Samuel Collyer | Fletcher Family Archive

Mary Spencer Chapman

3G-grandmother of Norma Margaret Oliver

Born:

8 Jan 1777 The Strand, London, England

Baptised:

16 Feb 1777 St Mary le Strand Church, London, England

Married:

2 Dec 1797 St Giles in the Fields Church, Holborn, London, England to Samuel Collyer

Died:

21 Jan 1861 Lambeth, Surrey, England. Age 84

Cause of death:

Kidney disease

Buried:

2 Feb 1861 West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood, Surrey, England

Timeline

Jan 1777

Feb 1777

Dec 1797

1798-1799

c1800

Jun-Jul 1801

Jul 1801

Dec 1807

1812

1812-1818

1833

1837

Apr 1839

1841-1861

Jan 1861

Feb 1861

Born on Windsor Court, Strand, London [1]

Baptised at St Mary-le-Strand Church, London [1]

Married Samuel Collyer at St Giles in the Fields Church, Holborn, London [2]

Lived with family at Surrey Square, Kent Road, Newington, Surrey [3] [4] [5]

Lived at Miles's Lane, Upper Thames Street, London [5]

Husband Samuel imprisoned at Poultry Compter Gaol for debt [5] [6]

Death of both her children within days of each other [7]

Death of Mary's father, Edward Thomas Chapman [8]

Lived with family at Circus Cottage, Bermondsey, Surrey [9]

Breakdown of marriage with Samuel Collyer [10] [11]

Beneficiary of the will of her stepmother, Penelope Leech otherwise Chapman [12]

Lived with children at Mount Gardens, Westminster Road, Lambeth [13]

Beneficiary of the will of her cousin, Joseph Samuel Carrack [14]

Lived at Rose Cottage, Mill Street, Lambeth, Surrey [15] [16] [17]

Died at home at Rose Cottage, Mill Street from kidney disease [17]

Buried at West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood, Surrey [18]

Biography

Birth and early life

Mary Spencer Chapman was born on the 8th of January 1777, the only child of Edward Thomas Chapman and his wife Mercy. At the time of her birth, her parents lived ion Windsor Court, which ran just off the Strand, in central London. She was baptised the following month, on the 15th of February, at the nearby St Mary-le-Strand church [1].

Map of the Strand, London 1746. Windsor Court and St Mary-le-Strand Church are marked with blue arrows

The Strand, a major route even in Roman times, linked the separate settlements of the City of London with the Palace of Westminster. By the 18th century, the two settlements had long since merged to become one London and many of the grand mansions on the Strand had been demolished as the aristocracy moved to the west end of London. It was a diverse area, filled with commerce as newly-popular coffee houses popped up and Twinings operating from No.206. The Strand was popular with attorneys, who frequented the Rose Tavern at the eastern end of the Strand where the Chapmans lived and, perhaps not coincidentally, the alleyways around the Strand became known haunts for pickpockets and prostitutes [19].

The Strand looking at St Mary le Strand church c1824.jpg

Eastern end of the Strand, looking at St Mary-le-Strand church, c1824

Very little is known of Mary's early life except to say that it appears that her mother Mercy died young. After her death, her father Edward began a relationship with a woman named Penelope Leech [20].

Marriage to Samuel Collyer

The next record we have for Mary is her marriage to the newly-enrolled attorney, Samuel Collyer when she was 20 years old. As she was under the full age of 21, the marriage required the permission of her father, Edward, which was granted. The couple were married on the 2nd of December 1797 at St Giles-in-the-Fields Church and her father and Penelope acted as legal witnesses to the union [2].

St Giles in the Fields Church 19th century.jpg

St Giles-in-the-Fields Church, Holborn. 19th century engraving

The couple’s first child, Edward Thomas Collyer, was born 10 months later on the 7th of October, 1798, by which time they had moved to Surrey Square in Newington, South London, although they baptised Edward in Samuel's home parish church of St Clement Eastcheap [3] [21].

In 1800, Samuel and Mary had another child, Sarah Penelope, and moved to Miles’s Lane on Upper Thames Street, close to Great Eastcheap [5] [22].

The following year, 1801, Mary's husband Samuel was imprisoned for debt at Poultry Compter, a small prison on Cheapside that was primarily used for minor criminals and debtors [5]. At the time, bankruptcy protections only existed for traders. As solicitors like Samuel were not considered to be traders, which allowed him to be incarcerated by his debtors [23] [24].

Debtor relief laws at the time required incarcerated insolvents to be imprisoned for at least three months before they could apply for release. Samuel started the process to apply for such relief at the end of June 1801, but the process took time [25] [5].

Poultry Compter was situated on Cheapside, not far from where they were living and it's likely Mary was able to visit over the months he was imprisoned [23]. However, it wouldn't have been an easy time for her - Samuel would not have been able to earn money while imprisoned, putting Mary and her two young children in financial difficulties. Samuel's parents had passed away but her father Edward was still alive and had financial resources that she may have been able to rely on.

Further tragedy struck in July though, while Samuel was still trying to secure his release [6]. Mary and Samuel's two children, Edward, 2, and Sarah, 15 months, both died within days of each other.

