John Phelps (1750 - 1823)

Born 23 Jul 1750 in Ireland

Ancestors

Descendants

Biography

John was a Friend (Quaker)

John Phelps was born in Ireland on 23 July 1750.^[1][2]

He married Elizabeth Shaw in Lurgan on 20 December 1786.^[3]

With his brother Wilcocks, John worked as a banker and merchant trader in Dublin. Despite their 1802 bankruptcy, John and Wilcocks carried on in business together in Dublin. They were the sole agents for the Malcolmson & Co. bank, originally William Brownlow Esq. & Co., and ran the only office where its notes totalling £ 170,000 could be redeemed. The bank lost heavily during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars. Wilcocks’ eldest son, John, succeeded him. In 1820 they were obliged to auction off their various properties in Dublin as well as in County Meath along with shares in the Grand Canal.^[1]

In January 1821, John and Wilcocks were disowned by the Dublin Quakers and John replied:

‘If the meeting taking a different view of the case from what I have been able to do should judge it necessary to proceed to extremity I will endeavor to submit with resignation. As regards my general conduct as a member I am conscious that I have in too many respects acted inconsistently but I trust I have not been insensible to the value of communion with the religious Society in whose principles I have been educated and I hope that the impressions arising therefrom may remain although the bond which united me should be severed.’^[1]

He died on 20 January 1823.^[4]

Research Notes

No birth record in Quaker records.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Our Ancestors and Their Times (https://ourancestorsandtheirtimes.wordpress.com/linen-and-northern-ireland-1770-to-1823/ : accessed 11 February 2023).
2. ↑ The Pedigree of G. Strangman Hancock. Paul Hancock will scan the relevant page on request.
3. ↑ “Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Marriages,” database with images, FindMyPast (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FMARR%2F15153G : accessed 11 February 2024), marriage of John Phelps and Elizth Shaw in Lurgan on 20d 12mo (Dec) 1786; citing Register of marriages, LURGAN, 1859, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.
4. ↑ “Ireland, Society Of Friends (Quaker) Deaths,” database with images, FindMyPast (https://www.findmypast.com/transcript?id=IRE%2FQUAKER%2FBURS%2F7027 : accessed 11 February 2024), death of John Phelps (age 71) on 20d 1mo (Jan) 1823, buried in Dublin; citing Register of deaths, DUBLIN, 1859, Religious Society Of Friends In Ireland Archives.