Topping

mes Topping & Smith at tea 22.9.1806 / 6.10.1806 again /  15.10.1806 tea Topping's with miss Fearon / 23.10.1806 mrs Topping at tea / 24.10.1806 Toppings at tea / 12.11.1806 mrs Topping au soir / 18.11.1806 mrs Topping calls (£13) / 20.11.1806 mrs Topping at theatre / 21.11.1806 mes Topping & Smith sup / 3.12.1806 sup at Topping's / 12.12.1806 E Topping, Smith & Ford sup / 24.12.1806 call on Topping; adv Young / 26.12.1806 G(race) M(ary) C(ooper) dines; adv S Topping / 8.1.1807 Toppgs tea & supper / 29.1.1807 S Topping at tea / 1.2.1807 Topping & Smith sup / 18.2.1807 sup at Topping's / 19.2.1807 theatre with Topping / 22.2.1807 Lofft dines; adv Topping & Smith / 25.2.1807 sup at Topping's / 9.3.1807 E Topping sups / 20.3.1807 mrs Cecil Smith at tea / 26.3.1807 call on Toppings / 31.3.1807 sup at Topping's / 8.4.1807 Toppings au soir / 13.4.1807 again / 27.4.1807 T(homas) T(urner), G(race) M(ary) C(ooper) & Clara Smith dine; adv M Dawe, Toppings & E Hill / 6.5.1807 call on Topping / 30.5.1807 Toppings call / 10.6.1807 call on Toppings / 17.6.1807 mrs Topping calls / 26.6.1807 W Stuart calls; adv Toppings / 5.7.1807 T(homas) T(urner) dines; adv Toppings / 19.7.1807 Toppings call / 16.8.1807 again / 13.9.1807 call on Toppings / 27.9.1807 Toppings call / 8.10.1807 call on Topping / 16.11.1807 mrs Topping calls / 21.11.1807 call on Topping / 25.11.1807 call on Toppings / 10.12.1807 dine at Topping's / 23.12.1807 call on Toppings / 24.12.1807 Toppings dine / 4.1.1808 mrs Topping dines / 6.1.1808 mrs Topping calls / 11.1.1808 E Topping dines / 19.1.1808 E Topping, Clennel & F Walsh dine; sup at Topping's with F Walsh / 7.2.1808 call on Toppings / 21.2.1808 Toppings call / 1.3.1808 write to mrs C Smith / 2.3.1808 meet mrs Cl Smith / 18.3.1808 E Topping calls / 14.4.1808 again / 1.6.1808 call on mrs Topping / 3.6.1808 mrs Topping & mrs C Smith sup / 21.6.1808 mrs Topping calls / 17.7.1808 sup at Topping's with Dods, Edlam / 15.8.1808 sup at mrs Topping's with mrs Gordon / 9.10.1808 mes Topping & Smith at tea / 6.12.1808 mrs Cecil Smith calls / 8.12.1808 adv mrs C Smith au soir / 13.12.1808 sup at Topping's / 8.1.1809 again / 23.1.1809 Wolcot, White, Mulready, E Topping, E Smith dine; stay all night, except White / 31.1.1809 mrs Topping calls / 8.2.1809 sup at mrs Toppimg's / 21.3.1809 sup at Topping's with miss Zielski / 22.3.1809 mrs Topping dines / 29.3.1809 mrs Topping & miss Ford call / 19.4.1809 Topping & Smith sup / 19.5.1809 call on Toppings / 11.8.1809 mrs Topping calls / 13.9.1809 Topping calls / 27.9.1809 mrs Topping au soir / 15.2.1810 mrs Topping dines / 28.2.1810 call on mrs Topping / 19.3.1810 mrs Cecil Smth at tea / 28.3.1801 mrs Topping adv at dinner / 10.5.1810 mrs Topping calls / 26.6.1810 mrs Topping dines / 1.8.1810 mrs Topping calls / 28.8.1810 again / 19.9.1810 again / 21.9.1810 mrs Topping dines / 4.10.1810 sup at mrs Topping's / 26.10.1810 E Topping & ECSmith dine / 28.10.1810 write to E Topping / 9.2.1811 meet mrs C Smith / 3.3.1811 sup at mrs Topping's with Weele & Cary & miss Ford / 5.3.1811 mrs Topping dines / 13.4.1811 E Topping calls / 30.4.1811 meet mrs Cecil Smith; mrs Topping calls / 2.7.1811 mrs Cecil Smith dines / 23.7.1811 E Topping at tea / 29.7.1811 again / 14.8.1811 sup at Topping's / 21.8.1811 E Topping calls / 23.8.1811 E Topping at tea / 13.2.1812 E Topping calls / 10.3.1812 again / 18.3.1812 again / 23.3.1812 Topping at Pimlico / 6.4.1812 E Topping calls / 17.4.1812 mrs Topping calls / 5.5.1812 E Topping calls / 6.5.1812 E Topping at tea / 26.5.1812 E Topping calls / 18.6.1812 mrs C Smith calls / 19.6.1812 again / 8.7.1812 mrs Topping dines / 17.7.1812 E Topping calls / 30.7.1812 mrs & miss Topping call / 14.8.1812 E Topping calls / 26.8.1812 call on Toppings / 3.9.1812 sup at Topping's / 29.9.1812 sup at Topping's with W Gordon / 30.9.1812 E Topping dines / 2.10.1812 E Topping calls / 29.10.1812 again / 23.11.1812 again / 7.12.1812 sup at E Topping's with Weale & miss Ford / 24.12.1812 E Topping calls / 12.1.1813 Toppings 3 & W Gordon dine / 9.3.1813 E Topping calls / 8.5.1813 again / 12.7.1813 mrs Topping dines / 21.7.1813 sup at Topping's with Weale / 31.10.1813 mrs C Smh / 16.2.1814 mrs Topping calls / 19.4.1814 mrs & S Topping call / 27.5.1813 mrs T dines / 27.7.1813 Mrs Topping at tea / 4.8.1813 Toppings dine / 9.8.1813 adv E Topping at dinner / 10.8.1813 write to ET / 14.12.1814 call on mrs C Smith / 17.5.1815 ECSmith dines / 6.11.1815 mrs C Smith calls / 23.3.1816 mrs C Smith dines / 1.4.1817 again

