Talk:Rosa Baring

Problems

There are a number of problems with this article: It repeats much of the content already at Vera Bate Lombardi. including treating the allegations about Lombardis's birth as fact. The woman is probably notable in her own right, but the article is a candidate for a merger as it stands. I suggest the duplicated material needs trimming, and the content edited for a neutral point of view. It also needs the references sorting out. Any offers? Swanny18 (talk) 18:35, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

OK, done. Swanny18 (talk) 20:03, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Rosa Frederica (Baring) FitzGeorge

It is clear from a study of the divorce papers at The National Archives, Kew [J77/327 C527592], that many statements about Rosa Frederica Baring FitzGeorge (1854-1927) and her daughter Vera Bate Lombardi (died 1948) in articles on the Internet, in Wikipedia and in Ancestry.com, are far from correct.

The sworn Petition of Rosa Baring’s first husband, Frank Wigsell Arkwright, dated 20 October 1884 stated that there were two children of his marriage to Rosa: Esme Francis Wigsell Arkwright, born 7 May 1882, and Vera Nina Arkwright, born 11 August 1883.

1. Esme Francis Wigsell Arkwright was, according to the 1891 Census [RG12/585-26-2], born at 26 Hans Place, London. In 1891 he was aged 8 and living with his father at Sanderstead. His birth was registered at Chelsea in the June Quarter of 1882 [GRO Birth Indexes 1a 370].

2. Vera Nina Arkwright, was, according to the 1891 Census [RG12/932-69-9], born at London. In 1891 she was aged 7 and living with her Baring grandparents at Norman Court. Her birth was registered (as ‘Female Arkwright’) at Kensington in the September Quarter of 1883 [GRO indexes 1a 172].

The daughter Vera Nina Arkwright was thus not born in 1885 and it is highly unlikely that she was the daughter of Prince Adolphus of Teck (born 13 August 1868) who would have been only a few months past his fourteenth birthday at the time of her conception (and not seventeen as variously stated).

Frank Arkwright’s Petition for Divorce in which he accused Rosa of frequently committing adultery (at places and on dates specified) with Lieutenant Colonel George FitzGeorge, the Co-Respondent (on whom notice of the proceedings would have been served and who was legally represented), names the children and gives their dates of birth. The Divorce proceedings were also widely reported in the national and local press. That George FitzGeorge was, at the time of his marriage to Rosa Arkwright a year later (28 November 1885) not aware that his future wife had been previously married and was the mother of two children, is thus not correct.

Frank Arkwright petitioned for custody of the children. Both Rosa and George FitzGeorge denied adultery but did not appear in Court to defend the suit, being represented by the same solicitors. Rosa’s initial costs of £12-4-8 were paid by Frank Arkwright. The marriage was dissolved by a Decree Nisi on 5 March 1885 which was made Absolute on 27 October 1885. The Court ordered that George FitzGeorge pay the costs of the action and that the children should remain with Frank Arkwright until further Order.

It is thus clear that Rosa FitzGeorge did not ‘abandon’ her children as stated in the articles. Rosa being the ‘guilty party’ in the action, the children were initially placed in the care of Frank Arkwright, but on 4 May 1886 the Court ordered that Vera Nina be placed in the custody of her grandmother (and Rosa’s mother) Elizabeth Baring as had been Agreed on 19 April 1886.

Frank Arkwright then applied for permission to vary the terms of his Marriage Settlement with Rosa Baring dated 27 August 1878. After various delays a Variation was agreed by the Trustees of the Settlement and this was confirmed by the Court on 8 June 1886 which ordered that £200 per annum be paid to Rosa from the income arising from the Trust Fund, the remainder being placed in trust for the children. Rosa’s power to appoint Trustees was cancelled. On 14 August 1886 George FitzGeorge was ordered to pay Frank Arkwright’s costs of £56-1-9.

Frank Arkwright died on 13 March 1893 (leaving a Personal Estate of £10,217-14-8) and on 7 August 1893 his Executors and Vera’s Guardians were involved in further discussions about his Marriage Settlement and the Trustees were restrained from dealing in the property. On 26 February 1894 the Court ordered that Vera be represented in the proceedings and on 20 April 1894 it noted that she had (on 17 April 1894) elected Elizabeth Baring to be her Guardian. On 13 July 1894 the Court ordered that Rosa Arkwright also be at liberty to intervene in the proceedings and her solicitors duly filed an Intervention.

On 13 & 14 May 1895 the Court ordered that a Report of the Registrar on a Variation of the Settlement be confirmed to take effect from 14 May 1895, the costs of all the parties being paid out of the income arising since 14 May 1895 from a sum of £10,000 brought into Settlement by the late Petitioner (Frank Arkwright). The costs of the Trustees and Guardians were filed 1 August 1895. There is no further document on the Divorce file.

Elizabeth Baring, Vera Nina’s grandmother, died at Norman Court on 6 November 1897 (leaving a Personal Estate of £518-1-1) and Elizabeth’s husband, William Henry Baring, died at Norman Court on 10 June 1906 (leaving a Personal Estate of £84,874-18-11). Their wills may throw further light on the matter.

Vera Nina Arkwright has not been found in England in the 1901 and 1911 census returns and it is not clear where she was living in those years (though her US passport applications say that she lived in England from 1884 to 1914). She may be the Miss Vera Arkwright at 17 Connaught Street, South Paddington, in 1915 [Electoral Register, Hyde Park Ward, Division 3, Page 375]. If and when she lived with Lady Margaret Grosvenor (1873-1929), the daughter of the First Duke of Westminster and the wife (from 1894) of the above mentioned Prince Adolphus of Teck (who was created Duke of Teck in 1900 and Marquis of Cambridge in 1917), and if and when she assumed the forenames Sarah Gertrude, as stated in the articles, is not clear.

Vera Nina married Frederick Blantford Bate in Paris, 1 May 1916, in the name Vera Nina Arkwright and later that day applied for a passport using the name Vera Nina Bate. She made her will (following her second marriage to Alberto Lombardi) and it was proved in London in 1949 in the name Vera Nina Lombardi. Although her age in the 1891 census (as given by her grandparents) is correct, Vera thought, or pretended, that she was born later. Her passport applications in 1916 say that she was born 11 August 1885 whilst those made in 1919-21 say that she was born 11 August 1884.

From careful Court arrangements outlined above it is clear that Vera, her brother and her mother shared the income from the Trust set up by her father. After her mother’s death in 1927 she would have shared the balance of the Trust with her brother until he died in 1934. She may have received other funds under the wills of her father and grandfather. Vera’s limited administration (with will) was granted in London, 21 March 1949 [Effects £4.444-9-9], to her cousin Evelyn Bingham Baring (1893-1966) a Director of Baring Brothers & Co and the son of her mother’s brother, William Bingham Baring (1859-1916), as attorney for Alberto Lombardi.

The sensational stories of a royal illegitimacy and cover-up thus have no basis in fact. It is equally clear that Vera Nina Bate Lombardi (1883-1948) and her daughter Bridget Bate Tichenor (1917-1990), both of whom have biographies on Wikipedia, had no royal descent through the FitzGeorge connection. AnthonyCamp (talk) 10:55, 12 November 2012 (UTC).