Frances Johnstone Sherburne (1768 – 1832)

Frances Johnstone Sherborne née Dana (1768 – 1832), elder sister of William Pulteney Dana, was the aunt and godmother of my 3rd great grandmother Charlotte Frances Dana.

She was born in London on 3 September 1768, third of thirteen children of the Reverend Edmund Dana and his wife Helen. Her eldest sister, given the same name, died in infancy the previous year. Her sister Elizabeth Caroline Dana, born in 1767, was the oldest surviving child of the ten siblings to survive infancy.

On 7 July 1793 Frances Johnstone Dana married Joseph Sherburn in Boston Massachusetts. Frances Dana’s father had been born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Frances, presumably, was visiting her relatives there.

Joseph Sherburne was born 1751 in Falmouth, Cornwall, England to Joseph Sherburn (c 1721 – 1763), captain of the packet “Hanover”. In 1767 Joseph Sherburn Jr aged 16 began a career in India with the East India Company rising to the rank of Senior Merchant. The 1788 India Calendar lists Joseph Sherburne as Collector of Beerbhoom & Bishenpore [Collector of taxes and Magistrate in West Bengal in present day Birbhum and Bishnapur]. In November 1788, however, after only eighteen months in office, he was recalled on suspicion of corruption.  This appears to have been unfounded, and Joseph Sherburne was again employed by the East India Company. In 1802 he was appointed Collector of Boglepore (present day Bhagalpur in Bihar north-east India).

Joseph and Frances Sherburne had two children, both baptised in Bhagalpur: a son Pulteney Johnstone Poole Sherburne baptised on 16 December 1802, and a daughter Frances Henrietta Laura Sherburne baptised on 3 October 1803.

Joseph died on 15 July 1805. His death notice in the English Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser of 10 February 1806 stated he was late Judge Magistrate of Purneah and Senior Merchant on the Bengal Establishment now known as Purnia it was a district of the Baghalpur Division of Bengal) .Joseph died intestate and administration was given to his widow.

After the death of her husband, Frances returned to England with her children.

In 1813 Frances’s son Pulteney Johnstone Poole Sherburne joined the army, as an ensign with South Hants Regiment Of Militia from 1813. On 27 July 1815, barely a month after the Battle of Waterloo, Volunteer Pulteney Johnstone Poole Sherburne was commissioned as an Ensign (without purchase) in the First Regiment of Foot. [I will write about his career separately.] He died on 28 June 1831 as a Lieutenant in Berbice in present-day Guyana in the West Indies.

Miniature portrait of Pulteney Johnstone Poole Sherburne

Frances’s daughter Frances Henrietta Laura Sherburne, seventeen years old, died on 8 November 1819 at Leyton, Essex (now a suburb of London, about five miles northeast of the City), and was buried there in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin. The churchyard, now in poor repair, once had an altar-tomb surmounted by an oval urn erected to the memory of Frances Sherburne, signed by Thomas Mocock of Leyton (presumably the mason). I do not know if it has survived.

In 1832 Frances Johnstone Sherburne died in Chelsea, London. She was also buried at Leyton.

Frances Johnstone Sherburne’s will dated 19 October 1831 has a detailed
list of bequests. To her god-daughter Charlotte Frances Dana she left

• her large Bible
• gold watch chain loop and seals complete
• a real sable tippet
• a pair of gold Hindustani earrings
• amethyst broach set round with whole pearls
• a pair of ??? clasps ??? in ??? set round with pearls
• a white carnelian ??? Broach and a bracelets single row
• two rings one with hair and small pearls the other with a Emerald and Ruby Gold Buckle with garnets for Both Garnet chain bracelets and earrings with Drops
• Also the face of my sainted child Frances Henrietta Laura Sherbourne on no account to be parted with the miniature picture of my son Pulteney Johnstone Poole Sherbourne
• Sandal wood work box fitted up with silver containing gold thimble in gold ??? ??? and ??? silver ??? basket and yard and Tortoiseshell window ??? hair chain
• and two pair of bracelets to ??? Black cut bracelets and ??? to
  match with Black snaps cut coral earrings
• Red morocco trinket box
• A pair of plain B??? Earrings without drops
• Tortoiseshell ??otting box
• More’s Practical Piety 2 vols of Elegant Extracts in Prose and Verse More’s Sacred Dramas [Hannah More was an English writer, philanthropist and leading member of the Blue Stockings Society; Jane Austen mentioned Elegant Extracts in her novel Emma]

snippet from the will of Frances Johnstone Sherbourne with the bequest to her niece Charlotte Frances Dana – any transcription suggestions gratefully received

