Julia Louisa Bancroft
- Born: 25 Jan 1779, Chaillot, Paris 3
- Baptised: Passy, Paris 3
- Marriage: Revd. George Augustus Lamb, D.D. on
25 Jun 1806 in Mary-le-bone Church, Middlesex 1 2
- Died: 25 May 1851, The Rectory, Iden, Sussex
aged 72 4
- Buried: 31 May 1851, Iden, Sussex 5
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Julia had an unsettled childhood on account
of her peripatetic father and her mother's death in 1784, when Julia
was
only five years old. It is said that she and her two sisters were sent
to board at Baron House at Mitcham. Baron House came into the ownership
of a Mr James Dempster from about that time and over the years he built
it up to become well-known boy's school so it is a little surprising it
accepted girls as pupils though it might have done so in its early
days, when it was getting established. Whatever the case may be, she
and her sisters were looked after and educated suitably at some
establishment while their father attended to his business and literary
interests.
Nothing has survived to throw any light on Julia's or her sister's
lives after their schooling ended. They are reported to have been
living in the city of Gloucester in 1802 and she must have been in
London later otherwise it seems unlikely that her amorous involvement
with George Lamb would have occurred; George's father had a house in
Duke Street, Marylebone.
Julia's engagement and subsequent marriage to George must have been
much welcomed by her family given his family's social standing and, at
that time, relative wealth. As an indication of Julia's and George's
social circles, it is interesting to speculate whose friends the
Countess Catherine Woronzow* (1784-1856) and her brother Prince
Mikhail* (1782-1852) were when they agreed to attend Julia's and
George's wedding in June 1806.
With her brother Samuel's early death and Edward Nathaniel settling in
Jamaica, Iden Parsonage would have become a focal point for Julia's
unmarried sisters and may well have prompted them move to Margate. In
later years, it provided those two sisters with a family base in
England as did the home of Samuel's daughter Nancy MacKenzie and husband
in London. Julia's sister Catherine makes reference to both households
in a letter from Coblenz to her nephew William Bancroft (Edward,
junior's, son) dated February 1852.
Catherine's letter was penned a little while after Julia's death but
speaks of a situation in 184[6], she writes, "
and Dr Lamb &
Aunt L's health making it a very uncertain how long the papers [her
father's papers] might remain with them & also that on acct of Aunt
Lamb's incapability or suffering from passing the 7 or 8 worst months
of the year at Iden, Dr L. was at that time negotiating an exchange or
the sale of it." 6
George did, indeed, dispose of the advowsons** of Iden and East
Guildford with Playden in July 1846 but it seems more likely that the
disposal had to do with raising some money - the sale produced over
£11,000 - than giving up the livings as they were sold subject to
George remaining there, which he did until his death.7
The Bancroft children seem to have suffered ill health rather more than
one might expect. In the light of Samuel's untimely demise, Edward
Nathaniel's respiratory problems and Maria's unspecified chronic
ailments, it is unsurprising that Julia was badly afflicted too. It
seems she suffered gravely in the last years of her life before dying
in 1851.
Notes
* The children of
the Russian diplomat and ambassador to England, Count Semyon Vorontsov
(English spelling Woronzow).
** "Advowson: The right to
present a member of the clergy to a particular benefice or living. Also
occasionally more generally: guardianship, protection, or patronage of
a church or religious house; an instance of this. Also figurative. In
English law an advowson is a property right and, as such, may pass by
gift, by inheritance, or (until 1923) by sale (see Oxf. Dict. Christian
Church (1997) (ed. 3) at advowson)." - OED
Julia married Revd. George Augustus Lamb,
D.D., son of Thomas Phillips Lamb and Elizabeth Davis, on 25 Jun 1806
in Mary-le-bone Church, Middlesex.1 2 (Revd. George Augustus Lamb, D.D. was
baptised on 6 Feb 1782 in Rye, Sussex,8 died on 30 Oct 1864 in The Rectory, Iden,
Sussex 9 and was buried on 5 Nov 1864 in Iden, Sussex
10.)
