Marianne Augusta Bancroft

• Born: 13 Nov 1822 ³
• Baptised: 19 Aug 1823, Kingston Parish Church, Jamaica ⁴
• Marriage (1): Peter Alexander Espeut on 18 Sep 1842 in Kingston, Jamaica ^{1 2}
• Died: 29 May 1891, Beaufort House, Oxford-road, Gunnersbury, Chiswick aged 68 ⁵

Augusta was brought up in an academically minded household and it is clear from a letter her father wrote to his sister Catherine in July 18376 that he wanted his daughters to be educated appropriately, "well grounded" in french grammar, in arithmetic (as far as the double rule of three and the first rule of fractions and of decimals) and in geography and history, as he put it. He also thought they should be "made to write good hands, not french, but English or Italian hands." Needlework, music and drawing were also included in his list of requirements but the latter two only if they had a taste for them. The letter to Catherine reads more like instructions to her rather than a discussion of his thoughts on education so it may be that she and her sister Maria oversaw some part of Augusta's education as they did for her brother William. Certainly, many years later Catherine writes in a warm familiar manner about Augusta (and her sister Julia) 7 but such intimacy may have been born of regular correspondence rather than personal contact.     In 1842, aged 19, Augusta married Peter Espeut. She was his second wife and inherited a four-year-old stepdaughter, Emma, from his first marriage. Over the next 25 years, she and Peter had 11 more children of whom one died aged 17 and two others in infancy. In Jamaica's climate with cholera and yellow fever an ever-present threat and with the high incidence of perinatal deaths of mother or child, such as a record is a notable achievement and a tribute to Augusta's strong physical constitution and that of her children. It is ironic that much of the family correspondence that has survived contains references to Augusta's seeking medical advice or treatment so perhaps it was the toll of so many pregnancies and her early widowhood that brought on physical and mental health problems in later life. It is also interesting to note that Augusta had a strong inclination to consult London doctors, despite the expense of travelling to England to do so, an inclination instilled, perhaps, by her father's regard for members of his own Royal College. When Augusta and Peter were first married, they lived at a pen (a property in Jamaica with attached livestock farmland) known as Sabina Park.8 It was about a mile distant from the centre of Kingston. By 1845, they had moved a little nearer the town to Gray's Pen9 before moving out to The Retreat Pen (whose house was known as The Retreat) sometime between 1845 and 1849.10  It is now difficult to be certain where the Retreat Pen was situated as there seem to have been at least two other properties of that name in the vicinity of Kingston. However, various references in a diary written by their daughter, Helen Espeut (later Oakes: 1855-1929), suggest the property lay in the vicinity of an area now known as Hope Pastures in north-east Kingston, about 3¾ miles from the city centre. The Retreat had formerly been owned by a Mr William Mattocks. He died in 1835,11 but, presumably, the property remained in the hands of his executors or the Mattocks family because Helen's diary notes that a Mr Mattocks had sold it in September 1873 to George Solomons, a prominent city merchant.12 Peter Espeut must, therefore, have rented the property and Augusta continued to do so until she and her daughters departed for England in 1876.13 There is a surviving photograph (right) that shows the front of The Retreat with members of the family seated on the first-floor balcony and with the indoor and outdoor staff grouped at the front door. The photograph seems to have been taken in the late 1860s or early 1870s judging by Edith's, the girl on the pony's, age (b. Aug 1864) and shows nine staff. Family papers speak of a property called "Mount Espeut" situated somewhere in the hills where they went to escape the worst of the summer heat. Unfortunately, nothing has been found to confirm the existence of a property of that name though there is a newspaper report in 1839 of some land on Long Mountain being offered for sale whose position corresponds very closely to that of the property later known as Waireka (or Warieka).14 Whoever bought the land at that time probably built a house on it. The property's name, Waireka*, was given it by Captain Peter Cracroft when he acquired it in c. 1862 or 1863 while he was serving as Commodore of the Jamaican station based in Port Royal harbour - it would have provided a summer escape from his official residence, Admiralty House.     On Captain Cracroft death in the summer of 1865, Waireka was put up for sale15 and Peter Espeut bought it16 and, following the latter's death, Augusta and her younger children continued to use it until 1875 even though it might have been in other hands by then. Peter's unexpected death in June 1868 would have come as a great blow to Augusta. Apart from the grief of losing a much loved husband, his death left her in a very precarious financial position. If she had not known of it before he died, it quickly emerged that Peter had been borrowing money from his agents (a London merchant trading in sugar and rum) probably, initially, to finance the acquisition of his sugar estates, Dover and Leith Hall, but later to support their ongoing production. Those agents, unsurprisingly, demanded that they had a formal mortgage on those estates until the money Peter had borrowed from them had been paid off from the estates' income.17 That situation, coupled with the fact that any income (c. £700-£800 pa) Peter received from his government appointments as Official Assignee and his directorships ceased on his death, left Augusta with very little on which to support a sizeable household of family and servants.    