Here is something that recently excited the author, historian and amateur genealogist, Anne M. Powers. Not only is Anne distantly related to some members of the Hobkirk and Stone Family Tree,[1] she is also the author of A Parcel of Ribbons: Letters of an 18th Century Family in London and Jamaica,[2] which is a charming book that reveals the early 18th century African-Jamaican slave ancestry of a branch of the family tree and which documents the correspondence of the then Solicitor General of Jamaica, Robert Cooper Lee (1735–1794), from whom some members of the Bevan, Bosanquet and Lee lines of the family tree descend. Anne’s book—and her blog, A Parcel of Ribbons: Eighteenth Century Jamaica Viewed Throgh Family Stories and Documents[3]—will prove surprisingly revealing for anyone connected to the family tree with one of the above mentioned surnames in their ancestry.
So what was it that excited Anne Powers? Well, the reason—courtesy of Nick Tanner—was because I was able to reveal a hitherto unknown image of the main character in Anne’s book, Robert Cooper Lee himself. It is a black and white copy of an image of Robert’s miniature portrait, by an unknown artist of the “English School,” which appeared in a Christie’s auction catalogue of other portraits sold by Nick’ mother in March 1979.[4]
Being a copy of a black and white copy, the image—reproduced below (Figure 1)—is of poor quality but it affords an idea of how Robert Cooper Lee looked in his mid-40s, when his portrait was painted c. 1780. The good news is that we now have a clue to trace the portrait’s current whereabouts and perhaps even obtain a photograph of it in its original oval gold-frame. To this end, Nick Tanner (like me, one of Robert Cooper Lee’s 5th great-grandsons) has contacted Christie’s Auction House to commence the search.
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| Figure 1. Miniature Portrait of Robert Cooper Lee, c. 1780. |
Further information about Robert Cooper Lee, his portrait and his immediate family is provided in this entry in Christie’s catalogue (see Figure 2):
ROBERT COOPER LEE, English School, circa 1780, facing left in blue coat, white waistcoat and cravat, powdered hair- oval. 2 in. (66mm.) high-gold frame, plaited hair panel within blue glass border (damaged).
Robert (1735–1794), son of Joseph and Frances Lee, married Priscilla, daughter of Dennis Kelly and Favell Bourke.
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| Figure 2. Extract of Robert Cooper Lee's entry in Christie's Auction Catalogue, 27 March 1979 |
It was from Robert and his wife Priscilla Kelly’s youngest daughter, Favell Bourke Lee (1780–1841)—who married the banker, David Bevan (1774–1846) at St. Marylebone, London on 7 May 1798[6]—that members of the Hobkirk and Stone Family Tree descend.
Christie’s catalogue entry is interesting because it mentions that Robert “married Priscilla, daughter of Dennis Kelly and Favell Bourke.” Anne Powers also identifies the father of Priscilla Kelly (1738–1797) as being Dennis Kelly (1700–1757), the Chief Justice of Jamaica in 1742 but describes her origins as “obscure” and “illegitimate.” Anne never identified the full name of Priscilla’s mother but suggests that she was a “mulatto,” a “free woman of color” and that Priscilla may have been baptized as “Margaret Wright.”[7] Although the Christie’s catalogue claims that “Favell Bourke” was Priscilla’s mother, Anne never mentions this name but suggests that Robert and Priscilla’s daughter, Favell Bourke Lee, was “probably [named] after John Allen’s wife Favell and the family friend John Bourke.”[8]
As Anne mentioned, Priscilla’s origins are “obscure,” but in light of the information from Christie’s catalogue, it would be prudent to follow up on the research into her origins. Important questions that initially came to mind and which are currently being explored include:
- Question: rom where did Christie’s source its information to suggest that Priscilla was the daughter of Favell Boruke? Was this a reliable source, was it based on information passed down through the Lee, Bevan and Bosanquet families or did it derive from other, independent sources?
Answer: Anne Powers suggests that Christie’s source for naming “Favell Bourke” as Priscilla Kelly’s mother was based on such “assumption … made by Audrey Gamble in her History of the Bevan Family[9] and while it was reasonable based on what she knew in 1923, which did not include examination of the Jamaican parish registers, I have found no evidence to support it and some evidence to make a reasonable assumption that her mother was Ann Wright who bore two daughters to Dennis Kelly. The second, named Margaret, was baptised at a date which would fit with Priscilla's birth, and only Margaret Wright is made provision for in Dennis Kelly's Will (apart from his legitimate daughter).”[10] - Question: Did such a woman, Favell Bourke, ever exist in England, Ireland or Jamaica? Was she a free woman of colour?
