Silvia's Family Tree
Details are as accurate as possible but may be subject to alteration.
Click here to see .pdf version
Forebears
Paternal –BAKER, MORRISSON, PARÉ, OAKES
Maternal –AMYS, HARRISON, WINDUS, YARINGTON
BAKER: Richard & John
In the early 1930s, Silvia’s brother corresponded with Aunt Anna about his forebears. Anna was the widow of Fausset’s brother, Arthur WW Baker, and she lived in Merrion Square, Dublin. From her notes, we understand that the Bakers originally came from Dartington, Devon. They were farmers and lived in a thatched house in Cott, a hamlet a mile south of Dartington. There are only a few houses on the 1887 map (below) – it is likely that the layout hardly changed between the 1780s & 1880s. The Cott Inn is known as one of the oldest pubs in Britain.
The family motto was “Fortis et Fides” – Strong & Faith. Gt Aunt Adelaide suggests it should be Fortis et Fidelis meaning Strong & Faithful or Steadfast in Faith. Down the generations, according to Aunt Anna, most of the Baker sons were named Richard or John. The first Baker we know of is John who married Mary Beer of Dittisham, Devon on 9th January 1781 (&/or Mary Blacklin). They had at least two sons born in Dartington: Richard on 26th May 1782 and John on 23rd June 1785. John (jr) was Fausset Baker’s Grandfather and Richard, his Great Uncle. The boys were young when their father died in 1798. One wonders if they were called up to fight in the Napoleonic Wars? Or were they charged with maintaining the family farm? For whatever reason, however, in their late twenties , they sold the farm in 1811 and set off for Ireland.
The Baker brothers established themselves in the textile trade in Dublin; maybe this was because they had been sheep farmers in Devon? In Wilson’s 1820 Directory, Richard and John (R&J) are described as Merchant Tailors at 11 Dawson Street; there is also a John Baker, a Woolen (sic) Draper, not far away at 3 Parliament Street. Whether or not they had friends or relatives living in Ireland is not recorded but, within three years, the brothers had married two Morrisson sisters: Mary (m. Richard) & Margaret (m. John). There was a double wedding at St Anne’s Church on Dawson Street on 24th June 1814. (see Morrisson below)
In 1833 Richard became High Sheriff of Dublin and received a knighthood from Marquess Wellesley, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time (and brother of the Duke of Wellington). This would have been whilst Earl Grey was Prime Minister (1830-34). Aunt Anna implies that Richard was knighted by Queen Victoria around this time. The Queen, however, did not visit Ireland as Sovereign until August 1849 (at the height of the Great Famine). No doubt Richard and his wife would have been in attendance during her stay in Dublin.
According to a hand-me-down tree, Richard and Mary had ‘sons who died young’ and one daughter, also called Mary. She is described as an excellent singer but remained unmarried. Her Morrisson grandmother died in 1835 and so Mary acted as Lady Mayoress to her widowed grandfather. In 1838 Richard became an Alderman. He was living at Mount Errol, Donnybrook when he died in 1853, aged 72. His shop is listed in Thom’s Almanac in 1862 as Moir & Ritchie with Lady Baker in charge. Aunt Anna described the shop as ‘still flourishing’ in 1934. Sir Richard’s details are recorded in The Illustrated London News (June 18th 1853 Issue 628 Vol 2) and also in a Peerage Notation.
The YouWho website provides evidence that his ‘young’ sons were Richard (1820-1850) and Edmund (1828-1854). It also suggests that Richard (Sr) married Mary Smith (1797-1867) in 1832. If so, this was a second marriage, given that Richard would have been 52 and his sons were born in the previous decade.
Meanwhile, John (Jr) had married Margaret Morrisson. He was a Warden of the Guild of Tailors. In 1840, he purchased Morrissons Hotel from his brother-in-law Robert, Margaret’s brother. For many years this was the ‘top hotel’ in Dublin, on the corner of Nassau Street and 1 Dawson Street – not far from the tailor shops. We do not know much about John except through his probate. He died on 8th June 1861 and left ‘under’ £14,000. His widow was the Executor and their address was 98 Lower Mount Street, near Dublin’s Merrion Square. They had four children: (Dr) John (Fausset’s father) and Adelaide (Ada) plus two other daughters.
Dr John Baker:
John Andrew Baker was born in Clontarf in c1820. He was the only son of John & Margaret Baker. Nothing is known of his youth but he studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin (TCD). According to a Licentiate Roll, he was living at 1 Dawson Street in July 1847. Morrisons hotel was very close to TCD and this suggests that he had lodgings at Morrisons when his father was the proprietor.
Thanks to information provided by the archive department of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland -John passed his LRCSI in 1847 and became a Fellow of the RCSI in 1853. Besides TCD, he trained at Middlesex Hospital in London. He was also, a member of Obstetrics and Pathology Societies in Dublin and the Odontological Society in London (Medical Directory 1865).