The family's financial situation must have seemed very desperate to Augusta in the first year or so after Peter's death because she was reduced to writing to all her near relatives for financial help. In one such letter from London to her uncle, Captain William Hoseason, R.N., in Malta,18 she says that some had not been hugely helpful but that her brother William, then a Lt Col, had agreed to "… allow me as long as he can from £60 to £80. Well this is some help but with all this my expenses are heavy & I am obliged to live on very little as you will know." Sadly, nothing has survived to show how her uncle responded to this letter but he might not have been too impressed by her telling him that she had just spent £50 coming to see her doctors in England. The Espeut household also needed to make some adjustments. Augustus did not go back to Southampton College or Ella to her school in England following their return to Jamaica in July 1868.19 Augustus was only 15 years of age then so his schooling was cut short but Ella was a year older and probably coming to the end of hers. Also, the governess for the younger children would probably have been let go with Ella taking on their education as Helen did a year or two later.20 The family's staff, on the other hand, seem to have been kept on (see the picture above). Some of them, of course, would have been involved in "farming" the pastureland belonging to The Retreat. In that context, Helen's diary of 1873 mentions her mother's cows as well as her and her sister's hens. Helen also mentions her mother's interest in "the lime kiln" which suggests that there was one in production on The Retreat property. These activities, of course, may have existed prior to Peter's death but they must have all helped the family's financial situation. Nevertheless, things would have been very different from the days when Peter was alive and Helen's diary hints at some of the changes. For instance, her mother making doilies to sell to family friends and she and Ella spending much time repairing or altering clothes that in former times might have been replaced.    Augusta's financial situation may have got a little better by 1873 as she was able to send her youngest son to school in England, 21  though it may be that Augusta's brother William or his wealthy wife, had generously agreed to pay Henry's school fees. Over time, Peter's debt to his agents was discharged or reached a level where it could be discharged by transferring the two plantations to them and at some point, Peter's estate must have had sufficient money to allow his executors to set up a "trust fund" to provide Augusta with an annuity.** 22 This money could only have come from the successful sale of one or more of its properties, one of which might have been the Greenwich Hill plantation that Augusta's son William acquired at some stage or, perhaps, even Dover and Leith Hall. Though little information about her has been passed down by her daughters, a picture emerges from Helen's diary, and the few letters that have survived, of a practical woman who, despite her constant concerns about her health, seems to have dealt sensibly with Peter's financial affairs and to have lived on with dignity in Jamaica until all debts were settled and she could leave for England.    Augusta and her five daughters arrived in England in May 1876. It has not been discovered where they settled initially but at the time of the 1881 census they were living at Saltmarsh near Plymouth. They may have been there a year or two earlier as Augusta's 17-year-old daughter, Julia, had married Commander John Henry Vidal, RN, at Stoke Damerel in April 1878 and then lived there until June 1880 — motherly and sisterly help would have been very welcome to Julia, no doubt, when her first child was born in February 1879.23     Sometime later, Augusta and her four unmarried daughters must subsequently have moved to London because at the time of the 1891 census they were living at a largish house in Oxford Road, Gunnersbury, with one domestic servant to help them run it.24 A month or so later, Augusta died there but for several years afterwards her three remaining daughters, Ella, Helen and Henrietta (Edith, the youngest, had gone to the United States by then) stayed on there. Henrietta died of meningitis in 189425 and when Helen married Hildebrand Oakes in 1899, Ella went to live with them in Grosvenor Road, Gunnersbury. At her death, Augusta left c. £90.26 The annuity from her husband's estate and a continuing allowance from her brother, which incidentally, would have been a fraction of the £800 pa suggested by some sources,27 seems to have been all she had by way of income so she and her daughters must have lived very modestly compared to their former days at The Retreat. Notes * It seems very likely that Captain Cracroft chose the name "Waireka" to commemorate a military engagement in New Zealand at a place of that name where, in 1860, he and 60 of the crew of his ship HMS Niger came to the aid of the government during a Mâori uprising.28 29 ** Very roughly, a fund of £1000 might have provided Augusta with an annuity of £35 per annum. Augusta married† Peter Alexander Espeut, son of William Francis Espeut and Joséphine Périne Adèle Du Bourg, on 18 Sep 1842 in Kingston, Jamaica.1 2 (Peter Alexander Espeut was born on 23 Aug 1816 in Hope Hill, Parish of Metcalfe, Jamaica 30, baptised on 23 Mar 1833 in Kingston Roman Catholic Church, Jamaica,31 died on 11 Jun 1868 in The Retreat, St Andrews, Jamaica 32 and was buried on 12 Jun 1868 in Kingston Parish Church, Jamaica 33 34.) † They were married by special licence at 2am on September 18th 1842 at her dying father's bedside. He lived for another 19 hours.35

