Thanks again PM. I have just email back to Ms Hernandez - so, we'll see what happens from there....
With regard to John Smith Mansel - I think this is a coincidence. Mary Ann's name (at birth I think) was Goodchild. The name Mansel was one she 'assumed' and was also known by (interchangeable with Goodchild, depending on the weather as far as I can tell)!! The reason for this was that she had two lovers, and Asgill was only the minor of the two!
The main man in her life (for 25 years until his death - also in 1823 - just three weeks before Asgill's death) was King George III's Equerry, General Robert Manners (of the family of the Duke of Rutland). It was he who set her up in her home, where she looked after the six children she and Robert Manners had together.
After she had given birth to Manners' fifth child with her, she then had a child with Asgill - then, about 18 months later - she had her sixth and final child with Manners! The use of the name 'Mansel' was, we believe, to disguise who she was and who she was fraternising with! Indeed, all six children of Manners and Mary Ann were baptised at St. George's Hanover Square with the surname Mansel. Not so with her child with Asgill though.
He, by some extraordinary set of circumstances which have never become known, was born at the Lifeguards Barracks in Chelsea and baptised by the Duke of Melfort - a Roman Catholic priest who resided in Rome but who was in London to claim the Melfort title on account of the death of his elder brother.
How Mary Ann knew this temporarily visiting priest/Duke, and how on earth she got him to baptise here illegitimate child with Asgill is a mystery I may never know the answer to. But the baby was at death's door when the baptism took place.
The oddest thing is that I used to work for a man called Peter Drummond-Murray, long ago, when he was a city banker. He is related to the Duke of Melfort who was known as Charles Drummond before he became the Duke of Melfort. I am descended from Asgill's illegitimate son with Mary Ann, so my boss' ancestor baptised my ancestor! If only we had known this at the time, but we didn't. However, Peter, is (from Wikipedia):
William Edward Peter Louis Drummond-Murray of Mastrick (born 24 November 1929)[1] is the Slains Pursuivant of Arms to the Chief of the Name and Arms of Hay — the Earl of Erroll, Lord High Constable of Scotland. Drummond-Murray of Mastrick is a retired banker and an authority on heraldry who continues to publish on that subject. He was appointed to the office in 1982.
Peter has been a fantastic help to me over the years I have researched Asgill and the co-incidences don't stop there - there is a "White Mischief" (film about Happy Valley during WWII) connection too in that the murdered Earl of Erroll's mistress married a descendant of the Lord Mayor of London (Sir Charles Asgill) - by the name of Gilbert de Preville Colvile (his part in the film was played by John Hurt)!!
The whole story about Asgill is so much more than is conveyed in my Wikipedia rticle about him - so, yes, I wrote the book and Peter Drummond- Murray wrote the Foreword!
No, I haven't managed to get it published - nobody seems interested!
And, no, I never managed to find the baptism entry for Charles Asgill and Mary Ann's son - who was named Charles Childs (his father's first name and the latter part of his mother's surname) - born in approximately June 1816.
The other baptism entry I never found, either, was for Asgill's other illegitimate child - William Asgill - born in Ewell in 1800. Up until a year or two ago the present day descendants of William Asgill believed William to have been the legitimate, but disinherited, heir to the General and that it would, therefore, have followed that the present day Charles Asgill should have been the 9th baronet.
There is more than enough evidence to disprove this family myth.
I have worked on all of this for the past nine years. I have now given up on all but finding the house in Chelsea, so the above witterings are just that - witterings which I hope may have amused you. The two baptism entries appear to be unfindable, and I know when to finally give up!!
So, people, only contact me about them if you know where they are!!
