Introduction                                      finnimore name, finnimore origins, finnimore genealogy

The attached genealogical record of Jeremy Finnimore's paternal ancestral line is made up of IV parts: 

    Part I  deals with the origin of the Finnimore surname, it's many variations and it's distribution through migration to other parts of England, Ireland and elsewhere since the 13^th century. This section has drawn on the extensive work of W.P.W. Phillimore who is well known for his authoritative books on genealogy.

    Part II  is more specific and traces Jeremy's paternal ancestry to the source of what is sometimes referred to as the 'Rexford' Finnimores, the family branch line that begins with the marriage of John Finnimore to Mary Rexford on 3 September 1775 at St Clements, Eastcheap in the City of London. It also provides genealogical information on some of the other 'Rexford' Finnimore descendants. It  has been completed following searches at The Family Records Centre in Islington, The London Metropolitan Archives at Clerkenwell, the Oriental and India Office Collections of archived records at The British Library at St Pancras, the Public Record Office at Kew, and extensive inquiries with the Register Offices for Births, Marriages and Deaths and Local History Centres at Uxbridge and Winchester.

Jeremy Finnimore's paternal ancestral line is as follows:

Father = Julian Horace Rexford Finnimore.
Grand Father = Horace William Leslie Finnimore. Date of Birth: 25th March 1911
Great Grandfather = Charles Rexford Finnimore. Date of Birth: 25th May 1879
Great Great Grandfather = William  John Finnimore. Date of Birth: 20th December 1846
Great Great Great Grandfather = Charles Rexford Finnimore Snr. Date of Birth: 11th November 1812
Great Great Great Great Grandfather = Charles Finnimore. Date of Birth: 3rd November 1787
Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather = John Finnimore. Date of Baptism: 1st April 1750
Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather = John Finnimore. Date of Baptism: 18th September 1725

    Part III mentions some contemporary historical events that occurred during the lives of Jeremy's ancestors.

    Part IV is a brief Guide to some of the Churches mentioned in this Family History.

PART   I                               

 The  Surname  Finnimore  and  it's Variations

Finnimore is a surname which is of comparatively modern origin. The first recorded instance does not date back beyond the early years of the 17^th century. It belongs to a group of surnames which are remarkable for their nearly 150 variations of spelling and illustrates the difficulty there is, especially in the earlier periods, in tracing the history of any family bearing one of the surnames. The majority of the different forms are now obsolete, and some clearly reveal the spelling mistakes of earlier illiterate people. About 40 variations can be regarded as existing names today. Of this 40, the principal families, based on indexed births in England and Ireland for the period 1877 to 1881, with their areas of distribution, excluding London, were as follows :- 

The  Origin  of the Surname Finnimore

According to Dr. P.H. Reaney's Dictionary of British Surnames, the surname Finnimore plus other variations falls within the 'Imperative names' group of the wider 'Nicknames' classification of British surnames. 'Imperative names' consist of a verb plus a noun or an adverb. A few examples can be found in the Doomsday Book but they became more common in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. Of French origin, they were introduced into England by the Normans, however the majority of those surviving are English with some translations of the French.

The surname Finnimore derives from the old French 'fin amour' meaning 'fine love' or 'courtly love'. Courtly love refers to an extramarital code of behavior that has helped to give rise to the modern interpretation of chivalrous romance. The conventions of courtly love require that a knight of noble blood would secretly love and adore a beautiful princess from afar. This 'fine love' was closely associated with chastity thus it was a higher love based on majestic intimacy and unsullied by carnal desires or the political concerns of arranged marriages.

A William Finamur is first recorded in the Curia Regis Rolls of AD 1204 .  He lived in Devonshire.

However, according to W.P.W. Phillimore, the surname Finnimore plus other variants, is local in it's derivation. His extensive research in the 1920's identifies the surname with similarly named place names of local woods, farms, hills and villages in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire and Tipperary in Ireland, and suggests that the name originally derives from the village parish of Finmere in Oxfordshire, about 4 miles west of Buckingham. It is here he claims that the earliest instances of the name are to be found. At the time of his research in 1922 several families of the name were to be found settled around that village, the orthography adopted being usually Fenemore.

The  Distribution  of  the  Surnames

The Finnimores (incl. all the variants) are to be found in all directions from Finmere, but the more important settlements are found to the south and south west of that village.

