Hi
The book 'Sir William Garrow' published 2010 by Waterside Press authors John Hosteller and Richard Braby, also includes the detail of 20 years of the research by Richard Braby a descendant of William Garrow on his family's genealogy.
On Sarah (circa 1752-1808) he states
'Research has uncovered hints of high birth Irish family background.... And then there is the story of Sarah's previous marriage, if indeed it was a marriage. Based on tradition in the Dorehill family, Sarah Dore had some form of marriage to Arthur Moyses Hill....who later became the 2nd Marquis of Downshire.....It is the family tradition that the Hill family disapproved of the "marriage" because Sarah did not bring adequate wealth to the union, and had it annulled. To establish his parentage, William Arthur (born 1778) was given the surname of Dore Hill...'
'...William Arthur received received lifetime financial support from the Downshires, and they considered him in a family way....letters contain a friendly exchange of information on family matters... These letters also suggest that the financial support for William Arthur provided by the Downshires to Sarah as William Arthur's mother, may have also provided early financial support to Sarah and William Garrow as they started their own family. This would have been while William Garrow was a struggling student and then a new member of the Bar.'
Arthur William Moyses Hill married a notable heiress in 1786. He died early and his will acknowledged William Arthur as his son along with two illegitimate children of his, as well as his legitimate children.
Sadly the most disappointing thing about the book is the information that though William Garrow (1760-1840) did indeed 'revolutionise the practice of criminal law... through the extraordinary force of his character and conduct in the first ten years (1783-1793) of his practice during which he defended over 1,000 clients.... after his incandescent first decade at the defence Bar... he became a reactionary Tory and conducted some of Pitt's paranoid prosecutions against radicals. They were defended by his friend and rival Lord Erskine, who became in consequence the man more celebrated.'
This led to William Garrow's knighthood, becoming an MP for a rotten borough and pursuing a career in parliament opposing at times legal reforms.
Though that might have spoilt the book a little for me (I obtained a copy after watching the first series, so my expectations of the man were probably set too high by the dramatisation) it doesn't spoil the drama series since that is 'based' on William Garrow's actual cases and there are a lot to choose from, though the personal events have been more dramatised and the time line of events shifted in consequence.
The family history of the man, his whole life and career as detailed in the book are extremely interesting.
Sarah is buried at Darenth next to the remains of Margaret Dore (circa 1714-1801) and George Dore (circa 1745-1805) who might be her mother and brother.
Regards
Valda