Tracking down Elizabeth Jones

My 4th great grandmother Elizabeth Hughes née Jones was born in 1798, the daughter of Edward Jones, a farmer, and Elizabeth Jones née Humphreys. In 1825 Elizabeth married Edward Hughes in Liverpool. She died in Melbourne in 1865. Her husband supplied the information on her death certificate, but although he gave the names of Elizabeth’s parents, for ‘place of birth’ only the county, Cardiganshire, was recorded. The 1851 census also recorded her place of birth as Cardiganshire with no further details.

In Cherry Stones, an account of our Hughes family history, my cousin Helen Hudson wrote:

Elizabeth Jones, Edward’s wife, was the youngest member of a large family. Her father, Evan Jones, known as Squire Jones, was a wealthy farmer in Cardiganshire. Elizabeth was described as a “clever, cultured lady, related in some way to Lord Westbury’s family."

Maybe that was another legend, but like all these family stories there is always a grain of truth somewhere, even if distorted.

When in 1847 Elizabeth’s son, my 3rd great grand uncle Goodman Hughes, died in Marine Terrace, Shrewsbury, the death certificate informant was Annie Jones. Who was she? On the 1851 census Annie Wilton, née Jones, was living at Marine Terrace with her parents Evan and Mary Jones. Evan Jones was a sadler, born in Cardiganshire, aged 66 (so born about 1785). From this it seems likely that Evan Jones was a brother of my 4th great grandmother Elizabeth.

1851 England census Class: HO107; Piece: 1992; Folio: 79; Page: 22; GSU roll: 87393

Marine Terrace Shrewsbury viewed from the English Bridge: Google street view

Evan Jones’s birthplace on the 1851 census is hard to read. Ancestry.com has transcribed it as ‘Caergonyall in Cardiganshire’. FindMyPast has ‘Caergonydd’. I agree that the name ends with “dd”, but I can find neither placename in Wikipedia’s list of Cardiganshire villages whose names begin with the letter C.

I decided to search for baptisms of ‘Evan’ around 1785 and ‘Elizabeth’ around 1798 in Cardiganshire with the father named Edward. I found only two.

There is an Evan Jones, father Edward Jones, gentleman, baptised 18 May 1784 at Llanfihangel Genau’r-glyn, Cardiganshire, Wales. And on 26 September 1798 there was a baptism at Llanfihangel Genau’r-glyn, Cardiganshire, Wales, of Elizabeth Jones daughter of Edward Jones, gentleman.

I next looked for a marriage of Edward Jones to Elizabeth Humphreys in the district. On 2 June 1778 an Edward Jones, gentleman, of Llanfihanel Gennery Glynn, Cardigan, married Elizabeth Humphreys at Tywyn, Merionethshire. She was of the parish. They married by licence. The witnesses were V??? Humphreys and John Jones.

Archives Wales; Wales; Merionethshire Baptisms, Marriages and Burials retrieved through ancestry.com

Among the papers of a solicitor named John Thomas Herbert Parry, of Glan-paith, Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire, that were deposited with the National Library of Wales in the 1930s, is the following document:

Title Glan Paith Papers reference 212: Release (in consideration of the intended marriage of the said Edward Jones and the said Elizabeth Humphreys), to make a …, Creation Date 1778, May 30.

Description 1. Edward Jones. 2. Humphrey Jones. 3. Evan Watkin of Moelyherney, p. Llanfyhangelgenerglyn, co. Card., gent. 4. Evan Evans of Knwcybarkit, p. Llanygrowthen, co. Card., and Thomas Pugh of Glanyrafon, p. Llanfyhangelgenerglyn aforesaid, gent's. 5. Mary Humphreys, widow, and Elizabeth Humphreys, spinster, her eldest daughter, both of Towyn, co. Mer. Release (in consideration of the intended marriage of the said Edward Jones and the said Elizabeth Humphreys), to make a tenant to the praecipe for the suffering of a recovery, of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythyn panty Carrw, Tythin y nantgarrw, Tythin Coed-y-Bongam, Llertai Gleission, Tythin-y-Tymawr, Llyesty Pant Gwynne, and Rhydyrhenedd in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangel generglyn.