Sources

1 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Kingston Parish Marriages, 1842 (Vol. 3, Page 223, No. 63). Peter Alexander Espeut and Marianne Augusta Bancroft both of the City & Parish of Kingston were married by Licence on the 18th day of September 1842 by me: Robert Robinson Assistant Curate.

2 Fisher's Colonial Magazine
Fisher's Colonial Magazine and Commercial Maritime Journal, 1842 — Vol. 1, No.5, page 647 — Marriages. ...
ESPENT [ESPEUT], Peter Alexander Esq. of the Planters' Bank to Marianne Augusta, the youngest daughter of E.N. BANCROFT, Esq. M.D. Deputy Inspector-General of Army Hospitals, on the 18th Sept. at Kingston, Jamaica. The ceremony took place a few hours previous to the death of Dr. BANCROFT.

3 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Kingston parish, Jamaica — Baptisms — Vol 2, Page 400.

4 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Kingston parish, Jamaica — Baptisms — Vol 2, Page 400. Aug 19 1823... Julia Eliza daughter of Edward Martha [ sic] Bancroft M.D. and Ursula his wife late Hoseason spinster... [ b ] 29 Aug 1820......
Marianne Augusta daughter of the above... [ b ] 13 Nov^r 1822.

5 The Times (London), July 1891 - Deaths. ESPEUT — on May 29th at Beaufort House, Oxford Road, Gunnersbury W., Marianne Augusta Espeut wife of the late Peter Alexander Espeut of Kingston, Jamaica W. I. and third daughter of Deputy Inspector General Edward Nathaniel Bancroft M.D., F.R.S., F.R.C.S. of Jamaica.

6 Various, "Bancroft Papers" (Family papers including some of Edward Bancroft's and his family's correspondence now in the possession of some of his Cooke descendants.), Extract of a letter from Edward Nathaniel Bancroft to his sister Catherine dated 19 July 1873. …
"I will only then mention that they [his daughters] should be well grounded in French grammar, in Arithmetic as far as the double rule of three and the first rule of fractions and of Decimals. …".

7 Various, "Bancroft Papers" (Family papers including some of Edward Bancroft's and his family's correspondence now in the possession of some of his Cooke descendants.), Letter from Catherine Bancroft to her nephew William Charles Bancroft dated Coblenz, 28 February 1852.
8 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Kingston Parish Baptisms, 1843 (Vol. 4, Page 33, No. 302). …
August 23, 1843, William Bancroft, born July 21st 1843, [parents:] Peter Alexander Espeut and Marianne Augusta his wife, [of] Sabina Park, St Andrews,[quality, profession, etc] Cashier in the Planters Bank, [by] John Magrath, Island Curate.

