Charles Bernard of Frampton Lodge

Owner of half of the Eden estate in St James, and given as 'of Frampton Lodge Gloucestershire' when he made his will (proved in 1827) in 1825. Almost certainly the son of David Bernard who died c. 1804 (q.v.). Genealogical sites show David Bernard's son Charles as dying in 1839 or 'before 1839', and sometimes show a daughter born c. 1830 in Kingston Jamaica, but the will of the Charles Bernard of this entry show that he married Margaret Anne Baker, consistent with the details shown for the man ostensibly dying in 1839. The man of this entry is very often (understandably] confused with his first cousin Charles Bernard of St James (d. 1820).

1. Will of Charles Bernard of Frampton Lodge Gloucestershire [made in 1825] proved 23/01/1827. In the will he left the profits and rents from his moiety of the Eden estate in Jamaica to accumulate until his eldest son Charles reached 21, when from the accumulations would be paid £1000 to each of his children Margaret Ann, Ellen, Montagu and Edward Westland, or £1500 each if one of his sons Charles and Thomas Dehany were dead: he left the estate itself subject to these payments to his sons Charles and Thomas Dehany as tenants-in-common. If his wife Margaret Anne died her sisters were to be guardians to his children.

2. Adm. Fell.-Com. at JESUS, Oct. 2, 1807. Of Jamaica. [S. of David, of St James's, Jamaica; his ancestor, David Bernard, settled in Jamaica in 1688.] Matric. Lent, 1808. Of Eden, Jamaica, and of Clifton, Gloucs. Married Margaret Ann, dau. of John Baker, of Waresley House, Worcs., 1812. Probably brother of Samuel E. (1824). (Burke, L.G., 1937.).

3. His widow Margaret Ann was living at Caledonia Place, Clifton, in 1841, with four children, a visitor and four servants. By 1851 she was living at Over Ross House, Ross-on-Rye, Herefordshire, with two daughters, two sisters and seven servants. She was still at Over Ross House in 1871 with one daughter, two sisters and seven servants as well as a visitor who seems to have arrived with four more servants. The gardener living at Over Ross Gate should probably be added to the entourage. She died in 1872, effects under £3000. Her annuity must have provided amply for her lifestyle.

4. Charles Bernard's daughter Mary Caroline died at Over Ross in 1845 (effects under £1500), another daughter Margaret Anne died at Over Ross in 1865 (effects under £3000) and his daughter Ellen in 1898 (effects £61,510 16s 2d). Ellen was listed as head of the household at Over Ross in 1891, living on own means, with one niece, one visitor and six servants. Charles Bernard's son Edward Westland Bernard, a solicitor, died in 1898 in Ahrweiler, Germany (effects £33,158 17s 6d).

1. PROB 11/1720/306.

2. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online].

3. 1841-1871 censuses online; National Probate Calendar 1872.

4. National Probate Calendar 1872, 1865, 1898. See separate entries for sons Charles Bernard (of Carpenters Hall), Thomas Dehany Bernard and Mountague Bernard.

NB LBS has identified 6 separate men named Charles Bernard, and the possibility of confusion remains: (1) 'Charles Bernard senior' of the 1754 listing; (2) 'Charles Bernard junior' of the 1754 listing, whom we have concluded was Charles Bernard (1720-1790), probably the son of (1); (3) Charles Bernard 'of Bristol' (1750-1797), son of (2) and father of (4); (4) Charles Bernard of St James (d. 1820), son of (3); (5) Charles Bernard of Frampton Lodge (d. c. 1826), probably son of David Bernard (d. c. 1804) and nephew of (3) and first cousin of (4); and (6) Charles Bernard of Carpenters Hall who was alive at the time of compensation and was probably the son of (5). There was possibly a seventh, 'Charles Bernard senior' (perhaps in fact 'Charles Bernard Senior'), active in St James in the 1820s.

We are grateful to David Barker for his assistance with compiling this entry.