Mary Ann Eliza Highatt then Pierse (née Tharp)

Mary Ann Eliza Pierse (née Tharp), youngest daughter of John Tharp of Chippenham Park, who claimed as mother and natural guardian of her son Henry Stogdon Highatt, the heir at law of her [first] husband John Stogdon Highatt.

1. Mary Ann Elizabeth Tharp, daughter of John and Ann Tharp, was born 11/03/1801 and baptised in Trinity Church, Marylebone in August 1801. By this date, Ann had embarked on an affair with her stepdaughter's husband Rev. Richard Burton Burton Phillipson, so John Tharp may not have been Mary Ann Elizabeth Tharp's father. Her marriage notice gives her father as John Tharp but she is not mentioned in his will.

2. Marriage Monday at Bramford Speke, John Stogdon Highatt of the Island of Jamaica to Mary Ann Eliza, youngest daughter of the late John Tharp Esq., of Chippenham Park [in August 1824]. Two sons: Henry Stogden and Robert Pallmer, baptised in Brampford Speke, Devon in 1826 and 1827. Possibly another son John born c. 1829, see census of 1841 below. John Stogden Highatt died on board the Clara, Captain Thomas commander, on his passage to Jamaica, and was buried in Brampford Speke, Devon, 28/03/1831 age 26 years. Administration of the will of John Stogdon Highatt of St Thomas Devon was granted 30/06/1840 - he was the son of Richard Highatt of Kingston and Elizabeth Stogdon of Trelawny.

3. Mary Ann Elizabeth Highatt of Marylebone married Richard William Peirce of Fordington, Dorset, in Trinity Church, Marylebone, 07/08/1831. For reasons unknown, the appear to have married again, at Brampford Speke, 23/10/1831. There appears to be no press notices for the first marriage but for the second there are at least four. One of the witnesses to the first marriage was Wilhelmina Woolery. She was a first cousin of John Stogdon Highatt and a residuary legatee in his will, and four years later would marry Thomas Ellis Adlington, one of the awardees of Orange Grove estate.

4. Living in Londonderry, Yorkshire, in the census of 1841, age 36, with Richard Pierce age 36, of independent means, Arabella age 6 (born in county), John Highatt age 12, 1 male servant and 2 female servants. At Register House, Zetland Street, North Allerton in the census of 1851, age 46, with husband Richard William Pierce, age 46, Registrar of Deeds for North Riding, daughter Arabella Georgiana age 16, 1 male servant and 2 female servants. At the same address in 1871. Richard William Pierce died in 1872 (effects under £4,000).

5. Mary Ann Eliza Pierse died 18/02/1885 in Bournemouth. Her address on her death certificate was Undercliff, South Cliff, Bournemouth.

6. The only child of his second marriage was Arabella Georgiana Peirse, b.1835, who married Thomas George Duncombe at Tynemouth on 27/07/1853. He was the son of Slingsby Duncombe and grandson of Charles Slingsby Duncombe, the unsuccessful claimant to the Morning Star estate. In 1881 the couple could be found at 25 Queen’s Gate, London along with their seven children, a governess and ten servants.

T71/874 Trelawny No. 184 (which gives her husband as John Hogdon Highatt).

1. Ancestry.com, England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database online]. See separate entry for John Tharp II, of Chippenham Park.

2. Trewmans Exeter Flying Post August 19 1824 http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Samples/elsewher.htm [accessed 29/03/2011]; Familysearch.org batch no. C05039-1; Findmypast.co.uk, Devon Burials [database online]; PROB 11/1929; Trelawny Register B0006 I p. 142 http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/R/Rw_f-l.htm [accessed 29/03/2011]; PROB 11/1929/204.

3. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online]; email from James Evans, 18/04/2017 sourced to Entry 55, page 19, Marriage Register 1831/32 Brampford Speke parish (Devon Record Office) and Dorset County Chronicle, 27/10/1831 and others.

4. 1841, 1851, 1871and 1881 censuses online; National Probate Calendar 1872.

5. Email from James Evans 11/05/2017 sourced to: The Times 21/02/1885; death certificate of Mary Ann Eliza Pierse.

6. Email from James Evans 11/05/2017 sourced to: Liverpool Mercury, 05/08/1853; 1881 census online.

We are grateful to James Evans for his assistance with compiling this entry.