Other people mentioned in the will were her nieces Penelope Dana [Anna Penelope], Helen Kinnaird Dana, daughter of William Pulteney Dana; her niece Harriete Gibbons, daughter of her sister Helen Gordon Gibbons née Dana; her sister Gibbons; her sister Charlotte Dana [probably her sister in law, wife of William Pulteney Dana]; her sister Armstrong; her niece Frances Harriette Wood [daughter of her brother Charles Patrick Dana]; her nephew Charles Edmund Dana [son of Charles Patrick Dana]; her nephew Henry Edmund Dana [son of William Pulteney Dana]; her cousin the Honourable Lady Hope [Georgiana daughter of George Lord Kinnaird, her mother’s brother]; her daughter Eliza Hope; some friends and servants.

The family Bible came to my father from his grandfather Constantine Trent Champion de Crespigny. An inscription in the front describes how it was given to him in 1892 by his grandmother Charlotte Frances Champion Crespigny nee Dana (1820- 1904). An inscription above this reads:

The Gift of Mrs Frances Johnstone Sherborne to her niece and God-daughter Charlotte Frances Dana by her will –

My father also has the miniature of Frances’s son Pulteney Sherburne.

Frances Sherborne also gave her niece and god-daughter a small sandalwood box with a silver plaque engraved with a shield and a motto. The box is a family heirloom which was owned by my great aunt Nancy Movius née Champion de Crespigny and has since been passed to Nancy Movius’ grand-daughter. The heraldry on that box is described at my father’s post at A search for the arms of the Dana family.

The box left in her 1831 will by Frances Johnstone Sherbourne to her niece and god-daughter Charlotte Frances Dana and now in the possession of Charlotte’s 3rd great grand daughter; the 5th great niece of Frances.

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Sources

• Sherborn, Charles Davies (1901). A history of the family of Sherborn. Mitchell and Hughes, London. Page 184 retrieved through archive.org
• East India Company List – A List of the Company’s Civil Servants, at their Settlements in the East-Indies; Reference Number: b22610911 retrieved through ancestry.com
• Hunter, W. Wilson. (1868). The annals of rural Bengal. London: Smith, Elder. Pp 16-18. Retrieved through Hathitrust. 
• The Asiatic annual register, or, A View of the history of Hindustan, and of the politics, commerce and literature of Asia. volume 4 (1802). p. 96. Retrieved through Hathitrust.
• Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908), v. 20, p. 412. Retrieved through FIBIS
• ‘Leyton: Churches’, in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6, ed. W R Powell (London, 1973), pp. 214-223. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol6/pp214-223 . “An altar-tomb in the churchyard, surmounted by an oval urn, to Frances Sherburne (1819) is signed by Thomas Mocock of Leyton.”
• The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1801 retrieved through ancestry.com
• Asiatic Journal. Parbury, Allen, and Company. 1832. P.124. Death notice.
• Ford, Susan Allen (2007). “Reading Elegant Extracts in Emma: Very Entertaining!” Persuasions on-Line, Jane Austen Society of North America, jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol28no1/ford.htm.

Related posts

• A search for the arms of the Dana family

Anne Champion de Crespigny (1739 – 1797)

My sixth great aunt Anne Champion de Crespigny (1739 – 1797) was the sixth of seven children of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1704-1765) and his wife Anne née Fonnereau (1704-1782). She was born on 10 October 1739 and was baptised on 30 October 1739 at the Church of St Benet Paul’s Wharf, London.

Anne’s father Philip had a successful career as a lawyer. At one point he held the position of Marshal of the Court of Admiralty, its senior sheriff. Philip’s father Thomas Champion Crespigny (1666 – 1712), a Huguenot refugee, served in the English army. He died at the age of forty-eight, when Philip was only seven years old. Philip was indentured at the age of fourteen to Charles Garrett, procurator of the ecclesiastical Arches Court of Canterbury. In 1731 Philip married Anne Fonnereau, the daughter of a wealthy Huguenot merchant.

• Philip and Anne had seven children, two of whom died young:
• Jane Champion Crespigny 1733–died young
• Claude Champion de Crespigny 1734–1818 the 1st baronet Champion de Crespigny
• Susan Champion Crespigny 1735–1766
• Anne Champion Crespigny 1736–1738
• Philip Champion Crespigny 1738–1803 my 5th great grandfather
• Anne Champion Crespigny 1739–1797
• Jane Champion Crespigny 1742–1829

About 1765, Anne de Crespigny’s portrait was drawn in pastel by Catherine Read (1723 – 1778).

