Children of Elizabeth Foster and Henry Brown

01. William Henry Brown

1839-01-08 b. Hutchinsons Buildings, Tynemouth, Northumberland censuses; digest of Durham Quaker births: index; Joseph Foster (1871) Pedigrees of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England. Privately printed
1841 living with his family and two female servants in Hutchinson Buildings, Tynemouth, Northumberland TNA: HO 107/826/6 f10 p12
1848/1853 of North Shields; at Ackworth School Ackworth School Centenary Committee (1879) List of the Boys and Girls admitted into Ackworth School 17791879. Ackworth
1851 scholar, of Ackworth School, Ackworth, Yorkshire HO 107/2331 f56 p9
1861 chemist, boarding with Thomas Cobley, rate collector, at 7 Gt Prescot St, Goodmans Fields, Whitechapel, Middlesex TNA: RG 9/273 f50 p2
1863-05-05 pharmaceutical chemist; m. Margaret Ogilvie (1841–1918, d. of Joseph and Jane Elizabeth Dove Ogilvie, of Tynemouth), at St Andrew's Chapel, North Shields Annual Monitor; Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, 1863-05-09 censuses; Foster (1871)
1871 pharmaceutical chemist 2 men 2 boys, of 20 Northumbd Sqr, The Eastern Point of Nd Sqr, Tynemouth, living with his wife and one domestic servant RG 10/5117 f46 p12
1876-05-31 chemist, of North Shields; co-executor of his mother's will National Probate Calendar
Child: Elizabeth Foster (1876 – after 1932) H. Winifred Sturge, ed. (n.d. [1932]) A Register of Old Scholars of The Mount School, York 1931–1932. Leominster: The Orphans' Printing Press; GRO index
1881 pharmaceutical chemist, employs 2 men and 2 boys, of 20 Northd Square, Tynemouth, living with his family, wife's aunt, cook, and nurse/housemaid RG 11/5079 f98 p23
1891 living on his own means, retired pharmaceutist, employer, of Burmington, Warwickshire, living with his wife, niece, and two domestic servants RG 12/2485 f9 p11
1901 retired pharmaceutical chemist, of Sibford Ferris, Oxfordshire, living with his wife and one general servant RG 13/1402 f41 p19
1907-06-26 present at the meeting on Ministry and Oversight, Dublin Yearly Meeting, on behalf of Banbury meeting Young Friends Association Magazine
1907-12-24 of West Town, Sibford Ferris; d. Sibford Ferris National Probate Calendar; Annual Monitor; GRO index
1908-04-11 will proved at London by widow Margaret Brown; effects £1802 0s. 7d. National Probate Calendar
 

WILLIAM H. BROWN,      68    24  12mo.  1907

Sibford Ferris.

An earnest Quaker propagandist has been lost to the Society by the death of William Henry Brown, of Sibford Ferris. All over the country his cheery face and voice, and his pony and trap have become known in recent years, for he was one who spared no pains to carry the Evangel of a free and spiritual religion wherever he could find or make an open door.

He was the son of Henry and Elizabeth Brown, of North Shields, where he was born on January 8th, 1839, thus having very nearly reached his sixty-ninth birthday. He was for some years in business as a chemist in North Shields, but feeling the need for the spread of good literature in out-of-the-way country districts, he decided to go round with books from place to place. He worked under the auspices of the Friends' Tract Association. Of late years he has been a familiar figure as he travelled with his sturdy pony and well-stocked cart from Land's End to John o' Groats. A correspondent writes: "He and his pony needed plenty of pluck and endurance, for they had to travel in all weathers and over every sort of road; sometimes going right up over the lonely, rugged moors in dense fog, meeting no human being for hours at a time. Then at the end of a long day, the heavy packages of books had to be unpacked and spread out for display next morning to the few Friends and village people who might come in. Then there was the tedious business of wrapping all up again, and the drive on to the next village. He certainly 'suffered hardship and did the work of an evangelist,' never losing an opportunity of speaking a word for his Master."

Our friend passed away at Sibford Ferris on Christmas Eve. The comment heard as Friends were separating after Meeting for Sufferings last week that "he was a godly man, and his work is much needed in the Society to-day," sums up the spirit of his life. He felt his service as agent for the Friends' Tract Association to be a work for God and for the Society, and he loved the opportunity thus afforded of getting into touch with all manner of people, and of sowing seed that might have untold consequences.

