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HENRY CORT'S CHILDREN AND
DESCENDANTS
Gosport 1776-1790
Henry and Elizabeth Cort arrive in Gosport with five children, all
baptised at St Olaves Hart Street, London, the church across the road from Henry's
first known address.
Seven more children are baptised at Gosport Holy Trinity. The first of these, John Harman Cort, is the only child to die in
infancy: buried at Alverstoke, 26 July 1780.
Lack of evidence for the baptism of the youngest, Catherine, is one of
the mysteries covered in later on this page.
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Henry Bell, the oldest, appears as a witness to the
specification of his father’s Scottish patent in May 1784, when he is at
Fontley. By 1786 he is back in the St
Olave Hart Street parish, London, helping his father sort out Thomas Morgan’s
estate. William, according to Mott, helps his father build puddling
furnaces at Cyfarthfa in
1787. India etc, 1791-1800 Young Henry is the first of the family to arrive in India. Judging by the evidence at the 1802
hearing, he is there by 1793, moving up country from Calcutta with a view to
planting indigo. Coningsby arrives with Sir James Watson in April 1796. Harriet is probably one of the party,
since she marries Capt Thomas Dowell in August 1797. Coningsby witnesses the wedding, but probably leaves India soon
afterwards (judging from a later letter to Robert Dundas).
Back in England, Maria dies in June 1797. The news of her death may help to trigger young Henry’s illness the
following March. Guiana etc, 1800-1810 This is the period following their father’s death. In 1803 the Dutch colonies of Berbice,
Demerara and Essequibo are handed over to Britain after a period of contested
sovereignty. The first intimation of a Cort-Guiana connection is a notice in
the Demerara and Essequibo Gazette in February 2004.
Henry and his recently-acquired wife Frances (Coningsby,
Caroline and Louisa have all witnessed the wedding) leave for Guiana in
February 1805, probably accompanied by William. |
HENRY CORT m Elizabeth 1740/1-1800 1744-1826 Children Henry Bell 1769-1806 m
Frances Burges dtr Frances Coningsby Francis "Con" b 1770 m
Ann several children William Thomas b1771 m
Mary Ann Several children Elizabeth Jane "Betsy" b 1773 Harriet Ann b 1775 m
Capt Thomas DOWELL at least 5 children John Harman 1777-1780 Maria 1778-97 Charlotte b 1779 m
John WILSON at least 1 child Frederick John 1781-1835 illegitimate children Caroline b 1783 Richard b 1784 m
Mary Caroline Kendall Louisa b 1786 m
Joseph POWELL at least 2 children Catherine Frampton "Kitty" b 1790 m
Christopher LIDDON 2 children |
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We got to Fareham yesterday around 8 o’clock, set off for Portsmouth tho’ Wm is not arrived. From letter of Henry Bell Cort, February 1805. |
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We may note that Frances is Henry's second cousin, an illegitimate daughter of Edward Burges baptised in
1785: as a minor she would need permission to marry. Only one of the trustees named in 1790 has survived: Edward Otto
Ives, who has probably returned from Bengal by this time (he is "of
Titchfield" in his will, made in 1809).
A letter from Henry, written shortly before leaving England, talks
of "Fanny" and his siblings "Con", "Betsy" and
"Kitty". Probably he doesn’t
realise that Fanny is pregnant. The
baby arrives 11th September, while the family is in Berbice.
Henry doesn’t live much longer.
By July 1806 the family in England is sorting through his belongings.
Richard, meanwhile, has become a partner of W Kirkpatrick in Bread
Street, Cheapside: "Merchants, Warehousemen, Dealers and Chapmen".
Baptism of Frances Cort
Henry’s widow has returned to England with her infant daughter
Frances in 1806. It may be that there
is a problem with baptising a child born abroad whose father has died. Why else should the ceremony, in November,
be performed in Upton (now part of Slough)?
One possibility is the influence of cousin Michael
Thomas Becher, now head at Bury St Edmunds Grammar School. As a former pupil at Eton, Michael may be
using his links there to arrange the ceremony – possibly the favour earning the
“gratitude” subsequently expressed in Frederick Cort’s will. Upton is one of the nearest churches to Eton
on the same side of the river (the Buckinghamshire side in those days).
Research has revealed periodic links bewteen Upton Church (St
Laurence) and Eton College over the years.
Most promising in this context is provided by John Staples Hand: like
Becher, an Eton Scholar (1765-74), thence to King's College, Cambridge. On leaving in 1781, he becomes a private
tutor at Eton for the next seven years.
