It is astonishing to think, given her first hand knowledge of the expense and effort required to conduct litigation, that Maria did not write a will and that, like her father, she died intestate. Yet she did and once again the Rubidge family was involved in litigious affairs, this time to try to claim a valuable inheritance. Maria, of the parish of St Ann and St Agnes near Aldersgate, London is alleged to have been born in 1777 and married Aquila BROWN, a merchant from Baltimore, in 1792. Her father Anthony gave permission for this marriage as she was under age. She died in 1871 making her 94 on death. However, her age at the 1861 census and on her death record gives 89 making a birth year of 1782. Other reports give her age at 93 making 1777 the more probable year of birth. She and Aquila Brown had one child, Harriet Mangin Brown who married the Comte d'Orta, later Viscount D'Alte. Harriet died before her mother's death and is buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in a listed monument. Maria and her sister Elizabeth had an unsettled childhood. The family lived in a corner of what is now Guy's Hospital in Turret House in Lambeth, once occupied by John Tradescant. Maria's mother, Sarah KEMP left the family, if one witness was correct, when Maria was very young, certainly before she was ten years old. Sarah was by all accounts a very beautiful woman who had borne a child (Sally Salt) before her marriage to Anthony Mangin. She took up with an old lover, a Mr Darley and lived with him in London for a couple of years after which they went to live in America. Anthony Mangin on learning of the rekindled relationship 'withdrew' from his wife. A Mr Fermin de Tastet, a partner of Mangin was asked to look after Maria who was sent to be educated in Calais. Elizabeth her sister had drowned and was dead before the 1811 court case. Aquila BROWN had a chequered career. He had run-ins with the law on more than one occasion both in Maryland and in England and was bankrupted in America in 1802. He was involved in shipping and probably met Anthony Mangin through their mercantile interests. Maria and Aquila Brown lived in Baltimore for about 10 years and when Maria's father died in 1803, she was living in Europe although not in England. When Maria herself died in 1871 she was not known to have heirs, her husband and child having predeceased her. Her estate, valued at over £200, 000, went to the Crown in 1872. From 1872 to 1874 notices were placed in various newspapers and various would-be inheritors came to light. PURSUANT to a
Decree of the High Court of (Classified Advertising)  There were a number of parties seeking to benefit including Rubidge representation through Eleanor Frances LANE born Rubidge, the Plaintiff above and two, if not three, separate Italian families who claimed that Anthony Mangin was their relative. The case turned on evidence about Anthony Mangin's year of birth and his village and numerous Italian (some considered by the Court to be dubious in origin) birth, marriage and death certificates were produced. In the event, the Anthony Mangin who was born in St Ilario near Genoa in 1735 was taken to be the father of Maria Mangin Brown. The Rubidges were involved in establishing a claim through the relationship of Eleanor Lark PAYNE to Maria Mangin BROWN who were second cousins. Eleanor had married Robert RUBIDGE in 1800 and Eleanor Frances LANE was their daughter and a half-sister to Robert Henry Rubidge. Frederick Preston Rubidge, her brother encashed his life insurance policy to fund legal advice in London. Interestingly, in the National Archives documents for 1872 -1875 referring to this case, there is no mention of a Rubidge/Lane claim. The Rubidge claim was made through Frederick Preston's sister Eleanor Frances Lane, second cousin once removed to Maria Brown, then living in London. Eleanor died in Dunfermline, Fife in 1877 before the case was concluded.. The case dragged on for many years but judgement was finally found in 1880 for a family called FRESCIA who had established a claim through their kinship with Anthony Mangin. The Rubidge claim through their connection to Maria's mother, Sarah Kemp was not successful. Frederick Preston Rubidge should have the last word:" "I
fear the occasion of Sinking that sum of Money in the hope of Securing a large
fortune in England was, like many other ventures, a vain attempt and delusion –
Since my Nephew writes me recently from London, that De Rosay and the Italians
have beaten us in Chancery – the French rogue De Rosay [lawyer for the winners] bought two Shares and
pockets £80,000 Sterling !" [from copy of letter sent to me in 2008 by Jennifer Jones, a Canadian Rubidge descendant] |