Anne de Crespigny married twice. Her first marriage, in April 1765, only two months after her father’s death, was to Bonouvrier Glover (1739 – 1780). Her second marriage, in 1783, was to James Gladell, later James Gladell Vernon (1746 – 1819). Anne had no children by either marriage..

Anne left a will dated 7 January 1797 probated in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 5 July 1797. At the time this was drawn up her
residence was Hereford Street in the Parish of Saint George Hanover
Square in the Liberty of Westminster and County of Middlesex. Her will
refers to her marriage settlement, her husband James Gladell, her
brother-in-law, the husband of Susan, Sir Richard Sutton, and to George
Stainforth. I am not sure how George Stainforth is related or connected. She also mentioned and left money to:

• her nephews Thomas Champion Crespigny (1763 – 1799) and Philip Champion Crespigny (1765 – 1851), sons of her brother Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803) and his first wife Sarah
• Her brother Claude Champion Crespigny, her sister in law Mary and her nephew William (1765 – 1829)
• Her godson William Other Champion Crespigny, this would have been the son of William, grandson of Claude, born 1789 and died 1816
• Her sister Jane Reveley, her brother in law Henry Reveley (1737 – 1798), her niece Henrietta Reveley (1777 – 1862), her nephews Hugh Reveley (1772 – 1851) and Algernon Reveley (1786 – 1870), and her niece Elizabeth Anne Roper (1773 – 1816)
• Her niece Anne (1768 – 1844) the wife of Hugh Barlow and daughter of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 – 1803) and his first wife Sarah
• Her four nieces Clara (Clarissa 1776 – 1836), Maria (1776 – 1858), Fanny (1779 – 1865) and Elizabeth Champion Crespigny (Eliza 1784 – 1831); daughters of Philip and his 3rd and 4th wives Clarissa and Dorothy
• Right Honourable Alice Countess of Shipbrook, the widow of her husband’s uncle Francis Vernon (1716 – 1783)
• Richard Glover (1750 – 1822), her brother-in-law from her first marriage

Following the probate records include a letter from Anne to her niece Henrietta, presumably kept because it describes how she wished to have some of her belongings dispersed. I have transcribed this below, keeping the original spelling.

March the 20th

My Dear Henrietta

As I am going to have an opporation performed that renders my recovery doubtful I write you these lines to say that my wardrobe and all that is in my drawers independant of my Trinket Box (which Mr Vernon is intitled to by right. As well as by my desire I leave to you conditionally that you will resave for your own use and benefit all that – is worth your acceptanttance desiring you will give everything else to my maid Mitrell (?) Who having lived but a few months with me is not intitled to great perquisites at the same time would give her what ever is not worth your acceptance an Ivory ffan which John Shore brought me from India & desire may be sent to my ffriend Lady Shelley as a small token of my Remembrance

Most affectionately A. G. Vernon

She died on 2 June 1797. This was recorded by The European Magazine, and
the London Review.

A natural conclusion

In a memoir of his sister Theresa Poole formerly Walker nee Chauncy (1807 – 1876), Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 – 1880), who was my third great grandfather, wrote:

[Her grandfather] William Snell Chauncy was the proprietor of the Winkfield Estate in Berkshire, where he resided for many years ; he was also possessed of slave estates in Antigua and St. Kitts, in the West Indies, of house property in Sackville Street, Dublin, and of considerable funded property.

Her father was his only son, born in London, on the 14th August, 1781, and died at Leamington on 1st August, 1845.

In giving this information, however, Philip Chauncy neglects to mention that his and Therese’s father was illegitimate, the natural son of William Snell-Chauncy (1756-1829).

Here was the explanation for something that had puzzled me: why had published pedigrees of my Chauncey forebears failed to include Philip Chauncy’s father William (1781-1845)?

On 14 August 1781 William Brown, the son of Eunice Brown and William Snell-Chauncy, was born in London.

Eunice (1753 – 1836) was the daughter of Captain Robert Brown (1713 – 1769) and his wife Margaret Brown nee Cosnahan (1718 – 1769). The Brown family was from the Isle of Man. Eunice was the seventh of nine children. William Brown was brought up on the Isle of Man by his mother’s family, with financial support from his father.

On 6 June 1783 William Snell-Chauncy married Sarah Toulmin (1757 – 1834). William and Sarah had two daughters, Sarah (1786 – 1841) and Catharine (1788 – 1858). William Snell-Chauncy and his wife Sarah separated in 1789. The Deed of Separation, issued in 1789, stipulated that William should not have the management of his two daughters.

