The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.2 | September 2022

Searchers/Member’s article

Florida; I am the UK contact for the study. I have a large tree for the Hampshire & Westbourne Boyett family as well as a Boyt One Name Study registered with the Guild of One Name Studies and welcome any queries.

forth over the years. There are also branches of this family in Pembrokeshire. The study is registered with Family Tree DNA https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/boyet te/about and is managed by David Boyett in

A message from Uncle Bob

Waiting to the Duchess of Edinburgh - so the couple both had royal connections. Two daughters were born to Francis and Harriot - Claudia Mary in 1887 and Harriot Elizabeth in late summer of the following year. Sadly, very shortly after the latter event, Harriot senior died at their home in Eastney Barracks in Portsmouth. The 1891 census shows the 49 year old widower Francis - a Lt Col in the Royal Marines Artillery - on Portsea Island with Claudia and Harriot. In August 1894, Harriot was given the Book of Common Prayer by ‘Uncle Bob’. This must have been for her 5th birthday or the anniversary of her mother’s death. The giver was probably her mother’s brother, Rev Canon Hon Robert GRIMSTON . Two years later, he married Gertrude Mary Amelia Villiers and became Dean of St Albans. Harriot’s father, Francis, retired and the 1901 census found him with the rank of Major General at St Helen’s Parade in Portsmouth with his two girls. Both married in 1916 with Harriot’s husband being Lionel George FOOTE - a Navy Lt Commander. When Harriot died in 1966 - did she still have her Book of Common Prayer? and how did it find its way to Alton? Jane Hurst (Member #6392)

While clearing out some books from a neighbour’s house, I came across a Book of Common Prayer with the following inscription: Harriot Elizabeth Poore with best love

and good wishes from Uncle Bob August 1894 Eastney Barracks Portsmouth.

On searching for Harriot, I found that there had been two people with that name. The first was born Harriot Elizabeth GRIMSTON and was the daughter of James Walter GRIMSTON , 2nd Earl of Verulam, and his wife, Elizabeth Joanna. On 24th March 1885, Harriot married Andover-born Francis Harwood POORE in the St Albans area. In the 1881 census, Francis had been in the Portsea district - single and a Captain in the Royal Marines Artillery. Various web sites say that Francis was Equerry to the then Duke of Edinburgh and the Royal Collection Trust has a carte-de-visite of Francis (RCIN 2584052, dated 1877) that was ‘acquired by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh’. In the same year as the photograph, Harriot was a Lady-in

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