Elizabeth Windsor (1805 - 1890)

Born 18 Jul 1805 in Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

Died 5 Sep 1890 at age 85 in Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: C. Brooman [send private message]

Biography

According to her baptismal record at Walcot St. Swithin, Elizabeth Windsor was born on 18 Jul 1805 and baptised at Walcot St. Swithin, Bath, on 16 Aug 1809 with her younger siblings Mary and James. She was the daughter of James William Windsor and Alicia Daniell/Daniels.

Her parents both being musicians, that was the life that was set for her. Money was apparently no object for the Windsors, so she and her brothers and sisters were surely given first class educations. As well, young ladies practiced their handwriting and poetry writing in copy books, their sketching in sketchbooks. (Her first cousin Louisa Daniels left behind these types of books.) From the letters written by her sisters to their cousins in America, it is evident that the Windsor girls were well read.

Growing up in a musical household, the Windsor children learned to sing from their mother, who was a well known former opera singer and actress, and were taught to play the piano forte by their father, who was a child prodigy. (Whether or not they had his skills is unknown.)

In later life, according to the 1861 Census of Bath, Somerset, Elizabeth, like her mother, was a Professor of Music. It was noted on the census form that she taught singing and piano forte.

Elizabeth, like her mother, lived an extraordinarily long life. She was still living in the family home at 30 Park Street, Bath, when she died on 5 Sep 1890. According to Find a Grave, she was interred on 8 Sep 1890 at Locksbrook Cemetery, Lower Weston, Bath, Somerset.

She left a will, proved on 4 Oct 1890 on the Principal Register, in which she named Dame Lucy and Sir Rutherford Alcock, her sister and brother-in-law, as her Executrix and Executor. Her estate was worth £5,384, 13s. 3d.

Upon her death, Elizabeth left her father's fine and rare collection of musical scores, numbering in the hundreds, and from many well known composers, to the Royal College of Music in London, where it still today comprises half of their special collections.

Note
Anyone who has a relative with the surname Windsor will surely tell you that, ever since the British royal family changed its surname from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor during World War II (German surnames were a liability at that moment), it is impossible to research the name Windsor through Google without getting primarily information about the Windsors in Buckingham Palace. (NB: Sorry, even if Elizabeth is your distant ancestral relation, you are not related to the Queen.)

Sources

Baptismal Record. Walcot St. Swithin. 1800-1812, Page 124. Baptism date: 16 Aug 1809. "Elizabeth, Dtr. of James Wm. and Alicia Windsor, was baptized. Born 18th July 1805."

Census of England: Somerset: Walcot: Lansdown: Park Street. 1861. Elizabeth Windsor, age 55, Unmarried, Professor of Music, "Piano Forte" and "Singing", born in "Somerset Bath." Accessed through Ancestry.

England and Wales National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations): 1858-1995. "1890." Page 325. Accessed through Ancestry. Will proved 4 Oct 1890 on Principal Register. Estate: £5,384 13s. 3d. Executor and Executrix: Sir Rutherford and Dame Lucy Alcock.

Find a Grave Memorial for Elizabeth Windsor [1]