MORSE FAMILY CONNECTION

MATILDA PHIPPS AND FREDRICK MORSE.

Returning to Matilda (1836) and Fredrick (1830) Morse. Fredrick’s family can be traced back to the mid sixteenth century, to John Morse and his wife Margaret Jones who were married on August 3, 1762. Their son was George Morse, 1758 who married Elizabeth Davies and their son was John Morse 1791 whose wife was Damaris Bailey, 1798. These were the parents of Fredrick Morse (1830)

Their other children were ....

Damaris 1818, married John Morgan

Mary Ann 1820,

Thomas1822,

John 1826, married Damaris Bailey

Edmond Riley R 1831, married Theophilia Whetson

Harriet 1834,

Phoebe 1837, (Matilda’s sister-in-law), married Mark Gifford

Mary 1840,

Eliza 1845.

Fredrick and Matilda were the first occupants of Stone Cottage, Yorkley. Their children included George King Bailey Morse of 1877. George married Edith Matilda Watts, 1876 and they had two daughters Freda Matilda Morse 1912 and Doris Agnes Morse. Freda married a Rennie Phipps. It has not yet been possible to link him with the immediate Phipps family. However, Freda was the granddaughter of Matilda Phipps. Freda wrote a fascinating account of her life in Stone Cottage which can be found on the internet under

‘Early days at Stone Cottage, Yorkley, Gloucestershire’ by Freda Phipps (nee Morse).

John Morse 1791 had a brother George 1784. George’s son was named George Morris Morse, 1815, who emigrated to New Zealand Zealand in the early 1860s. His wife, followed her husband to N.Z. in 1863 taking her son, (Charles Benjamin Morris Morse), his wife (Jane James) her daughter (Julianna Elizabeth Morse) and her husband too. George settled in Dunedin, South Island, and was at first a mining surveyor but later bought a small coal mine on the island.

Another of John’s brother was George Morse , 1784, whose son Richard Morse 1811, was a writer who was known in the area as ‘The Bard of the Forest’. Two of his books can be found in Gloucester Library along with published poems. Richard had four children, two of which, Francis and Emily emigrated to Queensland, Australia. Emily was an actress who performed under the name of ‘Kate Arden’. She married twice. First to a Charles Robert Jennings who was the father of their daughter Elizabeth Esther Ellen Jennings. Emily’s second husband was William John Holloway. He was born in London and became interested in amateur dramatics and formed his own company, in 1880, in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. He specialised in Shakespeare and played seasons in various Australian cities.

Elizabeth Esther Ellen Jennings also became an actress whose stage name was Essie Jenyns and she became famed throughout Australia in the 1880s. She performed with her stepfather William John Holloway and below is one newspaper report.

'Miss Esmeralda' finished on Thursday the 16th. The theatre was dark on the 17th to allow a return of the W.J. Holloway Company, with their star Essie Jenyns. After this season Essie would be off to fulfil engagements in London. On Saturday August 18th 'The Merchant of Venice' opened for a week. "Both Miss Jenyns and Mr. Holloway on their first appearance were loudly cheered, the reception accorded to the former being especially enthusiastic." (Argus) This was followed by a few performances of 'As You Like It' and 'Ingomar the Barbarian'.

Perhaps the chart below can help demonstrate the connections between the Phipps and the Morse families.

GEORGE MORSE 1758 married ELIZABETH DAVIES

SON John Morse 1791 married SON George Morse 1784 married

Damaris Bailey 1798 Ann Morris

I I

SON Frederick Morse 1830 married SON Richard Morse 1811

Matilda Phipps 1836 married Ann Harris

I I

SON George King Bailey Morse 1877 married DAUGHTER Emily Ann Morse married

Edith Matilda Watts 1876 Charles Robert Jennings

I I

DAUGHTER Freda Matilda Morse 1912 DAUGHTER Elizabeth Esther Ellen Jennings

married Rennie Phipps 1864 (actress Essie Jenyns)

Marilda Phipps was the great aunt of William George Phipps 1886, the grandmother of Freda Matilda Morse 1912 and the great aunt of Elizabeth Ester Ellen Jennings, 1864 ... the actress Essie Jenyns

ELIZABETH ESTHER ELLEN JENNINGS (1864-1920)

Actress, best known as 'ESSIE JENYNS', was born on 5 October 1864 at Brisbane, the second child of Charles Jennings, chemist, and his wife Emily, née Morse (Moss). Her father died in 1871 and her mother went on the stage as 'Kate Arden' and in 1877 married William James Holloway, actor-manager. As Essie Jenyns, Elizabeth had her first speaking role in 1879 at the Theatre Royal, Hobart, under the tragedian, William Creswick, and next played in George Rignold's production of Henry V in Adelaide. By 17 she had played such roles as Ophelia, Desdemona and Lady Teazle. Holloway worked Essie very hard; Nellie Stewart attributed her unhappy adolescence to 'stepdaughter's luck', though she was often ill.

In 1884 Essie visited Europe with her mother and Holloway. She saw Sarah Bernhardt act, watched the foremost French directors instruct students at the Paris Conservatoire, and in London saw the actress, Mary Anderson, in whose roles she was to excel. With his own 'Shakespeare Company' Holloway opened in Sydney in September 1886, claiming that Essie, who had not acted overseas, had been 'pronounced by eminent critics to be the foremost actress in Australia'. The Evening News, 13 September, praised her 'pleasing' performance and voice in the melodrama, A Ring of Iron. Overnight she became the star Holloway had advertised.

