Introduction:

Judging by his biographies, Charles Frederick Worth (CFW) passed on very little information about his family in England to his children and grandchildren. There also seems to have been an almost total separation of his French and English relatives after his death, and any details of English relatives except his father in the written accounts seem to be either absent or misleading. Part of the problem has been that there were no close relatives called Worth in England after about 1906, the closest relatives being called Dean, Quincey, Walker and so on, and none of these lived in Bourne, CFW's Lincolnshire birthplace. Other reasons for the dearth of available information are suggested below.

These notes set out some of the basic facts about CFW's English relatives, together with some more speculative comments.

CFW's grandfather Jeremiah Quincey:

CFW's maternal grandfather Jeremiah Quincey (1744-1829) was originally from Rippingale, Lincolnshire. He was included in the Threekingham electoral role for 1818 because he owned some freehold property, the example given in the register being at Sutterton. The fact that Sutterton needed to be named implies that he did not own the property that he lived in.

At his death his estate was valued at less than £4,000 - roughly the equivalent of £400,000 in today's money. We can deduce that Jeremiah earned his living as a tenant farmer (at Stow, in the parish of Threekingham - see below), while having various property interests alongside. But while he was one of the more prosperous people in the local villages, he was not wealthy in the sense of owning a grand house, substantial amounts of land, or having a large amount of money in the bank.

Jeremiah and Mary's children:

Jeremiah married Mary Franks (1760-1797) in Rippingale on 10 November 1785, when he was 41 and she was 25. They must have lived in Haconby, a mile or two South of Rippingale, early in their marriage, as at least two of their children were born there.

In around 1790 the family moved to Stow, in the parish of Threekingham, where Jeremiah lived as a farmer for the rest of his life, except for the last couple of years when he was living in nearby Billingborough.

Jeremiah and Mary had 7 children:

Mary, who was born in Haconby in 1786. She married Charles Walker (1772-1833) in Rippingale on 2 December 1815. Charles Walker was a grazier in Horbling. She died sometime after 1871.

Elizabeth, who was born in Haconby in 1788. She married Edward Pepper (1787-1830), another grazier in Horbling, in around 1812. She died in 1870.

John, born in 1789, who became an assistant surgeon in the 18th Hussars, and was at the battle of Waterloo. He died in London in 1827 aged 38.

An infant Jeremiah, who was born in Threekingham in 1790 and died in the following year.

Jeremiah, born in Threekingham in 1792, who married Ann Bird on 6 May 1823 and continued to run the farm at Stow throughout his life. He died in 1850.

Ann, born in Threekingham in 1793, who married William Worth, then a solicitor based in Horbling, in Horbling on 2 December 1816. Their lives are described more below.

Richard, born in Threekingham in 1796, who married Sarah Bird (the sister of Ann Bird) in 1821. Soon after the marriage Richard and Sarah moved to London, where Richard worked as a merchant.

One curious event in Richard’s life was the christening of his son Roger. He was baptised in June 1830 with the name Roger de Quincé Quincey. This seems quite a bizarre thing to have done. To revive the "de" is understandable, given the fame of the author Thomas de Quincey at the time, and the desire to be associated with the Saher de Quincy who was Earl of Winchester and had signed the Magna Carta, but "de Quincé Quincey" seems a bit too much. Richard did not give a similar name to any of his other children.

Soon after Roger's baptism, the family moved out of the City of London to Islington. At some point between 1841 and 1851 the family moved again, to Stoke Newington. In 1858 Roger married Fanny Elizabeth Bird, and they had seven children, all christened de Quincey Quincey, starting with Mary Beatrice de Quincey Quincey in 1859, and finishing with Ella de Quincey Quincey in 1870.
After his marriage, Roger settled in Hampstead, describing himself as an East India merchant. Some time before 1896, Roger and most of his family started moving to several large houses in Chislehurst, Kent.

Richard's family's rise in wealth was impressive. After starting out with a few thousand pounds of Quincey money, Richard died in 1880 with an estate of around £100,000, while Roger's estate in 1906 was valued at around £370,000. This, and the change of name, would undoubtedly have contributed to the belief within the later Worth family that CFW’s mother came from a distinguished wealthy family, when this was not actually the case.

After 7 children in 10 years, Mary Franks died when her youngest child was a year old, aged 36. Jeremiah would live on as a widower for over 30 years.

Jeremiah Quincey's will:

At the age of 84, Jeremiah's only real cause for concern within his family seems to have been his daughter Ann and her husband William Worth. There are several hints of this in his will and its codicil.