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Sources
1 Parish
Registers of England and Wales, St.
Mary-le-bone Church Marriages 1806 No: 110. ...
The Reverend George Augustus Lamb Clerk of the parish of Rye in the
County of
Sussex bachelor and Julia Louisa Bancroft of this parish spinster were
Married
in this church by licence this twenty-fifth day of June in the year one
thousand
eight hundred and six by me... William Dodson
This Marriage was solemnized between Us [signed ] ...Geo Augs Lamb,
Julia
Louisa Bancroft
In the Presence of [signed ]...Edwd Bancroft, Catherine Woronzow,
Michal
Woronzow, Elizth Dorothy Lamb.
2 Sun
(London), Thursday 26 June 1806, Page 4
- MARRIED.
Yesterday, at St. Mary-le-bone Church, the Rev. George Augustus Lamb,
son of T.
P. Lamb, Esq. of Mountsfield Lodge, Rye, to Miss Julia Louisa, daughter
of Dr.
Bancroft, of Margaret-street, Cavendish-square.
3 Edith
Bancroft, "The Bancroft Family" (An unpublished family history of the
Bancroft family by Edith Bancroft (1862-1941) now in the possession of
J R U
Green (2023)), Page 79.
4 Sussex
Advertiser (Published at Lewes,
Sussex), Tuesday 3 June 1851, Page 7 - DIED.
Lamb.- May 25, at the Rectory, Iden, the wife of the Rev. George
Augustus Lamb,
D.D., at an advanced age.
5 Parish
Registers of England and Wales,
Parish Church of Iden - Burials - 1851 - No. 462.
Julia Louisa Lamb - Iden - May 31st - 72 years - Charles Stuart.
6
Various, "Surviving Family Letter",
Letter from Catherine Bancroft to her nephew William Bancroft dated 28
February
1852.
7 Morning
Post and Gazetteer (London),
Saturday 11 July 1846, Page 6 Col D.
SALE OF ADVOWSONS.- Yesterday, the perpetual advowsons and right of
presentation to the rectories of Iden near Rye, and the consolidated
rectories
of Guildford with Playden, adjoining Iden, in the county of Sussex was
disposed
of by auction, at the Auction Mart. They had both been held together,
by the
present incumbent, for very long period, being contiguous parishes. The
rectory
of Iden, which is in the diocese of Chichester, contains about 2,947
acres, of
which the auctioneer, Mr. Dixon, stated 2,518 were subject to tithes,
and the
population was between 500 and 600. The income amounted to 967l. 16s.
It was
sold for 7,500l. The population of East Guildford, with Playden, was
about 400,
the former maintaining 2,800 acres and the latter 1,170, out of 1,308
acres,
subject to tithes. The joint income was 558l. 18s., liable to 30l.
parochial
rates This fetched 3, 940l.
8 Parish
Registers of England and Wales,
Parish Church of Rye - Baptisms - 1872.
Lamb - Febr 6th - George Augustus Son of Thomas Phillips and Elizabeth
Lamb.
9 Sussex
Advertiser (Published at Lewes,
Sussex), Wednesday 2 November 1864, Page 2, Col E.
IDEN. Death of the Rev. Dr. Lamb. - It is with much regret we announce
the
death the Rev. George Augustus Lamb, D.D. rector of Iden, Playden, and
East Guldeford,
which melancholy event took place on Sunday afternoon last at his
residence at
Iden. The deceased gentleman had been somewhat unwell for a few days,
but was
thought better Saturday evening. He, however, became weaker on the
Sunday, and
expired, as above stated, on the afternoon of that day. at the advanced
age of
83. The rev. doctor, during his lifetime, took the warmest interest in
all that
tended to advance the welfare of his parishioners, and he will long be
held in
affectionate remembrance by a large circle of friends.
10 Parish
Registers of England and Wales,
Parish Church of Iden - Burials - 1864 No. 668.
George Augustus Lamb D.D. - Iden Parsonage - Nov: 5 - 82 yrs 10mts - T
Nightingale
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