After fourteen weeks at the Opera House and sixteen at the Criterion in Sydney she played for twenty weeks at the major theatres in Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane. Excelling in such roles as Rosalind and Portia, she gave a much-needed boost to the ailing production of Shakespeare. She became the first star in George Darrell's Sunny South. One reviewer observed that audiences were so mesmerized by her great beauty and fascination that they were unable to judge her acting. Although she showed little original interpretation, smitten admirers claimed that she had 'infinitely more soul' than any contemporary comic actress, and she was a native-born Australian.

At the height of her success on 5 December 1888 Essie married John Robert Wood, a prominent cricketer and son of a wealthy Newcastle brewer. Holloway had plans for her to try her luck in London but she saw her marriage as an excuse to retire from the stage. Later she claimed that although she missed the hard work in the theatre she had only acted for a living. In the 1890s the Woods toured Europe for five years in their yacht Imogen. Essie described their Mediterranean cruise in Yachting Ways and Yachting Days (London, 1892). Her early retirement into respectable and wealthy domesticity made her the heroine of women's magazines and apart from charity, patriotic and benefit performances she emerged only once from retirement to play in a special Sydney presentation of The Merchant of Venice under Ellen Terry in 1914. The Woods later lived at Putney Hill, London. Essie died at Killara, Sydney, on 6 August 1920 and was buried by an Anglican minister in the Presbyterian section of the Sandgate (Newcastle) cemetery. She was survived by her husband, a son and a daughter. Her estate was valued at £1697. She left her 'presentation copy of Shakespeare (1623)' to the National Art Gallery of New South Wales as a gesture to the people of Sydney 'for their loyalty to me'. In 1922 her remains were disinterred, cremated and buried in Waverley cemetery.

NEWSPAPER REPORT ON ESSIE JENYNS WEDDING

Miss Essie JENYNS was married to Mr. John R. WOOD, of Newcastle, in St. Andrew's Cathedral to-day. The event excited great interest, and the press of the general public in the cathedral was so great that the marriage party had difficulty in making their way through the building. The crushing and rushing crowd inside and outside of the building brought about many disgraceful scenes. Some ladies and children got very rough treatment, and many, including the bride, were reduced to a fainting condition. The cathedral fittings were seriously damaged seats, railings, and gas standards being broken down, the curtains torn, and carved woodwork chipped and broken, and all the handsome floral decorations destroyed.

Taken from The Queenslander, Brisbane

The Imogen yacht was originally launched in August 1890 from the Fleming & Ferguson’s Yard on the River Clyde. She was originally commissioned by Mr J R Wood of New South Wales as a wedding present for his bride Miss Essie Jenyns.

HISTORY OF THE YACHT IMOGEN (VERONA)

After her inaugural voyage around the Mediterranean, she was sold in 1893 to her new owner D S Schilizzi. She remained based in Glasgow until her next sale in 1894 when she was bought by K M & N Clark and renamed Katoomba. She was again sold in 1896 to C E & C A Allan and again renamed Tighnamara. She remained in her home port of Glasgow until 1898 when she was again sold to the Countess of Shaftsbury and based at Port Greenock. A year later in 1899 she was again sold to Davison Dalziel and renamed Verona.

A year later in 1900 she was bought bt Col Henry Platt CB who kept her for three years before selling her to Lt Col C Meeking in 1903. He kept her based in Port Greenock for the next 9 years until his death in 1912. The executors of his estate sold her next to Alfred D Broughton in 1913 and he kept her for a year before selling her to Hugh Andrews DL, JP in 1914. He didn’t get too long to enjoy his purchase because following the outbreak of THE First World War she was handed over to the Royal Navy as an Auxiliary Patrol Yacht on 7 Nov 1914.

She patrolled as an Auxiliary Patrol Yacht in the Peterhead area during 1914 and 1915 before moving to Cromarty in the Moray Firth in 1916. She sank on 24 Feb 1917 after hitting a mine and sank with the loss of four officers and nineteen men.

CENSUS RECORD OF 1881

Shows that Essie and John were staying at the Crab and Lobster Hotel, Isle of Wight. Their one year old daughter was also there.

Another of Matilda’s brothers-in-law was Edmond Riley R Morse 1831 (son of John Morse 1791). His occupation was a carpenter and married Theophilia Whetson 1832. Two of their children were Minnie Violetta (Valetta) Morse and John Wheatstone Morse. They, along with their cousin Damaris Gifford, the daughter of Phoebe (Morse) and Mark Gifford., went to live and work in Lancashire at the Asylum at Whittingham. John Wheatstone Morse after retiring from his post as 'Head Lunatic Attendant', along with his wife Emily Freeman (Morse) ran the White Bull Public House in Great Eccleston, Lancashire from about 1924 to Emily’s death in 1940

The Asylum at Whittingham was erected in 1869 at a cost of £338,300.. It held up to 2800 patients but accommodated even more during the war years. This is a huge site and at one point even had its own railway!