Philip Chauncy’s father, William, married Rose Therese Lamothe on 5 May 1804 at Malew on the Isle of Man. Marriage records give his name as William Snell Chauncy; it appears William had adopted his father’s name. William’s children were all known by the surname Chauncy.

Philip wrote that his sister Theresa was “sent on a visit to my grandfather at Wingfield, where she rendered us good service by watching and partially defeating the intrigues of another branch of the family who were using every exertion to obtain an undue share of property from my grandfather in his old age. I think Theresa must have been at Wingfield for several years”. This would have been in the late 1820s.

William Snell-Chauncy died in 1829. In his will he named his son as William Brown, later referring to his “natural son William Brown”. The children of William Brown were also provided for, as was Eunice Brown, William’s mother. Only after providing for the Browns does William’s will turn to his daughters Sarah and Catharine. He made no provision for his wife Sarah, stating he had provided for her in his lifetime.

In 1831 William Snell-Chauncy’s daughter Mrs Catherine Snell Burke challenged the legal validity of the will and its codicil on the grounds of insanity of the testator. One of the executors was a man called Robert Westwood; the case was named ‘Westwood against Burke and Others’. The challenge was put forward in June 1831 and the case came to court in November and December 1831. The bulk of William Snell-Chauncy’s estate of £25,000 had been left to his natural son.

Martha and Theresa Brown [sic], Philip Chauncy’s sisters, were noted as having lived with the deceased, their grandfather. The court heard evidence alleging that William Snell-Chauncy’s behaviour had been childish, that he was a habitual drunkard, and that he had conducted himself in an insane and irrational manner. It was also alleged that the signature on the will was not in his hand-writing. The counter allegations were that the deceased, though eccentric, was not of unsound mind; he had conducted his own affairs, had received and paid money, played at cards, spoke French; that he was charitable and benevolent; and that he entertained great regard for his natural son and his family.

On 19 December 1831 The Times reported the proceedings of the Prerogative Court for December 17. The King’s Advocate on behalf of the executors observed that the party opposing the will was really Captain Burke on behalf of his wife and her unmarried sister and that Captain Burke’s difficulty with the will was not that the testator was incapable of making a will but only a will more in favour of the legitimate children. The King’s Advocate noted that previous wills made by William Snell-Chauncy in 1799, 1816 and 1820 had all provided for his natural son. Given that the 1789 deed of separation from his wife had stipulated he should not have the management of his two daughters, it followed that there was less intimacy with his legitimate family. But he had had constant interaction with his natural son and his family.

Dr Lushington on behalf of Captain Burke stated that in the course of evidence there were “charges brought against the Misses Brown [Theresa and Martha Chauncy] [which] were not a substantial part of the case, but solely with the view of discrediting the testimony of a witness.”

Portrait of Sir John Nicholl (1759-1838), Welsh politician and judge. Artist William Owen Collections of St John’s College, University of Oxford Retrieved from https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sir-john-nicholl-223355

The Times of 5 January 1832 reported the decision of Sir John Nicholl, judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. More than 50 witnesses had been examined and there were depositions from more than 100 witnesses. There was a larger body of evidence on the case than in any case of the records of the Court. Nicholl found that no act of insanity had been proved and that the whole conduct and history of the testator naturally led to the conclusion of the probability of the dispositions in the will. The judge

“referred particularly to the charges alleged against the Misses Brown, in an interrogatory address to a witness named Gould, and which he had positively denied. Where, he asked, was the necessity of attacking the character of these two young women? It was an act of justice to them that the Court should declare thus publicly, that the character of these young women had been attacked without any just cause, and that the single witness by whom the charge had been attempted to be supported, was unworthy of any sort of credit whatever.”

Mr and Mrs Burke were condemned to all costs as it was deemed unfair that the estate should bear any of the costs.

From the judge’s summing up it appears that Martha had most certainly earned the comment from her brother that “…she rendered us good service by watching and partially defeating the intrigues of another branch of the family who were using every exertion to obtain an undue share of property from my grandfather in his old age”.

