Author: Newnham, Francis
Biography:
NEWNHAM, Francis (1779-1870: ancestry.co.uk)
According to his Census responses of 1851 and 1861, he was born in Sandersted, Surrey. However, his baptism at St. Andrew, Holborn, 23 Sept. 1779, records that he was born on 1 Sept. 1779 with his parents resident at Hatton Street, Holborn, and this matches his Oxford matriculation details. He would therefore seem to be one of at least twelve children of Thomas Newnham (1735-1817), mercer, and his wife Mary Banister Johnson (1747-1838), who had married in Durham in 1772. They later moved to Bromley, Kent, where they are both buried in the family vault. It is not known where he went to school but he matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford in 1798 before removing to Worcester College, where he graduated BCL in 1805. He initially entered the church and was appointed Curate at East Horsley in 1811. He seems not to have practised as a clerk for very long, turning down a living in 1831 (possibly because he would have had to give up an annuity of £200 from his father's estate if he had accepted it) and describing himself as “clergy with no cure of souls” in the 1851 and 1861 Censuses and as "mercer-citizen of London" on a title-page of 1829. He appears to have occupied part of his time in controversy on behalf of himself or others, witness other pamphlet publications and the four "Supplements" to Pleasures of Anarchy noted in the record for the 1829 edition. For most of his life he lived alone at 32 Alfred Street, Bedford Square, London, where he died on 12 Mar. 1870, leaving an estate of around £600. (ancestry.co.uk 1 Jan. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 1 Jan. 2022; CCEd 1 Jan. 2022; Oxford Journal 1 June 1805; Morning Advertiser 22 Mar. 1870) AA
Other Names:
- F. Newnham