As  has already been noted, the earliest instances of the name are to be found in Oxfordshire and in Buckinghamshire and are obviously derived from the village of Finmere. Farmers of the name were living at Launton, 1 1/2 miles east of Bicester, which is only 7 miles south of Finmere. The family of Finnamore or Vennimore have long been settled at Wendlebury, 2 miles south west of Bicester. Extracts from the register given in Dunkin's Oxfordshire show that in the early 17^th century this family frequently used the Christian name of Roger. Within recent years descendants of this family, with their name spelt as Fenmore, have lived at the village of Ferry Hinksey which has long been associated with the Fynmores.

Early recorded instances include Hugh de Fynamore, rector of the Oxfordshire village of Shabbington, who exchanged his rectory in 1353 for the Buckinghamshire rectory of Kingsey nearby. Another early Oxfordshire instance occurs in 1449 when John Fynamour of Henley-on-Thames with John Bartlet of Stamford Berkshire, was sued by Robert Dauntesey in a plea of debt.

With Berkshire there has been a very intimate connection. The name is chiefly associated with Hendred and the villages east and west of it. A Thomas Fynemore was lessee of the tithes of East Hendred in 1410. It is clear that Adam Fynmore, one of the poorer knights of Windsor in the reign of Elizabeth I, was of this family, and it seems probable that it also belonged to those who were settled in and around London at Wandsworth and Southwark.

In Wiltshire there was a very early migration of the name before the middle of the 13^th century. The town of Calne being the centre from which later representatives in this county have radiated. Whetham by Calne was even in the 1920's the seat of the descendants by the distaff side of these medieval Fynamores. A Wiltshire settlement which can be traced back to the 16^th century still exists at Netheravon.

In Gloucestershire the Phillimores who were anciently Fynamores from Oxfordshire, still occupy a small but well defined area round Cam and Dursley, with which their connection began as early as the 15^th century.

With Devonshire the name was associated at a very early period for the Red Book of the Exchequer shows that Gilbert de Finemer held half a knight's fee in Devonshire as of the honour of Gloucestershire. This would have been about 1210. The chartulary of Buckfast Abbey has several references to William Fynamur as tenant or witness in various charters undated but probably belonging to the first half of the 13^th century. In 1219 Richard Finamur and Matilda his wife occur as parties to a fine of lands in Woodhewish, a place in south Devon, while the chartulary of Tor Abbey has mention, at an uncertain date but probably about the latter part of the 13^th century, of William Finamor the holder of lands in Lidewigeston, and of Thomas Finamor his son and heir. Again Thomas Fynamour was one of a jury in an extent of land taken at Exeter, 1^st September 1301, relating to the lands and adowsons of Joce de Dynham, when it was found that Thomas de Cyrecestre was tenant of premises in Wodehywysche and Seyntmarie Churche.

Whether these early Finamors and Fynamours left descendants in the county, or whether there were later immigrations of the name, is difficult to say. However there are now and long have been two groups of Filmores and Finnimores who seem to have  been  separate families there at least as early as the reign of Elizabeth I. The former group, whose earliest appearance was at Rockbeare, were chiefly settled along the valley of the Exe, and are still an existent family in this county. A few Finnimores are still found in this area too but mostly they came from Halberton, near Tiverton, some 15 miles north of Exeter. These Finnimores may yet be found in many parts of Devonshire but the more important line migrated from the country to London in the early 18^th century. Of these Finnimores one branch settled in India and another in Mauritius. A brief account of these Finnimores who came from Halberton, Devon, is given in 'Memorials of the Family of Fynmore'.

Another district also closely associated with the name Finnimore is the area extending north and south of Barnstaple. It seems not improbable that the Finnemores and Finnemors of County Wicklow in Ireland are descendants of this family. Obviously the port of Barnstaple would have been the likely point of departure for emigrants to Ireland in the 17^th century.

As might be expected, almost every variation of the name may be found at one period or another in London, the earliest recorded instance being in 1281 in the lately published books of the City of London but northwards, beyond the Midlands, these names until the late 19^th century were practically non existent.