Since Becher starts at Eton in 1774 and arrives at King's in
November 1781, there isn't much of an overlap at either establishment. Nevertheless one can surmise that Becher is
more than aware of Hand's existence. If
he maintains links with his old school, he will realise the opportunity it
offers of doing a good turn for his cousin, since Hand's father has been vicar
at Upton from 1759 to 1806 - including all Becher's time at Eton.
Although Hand senior's term as vicar probably finishes before
Frances Cort's baptism (9th November), it is reasonable to assume he can ensure
that it takes place. Who actually
performs the ceremony is not recorded.
It is not until 1813 that the parish's baptism record includes the name
of the officiating priest, though names of likely candidates can be deduced
from marriage records.
A record of the younger Frances’s baptism can be found in the Hertfordshire archives. Evidently it has been transcribed from the
Upton parish records by the curate at the time (1826), Henry Slingsby. (At one point I misread the information,
thinking that Slingsby performed the ceremony.)
Slingsby is another with an Eton link. He and his brother John have also passed through and proceeded to
King’s. In addition, their father’s
will refers to “property in the parish of Eton... bought of Mrs Hardy &
held on loan from Provost & College of Eton”. In 1805 Slingsby’s half-sister Elizabeth starts to run one of
Eton’s boarding houses: a job that passes in turn to her sisters Mary and Susan
after her death in 1839.
Peregrinations of Coningsby Cort
Henry Cort’s second son, Coningsby, seems to be most active on
behalf of the family. His name crops up
in a variety of documents, but with a disconcerting variety of addresses.
When vouching for the document accepted as his brother Henry’s
will in 1806, he is “of Wexham in the county of Berkshire”. Over the next few years, it appears that he
has different addresses for business and home.
The business address is evidently 21 Mount Road, Lambeth. From here he writes to Lord Sheffield's
secretary, John Weale, early in 1808. He gives the same address in 1811, when
signing documents concerning the disposal of the family’s Hertfordshire property.
For a while the home address is 14 Surrey Street, Strand (London),
whence he writes a letter to Robert Dundas in March 1808. We can assume that his children Eliza Ann
and Henry Hannam Cort were born there: the 1861 census identifies Henry
Hannam’s birthplace as Surrey Street, while the IGI shows both children
baptised at the local church, St Clement Dane, in June 1806 and November 1807
respectively. The record gives their
mother’s name as Ann.
An agreement in August 1809 for sale of the Hertfordshire property
places Coningsby Cort in Kentish Town.
Then comes the baptism of daughter Charlotte across the river in
Southwark in December 1813. An anomaly
here, however: her mother’s name is recorded as Elizabeth Mary. Has he married again? If so, why does the baptism of Louisa at St
Pancras in March 1822 record her mother’s name as Ann? Three marriages, including two Anns?
As Frances Cort’s guardian, he witnesses the final release of her
share in the property from an address in Grays Inn Square in 1827; while 1837
documents locate him at Union Row, Stratford, Essex (presumably the same
Stratford now established in East London).
They also reveal that the four children whose baptisms are recorded in
the London IGI are not the only ones: there are also son John Haysham Cort and
daughter Caroline – both younger than Henry Hannam but older than Louisa,
judging from the order in which they appear.
Daughter Charlotte, however, is absent, presumed dead.
Family snapshots 1811-13
The Hertfordshire property’s disposal provides
a useful snapshot of the whole family around 1811, including their mother and
young Frances.
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Mother is living in Reading with three unmarried daughters:
Elizabeth, Caroline and Catherine (who reaches age 21 early in 1811). William and his wife Mary Ann are not far away, in
Yattendon. No sign of the date of their
marriage: it may have been in Berbice.
Baptism of three daughters has been registered at Yattendon. Coningsby is evidently at Mount Road. This is about the time he and William present their petition to Parliament. Harriet's husband Thomas Dowell having retired in February 1810,
they are living in Exeter. Of several
children in India, some may not have survived. At least one more is baptised in Exeter. Louisa is also in Exeter, where she has married Joseph
Powell. One son has been baptised
there. Frederick is now in Berbice:
did he go out there as a replacement for his brother Henry? Charlotte is in Demerara, married to John Wilson. Richard has become bankrupt.
He has legal representation from Manchester solicitors James Quin and
Robert Barnes. Young Frances Cort is living at Hammersmith. A more limited family snapshot is provided by their mother's
will in August 1813. She has moved to
Axminster in Devon. Her estate is divided between unmarried daughters Elizabeth,
Caroline and Catherine. The will is
witnessed by Harriet and Louisa, whose husbands are named as executors. Changes 1818-1831 In 1819 Charlotte’s husband John Wilson becomes a partner of Liverpool
merchant Sir John Gladstone (whose son later becomes Prime Minister), while
Frederick becomes Gladstone’s agent in Demerara. Both posts last until 1829. By 1821 we find William owning a plantation in Berbice. Probably he has taken his family back
there. Mother Elizabeth evidently dies in 1826. Her will is proved on 5th October "by
oath of Thomas Dowell surviving executor". So Joseph Powell is also dead. 1831 is an eventful year.
