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Francis, son of Fountain & Arabella Strutt was born on 2 Jul 1778 and was baptised on 23 July in St John at Hampstead, Middlesex. He was the great-great Grandson of Dudley North the fourth Baron North.[1]
Francis, or Frederick as he seems to have been known, went to Oxford University where he matriculated on 22 Dec 1796 aged 18. [2]
Francis married Elizabeth Whitear by licence on 5 March 1799 in the parish of St Clement, in Hastings, Sussex. They were both previously unmarried and Francis was recorded as being from Hampstead. For Eliza this was not just her home church and the one she was baptised in, this was the church her father the Rev William Whitear was Minister in. He married them and the witnesses were Maria Whitear, Eliza's sister, and Mary Ann Gilbert.[3][4]
Francis and Elizabeth had seven known children and all were baptised in St Clement's, Hastings:
Child | Date of Birth | Baptised |
Frederick | 1800 | 28 Jul 1800[5] |
Charles William | 1803 | 9 Sept 1803[6] |
Dudley | 1805 | 26 Jul 1805[7] |
Montague | Abt. 1807 | 23 Jan 1807[8] |
Arabella | 1809 | 23 Nov 1809[9] |
Roger Montagu | 2 Jan 1811 | 28 Feb 1811[10] |
Edward Francis | 15 Dec 1816 | 4 July 1817[11] |
On the 28 January 1811, shortly after the birth of his 5th son, Francis made his will. (Details and a transcription of some of the will can be viewed on this Space.) Elizabeth, and Francis' brother Charles were made executors. The document spanned twenty pages and was signed and sealed by Francis. It was witnessed by three of their servants:
According to his granddaughter Marianne North (Frederick's daughter) Francis was not interested in his Rougham Estate, much like his father before him who had Rougham Hall demolished with gunpowder. Marianne said he lived all his life in Hastings and never went near Rougham.[12]
She did not hold Francis in high-esteem and said of him that he:
did nothing to distinguish himself but have the gout, which gave him an excuse for a bad temper.
How much of this is her own opinion or Frederick's views that she had taken on is not clear as, from her writings, it seems as though Francis and Frederick did not have a very good relationship. It appears as though Francis was a stern father and that despite bullying at school (Harrow) Frederick was unhappiest when he had to come home. As a young man at Cambridge, Frederick spent vacations "with an old farmer at Rougham in preference to his ungenial home".
Marianne does not mention of whether all his children felt similarly just Frederick, however it appears that Francis was at least very fond of his wife, referring to her as "my dear wife" throughout his will and writing in detailed protections for the security of her annuity.
Francis was living in Hastings, Sussex when he died on 8 Oct 1821, aged 43. He was buried on 16 October 1821 in the parish of Ore, what is now a suburb of Hastings. It is thought that Francis was living at Hastings Lodge, on what is now Old London Road (back then just London Road) at the time of his death.[2][13]
Hastings Lodge was about a quarter of a mile from St Clement's Church, had large ornamental gardens and a natural spring in the grounds.
While some modern sources state that it was built by his son Frederick in 1827, after Francis' death but there is a newspaper article from 1898 which says that Francis built it and Frederick extended and modernised it, and Frederick's obituary specifically mentions Francis as having also been of Hastings Lodge. [14][15] More information about Hastings Lodge and its wider history as a health spa and convent can be seen on it's own Space. |
If he was living at Hastings Lodge, it is not known why he was buried in Ore, rather than the nearby St Clement's. It is likely that he was buried in the graveyard of the original St Helen's Church in Ore remodelled in the 14th century but possibly of Saxon origin initially.
This church is now an actual ruin, but was considered to be in a poor state of repair at the time the new St Helen's was built nearby in 1868. The 12th Century tower still stands but with no steeple and much of the fabric of the rest of the church is missing but there are still grave stones in the church yard.
His will passed probate on 15 December 1821.[16]
This profile is being worked on by a member of the England Project's Orphan Trail Team.
Burnand-54 19:59, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
While technically only landed gentry as the Squire of Rougham, Francis would have been considered of noble blood, even if rather diluted, as noted in the bio from his Oxford University record which mentions his connection to the Guildford Baronetcy.
Francis's father Fountain North (abt.1749-bef.1810) was the son of
Burnand-54 19:59, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
Old St Helen's has an ongoing project make available online a photo and transcription of all the headstones in the churchyard. I have contacted them to see if they have any information about Francis.