Many migrations of the name into other countries have taken place. Settlements of Finnemores are still to be found in Ireland, their principal residence being at Ballyward in County Wicklow. From this branch in Ireland descended the Finnemores of Natal in South Africa. In central Italy there are families of Finamore who claim English origin, though the Italian Finamores seem to have been settled there for at least 150 years. In the United States there are families of Fenemore and Fillmore who have been there for something like 200 years including Millard Fillmore, President of the United States (1850-1853). In more recent times there have been various settlements in the more remote English colonies. At the time of W.P.W.Phillimore's research in 1922, there were Finnimores in India and Mauritius, Finnemores in Natal, South Africa, Fynmores, Finnimores and Phillimores in Australia and New Zealand. And as this process of emigration and distribution continues, the writer of family history will find the task of tracking movements from the various original settlements increasingly difficult. That said, it may well be that the task could be lightened by the greater dissemination of records now available through the International Genealogical Index  ( IGI ) prepared by various Family History Societies and the Internet.

The entrance to Fleet River (now Fleet Street) as depicted by Samuel Scott around 1750

PART  II

Some Observations  on  the Lives  of  the  'Rexford' Finnimore's  1750 to 1925

c. 1750 to 1850

Although it is not possible to draw any detailed observations on the life styles of the 'Rexford' Finnimore's during the period c.1750 to 1850, it is possible to generally conclude that they were a modestly well off, conventional and upright family of traditional artisans who espoused lower middle class social, cultural and moral values of the time. It is easy to visualize them enjoying a weekend drink in the local pub, regularly attending church services at their parish churches in Marylebone and St Pancras, picnicking occasionally in nearby Regent's Park, turning out in force on the streets of north London to mourn the deaths of Lord Nelson in 1805 and George III in 1820, and to celebrate the triumphant return of the Duke of Wellington in 1815 and the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837, and perhaps, even to campaign in the early 1840's against the demolition of vast residential areas in Euston Square, St Pancras, Somers Town and Camden Town (where they lived  and worked) in order to make way for the new railway lines and new railway terminals and railway stations at Euston, Kings Cross and St Pancras.

Based on their baptismal, marriage, burial, residential and relevant Census records, it would appear that:

• The John Finnimore who married Mary Rexford on 3 September 1775 at St  Clements, Eastcheap in the City of London , was baptised on 1 April 1750 at St  Paul, Exeter, Devon, is the son of  John  Finnimore, carpenter, who  married Sarah Pike on 1 April 1749 at St Paul, Exeter,  Devon. It is assumed he came to London as a young man as part of the well documented 18^th century migration of Devonshire families  to London, which  included the Finnimore's from Halberton, Tiverton and  Exeter.
  
  It should be noted that some descendants of John Finnimore and Mary Rexford claim that Mary Rexford married a different John Finnimore. This other John Finnimore from Whitechapel, also a carpenter, was baptised 2 October 1751 at St George in the East, Stepney, London, and  was the son of John Finnimore and Ann Wheeler, who were married on 7 July 1748 at St Katherine by the Tower.
  
  There are 3 reasons why this John Finnimore is not the John Finnimore who married Mary Rexford:
  
  1)  According to their marriage records, John Finnimore and Mary Rexford both lived in Crooked Lane. They belonged to the parish of St Michaels in Crooked Lane and were only married in St Clements, Eastcheap because St Michaels was closed for repairs. It is unlikely that the John Finnimore from Whitechapel, who stood to benefit on his mother's death from his father's will, made on 23 February 1765, would choose to live in Crooked Lane away from his widowed mother who inherited the estate and effects of her husband.
  2) It is unlikely that the John Finnimore from Whitechapel would have wished to move, shortly after his marriage, away from his family roots in busy and crowded Stepney to the rural and sparsely populated northern fringes of London on The New Road an area more suited to country folk.
  3) As Mary Rexford herself came from Topsham near Exeter, it is likely that the John Finnimore she married was the one who came from Exeter and who, like his father, was also a carpenter. It is possible that his work as a carpenter was allied to the stagecoach business and that he was drawn to today's Euston Road area on The New  Road  because of the new coaching opportunities it presented. It is known that some of his sons and grandsons were associated with this business on The New Road. It should be noted that research into the ‘Rexford’ Finnimore's in London has been made more complicated because of confusion with the descendants of the John Finnimore of Whitechapel many of whose first names and occupations were very similar.
   

