Flavella REILEY

		ref N27
Flavella REILEY		no picture
born	c1807 (from age at death) Isle of Wight (1871 cen) bapt view parent's family group

married (1) PR	24 Oct 1830 St. Geo. H. Sq, London (PR) spouse William PUDDICOMBE view family group

married (2)	3 May 1850 Castel parish church, Guernsey (ES) spouse George COWELL b c 1797, England (1851 cen) Earthenware Dealer (1851 cen) d. c1863 view family group

married (3)	1868 (D/1868, St. Geo. H. Sq., 1a, 539) (Free BMD) spouse Benjamin HOWELL Leather Cutter (1871 cen) view family group

died	1891 (S/1891, St Geo H Sq, 1a, 312) aged 83 buried in a common grave in Brompton Cemetery, plot ref Comp AG (ES)

Addresses 1841 census 9, Lower Grosvenor Street, St George, Hanover Square, Westminster 31 Mar 1842 2, Eliza Place, Pimlico, London 1851 census 1, Mill Lane, St Peter's Port, Guernsey 1861 census 16, Simon Place, St Helier, Jersey 1863 16, Simon Place, St Helier, Jersey 1871 census 111, Page Street, Westminster, London 1881 census 53, Rochester Row, Westminster, London 1891 census 4a, Alms House, Rochester Row, Westminster, London

Occupations 1841 census Female Servant (F.S.) 1851 census Earthenware Dealer 1861 census Dealer in China 1891 census Almswoman

Other information

Flavella's future husband, William, was studying to become a chemist / druggist / apothecary when they met. They later married secretly at St George's Church, Hanover Square in 1830 and took over an existing apothecary at 2 Queen's Row (now Buckingham Palace Road) opposite Buckingham Palace Mews. (ES)

While Flavella was expecting her third child, her husband William set out for France to purchase some important drugs, it is supposed. Unfortunately, there was an unprecedented storm in the English Channel that night and William's vessel, the "Camilla", was wrecked on the Casquet Rocks close to the Channel island of Alderney in January 1842. All passengers were lost and only the First Mate survived. (ES)

After the birth of her daughter on 31 Mar 1842, Flavella - now a widow and without money perhaps - went to work as a nursemaid to wealthy family's young daughter where she stayed until that child reached the age of fourteen!. Her own baby daughter was nursed by her younger sister Lucinda and William's family took care of the apothecary business. (ES)

At some point during this period of widowhood, Flavella was living in the parish of Castel on the Channel Island of Guernsey (why did she go there? - Ed) and met a china and glass merchant called George COWELL who was living in St Peter Port, Guernsey. How they met is not known, but George was a widower by this time - his wife Mary Ann having died sometime since the 1841 census. (ES)

Flavella and George married in 1850 and settled on Guernsey. George made a will on 19 April 1853 naming his wife Flavella as his sole executrix and beneficiary. (ES)

By 1861, they had moved to Simon Place, St Helier on Jersey, where George died in 1863. After his death, Flavella turned Simon Place into a small guesthouse and ran it with her daughter Flavella (ES)

Sometime later, Flavella learned from her daughter Lucinda that a former sweetheart, Benjamin HOWELL had been widowed. She promptly returned to London, leaving her daughter Flavella in charge of the guest house. Once back in London, Flavella met up with Benjamin and married him in 1868 - at the age of 60 - at St George's Church, Hanover Square... the very same place that she had married William 38 years previously! (ES)

This page last updated on 01 December 2021