On 27th September 1851, he married Caroline Paré of Castle Avenue, Clontarf. They moved into 4 Clare Street, close to Dublin’s Merrion Square and had 4 children: Arthur, Fausset and twin girls – Caroline (Cissie) and another daughter who died three days after birth. Tragically, their mother, Caroline, died a week later, just before Christmas 1854. She is buried at the Jerome Cemetery (with Fausset).
Four years later, on 5th July 1860, John married Jane Affleck MaCarthy (1826-1885) of 63 Wellington Road. The marriage took place at St Anne’s Church, Dawson Street. Jane had 4 sisters and a brother called Jeremiah.
in June 1866, John was elected to the Royal Irish Academy. According to Wikipedia, the RIA is Ireland’s premier learned society, an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It was founded in 1785; in 1852 the Academy moved to its current Dublin home at 19 Dawson Street, close to Morrison’s Hotel, the merchant tailor’s shop and St Anne’s Church.
Dr John was also a prominent Freemason. The Archivist at the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Ireland has established that he joined Lodge No 143 in Dublin in 1857.
A Masonic Hall Company was set up in the 1860s to raise funds to build a masonic hall by selling shares to members. Work began in 1866. John was appointed to the Board of Directors in February 1869 and, in the following July, the first masonic meeting was held at, what became known as, Freemasons’ Hall. By the early 1870s, John became the Grand Treasurer for the Great Priory of Ireland. The Duke of Leinster (Augustus Frederick Fitzgerald) had been the Grand Prior for several decades but died in 1874.
A large stained-glass window, in the Hall’s Preceptory Room, was replaced in 1873 in honour of a visit by the Prince of Wales. It depicts the heraldry of the most senior officers of the Great Priory since 1869. John’s coat of arms features in the bottom centre panel. It corresponds to a pencil sketch that Aunt Anna sent to Silvia’s brother. The crest shows a wyvern, similar to a family signet stamp. The greyhound in the middle section is believed to derive from the paternal forebears of John’s first wife. The wording at the base is: John Andrew Baker KCT (Knight Commander of the Temple). This is an honorary title granted by the Great Prior in recognition of a Freemason’s contribution and commitment to the Order.
By the 1880 edition of Thom’s Directory, John was described as a surgeon-dentist at Dr Steevens’s hospital. In December 1895, Jeremiah (a surgeon and John’s brother-in-law through his second wife) married John’s first wife’s daughter, Cissie, at St Giles in the Fields, London WC2. On the marriage certificate, her father (now deceased) was described as a Dentist.
John died of cardiac failure on 30th May 1890 at 4 Clare St aged 69 (hence he was born approx. 1820-21). At the time of his death, he was a ‘31st degree Freemason’. His probate amounted to £1,086. Jane had died of dropsy in 1885. There is a memorial for both of them at the Jerome Cemetery:
In Loving Memory, Jane Affleck Baker, 3rd February 1885
And John Andrew Baker, Died May 30th 1890
Kate, Mary & Adelaide Baker:
John had three sisters. Nothing, however, was known about two of them until their names turned up on the YouWho website as Kate & Mary.
There is no mention, however, of John’s younger sister, Adelaide (1830-1909). She married Francis Webb Sheild*, an engineer. They had two sons, Wentworth Francis (1867-1944) who became a Bishop and Francis Ernest OBE (1869-1959) who was a Civil Engineer. Like the two Morrisson girls who married the Baker brothers, the two Sheild brothers married Boyd-Carpenter sisters – Annie & Mary (Molly).
*Sometimes Shield or Shields. There are two signed paintings by their grandson who spells it Sheild.
MORRISSON in preparation…
PARÉ & OAKES to follow in due course…
AMYS:
We knew nothing about the Amys connection, other than it was one of my mother’s fore-names. In the late 1990’s, however, a handwritten scrap of paper was found in an old wooden box and it referenced what looked like ‘Bickinghall’. The local record office had recently re-opened and had set up an archive programme on their computers. I typed in ‘Amys, Bickinghall’ and up popped Rickinghall. This was news to us all! It is one of a pair of villages in Suffolk – Inferior & Superior – close to the Norfolk border. Subsequently, some relatives were able to call by and found several Amys gravestones in the Churchyard. It seems the Amys family stretch back over many generations, spread across both Suffolk and Norfolk.
Fast forward to 2017, by which time I had gathered enough detail to put together an Amys family tree but not enough evidence. By good fortune, I then met someone involved with the History of Rickinghall and this resulted in a wealth of background information being made available.
Adelaide’s father was John Dunham Amys. He was baptised in Parham Suffolk and was the eldest of six children (John, Anna, Frances, Ellen, Philip & Arthur). His grandfather, John Amys, was a Gentleman farmer in Rickinghall Inferior. It is thought that this particular John was orphaned and brought up by an Uncle & Aunt (John & Laetitia Quince). He married Frances Fawden in Brompton in 1783 (London Metropolitan Archives) and had 3 daughters (Frances, Elizabeth & Mary) along with two sons (John Howlett & James). They lived in Snape Hill House (now a farmhouse).