 

1909 Annual Monitor
 

WILLIAM HENRY BROWN, of Sibford Ferris, near Banbury (scholar 1847–53), son of Henry and Elizabeth Foster Brown, was born at North Shields, January 8th, 1839. On leaving Ackworth he was apprenticed to his uncle, Octavius Corder, a chemist in North Shields, whose business he afterwards bought. In 1863, he married Margaret Ogilvie, and about this time he joined the "Plymouth Brethren." He took a great interest in the "Town Mission" in his native place, preaching in the streets himself, and visiting the sick and dying; and later on he started a Tract Depot in Tynemouth. In 1886, a breakdown in health necessitated his retiring from business, and he moved to the Midlands, first to Woodend, in Northamptonshire, then near to Shipston-on-Stour, and, in 1898, to Sibford, in Oxfordshire. Even at Ackworth, where he was known as "Hedgehog," botany was his great hobby, and many of his holidays from business had been spent in hunting for rare specimens, often in lonely boggy moors; he was much interested in archaeology, and he had, too, a special love for animals and delight in their companionship, so that quiet country life was to him enjoyable. He was always an omnivorous reader. In 1889 he rejoined the Society of Friends, and feeling the great need for the distribution of good literature in country districts, he offered his services to the Friends' Tract Association in 1896. For nearly twelve years he drove, with a pony and open trap, through all the counties of England and many in Wales carrying to country towns and villages samples of books on the Bible, on Quaker history and doctrine, and on Natural History, together with children's stories. Sometimes he was wet through day after day, and at length the exposure became too much for him. Last October he was obliged to give in and return home from Ackworth by train. Paralysis ensued, and the end came on Christmas Eve, 1907. He was buried at Sibford, the horse which had been his constant companion for ten years bearing his body to the graveyard on his own trap.

He found great joy in his life-work, and it was wonderful how the interests and experiences of his earlier years prepared him for it. His sense of humour and determination stood him in good stead in his travels, and he had the gift of being at home among all sorts of people. Specially happy times were his visits to the Friends' Schools, and many children will remember the rides on his pony and in his trap. A mystic in temperament, with an intense belief in guidance in the everyday life, he was not alone in his journeyings.

E.F.B.

AOSA Annual Report 27, 1908


Mary Spence (Brown) Evans02. Mary Spence Brown (Polly)

1840-03-31 b. Hutchinson Buildings, Tynemouth, Northumberland censuses; digest of Durham Quaker births: index; Joseph Foster (1871) Pedigrees of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England. Privately printed
1841 living with her family and two female servants in Hutchinson Buildings, Tynemouth, Northumberland TNA: HO 107/826/6 f10 p12
1851 annuitant, of Sinskele St, Tynemouth, living with her family and one house servant HO 107/2410 f218 p81
1851/1855 of North Shields; at Ackworth School Ackworth School Centenary Committee (1879) List of the Boys and Girls admitted into Ackworth School 17791879. Ackworth
from 1855 a permanent member of the household of Myles Birket Foster Jan Reynolds (1984) Birket Foster. London: Batsford
1860 posed for the preliminary sketch of Birket Foster's 'The Milkmaid', now in the Victoria and Albert Museum Reynolds (1984)
1860 autumn spent three weeks touring the Rhineland, Switzerland and France with Joseph, Sarah, & Robert Spence Watson, and Birket Foster
1861 in the household of Myles Birket Foster, painter in water colours, Godalming, Surrey; three boarders also present TNA: RG 9/429 f132 p7
  "very pretty" Reynolds (1984)
1863 after the death of Anne (Spence) Foster, agreed to stay on to manage the household and to continue to care for the five children
1864-08-23 of Godalming; m. Edmund Evans (1826–1905, engraver and printer, of Godalming, s. of Henry Evans, cooper, and his wife Mary), at Godalming, by licence parish register; censuses; Foster (1871); Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Reynolds (1984)
Children: Ada Mary (1865–1905), Mary Elizabeth (1868–1939), Edmund Wilfred (1869–1943), Herbert (1871–1962), Henrietta (1873–1902) censuses; GRO index; Foster (1871)
1871 of Wormley Hill House, Godalming, living with her family, a cook, a nurse, and a housemaid RG 10/815 f36 p4
1881 of Wormley Hill, Godalming, living with her family, a governess, a cook, a housemaid, and a nurse RG 11/780 f31 p2
1885-03-29 wrote from Witley to John Walter Cross letter in Yale University Library
1887-08-16 a guest at the wedding of Fanny Isabel Foster and Edward Shearburn Marshall, in Witley, Surrey West Surrey Times, 1887-08-20
1891 with her husband, boarders at Undercliff Ho., Esplanade, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Hampshire RG 12/895 f126 p57
1899-05-23 sale by auction at the Royal Marine Hotel, Ventnor:

Lot 10 was the family residence known as Belgrave View, in Zigzag-road, let on a repairing lease for five years from Lady-day last, to Mr. Edmund Evans, at the yearly rent of £50. There was not much competition for this lot, and at £750 it was withdrawn.

