The Francis Family Roots

A Family story says that the Francis family originally came from Italy and our subsequent research makes us believe that this story is probably true.

In 1841 our Great Great Grandfather Edward Francis was living in Lilley Street, Saffron Hill with his mother Harriet and his brother George and his three sisters Cora, Caroline and Phoebe.

Saffron Hill c1860

Harriet was born in Bristol in about 1795 and we know from her death certificate (she died in 1860) that she had been the wife of a Charles Francis and that he had been a musician.

Charles Booth wrote about the Saffron Hill area in the 1800's when the Francis family were living there.

He stated that it was the Italian quarter of Clerkenwell, a place of dire poverty and crime and that the Italian population earned their living as Ice cream makers and vendors or Musicians.

They earned enough money in the summer to go back to Italy in the winter.

It is also told that the Italians were cleaner and smarter in dress than the English, and that the English fought with fists but the Italians fought with Knives.

Charles Dickens Fagin's den was situated in Saffron Hill.

Edward Francis met a young girl called Martha Lydia Dewson around the 1850's. She lived at 61 Cow Cross Street (See photo) with her Brother Benjamin and his wife Amelia. Edward was a Butcher and Drover. He probably worked at Smithfield Market which was around the corner from their home in Clerkenwell.

Smithfield Market 61 Cowcross Street

Martha and Benjamin's Father was Benjamin Dewson, their mother was Elizabeth Parker, his occupation was Smith and her brothers were either Smiths or Paper Stainers.

Benjaminin and Elizabeth were married at Christ Church GreyFriars on the 31st July 1814. It was destroyed in WW2 and the ruins are located opposite St Pauls Cathedral.

Her parents were John Parker and Sophie Ann Tash. They married on the 28th Jun 1791 at St Lukes Old Street Finsbury.

Benjamin Dewson's father, our G G G G Grandfather was Richard Dewson, he was born in Wolverhampton abt 1758, his wife was Lydia Lane. His occupation was a Toy Smith. He died in 1833 aged 75 years, in Clerkenwell.

Martha and Edward were living in Eagle Court in 1856 when our Great Grandfather George Edward Francis was born.

Eagle Court

George had a brother Benjamin who worked in this Bacon Factory which was located in Eagle Court.

We have found the Marriage of George Edward Francis and Martha Lydia Dewson. It was on the 10th July 1865 at St James Church Shoreditch, this was nine years after their first child was born.

Maybe they had already married as the vast majority of Italian imigrants were Roman Catholics and before the system of Civil registration was introduced in 1837 Catholic marriages were not recognised by the state.

For the marriage to be legal it had to be in a Church of England Church.

Their son George Edward Francis married a Sarah Harris at St Sepulchre Church Clerkenwell on the 25th December 1878. (We don't know much about Sarah except that her father was a Bootmaker and that he was born in Marylebone.) They had Five children three boys, Henry George, our great Grandfather James Edward and Benjamin, the girls were Sarah Lydia and Alice Amelia.

The boys eventually all became Butchers or Slaughtermen at the Metropolitan Cattle Market in Islington.

St Clements Bansbury..This is the church where James Edward Francis married Emily Maud Small, on the 9th December 1900. Emily was eighteen and James Twenty one. Several months later she had her first child a boy named James, three weeks later this little boy died.

Emily had eleven more children in the next 22 years. Three more boys and eight girls. My mother, Lydia Margaret was the second eldest.

Emily died on the 21st January 1924.

James Edward Francis died on the 6th Nov 1936 at St Marys Hospital Paddington he was 55 years old.
His death certificate states that he died of Oedema of the lungs & Myocardial Failure due to cancer of the liver with Metastis in the heart muscle accelerated by fractured ribs due to a fall whilst at work 20 Sept 1936.

The Inquest was held 10 November 1936