Who Do You Think You Are - Frances De La Tour 22nd Oct

[kiterunner]

Last in series. On BBC1 at 9 p.m. and repeated next Tuesday at 11:45 p.m.

[Nell]

Should be interesting. I saw Frances de la Tour years ago in a play in Hammersmith. She was eating in the theatre restaurant before the show and looked totally anonymous, but once she was on stage, she was completely captivating. Amazing talent.

[kiterunner]

Episode synopsis:
Frances De La Tour lives in Tufnell Park, London, near to her 40 year old daughter Tamasin (Tammy) and son Josh who is 3 years younger than Tammy. Frances's parents Charles and Moyra divorced when she was 8.

Frances's brothers Simon and Andrew (Andy) came to help her get started on her research. Their grandfather Percival De La Tour had made a book of their family tree which he gave to Simon when he was 21. The tree showed that Frances's great-grandfather Edward Frederick De La Tourmarried Edith Jadis, who was descended from the Delaval family. Edith's father was John Jadis and her grandfather was Henry Jadis. Henry's parents were John Godfrey Maximilian Jadis and the Hon. Sophia Ann Delaval. Henry's wife was Maria Elizabeth Adderley (Lady Gardner).

Frances went to show her copy of the tree to a genealogist who gave her some information about Maria's first marriage: Captain Alan Hyde Gardner married Miss Maria Elizabeth Adderley, aged about 15 or 16. Maria was the stepdaughter of the Earl of Buckinghamshire. Alan, a captain in the Navy, later inherited the title of his father Admiral Lord Gardner. Frances was shown a report from the Scots Magazine of 1805 saying that Captain Gardner had been awarded £1,000 damages against Henry Jadis for "criminal conversation" with his wife, although he had been asking for £20,000.

Frances visited the Parliamentary Archives and met an historian who showed her records of the case. She then went to Mayfair, where the Gardners lived, and was shown copies of the court documents for Alan's suit against Maria. Maria's maid gave evidence about a visit from Henry Jadis while Alan was away on a voyage to the West Indies (they had sailed in January 1802), and Maria's subsequent pregnancy. The maid said that Maria had initially hoped to convince her husband that the baby was his, then tried to deny she was pregnant, and gave birth secretly in December 1802, sending the baby boy away immediately to be wet-nursed by a Mrs Bayly. A footman had told the story to Alan a few months later.

In 1805, Alan petitioned parliament for a divorce from Maria, with a bastardization clause for the boy. The divorce was passed but the bastardization clause was removed. Maria married Henry Jadis later the same year.

Frances went to Iver, Buckinghamshire, and met an historian who showed her a report from "The Era" of 1825 saying that Alan Legge Gardner, Alan's son by his second wife, was claiming his father's peerage but it was contested by Henry Fenton Jadis, but it was ruled that Henry was illegitimate and could not inherit the peerage. Maria died on the 4th Dec 1831, aged 50, and Henry sr had a memorial plaque to her put on the wall of Iver church.


Frances then moved on to the Delaval family. She found a burial record for Sophia Ann Jadis, nee Dalaval, dated 2 Aug 1793 at Doddington Pigot, Lincolnshire, so she went to Doddington Hall and met the current occupant, who looked in the Delaval family archives for information about Sophia (also known as Sophie). There was a letter dated 1778 from Sophia to her sister, apologising for her "misconduct", and a letter to their father Sir John Hussey Delaval offering condolences on Sophie's "rash marriage". There was a baptism record at Doddington church dated 19 Jan 1778 for Henry, the son of Henry Devereux of Bordeaux, France and Sophia Ann. Her surname was originally written as Delaval but this had been crossed out and Devereux written in. Frances met an historian who said they had been unable to find any record of Henry Devereux of Bordeaux or of his marriage to Sophia, and thought that he might have been invented to give Henry jr a legitimate father on his baptism record. Henry Devereux jr became Henry Jadis when Sophia married John Jadis, an ensign in the army, in Feb 1780. A letter from Sir John Delaval to his land agent said that Sophie was determined to separate from her husband who had treated her badly, Jadis saying that the mistreatment was only when he had been drinking. Letters showed that a year after the separation, Sophia had moved to London. There was a bill for £57/9/8 from an apothecary named Mr Fussel. Frances went to London and met a medical historian who showed her the itemised bills from 1790 and 1791 - a lot of the money was spent on ever-increasing amounts of laudanum (an opiate) with other items including "a specific lotion", perhaps a treatment for VD.