The first item in the will is the bequest of property in Uppingham to his son-in-law William Worth. This is surely a little odd, and has the feeling of a pre-arranged deal. We know that William had a reputation for being unreliable with drink and money by that stage - perhaps Jeremiah had promised him the property to help him out of a hole he was in, or, more likely, it was a kind of pay-off, along the lines of “from now on, treat your wife’s money as separate”. William and Ann may already have become effectively separated by then, although living in the same house in Bourne - the absence of children after the birth of Charles Frederick in 1825 could be a sign of this. Another, clearer sign is the second item in the will, which is the bequest of two cottages in Sutterton to Ann "notwithstanding her coverture", ie to her as an individual, setting aside her married status.

In the main will (dated 8 November 1827) William Worth is an executor, but the codicil (dated 9 July 1828) removes him from this role, while leaving his bequest intact. He is replaced as executor by another son-in-law, Edward Pepper.
There is an unusual witness statement attached to the will signed by William Worth's clerk William Wilson, taking responsibility for some late alterations to the will. Although the alterations do not seem very significant, the statement adds to the general air of suspicion of anything where William Worth was involved.
The impression is that Ann and William's marriage was known to be in trouble in 1827, with William becoming increasingly unreliable, and Jeremiah doing what he could to make provision for Ann in his will.

The Worth family:

It is helpful to call the William Worth who married Ann "William II", to avoid confusion with his father William I, and son William III.

William Worth I (1768-1812) married Ann Tyler (1769-1851) when they were both around 19 years old. They were based in Horbling and had four children:

Elizabeth (1788-1867), who married Seth Ellis Dean when she was 19 and he was 22. They apparently had 15 children. Seth's father John Dean (who married Mary Ellis) had been a "cloth maker" in Leeds. Seth was a draper in Horbling before later becoming a farmer and grazier there, and died in 1863 with an estate in the "under £15,000" category, so he was quite well off. Among their children (CFW's cousins) and grandchildren were many of who feature on the CFW death notice, with the names Dean, Healy, Worman, Aldwinkle and Casswell.
 
William II (1789 - 1878), who married Ann Quincey (see below).

Henry (b.1792) who married Elizabeth Ward and who moved to London, described in the 1841 and 1851 censuses as an accountant or clerk. They had a daughter Elizabeth Ann Worth in 1812, about whom we know very little, and a son William who died in infancy in 1815.

A later child Mary Ann (1802 - 1819), who died aged 17.

Williams I and II were both solicitors, William II stepping into William I's shoes as the partner of Benjamin Smith junior (1776-1857), a solicitor and prominent citizen in Horbling. No other members of the immediate Worth family are known to have been solicitors. William III worked for HM Customs (contrary to reports that he was a lawyer), as described below.

There were, again contrary to some reports, several links to the world of fashion in the Worth family before CFW came on the scene. William I's wife Ann Tyler, who CFW would have known as his grandmother, was the daughter of a village tailor (probably in Horbling). The painting of CFW's grandmother in J-P Worth's book A Century of Fashion is of her. As already mentioned, CFW's uncle Seth Ellis Dean was the son of a "cloth maker", and was himself a draper.

Ann Quincey joined this family when she married William II in Horbling on 2 December 1816. He was 27 and she was 23 - the youngest of her siblings when they married. Being in neighbouring villages as children, it is likely that they knew each other from a young age, and this may have blinded her to warning signs that he was "trouble". As an example of this, Benjamin Smith's diary records that on 12th May 1813, William had become extremely drunk while attending the Folkingham fair, when he lost all of his money and somehow ended up in Edinburgh, from where he was rescued by his brother Henry who brought him back to Bourne, where he was reinstated.^*

The family’s view of the match is not known. On the one hand, perhaps Ann showed some youngest-sister-syndrome (as in Pride and Prejudice, published three years before the wedding), reacting against the staid agricultural world of her elder sisters and choosing someone who was more “fun”. On the other hand, perhaps her father liked the idea of having a solicitor in the family, and persuaded Ann that William would settle down in time, against her better judgement.

The Bourne years:

In 1820 William II left the legal partnership in Horbing to set up on his own in Bourne. It is hard to escape the view that the Bourne years, 1820-1836, were unhappy ones for Ann, William and their children. The eldest child, William III, had been born before the move, probably in Donington. [We know that William III was baptised in Donington in 1819, but his gravestone suggests he was born in 1817.]

 The first three children born in Bourne, Harriet in 1821, Sarah in 1822, and the infant Charles in 1824, all died young, followed thankfully by the healthy CFW in 1825. [Sarah may have lived until 1835, aged 13, while Harriet and Charles died as infants.]