The paper immediately preceding 211 is dated 29 May 1778 and concerns the Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythyn panty Carrw, Tythin y nantgarrw, Tythin Coed-y-Bongam, Llertai Gleission, Tythin-y-Tymawr, Llyesty …,

1. Edward Jones of Carregcadwgan, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn, co. Card., gent. 2. Humphrey Jones of the town of Machynlleth, co. Mont., gent. Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythyn panty Carrw, Tythin y nantgarrw, Tythin Coed-y-Bongam, Llertai Gleission, Tythin-y-Tymawr, Llyesty Pant Gwynne, and Rhydyrhenedd in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangel generglyn aforesaid.

Paper 214 dated 1 March 1803 concerns the Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty Carrw, Tythin y nant garrw, Tythin coed y Bongam, Llertaigleission …,

1. Edward Jones, gent., and Elizabeth, his wife, and John Jones, gent., their son and heir apparent, all of Carreg Cadwgan, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn, co. Card. 2. John Beynon of Newcastle Emlyn, co. Carm., gent. Lease for one year of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty Carrw, Tythin y nant garrw, Tythin coed y Bongam, Llertaigleission, Tythin y Ty mawr, and Rhydyrhenedd, with a cottage called Llyesty Pantygwynne, in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn aforesaid.

Paper 215 is dated 2 March 1803 and concerns Release, to make a tenant to the praecipe for the suffering of a recovery, of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty …,

1. Edward Jones and Elizabeth, his wife, and John Jones. 2. John Beynon. 3. Humphrey Jones of the town of Machynlleth, co. Mont., esq. Release, to make a tenant to the praecipe for the suffering of a recovery, of Tythin Carreg Cadwgan, Tythin panty Carrw, Tythin y nant garrw, Tythin coed y Bongam, Llertaigleission, Tythin y Ty mawr, and Rhydyrhenedd, with a cottage called Llyesty Pantygwynne, in the t. of Caylan and Maesmore, p. Llanfihangelgenerglyn aforesaid.

I looked for the baptism of John Jones and found John, son of Edward Jones by his wife, baptised 15 January 1782 at Llanfihangel Genau’r-glyn, Cardiganshire.

I think this is the Edward Jones and Elizabeth Jones née Humphreys I have been looking for, but I have not yet found a will or any other document that would make me completely confident of the connection.

It appears from the document of 30 May 1778 that Elizabeth Humphreys and her widowed mother Mary came from Towyn, co. Mer. Today this town is spelt as Tywyn. I have found a will dated 1772 by Griffith Humphreys, a yeoman of Tywyn, Merioneth, which mentions his wife Mary and his daughter Elizabeth.

The village of Llanfihangel Genau’r Glyn, is now known as LLandre. The older name means St Michaels at the Mouth of the Valley. Llanfihangel is a very common placename in Wales and the name LLandre was changed to avoid confusion. Llandre means ‘Churchtown’.

As the crow flies Llandre is ten miles from Tywyn, but by road via the nearest bridge across the Dyfi river the distance is more than double this. Perhaps they crossed by boat at Aberdyfi.

The geography images site geograph.org has photograph of a farm called Carregcadwgan. I wonder if this is the farm associated with Edward Jones and mentioned in the lease document of 29 May 1778 and again in the lease document of 1 March 1803. Carregcadwgan farm is 5 miles east of Llandre. The community location, a settlement which could not even be described as a hamlet, is called Ceulanamaesmawr.

Carregcadwgan Farm

All this is progress, I suppose, but I am still trying to discover more about the Jones and Humphreys families. I wonder why Elizabeth moved more than a hundred miles north from Cardiganshire to Liverpool to marry Edward Hughes and why her brother Evan moved seventy-five miles east to settle in Shrewsbury.

Related posts

• Y not Y?
• The unfortunate death of Goodman Hughes

Wikitree:

• Elizabeth (Jones) Hughes (abt. 1798 – 1865)

Y not Y?

My fourth great-grandparents Edward Hughes and his wife Elizabeth Jones were Welsh; Edward was from Newmarket, Flintshire, and Elizabeth from Cardiganshire. Hughes, however, is not an unusual surname in Wales, nor is Jones, and for a while I’ve been muddling them with another Welsh couple from Flintshire with the same names.