Sources

• Philip Lamothe Snell Chauncy (1816 – 1880) wrote a memoir of his sister Mrs Poole, Theresa Poole formerly Walker nee Chauncy (1807 – 1876). It was first published in 1873 as Memoir of the late Mrs G.H. Poole by her brother. It was republished in 1976 together with a memoir of Philip’s second wife as Memoirs of Mrs. Poole and Mrs. Chauncy.
• Tucker, Stephen, 1835-1887. Pedigree of the Family of Chauncy. Special private reprint, with additions. London: Mitchell and Hughes, 1884. Viewed online at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89062913470 [see printed page 10]
• Will of William Snell Chauncy Esquire probated 26 March 1832 PCC  Class: PROB 11; Piece: 1795
• “Prerogative Court, Tuesday, Nov. 15.” Times [London, England] 16 Nov. 1831: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 30 Sept. 2018.
• “Prerogative Court, Saturday, Dec. 17.” Times [London, England] 19 Dec. 1831: 7. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 30 Sept. 2018.
• “Prerogative Court, Wednesday, Jan. 4.” Times [London, England] 5 Jan. 1832: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 30 Sept. 2018.

Related links

• The Gazette (London Gazette) Publication date: 12 December 1780 Issue: 12144 Page: 4 William Snell, later William Snell-Chauncy, was born in 1756 at Wingfield, Berkshire to William Snell (1716 – 1779) and Martha Snell nee Chauncy (1720 – 1765). Martha was the daughter of Charles Chauncy (1673 – 1763). In his will, Charles Chauncy specified that his grandson William Snell should take on the name Chauncy when he was twenty four years old and that he should quarter Charles Chauncy’s coat of arms with his own. Charles Chauncy’s three sons had no male issue and William Snell was the oldest of Charles Chauncy’s three grandsons by his daughter Martha. William Snell of Edmonton was granted license in accordance with the will of his late grandfather Charles Chauncy late of Newington to add Chauncy to his name in December 1780.
  • Will of Charles Chauncy probated 28 February 1763 : The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 884
• ‘William Snell Chauncy ne Snell’, Legacies of British Slave-ownership database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146645369 [accessed 1st October 2018].
• From MeasuringWorth.com
  • In 2017, the relative price worth of £25000 0s 0d from 1831 is:
    • £2,160,000.00 using the retail price index
    • £2,450,000.00 using the GDP deflator
  • In 2017, the relative wage or income worth of £25000 0s 0d from 1831 is:
    • £20,200,000.00 using the average earnings
    • £30,900,000.00 using the per capita GDP
  • In 2017, the relative output worth of £25000 0s 0d from 1831 is:
    • £114,000,000.00 using the GDP
• UK National Archives: it seems the court records are available: Reference: PROB 37/883 Description: Westwood v Burke and others Testator or intestate: Chauncy, William Snell formerly of Bishopsgate Common, Surrey; afterwards of Windlesham, Surrey; late of Winkfield, Berks.; esq. Date: 1830-1832 Held by: The National Archives, Kew

Related post

• T is for Theresa

F is for Francis

One of my husband’s great great grandfathers was Francis Gilbart Edwards (1848-1913).

He was born at St Erth, Cornwall, on 21 January 1848, youngest of the nine children of Thomas Edwards (1794-1871) and Mary née Gilbart (1805-1867).

Francis Gilbart Edwards was christened at the parish church of St Erth on 11 June 1848. On the christening documents his father’s occupation is given as carpenter.

Shortly after Francis’s birth the family emigrated to Victoria, arriving at Port Philip on the Lysander on 13 January 1849.

On 27 December 1870 Francis Gilbart Edwards married Caroline Ralph (1850-1896) in Ballarat. At the time of his marriage Francis’s occupation was declared to be farmer.

Francis and Caroline had ten children:

• Edith Caroline (1871-1946), Greg’s great grandmother, born Ballarat, Victoria
• Lucy Gilbart (1873-1908) born Ballarat
• Helena Mary Francis (1876-1950) born Ballarat
• Annie Tuckfield (1879-1906) born Port Adelaide, South Australia
• Elizabeth Christina (1881- ) born Gladstone, South Australia
• Ethel Augusta (1885-1963) born Kensington, South Australia
• Benjamin Gilbart (1887-1888) born Ballarat, died Richmond, Victoria
• Stanley Gilbert (1889-1917) born Richmond
• Ernest Francis Gilbart (1891-1901) born East Brunswick, died Brighton
• Arnold Leslie Morton (1893-1904) born Brighton, died Elsternwick

The oldest three children of Francis and Caroline were born in Ballarat. Sometime between 1876 and 1879 the family moved to South Australia, and three more children were born there. A seventh child was born in Ballarat in 1887. Not long afterwards the family moved to Melbourne. In March 1888 their then youngest son died in Richmond. Three more sons were born in Melbourne. From the place of birth information on their birth certificates, it appears that the family moved from Richmond to East Brunswick, Victoria. In 1893 the youngest child, Arnold, was born in Brighton and died a year later in Elsternwick. (Richmond, East Brunswick, Brighton, and Elsternwick  are suburbs of Melbourne.)

