Bund family of Wick Episcopi
The Bund family of Wick Episcopi was an English armigerous landed-gentry family associated with estates in Worcestershire and with notable figures in law, local government, religion, literature and scholarship.
Last updated August 31, 2026
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Overview
The Bund family of Wick Episcopi was a Worcestershire landed family rather than a commercial consumer brand. Its principal association was with property at Wick Episcopi, near Worcester, where the family was recorded as holding land into the twentieth century. Genealogical sources identify the family as landowners in the area from at least the fifteenth century, although the earliest surviving registry reference cited for the family is the marriage of Edward Frenche and Jane Bund on 18 January 1559. The family’s estate interests extended beyond Wick Episcopi to Upper Wick, Laughern Grove, Boughton, White Ladies Aston, Fladbury, Offenham and Sedgeberrow. Several of these places were connected with manors, farms and houses that illustrate the family’s long-standing position within the local landed gentry. The family’s identity developed through inheritance and marriage. Its members and descendants were connected with the Willis, Milward and MacCarthy families, and the family name changed accordingly over time. The eighth head, Colonel Thomas Henry Bund, was associated with the Worcester Militia and had formerly served with the 13th Light Dragoons. The male line later failed with the death of the Reverend Thomas Henry Benjamin Bund in 1846. The family succession then passed through his sister Ann Susanna Kent Bund, whose second husband was the colonial judge John Walpole Willis. Willis became head of the family in right of his wife. Their son, the lawyer and historian John William Willis, adopted Bund as an additional name by Royal Licence in 1864, creating the Willis-Bund form used by the succeeding branch. After the death without issue of the Reverend Henry Harding Milward in 1950, the headship passed to his first cousin Francis Leader MacCarthy, who adopted the additional names Willis-Bund. This produced the later MacCarthy-Willis-Bund form. The family’s historical significance therefore rests not only on its landholding but also on the way inheritance, marriage and formal name changes preserved a dynastic identity across several generations. Members of the wider family and its allied families contributed to law, local government, the clergy, engineering, archaeology, literature and public administration. John William Willis-Bund was a lawyer and historian. Other related individuals included the essayist and journalist Arthur Clutton-Brock, the travel writer and novelist Bruce Chatwin, and members of the Willis family active in Australian local government and accountancy. The family was also connected by marriage to figures including Sir Richard Temple, the writer William Makepeace Thackeray’s extended family, and several military, ecclesiastical and colonial-administrative families. The family is chiefly memorialised at St John Baptist Church in Bedwardine. Its heraldic arms were described as a red shield bearing three gold eagle’s legs, arranged two above one. Wick Episcopi later became associated with the historian and peace campaigner E. P. Thompson, who owned the house until his death in 1993. During that period the house functioned as a setting for guests, tutorials, seminars and meetings, adding a later intellectual and political association to the site’s earlier connection with the Bund family. No evidence in the supplied references indicates that the family operated as a modern commercial brand, corporation or listed entity.
History
The Bund family’s documented history is rooted in the Worcestershire village and estate landscape surrounding Wick Episcopi. The family was known as a landholding family in the area by at least 1457, while the earliest registry entry cited in the principal genealogical account is the marriage of Edward Frenche and Jane Bund on 18 January 1559. The family continued to hold property at Wick into the twentieth century. Its other holdings included Upper Wick, Laughern Grove, Boughton, White Ladies Aston, Fladbury, Offenham and Sedgeberrow. Laughern Grove was later known as Bunde Grove, reflecting the family’s association with the property. Boughton, originally connected with Wick Episcopi, was acquired by the family in 1778. Fladbury included a manor house associated with Oliver Cromwell’s 1651 journey toward the Battle of Worcester. The family’s later history was shaped by inheritance through the female line and by marriages into other established families. Colonel Thomas Henry Bund, the eighth head, was a Worcestershire military figure who served with the Worcester Militia and had earlier been a member of the 13th Light Dragoons. His son, the Reverend Thomas Henry Benjamin Bund, died in 1846 without leaving a surviving male line. The succession therefore passed to Ann Susanna Kent Bund, his sister, and her second husband, the colonial judge John Walpole Willis, became head of the family in right of his wife. Their son John William Willis adopted Bund as an additional surname by Royal Licence in 1864. The Willis-Bund form continued through the next generation. John William Willis-Bund’s descendants and relations connected the family with legal history, local government, the clergy and scholarship. When the male line of the relevant branch ended without children, the headship passed through Margaret, a daughter of the family, to her son Henry Harding Milward. Milward adopted the names Willis-Bund in 1930. After his death without issue in 1950, his first cousin Francis Leader MacCarthy succeeded and adopted the additional names Willis-Bund in the same year, producing the later MacCarthy-Willis-Bund styling. The family’s kinship network extended widely. The Willis relations included figures involved in Australian municipal government, accountancy, religious writing, engineering and archaeology. Other connected families included the Temples, Thackerays, Chatwins, Hursts, Boissiers, Guises and Rivett-Carnacs. These relationships linked the family to British and colonial administration, the armed forces, the Church of England, literature and the arts. The Bund family is principally commemorated at St John Baptist Church in Bedwardine. Its heraldic identity was represented by a red shield with three gold eagle’s legs. Wick Episcopi later passed to the historian and peace campaigner E. P. Thompson, who owned the house until his death in 1993. The house subsequently retained a reputation as a place for hospitality, seminars, tutorials and political or intellectual meetings. The available material treats the Bunds as a historical family and landed lineage, not as a trading brand or incorporated business.
- 1993
End of E. P. Thompson’s ownership of Wick Episcopi
[1]Historian and peace campaigner E. P. Thompson, the later owner of Wick Episcopi, died, ending his period of ownership.
- 1950
Succession to Francis Leader MacCarthy
[1]Following Henry Harding Milward’s death without issue, Francis Leader MacCarthy succeeded and adopted the additional names Willis-Bund.
- 1930
Henry Harding Milward adopts Willis-Bund
[1]Henry Harding Milward adopted the names Willis-Bund after succeeding through his maternal family connection.
- 1864
Adoption of the Willis-Bund name
[1]John William Willis adopted Bund as an additional surname by Royal Licence, formalising the Willis-Bund branch name.
- 1846
Failure of the direct male line
[1]The Reverend Thomas Henry Benjamin Bund died without a continuing male line, leading the headship to pass through his sister Ann Susanna Kent Bund.
- 1836
Marriage connection with the Willis family
[1]The Willis family became connected with the Bund family through marriage, beginning a succession of shared family names and alliances.
- 1812
Birth of Thomas Henry Benjamin Bund
[1]Thomas Henry Benjamin Bund, later a central figure in the succession history, was born.
- 1778
Acquisition of Boughton
[1]The family acquired Boughton, also known as Boulton, which had originally formed part of Wick Episcopi.
- 1559
Earliest cited registry reference
[1]The marriage of Edward Frenche and Jane Bund on 18 January 1559 is cited as the earliest surviving registry reference in the family’s documented account.
- 1457
Early evidence of local landholding
[1]The family is reported to have held land in the Wick Episcopi area by at least this date.
Products and positioning
A historical English landed-gentry family identified with Worcestershire estates, hereditary succession, heraldry and extensive kinship links to legal, ecclesiastical, literary, military and public-service circles.
Sources1 sources
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