Isle of Wight County Press and South of England Reporter, 1899-05-27
1901 of Belgrave View, Woodlands, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, living with her family, cook, and housemaid RG 13/1031 f58 p24
1905-10-13 with her sons, co-executor of her husband's will, proved in London; left an immediate legacy of £200, with the income of his residuary estate for life National Probate Calendar; Isle of Wight Observer, 1905-10-21
1906-02-10 widow; executor of the will of her daughter Ada Mary National Probate Calendar
1911 private means, of Belgrave View, Zigzag Road, Isle of Wight, living with her daughter, two servants, and two visitors; 13 rooms RG14PN5753 RG78PN262 RD93 SD5 ED4 SN257
  "a most attractive personality" . . . "Polly was lively and full of fun, kind and gentle with the Foster children, interested in everything around her, but also rather untidy and haphazard and none too capable in her management of the Foster Household." Reynolds (1984)
1921 occupation: none; living in 11 rooms at Belgrave View, Zig-Zag, Ventnor, with her daughter Mary, a cook and a house parlour maid; her niece Gwendoline Margaret Evans visiting RG 15/05439 RD93 SD5 ED4 SN30
1923-04-03 of Belgrave View, Ventnor, Isle of Wight; d. Isle of Wight RD GRO index; National Probate Calendar
1923-06-06 will proved at London by Mary Elizabeth Evans; effects £2691 9s. 1d. National Probate Calendar


 03. Henrietta Brown

1842-01-08 b. North Shields, Northumberland Annual Monitor; Joseph Foster (1871) Pedigrees of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England. Privately printed
1849-02-24 of North Shields; d. Tynemouth RD Annual Monitor; Foster (1871); GRO index


Elizabeth (Brown) Cooper 04. Elizabeth Brown

1844-01-10 b. North Shields, Northumberland censuses; Joseph Foster (1871) Pedigrees of the Forsters and Fosters of the North of England. Privately printed
1851 annuitant, of Sinskele St, Tynemouth, living with her family and one house servant TNA: HO 107/2410 f218 p81
1854/1855 of North Shields; at Ackworth School Ackworth School Centenary Committee (1879) List of the Boys and Girls admitted into Ackworth School 17791879. Ackworth
1861 teacher, of 83 Tyne Street, Tynemouth, living with her mother, a servant, and two boarders TNA: RG 93841 f36 p65
1864-03-08 of North Shields Mosscroft visitors' book
1870-11-20 banns published at Twickenham pc, Middlesex banns book
1870-11-27
1870-12-04
1870-12-10 of St Nicholas, Brighton; m. Alfred William Cooper (1830–1916, artist, of Twickenham, s. of Abraham Cooper, RA), at St Nicholas's, Brighton, Sussex, after banns censuses; National Probate Calendar; Foster (1871); Shields Daily Gazette, 1870-12-12; banns book
Children: Margaret (1872–1921), Henry Watson (1873–1910), Philip (1879–1954) censuses; GRO index; National Probate Calendar
1871 of Belmont Villas, Twickenham, Middlesex, living with her husband's family and a general servant RG 10/1316 f12 p18
1871-06-19 of Twickenham Mosscroft visitors' book
1881 of 6 Manor Rd, Twickenham, living with her family, a cook, and a housemaid RG 11/1342 f126 p58
1891 of 7 Manor Rd, Twickenham, living with her family, with two visitors (her cousin Ellen Glasson and her husband) RG 12/1027 f82 p11
1901 living with her husband and daughter at 4 Manor Rd, Twickenham RG 13/1189 f29 p49
1911 living with her husband and one general servant at Stockbridge House, Whitwell, Isle of Wight, Hampshire; 12 rooms RG14PN5757 RG78PN262 RD93 SD5 ED8 SN86
1916-02-28 husband of Ellerslie Cottage, Whitwell, Isle of Wight, at the date of his death National Probate Calendar
1917-01-19 of Ellerslie, Whitwell, Isle of Wight; d. 12 Waldegrave-gardens, Twickenham, Middlesex National Probate Calendar
1917-05-31 will proved at London by daughter Margaret Cooper; effects £2303 9s. National Probate Calendar


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