Answer: Anne Powers claims that she has “looked very hard [in her database with over 6,000 individuals with 18th century Jamaican connections] for anyone called ‘Favell Bourke’ and found no-one,” the inference being that there is no known record in Jamaica of anyone with that name being connected to Dennis or Priscilla Kelly.[11] Jeremy Stone has also searched the worldwide online ancestry.com and familysearch.org genealogical databases with similar fruitless result. - Question: What evidence is there to support Anne’s theory that Priscilla’s daughter, Favell Bourke Lee was named after Robert Cooper Lee’s friends, Favell Allen and John Bourke?
Answer: There appears to be no direct evidence to support this theory but because several other children of Robert Cooper Lee were named after family friends, Anne’s theory is based on a reasonable assumption.
Conclusion
Concerning the identity of Priscilla Kelly’s mother: Audrey Gamble’s “Favell Bourke” theory cannot be excluded but the currently available evidence does not support it. In fact, Anne’s theory that Priscilla’s youngest daughter was named after Robert Cooper Le’s friends and not after her mother is reasonable and at this stage, tends to carry more weight than Audrey’s version.
Further research into Priscilla’s origins may yet solve this mystery but if she was the girl born to the “mulatto” woman, the “free woman of color,” being the infant girl baptized “Margaret Wright,” it is unlikely that a written record will surface to reveal a name change from Margaret to Priscilla.
It is also possible that Priscilla Kelly (or Margaret Wright, if they are the one and same person) took the name of Dennis Kelly’s deceased wife, Priscilla Halstead (1705–1734), who was born and raised in Jamaica and who died there in December 1734, four years before the birth of Dennis’s illegitimate daughter(s). Nevertheless, a valid reason for Margaret’s assumed name change to Priscilla requires explanation.
Sources
Church of England. “Saint Marylebone Parish Register of Marriages, 1754-1921.” 1798. London. Online database and images. ancestry.co.uk. http://www.ancestry.co.uk : 2013. Also available at London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Marylebone, Register of Marriages, P89/MRY1, Item 177.
Gamble, Audrey Nora (Bevan). A History of the Bevan Family: With Portraits. ASIN B000X9ZC9W. London, England: Headley Brothers, 1923. out of print.
Stone, Jeremy. Tree owner. “Hobkirk and Stone Family Tree.” Family history website. ancestry.co.uk. http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/29347242/recent : 2013.
Miniature Portraits Auction Catalogue. 27 March 1979. Christie’s Auction House, London. Personal papers of Nicholas Shelley Tanner, Cerncester, Gloucestershire, England, 2013. 15 and Plate 12, no. 60.
Powers, Anne M. A Parcel of Ribbons: Eighteenth Century Jamaica Viewed Through Family Stories and Documents. Online blog. http://aparcelofribbons.co.uk/ : 2013.
———. A Parcel of Ribbons: Letters of an 18th Century Family in London and Jamaica. ISBN 9781105809743. Lulu.com : 2012.
[1] Jeremy Stone, tree owner, “Hobkirk and Stone Family Tree,” family history website, ancestry.co.uk (http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/29347242/recent : accessed 5 May 2013)
[2] Anne M. Powers, A Parcel of Ribbons: Letters of an 18th Century Family in London and Jamaica, ISBN 9781105809743 (Lulu.com : 2012).
[3] Anne M. Powers, A Parcel of Ribbons: Eighteenth Century Jamaica Viewed Throgh Family Stories and Documents, online blog (http://aparcelofribbons.co.uk/ : accessed 6 May 2013).
[4] Miniature Portraits Auction Catalogue, 27 March 1979, Christie’s Auction House, London, personal papers of Nicholas Shelley Tanner, Cerncester, Gloucestershire, England, citing entries for Robert Cooper Lee at p. 15 and Plate 12, no. 60.
[5] Ibid, item no. 60.
[6] Church of England, “Saint Marylebone Parish Register of Marriages, 1754-1921” 1798, London, online database and images, ancestry.co.uk (http://www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 5 May 2013 ), citing p. 424, no. 1270, marriage of David Bevan and Favell Bourke Lee. Also available at London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Marylebone, Register of Marriages, P89/MRY1, Item 177.
[7] Powers, A Parcel of Ribbons, pp. 106-7.
[8] Ibid, p. 200.
[9] Audrey Nora (Bevan) Gamble, A History of the Bevan Family: With Portraits, ASIN B000X9ZC9W (London, England: Headley Brothers, 1923), out of print.
[10] Anne M. Powers, England, to Jeremy Peter Frank Stone, e-mail, 6 May 2013, “Re: The Portrait of Robert Cooper Lee,” privately held by Stone, New Territories, Hong Kong, 2013.
[11] Ibid.
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