On 1 December 1887 Francis joined the railways as a carriage cleaner.

In 1894, due to ‘a reduction in his wages and sickness in the family’, Francis became insolvent.

 

NEW INSOLVENTS. (1894, February 3). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), p. 10. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8727630

 
On 22 July 1896, after six week’s illness, Caroline Edwards died of cancer of the uterus. At the time the Edwards were living in Grant Street, Brighton.

 

Francis Gilbert Edwards, seated on the left, was photographed at the 1911 wedding of his daughter Ethel Augusta Edwards to James McCorkell

 

On 29 March 1913 Francis, who had been ill for twelve months, died of  diabetes, at Primrose Crescent, Brighton. His occupation was given as railway employee.

Francis Edwards died intestate. His estate, valued at £1076:13:1, included two houses, one at Primrose Crescent Brighton and the other at Male Street Brighton. Each was valued at 500 pounds. Also in his estate was money in the bank, a gold watch, jewellery, and a cow.

Gilbart, the maiden surname of Francis’s mother, has often been used in the family as a given name. Francis Edwards used it consistently as his second personal name. There have been variant spellings. My mother-in-law Marjorie insisted that Gilbart should be spelled with an ‘a’ rather than an ‘e’. Her mother, granddaughter of Francis, was christened Stella Esther Gilbart Dawson. Sometimes, however, the name is spelled ‘Gilbert’, perhaps because of a recording error and at other times perhaps quite deliberately. Stanley Gilbert Edwards (1889-1917), a son of Francis Gilbart Edwards, spelled it with an ‘e’ when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in World War 1 and when he married.

References

• Victorian Government Gazette, triennial list of railway employees 14 December 1905 page 4749
• Marriage certificate Francis Gilbert Edwards Victoria 1870/3767
• Death certificate Francis Gilbert Edwards Victoria 1913/605
• Probate and administration files: Edwards Francis G, 1913, VPRS 28/ P3  unit 371,  item 129/694

Related posts

• Edwards family immigration on the Lysander arriving in the Port Phillip District in 1849
• Annie Tuckfield Edwards (1879-1906) – Lieutenant of the Salvation Army – fourth child of Francis
• Z is for Zillebeke – about Stanley Gilbert Edwards, the eighth child of Francis

 

Will of Thomas Champion de Crespigny made 1704 probated 1712

Forename Thomas Surname Champion Alternate Surname Champion Alias Champion De Crespigny Date of Probate July 1712 Date of Will 24th June 1704 Reference PROB11/527 Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) Wills, 1384-1858 [database online]. TheGenealogist.co.uk

Translated out of French
In the Name of God Amen
I give all my goods present and to come to my dear wife
Magdalen Champion whom I make Executrix of this my~
Will done at London this twenty fourth of June 1704..Tho:
Champion Witnesses I: Taunay W: Waxham P: Broton

Thomas Champion de Crespigny was my 7th great grandfather.
Thomas was born about 1664 in France. His family were Huguenot. He came to England in about 1676 and joined the army. He married Magdalen Granger (1664-1730), a fellow Huguenot, on 12 February 1695 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London. They had six children of whom two died young.

Thomas died in1712 leaving Magdalen with four children

• William aged 14 (1698-1721)
• Jeanne or Jane aged 12 (1700-1776)
• Philip aged 7 (1704-1765)
• Claude aged 6 (1706-1782)

In a document dated 20 September 1712, Sir Charles Hotham certified that Thomas Champion de Crespigny had served as Captain in his regiment, and added that:

he left a poor widdow [sic] and four Children in a very distressed Condition, so that she stands in great need of Her Majesty’s [Queen Anne‘s] most Gracious Bounty, and of the Pension commonly allowed to the Officers widdows.

The family still holds a copy of this document and the original apparently was held by the War Office.

Magdalen received a pension of £26 a year, being the regular rate for the widow of a captain.

On 15 June 1713, nine months after Thomas’ death, the government granted Magdalen stock in the South Sea Company valued at £333.18.9; the amount was due for Thomas’ clothing and other expenses during the period to 24 June 1712.