Edward passed first, buried on the 12th of July, followed by his sister Sarah on the 23rd of July [7]. We don't know the cause of death for either child but the close dates of death suggest it was illness. There were many diseases at the time that caused infant mortality, such as convulsions, scarlet fever, and streptococcal infections. Given the time of year, it also could have been "summer diarrhoea", where rising temperatures and humid air provide perfect grounds for the transmission of disease [26] [27].

This would have been a devastating loss for Mary, made even more difficult by the circumstances of her husband. Both children were buried at St Clement Eastcheap's churchyard [7]. It would not be until two years later, in 1803, that Mary and Samuel would welcome another child, a son they named Samuel Charles [28].

Later life and breakdown of marriage

After his release from Poultry Compter prison, Samuel continued in his legal practice, working as a solicitor and maintaining an office in the city of London, on Great Eastcheap [29].

In 1805, Mary gave birth to a daughter, named Francesca Charlotte Ann [30]. Although Samuel continued to work in the city, Mary and the children lived in the south London district of Lambeth, near her father Edward [29] [30].

He sadly passed away not long after, in 1807. At the time of his death, he bequeathed a number of properties he owned in Lambeth to Mary's children Samuel and Francesca for their maintenance and education [8].

The years passed and, by 1812, the family lived at Bermondsey, with Mary had given birth to three more children: Henry, Maria and Harriet [9] [31] [32] [33].

By this time, Mary was in her late 30s and, it was around this time that the relationship between her and Samuel seems to have broken down. By 1818, he had begun a relationship with a woman named Catherine, with whom he had five children and who he would finally marry in 1826 [34] [35].

At the time, divorce was not available except through a Private Act of Parliament, meaning it was out of reach for the average person [36]. However, then as now, relationships still ended and couples did informally separate. It appears to have been a mutual separation as Mary would describe herself as a widow in later censuses.

It is not clear if Mary was aware of Samuel's new wife and children, or vice versa. DNA demonstrates the connection between both families, with this author having DNA links to children of both wives.

Final years and death

Windmill, Mill Street, Lambeth Walk - Watercolour by H Pyall 1820 - Lambeth Archives.jpg

Windmill on Mill Street, which gave the street its name, c1820

After their separation, Mary and the children began living in Lambeth, settling in and around Mill Street, where her father's properties were located.

In 1833, Mary's stepmother, Penelope, passed away, meaning full ownership of the properties he held passed to her children Samuel and Francesca. In addition, Penelope bequeathed £50 to Mary personally [12]. Mary benefitted from another bequest after the death of Joseph Samuel Carrack - a cousin on her mother's side - in 1839. He willed her the significant amount of £200, worth approximately £17,500 in 2025 [14].

After receiving that final bequest, Mary and her children moved from where she was living at Mount Gardens in Lambeth, and into one of her father's cottages, the Rose Cottage, on Mill Street [13] [15]. She would remain there until her death in 1861 [16] [17].

It wasn't just her children living with Mary in the cottage. By this time, two more children had been born and survived childhood - Edward and Clara. They were both baptised as the children of Mary and Samuel, although they had been long since separated by the time they were born and Mary was too old to bear children [13]. As there are DNA links to the descendants of Edward, the children were relatives but it is possible they were Mary's grandchildren, born outside wedlock. We know that Mary's son Henry had at least one alleged child before he was married (although that child was born later than Edward and Clara) [37].

The children remained close to Mary as they grew older. Daughter Francesca, who was the landlord for most of the cottages and homes on Mill Street and nearby Pratt Street lived nearby in Tulip Cottage, before moving back into Rose Cottage with her sister Harriet. Mary's widowed daughter-in-law, Margaret, also lived nearby at Jessamine Cottage with her children.

At the time, the area around Pratt Street and Mill Street still retained significant green areas. The area was close to Lambeth Palace, the London home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, which had extensive grounds and fields. On Mill Street itself stood an old 18th-century windmill, one of the last remnants of three windmills that had stood in the area, used by the then-vanished market gardens. One can imagine that the cottages of the Collyer family - Rose Cottage, Tulip Cottage and Jessamine Cottage - were some of the last vestiges of tranquility in an area that was rapidly urbanising.

On the 21st of January, 1861, Mary died at her home from kidney disease. Her death certificate shows that her daughter Harriet (and almost certainly Francesca, also) were with her at her death, almost certainly caring for their mother as she declined [17]. She was buried almost two weeks later, on the 2nd of February in West Norwood Cemetery, in the same plot where her erstwhile husband, Samuel, had been buried several years later, and where her granddaughter Clara, had been buried only two years earlier [18].

