November 1873 and retired to the Reserve with the rank of brevet-major and promoted Lt Col on 26 August 1881, still a reserve officer. During the lengthy period of his retirement, he had multiple interests including a continued interest in conchology and amassed a collection of over 40,000 shells, some of which were given to the British Museum. He married on 11 June 1878, Inez Salina Ogilvie, daughter of George MaCartney Ogilvie, of the Madras Civil Service and of the Isle of Wight and had four sons and two daughters. A watercolour and still life painter, and a member of Ipswich Art Club 1883-1885 and exhibited from 66 Hereford Road, London in 1882, a still life 'Study of Fruit' and in 1883 'Still Life'. Lewis Worthington Wilmer died at his home, Lothian House, Ryde, Isle of Wight on 8 January 1923. He was also known as Worthington-Wilmer. (History of the Wilmer Family 1888).