• 

• 

  Photographs of Edward and Elizabeth Hughes from pages 67 and 72 of Cherry Stones by Helen Hudson

When three years ago I wrote about Edward and Elizabeth I believed, mistakenly, that they had married at Ysgeifiog (also written Ysceifiog) in 1821 and that this was Elizabeth’s birthplace. Edward was from Holywell, a couple of miles north.

I have since ordered Elizabeth’s Victorian death certificate. She died on 4 July 1865 in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.

Australian death certificates include much information useful to the genealogist, though the reliability of this depends on the knowledge and good will of the informant. In Elizabeth’s case the informant was her husband Edward Hughes.

The 1865 death certificate of Elizabeth Hughes

From Elizabeth’s death certificate I learnt that she was born in Cardiganshire to Edward Jones, who was a farmer, and Elizabeth Jones née Humphreys. She was 66 years old when she died, so she was born about 1799. Elizabeth and Edward married about 1825 in Liverpool when she was twenty-six. They had eight children:

• Mary, dead;
• Samuel aged 37 years (at the time of Elizabeth’s death in 1865, so born about 1828);
• Mary aged 35 years (born about 1830);
• John dead;
• Eliza Ann dead;
• Elizabeth Humphreys dead;
• Goodman Edward Jones dead; and
• Henry aged 24 years (born about 1841).

At the time of her death Elizabeth had been in Victoria for twelve years eleven months, so she had arrived about August 1852. Although she died in Brighton, the home address of her husband Edward was View Street, Bendigo (the town at that time was also known as Sandhurst), a hundred miles north. The cause of her death was recorded as chronic disease of the liver and stomach trouble. She had been ill for two months, which perhaps implies that she had come from Bendigo to Melbourne for treatment.

Elizabeth Hughes was buried in Brighton General Cemetery on 13 July 1865. The gravestone inscription reads:

In memory 
of 
Elizabeth
Beloved wife of 
Edward Hughes 
of Sandhurst
Died 10th July 1865 
aged 66.
Precious in the sight of the lord is 
the death of his saints

(The verse is from Psalm 116.)

The Bishop’s transcripts, copies of the parish registers which had been sent to the bishop, of Liverpool marriages includes a record at the church of St Philip for a marriage by banns on 24 April 1825 of Edward Hughes and Elizabeth Jones. Neither had been previously married; both were of the parish. A transcript of the marriage register shows the witnesses were John Parry and G. Jared; I believe the witnesses are not related to the bride and groom.

As this record is a better match for the details given at the time of Elizabeth’s death I am more confident that this is the record of the marriage of my fourth great grandparents Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Unfortunately, details which would help to confirm that we have the right couple, such as their parents’ names and occupations, are not recorded.

Building a family tree with common surnames such as Hughes and Jones is often more difficult than not, because there is more likely to be confusion over two people with the same name. From the information on Elizabeth’s death certificate, it seems that I was wrong: my fourth great grandmother was not from Ysgeifiog and my Edward and Elizabeth were not married there. I have corrected my tree and added the new information.

RELATED POSTS

• F is for Flintshire

Wikitree:

• Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876)
• Elizabeth (Jones) Hughes (abt. 1798 – 1865)

A day trip to Wales 10 May 2019

This time a year ago we were in England, or, more accurately, Britain, on a fine old jaunt that took us from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. I planned the trip as a family history excursion. My blogging on the subject helped me to prepare for our visit, for I had in mind what I wanted to see and I knew, more or less, something about the places we went to and how they were related to my family’s story.

When we got home I intended to write about our trip but this somehow stalled last June with a post about Manchester, which we had visited the previous day.

Right now we’re in COVID-19 lock-down, a good opportunity to revisit past travels and finish writing up the England trip.

To continue, then: on 10 May we drove a hundred miles or so southwest from Manchester, for a brief trip to Wales. On our way we visited Chester, where we walked to the Cathedral through streets of half-timbered buildings.