Burnand-54 19:59, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
The profile for Elizabeth Whitear says they had 8 children but does not list them. If there is an 8th child they were not baptised at St Clement's, as far as I can tell.
If there was to be another child it would either have to be:
Burnand-54 19:59, 3 January 2024 (UTC) Adding here for anyone that wants to add additional profiles:
Frederick, son of Frederick North & Janet, was baptised on 25 October 1833 in Hastings, Sussex, England.[17]
Janet's birth was registered in the Jul-Aug-Sep quarter of 1837 in the Hastings district.[18]Janet, daughter of Frederick North, married John Addington Symonds on 10 November 1864 in St Clement, Hastings, Sussex, England.[19]
"DEATHS Dec. 10 [1839], of remittent fever, in the Gulf of Smyrna, Edward F. North, of her Majesty's ship Princess Charlotte , aged 22, youngest son of the late Francis Frederick North, Esq., of Hastings and Rougham." https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000183%2F18400108&page=4&article=023&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
Detailed account of the court case surrounding Dudley's children: https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001945%2F18461228&page=5&article=020&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
"NORTH - On the 19th inst. [Oct 1876], Major Roger Montagu North, late of the 2nd Madras Light Cavalry, fourth and last surviving son of the late Francis Frederick North, Esq., of Rougham, in this county, and Hastings, Sussex, aged 64. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001669%2F18761025&page=3&article=076&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
Marriage of Sarah North, daughter of Dudley to William Tomkinson (1866) https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000247%2F18660505&page=5&article=075&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
NORTH. - On the 2nd inst., at The Croft, Hastings, Arabella, only daughter of the late Francis Frederick North, Esq., of that place and Rougham, Norfolk, in her 85th year. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0001924%2F18931209&page=1&article=002&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
Sarah, widowed daughter of Dudley, marrying Conte Guido Richetta Di Valgoria in Rome https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000156%2F18820124&page=5&article=024&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
"MR. F. NORTH, M.P. Frederick North, Esq., of Rougham, and hastings Lodge, Sussex, M.P. for Hastings, died on 29th ult [Oct 1869]. He was the eldest son of the late Francis Frederick North, Esq., of Rougham and Hastings Lodge, by Elizabeth, his wife, daughter of the Rev. William Whitear, Prebendary of Chichester; and represented a branch of the noble house of Guildford, his great-great-grandfather, the Hon. Roger North, of Rougham, author of "The Lives of the Norths," having been sixth son of Dudley, fourth Lord North. Mr Frederick North was born in 1800, and married, in 1825, Janet daughter of Sir John Marjoribanks, Bart., M.P., and widow of Robert Shuttleworth Esq., of Gawthorp Hall, in the county of Lancaster, by whom he leaves two daughters and one son, Charles, who is married to the eldest daughter of the Rev. Thomas Keppell."[20]
Memorial plaque for Arabella in St Clements - it notes there is a plaque for another relative in the church but doesn't name them - perhaps William Whitear? https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000293%2F18940630&page=5&article=033&stringtohighlight=francis+frederick+north+hastings
There are several other Francis Norths including:
Burnand-54 19:59, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
Francis was living in New York, a hamlet in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England at the time of his death in 1835. He was age 65 and was buried on 29 November 1835 in nearby Coningsby.[21][22]
He is likely to be the Francis North, Master Cordwainer who apprenticed 13yo John Robinson in Lincolnshire in 1822 Lincolnshire Archives and possibly linked to Francis North (abt.1803-1836) who is also in Lincolnshire.
The burial record has an image that may be viewable at an LDS Family Search Centre.
Francis's birth was registered in the Jan-Feb-Mar quarter of 1875 in the Belper district.[23]
See also:
Connections to Super Bowl halftime show performers: Frederick is 26 degrees from Prince Nelson, 16 degrees from Dan Aykroyd, 20 degrees from Garth Brooks, 28 degrees from Chubby Checker, 24 degrees from Ella Fitzgerald, 20 degrees from Dusty Hill, 32 degrees from Whitney Houston, 15 degrees from Mick Jagger, 23 degrees from Paul McCartney, 22 degrees from Tom Petty, 21 degrees from Chris Stapleton and 22 degrees from Shania Twain on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.
N > North > Francis Frederic North
Categories: Squires | St Clement's Church, Hastings, Sussex | Ore, Sussex | St John's Church, Hampstead, Middlesex | Rougham, Norfolk | Hastings, Sussex | Oriel College, Oxford | Hampstead, Middlesex (London)