 

References

• Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) Wills, 1384-1858 Forename Thomas Surname Champion Alternate Surname Champion Alias Champion De Crespigny Date of Probate July 1712 Date of Will 24th June 1704 Reference PROB11/527 retrieved from TheGenealogist.co.uk
• Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 29, 1714-1715, pages cxiii-cxlii: Declared Accounts: Army: Pensions to Officers’ Widows [Audit Office: Bundle 233, Roll 810 A.O. 1/233/810] 25 October 1714 to 24 December 1715, citing Crespigny and six others of Sir Charles Hotham’s Regiment.A later accounting, in Bundle 233, Roll 811, relating to 22 April 1723, identifies £26 per annum paid to Mary Crespigny, widow of a captain in Sir Charles Hotham’s Regiment; Mary is miswritten for Magdalen.
• Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume XXVII Part 2, page 249. The authority for payment is issued by Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer, to John Howe the Paymaster General of Guards and Garrisons.
• Champions from Normandy: An essay on the early history of the Champion de Crespigny family 1350-1800 AD by Rafe de Crespigny pages 124-5

The will of Mary Feillet née Champion

Marie Champion was the third child of Claude Champion de Crespigny (1620-1695) and his wife Marie de Vierville (1628-1708).

Marie was born in about 1655 in France and came with the rest of her family to England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

On 13 May 1698 she married Jacques Feillet at the French Protestant Hungerford Chapel, Hungerford Market at Charing Cross on the Strand, London. Jacques or James died in about 1728, his will dated 1726 left everything to his wife Marie.

Mary Feillet made her will on 17 April 1736. She died not long after and the will was proved at London on 7 June 1736. She named her brother, sisters, nephews, and cousins in the will. 

Prerogative Court of Canterbury PROB 11/677 Mary Feillet Place of Abode St James, Middlesex Date of Probate 7th June 1736 Date of Will 17th April 1736

Translated out of ffrench

In the Name of God Amen
I the underwritten Mary ffeillet widow of the Parish of
Saint James in the County of Middlesex being by the Grace of
God of sound Body and mind have made my Will as followeth –
ffirst I recommend my Soul to God through the Meritts of Jesus
Christ my Saviour and dispose of my Worldly Goods in manner
following I give to my Brother Peter Champion Crespigny the
???? during his life of the Estate which shall remain to me
after my decease And after my death I give the property thereof
to my two nephews Philip and Claude Champion de Crespigny to
be divided between them Share and Share alike Excepting One
hundred pounds Sterling which I give by way of ??? to my
Nephew Philip The rest shall be equally divided between them with
the following Conditions when my said Nephews shall enter
into Possession of my Estate after the death of my Brother they

shall pay three months after the Legacys hereafter Specified I give to
my Sister Margaret Debordes the Sum of ffifty pounds Sterling Item I
give to my sister Jane Lamberti the life Sum of ffifty pounds Sterling
Item I give to my Niece Allix the life Sum of ffifty pounds sterling
Item I give the sum of twenty ffive pound sterling to ffrances Goslin
Item I give the sum of twenty ffive pounds Sterling to my Cousins de
Pierrepont to be equally divided among them Item I give ffive pounds
Sterling to Thomas Goyer and a life sum of ffive pounds Sterling
to Mary Goyer his Daughter Item I also give a life sum of ffive
pounds sterling to the Daughter of Thomas Gofroy Item I give ten
pounds Sterling to Mrs Pierre Item I give ffive pounds Sterling
to the Poor of the Church of La Patente Item I give my late first
husband ??? Goslin’s Picture set with Diamonds to my Nephew
Philip upon Condition that it shall be preserved in his family so
without taking the Diamonds of And if he dyes without Children
I desire it may go to his Brother Claude upon the same Condition
Item I give to my said Nephew Philip my Diamond ring and
my Pearl Necklace To my Niece Susanna de Crespigny his
Daughter and I Declare and Constitute my said Nephews Executors
of this my Will revealing all those with I may have heretofore made
and my ???? is that the payment of the Legacys here above
shall be putt off till after the death of my said Brother Done in
London this 17 April 1736. Approved of the Obliteration of the
Two words ???? – Mary Feillet – Signed sealed and ???
in the presence of the Witnesses ??? – Emmanuel la Tour
Saml Granopre

faithfully translated out of ffrench London the
first day of June 1736. Which I attest Pet. St Eloy
Notary Publ.

This Will was proved a London before the Worshipful
John Andrew Doctor of Laws Surrogate of the Right
Worshipfull John ??? Doctor of Laws Master Keeper
Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully ???
constituted the Seventh day of June in the year of our Lord one
thousand Seven hundred and thirty six by the Oaths of Philip
Champion de Crespigny and Claude Champion de Crespigny the
Executors in the said Will named to whom Administration was
granted of all and singular the Goods Chattells and Credits of the
said deceased being first Sworn duly to Administer.

