Henrietta Rosco

Henrietta Rosco of City of London, widow. Annuitant and mortgagee of enslaved people on Antigua and trustee of two awards on Anguilla, with strong Lincolnshire connections.

1. Henrietta, wife of Richard Rosco, late of St Christopher's, was one of the beneficiaries in the will of Rebecca Ferris of St John's, Antigua, widow, written and proved in 1798.

2. Mortgagee of Isaac and Caroline Newton 13/10/1842 (redeemed 07/04/1846) when she is described as widow of Bernard Street, Russell Square, Middlesex.

3. Will of Henrietta Rosco widow of Upper Harley Street proved 23/10/1851. This is the same woman whose burial is shown at All Souls Kensal Green aged 80 07/08/1849 age 80, which gives her address as formerly of Bernard Street Russell Square but late of 6 Albion Terrace, Wandsworth Road, Clapham, following a death registered as Henrietta Roscoe Q3 1849 Wandsworth. Her executor, Rev. Thomas Harrison (who was her nephew) had himself died, so that administration of Henrietta Rosco's will was granted to the Rev. Thomas Harrison's executors. The 1841 census has Henrietta Roscoe at 36 Bedford Square, aged 70 Ind.

4. In the will of Henrietta Rosco widow of Upper Harley Street, she asked to be buried in the family vault at the Abbey Church in Crowland Lincolnshire. She left £2500 (reduced in a codicil of 1848 to £1000) in trust for Henrietta Rosco Markham of Laceby in Lincolnshire, and £800 in trust for her grand-nephew Thomas Elrington Simmonds. She left £1500 to her grandnephew William Fountain Simmonds of Leake in Lincolnshire and £800 to his brother James Simmonds, and other smaller monetary legacies including £50 to Miss Ann Jackson Rosco of Antigua. Her residuary legatee was her nephew Rev. Thomas Harrison of Eye in Northampton but with the expressed expectation that should he die without issue he would pass the bulk of her residuary trust estate equally among her four named legatees. The will was the subject of Palmer v Simmonds in 1854, when the effort to show a trust had been established by the will for the four contingent legatees was deemed to have failed for lack of certainty.

T71/877 Antigua claim no. 390 (Mathewson [=Matthews] Constitution Hill); T71/1379 St Christopher's Anguilla claim no. 119; T71/879 Anguilla claim no. 205 (Spring).

1. Vere Langford Oliver, The History of the island of Antigua ... from the first settlement in 1635 to the present time (3 vols., London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894-99), Vol. 1 p. 250.

2. Cambridgeshire County Record Office Huntingdon, Fellowes Estate, R17/11/8 and R17/11/9.

3. PROB 11/2141/131; Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online]; FreeUKGen, England and Wales Free BMD Database, Deaths, 1837-1983 [database online]; 1841 census online.

4. PROB 11/2141/131. Ann Jackson Rosco was the sister of Henrietta's deceased husband, Richard Rosco, baptised in 1763 in Bristol, daughter of James and Lydia Rosco, Ancestry.com, Bristol, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]. Lydia (niece), Ann (grand-niece), and Richard (grand-nephew) were beneficiaries of the will of Sarah Watkins, widow of Samuel Watkins, see Vere Langford Oliver, The History of the island of Antigua ... from the first settlement in 1635 to the present time (3 vols., London, Mitchell and Hughes, 1894-99), Vol. 3 p. 204. Other known siblings of Richard Rosco were Lydia Mary (baptised Bristol, 1764) and Mary Ann (Bristol, 1767). No baptism has been found for Richard Rosco. He was very likely the Richard Rosco, only son of James Rosco, late of the City of Bristol esquire deceased, who was admitted to Middle Temple 04/11/1796, Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple (1949) vol II p. 414. He may also be the Richard Rosco whose death in Oct/Nov 1803 in Tortola is recorded in the parish register of St Kitts.

We are grateful to Peter Birkett for his assistance with compiling this entry.