The Ward and Kent families

Second generation (great grandparents)

Father of Frank Ward – name uncertain

Frank’s birth certificate states he was John Ward, a commercial traveller, although the family had been led to believe that he was in fact a noted surgeon, possibly named Hunter, and that Frank’s mother was a nurse from the same London hospital. There was in fact a very famous surgeon named John Hunter, but he lived a century too soon!

However, given that on young Frank’s birth certificate Mary Ann Kent had given her correct maiden name and place of birth (though had slightly exaggerated her marital status!) – I believe we should give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that the father’s name was correct. There is no trace of a John Ward in the Bristol area in the 1881 census with occupation of either commercial traveller or surgeon. Although a search on Genuki turned up a John Ward, surgeon, living in St Paul’s Bristol in 1880 at 17 Pritchard Street, there is no sign of him in 1881, 1891 or 1901 census. It seems likely that Frank’s father will remain unknown.

Mary Ann Kent

Mary Ann Kent was baptised at Marshfield on 5 Feb 1843, her father was Thomas Kent, saddler and her mother Harriott (Howes) (source Marshfield Parish Records, Jim)

In the 1851 and 1861 census, Mary Ann was living at home in Colerne with her parents (see below).

In the 1871 census, Mary Ann was living in Colerne, at the Fox and Hounds Inn, Street, with her brother and sister [RG10/1896 f21]:

Aram Kent, head, 25, inn keeper, born Wilts, Colerne
Mary A Kent, sister, 27, housekeeper, born Gloucs Marshfield
Asenath Kent, sister, 17, born Wilts Colerne
John Woodham, servant, 18, inn servant, born Wilts Colerne

In the 1881 census, less than a year after her son Frank was born, she is in Bristol, staying at her married sister Emily’s home at 25 Centre Redcliff Cres, Bedminster – two doors from the address where Frank Ward was born in 1880 [RG11/2453 f84]:

Kennedy Brown, head, 29, draper, born Argyll Scotland
Emily A Brown, wife, 30, born Colerne Wilts
Emily K Brown, 4, born Bristol
Mary F Brown, 3, born Bristol
Hugh B Brown, 11m born Bristol
Mary A Kent, 35, visitor, milliner and dressmaker, born Marshfield Glos
Robert Elliott, servant, 30, draper’s asst, born Scotland
William Thorne, servant, 20, draper’s asst, born Scotland
David Brown, servant, 13, messenger, born Scotland
Laura Squires, servant, 17, dom servant, born Wick Glos
Mary A Flower, servant, 13, dom servant, born Westbury on Trym

Kennedy Brown married Emily Aquila Kent (Mary Ann’s sister) in 1875 in Wiltshire [1875 sept Wiltshire 5a, 93]

Mary Ann Kent died on 3 May 1887 at Colerne, when she was 44 years old. She was given as the daughter of Thomas Kent, a saddler, and the cause of death was Pneumonia 8 days, pleuritis 4 days – certified by Algernon Ludlow MRC. The death was reported by G J Kent of Ford, niece, present at the death (source Death Certificate)

Tragically, she died just six days before her mother Harriet Kent (see below) The niece who reported both Mary Ann and her mother’s deaths was Georgina Jessie Kent, Jesse’s daughter. In 1881 she was aged 12 and was living at the White Hart Inn in Ford with her parents, but by 1891 she had moved back to Rose Cottage in Colerne with her grandfather.

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