Relationship to me:	Great Great Great Great Great Uncle	Gen -6	Portrait of Francis Newman of North Cadbury, 18th century English School, Oil on canvas, Unsigned 30 x 25ins
Born	c1718 - he was said to be 72 in Oct 1789 and 76 as at 10 Feb 1795 - see Chancery Proceedings C12/629/31 and C12/204/33)
Died	1796, buried at Piddletrenthide, Dorset
Age	77 or 78
Father:	Charles Newman	1694 - 1734
Mother:	Hannah Sandys
Brothers:	Charles Newman	17?? - 1794
	Henry Newman	c1726 - 1798
Sisters:	Ann	1706 - 1709 (from Cliff Ranson)
Married:	Jane Sampson, daughter of Henry Sampson of Wells - Buried North Cadbury 2 Aug 1794 (or 1784)	d. 1784 or 1794 (see below)
Children:	Frances Charlotte who married her cousin Francis	1758 - 1834
	Jane, married William Walter Yea at N.Cadbury 1783	b. 1760
	Catherine, married James Rogers of Raviscombe, in 1793 (1788 according to Cliff Ranson)	b. 1762

Note: Two undated paintings of Francis Newman were kindly sent to me by Alex Newman-Rogers, Francis's descendent through his daughter Catherine. The earlier one (above) is by an unknown artist. The later one below is from a miniature. Larger images can be seen by clicking on each of the two pictures.

Outline his Life: Francis inherited the Sparkford and Cadbury estates from his uncle Francis Newman.  He was the last of the Newmans to possess large estates, the other Newman estates of Fifehead and Evercreech having been sold in the 1770s after the death of Francis's second cousin Frances Newman.  Francis also was, for many years, was a practising attorney and solicitor (see Chancery Proceedings C 12/204/33). He also claimed ownership of the "living" at South Cadbury, meaning that he possessed the "advowson rights" to appoint the Rector or Vicar there (see Chancery Court Proceedings C 12/184/20). Francis is credited with a handwritten entry in the Newman-Rogers Bible in which he records the birth of his granddaughter Frances Charlotte.

The story of Francis and how he came to lose the family estates is told in an article written for the Newman Name Society in 2011, though an apochryphal rendering of the tale is to be found below. The story involves numerous internecine disputes that were heard by the Chancey Courts, Francis being no stranger to such proceedings, having been involved in several disputations over previous years, as had many other members of the Newman clan.

One of his earliest appearances was in 1742 (Chancery Court hearing No C 11/625/31) relating to an earlier hearing in 1740 which involved what must have been almost the entire Newman clan in an argument about the administration of Charles Newman's estate, the complainants being all being brothers, brothers-in-law and sisters of Charles Newman, including: Richard Newman of Horsington; Thomas Newman of Colefoot, Gloucester;John Baily of South Cadbury and Eleanor his wife; and Walter Bruton of Sutton Montague co. Somerset and Anne his wife (both wives being sisters of Richard and Thomas Newman); whereas the defendants included all the sons and daughter of Charles Newman viz: Francis Newman (of this page), Henry Newman, Charles Newman and Ann Newman, together with Francis Newman of North Cadbury and Elizabeth Wickham (mother of Jane Newman , the widow of Charles Newman's brother, Henry Mompesson Newman).

As related in the Newman Name Society article, Francis had no sons, so his nephew and son-in-law Francis Newman assumed or was promised inheritance of the estates on Francis's death. The younger Francis subsequently ran into financial difficulties and attempted to sell his inheritance to his brother-in-law James Rogers (for the price of £6,922) and later rescinded on the deal in Oct 1789, resulting in a Chancery Court hearing (No C 12/171/26) in which Francis Newman (the younger) "pretended to be seized in fee or otherwise entitled to the reversion and inheritance expectant on the death of Francis Newman the elder".

The series of family disputes and legal wranges that followed (mostly involving the young Francis Newman, his wife and his uncle) ended with the estates of Cadbury and Sparkford estates being sold to the Bennett family. Sparkford appears to have beeen sold around 1794 and Cadbury perhaps in 1794 or 1795. According to Chancery Proceedings C12/204/33 Francis wrote a letter on 21st March 1795 saying that he could not respond to a question because he had moved to a dwelling called "Westhouse" near the village of Cerne, Dorset. Other records say that he moved with his wife (see below) and daughter Frances (estranged wife of the aforesaid Francis Newman) to Westhouse in the village of Piddletrenthide some 2 miles east of Cerne. Francis is reported to have died at Piddletrenthide shortly after, probably in December 1796, his Will being proved in May 1797.

Note: Cliff Hanson reported that Francis was buried at Piddletrenthide where he owned two houses Westholme and Eastholme whereas several records state that he moved to West House in Piddletrenthide. However the record of Chancery Proceedings C12/204/33 states that West House was located near the nearby village of Cerne, Cerne being about 2 miles west of Piddletrenthide. Google Maps shows a house named East House in the middle of Piddletrenthide, so it is quite possible that West House was located to the west towards Cerne, and that Francis owned both houses.

