Frances Mary GARDINER (née TOUCHET) (1812-1900)

Frances Mary Gardiner, née Touchet (1812-1900) was the mother of Caroline Florence Mourilyan (née Gardiner), who was the sister-in-law of Eugénie Sladden (née Mourilyan).

Frances Touchet was born 21st November 1812 at Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, the daughter of Peter Touchet.

Frances married the Reverend George Gregory Gardiner on 9th April 1839 at St Andrew’s, Clifton.  They had seven sons and two daughters:  George Edward (1840-1897), Caroline Florence (1841-1922), Selena Harriet (1843-1918), John William (1845-1923), Henry R (1847-?), Charles Gregory (1848-1903), Frederic Evelyn (1850-1928), Francis Lionel (1851-1883) and Robert Septimus (1856-1939).

In 1851, the family moved to Bonn, Rheinland, Prussia, where George became the English chaplain.  In 1859 they moved to Paris as Reverend Gardiner had accepted a post as Chaplain of the English Protestant Chapel in Avenue Marboeuf.  The Siege of Paris, which lasted from 19th September 1870 to 28th January 1871, put an end to the Gardiners’ time in Paris.  They left Paris in a hurry, shortly before the capture of the city by Prussian forces which led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune.  At the time of the 1871 census, they were living in Chapel House, Princess Square, Plymouth.

Frances and George moved to St Leonards-on-Sea in 1872 when George became Rector.  George died in 1890.  Frances died nearly ten years later at St Leonards-on-Sea on 2nd May 1900, aged 87.