Another daughter is born to William and Mary Ann, 5th September: so
they're back in England, in Plymouth.
Thomas Dowell dies, 11 November.
And on 18 December a marriage is recorded between Frances Cort and
George Frederick Westbrook at Portsea (just north of Portsmouth). You have only to look at the bride’s signature on the marriage register to see she is the
granddaughter of Henry Cort. Family snapshots 1833-37 Another snapshot is provided by Frederick's will. It is long, difficult to read, and I couldn't
find the date it was made. It begins
by revoking an earlier will made at Demerara, 27 July 1831 and left there
"on the eve of departure for England". |
Cort children Henry Bell 1769-1806 m
Frances Burges dtr Frances Coningsby Francis "Con" b 1770 m
Ann several children (5 alive in 1837) William Thomas b1771 m
Mary Ann Several children (7 alive in 1837) Elizabeth Jane "Betsy" b 1773 Harriet Ann b 1775 m
Capt Thomas DOWELL at least 5 children John Harman 1777-1780 Maria 1778-97 Charlotte b 1779 m
John WILSON at least 1 child Frederick John 1781-1835 3 illegitimate children Caroline b 1783 Richard b 1784 m
Mary Caroline Kendall Louisa b 1786 m
Joseph POWELL 2 daughters Catherine Frampton "Kitty" b 1790 m
Christopher LIDDON 2 sons |
The will is obviously made after 1st July 1833, date of
the baptism in Lancashire of an illegitimate daughter, Eliza Ann Cort. Frederick is now Liverpool partner in the
firm Wilson & Cort, and sure enough brother-in-law John Wilson is named as
one executor. Wilson's wife Charlotte
is also mentioned, and their son Lieutenant Mackenzie Wilson (identified in the
55th Regiment of Foot, where he rises to the rank of captain in
1836).
Also mentioned in the will are brothers Coningsby, William, and
Richard and sisters Caroline, Louisa Powell and “Mrs Catherine Liddon” (I
initially misread this as “Sisson”). No mention of sisters Eliza and
Harriet.Dowell: presumably dead. There
is a “Betsy Cort of Demerara”, but she is William’s daughter.
The will causes problems by specific bequests to unnamed children
of Coningsby, William, Louisa and Catherine; the residue to be divided between
Frederick’s own illegitimate three. In
1837 it becomes necessary to establish a fair distribution: the task is
undertaken by Coningsby as “next friend” of the three bastards, despite naming
his own children as defendants.
Whatever the difficulty caused for the family by this situation,
it is helpful to historians in naming all the children of Frederick’s specified
siblings alive at the time.
Changes after 1837
Nothing further is heard of Coningsby. Guiana records show William is back there by October 1839, and
dies there 2nd October 1853.
One son and three
daughters are alive in July 1856, according to the petition
to Parliament published in the Journal of the Society
of Arts. Parliamentary records
state that all these children are under 73, so they ought to be Richard and his
sisters Caroline, Louisa and Catherine.
Subsequently, according to Henry Cort:
The Great Finer, “Richard Cort was granted a pension of £50 in the
Civil List and his two unmarried sisters had their pensions
increased…” We may query the “two
unmarried sisters”. Louisa had
certainly married Joseph Powell, though she may be widowed by this time. If Catherine is alive, she will also be a
widow.
I am grateful to researcher Paul Luter for passing on the content
of a notice from an 1859 newspaper (Wolverhampton Chronicle, 7th
September, though it was doubtless carried in most other papers at the time),
announcing the death of Cort’s daughter Louisa, “relict of Joseph Powell”, aged
73.
Mysteries of Catherine Cort
The IGI holds no record of either baptism or marriage of
Henry Cort’s youngest daughter. Yet
there can be no doubt that Catherine Frampton Cort existed, while the birth
date given by Webster of 21 February 1790 is
confirmed by one of the documents concerning the Hertfordshire
property.
As for a story that Henry denied paternity, no evidence has yet
appeared. Catherine is always treated
as a family member on a par with the others.
A line of inquiry is opened by the “Frampton” in her name: could there
be a link with the second husband of John Becher’s
sister (or sister-in-law) Ann?
