Fr Wilfrid Willson was born in Birmingham on the 4th May 1875, and belonged to a singularly devout family. All four sons became monks at Ampleforth, and of the daughters one became a Dominican nun, the two others were remarkable for their piety and good deeds throughout their long lives.
He was in the school here from 1886 to 1891, and three years after leaving he returned and received the Habit at Belmont in September 1895. His studies included three years at St Anselmo, and he was ordained on 19th March 1903. Until 1905 he taught Sacred Scripture and Dogma here and served the church and congregation at Kirbymoorside. He was sent to Brownedge in 1905 and to Fort Augustus in 1911. From 1913 to 1925 he was again at Ampleforth, teaching Theology and being a memorable Guestmaster. He was at Leyland for two years and at Workington until 1940. He was then recalled to Ampleforth where he made himself useful as Guestmaster and otherwise as long as he was able. In the last few years he became feeble and shaky on his legs. Last August he fell and broke his leg, and did not recover from the shock. He died in the Purey Cust Nursing Home on 19th November, having concealed all signs of the pain which his nurses were sure he suffered.
His was a lovely character, gay, ebullient, impulsive, incapable of unkindness, utterly unworldly and unselfish, completely humble and transparently honest, and unfalteringly faithful to the minutest of monastic and priestly duties. His secular interests were few: music, the Wordsworths and the Wordsworth country, and his fellowmen. The last should not, perhaps, be classed as secular, nor should his devotion to Cardinal Newman, on whose knee he boasted that he had sat when a small boy, and to whose life and writings, as to Bishop Hedley's, he had given enthusiastic study. He was at his best, perhaps, as Guestmaster. Not that he was efficient in the ordinary sense. His verbal confusions ('Oh! Major Tea, have you had your hay?' or 'It is half of one and six dozen of the other') were fully matched by frequent executive blunders; but these were turned into happy memories by his explosive contrition and infectious laughter. Over this blameless life a shadow lay: his nervous system was not strong enough to bear priestly responsibilities and, although he was soon relieved of most of them, the fear of past possible invalidities tortured him. He knows his scruples now for what they were, and in that knowledge and in the presence of God may he rest in peace.
WILFRID WILLSON 19 November 1957
1875 4 May Born Birmingham
1886-91 Educ Ampleforth
1895 3 Sep Habit
1896 8 Sep Simple Vows
1900 29 Sep Solemn Vows
1903 19 Mar Priest
1899- to 1902 Studied at St Anselmo
1904 Served Kirby & Helmsley
1905 Aug Brownedge
1911 Fort Augustus
1913 Ampleforth
1925 Feb Leyland
1927 Oct Workington
1940 Mar Ampleforth
1957 19 Nov Died in Purey Cust Home, York
Buried at Ampleforth