If the inference from Jeremiah’s 1827 will is correct, the relationship between Ann and William had effectively broken down by that date. One can imagine the atmosphere of CFW’s home life at Wake House in Bourne being strained from a very young age. He had many aunts, uncles and cousins in South Lincolnshire, but they were concentrated around Horbling, about 10 miles away – in those days, too far away for frequent contact. This might explain why in later life he kept in touch with his school friends from the Old Grammar School at Bourne* – probably his main refuge from a difficult home life. It can have been no better for William III, six or eight years older than CFW, who would have been more aware of the domestic problems, and would have lived through the deaths of his younger siblings. Ann, too, would have felt isolated from her family and friends around Horbling – William’s move to Bourne was, after all, designed as a deliberate break away from his previous legal partnership there.

It seems quite likely that 1836, rather than being the time when William III and CFW’s happy childhood came to an end, marked the change from an unhappy childhood to something different.

What happened after 1836?

William II: In 1836 William II ceased to be a solicitor in Bourne, and it is widely believed that he became bankrupt after problems due to some combination of drink, gambling and unwise financial speculation, and that he deserted both Bourne and his family. We can guess that William II left Bourne to lie low and hide from his creditors, and had to give up his house and legal practice. He cannot be found in the 1841 or 1851 censuses, but had returned to Bourne in 1861 (as a lodger), aged 71. In 1871 he was living on Billingborough High Street, the same street as his sister-in-law Mary Walker. He died in Billingborough in 1878, aged 89, and was buried in Horbling.

Ann: Ann was left with two sons, aged 17 (or 19) and 11, no home and virtually no income. She should have had a small income from the two cottages she owned in Sutterton. She had also received a legacy of £700 from her uncle John Quincey (of Down Hall) in 1828, and another of several hundred pounds from her father in 1829. Even though it was difficult for a married woman to keep her money separate from her husband's in those days, in the circumstances it should have been possible for her to have these recent windfalls kept for her own use, perhaps by giving them to a brother or sister for safe keeping.

The natural place for her to go in 1836 would have been back to Horbling, where her two widowed sisters lived, with a brother nearby in Stow, at her childhood home. Several members of the Worth family, including the Deans, mentioned earlier, and the boys’ grandmother (also called Ann Worth), who were presumably willing to help with the children if not necessarily Ann, also lived in Horbling.
CFW’s son Jean-Philippe Worth's 1928 book A Century of Fashion states that CFW's mother (who remains nameless apart from the wrong family name "Quincy of Quincy") "became the housekeeper for some rich cousins of hers".

In Edith Saunders' 1954 book The Age of Worth, CFW's mother is given no name except "Mrs Worth", and worked for "wealthy", "hard-hearted” “relatives” for little if any money. In Diana de Marly's 1980 book Worth - Father of Haute Couture this had evolved into Ann (whom she calls Mary) moving to Billingborough "to escape comment and the obvious drop in social status", where she became a housekeeper to "Quincey cousins", who gave her no money. Billingborough is next door to Horbling, so the location makes sense - though not for the reasons given by de Marly. The lack of knowledge of Ann's name, and the vagueness about the relatives concerned, do not lend much credibility to these accounts, which seem to owe something to the Cinderella story. What seems more likely is that Ann stayed with one of her siblings for a time and helped to run the household rather than sit around being waited on.

Ann cannot be found in the 1841 or 1851 censuses, which is a little mysterious. She may have moved to London around 1838, after which both her sons were probably in that city, as was her younger brother Richard. She could possibly have been in Paris during the 1851 census, which was taken about three months before CFW's wedding to Marie Vernet in June, but there is no evidence that she was at the wedding, or indeed that she ever visited Paris. She died well before her son's great success there or the building of his grand villa at Suresnes.

How and where she lived between 1836 and 1852 is therefore unclear. All we know for sure is that she died in Highgate, London on 3rd September 1852, and is buried in Highgate cemetery in a very respectable grave. The plot was paid for by her son William III; her younger brother Richard, who at that time lived about four miles away in Stoke Newington, may well also have been involved.

William III: According to his son’s book, CFW felt some resentment that his brother, William III, received legal training and had a professional career lined up ahead of him, while he was sent out to work as an apprentice at the age of 11. This is a little odd, because William had no such career, instead working his way up the ladder in HM Customs. William may well have been resentful that CFW was lined up to work in a glamorous shop in Regent Street.

In the summer of 1844, William was researching his family history in London on behalf of his uncle Seth Ellis Dean - surely an example of Uncle Seth lending a hand - and told him he was "sorely hard up" **. Three months later, though, he married Frances Gonner in London. William's occupation then was as a landing waiter, a customs officer who superintends the landing of goods and examines them. In 1848 their son Frederick Gonner Worth was born in Lewisham.
From HM Customs records we have a partial record of William's progress up the ladder: 1852 (the year he paid five guineas for his mother's burial) he was a Searcher 5th Class; 1854 Searcher 4th Class; 1865 Gauger 2nd Class; 1866 Gauger 1st Class; 1868 Inspector of Gaugers at a salary of £400 per year.
This steady career progression ended soon afterwards, because on 14th December 1869 he was admitted to St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in Holburn. That is where he was for the 1871 census, at the time when his brother was coping, very well, with the changes to his clientele caused by the departure of Napoleon III and the end of the Second French Empire, and when his father was safely back home, living in Billingborough.

