Frances Astley

Frances Astley - Lady Harris - d. 1632

Lady Harris, Frances Astley, was the wife of Sir William Harris.

Lady Harris, the mother of Frances Rayond, died 1632 (her daughter, also Frances and wife of Oliver died 1678). I think she is listed on the family memorial.

She features in the Records of the Smythies Family.

The daugter of Sir William and Frances, another Frances, was the wife of Oliver Rayond of Belchamp Hall. The reasons for how the marriage came about is not well documented, however, John Raymond I, of Belchamp Hall, is recorded as 'a member of the County Committee for the selection of "Ministers"'.

I previously speculated that Frances Astley, the daughter of William and Frances, was a court clerk of The Committee of Plundered Ministers.
She was Frances Harris at the time i.e. before she married Oliver Raymond.
However, this could be Francis not Frances, i.e. male not female.

While there was much going on with regard to the Puritan/Catholic/Protestant situation and there appear to have been an expulsion the Reverand William Smythies in 1643, I may have speculated too far.

The Committee of Plundered Ministers was set up by the Puritan party in 1643, during the English Civil War, for the purpose of replacing those clergy who were loyal to the King. These displaced clergy were described as 'scandalous', though this mainly related to their political and theological views. The Committee heard evidence, often from local parishioners, of the misdeeds of the parish priest. If the allegations were proved, the rector would be removed from his position, and his goods and monies sequestrated.

William Smythies "resigned" his position as Parish priest in 1643 and was "appointed" to preach in Gosfield.

The paintings of the Harris' hanging in Belchamp Hall

The text is from the Records of the Smythies Family. The subsequent marriage of her daughter Margaretta to the Rev. Samuel Raymond of Belchamp Hall, Walter Belchamp, formed the first link between the Smythies and Raymond families.

Sir William Harris of Shenfield Manor, co. Essex, who served against the Spanish Armada, ancestor of Mrs. Henry Yeats Smythies and earlier descendants, From an oil-painting attributed to Zucehero, and dated 1596.
Lady Harris (nee Frances Astley), ancestress of Mrs. Henry Yeats Smythies and her descendants. From the oil-painting (pair to that of Sir William Harris) attributed to Zucehero, and dated 1596

When searching for Frances Astley the results below appear:

I am not sure how the search result got to be the way that Google have presented it. I was just searching for Frances Astley as I delving deeper into the Alan Freer research and clicked back down to William Harris.

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The screen-capture shows that St. Clere was the grandson of Lady Harris, but I am still at a loss to know why he and Anne Warkham were disinherited. There is no further information in the ancestors.familysearch.org web page but I think that the summary on the SERP was generated from there.

Harris reference

Harris: From Essex, England and Allied Families Vol II F.G. Harris - was found on familysearch.org.

" When Frances Astley was born in 1570, in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom, her father, Thomas Astley, was 68 and her mother, Margaret Denny, was 34. She married Sir William Harris in 1590, in Placé, Maine, France. They were the parents of at least 8 sons and 5 daughters.
She died in 1632, in Essex, England, United Kingdom, at the age of 62.

familysearch.org is not a "reliable" source in my opinion as it is often just a dump from Ancestry.com/GEDCOM.

The book Harris: From Essex, England and Allied Families Vol II F.G. Harris is availble to purchase. At the moment I can't find a publically available copy.

Frances Astley - Lady Harris - d. 1632

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