On 1 Oct 1754 when Thomas was 23, he married Frances Mount CHILDEROY in St Mary Church, Amport, Hampshire, England. Born abt 1739 in France? Frances Mount died in 1829; she was 90.
Family legend:
- An orphaned French heiress (probably Francoise de Mont Childeroy) adopted by the Comptons [Thomas and Ann] as a small child. We think this occurred through the family’s connection to the Winchester family (Marquess of Winchester). Thomas was Norton Powlett’s executor. Experts think Frances may have been:
1) a child of Norton with a French aristocratic lady
2) a Bourbon bastard, there were many, whom Norton took on and found a home for. She came with a “bag of gold”.
She later married her adoptive brother Thomas.
... a variation of the legend:
Thomas Compton (1705-91) is said to have bought [brought] a French orphan home and adopted her. Her name was Frances Mount Childeroy who was born in 1739.
The legend expanded to make her an heiress as well as an orphan (did her parents die in a carriage crash?) and to have brought a bag of gold with her.
In October 1754 she was wed to Thomas` son, Thomas, at Amport church, and it was said that she was given the gold which was then taken away. Her signature in the registry is remarkably neat and adult. Giving birth to her first at seventeen she then had eleven more over a period of twenty five years.
RESEARCH NOTES:
- name previously recorded as Anne (mixed generations).
- birth year may be 1733 or 1739 - said to be age 15 when married, which would imply 1739 birth.
From other researchers:
- 2009: We have never traced the Mont Childeroys. The -roy ending meands "king" a little like Childe Harold of Byron when a childe was a squire. The -roy ending is found in place names in Normandy, like Pomeroy. The red herring was info that Harry lived in Brittany and everyone thought his French mum was from there. Later we found otherwise via various false trails.
- 2013 Re: Childeroy. We are beginning to think the French orphan is a story. Via Google I have found 4 in London, and 3 in Berkshire. All in the 1740s. It is probably an English name, in Scotland there is Gilderoy. In the library of Helsinki University is a book of French surnames, Childeroy is not there. The search continues...
- 2015 The French deny it as a French name, even though it sounds like one. The Childeroy/Childereys we have found are Mostly in Berkshire, not so far from Amport. They date from the first half of the 18th century. Back in their line is one who married a Frances Mountegue.
- on familysearch.org there is a Mary Childeroy, christened 21 Jun 1747 , St Mary Whitechapel, Stepney, London, daughter of Abraham and Mary Childeroy. Also an Anne Childeroy, born about 1736, Tyne Valley, PEI [likely erroneous], married to Thomas Compton.