In Manchester Cathedral we had enjoyed some whimsical misericord carvings, including one illustrating a gang of bunny-rabbits roasting a hunter over a spit. Chester’s misericords were not quite as much fun. For some reason the cathedral had a LEGO model of itself on display. It turned out to be fund-raising. We paid our contribution and added our piece to the model.

From Chester we drove to Holywell, on the Dee estuary, where my Hughes forebears lived. We didn’t linger to look for gravestones, but we did visit St Winefride’s Well. Some of my research into our Hughes forebears is at F is for Flintshire.

St Winefride’s Well, Holywell

The Dee estuary from near Holywell

 

When Greg was a boy he had penfriends in New Zealand, Japan, Uganda, and other countries around the world, which he made through an English children’s magazine called ‘The Young Elizabethan‘. One was a boarder at Howell’s School in Denbigh. We visited Denbigh and admired the school from a distance. Close to the town, a hilltop castle built after the conquest of Wales by King Edward 1 in 1282 still stands, with dominating views of the valleys below. ‘Dinbych’ (Denbigh) in fact means ‘small fortress’. We had it to ourselves.

 

Not sure what the English would have thought of the Welsh flag flying over the castle

 

Denbigh castle well

Howell’s School from the castle

The centre of the town in Denbigh

Sir Henry Morton Stanley born in Denbigh

Sir Henry Morton Stanley born in Denbigh

From Denbigh we drove to Bala, a pretty town on the eastern border of Snowdonia, then back to Manchester. It was a long day.

Wales was fun. On our next visit we’ll give it more time.

F is for Flintshire

In 1985, Helen Hudson nee Hughes (1915 – 2005), my grandfather’s first cousin, published a family history with the rather lengthy title, ‘Cherry stones: adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland; Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales; Hale of Gloucestershire, Langford Sidebottom, Cheshire; Shorten of Cork, Ireland, and Slater of Hampshire, England who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850, researched, compiled and written by Helen Lesley Hudson‘ (Berwick, Victoria: H.L. Hudson, 1985).

For me her book, based on papers, old letters, and paraphernalia she inherited from her father, is a researcher’s treasure-house. At the moment I’m preparing for a family-history trip to England, and I’m finding ‘Cherry stones‘ particularly useful, for it includes details of Helen’s travels to the “Old Country” visiting the places our forebears came from, and I’ll be doing something similar.

Helen and her husband Bill visited Holywell in Flintshire twice. She wrote about walking around the graveyard of the ancient church beside St Winifrede’s Well Sanctuary, where she found many graves of our Hughes family.

She also wrote about a visit she made to Trelawynydd, formerly known as Newmarket. My fourth great grandfather, Edward Hughes (1803 – 1876) was born at there. FindMyPast has the baptism records for Trelawnyd, Flintshire, and these include an Edward Hughes baptised 23 January 1803, the son of Edward and Ann Hughes. Helen gives Edward’s birth date as 17 January 1803. I am not sure what document she based this on. Edward Hughes is a common name – Hughes is the eighth most common Welsh surname – and there are plenty of other candidates for our Edward.

On 21 April 1821 Edward Hughes of Holywell, Flintshire married Elizabeth Jones of Ysgeifiog at Ysgeifiog. [Ysgeifiog pronounciation]. Ysgeifiog is less than five miles from Holywell. Helen’s tree had 1823 as the date of this marriage, but I have located a likely parish record at FindMyPast giving the date as 1821. Edward and Elizabeth married in Liverpool in 1825. Elizabeth Jones was from Cardiganshire.

Samuel Hughes (1827 – 1896), their eldest surviving child and my third great grandfather, was baptised at the Great Crosshall Street Chapel of Welsh Congregationalists, Liverpool. The baptism record gives his birth date as 12 October 1827. Helen’s tree has 13 October 1827 and gives his place of birth as Liverpool. Edward Hughes was stated to be a joiner of Norris Street, Liverpool.

At the time of the 1841 census Edward, Elizabeth, four children (Samuel, Mary, Henry, and Eliza) and a child Goodman Jones, I assume a nephew of Elizabeth’s, were living at Drinkwater Gardens, Liverpool. Edward was a joiner. There were no live-in servants.

