Nat Gould

Florence Marryat 1833-1899

Florence Marryat was born on 9 July 1833 at Brighton in Sussex, the daughter of the novelist Captain Frederick Marryat 1792-1848 and his wife née Catherine Shairp. She was baptised on 21 August 1833 at Brighton.

On 13 June 1854 she was married to Thomas Ross Church at Penang in Malaya. He was the son of Thomas Church 1798-1860 and his wife née Elizabeth Scott.

Thomas Ross Church became a Colonel and subsequently a Major General in the Madras Staff Corps, India. They lived in India until 1861 when Florence Church returned to England with her children, and resided at Winchester in Hampshire with her mother and later in London.

In 1878 she was divorced from Thomas Ross Church, and married Francis Lean in the following year.

Thomas Ross Church and his wife née Florence Marryat had the following children:

Eva Florence Ross Church. She was born in 1855. She was married to Alfred Stevens and they had five children. She died in 1887.

Ethel Maude Church. She was born in 1857. She was married first to Edmund Nicholas Alpe, by whom she had three children, and secondly to Ernest Walter Russell Barry.

Frederick Francis Marryat Church. He was born in 1859. He married Elizabeth H. Spiller, and they had two daughters.

Florence Charlotte Henrietta Church. She was born in 1860.

Violet Theodora Church. She was born in 1863 and died in 1953. She was married Stanley Locker Dobie and they had two children.

Sybil Catherine Florence Church. She was born in 1866. She was married first to Gerald Edward Lyon Campbell, by who she had a daughter, and secondly to Wentworth Vernon Cole. She died in 1958.

George Ross Marryat Church. He was born in 1868. He married Emily Whymper and they had two children. He died in 1940.

Marguerite Bertha Church. She was born in 1872. She was married to Henry Whymper.

Florence Marryat wrote around seventy novels, adapting some of them for the stage. She also acted with the D’Oyly Carte company in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and toured with George Grossmith.

She became an ardent spiritualist, a belief that features in some of her works.

She separated from Francis Lean in 1881. She died on 27 October 1899 at Abercorn Place in London, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.