Naturalised in 1781

[DebsE]

Hi all,

I've known for a while that my 6x great grandmother Charlotte Sophia Blake was naturalised by an Act of Parliament in 1781 (Private Act, 21 Geo. III, c. 8, 12 Mar. 1781) but have been unable to find out any more accurate information about her or the Act.

Does anyone know if there are any records surviving from this time that may tell me which country she was born in? Would the Parliament Act above refer to a particular country or does anyone know of any naturalisation lists from this time? Given that she married Sir George Smyth, I thought the information on her background may have been more forthcoming.

Regards,

Debra

[Billyblue]

Presumably she was naturalised so she could marry Sir George?

Have you looked at Debretts?

Dawn M

[DebsE]

Hi Dawn,

I've looked over Debretts and every other 'nobility' guide I could find, but none of them mention anything other than her name and the fact that she was naturalised by this particular Act of Parliament.

I'd love to know more as she must have led a fascinating life. She was obviously born abroad, moved to England and married Sir Robert (oops, in my first post I accidentally said Sir George - I meant Sir Robert).

They then moved to Paris during the French Revolution, moved in the right (and wrong) circles, before Sir Robert ended up in a French prison. He avoided the guillotine but died in Paris in 1802. Charlotte stayed on in Paris, dying in Versailles in 1823.

A fascinating period of history and she was obviously at the thick of it.

[aghadowey]

The answer might be here-
http://parlipapers.chadwyck.com/collectionBrowse.do?expandtolevel=0&expand=C17801025,F,C#C17801025

An Act for Naturalizing Dame Charlotte Sophia Smyth, wife of Sir Robert Smyth, Baronet; and for qualifying and enabling her to hold and enjoy a Rent Charge, limited to her upon her Marriage, in the name of her Jointure

[Billyblue]

Well, that might be interesting if one could get into the site.
It obviously only recognises libraries in UK.  Even my National Library of Australia card does not work.

Hope someone gets in and tells us what it's all about.

Dawn M

[jorose]

The act itself is four pages but it's mostly legalese.  They were married 14 September 1776, at which time she was "of" Hanover-square, Middlesex. She was born in Hamburg, was protestant, and according to the act would have to have been residing in Great Britain (or her dominions) for the 7 years preceding the act,  having not been absent for more than two months at any one time during those seven years.

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/110001903
 - this says

Charlotte, the daughter of Sir Francis Blake Delaval, married in 1776 Sir Robert Smith, Member of Parliament for Colchester. Their children are George Henry, Louisa, and Charlotte.

ETA: Although Francis Blake Delaval was British, the issue might have been Charlotte's legitimacy. If she was born overseas, she would have to be the legitimate daughter of a British man; if her father was foreign or if she was illegitimate she wouldn't have been considered British.  By the sounds of things, this may have been the case:
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/history/view-page/item450686/272742/

[jorose]

Since you mentioned her death in France:
http://archives.yvelines.fr/arkotheque/registres_paroissiaux_etat_civil/index.php
 - the death of Charlotte Sophia in 1823 in Versailles can be found here.

She is indexed as Delaval, Charlotte Sophia widow of Robert Smyth and she died on the 4th February.  She is on image 40/183.  Unfortunately the record does not list her parents; it does give her age as "about" 61.  The witnesses do not appear to be relatives.

[DebsE]

Good morning everyone,

Thank you all for your efforts while I was sleeping - that's wonderful news to wake up to. I particularly appreciate aghadowey for finding the Act itself and jorose for going through four pages of legalese for me. I now have a place of birth and knowledge that she had been living in Great Britain for at least seven years before her marriage.

I too had found mention of her father possibly being Sir Francis Blake Delaval, but I couldn't find any link between the two. Most records have her as being a 'Blake' not a 'Delaval' so I wasn't sure if this were even true, though jorose's death index find makes a strong case for this. If she were an illegitimate daughter of his, as suggested by jorose, that could explain the necessity for the naturalisation act.

Thank you all for your help.