Fordham

Submitted by edpope on

HCR diary   1.8.1813 HCR said Maria Fordham "delightful"

                      3.8.1813 HCR said Harriet Fordham "charming" &c

                   25.8.1823 "called on Mrs Fordham of Hodsea"

                   30.5.1823 at "Mrs Fordham's lodgings. Mrs J P Wedd was arrived"

                     2.6.1823 "called on Mrs J Fordham"

                   23.6.1823 "left with Sophia Fordham a letter for Mrs Thornton"

                   26.4.1824 Miss Fordham died of typhus at Bury St Edmunds

                   24.5.1824 "took tea at home - Francis & Ely Fordham with me"

                   25.5.1825 party at Crabb Robinson's chambers Masqueriers, Collier, Miss Lanes, Miss Nash, Miss Fordham "no one entirely unconnected with the others"

                   27.5.1825 "accompanied Esther Nash and Harriet Fordham to the Exhibition in Pall Mall of pictures by living artists"

                   20.7.1825 at Royston called "at King Fordham's"

                 28.12.1825 "rode with Mr Wedd to pay a morning visit to Mrs Ed Fordham late Miss Gurney, and I dined with King Fordham, Elias, Ch and Sophia F". Robinson discussed their democratic leanings, saying the Fordhams all read Cobbett industriously, though now (due to failure of banks they were involved in?) they found themselves the butt of his criticisms

                   15.7.1826 at Bury "dined with Brother and Miss Fordham"

                   28.7.1826 Elias Fordham "has now an employ in the North - a poor one"

                 26.12.1826 at Royston "called on K Fordham. Ely F I am glad to find now has regular employment"

                 28.12.1826 at Mr Edward Fordham's (Gurney's son-in-law)

                     3.6.1827 called on Miss Nash and Mrs Fordham in Norfolk Street

                   22.4.1828 at Mrs Thornton's "Elias & Sophia Fordham were there"

                     9.7.1828 Elias FordhaM "i gave him a letter to Mr Dunstan who is governor of a gas Company to which Elias wants to be engineer"

                   19.7.1828 "Mr & Mrs Elias Fordham came to Bury"

                   8.12.1828 "call from E P Fordham - a dreadful bore - the very sight of him makes me uncomfortable - he talks of nothing but his mechanical schemes - the very terms are unintelligible to me!!!"

                 24.12.1828 all the Fordhams Wedds & Nashes united at the Miss Nash's

Crabb Robinson's brother Thomas, tanner of Bury St Edmunds, married Mary Clapton at Sandon, Herts on 25.10.1796, witnesses George & Elias Fordham (and see Oracle 3.11.1796). The Miss Fordhams were daughters of Elias Fordham of Sandon, Herts and his wife Ann (nee Clapton) who had married him at Bassingbourne, Cambs on 4.1.1785. For their eldest daughter Ann, see 26.4.1824 above and Bury & Norwich Post 28.4.1824 eldest daughter of Elias Fordham died at the house of her uncle Thomas Robinson at Bury. Edith Morley (Life & Times of HCR p95) mistakenly said Thomas Robinson married a Miss Fordham in 1797. The still living children of Elias Fordham and his wife Ann, daughter of Daniel Clapton, registered at Dr Williams' on 28.4.1829, were Elias Pym born 18.5.1788, Charles born 2.9.1791, Maria born 10.3.1795, Catherine born 12.5.1797, Harriet born 1.7.1798, Sophia born 8.4.1800.  Elias Fordham's will PCC 1839 dated 28.9.1835 also mentioned all these children, though Maria had married Charles La Serre at Gibson, Indiana, USA on 5.10.1821and died at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1829. He also mentioned his friends Thomas Robinson of Bury and his son Thomas Henry Robinson, and his nephew John George Fordham of Odsea. John George Fordham (son of Elias' brother George will PCC 1841 of Odsea)  had married Sarah Nash (Hester Nash's sister)  on 13.5.1802 at Guilden Morden, Cambs (25.8.1823 & 2.6.1823 above). Another Nash sister, Mary, married Joseph Pattison Wedd on 3.12.1812 at Royston, so she was visiting her sister on 30.5.1823 above. John Edward Fordham  of Melbourne Bury, Cambs (son of Elias' oldest brother John will PCC 1830 of Royston) married 2.2.1825 Harriet daughter of John Gurney (DNB 1768-1845) see 28.12.1825 and 28.12.1826 above. Harriet daughter of Elias Fordham married at Sandon on 4.2.1834 Robert Mortimer Montgomery (born about 1810) son of Robert Montgomery solicitor of Belfast (who died Coleraine 28.10.1838). At the time of his marriage to Harriet, Robert Montgomery was Unitarian minister at Bury St Edmunds, and he voted in a Cambridgeshire election in 1835, then from 1836 to 1852 he was Unitarian minister at Mary Street Chapel, Taunton, and in 1846 voted there from an address at Bishop's Hull. But in the 1841 census living in one household at High St, Royston, were Edward Fordham aged 90 (Edward King Fordham will PCC 1848, another older brother of Elias, called King Fordham by Robinson, so probably the K Fordham of 26.12.1826 above), Sophia Fordham aged 40 and Harriet Montgomery aged 40. In 1852 Montgomery was admitted to the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in 1855. I couldn't find Robert Montgomery in the 1841 census, and neither him nor his wife in the censuses of 1851, 1861 or 1871, but in the 1881 census they were living together at 3 Porchester Place, London. She died in 1887 and he died in 1888. As for the Francis & Ely Fordham who took tea with Robinson in 1824, Ely could have been Elias died 1839 or his son Elias Pym 1788-1850 will PCC 1851 civil engineer, and Francis may have been George Francis 1817-1844, eldest son of George of Odsea will PCC 1841, who would have been only 7, or less likely Francis 1821-1841, second son of Edward Fordham of Odsea, who would have only been 3. Mrs Thornton (QV*) 23.6.1823 above was Elizabeth daughter of Robinson's brother Habbakuk who married Thomas Thornton 23.6.1823 at Bury. Elias Fordham's second son Charles also went to the USA and was living at Railway, Essex County, New Jersey in the 1850 census, gent owner of 500 acres age 59 born England with Martha Fordham age 38 born England and 3 children.