Ffrench Family in Jamaica (as at 19/7/09)
Nancy Atkinson(Nee Ffrench) and her siblings’ grandfather was Ernest George Ffrench
born in Spanish Town in 15 Nov 1876 died in Kent, England at 61. He was a very
successful doctor (Edinburgh University, St Bartholemews, plus US colleges) writing
learned medical papers and also had a fine army record becoming Lt Colonel in the Royal
Army Medical Corps. (Bio and many obituaries available)
His parents were Arthur George Ffrench and Jane Victoria Smith. He was illegitimate.
Nancy’s late father Geoffrey believed Jane came from the Smith family living at
Annesbrook, Co Meath, just North of Dublin but we cannot find any records anywhere
to prove this. Traditionally the Ffrench’s originate from Monivea, near Galway in
western Ireland but there have been Ffrench’s (& French’s) in Jamaica since at least the
1750’s.
1) Ernest’s Birth & Parentage
Recently we asked a genealogical researcher visiting Kingston to try and find Ernest’s,
Arthur George’s and Jane Victoria’s birth/ baptism records and for Arthur and Jane V
their birth/death records. She found nothing at all for the parents but Ernest’s
birth/baptism has surfaced and he is recorded as coloured ie
Ernest
Ffrench George (col)
F: Arthur George French,
Clerk, Municipal Board,
Spanish Town, STC M: Jane
Victoria Smith
Baptism: 20 Dec 1876. Born: 15
Nov 1876. Spanish Town, STC.
Register # 156
However his photo shows him as very white and European featured & none of his 28+
descendants over 4 generations show any African features or colour—tho one or two are
quite olive skinned which initially we had put down to Ernest’s Jewish wife Adele
Miriam Carvalho—they married in New York in 1907.
Arthur George had other children before and after Ernest with Frances Ann Glave
(Subsequently named Ffrench but no marriage record found) --which produced one
daughter registered as coloured--- 2 others-unnamed males colour not recorded ie
Kathleen
Ffrench Glave (col)
F: Arthur George Ffrench M:
Frances Ann Glave
Baptism: 10 Mar 1875. Heavitree,
MAN. Register # 48
Ffrench Male
F: Arthur George Ffrench,
Clerk of parichial Board M:
Frances Ann Ffrench, formerly
Glave
Birth: 09 Dec 1879, Heavetree,
MAN. Registered 29 Dec 1879 by
father. Register # 283 or 1429
Ffrench Male
F: George Arthur Ffrench,
Clerk of Parichial Board
Spanish Town, STC M: France
Ann French, formerly Glave
Birth: 30 Nov 1881. Heavitee,
Mile Gully, MAN. Registered by
Florence Forbes, present at birth.
Signed with "X". 26 Jan 1882
The Gleaner also reports her having a 3rd son in 1884. Frances Ann is shown in the 1910
Almanac as the owner of Heavitree Coffee estate so presumably Arthur George had died
by then—death record not found—and left it to her.
2) Who was Arthur George Ffrench and who were his parents/ancestors?
http://www.afrigeneas.com/library/jamaica/acts.html or
http://jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/acts.htm
Individuals of part-African or African descent named in Acts of the Jamaican Assembly
1760-1810
by Edward Crawford
CO139/39 (590) Jane Charlotte Beckford, a free mulatto woman, and George French
and Edward French free quadroons her children, 23.12.1784
And
.................................................................
“Jamaican Female Lodging House keepers in the 19th Century”, Paulette Kerr, in The
Jamaican Historical Review, vol XVIII, 1993
also i
Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective, 1995, Chapter 11,
p197
‘For example, Charlotte Beckford in Spanish Town was a free mulatto who had two sons
for George Ffrench, Crown Solicitor and later Clerk of the Council. Her lodging house
was also known as “Miss Ffrench’s” lodging house, although there is no record of a
marriage between her and George Ffrench.’
There is no mention of Miss Jane Victoria Smith in the article.
The 1784 reference to George Ffrench(call him George1) and his mulatto lady
Charlotte Beckford is intriguing.We have found a George Ffrench will of 1795 but
he was married to Elizabeth Ann Ffrench and their minor son at that time was
Henry Ffrench.
So did Arthur George descend from Elizabeth Ann or from Charlotte Beckford?
Ernest’s birth record stating “Coloured” might incline to Charlotte being the
ancestor. If so one of her quadroon sons might have fathered George2 Ffrench
who married Eliza Minot in 1849.