The first entry above is wrongly transcribed in the GD website as mrs rather than mes, and the entries of 6.10.1806 and 21.11.1806 are wrongly coded to Charlotte Mary Smith.  Cecil Smith 1772 - 1813 was the brother of Robert Smith DNB 1770-1845 and Sydney Smith DNB 1771-1845 and served in the Madras Civil Service from 1789. He married Eliza Topping 10.5.1793 at Fort St George, Madras. He was Accountant-General up to 1811. He arrived in England 1810 from St Helena and set out in 1811 for Portsmouth (newspapers). He wrote his will on board the Lord Castlereagh East Indiaman 25.5.1811 which mentioned his father and three brothers by name, his only son Cecil, and also his "beloved sister, who has and will continue to be mother to my dear boy" - and no wife. From the age on admission to Oxford (18 in 1817) of his son Cecil Robert Smith and in the Gents Mag 1861/1 at his death it seems he was born in 1798. Cecil Smith sr, merchant died at the Cape (Caledonian Mercury 7.5.1814). The son was probably then at Eton. The beloved sister may have been Harriet born 1769, no daughter was mentioned in the will dated 13.10.1822 of her father Robert, and she may have been the Harriet Smith of Kentish Town bur St Pancras 10.8.1814 age 43. The only evidence I have of the survival of Mrs Cecil Smith are the entries in Godwin's diary, but the coincidence of name in the Madras marriage, Cecil being as rare a man's first name as Smith is a common surname, is convincing, and surely she was the Smith of mes Topping & Smith. At a guess Mrs Smith had an affair or otherwise displeased her husband who removed his son from her care, or she removed herself, and she probably kept some income from a marriage settlement. It seems likely this separation had already happened by the time Godwn met Topping & Smith in 1806. So who were the Toppings? The will of Michael Topping of Madras proved 8.2.1799 PCC London and dated 15.6.1789 left all to Mrs Elizabeth Picart late of Montreul France his dear and excellent friend, and her daughters Elizabeth & Sarah (Sally) Picart. If this was her she may have later married Michael Topping (her first husband may have died) or more likely, like Mary Jane Godwin with the name Clairmont, she may have assumed the surname to make her daughters appear legitimate. It fits the initials E and S (though so does another Topping family then in London, see below). When Mary Jane went to visit her sister in St Etienne she stayed in Paris at Me. Topping's, Rue de Madame, St Germain de Pres, or that was the address on Godwin's letter to her of 14.5.1817 (Bodleian Abinger c42 f116). The last Topping in the diary was in August 1814, when war was thought to be over and moving to France would have become easier. The most likely interpretation of the above entries, as I see it, is that there was then no Mr Topping, but Topping, mrs Topping and E Topping all meant the mother (though E Topping could have been the daughter), S Topping and miss Topping one or each of the daughters, and Toppings meant mother and two daughters. Compare for example 3.3.1811, 7.12.1812 and 21.7.1813 where the same guests appeared at mrs Topping's, E Topping's and Topping's. E Smith was probably the estranged wife Eliza (nee Topping) as also EC Smith (meaning Eliza Cecil?) though there may have been a child who stayed with (her?) mother and whom Cecil Smith may not have believed was his own. An Elizabeth Toping was buried 10,7,1817 at Calcutta aged 30, so perhaps one of the daughters tried following in her mother's footsteps. Another Topping family in London at that time was Elizabeth Gender (nee Delasalle) will PCC 1818 who married the printer Amos Topping will PCC 1817 and baptised children Elizabeth Gender 1788 at Old St, Sarah 1790, Hannah 1801, Amos 1803, Margaret 1807 all at Blackfriars, and Charlotte Deborah 1808 at St Sepulchre. But no mention of a Paris connection in their wills.