Mary Francis 1809-1895

On 22nd June 1801 [her father] John Francis [aged 20] and [her mother] Mary Evetts [aged 21] were married at Thornham, Norfolk.

In 1809 Mary Francis was born to John Francis [aged 28] and Mary Evetts [aged 29].

Before 1840 [her future husband] Thomas Thornycroft [aged 24] became a student of [her father] John Francis [aged 59]. He subsequently married his daughter Mary Francis [aged 30].

In 1840 Thomas Thornycroft [aged 24] and Mary Francis [aged 31] were married. She the daughter of John Francis [aged 59] and Mary Evetts [aged 60].

On 1st February 1843 [her son] John Isaac Thornycroft was born to [her husband] Thomas Thornycroft [aged 27] and Mary Francis [aged 34].

On 9th March 1850 [her son] William Hamo Thornycroft was born to [her husband] Thomas Thornycroft [aged 34] and Mary Francis [aged 41]. He was baptised on 9th June 1850 at St Pancras Old Church [Map]. He married May 1884 Agatha Cox and had issue.

On 29th January 1855 [her mother] Mary Evetts [aged 75] died.

On 30th August 1861 [her father] John Francis [aged 80] died at his home in Albany Street, Regent's Park. He was buried at Plot 3058 at Highgate Cemetery West.

On 21st February 1862 Sarah Cave 3rd Baroness Braye [aged 93] died. Baron Braye abeyant. Monument at St Nicholas' Church, Stanford-on-Avon [Map] sculpted by Mary Francis [aged 53] and commissioned by her daughter Catherine Otway [aged 53], widow of John Lygon 3rd Earl Beauchamp.

Catherine Otway: Before 1809 she was born to Henry Otway of Castle Otway in Tipperary and Sarah Cave 3rd Baroness Braye. On 19th October 1826 Henry Murray and she were married. He the son of Bishop George Murray. On 11th February 1850 John Lygon 3rd Earl Beauchamp and she were married. The difference in their ages was 24 years. He the son of William Lygon 1st Earl Beauchamp and Catherine Denn Countess Beauchamp. On 4th November 1875 she died without issue.

William of Worcester's Chronicle of England

William of Worcester, born around 1415, and died around 1482 was secretary to John Fastolf, the renowned soldier of the Hundred Years War, during which time he collected documents, letters, and wrote a record of events. Following their return to England in 1440 William was witness to major events. Twice in his chronicle he uses the first person: 1. when writing about the murder of Thomas, 7th Baron Scales, in 1460, he writes '… and I saw him lying naked in the cemetery near the porch of the church of St. Mary Overie in Southwark …' and 2. describing King Edward IV's entry into London in 1461 he writes '… proclaimed that all the people themselves were to recognize and acknowledge Edward as king. I was present and heard this, and immediately went down with them into the city'. William’s Chronicle is rich in detail. It is the source of much information about the Wars of the Roses, including the term 'Diabolical Marriage' to describe the marriage of Queen Elizabeth Woodville’s brother John’s marriage to Katherine, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, he aged twenty, she sixty-five or more, and the story about a paper crown being placed in mockery on the severed head of Richard, 3rd Duke of York.

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Around May 1884 William Hamo Thornycroft [aged 34] and Agatha Cox [aged 19] were married at Tonbridge, Kent [Map]. He the son of Thomas Thornycroft [aged 68] and Mary Francis [aged 75].

On 30th August 1885 [her husband] Thomas Thornycroft [aged 70] died.

On 1st February 1895 Mary Francis [aged 86] died.