• Mary Rexford who was born  in Topsham, Devon, presumably also came to London as a young  woman and, like John Finnimore, lived in Crooked Lane, Eastcheap.  She and John were married at St Clement's Eastcheap because their parish church, St Michael’s in Crooked Lane, was closed for repairs. She must have been a formidable woman.  Not only did she have 7 children, 6 boys and a girl, including, probably, two sets of  twins, but they all survived to adulthood at a time when family infant mortality averaged 30 %.  It is therefore not surprising that twins appear frequently in successive generations and that her surname has been adopted as a second and third name by the eldest sons of successive generations, giving rise to a  family line that is often identified as the 'Rexford' Finnimores.
   

• Shortly after their marriage in 1775, John and Mary moved from Eastcheap, which was becoming increasingly noisy, dirty, unhealthy, unsafe and overcrowded, to the Holborn Circus area just west of the old city walls, where their three eldest children were baptised at St Andrew's, Holborn.  High Holborn was then a major throughway from the City to the west and hosted a number of inns and stable yards for long and short distance stage coaches and private carriages.
   

• They moved again c.1785 to London's northern rural fringe to an area some 150 yards northwest of today's Warren Street tube station near today's Euston Centre. Their remaining children were all baptised at St Marylebone, which would have been their parish church. They would have lived at the southern end of Hampstead Road, then little more than a country lane, just beyond it's junction with The New Road which was built in 1756 and which marked the northern perimeter of large residential estates being developed at the time for the nobility and wealthy City of London merchants. The choice of this site for John Finnimore and his sons, all of whom were carpenters, was opportune. The northern end of  Tottenham Court Road (Fitzrovia) was at the time the centre of good quality furniture makers. Some cabinet maker turned piano makers were beginning to establish themselves in Camden Town, a mile to the north on the Hampstead Road. The development of large residential estates for the nobility south of Regents Park would have provided on going work for carpenters and builders, and the turnpike intersection of The New Road with Hampstead Road, just 200 yards to the east, was close to a number of coaching inns and was beginning to emerge as a repair base for an increasing number of coach businesses that operated on these coaching routes to and from London. And within yards of where they lived on 41 Henry Street was John Leverton's first workshop established in 1789 to undertake carpentry and other building work. The company later moved to Camden Town where they established themselves as today's royal funeral undertakers. It is very likely that 41 Henry Street (the entire street and immediate area was later demolished to make way for today's Euston Centre) became the early Rexford Finnimore family home at the end of the 18^th century and remained in the family until the middle of the 19^th century. According to the 1811 edition of Holden's London & Country Directory, their eldest child, John Finnimore, a carpenter, lived here. John was followed by Richard Finnimore, their second eldest child, a carpenter-cum-undertaker, who lived here between 1819 and 1833 according to these editions of Robson's London Commercial Directory. The house was then lived in by Mary Ann Finnimore, the next eldest child, at the time of the 1841 Census.
   

• For the next 50 to 60 years, the 'Rexford' Finnimore's who were directly descended from Charles Finnimore and his twin brother, John Thomas Finnimore, seemed to have pooled their skills as carpenters, coach makers, plane makers, and coach joiners, to form a coach making or coach repair business that serviced stage coaches, hackney coaches and horse drawn omnibuses on the increasingly busy Paddington / St Marylebone / Euston Road /  Pentonville Road / City Road route, and also serviced private coaches of the nobility living in greater numbers in Regents Park, Portland Square, Bryanston Square, Tavistock Square, Russell Square and Woburn Place. During this  period they all lived within a two mile radius of  today's Euston Centre on Euston Road.

Charles Finnimore (Great Great Great Great Grandfather) is known to have lived in Miller Street, Camden Town  between 1810 and 1837 and John Thomas Finnimore, his twin brother, at 26 Milton Place, Euston Square during roughly the same period. Charles' elder brothers, John and Richard, and his younger brothers, William and Samuel Lewis, all carpenters, also lived within 1000 metres of each other, first John and then Richard at 41 Henry Street at the southern end of Hampstead Road, William at Drummond Street, near Euston Square, and Samuel Lewis at 6 Miller Street, Camden Town.  In 1838, Charles' eldest surviving son, Frederick Finnimore, a coach maker, resided at 26 Wyndham Street, near Bryanston Square, Westminster at the Paddington end of Marylebone Road. In 1841, Charles Rexford Finnimore Snr (Great Great Great Grandfather), his second son, a coach joiner, lived in Little Charles Street at the southern end of Hampstead Road near Henry Street and John Thomas Finnimore's eldest surviving son, William  Eastmore Finnimore, a wood plane maker, lived at 17 York Street, Westminster less  than 100 yards from his cousin Frederick in Wyndham Street. The other known occupation of the 'Rexford' Finnimores during the first half of the 19^th century was that of ' piano maker ' and pianoforte keys maker '. George Hutton Finnimore, the third son of  John Thomas Finnimore was described as a 'piano maker' in the 1841 Census. He lived at 7 Miller Street, Camden Town near his uncles Charles and Samuel Finnimore who lived at No 5 and No 6 Miller Street. Camden Town by this time had become the centre of the piano making business in London. According to later censuses, several of George Hutton Finnimore's descendants continued the association with the piano making business mainly as 'piano keys makers'.

