Miss Georgina Archer
(1837-1926)
17 April 1863

Volume 10, page 169, sitting number 13,044.

[Identifed as 'Miss Archer' in the Silvy daybooks, an inked inscription verso in a period hand reads: 'Georgina Archer / Diwitz, 1863.' Presumably 'Diwitz' refers to the place in Germany. Despite the differently spelled first name, this is probably Georgiana Mary Archer of Great Burstead in Essex.]

Born at Saffron Walden in Essex on 10 January 1837, Georgiana Mary Archer was the daughter of Lewis Archer and Mary née Shepherd. She was baptised on 1 June 1837 at St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden.

In 1841 Lewis Archer was an inmate at Southall Park, a private asylum in West London. He died there, aged 39, on 9 September 1841 (Chelmsford Chronicle, 17 September 1841).

On 29 November 1842 Mrs Archer remarried. Her second husband was ‘Edgar Jones, Esq., surgeon, of Saffron Walden’ (Essex Standard, 9 December 1842).

Georgiana appears on the 1861 census living with her mother and stepfather at Great Burstead in Essex. Edgar Jones described himself as a ‘Landed Proprietor & JP.’

When the census was taken in 1871, the family were on holiday in Southend.

Georgiana never married. In 1911 she was still living with her stepfather, now a widower and 101 years old. For his profession he gave ‘Retired doctor. Private means. JP. Farmer. Landowner.’ Georgiana, aged 74, described her duties as ‘Housekeeping & Farming, etc, etc.’ The household included four servants, amongst them a lady’s maid who doubled as a sick nurse.

Edgar Jones died, aged 102, at Great Burstead, Essex, on 24 August 1912, leaving an estate valued at £14,981.

Georgiana Mary Archer died, aged 89, at The Elms, Great Burstead, on 11 January 1926. Her estate was valued at £23,882.