Lady Harte Franks
(1815-1880)
11 July 1864
Volume 12, page 125, sitting number 15,647.
[Identified as 'Lady H. Franks' in the Silvy daybooks, this is probably the widow of Sir Thomas Harte Franks.]
Born in or about 1815 at Antwerp in Belgium, Rebecca Constantia Elizabeth Van Worrell was the daughter of Abraham Bruynings Van Worrell. On 5 May 1841 at Holy Trinity in Marylebone she married Manchester manufacturer Samuel Brewis. He died on 23 October 1857 leaving an estate valued at £70,000.
'Sir Thomas Harte Franks married, first, in 1842, Matilda, daughter of Richard Kay, Esq., and widow of the Rev. W. Fletcher; and, secondly, in 1859, Rebecca Constantia Elizabeth, widow of the late Samuel Brewis, Esq., of Langley, Prestwich, Lancashire. Sir Thomas died on the 5th ult., at his seat, Ibstone, near Tetsworth, much and deservedly lamented' (Illustrated London News, 8 March 1862).
According to a later report in the same journal, 'The will of Major-General Sir Thomas Harte Franks, K.C.B., formerly of Lower Brook-street, who died at his late residence, Ibstone House, Oxford, on the 5th of February last, at the age of fifty-five, was proved in London by his relict, Lady Harte Franks, sole executrix. It is very brief, was executed in 1859, and contains but two bequests - one an annuity of £100 to his sister, Miss Margaret Franks, of Mallow Castle, Ireland, and the other the disposition of the residue of the personal, together with the whole of the real estates to his relict, absolutely. The Major-General distinguished himself in India, and particularly during the recent era of the frightful massacre in that country. He held the colonelcy of the 10th Foot at the time of his decease' (Illustrated London News, 29 March 1862).
When the census was taken in 1871, Lady Harte Frank was living at Ibstone House with her sons Samuel and Percy Brewis, her married daughter Elizabeth Frend and her son-in-law Edwin Frend. Also present on the night of the census were six servants, including a butler and a footman, with a coachman and his family living at the nearby stables.
Lady Rebecca Constantia Elizabeth Harte Franks 'formerly of Ibstone House near Tetsworth in the County of Oxford but late of Stanstead House (near Bishop Stortford) in the County of Essex' died on 22 November 1880 at Standstead House. She left an estate valued at £13,000.