Source information

Mary Spencer Chapman, Baptismal record, St Mary le Strand London Parish Register [Church of England], 16 Feb 1777, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Samuel Collyer and Mary Spencer Chapman, Marriage record, St Giles in the Fields Holborn Parish Register [Church of England], 2 Dec 1797, Record no: 2091, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Saml Collier, Surrey England Land Tax Records 1780-1832, Newington, 1798, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Husband's location used as proxy for Mary.
Samuel Collyer, Surrey England Land Tax Records 1780-1832, Newington, 1799, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Husband's location used as proxy for Mary.
Prisoners in Poultry Compter - First Notice, The London Gazette, 30 Jun 1801, Issue 15381, Page no: 744 [thegazette.co.uk]. Husband's location used as proxy for Mary.
Prisoners in Poultry Compter - Third Notice, The London Gazette, 7 Jul 1801, Issue 15383, Page no: 791 [thegazette.co.uk]
Edward Thomas Collyer and Sarah Penelope Collyer, Burial records, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], 12 Jul 1801 and 23 Jul 1801, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Will of Edward Thomas Chapman, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1807, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Police, The Sun (London), 9 Dec 1812, page 4, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]. Samuel Collyer was a victim of the crime reported. His address at the time was given as Circus Cottage, Bermondsey.
Harriet Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], 26 Apr 1812, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Last confirmed child of Samuel Collyer and Mary Spencer Chapman. The baptismal record confirms she was born in 1812.
Samuel Thomas Collyer, Baptismal record, St Saviour Southwark Parish Register [Church of England], Record no: 2055, 8 Oct 1820, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. This is the baptismal record for the first child of Samuel Collyer with Catherine Wood Jefferis. The baptismal record confirms he was born in 1818. So the marriage breakdown between Samuel and Mary Spencer occurred sometime between when their child Harriet was born in 1812 and when Samuel's son with Catherine was born in 1818.
Will of Penelope Leech, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1833, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Edward John Joseph Collyer and Clara Rosa Collyer, Baptismal records, St Mary Lambeth Parish Register, 6 Jul 1837, Record no's: 2244 and 2245, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Edward and Clara were both baptised as the children of Samuel and Mary Spencer Collyer. Their address is given as Mount Gardens. Although it is unlikely there were the biological parents of the children, it does give an address that is probable for Mary Spencer, at least. We know her son Henry also lived at Mount Gardens around this time.
Will of Joseph Samuel Carrack, Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1853, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mary Collyer [1841], Census return for Cottages, Lambeth, Surrey, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mary Spencer Collyer [1851], Census return for Mill Street, Lambeth, Surrey, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Mary Spencer Collyer, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 1st Quarter 1861 in Lambeth, Record no: 462, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]
Mary Spencer Collyer, Burial record, West Norwood Cemetery Burial Register, Record no: 17365, 2 Feb 1861, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Strand, London, Last edited 5 Feb 2025, Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
No death record can be found for Mercy, so it is hard to say, however Penelope Leech (who was also known as Penelope Chapman) was one of the official witnesses to Mary Spencer Chapman's marriage to Samuel Collyer in 1797. Mary's father Edward left most of his property to Penelope during her natural life, after which it was to go to his grandchildren via Mary (Penelope duly made these bequests in her will in 1833). This is suggestive of a close personal relationship between Edward and Penelope, which is further supported by her use of the Chapman surname (albeit informally).
Edward Thomas Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], 19 Nov 1798, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Sarah Penelope Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], 11 Apr 1800, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Poultry Compter, Last edited 27 Aug 2024, Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
Wood, Andy, In debt and incarcerated: the tyranny of debtors' prisons, The Gazette [thegazette.co.uk]
1760: 1 George 3 c.17: Relief of Insolvent Debtors, The Statutes Project [statutes.org.uk]
Shulman, Stanford T, The history of pediatric infectious diseases, Pediatric Research, Vol 55, pages 163-176, 2004 [www.nature.com]
Brownlee, John, M.D., M.Sc., The health of London in the Eighteenth Century, Section of Epidemiology and State Medicine, 1925
Samuel Charles Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], 7 Oct 1804, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Samuel Collyer, Law List, 1804 and 1805, The Law Society. Specified work location as 22 Great East Cheap
Francesca Charlotte Ann Collyer, Baptismal record, St Mary Lambeth Parish Register [Church of England], 31 Mar 1806, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Supports that the family were living in Lambeth by 1806.
Henry Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], insert, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Maria Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], insert, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Harriet Collyer, Baptismal record, St Clement Eastcheap Parish Register [Church of England], insert, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
Samuel Thomas Colyear, Baptismal record, St Saviour Southwark Parish Register [Church of England], 8 Oct 1820, Record no: 2055, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Baptismal record notes that Samuel was born in 1818. This is the earliest confirmed date for the relationship between Samuel Collyer and Catherine Wood Jefferis. DNA confirms relationship to descendants of the children of Samuel and Catherine.
Samuel Collyer and Catherine Wood Jefferis, Marriage record, St Mary Lambeth Parish Register [Church of England], 20 Apr 1826, Record no: 136, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Samuel is noted as a widower, although his wife Mary was still alive.
Obtaining a divorce, UK Parliament [www.parliament.uk]
Affiliation upon a lawyer, The Satirist or The Censor of the Times, 10 Jul 1831, page 8, FindMyPast [www.findmypast.co.uk]. This article relates to a child paternity case involving Mary's son, Henry.