Mrs Catherine Francklyn

Slave-owner in Jamaica, owner of Weston Favel, which had belonged to the Harding family. Despite the wealth of detail in her will, LBS has not yet firmly identified her. She was in London when she made her will in 1830, and was buried in St Marylebone 17/09/1831 aged 93. Her will is silent on her husband and her husband's family. There is a connection with Peter Francklyn (q.v.) who reportedly married a Mrs Elizabeth [sic] Harding of Weston Favel in 1794, but the nature of the connection has not yet been confirmed. It appears possible to LBS that this is Catherine, the widow and executrix of Thomas Harding of Weston Favell, and that she was in fact the same woman who married Peter Francklyn.

1. Will of Catherine Francklyn widow [formerly of Trelawny but now] of Gloucester Place Portman Square [made in 1830] proved 21/09/1831. In the will she said that under her marriage settlement Weston Favell was charged with £10,000 currency, and subject to that charge she left the estate and the lands, cattle, stock effects and appurtenances attached to it, together with her pen near Martha Brae called Hardingstone and her mountain estate in St James called Chatsworth, to George Lawrence of Cowesfield, the second son of her cousin Richard James Lawrence on condition that he [George Lawrence] renounce in favour of his brother Charles Lawrence of Liverpool all the personalty and real estate to which he might be entitled under the will of his father. If he refused, her own real estate was to go to Charles Lawrence. She also left her leasehold house in London to George Lawrence. She was possessed of £17,000 3 per cent consols, and she left this as follows: £3000 to her cousin Mary James of Crawford Street, widow of John Robert James formerly of Content estate in Jamaica; £3000 in trust for her sister Rachael Gordon of St James Jamaica for life, with £1000 then to go to Ann Edgar, one of Rachael Gordon's daughters, on condition that she [Ann Edgar] give up any right she had to an estate called St Andrews Hill to her sisters Susannah Gordon and Rachael Wallace. She left £1000 to the daughters of her late cousin Madame de Boucher formerly of Bordeaux; and £1000 to the children of her late cousin Richard O'Connor; £1000 to be disposed by Elizabeth Lawrence Richards ; £600 to Ann Richards widow of Aberdeen for life; £1000 to he niece Sophie Lawrence of Islington; £1000 to the four daughters of her late cousin James Lawrence of Hazelymph; £400 to the three children of her late niece Mary Susannah Williams; £1000 to her cousin Richard Penn of Great George Street; £1000 to Thomas Hall one of her executors; and £500 each to her nephew Rev. George Lawrence and to Henry and Frederick Lawrence, the sons of her cousin Richard James Lawrence, and to Henry Horton Irving, a captain in HM's 4th Regiment of Foot. She left monetary legacies to her servants, including £200 each to two other them. In a codicil she said that in the event of the death of George Lawrence of Cowesfield before her she would be entitled to £10,800 in reduced 31/2% annuities and £12,500 (part of £17,500 in consols of which £5000 belonged to the sons of Richard James Lawrence), and she divided this contingent inheritance [which she never received] among family members.

Ancestry.com, London, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-2003 for Catherine Francklyn Westminster St Marylebone 1829-1831; the report of the marriage of Peter Francklyn and 'Mrs Elizabeth Harding' appears in several sources, e..g Royal Gazette September 13 1794.

1. PROB 11/1790/137