| Relationship to me: | Second Cousin 6 Times Removed | Gen -6 | ![]() Bust of Frances Newman in the Newman chapel at Fifehead Magdalen (see note below) |
| Born | c1702 (deduced) | ||
| Died | 27th Aug 1775: Buried at Fifehead | ||
| Age | ~ 72 | ||
| Father: | Sir Richard Newman of Fifehead | 1675 - 1721 | |
| Mother: | Frances Samwell | d. 4 Dec 1730 | |
| Brothers: | (elder) Sir Samwell Newman | d. 1747 | |
| Richard | d. young | ||
| Edmonds | d. young | ||
| Sisters: | (elder) Grace | d. young | |
| (younger) Barbara | b.<1712 d. 6 Jan 1763 | ||
| Elizabeth: m. Mr Kitchen | b. >1712 d. 26 May 1774 | ||
| Married: | never married | ||
| Children: | none |
Notes - The large Newman memorial at Fifehead displays the images of Frances and her two sisters Barbara and Elizabeth. I have assumed that the central image (pictured above) as being that of Frances.
I don't have birth dates for Frances or her sisters, however Di Clements quotes from Somerset Wills Sixth Series:
"1712 Sir Richd N of Fifehead M Bart. Proved 1722 by Sir Samuel Bart. To be buried at Fifehead. Monument not to exceed £200. Estates to be sold to raise £5000 for Frances eldest daughter and £3000 for Barbara. £60 for sister Toll. Codicil daughter Elizabeth, born since will made, £3000. Sir RN to be buried at Preston Deane Northants. The Trustees either died or renounced."
From this we can deduce from the abstract that Elizabeth was born after the date of the Will (1712, and that the other daughters were born before it).
Raymond Mercier has undertaken the enormous task of transcribing Frances's (20+ page) Will, commenting that:
"I have been transcribing the Will of Frances Newman, an incredibly long and repetitive affair. She seems to be responsible for arranging so much of the family fortunes from that time. .... The will uses the same long phrases over & over again, paragraphs that are called boiler plates -enough here to start a railway!" Raymond adds in a later email that "As to Frances' estate, I can only add up the amounts that were distributed, which I make £48,010, the ten being for the poor of Fifehead ! Poor indeed ! Goodness knows what all the estates added up to. Millionaires, no doubt, by any standard".
One reason for the complexity of Frances's Will is that her elder brother Sir Samwell Newman died intestate, whereupon the administration of his estate was granted to Frances (see copy of the extract for the administration of his estate on Sir Samwell's page). Frances never married and when she died on 27th August 1775, she bequeathed a considerable portion of her considerable estate to Sir James Langham, bart. of Cottesbrooke. Her heirs were her cousins, the males sons of Anne Newman and Ashburnham Toll, who subsequently assumed the surname and arms of Newman.
Elizabeth Newman m. Mr. Kitchen of Westminster, Apothecary who died in June 1753 "without leaving any Issue by the said Elizabeth Kitchin". In 1754 Parliament passed an Act authorizing the administration of the estate of Elizabeth Kitchen"to make leases during her lunacy" [from "History of Evercreech" compiled by the vicar, Rev. Preb. Jenkyns c.1810]. A copy of that Act was kindly sent to me by Raymond Mercier. Interestingly it describes the house in Old Palace Yard, Westminster (where it appears Sir Samwell lived at the time of his death and where his sisters lived then and subsequently) as "in such decayed and ruinous state and condition that it will be absolutely necessary to pull down, rebuild, or substantially repair .... that no person will take a lease thereof without having a long term of years granted for the said premises". One wonders whether to put a literal interpretation on such a description (which presents the picture of a rat-infested ruin), or whether to see it in relative terms - that it was run down to the extent of being no longer suitable for gentle-folk to live in, and in general need of refurbishment. The sisters do not seem to have been without wealth, so it is hard to imagine them living in a slum (though, of course, such things do happen!)