Reveley, Maria

Submitted by edpope on

21.9.1793 . see my article in blog entries "William Godwin, the Reveleys and the Jenningses"

Cecilia Reveley dau. of Willey & Maria born 24.2.1790 bapt 21.5.1790 (St Marylebone - I forgot to note the parish but I think that's right, can check). Then there was Sophia Revely, child, buried 21.5.1791 St Marylebone. I think this must have been her, the surname wasn't common and the first names sound similar. While we're on this, I also have Maria Knipe James dau. of John & Jane born 8th March last bapt. 8.10.1770 St Mary Rotherhithe. This corresponds to Godwin's note that she was born March 1770 - some sources say, in Constantinople, which could be so with 7 months to baptism. John James bachelor of this parish was married at St Botolph without Aldersgate 16.7.1760 to Jane Knipe spinster of this parish. William Mitchell James son of John & Jane of Church Row was bapt. 5.11.1767 at St Botolph Aldgate. John James' will was proved in PCC 1829, dated 30.12.1828 at Messina, Sicily. No mention of any wife or children but he left his godson John James Matthey portraits of Abdulachmet and the vizier Jusuf Aga and gave his own date of birth as 11.3.1734 old style, parish of Christchurch, Middlesex. Godwin noted a Miss James at Reveley's on 22.10.1793.

Amendments to Oxford DNB

MARIA GISBORNE 1770-1836

CURRENT TEXT "was probably born in England, the daughter of an English merchant whose surname was James and who abandoned his wife and infant daughter to a penurious existence in England and went to Constantinople."
SUGGESTED CHANGE "was born on 8 March 1770 and baptised Maria Knipe James at St Mary, Rotherhithe, Surrey on 8 October 1770, daughter of John James (1734-1829), an English merchant, and his wife Jane (nee Knipe). Her father is said to have gone to Constantinople, abandoning his wife and infant daughter to a penurious existence in England."
NOTES William Godwin's note, in Bodleian Abinger c16 f26v, that she was born March 1770 agrees with the baptism record. It leaves open the possibility that she was born in Constantinople, as some sources state. John James' will PCC 1829 Messina gave his date of birth as 11.3.1734 old style at Christchurch Middlesex, he married Jane Knipe at St Botolph without Aldersgate 16.7.1760.