From Upton to Smyth - how and why did that happen?
Did you know that Greville Smyth’s birth name was John Henry Greville Upton?
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Did you know that Greville only inherited Ashton Court because his elder brother died?
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On the 3rd of July 1849 Her Majesty Queen Victoria granted Florence Upton of Bath the license and authority to use the surname of Smyth. Florence was described as the widow of John Upton, late of Ingmire Hall; the eldest daughter of Thomas Smyth of Stapleton Gloucestershire; sister of Sir Hugh Smyth and of Sir John Smyth.
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To understand what happened we must go back to the early 19th century.
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Thomas Smyth, who died in 1800, and his wife, Jane Whitchurch, had at least four children.
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The eldest surviving son was Sir Hugh, the 3rd Baronet, who although married twice did not have a legitimate descendant. When Sir Hugh died in 1824 the Estate passed to his younger brother, Sir John Smyth, the 4th Baronet. Sir John died in 1849 without any direct descendants.
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At that point the Baronetcy died out, and the Estate passed to Sir Hugh and Sir John’s nearest male descendent through the female line. In this case the female line was their eldest sister Florence Upton (formerly Smyth). Her grandson, John Henry Greville Upton, who was only 13 when his great uncle died, became the heir as his father and elder brother had already died.
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Florence Smyth had married John Upton. Their son was Thomas Upton who had married Eliza Way, his first cousin. (see illustration for explanation).
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Thomas and Eliza had four children.
Their eldest son was Thomas Smyth Upton. Thomas had been born on the 7th of May 1830 at no 12 Green Park Place in Bath, and was baptised on the 9th of June 1830 at Walcot (Bath) in Somerset.
The Star newspaper of Saturday 8th of May 1830 reported:
“At Green Park Place, Bath, May 7th, the Lady of Thomas Upton, Esq. of a son and heir”.
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Thomas and Eliza’s other children were: Elizabeth Frances (known as Fanny Eliza) born in April 1832 at Green Park buildings, Bath; John Henry Greville Upton (known as Greville) who was born on the 2nd January 1836 at the Royal Crescent Bath and was baptised at Walcot (Bath) on the 10th February 1836, and Florence Anne born at Ingmire Hall in December 1837.
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The 1841 census finds the 3 younger children aged 9, 5 and 3 living at Ingmire Hall and looked after by 10 servants. The parents are residing in Queen’s Square Bath at the time of the census. The ‘son and heir’ Thomas, who would have been 11, is not with the younger children or the parents so presumably away at school or with grand-parents.
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Thomas Smyth Upton died on March 10th 1848 aged 17. Contemporary newspaper reports of his death give his address at the time as 1 Bays Hill Villas in Cheltenham.
The Sherbourne Mercury reported on Saturday 25th of March 1848:
“March 10, at Cheltenham, to the great grief of his family and friends, in the 18th year of his age, T. Smyth Upton, Esq. nephew and heir to Sir John Smyth, Bart., of Ashton Court.”
Thomas was buried at Long Ashton on the 18th of March 1848.
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Portrait of Sir John Smyth died 1849.
Portrait of either Florence Upton (Smyth)
or Mary Way (Smyth) when young
Image: K5541 ©Bristol Culture, photography by Public Catalogue Foundation/Dan Brown.
Image: ©Paul Mellon Photographic Archive PA-F04692-0023
Florence Cottrell-Dormer, Thomas’s sister recalled her brother, and his death in her diaries:
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“My eldest brother was principally brought up by our maternal grandmother, who, I believe, spoiled him dreadfully. He was a clever boy: he wrote and published a little book called ‘The last of the Vampires’, wrote poetry with facility and is said to have pain 15 guineas for a seat to see Jenny Lind. He was paralysed by a fall from his horse which damaged his spine, and died in 1848, but I remember his funeral taking place in Ashton church, He died in Cheltenham, and I went as a child of 19 in a carriage from Ashton to Bristol, where we joined the procession and went at a foots pace to Ashton church. I remember nothing of the funeral, I suppose I did not look up, for the only thing that particularly struck me were the beautiful shining boots of Mr Gore Langton of Newton. A distant relative who always appeared at funerals”.
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An added note in the Bristol Archive folder of Florence’s diaries records that Thomas died of:
“delirium tremens aged 18 after excessive drinking”.
Portraits of Thomas and Florence, his grandmother.
Image of two watercolour portraits by Nathan Cooper Branwhite of Thomas Upton (1830-1848), grand-son, and Florence Upton Smyth (1769-1852), his grand-mother.
Image: courtesy of https://www.the-saleroom.com.
Just over a year later on the 19th of May his great uncle, Sir John Smyth, died suddenly aged 74. Contemporary newspaper accounts state that Sir John had arrived at Heath House Stapleton the previous afternoon from Ashton Court. Sir John had suffered from epilepsy for about 4 years. He had an epileptic attack in the evening that he had arrived at Heath House, and had died early the following morning.
Sir John had lived at Ashton Court with his sister Mary Way (nee Smyth). After Sir John’s death Mary moved to Crofton House on Clifton Down and Florence Upton (nee Smyth), the other sister, moved in.
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Within 2 months of Sir John’s death his sister, Florence, had obtained the right to use the name Smyth for herself, and presumably her descendants, including Thomas’s younger brother the 13 year old Greville Upton who was now the ‘son and heir’.
Portrait of Sir J.H. Greville Smyth
Image: K906 Sir J.H. Greville Smyth, Bart by Emily Way ©Bristol Culture, photography by Public Catalogue Foundation/Dan Brown.
Florence appears to have been ‘a character’; as Florence Cottrell-Dormer recalled of her grandmother:
​“She was a small alarming-looking old lady with a high pointed cap and she died in 1852 aged, I believe, 85. She left a great deal of money away from the family to her Steward, Mr. Abbot, there was a trial over he will and fitness to make one, but Mr. Abbot was able to keep his ill-gotten gains.”
Chart showing family relationships