On 20 January 1849 Samuel Hughes arrived in South Australia on the Gunga, which had left Liverpool on 16 September 1848. Helen states that Edward, Elizabeth, Mary, and Henry also arrived on the Gunga but there seems no record on the passenger list of any other family member.

In 1851 I believe Edward and Elizabeth Hughes and one daughter, Mary, were living in Heathfield Street, Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales. Edward was a builder, employing 30 men.

I have not been able to find the immigration record for Edward and Elizabeth Hughes. Elizabeth died in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, and is buried in Brighton cemetery. Edward returned to England and died 4 May 1876 at South Norwood near London. A death notice in the Melbourne Argus  stated he was late of Sandhurst and the father of Samuel Hughes. He had been living with his daughter Mary Hewitt nee Hughes.

Helen Hudson wrote that there was a family story that Edward had lost a lot of money in Peruvian Bonds but she was not able to verify it. Nor can I. Helen also wrote that Edward was on the Bendigo diggings and that he and Elizabeth were living in View Street, Bendigo at the time of Elizabeth’s death.

I am glad that Helen wrote up her family researches in such detail. Much more information has become available since 1985 and online searching makes the task of finding and gathering information far easier than it was. I am sure she would have enjoyed researching today and verifying what she knew. I look forward to retracing her footsteps in Holywell during our visit to the United Kingdom in May.

St. Winifred’s Well or Holy Well, Flintshire, Wales. Line engraving by G. Hawkins, 1795 Image retrieved through Wikimedia Commons who obtained the file from the Wellcome trust.

Sources

• Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
• “Liverpool: Churches.” A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4. Eds. William Farrer, and J Brownbill. London: Victoria County History, 1911. 43-52. British History Online. Web. 12 March 2019. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol4/pp43-52.
• ancestry.com  – census records:
  • 1841 census : Class: HO107; Piece: 559; Book: 26; Civil Parish: Liverpool; County: Lancashire; Enumeration District: 35; Folio: 43; Page: 29; Line: 23; GSU roll: 306941
  • 1851 Wales census : Class: HO107; Piece: 2466; Folio: 145; Page: 57; GSU roll: 104215-104217

R is for Rosydyon Tower the seat of Sir W. de Crespigny Bt

Among a collection of images relating to the Champion de Crespigny family, I came across an image of a drawing of Rosydyon Tower, the seat of Sir W. de Crespigny Bt. The drawing is said to have been done by Mary Catherine Champion de Crespigny (1810-1858), the youngest of Sir William and Lady Sarah de Crespigny’s ten children. Mary married John Brigstocke (1791-1858).

Sir William de Crespigny (1765-1829) was the second baronet, succeeding in 1818 to the baronetcy on the death of his father Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny (1734-1818).  In 1786 William  married the Right Honourable Lady Sarah Windsor (1763-1825), a daughter of the 4th Earl of Plymouth.

Sir William’s entry in Burke’s Peerage of 1830 mentions Rhosydyon Tower, Carmarthenshire in Wales, as one of Sir William’s three country seats. His town residence was Champion Lodge at Camberwell.

Burke’s Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, Volume 3, 1830, page 204

Rhosduon Tower is mentioned in Buildings of Wales,  referring to a plaque memorialising Lady Sarah de Crespigny:

Her husband built Rhosduon Tower in the parish c. 1820, a castellated toy fort, long demolished.

Rhosduon Tower was near the village of Pencarrag, in south-west Wales.

In 1825 Lady Sarah de Crespigny died at Rhosdyon Tower.

“FASHIONABLE ARRIVALS.” Morning Post, 27 Sept. 1825. British Library Newspapers, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4bRUr9. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

Sir William de Crespigny died on 28 December 1829 in London.  The estate was advertised for sale a few months later.

“Multiple Classified ads.” Morning Post, 22 May 1830, p. 4. British Library Newspapers, tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/4bRXy0.

Notes

I have spelt the name of the tower in the various ways it appears in each of the sources.

Kelmarsh Hall is in Northamptonshire. It is presently operated by a trust set up in 1982 by Valencia Lancaster (1898-1996),  Valencia was the grand daughter of the fourth baronet. Many Champion de Crespigny pictures and records are held at Kelmarsh Hall.  Some of the pictures can be viewed at https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/collection:kelmarsh-hall-713

Carmarthenshire and CeredigionVolume 6 of Buildings of Wales by Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach, Robert Scourfield published by Yale University Press, 2006.  page 363.

