Mary Ann FRANKISH

Mary Ann Frankish - Housekeeper to a Dedicated Horseman

William Clark, of Field House, (Old) Goole, and formerly of Winterton Hall, Luddington/Garthorpe died, unmarried, and without children, 6 May 1879, age 70.

He appears to have been, from census returns, a prosperous bachelor farmer  with a keen interest in horses. I have not yet established whether he owned or rented the fine Georgian houses he lived in. 

With one notable exception, the other live-in domestic and farm staff stayed, as seems to be usual, no longer than one census, probably a lot less than the 10 years. As they married and started families, they will have left the household to live independently.  The men’s labour (the ones listed as part of the household, so living in) seems to have varied from census to census, though my impression is that horses, either breeding, training, hunting, trading , hiring out cart horses, or a combination of all, was William’s focus of interest.

1841 he has several servants from Ireland in the Winterton Hall household;  in 1851 3 saddlers living in; in 1861, no fewer than 5 carters; and in 1871 an experienced horse breaker and a stable lad. It's probable that other staff were living in cottages around the estates. 

The exception to this ever changing staff list is his housekeeper, Mary Ann Frankish. Born in Lincolnshire, she never married, and lived for over 30 years in William Clark's household, from at latest 1841 when he was 30 and she 20, until her death in 1873 at the age of 51.  

Somebody, no doubt William, erected this impressive headstone to her in granite, made by a fancy Leeds monumental mason. It’s tempting to look at their relationship through our modern, more cynical eyes, but there is no doubt that they were devoted to each other, and William must have been lost without her.  William gave her the best send-off money could buy, and made sure he was buried nearby.