Ambrose Humphrys

London solicitor and apparently a consignee, as well as mortgagee. He appears as a trustee for the Hibberts in St Mary No. 1 (as Ambrose Humphries) and as a counterclaimant in Antigua No. 24 and St Vincent 473A and 474A, in addition to the awards made to him as mortgagee in Jamaica. He left £350,000 at death.

1. He was described as having acted as a consignee in the 1820s in a dispute with Henry James Ross over an estate on Grenada in 1835.

2. An Ambrose Humphrys - probably the father - was a wine merchant in Milk Street London in e.g. 1759. Although Rubinstein gave Richard Humphrys as the father in his first MS of Who were the rich? Vol. 2, the revised MS shows Ambrose as the father. Will of Ambrose Humphrys proved 03/07/1845. He left £6000 to each of his children, an annuity of £2000 p.a. to his wife (£1000 p.a. if she remarried), and £200 p.a. to his sister Frances H. Humphrys. After several smaller monetary legacies, he left the remainder of his estate to his children equally. In a series of codicils, he noted that he had advanced his son Henry £6000 already and wanted it dedicated from Henry's share of the estate; and instructed that the share of his son Edward be put in trust with a life-interest in the income for him, which he was to sacrifice if he anticipated or mortgaged the income.

3. Burial of Ambrose Humphrys Esquire Upper Wimpole Street 21/06/1845 aged 70 at St Marylebone.

4. A number of children (Charles William 05/05/1813; Ellen 19/08/1814; John Anne [sic] 10/01/1816; Caroline Letitia 28/03/1817; Ellen Frances 02/09/1818 and Frederick Green 02/08/1820) were baptised at St George the Martyr Queen Square and are described as the children of Ambrose Humphrys and (variously) Elizabeth Frower, Eliza Trower, Eliza Weaer and Eliza Frower Humphrys. In fact, his wife was Eliza Trower Parker, daughter of Eliza Trower Fuhr (q.v.). Humphrys is described as a solicitor of [14] Harpur Street in the 1813, 1816, 1817, 1818 and 1820 entries, as 'Gent.' of Harpur Street in 1814.  There are also entries for 'Harriet Humphries' baptised 1810 at St George the Martyr and Edward Humphreys baptised 13/11/1811 at Mortlake to the same parents. At some point, Charles William Humphrys became known as William Charles Humphrys; he was William C. Humphrys in the 1871 census at Elm Lodge, Bursledon, Hampshire, and his gravestone gives William Charles Humphrys "son of Ambrose Humphrys, Esquire of Upper Wimpole Street, London": of 17 Anglesea Place and Elm Lodge, Bursledon, he left £114,682 11s 3d at his death in 1883. On his marriage in 1842 he was described as 'only surviving son' of Ambrose Humphrys of Upper Wimpole Street.

1. Times 15/05/1835 p. 6.

2. Kent's 1759; William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? A biographical dictionary of British wealth-holders Volume Two 1840-1859 [MS], reference 1845/32, and revised MS 1845/32; PROB 11/2021/103.

3. Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online].

4. Ancestry.com, London, England Births and Baptisms 1813-1906 [database online]. The underlying images are pretty clearly 'Julia Anne' for the 3rd child and 'Eliza [or Elisa] Trower' for the wife. The burial of Eliza Trower Humphrys aged 62 at St Marylebone is given in Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online]. Rubinstein gives wife in date unknown as Eliza, daughter of John Parker, and a son as William Charles Humphrys leaving £116,000 (William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1883/56). 1871 census online. http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/WILLIAM-CHARLES-HUMPHRYS/7355760#given_names=WILLIAM&family_names=HUMPHRYS [accessed 17/04/2015]; National Probate Calendar 1885. Gentleman's Magazine NS XVIII (July-December 1842) p. 535. The Edward Humphrys who died 'late of Deptford, mechanical engineer' and left £90,000 resworn from £100,000 when he died at Nice in 1867 appears unrelated.

We are grateful to Carolyn Bedwell for her assistance with compiling this entry.