Taphophile Tragics - Dr Alfred and Frances Maria Playne

Monument to Alfred and Frances Maria Playne, St Luke's Churchyard, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England.

"In loving memory of Alfred Playne died Sept. 9th 1908. Aged 79 years.  Also Frances Maria his beloved wife died Sept. 21st 1871.  Aged 42 years. - The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God."

Frances Maria Playne was born Frances Maria Clifford in 1829 in Camberwell, Surrey to William Clifford, a newspaper agent and his wife Mary Maria Newcomb.

I cannot locate Frances or her family on the 1841 Census.  However, on the 1851 Census, Frances aged twenty two is living with her parents and her siblings, Joseph, Ellen and Emma, at 3 Bedford Terrace in Lambeth, Surrey.

Alfred Playne was born in Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire in 1829 to Peter Playne, a woollen cloth manufacturer, and his wife Ann Dancey.

Again I am unable to locate Alfred on the 1841 Census.  Alfred appears on the 1851 Census as a medical student lodging in the home of Charles Gauneisen in Westminster, London.

In 1860 in Windsor, Berkshire, Frances married Alfred Playne, now a general practitioner doctor.  1861 finds the newly married couple living at 1 Northwick Terrace in Market Street, Maidenhead Berkshire.  Together,  Dr Alfred and Frances had six daughters, Mary born in 1861, Fanny Clifford born in 1863, Ellen Armitage born in 1865, Emma Clifford in 1867, Margaret Newcombe in 1868 and Lucette Golden in 1869. 

During the Census of 1871 Frances is visiting Miss Isabella Fleming and her family at The Grove in Cookham, next to The Ferry Inn. Sadly the original building burnt to the ground during the Cookham floods in 1919.

Dr Alfred is at home with his daughters during the 1871 Census at their property in the High Street, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Sadly, two years after the birth of her youngest daughter Lucette, and a few months after the 1871 Census, Frances passes away aged just 42.

Dr Alfred remarried in 1874 to Sarah Seamark Suter from Kent.

In 1881 Dr Alfred and his second wife are living at his High Street property in Maidenhead, along with five of his daughters from his first marriage.  Working as a domestic servant for the family is Sarah Hammerton.  Mary Playne is living with her maternal aunt Ellen Clifford at 4 Clarence Crescent in Windsor, Berkshire.  Mary remained unmarried until her death in 1958.

In 1886 Dr Alfred and several other doctors from Maidenhead put forward a proposal for a Medical Association to help the poor of Maidenhead with the cost of healthcare.  Unfortunately the proposal was turned down as unsatisfactory.

In 1887 Ellen left the family home and married Walter Stanley Armitage, a surgeon, thus becoming Ellen Armitage Armitage. 

By 1891 Dr Alfred had become a magistrate as well as moving to Lynhames, Boyne Hill, Maidenhead. Two years later Fanny leaves the family home to marry Frederick Beames

Sadly Dr Alfred's second wife was to pass away in 1897.

Four years after the death of his second wife Dr Alfred has moved to 3 Boyne Hill Avenue where he is now listed as a retired surgeon. In 1908 Dr Alfred passes away.

On Saturday 21st November 1908 the Cheltenham Chronicle reported -

"Mr. Alfred Playne, M.B., J.P., youngest son fo the late Mr. Peter Playne, of Box House, Minchinhampton, who died on Sept 9th last aged 78 years, appointed his daughter Miss. Mary Playne, of The Wilderness, Maidenhead, and his nephew, Mr. Frances George Playne, of The Grange, Minchinhampton, solicitors, executors, by whom the estate is sworn at £16,223, 2s, 11d. gross, of which £14,149, 12s, 11d, is net personalty."


Taphophile Tragics
Tombstone Tuesday