When John’s estate was sold, it consisted of 422 acres of fertile pasture and shooting drives, buildings and ‘a family residence built with celebrated white Suffolk brick’. (Times 30.06.1837)
Snape Hill House featured in an 1841 auction catalogue
| Amys | Married | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| John | 1752-1833 | Frances Fawden | c1766-1845 |
| John Howlett | 1790-1851 | Anne Harrison | 1799-1852 |
| John Dunham | 1826-1873 | Adelaide Windus | 1832-1912 |
HARRISON:
Anne Harrison was John Dunham Amys mother. The Harrisons were a large family based in Palgrave, not far from Rickinghall. As luck would have it, back in the late ‘noughties’, I met a member of the Palgrave Society at a lunch held in North Barningham (North Norfolk) where the small church is full of Palgrave memorials. We were in correspondence afterwards and I received a bunch of useful information about the Harrisons. A key clue was the fact that the surname of John D’s grandmother was Dunham. I kept the Harrison material in abeyance, however, until I had worked out the Amys family tree.
Maria Dunham was Anne Harrison’s mother and was one of seven siblings. Her eldest brother, Charles (1794-1873) married one of John H Amys’ sisters, also called Maria (1792-1845).
Maria D was brought up in Bridgham, a small village near East Harling, Norfolk. In 1793, she married Philip Joseph Harrison at St Mary’s Church, Bridgham. Philip was the youngest of seven children – four boys and three girls. Their parents were Charles Harrison and Ann Moore of Kentwell Hall near Long Melford. Sadly, Ann died in 1762, either in childbirth, or soon after Philip was born. Her father, John Mould, was born in Lincolnshire and succeeded his Moore cousin, who had no children. In so doing, John inherited Kentwell and changed his surname to Moore. (see Burke’s Peerage)
| Harrison | Married | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles | 1721-1804 | Ann Moore | 1721-1762 |
| Philip Joseph | 1762-1830 | Maria Dunham | 1772-1837 |
| Anne | 1799-1852 | John Howlett Amys | 1790-1851 |
Kentwell Hall in 1818 by landscape engraver Thomas Higham,
during Richard Moore’s occupancy (Wikipedia, Dec 2023)
WINDUS:
Not much is known about the Windus family. They had large families and lived variously in London (including Chancery Lane), Ware in Hertfordshire and Epping. Many of them were in the legal profession.
| Windus | Married | Birth | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James | 1620-1691 | Anne Walpole | 1621-1644/63 | |
| Arthur | 1650-1705 | Margaret Parnell (2) | 1660-1691 | |
| James | 1681-1763 | Sarah Plumer | 1686- ? | |
| William | 1710-1785/88 | Millicent Ann Hunt | 1712-1799 | |
| John | 1741-1826 | Ann Uffindale | 1741-1794 | |
| James | 1769-1846 | Rebecca Parker (2) | 1770- ? | |
| John Wm | 1798-1848 | Jane Yarington | 1799-1869 | |
| Adelaide | 1832-1912 | John Dunham Amys | 1826-1873 | |
Adelaide’s Siblings were:
| Windus | Born | Died | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John William | 1825-1898 | Swaffham | Epping | |
| Jane Isabella | 1826-1849 | “ | “ | |
| Louisa Mary | 1829–1903 | Epping | Croydon | |
| Edward Ernest | 1834–1908 | “ | Epsom | |
| Gertrude Emily | 1835–1924 | “ | Kensington | |
| Beatrice Emma | 1837–1908 | “ | Epping | |
| Edith Rose | 1840–1917 | “ | “ | |
| Campbell Lionel | 1843–1871 | “ | “ | |
Adelaide’s eldest brother, John William continued the male line. He married Emma Evans (1843-1931). John was Clerk to the Union House Board of Governors, Clerk of the Epping & Ongar Turnpike Trust and Clerk of Epping Free Church. Several of his descendants moved to Canada.
YARINGTON:
Even less is known about the Yaringtons. William (1760-1839) lived in Market Place, Swaffham. He was married in December 1797 to Mary Ingoldsby (1771-post 1841). William was a Solicitor on London Road and acted for, amongst others, the nearby Narborough estate (see Norfolk Record Office). His practice was an Agent for Holtaway in the City of London.
Adelaide’s father, John Wm Windus (1798-1848), was sent from Epping to Swaffham, to train (presumably) as an articled clerk. He married ‘the boss’s daughter’- Jane Mary Yarington, in Swaffham Church in 1823. Jane (1799-1869) had a much younger sister called Elizabeth (1810-1878). Her Will was proved by Adelaide’s sister, Louisa Mary Windus, being sole executrice. A memorial window in Swaffham Parish Church was dedicated to Elizabeth (south side of the transept).