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803)

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803) was my fifth great grandfather (5*great).

Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738–1803), MP by John Opie; Oil on canvas, 47 x 36 cm Collection: Kelmarsh Hall. Image retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/philip-champion-de-crespigny-17381803-mp-49154

Philip was the fifth of seven children of Philip (1704-1765) and his wife Anne née Fonnereau.  He was born on 1 April at his father’s house at Doctors Commons in London. He was christened on 11 April at St Benets, Pauls Wharf. Philip senior was Marshall of the Court of Admiralty and Secretary of the French Hospital.

Extract from 18th century plan of Plan of Baynards Castle Ward & Faringdon Ward Within retrieved from http://www.londonancestor.com/maps/baynards.htm

In 1741 the family moved to Denmark Hill, Camberwell where Philip senior had taken a lease of a house and sixteen acres.

Philip’s older brother Claude (1734 – 1818) was educated at Eton and it is likely that Philip was also. (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 )

In 1759 at the age of twenty-one, Philip became an advocate at Doctors’ Commons and was King’s Proctor from 1768  to 1784.  (http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803 )  

A proctor was a legal practitioner in the ecclesiastical and admiralty courts. A King’s Proctor acted in all causes concerning the King. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proctor) Doctors’ Commons, also called the College of Civilians, was a society of lawyers practising civil law in London. The proctors, who were also associated with Doctors’ Commons, were like present-day common law solicitors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Commons)

Marriages and children

Philip married four times. On 24 November 1762 Philip married Sarah Cocksedge in Norfolk. They married by licence; this licence was issued on 11 November.  Sarah and Philip had four children:

• Thomas (1763 1799)
• Philip (1765 – 1851)
• Jane (1766 – 1785)
• Anne (1768 – 1844)

Sarah died in April 1768 and was buried at St Marylebone on 13 April 1768. (‘Marylebone’, The Environs of London: volume 3: County of Middlesex (1795), pp. 242-279. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45438 Date accessed: 27 January 2014.)

Sarah was the daughter of Thomas Henry and Lydia Cocksedge. In 1764 title of Tottington manor passed to Philip as husband of Sarah.(Deeds of messuage held by Norfolk Record Office http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=153-wls&cid=23-19#23-19) Philip probably sold his Norfolk holdings in 1772 as recorded in a private act of Parliament: Philip Champion Crespigny’s estate: sale of hereditaments in Weeting (Norfolk) and purchase and settling others. (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/cy/changes/chron-tables/private/17)

Philip’s second marriage was to Betsy Hodges in about 1771.  Betsy was the widow of George Borradale whom she had married in 1765 (Parish Records Collection – marriage 1765 Hodges Borradale) Philip and Betsy had one son, Charles (1772 – 1774) who was christened 1 June 1772 in St Giles, Camberwell, and buried 21 October 1774 in the Church of St Albans. Betsy died in 1772, probably not long after giving birth to her son.  She was buried at St Marylebone on 22 May 1772.

Betsy Hodges (d.1772), Second Wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny by George Romney(circle of) Oil on canvas, 75 x 62 cm Collection: Kelmarsh Hall retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/betsy-hodges-d-1772-second-wife-of-philip-champion-de-cres49163

Philip’s third marriage was to Clarissa, daughter of James Brook of Rathbone Place. They married on 1 July 1774 at St Marylebone by licence with the consent of her father. She was a minor, of the parish of St Marylebone. Philip was recorded as an Esquire of Walton upon Thames, County of Surry, widower. He signed his name PC Crespigny. The witnesses were James Brooke and Hester Brooke.

