Elizabeth Frances Spencer (née Newton)

Awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on Fryes in Antigua.

1. Widow of Henry Leigh Spencer. Marriage of Elizabeth Frances Newton and Henry Leigh Spencer St Georges Hanover Square 21/05/1812. Will of Henry Leigh Spencer of Banstead Surrey proved 26/11/1829. Burial of Henry Leigh Spencer of Banstead Park aged 57 at Banstead 04/09/1829.

2. Elizabeth Frances Spencer died at Banstead Park 30/04/1848 aged 74. She was the sister of William Morris Newton Frye (d. 1820), from whom she inherited Banstead Park and with whom she had interests in the Frye's estate in Antigua. William Morris Newton had taken the name of Frye in 1801 on succeeding his uncle Rowland Frye.

3. Sarah Mary Spencer, 'youngest daughter and coheiress' of Henry Leigh Spencer [and Elizabeth Frances Spencer], married Sir Frederick Thomas Fowke 2nd bart.

4. According to H.W. Pointer, Coats of Arms in Surrey Churches (fully sourced but not verified) “H[enry]N[ewton] Spencer was the only son of the late Henry Leigh Spencer, late Captain in the Royal Fusiliers, by Elizabeth Frances, who died after her husband and became lady of the manor, and who had the monument erected [to her son Henry Newton who died in 1836 aged 23]. It seems probable that H.N. Spencer’s father Henry was the same individual as the Henry who was son of Wolley Leigh Spencer (d. 1797), but this has not yet been proved... If he was the same, we can trace back to the Leighs of Addington, Surrey, and also, by way of Sir Thos. Leigh and Hannah Rolfe, back to Pocahontas (d. 1617), daughter of the North American Indian chief Powhatan.”

T71/877 Antigua no. 69.

1. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database on-line] - Antigua reconciles the total number of enslaved people held by Elizabeth Frances Spencer to that of Henry Leigh Spencer in the previous return; Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]; PROB 11/1763; Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online].

2. Ancestry.com, Surrey, England, Extracted Parish Records [database online]. The site, drawing on the Victoria County History, identifies her erroneously as William Morris Frye's daughter (this is also repeated or originates in Vere Langford Oliver, History of Antigua Vol. I p. 278 'Pedigree of Frye': however, a codicil to the will of Henry Newton Frye refers to his sister Elizabeth Frances Newton as lately intermarried with Henry Leigh Spencer). The site also records the memorial to Henry Leigh Spencer as Captain in the Royal Fusiliers and to the couple's only son Henry Newton Spencer who died in 1836 aged 23; 'Manor of Banstead: Letters to Richard Lambert, Solicitor, concerning administration of the Manor 1832-1849', http://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHCOL_6814 [accessed 21/05/2012]; Victoria History of the County of Surrey Vol. III p. 255.

3. Ancestry.com. The county families of the United Kingdom, or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland [database on-line].

4. H.W. Pointer, Coats of Arms in Surrey Churches Part II pp. 107-108 available at http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_50/surreyac050_105-132_pointer.pdf [accessed 01/03/2013].

We are grateful to Brian Bouchard for his assistance in compiling this entry.