In the light of future events, most of our interest in this Fuller branch must fall on Thomas Wellingham Fuller, the eldest son, almost an exact contemporary of Henry Slade.  Welly, as the letters call him, lived on throughout the century, inheriting from his father, who died in 1858, although Welly already ran Aston Farm by then.  Most of the time we hear about Welly going hunting or coursing with the Slades and other young blades.  He helps put out the fire in Lower End Town and learns a lesson in negotiation at the Ilsley sheep fair.  We actually have a letter written by him to Henry Slade.  Mostly it concerns his hunting and killing successes.  Suddenly we learn that he will marry Kezia Slade in the spring of 1845.  We have no clue as to how this connection began, because a huge chronological gap appears in the sequence of letters.  On one side of the gap, Kezia receives the attentions of the charlatan Forsayth, on the other, he has gone without trace and Kezia will marry Wellingham Fuller.  Sadly, this marriage ended almost immediately, for Kezia dies in childbirth.  Later, the Census shows a new Mrs Fuller and more children.  But, the letters of Mrs Elizabeth Fuller reveal something more interesting.

Wellingham’s little girl is [a] very delicate pretty child.  I can say nothing about his marrying another Miss Slade.  He is there so much I don’t wonder at the report.  But, unless the law is altered, it is not legal in England to marry two sisters tho’ often done.

The delicate pretty child is Kate Kezia, the daughter of Wellingham and Kezia Slade.  Sadly, she would die in 1861.  Mrs Fuller wrote this letter in 1849, some three years after the death of Kezia.  Anne Slade would have reached exactly twenty years old, a very marriageable age.  We will remember that Mr Forsayth originally had attended Deborah Slade, turning his attentions to Kezia in the aftermath of Deborah’s demise.  Perhaps Wellingham found himself at Thorpe Farm frequently as a type of consolation for both families and gradually the prospect of Anne swam into view.  Charlotte Slade had gone into her grave some two years before Mrs Fuller’s letter.  Henry Slade, her husband, still soldiered on, but would die that summer.  He may have worried about the future of the estate.  His son Henry had indeed returned to England by now.  Mrs Fuller’s same letter informs us that Henry had married in April 1848 and his new wife had produced a son in January 1849.  The Census tells us his name: Henry Pool Slade.  In 1844, Henry could see not immediate sign of his eldest son returning from India.  Also, there remained the alarming prospect of his marrying Mrs Fuller, should he return.  Such a marriage could not bring children because Mrs Fuller had reached over fifty.  We know that his next son Frederick would work on the railways, leaving farming.  Perhaps he had already made his wishes known.  The other son Ben was still at school.  Henry Slade Senior may also have felt his mortality.  The letters refer to his health occasionally.  With all this before him and pushed by four hundred years of tradition, he may have thought it sensible to link his family to the Fullers through the marriage of Kezia and Wellingham.  Such a decision may explain Kezia’s reaction to the match: Wellingham is always received with pleasant looks, no muttering nor hanging down of the head.  Charlotte writes from the perspective that Kezia did not necessarily choose her partner on this occasion, for otherwise why should she mutter or hang her head when receiving visits from her betrothed.  In other words, even though the Slades and Fullers had arranged this marriage, Kezia did not mind.  Some five years later, Henry Slade Senior may have still felt the same way, even though his eldest son had produced a male heir.  His wife now dead, Henry may have missed her influence in helping him make decisions, especially one strictly speaking against the law.  In the event, Anne did not marry Wellingham.