Frances was shown an itemised bill for Sophia's funeral, for £316, paid by her father. Her date of death was shown as 23 Jul 1793.

Frances went to Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, the Delaval family's main residence. She met an expert on the Delaval family, who showed her a portrait of the young Sophia and one of her father, Sir John. Sir John's elder brother, Sir Francis Blake Delaval was a dissolute gambler who ran up debts totalling £45,000. Sir John and his siblings got an Act of Parliament passed in 1756 which gave them a mortgage to pay off the debts, and made Sir John head of the family instead of Sir Francis. This was a very unusual occurrence.

[Olde Crone]

Enjoyed this. It was definitely different!

This has been a good series overall, I think, even though I didn't enjoy a couple of them.

OC

[kiterunner]

I found it very interesting, but I was expecting them to look at the French origins of the De La Tour family at some point.

Now I want to know where the "Hussey" in Sir John Hussey Delaval's name came from as I have some posh Husseys way back in my tree.

[Olde Crone]

I keep meaning to say THANKYOU Kate, for all your work in transcribing each episode. It has certainly helped me to remember each episode as these days most of the detail has gone from my mind as soon as the episode has ended!

OC

[kiterunner]

You're welcome, OC!

[kiterunner]

For those with Findmypast, here is the image of Henry's baptism in the Doddington Pigot PR's:
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbprs%2flincs%2fdoddington_pigot_par_1_1 %2f0139&parentid=gbprs%2flincs%2fdoddington_pigot_par_1_1% 2f0139%2f649472&highlights=%22%22

For those without, here is the free version on Lincs to the Past:
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=571216&iid=196516

Henry son of Henry Devereux Esqr of Burdeux in france by Sophia Delaval (crossed out, Devereux written in) daughter of Sr John Hussey Delaval Bart of Doddington Pygot Bapt April 9 1778

[kiterunner]

And here is Sophia's burial on Lincs to the Past:
http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/RecordDisplayTranscript.aspx?oid=571084&iid=196618

1793 Augst 2d The honorable Sophia Ann Jadis, Daughter of the right Honorable Lord Delaval, Buried.

[kiterunner]

This is John Jadis and Sophia Ann's marriage record, on ancestry:

http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1623/31280_195084-00535/2361902?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3dlmamarriages%26gs s%3dangs-d%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3djohn%26g sfn_x%3d1%26gsln%3djad*%26gsln_x%3d1%26mswpn__ftp_ x%3d1%26MSAV%3d2%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26msgdy%3d1780%26m sgdy_x%3d1%26msgdp%3d1%26msgpn__ftp_x%3d1%26gskw_x %3d1%26_83004002_x%3d1%26cpxt%3d1%26cp%3d11%26catb ucket%3drstp%26pcat%3d34%26fh%3d0%26h%3d2361902%26 recoff%3d8%2b11%2b31%26ml_rpos%3d1&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord

St Mary, Lambeth
John Godfrey Maximillian Jadus of this Parish a Batchelor & Sophia Anne Jadus a Widow of the same Parish, married in this church by Licence 6 Feb 1780, witnesses Tho Greene of Grays Inn and James Singleton.

Her name hasn't just been written in wrong, because she has signed it Sophia Ann Jadus.

FMP has them in the "Faculty Office Marriage Licences Transcription" database, dated 5 Feb 1780, and again both are down as Jadus.

