Frances Ward
Frances Mary Brown (née Ward) (January 22, 1912 – June 29, 1987) was the Foundation Mayoress of Porirua City for 21 years.
Background
Frances Mary Brown (née Ward) has a rather "Illustrious Lineage". Frances is the youngest daughter of New Zealand astronomer Joseph Thomas Ward, who discovered double stars named in his honour ("Ward doubles") and his wife Ada Evelyn Wright(daughter of Capt. Sydney E.L Wright Esq of Wellington; Paymaster of the Royal Navy). Ada Wright was the x5 great-granddaughter of the Privateer Fortunatus Wright of Liverpool whose son John Wright married Louisa Felicite Maria Liardet (1799-1875), and his sister Philippa (aka Philadelphia Wright) (born 1735) married Charles Evelyn (great-grandson of John Evelyn). She also has several renowned relatives such as Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II.
She is also the great-(8 generations) granddaughter of the diarist, John Evelyn, the diarist of London; owner of Sayes Court, which the Russian Tsar Peter the Great was known to be a regular visitor. Another regal grandparent is the French countess Félicité Perpétue Catherine de Paul de Lamanon d'Albe, ("Albe" is the French vernacular of Alba, a region in Spain), whose regal ancestry can be traced back to the foundations of Rome; and who descends from the Duke of Alba Fernando Álvarez de Toledo d'Albe. Perpetue was the aunt and mother in law of Wilbraham Liardet, founder of Liardets' Beach. Her x4 great uncle was Jean Honoré Robert de Paul de Lamanon, known as Robert de Lamanon ( of the La Perouse expedition).
Career
Frances Brown was Mayoress at the opening of the Royal New Zealand Police College April 1, 1981, Porirua along with her husband Whitford Brown Mayor of Porirua and HRH Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, who officially opened the college for use.
Private Life
Frances Mary Brown, also known as "Francie", was the wife of Whitford Brown, the Foundation Mayor of Porirua City, Wellington, New Zealand for 21 years (1962–1983), the first three years of which Porirua was a borough and inaugurated as a city in 1965 by Sir Bernard Furgusson, who was Governor-General of New Zealand at the time.
Legacy
"Frances Brown Avenue " in Porirua, which is off Whitford Brown Avenue, is named after her.
Sources
- Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) "Ward Double's"
- Orchiston, Wayne. "Ward, Joseph Thomas 1862–1927". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
- Husband; Mayor Whitford Brown's obituary; The Evening Post (Wellington,New Zealand, April 14, 1986).
- Perpetue Catherine de Paul de Lamanon d'Albe, Wilbraham Frederick Evelyn Liardet; Romantic Visionary of the Beach, 1839–62; The "La Trobe" Journal" http://calisto.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-54/t1-g-t1.html
- Final resting place:, from the Porirua City Council: http://www.pcc.govt.nz/cemetery/Frameset_search.asp
- New Zealand Society of Genealogists; N.Z. First Families; Surnames: Wright, Liardet, Ward, Prideaux, Evelyn, de Lamanon d'Albe
- 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary: Article In The Wellington Paper. Mayoral Couple Celebrate - By Tim Donoghue
- The Wanganui Registar's Office.
- Peter the Great stays at Diarist; Sir John Evelyns' Sayes Court: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.158
- The Plantagenet Rolls; "Of The Blood Royal" Descendants of: Prideaux, Sir Peter.
- Nineteenth Century New Zealand Artists: A Guide & Handbook, Liardet, Sydney Evelyn RN 1825–1857
- Tripartite Indenture dated 12 October 1770, Charles Evelyn of Totnes and Philippa Wright his wife
- The Blood Royal of Britain: Being a complete Roll of the Living Descendants of Edward Plantagenet
- Debrett's Baronetage of England: Containing Their Descent and Present State "Evelyn of Wooton" ... By John Debrett
- Dictionary of National Biography, By Leslie Stephen,Sidney Lee; Published 1893 by Smith, Elder
- The Gentleman's Magazine,1867 - Page 401
- ."The name in Italian is Alba; in Spanish; it is Alva, and Albe in French, as it now stands" Entire reference to Frances Ward's Lineage Mother,Father etc. From: A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Colonial Gentry, page 309