Her brother Henry’s “will” refers to her as Kitty, but there is
little clue to her life before her mother’s death. In 1813, at the time of her mother’s will, Catherine is
unmarried. Her first child arrives in
1829, when she is 39. Reading between
the lines of available documents, one can piece together some details of her
marriage.
Husband is Christopher Amos Liddon, a native of Axminster where
mother Elizabeth is living when she makes the will. It’s likely that Catherine meets him while living or staying with
Elizabeth. His parents are William and
Hannah, while it seems likely that “Amos Liddon, Surgeon and Apothecary” of
Axminster (to quote from Devon Record Office’s online catalogue) is an uncle or
godfather or both.
Catherine’s sons, Henry and Frederick, are baptised in Dawlish
(1829 and 1830). In the 1841 census
Catherine, described as “Chemist”, is living with them at 7 Strand,
Dawlish. We may deduce that her husband
(registered as alive in one of the 1837 documents) is dead by this time, and
that she is carrying on the same business, which he probably began under the
tutelage of his apothecary uncle/godfather.
Surprisingly, the census says she is 40 years old! Bearing in mind that her husband was born in
1799 (i.e. nearly ten years her junior) one may wonder if she has lied
systematically about her age.
The 1841 record is the latest one found specifically for Catherine
Liddon: she does not appear in the census of 1851. But the 1856 records quoted earlier imply she is then still
alive.
Powell-Carpenter line
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By a wonderful coincidence the
Professor of Metallurgy at Manchester in the period 1906-1913 was H.C.H.
Carpenter, a great great grandson of Henry Cort.
From monogram on Henry Cort prepared for University of Manchester Open
Day, 20 May 1978 |
The author records his thanks for
assistance to Sir Harold H. Cort Carpenter, F.R.S., great great grandson of
Cort…
From H.W. Dickinson’s presentation to Newcomen Society on occasion of
Cort bicentenary, 1940 |
Mott traced the
ancestry of Sir Harold (originally christened Henry Cort Harold Carpenter) back
to Cort’s daughter Louisa Powell. Her
daughter Louisa marries a noted biologist, William Benjamin Carpenter. He and two of their sons, as well as their
grandson Harold, all appear in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
The signature "William B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S."
appears on the petition to Parliament by the Society of Arts in 1856 on behalf of “the only surviving representatives of the
late Mr. Henry Cort, being one son and three daughters”. Not so surprising, since one of these
daughters is his mother-in-law Louisa Powell!
Latter-day descendants
Apart from the traceable line to Sir Harold Carpenter, I have
encountered three examples of people claiming to be descendants of Henry Cort.
In a letter seen in the Local Studies Centre at Gosport and transcribed
from Hampshire County Magazine of December 1964, Frank Cort of South
Brook, Brook House, Newport, Isle of Wight, identifies himself as Cort's great
great grandson.
During the commemoration
at Fareham in 2000, I meet soi-disant descendant Michael Cort,
living in Brighton at the time. One of
his sons, I discover, is named Dominic.
Michael gives me encouragement at first, but we fall out and lose
contact when my research exposes as myth some of his cherished ideas about his
ancestor.
One of the emails I receive in response
to material on the website comes from Linda Sherlock (née Veck), living
in Wallasey near Liverpool. “My late
paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Helen Veck, née Cort, told me we were directly
descended from Henry Cort.”
Looking at possible lines of descent
for twentieth/twenty-first century descendants named Cort, we note that the
inventor had six sons, of whom we can rule out John (died in infancy) and Henry
(one daughter, no sons, acknowledged in Hertfordshire
documents of 1811). No record I
have seen mentions any children of Richard, while it’s clear that Frederick’s
two sons (both taking the Cort name, although illegitimate) are black: I’m
looking into the possibility that footballer Carl Cort is descended from one of
these.
A complaint raised on behalf of
Frederick’s children in 1837 purports to name all the children of Coningsby and
William alive at the time.
Coningsby’s sons are named as Henry
Hannam and John Haysham. The 1861
census shows Henry Hannam, aged about 54, living in St Marylebone (London) with
wife Elizabeth Ann and 14-year-old daughter Marianne: could there be older
children who have left home? No
information yet about John Haysham Cort’s family.
William’s sons are named as Frederick
& John. Other Corts quoted in
Guiana records are probably William’s sons: are they dead by 1837, or are they
disqualified from mention in the document through living abroad?
It therefore appears likely that the lines of descent from Henry to
Frank, Michael and Elizabeth Helen Cort pass via Coningsby or William.
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Related pages Cort’s
promotion efforts1783-86 Significance of the Melville trial What happened to Cort’s patents |
henrycort.net
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