[Margaret in Burton]

OH found it very boring. I didn't mind the content but she really got on my nerves. What a droning voice. She'd make a good sedative.

[kiterunner]

When she went to the apothecary shop in London and was shown the bills from 1790-1, at first I thought they were just showing her examples of bills from that time, but they turned out to be her actual ancestor's bills. So I was marvelling at the fact that the shop happened to have those particular bills there. But searching on TNA's catalogue reveals that the bills are actually held by Northumberland Archives, along with the letters which she was shown at the family's house.

[kiterunner]

I find it worrying that Frances De La Tour's Wikipedia page has been updated with the citation of The Genealogist's article about her WDYTYA episode. The Genealogist's WDYTYA episodes usually contain several mistakes, although I don't think the specific information used for Wikipedia in this case is wrong. But it doesn't seem a very reliable source.

[kiterunner]

Here is Henry and Maria's marriage record on ancestry:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1623/31280_194672-00550/1912552?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dlmamarriages%26so%3d2%26pcat% 3d34%26gss%3dangs-c%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsfn%3dh*r*y%26 gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln%3djad*s%26gsln_x%3d1%26mswpn__ft p_x%3d1%26MSAV%3d2%26MS_AdvCB%3d1%26gskw_x%3d1%26_ 83004002_x%3d1%26cpxt%3d1%26cp%3d11%26catbucket%3d rstp&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

St Marylebone
Henry Jadis of this Parish Esquire, Bachelor, and Maria Elizabeth Adderley of Saint George Hanover Square Spinster were Married in this Church by Licence 9 Oct 1805. Witnesses Edwd Hale Adderley and John Wilkinson.

Interesting to see that Maria is down as a spinster, and no mention of the name Gardner.

[kiterunner]

This is the second marriage of Alan Hyde Gardner, on FMP:
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=gbprs%2fwsmtn%2f5108431%2f00228&parentid=gbprs%2fm%2f492024857%2f2&highlights=%22%22

St Martin in the Fields, Westminster
The Right Honorable Alan Hyde Lord Gardner single and unmarried and the Honorable Charlotte Elizabeth Smith a Spinster one of the Daughters of the Right Honorable Robert Lord Carrington were married in the dwelling House of the said Lord Carrington, situate at Whitehall in this Parish by a Special Licence 10 Apr 1809.

[kiterunner]

TNA's Catalogue has this entry:

Gardner: An Act to dissolve the marriage of The Hon Alan Hyde Gardner with Maria Elizabeth Adderley and to enable him to marry again, and for other purposes
This record is held by Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service: Staffordshire County Record Office

Title:
Gardner: An Act to dissolve the marriage of The Hon Alan Hyde Gardner with Maria Elizabeth Adderley and to enable him to marry again, and for other purposes
Reference: D4452/8/21
Description:
45 Geo III The Hon A H Gardner late of South Audley Street, p St George Hanover Square, Middlesex, Navy Captain (eldest son and heir of The Rt Hon Alan Gardner of Uttoxeter) and Maria Elizabeth Adderley, an infant daughter of Thomas Adderley, late of the City of Dublin deceased, with the consent of her mother The Rt Hon Lady Hobart
Date: 1805
Held by: Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service: Staffordshire County Record Office, not available at The National Archives

[kiterunner]

Here is the baptism of Henry Fenton Gardner, 6 Jan 1807 at St George Hanover Square, son of the Honble Allen Hyde Gardner & Maria Elizabeth his wife, born 8 Dec 1802:

LMA records on ancestry (http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1624/31547_212684-00186/10517782?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dlmaearlyparish%26so%3d2%26pca t%3dROOT_CATEGORY%26gss%3dangs-g%26new%3d1%26rank%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gsln%3dgard*r%2 6gsln_x%3d1%26mswpn__ftp_x%3d1%26MSAV%3d2%26MS_Adv CB%3d1%26msfng%3dal*n%26msfng_x%3d1%26msfns_x%3d1% 26msmng%3dmaria%26msmng_x%3d1%26msmns_x%3d1%26gskw _x%3d1%26_83004002_x%3d1%26cpxt%3d1%26cp%3d11%26ca tbucket%3drstp&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults)

So it looks as though Maria had him baptised as Alan's son in the hope of him inheriting one day, don't you think?

