MRS. JULIA WILDING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 207, 2 September 1936, Page 13

MRS. JULIA WILDING.

DEATH IN CHRISTCHURCH

A REMARKABLE WOMAN.

Mrs. Julia Wilding, wife of Mr. Frederick Wilding, K.C., and mother of the late Anthony Wilding, four times m oriel s tennis champion, died on Friday last at her home, "Fownhope," St. Mar-' tins, Christchurch. Deep regret will be felt throughout the Dominion at the news, for Mrs. Wilding was a remarkable woman in many ways and had a capacity for making friends. ° Mrs. Wilding is survived by her husDand, one daughter, Miss Cora Wilding, two sons, Messrs. Frank Wildin« (Christchurch) and Edwyn Wilding (Conway Flat), and seven grandchildren. Mr. Anthony Wilding was killed in the Great War, and her elder daughter. Miss Gladys Wilding, M.A., died about 20 years ago. Apart from her interest in the affairs of the clay Mrs. Wilding was a keen musician, and all forms of sport, particularly tennis and cricket, claimed her attention. At "Fownhope" many tennis and cricket visitors have been entertained, and the older cricketers of Christchurch have happy memories of the functions arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Wilding at their home in the years ■when the Lancaster Park Club won the (championship. Studies Abroad. Mrs. Wilding was born at Hereford, England, in 1554. She and her sister showed considerable musical ability and they were sent to study abroad. It had teen intended that they should go to Paris, but the outbreak of the FrancoPrussian War caused the cancellation of their reservations, and they went instead to Brussels to the family of the late chaplain to the King of the Belgians. In the next year the sisters studied at Cologne. During a return "visit to Germany some years later Mrs. 'Wilding was accorded the honour of being asked by Ferdinand Hiller to play one of Mozart's concertos, accompanied by the famous Cologne Gurninich orchestra.

Mrs. Wilding's favourite game was chess, which she was taught by her youngest brother, Edwin, who was mainly instrumental in inaugurating the chess match between Oxford and Cambridge. Politics and literature also attracted Mrs. Wilding's interest, and ehe wrote book reviews and occasional articles for the "Hereford Times," of which her father was founder and proprietor. Played Before King. Shortly after her marriage Mrs. Wilding came with her husband to New Zealand, and in 1879 they began their long association with Christchurch. A year after settling there they bought "Fownhope," which for more than fifty years has been their home. Mrs. Wilding continued her musical studies assiduously, and some l years later, at the reception to the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George and Queen Mary) Mrs. Wilding was invited to play a pianoforte solo. Mrs. Wilding had, strict rules about health and the necessity of daily outdoor exercise, and it was probably as result of his healthy upbringing that Anthony Wilding developed the magnificent physique which enabled him to •win the singles championship at Wimbledon and, in partnership with Mr. Norman Brookes, to bring the Davis <Cup to Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Anthony Wilding was killed in action in Flanders at the age of 20. Mr. Frank Wilding, the second son of Mrs. Wilding, seryed on Gallipoli and then in France, and as soon as the third son, Mr. Edwyn Wilding, was old enough he joined the flying corps and to Egypt. A short time previously Mrs. Wilding had suffered a severe loss in Ihe death of Miss Gladys Wilding, who had proved herself a brilliant scholar, graduating M.A. with first-class honours. Throughout the war Mrs. Wilding was a hard worker for the Red Cross, buthe strain told on her health.