The Gentleman’s Magazine London, England July, 1774 retrieved from http://theoldentimes.com/crespignybrooke74uk.html

 Clarissa and Philip had four children:

• Clarissa (about 1775 – 1836) who married Edward Toker
• Maria (1776 – 1858) who married John Horsley
• Harry (1777 – ?) baptised 14 August 1777 at Walton-upon-Thames, Surrey and presumably died young
• Fanny (1779 – 1865)

Clarissa and her children were painted in 1780 by George Romney.  Romney’s diary notes that the painting was oval and he charged fifty pounds.  In 1780 Horace Walpole apparently noted George Romney’s “rise to fashion”. (http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2002/george-romney/biography.php)

Clarissa Champion de Crespigny and her children by George Romney. The painting was last sold in 1986 from a private seller to a private buyer through the London dealers Leger Galleries.  This image is from a reproduction of the painting and came from Alex Kidson, Research Fellow of the Romney Society.

Clarissa died in 1782 and was buried at St Marylebone on 22 May. She was about twenty-seven years old. A short biographical piece about her father refers to her as an amiable and accomplished lady who died in the prime of her life.

Smith, Thomas. (2013). A Topographical and Historical Account of the Parish of St. Mary-Le-Bone, Comprising a Copious Description of Its Public Buildings, Antiquities, Schools, Charitable Endowments, Sources of Public Amusement, &c. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1833)retrieved from http://www.forgottenbooks.org/books/A_Topographical_and_Historical_Account_of_the_Parish_of_St_1000735867 The same obituary appeared elsewhere, for example in the Hampshire Chronicle of 2 November 1807.

Philip’s fourth marriage was in 1783 to Dorothy Scott (1765 – 1837), daughter of Richard Scott of Betton Strange Hall near Shrewsbury. (London Magazine vol 52 pg 103 1783)

Jonathan Scott (1754 – 1829), one of Dorothy’s brothers,  was an early translator of what was then called ‘The Arabian Nights Entertainment’, better known now as ‘The 1001 Nights’. (http://shrewsburylocalhistory.org.uk/scott.htm)

Dorothy and Philip had four children

• George (1783 – 1813) killed in Spain
• Eliza (1784 – 1831) who married the first Lord Vivian having eloped to Gretna Green (Ancestry.com. Gretna Green, Scotland, Marriage Registers, 1794-1895 [database on-line].)
•  Charles Fox (1785 – 1875) my fourth great grandfather
• Dorothea (1800 – 1800) born and died in Bath (I am not sure where I have the information for this child, I am unable to find any records associated with her and it seems surprising that she was born so many years after her siblings, though her mother did have a child after 1804 following her second marriage).

After Philip’s death Dorothy married again to Sir John Keane (1757 – 1829) and had a son, George Michael Keane.

Dorothy’s portrait was painted by George Romney in 1790 with Romney’s diary noting “1790 Wed 17 March Mrs Chrspaney at 1/2 pt 2”. He charge forty-two pounds for the oil on canvas. Dorothy’s great grandson George Harrison Champion de Crespigny (1863 – 1945) sold the painting through Christies on 27 April 1901 for ₤5,880-00. (“HIGH PRICES FOR PICTURES AND ENGRAVINGS.” Otago Witness 3 July 1901: 75. Papers Past — Otago Witness. National Library of New Zealand. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=OW19010703.2.234.1>) The painting is now in the John Howard McFadden Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/103821.html)

Portrait of Mrs. Champion de Crespigny [née Dorothy Scott] from http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/103821.html

 Parliamentary career

In 1774 Crespigny was returned on the Fonnereau interest at Sudbury after a contest, but lost his seat on petition. (Drummond, Mary M. “CRESPIGNY, Philip Champion (d.1803), of Burwood, Nr. Cobham, Surr.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Member Biographies from The History of Parliament Online. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/crespigny-philip-champion-1803>.)

Philip’s mother was  the daughter of Claude Fonnereau, a wealthy merchant. Her brother,and thus Philip’s uncle,  Thomas Fonnereau (1699 – 1779) was returned for Sudbury in 1741 and sat for that consituency until 1768. Several of those years were in conjunction with Thomas Walpole who was a business connection. Thomas later sat for Aldeburgh from 1773 until his death in 1779. (Namier, Sir Lewis. “FONNEREAU, Thomas (1699-1779), of Ipswich, Suff.” The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1754-1790, 1964. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/fonnereau-thomas-1699-1779>.) (Thomas Fonnereau. (2013, December 23). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:03, January 28, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Fonnereau&oldid=587412088)

In 1780 Philip was returned unopposed at Aldeburgh on the Fonnereau interest, and at Sudbury after a contest. He held both seats until 1781 when he lost Sudbury on petition, and continued to sit for Aldeburgh until 1790.

