Biography:
1. William Sayer was a Millwright who was paid £1.10.7d for work carried out by the Engineers' Department in the Manufactory between the 15th and 21st July 1809 (Supply 5/228 dated the 21st July 1809).
2. WO54/512 dated September 1812 stated that in 1812 William was employed as a casual Millwright earning 5/2d per day.
3. WO54/516 dated February 1816, confirmed that Sayer was employed as a casual Millwright by the Engineers' Department and that he had first worked for the Board on the 29th March 1806. He was a 42-year-old married man living in Waltham Abbey with 2 unmarried children, and at that time was paid 5/8d per day.
4. Still employed as a Millwright in February 1817, but with his pay reduced to 5/2d per day. His family details remined the same (WO54/520).
5. Sayer's name does not appear in the records for June 1818 (WO54/524) or in subsequent records, so it must be assumed that he had left the Ordnance.
6. A Statement dated the 4th April 1821 "of monies to which the public were entitled to receive credit between the 1st January and the 31st December, 1821, shewing the amounts received by the storekeeper" (Supply 5/232) recorded that a William Sayer was living in a house purchased by the Board of Ordnance, Tenement No. 32, with a rent of £5.4.0d per annum. However, this William Sayer was a Baker and it is not certain that he is the same person. He continued to live in the Board's property for a considerable number of years. The property, without a garden, formed part of Plot No. 60 on the Town Map in Appendix 1, and according to Supply 5/237, was in West Street (High Bridge Street).
7. The 1841 Census recorded that a William Sayer, a Baker, together with Joyce Sayer, both aged 70, were living on the north side of High Bridge Street near its junction with Powder Mill Lane. Sayer's age, bearing in mind that the ages in the 1841 Census were rounded down, indicated that he and the Millwright above were one and the same person.