We think George2 & Eliza were Arthur George Ffrench's parents. George2 was
a Tax collector, joined the tax office in 1847 and may have got son Arthur George
Ffrench his job there in 1870(aged 18?) .(plus another sibling E.S Ffrench in 1873 ?)
.
George2 and Eliza were definitely parents of more famous Alfred Ernest Ffrench
JP, MP etc born 1861
Assuming he was born a year or two after George2 and Eliza’s marriage in 1849, Arthur
would be about 24 when Ernest was born in 1876. He had had daughter Kathleen born
before Ernest and 2 male sons (names?) all born in Heavitree, MAN, & all with the same
mother Frances Ann Glave after Ernest.Frances subsequently was named “Mrs Arthur G
Ffrench” but no marriage record has been found (Was Frances coloured?--probably)
According to the Colonial Annual Reports (the “Blue Books” )Arthur George Ffrench
worked in various parishes(mainly St Catherine’s) as a clerk/collector of taxes/municipal
boards from Sept 1870 until Dec 1886 when(aged 34?) he was “dismissed”! Reason not
stated. Perhaps for corruption/ fraud from the Tax Dept?
We do have records of other children of George2 and Eliza eg Letitia so its strange we
cant find one for Arthur George. Neither can we find his death certificate tho he was alive
in 1886 but dead by 1910 (aged 58?)
Did he have any contact with Ernest-- he was “dismissed” when Ernest was about 10.Did
he help pay for Ernest’s schooling etc?
3) Who was Jane Victoria Smith?
The earliest reference we have for her is an advert in the Gleaner of 1881,(Ernest would
be 5) address 64 Harbour Street selling milk. Subsequent adverts show her selling ice
and running a lodging house at 7 East Street, Kingston ie
“Cost of lodging also varied in Kingston and throughout the country. Mrs. Hannan, wife
of red-headed and bearded politician Hannan at Marble Hall, Rae Town and Miss Jane
Smith at the corner of East Street and Water Lane, Kingston, charged 2/- or 2/6 for bed,
2/- for breakfast, 1/6 for lunch and three or four shillings for dinner. The Hannans
produced brainy progeny of the scholastic type, Miss Jane left a son, who became
Colonel French of the West India Regiment (R.A.M.C.), and later a Harley Street
physician. In Jamaica, he had been educated at Morrison’s Collegiate. He was a genial
man of fine physique. While stationed at Up Park Camp in Jamaica, he might often be
seen of an afternoon on his Mother’s Water Lane verandah in affectionate
companionship with her. An officious brother Officer, smelling a scandal sounding in
"conduct unbecoming in an Officer," had the records of applications for appointment as
an officer in the Army searched, but found only "answers (to awkward questions) waived
by Orders of Lord Roberts. ????
She was clearly a hard working business woman.
Ernest went to Kingston Collegiate School (Also known as Morrison’s Collegiate). He is
shown on a school prize list in 1892.He must have been a bright pupil to get to Edinburgh
University as a medical student. How? Who paid? Scholarship? Jane Vic? Arthur
George? Connections?
(After working as a doctor in the Boer war Ernest joined the British Army’s medical
service and in 1903/6 ( ie before the 07 earthquake) was posted to Up Park Camp
garrison, Kingston as an Army doctor helping deal with a yellow fever outbreak
there.There are various references to him in the Gleaner at this time.
We don’t think Jane Victoria Smith can have been coloured. Nancy’s father
Geoffrey(now dead) visited Jane Victoria in Kingston in 1925 (he was just 8) but in a
short note he wrote about it 30 years later makes no reference to her colour
“she was still an upright tall old lady, over 6 foot it is said, and certainly to a small boy
of eight she had a presence. She lived in a marvellous old house on the corner of
Harbour St and King Street in Kingston; it was orange coloured, square and you
entered through a tall,arched double doorway into a courtyard. Outside on the pavement
at the corner was an ancient cannon but this one was stuck nose down into the ground
with about 3 feet of it showing….it was said to have come there…during the 1907
earthquake .Inside the courtyard was a cobbled yard with clackers and other assorted
wheeled carts and all around the courtyard was a wooden balcony on the first floor…..My
greeting from my grandmother has oddly left no impression…..”
The ear
We believe she died around 1928 in Kingston But we have no death record. If we did it
would give us a birth year and possibly a place. From that we might get a birth record and
therefore her parents
4) How does Hon Alfred Ernest Ffrench MBE, MP fit in?
Born Port Antonio, POR Apr 23rd 1861—died 24th April 1926 . Got an MBE during first
World War for work with Red Cross. Member Legislative Council. He was a son of
George and Eliza Ffrench ie a younger brother of Arthur George?