| Name |
James FRANCIS |
| Birth |
08 Jan 1809 |
St. George's Hanover Square, London, Middlesex  |
| Christening |
04 Jun 1809 |
St. George's Hanover Square, London, Middlesex |
- son of James & Isabella FRANCIS [no occupation or abode given]
|
| Gender |
Male |
| Occupation |
14 Jun 1836 |
Messrs Bailey Shaw and Smith, 5 Berners Street, London |
| Solicitors' Clerk |
- Documents "Attested as true copies by James Francis and A.J. Godebye, clerks to Messrs Bailey Shaw and Smith, 5 Berners Street, on 14 Jun 1836." [Portland (London) Collection archival bundle Pl E12/6/20/16.]
|
| Census |
1841 |
Grove Street, Regent's Park, St. Pancras, London |
| Clerk |
| Age: 30+ |
 |
James FRANCIS & Family 1841
|
| Residence |
1841-1843 |
15 Brown Street (off Duke Street), St. George Hanover Square, London |
- Assessed for rates at this address, which had been his parents' home since 1810.
|
| Residence |
09 Feb 1843 |
Brown Street, St. George Hanover Square, London |
| Clerk. |
| Census |
1851 |
13a Clarence Road, Kentish Town, St. Pancras, London |
| Solicitor's Managing Clerk |
| Age: 42 |
- Also in the household are his wife, 3 younger daughters, and general servant Caroline TADGELL (17 year-old from Waltham Abbey, Essex).
- The modern profession of Legal Executive evolved out of the managing clerk of the 19th century. When solicitors' firms started to grow in the 19th century, they increasingly relied upon an ever-expanding number of clerks to help with drafting and organizing documents. Some of these clerks in turn became quite knowledgeable about the law and were allowed to manage their fellow clerks; hence, they were called "managing clerks." [Wikipedia]
|
 |
James FRANCIS & Family 1851
|
| Residence |
02 Dec 1854 |
Cassiobury Villas, Watford, Hertfordshire |
- Residence given at time of marriage to Ann Catherine HUGHES. [Hertfordshire Marriage Index (1538-1837)]
|
| Residence |
1855 |
Hope Villas, Bushey, Hertfordshire |
- "Mr. James Francis" listed as a resident in Kelly's Directory for Bushey.
At the same address is listed Mr. James WATKINS, who in 1851 was an upholsterer and undertaker, and by 1861 was a proprietor of houses.
Among the traders listed is:
Charles [Palmer] PHILLIPS, Solicitor, Bushey Heath. PHILLIPS (b.1821) was living at Berkley Cottage in Aldenham (very close to Bushey) in 1851, 1855 and 1861. CP Phillips became in 1859 principal secretary to Lord Chancellor Chelmsford, and was subsequently Secretary to the Commisioners in Lunacy. He wrote books on Copyright Law and "The Law Concerning Lunatics".
|
 |
James FRANCIS, Bushey 1855
Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent ... , 1855 |
| Census |
1861 |
Barnet Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire |
| Law Clerk |
| Age: 52 |
- Also in the household are his wife, daughter Sibella (assistant at home) and general servant Emma BRUTON (18 year-old from Bushey).
|
 |
James FRANCIS & Family 1861
|
| Residence |
Bef 02 Jul 1869 |
Villiers Road, Bushey |
| Given in will as former residence. |
| Will written |
02 Jul 1869 |
2 Kent Terrace, Ventnor, Isle of Wight |
- To daughter Sibella "the two china images formerly her grandmother's".
To daughter Mary "my watch and hair guard chain and the two china vases formerly her mother's".
To wife "all my prints, pictures, books, plate, linen, cina, furniture and effects" plus £200 which arose from the sale of freehold devised to wife and her two sisters by the will of Miss Flittock.
To grandson James £5.
After widow's death, trust fund (made up of remaining monies) to be divided equally between son William and two daughters.
Witnessed by Ann SQUIRE and Emma BRUTON.
|
| Census |
1871 |
2 Kent Terrace, Ventnor, Isle of Wight |
| Solicitor's Managing Clerk (retired) |
| Age: 62 |
 |
James FRANCIS & wife 1871
|
| Will written |
12 Mar 1874 |
2 Kent Terrace, Ventnor, Isle of Wight |
| Codicil added to will, appointing brother-in-law George Alfred HUGHES of Lower Norwood, Surrey as additional executor. |
| Death |
17 Mar 1874 |
2 Kent Terrace, Ventnor, Isle of Wight |
| Age: 65 |
| Cause: Dilatation of Heart. Bronchitis. Certified. |
- Occupation: Solicitor [sic]
Informant: Emma BRUTON of Bushey, Hertfordshire, present at the death.