Death at sea of Walter Wilkes Plaisted (1836 – 1871)

Walter Wilkes Plaisted (1836 – 1871), my 3rd great grand uncle, died of phthisis (tuberculosis) on board the SS Geelong during the passage from Singapore to Melbourne. His probate file, held by the Public Records Office of Victoria, includes an inventory of his effects, a fascinating insight into the possessions of a traveller of 1871.

death notice for Walter Wilkes Plaisted in the Melbourne Argus of 27 February 1871

Walter was the son of John Plaisted (1800 – 1858) and  Ann nee Green (1801 – 1882).  He was the fifth of eight children. Walter’s father, John, also died of tuberculosis and in fact the family quite possibly emigrated to Australia for the sake of John Plaisted’s health.

The Plaisted family arrived in Adelaide on the Rajah in April 1850.  Walter was then fourteen years old.  In 1856, aged 19,  he was witness in a court case about a forged check. He was a clerk of the South Australian Banking Company.  According to his father’s death certificate, John Plaisted had moved to Melbourne five years before his death, about 1853. Walter had obviously stayed in Adelaide, at least until 1856, after his parents moved to Victoria.

At the time of his death Walter was unmarried. He had made a will and left his possessions to be divided between his five living siblings.  At probate he was declared to be a gentleman usually residing at Gipps Street, Richmond. Walter’s property amounted to less than forty pounds. His brother Thomas was sworn to administer the estate.

Public Records Office of Victoria: probate file for Walter Wilkes Plaisted, gentleman, usual residence Richmond, who died 7 February 1871, file number 8/804; VPRS 28/P2, unit 1

Inventory of effects of the late W W Plaisted a first class passenger from Singapore to Melbourne. Died on board S. S. ‘Geelong’ at sea 7th February 1871.

1 small parcel containing

1 gold watch & key (in case)
1 gold guard with appendages
1 set Gold studs
I pr gold sleeve links
1 gold scarf pin
2 pencil cases
Cash 6 Sovereigns 1 Rupee
1 Bunch Keys
…..

1 Black Box No 1 containing

7 prs Cloth Trousers
8 No    ”      Coats
9 No    ”      Vests
1 No Worsted Jacket
7 No Crimean Shirts [defined by oxforddictionaries.com as a coloured flannel shirt as worn by workers in the bush]
19 No White      “
18 prs     ”        Trousers
13 No     ”        Vests
11  ”        ”         Coats
7    ”   Chamber Towels
4    ”   Cotton Sheets
9    ”   Pillow Cases
4    ”  Sleeping Jackets
4    ”  Singlets
9 prs Socks
8   ”  Pyjamas
3 No Hat Covers
1   ”  Large Scrap Book
1 Book of Photographic Sketches
1 Portfolio containing papers
2 Albums containing Photographs
1 small Medicine Box
1 Packet Stationery
1 Masonic Apron (in tin case)
1 Flask
1 small Carpet Rug

—————–

1 Black Portmanteau No 2 containing

1 Bundle Magazines &c
1      ”      Books
3 Portraits (framed)
8 Pieces Prints (cotton)
2 Scarfs
2 Sashes
44 Neckties
2 doz Linen Collars
1 Book mark
1 pr Braces
1  ”  Kid Gloves
4 Cups
1 dressing Gown
3 White Handkerchiefs
1 Comb 2 hairbrushes
1 Tooth brush
1 Sponge
1 bath Scrubber
1 China basket of sundries

—————–

1 Black Portmanteau No 3 containing

3 prs Slippers
4   ”  Boots & Shoes
1 Red Blanket

—————–

1 Canvas Bag No 4
containing soiled linen &c viz
1 White Blanket
7 Sleeping Shirts
3 Prs Pyjamas
9 Linen Collars
1 pr White Trousers
5 White Handkerchiefs
3 prs Socks
4 Flannel Waistbands
1 Singlet
3 Bath Towels
4 White Vests
6     ”      Shirts
1 Felt Hat

—————–

Loose Articles

1 Rattan Chair
1 Silk Umbrella 1 Pith Hat

add Japan’d box & tray & Japanese Sword
3 Paper Kites
2 Malacca Canes

Sources

•  POLICE COURTS. (1856, January 3). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900), p. 4. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49746638
• Public Records Office of Victoria: will and probate files for Walter Wilkes Plaisted, gentleman, usual residence Richmond, who died 7 February 1871, file number 8/804; VPRS 28/P0, unit 99; VPRS 28/P2, unit 1; VPRS 7591/P2, unit 1

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• P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)