Frances Ward
Encyclopedia
Frances Mary Brown, also known as "Francie", was the wife of Whitford Brown
Whitford Brown
Whitford James Brown OBE, CBE, was the foundation mayor of Porirua City, a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, for 21 years from 1962 to 1983. Porirua, when "Brownie" and "Francie" moved there, was part of what was then called the Makara County Council. In 1961, the Local Government...
, the Foundation Mayor of Porirua City, Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
for 21 years (1962–1983), the first three years of which Porirua was a borough and inaugurated as a city in 1965 by Sir Bernard Furgusson, who was Governor-General of New Zealand at the time.
"Frances Brown Avenue " in Porirua, which is off Whitford Brown Avenue, is named after her.
Frances Brown was Mayoress at the opening of the Royal New Zealand Police College
Royal New Zealand Police College
The Royal New Zealand Police College is the central training institution for police recruits and police officers in New Zealand. It is located at Papakowhai, approximately 2 km north of Porirua City....
April 1, 1981, Porirua
Porirua
Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...
along with her husband Whitford Brown
Whitford Brown
Whitford James Brown OBE, CBE, was the foundation mayor of Porirua City, a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, for 21 years from 1962 to 1983. Porirua, when "Brownie" and "Francie" moved there, was part of what was then called the Makara County Council. In 1961, the Local Government...
Mayor of Porirua and HRH Prince Charles the Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, who officially opened the college for use.
Frances Mary Brown (née Ward) has a rather "Illustrious Lineage":
Daughter of Joseph Thomas Ward, a pioneer New Zealand astronomer, who discovered "Ward doubles" and his wife Ada Evelyn Wright (daughter of Capt. Sydney E.L Wright; Esq of Wellington; Paymaster of the Royal Navy)
She is also the great-(8 generations) granddaughter of the diarist, John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
, the diarist of London; owner of Sayes Court
Sayes Court
Located in Deptford, in the London Borough of Lewisham and on the Thames Path, Sayes Court once attracted throngs to visit its celebrated garden created by the seventeenth century diarist John Evelyn...
, which the Russian Tsar Peter the Great was known to be a regular visitor.
Another Regal Grandparent is the French Countess Félicité Perpétue Catherine de Paul de Lamanon d'Albe, ("Albe" is the French vernacular of Alba, a region in Spain), whose Regal Ancestry can be traced back to the foundations of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
; and whom descends from the Duke of Alba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo d'Albe; Perpetue was the aunt and mother in law of Wilbraham Liardet founder of Liardets' Beach, [Port Melbourne, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. Her x4 great uncle was Jean Honoré Robert de Paul de Lamanon, known as Robert de Lamanon
Robert de Lamanon
Jean Honoré Robert de Paul de Lamanon, known as Robert de Lamanon was a French botanist, physician and meteorologist. He joined several scientific expeditions and eventually died on one .-Family:He belonged to the lordly family of Lamanon, ennobled in 1572...
( of the La Perouse
La Perouse
La Perouse may refer to* Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse, a French naval officer and explorer,and the following places which were named after him:* La Perouse, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney...
expedition)
Frances is the youngest daughter of New Zealand astronomer Joseph Thomas Ward, who discovered double stars named in his honour ("Ward doubles") and his wife Ada Evelyn Wright; who is the x5 great-granddaughter of the Privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
Fortunatus Wright
Fortunatus Wright
-Early life:Fortunatus Wright’s early days are unrecorded, he may have followed the sea as a boy, but by his twenties he had settled down as a brewer and distiller.-Marriages:...
of Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
whose son John Wright married Louisa Felicite Maria Liardet b1799 d 1875, and his sister Philippa (aka Philadelphia Wright) b 1735 m Charles Evelyn descendent of John Evelyn, diarist.
She also has several renowned relatives such as Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II.
Sources
- Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) "Ward Double's"
- Husband; Mayor Whitford Brown's obituary; The Evening Post (Wellington,New Zealand, April 14, 1986).
- Perpetue Catherine de Paul de Lamanon d'Albe, Wilbraham Frederick Evelyn Liardet; Romantic Visionary of the Beach, 1839–62; The "La Trobe" Journal" http://calisto.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-54/t1-g-t1.html
- Final resting place:, from the Porirua City Council: http://www.pcc.govt.nz/cemetery/Frameset_search.asp
- New Zealand Society of Genealogists; N.Z. First Families; Surnames: Wright, Liardet, Ward, Prideaux, Evelyn, de Lamanon d'Albe
- 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary: Article In The Wellington Paper. Mayoral Couple Celebrate - By Tim Donoghue
- The Wanganui Registar's Office.
- Peter the Great stays at Diarist; Sir John Evelyns' Sayes Court: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.158
- The Plantagenet Rolls; "Of The Blood Royal" Descendants of: Prideaux, Sir Peter.
- Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide & Handbook, Liardet, Sydney Evelyn RN 1825–1857
- Tripartite Indenture dated 12 October 1770, Charles Evelyn of Totnes and Philippa Wright his wife
- The Blood Royal of Britain: Being a complete Roll of the Living Descendants of Edward Plantagenet
- Debrett's Baronetage of England: Containing Their Descent and Present State "Evelyn of Wooton" ... By John Debrett
- Dictionary of National BiographyDictionary of National BiographyThe Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
, By Leslie Stephen,Sidney Lee; Published 1893 by Smith, Elder - The Gentleman's Magazine,1867 - Page 401
- ."The name in Italian is Alba; in Spanish; it is Alva, and Albe in French, as it now stands" Entire reference to Frances Ward's Lineage Mother,Father etc. From: A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry, page 309