 c. 1850 to 1925

Britain's rapidly growing empire brought increased economic activity and prosperity to London causing families to break with old working traditions and  seek other opportunities and occupations. It was natural therefore for several members of the 'Rexford'  Finnimore's to disperse to other parts of London. Some moved to less crowded north London suburbs like Hendon and Edmonton while others moved further a field. Among those who did were:

• John Thomas Finnimore, born 1822, son of John Thomas Finnimore Snr, Charles Finnimore's twin brother. He married Elizabeth Butler in 1843 at St Pancras Old Church. A school master, he emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand in 1851 on the 'Labuan', a 547 ton barque (three masted sailing ship) with his wife and two young children, Mehetable and Joseph John. The family later moved to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The descendants of their son Joseph John Finnimore, who married Elizabeth Westaway, lived in Brisbane. In 1934, Brisbane's electoral rolls show Elizabeth Jane Finnimore (nee  Westaway) and her daughters Maud Jane Mehetable and Ruby Lilly May to be living at Little Chester Street, Teneriffe, a Brisbane suburb, and John William Alfred Finnimore as living at Chester Street, Fortitude Valley, which is adjacent to Teneriffe. The sons of William Whittington  Finnimore, John Albert Finnimore aged 33 and William Esk Finnimore aged 23, were sadly killed in action  in World War 1.
   

• William Eastmore Finnimore born 1811 the son of John Thomas Finnimore, Charles Finnimore's twin brother. A wood plane maker like his father, he moved with most of his  family c. 1860 to Birmingham which by now had established itself as the engine room of industrial Britain. At the time of the 1881 Census they lived at 84 Charles Henry St. Birmingham, and at the time of the 1901 Census, Frances Finnimore, now a widow aged 84  and  2 of her sons, Alfred and Harry, lived at 8 Highgate Hill Terrace, Angelina Street, Birmingham (under the misspelt surname of  Finnemore).
   

• William John Finnimore (great great grandfather) born 1846.  Shortly after getting married in 1875 he and his wife moved first to Hillingdon near Uxbridge in Middlesex where his elder children were born, and then in 1894 to Winchester in Hampshire where the two youngest children Albert George and Alice Matilda were born. A master confectioner, he passed away on 7 December 1920 at 6 King Alfred  Place, Winchester. His wife Mary Ann Finnimore passed away there too in 1926. His surviving sons were Charles Rexford (great grandfather),  William John ( Jnr), Sidney Joseph  and Albert George.
   

• Alfred Edward Finnimore was William John's younger brother, born 1851. He joined the 1^st Battalion, The Border Regiment in London in 1869 and was posted to India in the 1870's. On completion of his military service there in 1884, he chose to stay on in India and joined the East Indian Railways as a carriage examiner. He married Adelaide Constance Matthews ( formerly Matheos ) at Agra in 1884. Adelaide Constance passed away in 1893 in childbirth aged 32. Their surviving children, two sons, Alfred Rexford  Finnimore and Ainslie Finnimore, joined the teaching profession and became headmasters of St Francis School, Lucknow and St Peter's College, Agra respectively. Alfred Edward Finnimore remarried in 1894 and again in 1907. In 1894 he remarried Leah Janet Dorothy Lester at Calcutta. They had 2 sons, George Edward Finnimore in 1895 and Arthur Evelyn Finnimore in 1897 both born in India.  It is thought that Leah Finnimore and her two sons returned to England in the early 1900s. In 1907 Alfred Edward Finnimore then married Ellen Louisa Clay, a widow, in  Calcutta.  She passed away on 3 August 1925 at Calcutta. He passed away in Calcutta on 17 July 1926 and was buried at the General Episcopal Cemetery on Lower Circular Road, Calcutta.
   