That was not the end, however. William did not die until 1893, in the village of Goudhurst in Kent. After a three year spell in St Luke’s, on 7 February 1873 he moved to a small private asylum in the village, called Tattlebury House, where he can be found in the 1881 and 1891 censuses, still described as a lunatic. So, remarkably, he survived 23 years with severe mental health problems, and outlived his wife Frances, who died in Kingston, Surrey in 1891. He died only two years before his famous younger brother.

The records *** show that William Worth is buried in the Victorian Cemetery in Back Lane, Goudhurst, with the grave being purchased by CFW. It seems very likely that Charles not only paid for the burial, but also paid for William to be transferred from St Luke’s to this nice home in the country, where there were only 4 or 5 patients. Certainly Charles had plenty of money at that stage, but it is still good to think that he helped out his brother in such a significant way.

Charles Frederick: It seems harsh to us now that CFW was taken out of school to start an apprenticeship aged 11. My impression is that between the Worths and the Quinceys there would have been no problem funding further schooling, and that a conscious decision was taken to start CFW in the world of work instead. CFW was, after all, artistic rather than academic, a doer rather than a thinker - why not have him learn skills and a trade rather than mathematics and Latin? With hindsight, this seems to have been a very wise decision.

His first attempt at an apprenticeship, at a printers, was clearly not to his liking, but there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the idea. Printing was a skilled job, with scope for making well-crafted books, and links to the worlds of publishing and engraving.

CFW’s full apprenticeship at Swan and Edgar in Regent Street seems to have shown admirable far-sightedness and cooperation by all concerned – CFW having decided the line of business he wanted to enter; his family arranging one of the best possible starts in his chosen field. It seems likely that many of CFW’s Worth and Quincey relatives would have been involved or consulted, and that the Deans, as drapers in Horbling, would have been the ones to be in touch with the big London drapers.

The decision of CFW to move to Paris in 1845 was, I think, an entirely different matter. Objectively, this was an extremely risky venture. France was, traditionally, an enemy country – one of CFW’s uncles had even fought at Waterloo. It was prone to social unrest. Although he may have had a letter of introduction from Mr Allenby or Mr Lewis, this was no guarantee of employment, let alone his own dress-making business, and there was no safety net of family and friends, in a country where he didn’t understand the law, the customs, or the language. It seems hard to believe that anyone in the family would encourage him to make the journey, at least until after he had built a reputation and earned some money in London. And the last person to encourage him would be his mother, who had no doubt heard similar high-risk schemes proposed by her husband, which had ended in catastrophic failure. So I suspect CFW went to Paris against all his family’s advice and wishes, and that is why he arrived there with only 117 FF (about £5) in the world.

The version of events where CFW’s mother had a heroic role supporting his move to Paris is undermined by the fact that CFW did not even seem to tell his children her name, or tell them where she was buried so that they could pay their respects. I suspect that he did not want to provide any details that could be checked, so that he could tell the story, without fear of contradiction, that he was able to show his gratitude to his long-suffering mother by his generosity after his success. No doubt he went to Paris both with a strong determination to prove his family wrong – which he did – and to support his mother financially - which, sadly, her early death made impossible.
 
The rest of CFW's story is well documented elsewhere, and shows that his gamble paid off more than anyone could have imagined. He apparently died with an estate of around 4 million FF (about £160,000 - £18 million in today's money), though this must have been a small fraction of what he had earned; he was an extravagant spender, particularly when it came to his villa at Suresnes.

We can speculate that there were several reasons why CFW did not reveal much about his English background to his own family, who have been the main source for his biographers, and why what he did say was somewhat misleading. In general terms, his early life was probably painful to recall, especially where his father was concerned, because of the distress he had caused to him, his brother and, above all, his mother. Also, he may well have felt guilty about leaving his mother to go to Paris, especially as she died before he had made a success of his new life - to the extent that he kept to himself the details of her identity and death, and gave her excessive praise for supporting him. And although he was able to be a great help to his brother, this was not in circumstances that he would wish to be widely known.

References:
* Tales of Bourne from Past Times by Rex Needle
** Notes from the Dean family
*** The Gouldhurst and Kilndown Local History Society.

WRITTEN DECEMBER 2014