[kiterunner]

Here is Alan and Maria's marriage, in the British India Office records on Findmypast:

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bl%2fbind%2f005137383%2f00146&parentid=bl%2fbind%2fm%2f62824%2f1&highlights=""

St Mary's Church, Fort St George
30 Mar 1796 Captain Alan Hyde Gardner & Miss Maria Elizabeth Adderley

[JBee]

Thanks for the info - I must admit to getting a bit confused at times and have just read your threads which really helped me get the gist.

Another forum has put up the Genealogists site which has a couple of other snippetsI found interesting.


https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2015/who-do-you-think-you-are/frances-de-la-tour-292/

[kiterunner]

I would advise checking anything that appears in The Genealogist's article, because their articles on previous episodes have certainly contained a lot of errors. As for this one, they are making a lot of jumps from GRO indexes to censuses etc without ever taking the trouble to order any certificates, so there could be mistakes.

For instance, they say "It is his mother Edith Jadis (Frances' 2 x great grandmother) whose line provides a great deal of colour to the family story. Our researchers have discovered that she was the daughter of the Reverend John Jadis (1807 - 1863) Vicar of Humbleton, Yorkshire, by entering her name in the Master Search and selecting the 1851 census."
They can't be sure that the Edith on the census is the right one, and that the information on the census is accurate, without checking other sources, such as her marriage certificate, or perhaps the father's will.

And sorry to rant, but I do find it very annoying how The Genealogist will take an entry from the GRO index and work it up into something all fancy-looking with different fonts and everything, and then call it a "Marriage Record" or a "Birth Record" etc. There was one of these in last night's episode and a couple in that article. It isn't a record, just an index entry! I have seen them do it before with a pre-1911 marriage, where you can't even be sure just from the index who married whom.


Their information about "Henry Devereux"'s real identity is very interesting, though. But as I said, I would advise checking it elsewhere to make sure it is right.

[Shona]

Here is another pic of Sophia Delaval.

http://i1326.photobucket.com/albums/u654/shonamcisaac/Sophia%20Delaval_zpsollghjnt.jpg (http://s1326.photobucket.com/user/shonamcisaac/media/Sophia%20Delaval_zpsollghjnt.jpg.html)

[kiterunner]

I wonder whether Alan Hyde Gardner and Maria Elizabeth had any children who died young. They married in 1796 and Maria's child by Henry Jadis was born in December 1802. I would have thought there would be a few children before that, but haven't managed to find any so far.

[Ann from Sussex]

I wonder whether Alan Hyde Gardner and Maria Elizabeth had any children who died young. They married in 1796 and Maria's child by Henry Jadis was born in December 1802. I would have thought there would be a few children before that, but haven't managed to find any so far.

Maybe he was away at sea a lot!

On the tree that was given to Frances' brother (by their grandfather?) Maria was shown as Lady Gardner but on the divorce papers I am sure she was just Mrs Gardner. I don't think her former husband inherited the title until after the divorce did he? If that was the case she never had the title "Lady".

[Olde Crone]

I get my "Lady"s mixed up, but could she have inherited the title "Lady" from her mother? (She wouldn't be Lady Gardner though).

OC

[JBee]

I got mixed up too OC -

Thanks Kite for the insight into the article - if it was my tree I would be a bit more thorough so to speak with facts rather than assumptions.

[Olde Crone]

No, I meant that you can be a lady by birthright or by marriage and if her mother was a Lady, did Sophia inherit that title?

OC

[kiterunner]

No, I meant that you can be a lady by birthright or by marriage and if her mother was a Lady, did Sophia inherit that title?



You mean Maria Elizabeth, don't you, OC?

[Olde Crone]

Grr, yes I do! Confusion reigns!

