hannah mallandain + john farmer wiche

Hannah Sarah was the eldest daughter of James Mallandain and Margaret Layton. She was born on 4 September 1788 and baptised ten days later at St Mary, Whitechapel. Hannah married John Farmer Wiche on 26 November 1814 at his home parish of St Michael Bassishaw in Clerkenwell, North London. The banns were published on three successive Sundays before their marriage and Hannah was noted as being from the parish of St Pancras rather than Stepney where her parents lived so she may have been living and working away from home.

The original medieval church of St Michael on Basinghall Street was destroyed in the Great Fire and was one of the 51 churches rebuilt based on designs by Christopher Wren. In 1831, James Eles included a reference to the church in A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs:

‘The old church, which was a beautiful specimen of the ecclesiastical architecture of our ancestors, was entirely destroyed by the fire of London, and the present building was erected in its stead, from the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It is a plain and useful structure, of brick and stone, of no very striking character.’

In 1892, the church was required to clear its crypt to conform to new sanitary regulations but when the work was carried out, the foundations were found to be unstable and the church was closed and demolished eight years later. Today, the original site of St Michael lies beneath the courtyard of the Guildhall offices and the Barbican highwalk.

The only records found relating to John date from his marriage to Hannah and although his baptism record has not been found, he is believed to be the son of Thomas Wiche, a bookseller operating in Beech Street between 1795 and 1820. John is also believed to have been the portrait painter who exhibited 11 paintings with the Royal Academy between 1811 and 1826 including one titled ‘Portrait of Mrs. P. Mallandain’ with Hannah’s sister-in-law, Elizabeth Hodges, the likely subject. He is listed in the exhibitor’s guide as ‘J. Wiche, Miniature Painter, 12 Beech Street, Barbican’. Although a minor painter, several of John’s portraits are held by the British Museum where he is described as a ‘publisher/printer, painter/draughtsman’ active between 1810 and 1830 and a portrait of Henry Hunt is held by the National Portrait Gallery. Sadly, the portraint of Mrs Mallandain is not in either collection.

Hannah and John had four daughters but only three survived infancy; their first, Eleanor Sarah, was born on 24 November 1819 at the family home on Beech Street in Cripplegate, a ward of the city named after the gate in the London Wall near the junction of Wood Street and St Alphage Garden in Clerkenwell. The Cripplegate ward was almost entirely destroyed by bombing during WWII and the Wiche’s former homes on Beech Street and later Jewin Street were cleared and eventually replaced by the Barbican Estate in the 1970s.

Eleanor’s birth was registered at Dr. Williams’ Library on Redcross Street and a medical doctor and Eleanor Wiche, possibly John’s mother, were listed as being in attendance at the birth. Dr. Williams’ was founded as a theological library but also kept a central registry of births for primarily non-conformist families which allowed them an exemption from baptising their children in the established church. Interestingly, Florence Nightingale’s birth was registered at Dr. Williams’ Library on 12 July 1820, two months after her birth in Florence, Italy.

Their daughter Elizabeth was born about 1820 but she died aged 3 years and was buried at the General Baptist Chapel on Worship Street in Shoreditch. Thomas Wiche, the son of a Baptist minister, died in 1821 and was also buried at Worship Street where his brother-in-law, Reverend John Evans, was the incumbent.

By the time their third daughter, Frances Thomasine, was born on 10 September 1827, the family had moved to 14 York Terrace in Stepney. Her birth was registered on 22 January 1829 at Dr Williams’ Library as well. In keeping with the Huguenot tradition of admitting children to the church when they were 16 years old, Frances was baptised at Savoye de Spring French Huguenot Church on 17 December 1843. She also attended the French Protestant School in Westminster but the dates of her admission are not known.

Margaret Cathlene was born on 26 April 1831 at 28 Gower Place in Euston Square, the home of Ann Searson who was also present at the birth. Her birth was registered at Dr Williams’ Library on 30 December 1831 and at the time, the family were still living in Stepney and John’s occupation was listed as a Miniature Painter. On 4 August 1839, Margaret was also baptised into the established church at the St Pancras Old Church; the baptismal register listed the family’s abode as Gower Street, althought there is no evidence they lived there, and John’s occupation was Painter. Like her elder sister, Margaret also attened the French Protestant School of Westminster.

