| Description | Contained in a reused account book of her husband Robert Francis, ropemaker (with entries, 1831-1835 and 1841) are records of the births Millicent Francis attended as midwife from late 1850 to August 1851 and October 1861 to June 1875. In all there are 2,650 entries. Also contains near back an account of rent paid by Robert Francis to or by Mr Drew (8 shillings weekly), 1851-1852.
Midwife entries give the name and address of the mother, the date of confinement, the sex of the child and the fee paid. |
| AdminHistory | Millicent Francis was baptised Millicent Mary Marler in Shoreditch in 1795. She was the daughter of a watchmaker, and the middle child of nine. In 1821 she married Matthew Viner at Shoreditch with whom she had five children. By 1835 Matthew had died and she re-married Henry Brinkworth, a chairmaker and widower with four children, at Bethnal Green. In July 1838 Henry died of dropsy at Guy's Hospital, leaving Millicent with 9 children under 17 to care for. At this time she was living at 3 Little Nelson Street, Bethnal Green.
In January 1844 she married a third time to Robert Francis, a rope maker, at the church of St Dunstan, Stepney, another widower. In 1862 her address was 2 Ravenscroft Street, Bethnal Green. In 1871 she was a widow living at 4 Queen Street with two of her grand-daughters. In the Borough of Hackney Directory 1872, it lists 'Mrs Francis, midwife', 15 Westminster Road, Hackney Road. She died in Bethnal Green Workhouse on 17 June 1879 of "old age"aged 83, and described as a "semp stress". |