On Tuesday 2nd of July, we had a ride over to the Vintage Trading Post at Tytherleigh in Devon, we had a good wander around and I saw this lady right up on top of a cupboard covered in dust and took an instant liking to her. But in my wisdom, I thought that as she was such a large portrait I would take a photo of her and leave her and look for smaller normal-sized old photos of which I found a nice little group and bought them instead. 

What a very silly thing to do! I felt so guilty leaving her there. That evening after I’d probably mentioned her several times my husband said “We’ll go back and get her tomorrow then” I didn’t protest.

So on Wednesday 3rd July, we went back and I found her just where I’d left her and brought her home. 

I immediately started researching and found her very easily because of the wonderful information written on the front of the portrait. This lady’s name would have been nothing without the date of her 70th birthday, as that gives her birth to be 19 February 1773. So I googled her name and the date.

My lady was born Frances Mary Mosley on 19 February 1773 in Manchester and baptised at St Michael’s, Macclesfield, Cheshire to parents John Parker Mosley, 1st Baronet of Ancoats and Elizabeth (Bayley), Baroness. Frances had seven siblings.

I was really interested in her family from my initial research and also her family name Mosley, it has an interesting history.

I added her husband after I found their marriage, George Smith, 1765-1836, he was an MP and director of the the East India Company. More on his political career here: History of Parliament Online George also has a memorial in All Saints Church, Sanderstead. The Smith family have many members who were laid to rest in the family vault there.

I was quite surprised at how many children they had, they seemed to be never-ending, fifteen in total! 

1. GEORGE ROBERT SMITH was born on 2 May 1793 in Hampstead, London. He died on 23 Feb 1869 in London, England. He married Jane Maberly, daughter of John Maberly, on 4 May 1818 in London, England. She was born in 1800. She died in 1879.
Notes for George Robert Smith:
George Robert Smith (2 May 1793 – 22 February 1869) was an English banker and Whig politician. His great-grandfather was Thomas Smith, founder of Smith’s Bank, his father George Smith (1765-1836) was a director of the East India Company.

2. OSWALD SMITH was born on 07 Jul 1794. He died on 18 Jun 1863. He married HENRIETTA MILDRED HODGSON. She was born on 06 Jan 1805. She died on 19 Nov 1891.
3. JOHN HENRY SMITH was born on 30 Oct 1795 in Hampstead, Camden, London, England. He died on 15 Oct 1887 in Purley, Croydon, Surrey, England.
4. THOMAS CHARLES SMITH was born on 19 Mar 1797 in Hampstead, London, England. He died on 28 Mar 1876 in London.
5. FRANCES MARY SMITH was born on 27 Nov 1798 in London, England. She died on 11 Aug 1867 in Poulton-le-Fylde, Wyre Borough, Lancashire, England. She married ROBERT MOSLEY MASTER. An ARCHDEACON.
6. GEORGINA ELIZABETH SMITH was born on 07 Jun 1801 in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. She died on 17 Dec 1828 in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. She married EDWARD SEROCOLD. REV.
7. EDWARD PEPLOE SMITH was born on 01 Feb 1803. He died on 06 Apr 1847. He married (1) HARRIETT CHESTER. He married (2) HENRIETTA BAILEY.
8. ARTHUR SYDNEY SMITH was born on 22 Jun 1804. He died on 01 Jul 1831 in Croydon, Surrey, England.
9. EMILY SMITH was born on 11 May 1806 in Greater London, England. She died on 27 Aug 1877 in Bournemouth, Dorset, England.
   She married CHARLES MAYNE. REV.
10. CATHERINE SMITH was born in 1807 in Woodford, Redbridge, Surrey. She died on 31 Aug 1876 in Christchurch, Dorset. She married EDWARD WIGRAM.
11. EDMUND SMITH was born on 16 May 1809 in Greater London, England. He died on 16 Aug 1873 in North Ferriby, Yorkshire. He married HESTER LUSHINGTON, 1816-1888.
12. MOSLEY SMITH was born on 31 Oct 1810 in Greater London, England. He died on 29 May 1869 in Paddington, City of Westminster, Greater London, England.
13. SOPHIA SARAH SMITH was born on 28 Aug 1812 in Marylebone, London. She died on 02 Apr 1883 in Bickley, Bromley, London. She married WILLIAM
    WIGRAM. REV.
14. ALFRED SMITH was born on 05 Jan 1815 in Marylebone, City of Westminster,
    Greater London, England. He died on 16 Oct 1886. He married MARY WIGRAM, 1821-1869.
15. AUGUSTA MARY SMITH was born in 1816. She died in 1892. She married LEWIS DEEDES. REV.