Registered 20 Mar 1874.
- The following year, Emma BRUTON married James SWAIN, a widowed paper maker 18 years her senior.
|
| Probate |
16 Apr 1874 |
London |
| Granted to Ann Catherine FRANCIS the widow, Richard William FRANCIS ("in the will written William") the son, Sibella FRANCIS spinster the daughter, and George Alfred HUGHES (brother-in-law). |
| Notes |
- In 1851, a Joseph Francis, b.1779, retired Yeoman from South Leigh, Oxon and his wife Ann (b.1785) were living near to Edward Flexney (b.1812) on Bridge Street. No known connection to this James FRANCIS.
|
| Person ID |
I184 |
Gadd |
| Last Modified |
10 Oct 2009 |
| Family 1 |
Caroline RUDGE, b. 1804, Chesham, Hertfordshire d. Q2 1852, Pancras Reg'n District (Age 48 years) |
| Marriage |
28 Jan 1828 |
St. Marylebone Church, London |
- By licence and with the consent of his mother, Sibilla FRANCIS, his father being dead.
|
 |
Marriage of James FRANCIS & Caroline RUDGE 1828
|
| Children |
| + | 1. Richard William FRANCIS, b. 1831, Marylebone, London, Middlesex d. 1881-1891 (Age 60 years) |
| | 2. Emily FRANCIS, b. 1832, Middlesex |
| | 3. Sibella FRANCIS, b. 1837, St. Pancras, Middlesex d. Q1 1905, South Stoneham Reg's District, Hampshire (Age 68 years) |
| | 4. Hannah FRANCIS, b. 1838, St. Pancras, Middlesex |
| | 5. Mary FRANCIS, b. 09 Feb 1843, St. George's Hanover Square, London, Middlesex |
|
| Family ID |
F7268 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
25 Sep 2009 |
| Family 3 |
Agnes FLEXNEY, b. Abt 1828, Witney, Oxfordshire d. 17 Dec 1902, 14 Guinea Street, Bristol (Age 74 years) |
| Marriage |
- Almost certainly not married. Daughter took mother's maiden name until her own marriage. Mother described as Agnes Francis, widow, in 1861 census.
The description "James FRANCIS, Solicitor" comes from daughter Agnes's marriage certificate, but no James FRANCIS exists on relevant Law Lists. Agnes's father is described on her birth certificate as a "solicitor's clerk".
This James FRANCIS has been chosen as the only person of the name working in the legal profession at the time and of an appropriate age - we have no other evidence that he was Agnes's father.
James was remarried and resident in Bushey before Agnes's pregnancy. Agnes was resident in Witney in 1851, but may have followed her sister (Mary Ann WOODCOCK) to Bristol shortly afterwards. It is possible that James would have been required to lodge in Bristol if his employer was involved in the Assizes [in 1855 there were no Spring Assizes, the Summer Assizes began on 2nd August]. A William FRANCIS (quite possibly James's son) was lodging in a hotel in Clifton in 1871 in his capacity as Clerk of the Peace for Middlesex, along with a number of others involved with the Assizes.
Alternatively, Agnes might have been employed in some capacity in Bushey, or she may have worked in James FRANCIS's household while he was still resident in London, and transferred with him to Bushey. This is not entirely unlikely: Charlotte HUNT, a dressmaker from Witney living in Regent's Park District in 1851 was in 1841 the domestic servant of a solicitor (Joseph BLUNT) in Upper Gower Street, St. Pancras.
- Agnes had two brothers who had settled in London by this time:
1. Richard, whose wife Emma was visiting Fanny WRIGHT (nee FLEXNEY) in Bournemouth in 1891 - perhaps coincidentally very near to the home of James's daughter, Sibella FRANCIS.
2. Frederick, who married in 1854, and whose daughter born in Islington in April 1855 was named Priscilla Agnes.
|
| Event |
Jun 1855 |
| Daughter conceived |
| Children |
|
| Photos |
 | Map of Bristol in 1937, before many roads were obliterated by the Blitz and post-War redevelopment.
|
| Family ID |
F64 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
11 Oct 2009 |
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1809 - 1874 (65 years)