9 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Kingston Parish Baptisms, 1845 (Vol. 4, Page 97, No. 304. ...
25 July, Charles Allen [born] 21 May 1845, Peter Alexander Espeut & Marianne Augusta his wife, [of] Gray's Pen, [quality, profession, etc] Banker, [by] Wm Mayhew.

10 Parish Registers of Jamaica, St Andrews Parish Baptisms, 1850 (Vol. 5, Page 9, No. 77. …
June 6, Edward Bancroft McKenzie, [born] 31 Decr. 1849, Peter Alexander & Marianne Augusta Espeut, [of] Retreat, [quality, profession, etc] Esquire, [by] Alex Campbell, Rector.

11 Parish Registers of Jamaica, Bishops Transcript of Saint Andrew's Parish - Burials - 1835. …
No.57 — William Mattocks Esqr., - 73 years - Retreat Pen - 21st February - Chyard - Revd. Alexr Campbell.

12 Helen Bancroft Espeut (1855-1929) later Oakes, "Helen Espeut's Waireka Diary — 1873" (A surviving Espeut diary now in the possession of the executors of the late Mrs J R C Marston (née Green)), Entry for October 2nd, 1873. …
"Mama heard from Mr Geo. Solomons who has bought the penn from Mr Mattocks.

13 The Colonial Standard and Jamaica Despatch (Kingston, Jamaica), Tuesday 25 April 1876, Page 3, Col D — THE R. M. C. S. NILE. …
The "Nile" left this morning with the following passengers: … Mrs Espeut and five daughters. ….

14 Morning Journal (Published at Kingston, Jamaica), Thursday 15 August 1839, Page 2 — A Capital Investment. …
ON SALE A RUN OF LAND on the summit of the LONG MOUNTAIN, consisting of 151 Acres, in the parish of St Andrew, commanding an extensive view of the Sea and Lowlands, bordering on Chaplin and Barbican Pens and a great part of the ...

15 Morning Journal (Published at Kingston, Jamaica), Tuesday 24 October 1865, Page 3 — HOUSE FOR SALE. …
Wareika, belonging to the estate of the late Commodore Cracroft C.B. TURNBULL & LEE, Aucts. ….

16 The Colonial Standard and Jamaica Despatch (Kingston, Jamaica), Tuesday 11 February 1879, page 2, Col C — DEATH OF MRS CRACROFT. …
The United Service Gazette announces the death of Mrs Cracroft, the widow of the late Commodore Cracroft, R.N., whose death while in command on this station in 1866, will be fresh in the memory of many of our readers. The deceased lady was owner at one time of the mountain residence of Waireka, on the summit of Long Mountain and a conspicuous object in the view of the mountains from the city. After the death of Commodore Cracroft the property in question was purchased by the late P. E. [sic] Espeut, Esq.

17 Various, Hoseason Letters (Surviving letters that are held by various Hoseason descendants.), Letter from M. A. Espeut to Captain William Hoseason, R.N. (Port Captain of Malta), dated 3 June 1869. ...
"His agents to whom he had been largely indebted have called upon me to give them a mortgage on the Sugar Estates to enable them to carry them on & repay themselves the heavy debt my husband owed them so I have given them the Estates until such time the bill is paid.".

18 Various, Hoseason Letters (Surviving letters that are held by various Hoseason descendants.), Letter from M. A. Espeut to Captain William Hoseason, R.N. (Port Captain of Malta), dated 3 June 1869.

19 The Colonial Standard and Jamaica Despatch (Kingston, Jamaica), Monday 7 September 1868,. Page 2 — PASSENGERS ARRIVED. ...
In the R. M. C. Steamer Seine FROM SOUTHAMPTON: Lieut. Moorsam, R. A., Sergt. Ballantine and Wife, Miss Espeut and Brother, Mr and Mrs O'Halloran, ...

20 Helen Bancroft Espeut (1855-1929) later Oakes, "Helen Espeut's Waireka Diary — 1873" (A surviving Espeut diary now in the possession of the executors of the late Mrs J R C Marston (née Green)), Entry for August 20th, 1873. …

"11th Did nothing particular today but worked, read, & taught the chicks*". * Helen's dairy name for her younger sisters Julie and Edie.