• Charles Rexford Finnimore (great grandfather) joined the British Army in 1899. After a brief spell in South Africa during the closing stages of the Boer War, he was posted to India in 1902 with his regiment the 1^st Battalion Oxfordshire Light Infantry. On completion of his short service military contract (7 years with the colours and 5 years in the reserve reduced substantially by credits for overseas service) he too opted to stay on in India and joined the East Bengal Railways as a guard. In 1908 he married Violet Mary Martyr (formerly  Matheos) in Calcutta. (Her aunt was Adelaide Constance Matthews who had  married Alfred Edward Finnimore, his uncle !). They had four sons, Claude Rexford, who emigrated to Australia with his wife and family c. 1947, Horace William Leslie (grand father) who emigrated  to Australia in 1961, Eric Morton and Ronald St Clair. Charles Rexford Finnimore returned alone to England about 1930 and it is possible that he later returned to India and joined the Indian Police.

PART  III

Some contemporary historical events during the lives of John & Mary Finnimore :

• 1750 London's population is estimated to be 675,000.

• 1750 Westminster Bridge is opened and becomes a serious rival to Old London Bridge which had been London's sole stone bridge over the Thames for nearly 550 years since it's completion in 1209.

• The New Road, London's first By-Pass, linking Paddington with Islington (today's Marylebone & Euston Roads) is built in 1756, with the City Road extension opening in 1761.

• 1760 The City's walls and gates are pulled down and London rapidly expands northwards, north westwards and westwards in the direction of Hackney, Islington, St Pancras, Marylebone and Westminster.

• 1760 George II dies on 25 October and on the following day his grandson is proclaimed king as George III .

• 1762 George III buys Buckingham House from the Duke of Buckingham for £28,000 as a residence for the dowager queens. The house later became Buckingham Palace.

• 1763 Dr Samuel Johnson ( 1709 to 1784) the famous literary figure and lexicographer meets James Boswell (1740 to 1794) for the first time on 16  May at the bookshop of Tom Davies at 8 Russell St, Covent Garden. Boswell became a close friend of  Dr. Johnson and wrote his biography in 1791.

• 1764 The 8 year old Amadeus Mozart arrives in London in April  together with his  parents and his sister. He composes his first two symphonies 4 months later during their stay at Ebury Street, London.

• 1764 The textile industry is transformed by James Hargreaves’s invention of the spinning jenny, Richard Arkwright’s water frame and Samuel Compton's 'mule'.  James Watt makes improvements to Thomas Newcomen's steam engine by introducing a separate condenser and starts making steam driven machinery to perform several jobs which heralds the age of coal.

• 1759 The British Museum opens in January at Montague House on what was then the northern rural fringe of London. (Montague House was demolished c.1840. The present British Museum, completed in 1847, stands on the same site).  Ten years later in 1769 the Royal Academy of Arts is founded with Sir Joshua Reynolds as it's first President.

• 1764 House numbering begins in London and all hanging shop signs on posts are banned.

• 1769 Blackfriars Bridge opens and becomes London's third bridge to span the Thames.

• 1769 Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, is born on 15 August.

• 1770 Captain James Cook lands in Botany Bay, Australia. British colonisation starts  with the arrival of the First Fleet under Captain Arthur Phillip in Botany Bay in 1788.

• 1773 The London Stock Exchange is established by brokers at New Jonathan's Coffee House in Threadneedle Street.

• 1775 George III and his advisers pursue a policy of disastrous taxation and restrictions in the American colonies which triggers the American War of Independence.

• 1776 American Declaration of Independence. George Washington is appointed first  President of the USA in 1779.

• 1783 William Pitt the younger becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain at the age of only 24.

• 1785 In a particularly severe winter, the Thames is frozen solid for 115 days.

• 1786 Somers Town, in the area of today's St Pancras, is developed along The New Road.  In 1791 dwellings in Camden Town are built on plots let out by the 1^st Earl of Camden.

• 1789 The French Revolution begins. Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette are executed in 1793.
  Warren Hastings, governor of Bengal and first Governor General of India is impeached in 1788 but is acquitted in 1795.

• 1797 The first pound note is introduced and in 1799 William Pitt introduces income tax.

• 1800 The Royal College of Surgeons is founded.