Berry, William (1774 -1851)
William Berry, the genealogist, was from 1793 to 1809 a writing clerk to the Registrar of the College of Arms. He then went to live on the Island of Guernsey. While there he published An introduction to heraldry in 1810, and The history of the Island of Guernsey, compiled from the collections of Henry Budd in 1815. Returning to England, he lived at Doddington Place, Kennington, Surrey, where he wrote several genealogical works, culminating in the work he will always be remembered by, his Encyclopaedia Heraldica, which was issued in parts between 1828 and 1840 in four large quarto volumes. He died at his son's house, Spencer Place, Brixton, on 2 July 1851, aged 77, having survived his wife by two months. His library was sold at auction by S. Leigh Sotheby & John Wilkinson 14-17 January 1857, the 904 lots realising £1882-12-6.