George Smith bought the Selsdon estate and he built Selsdon House, now known as the Selsdon Park Hotel, it was sold in February 2024. Latest news: “Real estate investment company Aprirose has acquired Selsdon Park Hotel in Surrey from De Vere Hotels for an undisclosed price. The 205-acre parkland estate includes a 150-room hotel, 26 meeting and conference rooms, a range of dining amenities, a leisure centre, tennis courts, a running trail, and an 18-hole golf course“.

George Smith‘s family were slave owners, and their eldest son George Robert Smith placed a claim to be compensated for the freedom of 461 slaves, worth £17,945 10s 3d, the largest claim made in Croydon. There’s an excellent article here about Croydon’s past history of slave ownership: Croydons Biggest Slave Owner from ‘Inside Croydon’.

This article above from Inside Croydon also brought to light something else I had also found out while researching Frances and her husband George Smith. It was that Frances and George were Queen Elizabeth II’s 3 X Great Grandparents!

Here’s a small part of the Mosley family’s connection to our royal family from my tree:

John Parker Mosley married Elizabeth Bayley, and their daughter Frances Mary Mosley married George Smith.

Their son Oswald Smith married Henrietta Mildred Hodgson.

Their daughter Frances Dora Smith married Claude Bowes-Lyon the 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kingholme.

Their son Claude George Bowes-Lyon the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kingholme married Nina Cecilie Cavendish Bentick.

Their youngest daughter, who we knew as the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon married Albert Frederick Arthur George Windsor on 26 April 1923, Albert had previously changed his name legally in 1917 from Albert Frederick Arthur George Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They became King George VI and Queen Consort in 1936. They had two daughters, one of which became Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 on the death of her father.

Once I knew more information about Frances I did a more general search on Google and I discovered that the Library of Australia had a print of this mezzotint portrait of Frances, but more interestingly than that, I found it mentioned on the National Trust Collections website, they have this portrait in their collection at Calke Abbey. It’s an exact description of my portrait.

This is what they have written about it: Category Art / Prints
Date 19 Feb 1843
Materials Bird’s eye maple, Giltwood, Paper
Measurements 640 x 515 mm
Collection Calke Abbey, Derbyshire
NT 292527
Print, mezzotint, Frances Mary Smith, aged 70. February 19th 1843 (after Frederick Richard Say) by George Raphael Ward (London 1797 – London 1879). The portrait of a lady is shown at three-quarter length, seated in a chair. She wears a white bonnet with long dangling side pieces. Her dress has very full sleeves, a tight waist and wide shoulders. Inscribed underneath ‘Frances Mary Smith/aged 70/Feby. 19th 1843’. Canted birds eye maple frame with a gilt inner edge.

This description above sounds just like the description of what I have, but without the frame.

It says Collection at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire. NT 292527. Frederick Richard Say (1805-1860), Artist. George Raphael Ward (London 1799-Sussex 1878), Engraver.

As you can see, my portrait was once in a frame. Has the portrait been stolen from the National Trust or was it sold by the National Trust and not removed from their website?

George Raphael Ward. painter/draughtsman; printmaker; publisher/printer. Portrait painter, miniaturist, printmaker; son of James Ward RA and father of Henrietta Mary Ada Ward.  7 Newman Street, Oxford Street, London (ODNB)
30 or 31 Fitzroy Square, London (1836-46; No.31 in 1844)
38 Fitzroy Square (in 1870) Info from British Museum Website.

So I telephoned the National Trust and explained all about my portrait of Frances to the young lady, she was really helpful and gave me the email address to contact for the National Trust Collections. So I sent off an email and received an initial reply that they would investigate their database to see what information they had. Then I received another email from the Head of Collections Management and Information for the National Trust to say that the Calke Abbey team are now investigating this and they will be in touch with me to update me on their findings. So I’m really looking forward to hearing what they find!

I think this portrait of Frances Mary Mosley has been on an interesting journey so far, don’t you? So what of its future! I will update you all when I know more.

I also have a bit more to tell you about the descendants of Frances Mary Mosley in part 2.