OC

[Shona]

They are a tangled lot, these titled families!

Anyway, Maria Elizabeth Adderley was the daughter of Thomas Adderley and Margaret Bourke, who were both Irish.

Thomas Adderley, a politician from Co Cork, was big in the development of the linen industry. His marriage to Margaret (poss from Co Mayo) was his second. The first was to the widow of the third Viscount Charlemont.

Thomas Adderley died in 1791. In 1792, his widow – Maria’s mum – Margaret Adderley, nee Bourke, married Robert Hobart.

At this stage, Hobartt didn’t have a title, as far as I can see. However, he went on to become Baron Hobart and afterwards, the 4th Earl of Buckingham. Hobart lived mainly in Ireland. They had a daughter, Sarah Louisa Albina Hobart. More of her later.

In 1793, Hobart was appointed as the Governor of Madras. This explains why Maria Elizabeth Adderley married Alan Hyde Gardner in St Mary’s Church at Fort St George in Madras. In the episode, they said Maria was 15 or 16 at the time. If Alan Hyde Gardner’s naval duties took him away, it may explain why there are no children born early in the marriage. I also wonder about her age. I appreciate that in India, it was common for very young women to marry, but the Hobart family weren't born and brought up in India. Was Maria much younger than Hyde Gardner?

Anyway, Maria’s stepfather, Robert Hobart, and her mother, Margaret, lost a son while they were at Fort St George in India. John was born in India on 25 November 1795:

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bl%2fbind%2f005137383%2f00143&parentid=bl%2fbind%2fd%2f195861&highlights=%22%22

‘14 March 1796, John, infant son of Right Hon, Lord Hobart.’

Maria Adderley (I wonder why she didn’t use the name Hobart following her mother’s marriage to Robert?) married Alan Hyde Garner a couple of weeks later on 30 March 1796.

Later the same year, Maria’s mother, Margaret ('Margaretta, Baroness Hobart') died in Fort St George in Madras (August 1796).
http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bl%2fbind%2f005137383%2f00144&parentid=bl%2fbind%2fd%2f195949&highlights=%22%22

Robert Hobart returned to Britain in 1798 and was given the title Baron Hobart.
In 1799, Robert married the Hon Eleanor Agnes, daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland. They had no children.

Robert became the 4th Earl of Buckingham in 1804.

Robert and Margaret Hobart’s daughter, Lady Sarah, married Frederick John Robinson – a politician. In August 1814, he married the ‘plain but rich heiress’, Lady Sarah Abina Louisa Hobart, daughter of the 4th Earl Buckingham. She came into her inheritance in 1816 following her father’s death. Robinson served as President of the Board of Trade and Chancellor. He became Viscount Goderich in 1827. He became Prime Minister later that year, but resigned in early 1828. He became the Earl of Ripon in 1833.

Maria referred to herself as Lady Gardner, but her husband didn't have a title when they were married. Did she perhaps call herself Lady because her stepfather was titled? I don't think her father, Thomas Adderley, had a title.

[Shona]

A snippet on the Gardner family...

William Linnaeus Gardner was the eldest son of Major Valentine Gardner (born 1739 in Ireland). His father was the elder brother of Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner. William converted to Islam to marry Manzil un-nisa Nawab Mah, Dehlavi, a wealthy Princess. They had two sons, Valentine Gardner and another Alan Gardner.

[Olde Crone]

Shona

Gosh, what an interesting family history she has.

I have someone who married in India aged 12 in the late 1790s. She was from an aristocratic family. She had two children by the time she was 15. Her husband was 30 years older than she was.....urggghhh.

OC

[Ann from Sussex]

Never mind what happened in India. When my gt gt grandparents (both the offspring of ag labs) married in 1830 in Kent, the bride was 15.

[Olde Crone]

Ann

LOL! I do have a 13 yr old and a 14 year old marrying in 1760-something, both the children of farmers. That's a bit different from a 30 year age gap!

OC