William Mellodew Hartley (1964)

William was born in Moorside, the village dominated by the mills and church built by his maternal ancestors, then moved to Buxton as a toddler.

After primary school in Buxton until the age of seven, William went to Foremark Hall and then to Repton school.

William won a place to study Law in Queens’ College Cambridge, matriculating in October 1964. He made many friends in Queens’ whom he would stay close to for the rest of his life. He was awarded a 2:1 BA degree in 1967, which he converted to MA three years later.

With his friends, he enjoyed fine dining, particularly at Miller’s Wine Bar, (so far as budgets allowed), and punting and croquet among other pastimes. He established a ritual of afternoon tea with crumpets and often served sherry before Hall, a habit of generous entertainment which he continued throughout his life.

After Cambridge he attended the Guildford School of Law, where he made further life-long friends and took his solicitors’ qualifying exams, passing all papers first time in 1968.

William then moved to London for two years of Articles with one of the city’s top firms, Slaughter and May.

William completed his Articles with flying colours and was offered a good job with Slaughters where he stayed for some years before joining the family firm in Buxton. He was a talented and innovative lawyer in his field and attracted many of the older generation as clients to the firm.    

Outside the office William served for a number of years on the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal and as a local Tax Commissioner.  He published two very useful textbooks for practitioners on Matrimonial Conveyancing and Trusts.

In the course of his practice, he acted for the Satterthwaite sisters who lived in Buxton in a house untouched since 1920.  When the last one died, her will set up the Satterthwaite Trust to benefit causes within the old Borough of Buxton and he acted as one of the trustees administering the fund. 

In retirement in Alderley Edge William made numerous new friends and was kept busy visiting friends and taking holidays both in the UK and abroad.

William also wrote five non-legal books, all based on his love of family and local history.  His first book “The Mellodews of Moorside, an Oldham Velvet Dynasty” stemmed from his research on his mother’s family tree and was augmented using documents from Oldham Archives and relatives.  His family tree research also resulted in another book “The Hartleys, No Longer Shopkeepers”. Further books included one about the Satterthwaite sisters, titled “Secrets, Skeletons and Pedigrees”. He gave talks on the books wearing a specially purchased maroon velvet jacket.