An alternative story about Francis (which is incorrect in many places) comes from another Newman website which relates:

"This Francis speculated on, bought, and built Newman Street near Oxford Street, London, and Newman Hall, co.Essex, both purchased on credit from William Berner. He married Jane, daughter of Henry SAMPSON, Clerk Prebend of Wells, and seems to have lived a life of extravagent pleasure. By her he had three daughters. The eldest, Frances Charlotte, fought with her father, eloped and married her cousin Francis at Piddletrenthide, co.Dorset in 1778. On May Day 1788, the two younger daughters were married in a lavish double wedding at North Cadbury, probably in the fashionable rococo style, to Rev.James ROGERS of Newnton, Wiltshire, Vicar of South Cadbury, and to Sir William YEA, baronet of St.James, Taunton.

Fond of gambling, alone in a large house (his wife had predeceased him in 1784), and with mounting debts, Francis lost house and everything he owned in an all-or-nothing gambling session one luckless evening in 1789/90. Berner [?] foreclosed on the properties in London and Essex. Disowned by his flamboyant younger daughters, he evidently now became reconciled to his elder daughter Frances and nephew Francis [IV] at Piddletrenthide, spending his remaining years with her on the Piddle River. He died there on Christmas Day 1796. His only surviving grandchild from the ill-fated union of daughter and nephew was Frances Charlotte, who married Robert COX, an alderman of the City of London and Justice of the Peace. The younger Francis, perhaps seeing his own fortune on the wane, deserted for a new life in America.

Interestingly, this family history places the blame for the loss of the Newman estates on this Francis Newman and not his nephew Francis who normally (and more deservedly) bears the blame.

There are several obvious errors in the above text - for instance the suggestion that Francis retired to Piddletrenthide in 1789/90 to live with his daughter Frances and son-in-law/nephew Francis since the couple were by then been separated for at least three years and the young Francis was living with his mistress Lydia Fergussen who had born him a son in 1786. Besides that, Francis was still resident at North Cadbury until 1796, when he retired to Piddletrenthide and died shortly afterwards.

Another probable error is that Francis Newman of North Cadbury purchased Newman Hall in Essex, since the association between the Newman family and Newman Hall in Essex appears to date back to at least 1649 when it was mentioned on the memorial to Thomas Newman (died 1649) that can be found the wall of the Newman chapel in the church at Fifehead Magdalen.

Francis's Last Will and Testament: Francis's Will is an odd document in that it refers to his "dear wife" but without stating her name. What is even more odd is that his wife Jane (née Sampson) predeceased him either in 1784 or 1794 (the earlier date coming from Sam Miller, antiquariean of North Cadbury, and the latter from H.E.M. Newman's documents). The Will was dated 25 October 1794 and apparently written when Francis still owned Sparkford Manor and the Cadbury estates since it includes reference to "all my tenants to whom I have granted leases and copies of court roll as Lord of the several manors of North Cadbury, South Cadbury and Sparkford". A possible explanation is that the will was drafted before Jane's death (if the August 1794 date of her death is correct) and that the sale of Sparkford took place later than 1793 (a date suggested by Phelps). Still it is surprising that the will was not redrafted before he signed it, which appears certainly to have been after his wife Jane's death (unless, of course, he had by then remarried).

In his will, Francis left to his (unnamed) wife his "dwelling house called Westhouse with the estate and lands thereto ... all my stock thereon together with the use of all my implements in husbandry .... together with the sue of all my furniture household goods stock of liquors and everything else ... for the term of her widowhood, going on to call attention to his wife's "promise of doing justice to her successor, my grandson Francis James Newman Rogers to whom at her decease or forfeiture by marriage, I give my dwelling house and lands with all its appurtenances (and) all other things given to her as his own and sole property not without hopes of his making it his place of residence in due time when it shall happen".

To his grandson Francis Newman Rogers, Francis left all his "farm and lands with the titles and all other rights thereto belonging called the Parsonage and Impropriate Rectory of Queen Camel in the county of Somerset and also all other my real and personal estate whatsoever .... appointing him my sole heir and executor and his father the Rev James Rogers and my friend Mr Edwin Tomkins his trustees and guardians irreversible during his minority of 21 years."

To his granddaughter Frances Charlotte Newman, Francis left a small annuity of "£40 payable to her guardian her uncle the Rev James Rogers during her father’s life only where she will be otherwise well provided for by two equal half yearly payments on the 1st April and 5th October". The implication seems to be that he anticipated that Frances's father would provide well for her in his will, perhaps implying that he was unaware that he had, by that time fathered at least two other children by Lydia Fergussen. If this was his expectation, then it was ill-founded because Francis Newman made no mention of Frances Charlotte in his Last Will and Testament.

Last updated 17 Feb 2012: Major rewording of text. Added links to Frances Challotte Cox
Updated 20 Oct 2011: Minor changes to text relating to Francis's Will.
Updated 9 Feb 2011: Minor changes to text relating to Francis's Will.
Updated 11 Jan 2011: References to Francis's Will and various Chancery Proceedings added.
Updated 12 June 2005: Images of Francis Newman added, kindly sent to me by Alex Newman-Rogers.
Updated 12 June 2005: notes added about Francis's entry in the Newman-Rogers Bible, and Louisa Annie Rogers' mention of the existance of his portrait.