Sir Francis Child 1642 - 1713
Sir Francis Child , 8th of eleven children. Knt. (at Whitehall 29 Oct. 1689). Whig, then Tory. Apprenticed to a London (Fleet st) goldsmith at the aged of 14. He bought Osterley Park in 1711, but lived mostly at east End, Fulham. He had a family of 12 sons and 3 daughters. He was the first of his family in business at the sign of the Marygold in Fleet st., having married the daughter of the former proprietor, whose widow married Child's partner. He was the first banker to give up the business of a goldsmith. Lord Mayor of London 1698-9. Foster " Child Francis, of St. Clement Danes, citizen, goldsmith, bachelor, about 28, and Mrs. Elizabeth Wheeler, of same, spinster, about 19, consent of mother, Mrs. Martha Blanchard, alias Wheeler - in new parish church or chapel of Westminster. 2 Oct 1671." Sir Francis Child, Lord Mayor, and a founder of the Bank of England, acquired Osterley House (1713), and was ancestor of the Earls of Jersey and Westmoreland. Alderman (1689), Sheriff of London in the 1680s., Lord Mayor 1698/9. MP for Devizes in several Parliaments and one of thr four MPs for the City in the 1st Parliament called by Qu. Anne in 1702. President of Christ's Hospital, and a director of Greenwich hospital. "Hardy, William John, ed., Calender of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of William and Mary, 13th Feb. 1689-April 1690, Preserved in the Public Record Office, Volume 1, (Vaduz: Kraus Reprint Ltd., 1969) First Published London: HMSO, 1895. pp. 501-502." Commissioners of the Lieutenancy for the City of London, 1690 9 March 1690 Commissions appointing the following persons lieutenants of the City of London: Francis Child He had a 1st cousin called John Rogers, who was his partner in the business he partnered with and then inherited from Robert Blanchard, his wife's stepfather. ca 1700 his main residence was at Holly Bush House in Parson's green, Fulham. He inherited this from his mother in law, Martha or Margaret Blanchard in 1686. In 1702, he purchased 42 Lincoln's Inn Fields. He had 3 surviving sons. The origins of Child & Co can be traced back to the precursors of goldsmithing businesses operated by William Wheeler and Robert Blanchard in seventeenth century London. The work of a goldsmith at that time involved the making and repairing of items in gold and silver, and also the buying and selling of such items. Wheeler came from a goldsmithing family, and after his death in 1660, his widow married another man of the same trade, named Robert Blanchard. The two businesses were merged, trading from premises under the archway of Temple Bar, the large gateway marking the western limit of the City of London. These were times of great upheaval in London. Despite the hardships caused by the Great Plague of 1664-5 and the Great Fire in 1666, the firm thrived. In around 1664, Blanchard took Francis Child into partnership in the business. It was at this time that the firm adopted the sign of the Marygold as its trade sign a device of great significance for a business in the days of widespread illiteracy. The Marygold has re- mained the bank's symbol ever since .... -------------------- CHILD, Francis Co Co Farringdon Without (St Dunstanin-the-West), 1682, 1689 Ald Farringdon Without, 22 Oct 1689-1703 (1) 'The Marygold', within Temple Bar, 16641713, St Dunstan-in-the-West, Osterly Park, Middx, Fulham, Middx, 1711 (2) GOLD, appr, 1656, to Robert Blanchard and William Hall, fr, 1664/5, L, 1671, Assis, 1688, PW, 1691 (3) b 1642-3, at Heddington, Wilts, d 4, bur 9 Oct 1713, at All Saints, Fulham (4) Will PCC 269 Leeds pr, 2 Dec 1713 f Robert Child of Heddington, Wilts, clothier, mar 1671, Elizabeth, da of William Wheeler, goldsmith (5) Goldsmith and banker, partner of Robert Blanchard, 1670/1 (whose fortune he inherited), of William Wheeler (who married Blanchard's wid), and of John Rogers, 1681 (6) Land Middx (7) Kt, 29 Oct 1689 MP Devizes, 1698-1702, 1705-8, 1710-13, London, 1702-5 (8) Politics "indifferent", 1682, but displaced by a Tory in Common Council, 1683 (9) Da, ? Elizabeth, mar Tyringham Backwell, grandson of Edward BACKWELL Son Sir John Child, MP Devizes, 1702-Mar 1703 (d), son Sir Robert Child, MP Helston, 1710-13, Devizes, 1713-15 (10) (1) Beaven, I, p 164 (2) Heal, London Goldsmiths, p 124, Walcott, MPs Tempus Anne, will (3) Boyd 13891, 47096, GOLD, Appr Reg, II, f 86, Index of Appr, Beaven, II, p 117 (4) Boyd 13891, will, Lysons, Environs, II, p 383 (5) GOLD, Appr Reg, II, f 86, Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine, LIV, p 296, Boyd 13891 (6) SP/29/418/199, Heal, London Goldsmiths, p 124, Walcott, MPs Tempus Anne (7) Will (8) Beaven, II, p 117, Walcott, MPs Tempus Anne (9) SP/29/418/199, 435/101 (10) Boyd 15726, will, Walcott, MPs Tempus Anne
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| Born: 1642 | Baptised: Heddington, Wilts., , England 4th Dec 1642
| | Died: Fulham, London, , , England 4th Oct 1713 | Buried: All Saints, Fulham, London, , , England 9th Oct 1713
| | Family: Child |
Sources
- Family Archivists: see
Child
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Timeline
| ??? | Made a will (will) | | 1642 | Born (birth) | | 4th Dec 1642 | Baptised (baptism) Heddington, Wilts., England | | 2nd Oct 1671 | MARL/ROLE FIANCE | | 21st Oct 1671 | Married Elizabeth Wheeler
(Child ) 1652 - 1719 (marriage) London, England | | c. 1713 | Made a will (will) | | 4th Oct 1713 | Died (death) London, England | | 9th Oct 1713 | Buried (burial) London, England |
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