The family appears in the 1841 Census at York Terrace in Stepney, where they had lived for fourteen years, and John was employed as a Clerk. John’s earnings as an artist were most likely variable and probably insufficient to support his family and he likely returned to the steady work as a Publisher’s Assistant for the benefit of his wife and three children. Ten years later, John and Hannah were living at 12 Arbour Street in the parish of St Thomas, Stepney along with daughters Ellen and Margaret; John’s occupation was listed as a General Assistant at a Publisher’s but neither daughter, aged 32 and 20 years, had an occupation listed. Middle daughter Frances, known as Thomasine, was away from home and working for James Ditchfield, a retired medical doctor, and his family at 12 Taviton Street in St Pancras.

By 1861, all three daughters had left home and John and Hannah moved from Stepney to their old neighbourhood in Cripplegate where they lived alone at 39 Jewin Street. Sixty-five year old John was employed as a Printer and Publisher’s Apprentice. He died at their Jewin Street home on 27 May 1862 and named Hannah as the executor of his estate that was valued at under £600, a considerable sum at the time.

Frances married Aimable Arsène Hengrave in Paris, France on 1 March 1862. Aimable, known as Arsène, was born in Paris to Fructidor Hengrave and Marie Madeleine Prudence Devergie. After their marriage, they settled near the Arc de Triomphe on Rue Bassano which ran from the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement to Avenue d’Iéna in the 16th arrondissement. When Frances’ cousin, Emma Mallandain, provided the details of the family history to JJ Marshall thirty-five years later, she recalled that Frances married a man named Lucien Hargrave and they had two children, Arthur and Fanny. Arsène Hengrave and Lucien Hargrave are similar considering the passage of time and records have also been found relating to their children, Arsène, born on 12 December 1862, and daughter Fanny, born on 2 January 1868.

Margaret worked as a teacher and school matron in Bristol for many years but she never married. In the 1861 and 1871 censuses, she is recorded as a Teacher at the Red Maids School on Denmark Street in Bristol. After twenty years of teaching, she obtained a position as a Matron at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital School on Lower Berkely Place in Bristol and when she retired, she moved to the Queen’s Hotel on Whiteladies Road in Bristol where she lodged until her death on 3 October 1894. Limited administration on her £450 estate was granted to her niece Fanny Gill who was listed as the attorney of her sister, Frances Thomasine.

At some point after her husband’s death, Hannah moved to Paris and most likely lived with her daughter Frances and her family. Her daughter, Ellen, also moved to Paris but it is not known whether they travelled together or settled there at differen times. Hannah died in Paris, at Rue la Boétie 6 in the 8th arrondissement, on the morning of 10 September 1880 at the grand age of 92 years. Her son-in-law Arsène registered her death along with Meinard Wolfer who lived at Rue la Boétie 6 and was described as a ‘facteur au télégraphic’, or telegram postman. Arsène was still residing on Rue Bassano.

On 23 July 1894, Ellen died at Rue Bassano 54, and her death was confirmed by both her brother-in-law and nephew who were residing at the same address. In the death registration, her nephew is listed as Arthur rather than Arsène.

Fanny Hengrave married John Alfred George Gill in Paris, France on 3 September 1893 and seven months later, they married a second time in his home parish of St Peter in Twerton, Somerset. John was baptised at St Peter on 28 February 1864 and was the son of John Gill and Eliza Haydon who ran the Railway Inn public house in the village. John worked as a teacher in Twerton before enrolling in the University of London in 1889 and it appears that he travelled to France following his studies and met Fanny.

Fanny and John remained in England and settled in Hanwell in the London Borough of Ealing where John continued to work as a teacher. It is unclear if her mother, Frances Thomasine, was visiting or living with her daughter but while in Hanwell, she died and was buried at the local cemetery on 13 June 1896. Her husband Arséne remained in Paris where he died at Neuilly-Sur-Seine on 14 September 1902.

Fanny and John lived in Hanwell for over thirty years before retiring to a house on St Helen's Road in Hastings, Sussex. John died at the Buchanan Hospital in nearby St Leonard’s on Sea on 18 June 1936, aged 72 years. Fanny remained in Hastings living first at the sea front on Robertson Street and later on Priory Avenue. She died at the Municipal Hospital in Ore, Sussex on 5 May 1946 and named Ella Marjorie Batley as the executor of her £1700 estate.

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