21 Helen Bancroft Espeut (1855-1929) later Oakes, "Helen Espeut's Waireka Diary — 1873" (A surviving Espeut diary now in the possession of the executors of the late Mrs J R C Marston (née Green)), Entry for August 20th, 1873. …
"Henry wrote to Mama, he does not seem to like being at Arnold House* & was spending his holidays at Uncle's". … * Arnold House has not been identified but it might have been a school of that name in Chester that prepared boys for Sandhurst and Woolwich.

22 National Census, 1881 — Parish: Saltash; ED: 8; Piece: 2282; Folio: 98; Page: 29 — Head — Annuitant.

23 Western Times, Friday 7 March 1879, Page 5 — BIRTHS. …
Vidal. — Feb. 22, at Stoke Damerel, the wife of Commander J. H. Vidal, R.N., of a son....

24 National Census, 1891 - Parish: Chiswick; ED: 15; Piece: 1034; Fohttp://www.green.gen.name/hoseason/D1.htm#i1076lio: 171 - Head - Living on Own Means.

25 London Standard (Published at London 1827-1859 and as the London Evening Standard from 1859 to present day.), Tuesday 27 February 1894, Page 1 - DEATHS. …
ESPEUT. — Feb. 25. at Beaufort House, Oxford-road, Gunnersbury, of meningitis, Henrietta Alice Bancroft (Harrie). third daughter of the late Hon. P. A. Espeut, of Jamaica, and of Marianne Augusta, his wife. Jamaica papers, please copy.

26 Probate Court (England and Wales), "Calendar of Grants of Probate and Administration", Wills and Admons 1892. …
ESPEUT Marianne Augusta of Beaufort House Oxford Road Gunnersbury Middlesex widow died 29 May 1891 Administration (with Will) London 13 April to Ella Augusta Bancroft Espeut spinster. Effects: £90 8s 6d.

27 Richard J Green, House of Green, Espeut family.

28 Taranaki Herald (Published in Taranaki, New Zealand, between 1852 and 1920), 31 March 1860, Page 2. …
NEW PLYMOUTH, MARCH 31, 1860. THE BATTLE OF WAIREKA.

29 Morning Advertiser (London), Monday 13 October 1862, Page 6 Col F. …
THE NEW C.B.- Captain Peter Cracroft, R.N., who has been gazetted to be an ordinary member of the military division of the third class, or Companion of the most honourable Order of the Bath….

30 Sir Bernard Burke C.B. LL.D - Ulster King of Arms, "History of the Colonial Gentry" (Published 1891-1895 - Reprinted 1970 by Herald Today in London S.W.3), Pages 528 & 529.

31 "Jamaican Family Search" (A genealogical research website created and maintained by Patricia Jackson containing transcriptions from major Jamaican sources of historical information. Website: https://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/index.htm), Roman Catholic Baptisms — Kingston "Book 5" (October 28, 1832 to December 26, 1836). ...
Espeut, Pierre Alexandre [Peter Alexander], bap 3/23/1833, aged 17 years, legit son of William Francois Espeut and Cecille Josephine ____ [blank] wife of Espeut. Gp= Ramond Roux and Jeanne Branday. [F] p. 10.

32 Royal Gazette (Kingston, Jamaica), June 1868 — Deaths. At the Retreat, St Andrews, on the 11th inst. In the 52nd year of his age, the Honorable Peter Alexander Espeut, Custos Rotulorum of the Parish of St Thomas & Official Assignee for the Counties of Middlesex & Cornwall, Jamaica.

33 Morning Journal (Published at Kingston, Jamaica), Saturday 13 June 1868, Page 2. …
The remains of the Hon. Mr. Espent were interred at the Parish Church Yard, in this city, yesterday.

34 "Parish Register Transcript" (Unattributed or foreign transcripts), Jamaica — Kingston — Burials 1868. …
No. 282 — Peter Alexander Espeut Custos of St Thomas - St Andrews - June 12- Church Yard - The Lord Bishop of Kingston.

35 Julia Ursula Bancroft Vidal (neé Espeut), Julia Vidal (Notes, papers and correspondence of Julia Vidal now in the possession of the executors of the late Mrs J. R. C. Marston (2022)), Notes on various relatives.