Ann Georgiana Embrance Field was born on 1 August 1818 in France, the daughter of James Field (b, circa 1787) and Mary Jane Field née Cheek (1788-1851).
On 14 January 1846 she married Frederick Richards (1820-1900) at St Paul's Church, 182 Stoke Newington Road, Stoke Newington, Middlesex (now Greater London) and in the marriage register she is show as of full age, a spinster, residing in West Hackney, the daughter of James Field, an auctioneer, whilst her husband was described as of full age, a bachelor and warehouseman who was living in High Street, West Hackney, the son of John Richards, a bookseller.
They had two children, Frederick Field Richards (1846-1879) and Henry Charles Richards (1851-1905).
In the 1851 census she was described as Ann G. Richards, aged 33 years and British subject who had been born in France and was living at 6 Church Street, Hackney, Middlesex (now Greater London), with her husband, who was shown as a linen draper, her mother and her son Frederick Field Richards, together with her brother Henry John Field (1826-1881) who was listed as a visitor and a commercial traveller. Also resident at the property were four unmarried females who were assistants in her husband's drapery business and an unmarried female domestic servant.
When the 1861 census was undertaken she was shown as Ann G. E. Richards, aged 42 years and still living in Church Street, Hackney, with her husband who was described as a linen draper employing 13 hands, their son Frederick Field Richards, two male and seven female linen draper's assistants, a male apprentice to a Dr. D. Dawes, together with two female general domestic servants. Their other son, Henry Charles Richards, was away attending a boarding school with 16 other pupils at 8 Clifton Road, Brighton, Sussex (now East Sussex).
Note: 6 (Stoke Newington) Church Street was one of four shops that were rebuilt in 1870 as the Three Crowns pub, on the corner with Dalston Lane. (Source: Facebook Stoke Newington History's post). Speculating: the Richards household of 15 was probably residing on the upper floors, above the shop on the ground floor. Given the '13 hands' we think the drapers probably spread across more than one of the shops.
She was shown in the 1871 census as Annie G. Richards, aged 52 years and residing at 8 Queensdown Road, Hackney, with her husband who was recorded as an accountant, her widower brother, Henry John Field who was described as a merchant, her niece Jane Georgiana Medina Field (1868-1936), together with two female domestic servants.
The 1881 census shows her as Annie G. Richards, aged 62 years and living in 'Sandhurst', Elphinstone Road, Hastings, Sussex, with her husband, who was listed as an auditor, their niece Jane Georgiana Medina Field, who was shown as a scholar, together with a cook and a housemaid.
She was recorded as Georgiana Richards, aged 71 years, in the 1891 census and was residing at 1 West Hill, St Leonards, Hastings, with her husband, who was now a Justice of the Peace, their grandson, John Charles Richards (1878-1959) who was a scholar, their niece, Jane Georgiana Medina Field, together with a cook and a housemaid.
Her death, aged 81 years, was registered as Anne Georgiana Embrance Richards in the 4th quarter of 1899 in the Hastings Registration District, Sussex (now East Sussex). Probate records also confirm that she was now spelling her first forename as Anne, that she had still been living at 1 West Hill, St Leonard's-on-Sea and that she died on 28 December 1899. Probate was granted on 30 March 1900 to her son, Henry Charles Richards, Q.C. and her effects totalled £449-5s-10d.
She is shown as 'A.G.E. RICHARDS' on the Richards' Cross in the St John at Hackney Graveyard, Mare Street, London, E5, which also confirms that she was a resident of St John's Hackney parish 1840-1874.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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