Only one speech is recorded from Philip when he spoke in 1781 against the bill for excluding contractors from the House of Commons.

Extract from the debate in the House of Commons (Debrett, ii. 296.) retrieved from Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. The Parliamentary Register: Or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons. Vol. 2. page 296.: J. Debrett, 1781. Google Books. 2007. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=1-kMAAAAYAAJ>.

The exclusion of contractors from the House of Commons was first introduced in 1779 and was part of political reform receiving an impetus from the American Revolution. The bill finally passed at the end of 1782 and it placed on the exclusion list anybody who had a contract with the treasury, the navy, the victualling office, the master-general, or the board of ordinance, …  Before this reform, “the fact that a man had a contract with the Government laid him under the necessity of receiving orders from the Treasury as to his political conduct.”  George III was said to turn all government expenditures to political account and “maintained a corps of subservient members in the House of Commons”. Vast sums were disbursed to contractors for the navy and army between 1770 and 1782 which some asserted were an abuse of the contract process and designed to buy political support. (Porritt, Edward. The Unreformed House of Commons. : Cambridge UP, 1963. Google Books. CUP Archive. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <books.google.com.au/books?id=57c8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA219>. pages 219-220)

 Philip supported the administration of Lord North who was prime-minister from 1770-1782 and who later served in a coalition, the Fox-North coalition, with Charles James Fox in 1783. Philip named his youngest son, Charles James Fox Champion de crespigny,  after Charles James Fox.

Houses

Philip died in his house at 5 Portland Place, Bath.  The house is one of ten symmetrical terrace houses built in 1786 by John Eveleigh. Number 5 is the largest house in the terrace and was built for P. C. Crespigny. 

Portland Place, Bath image from Google street view http://goo.gl/maps/seYvj. Number 5 is the house centred on the triangular pediment.  It has five windows across and a central front door. Its neighbours’ front doors are aligned either to the left or the right. To the front of the house is a ramp which was provided for easier access by sedan chairs.

The house together with number 4 was converted into a school from 1875 until 1994. In 1994 both houses were converted to flats. The house, together with its neighbours, is Grade II heritage listed.  (“List Entry: 1-10, PORTLAND PLACE.” National Heritage Protection Plan. English Heritage, 15 Oct. 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1394403>.)

Philip de Crespigny leased Hintleham Hall near Ipswich in Suffolk. His children George, Eliza, and Charles were born there between 1783 and 1785. In 1785 his daughter Jane died at Hintlesham Hall. At that time Hintlesham Hall was owned by Richard Lloyd, a political lawyer who became Solicitor-General.(http://www.hintleshamhall.co.uk/history.html)

In 1794 Philip de Crespigny bought Talyllyn  House and the Manor of Llangasty Talyllyn in Breconshire together with 2000 acres for £1600. In the advertisement for the sale the house was described as “a good old stone built and slated Mansion House… to which the present Proprietor meant to have added a regular Building” While owned by the de Crespignys, the house and outbuildings were extensively remodelled.  From 1810 the estate was leased as a farm. It was sold in 1838 by Philip’s son Charles Fox de Crespigny. Philip and his son Charles both served as High Sheriff of Brecknockshire or Breconshire, Philip in 1796 and Charles in 1812. The house was destroyed in the nineteenth century. (“History of the Farm.” Tŷ-Mawr. Tŷ-Mawr Lime Ltd, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://www.lime.org.uk/history-of-the-farm/>.)

Tal-y-llyn: St. Mary’s church and the hamlet at the end of the lake, photograph about 1885. Image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tal-y-llyn,_Gwynedd

Other land purchases by Philip include Creeting All Saints in Surrey bought from the Bridgeman family. (http://forebears.co.uk/england/suffolk/creeting-st-olave)

Freemason

Philip was a Freemason. In 1781 he was Grand Steward for Somerset House Lodge. (http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/prestonian_lectures_volume_3.htm)