Jane Georgiana Rosetta (née Smyth), Lady Flower

Michael Pitt-Payne

21 May 2018, 14:42

Georgiana Rosetta Smyth was born on 19th Feb 1835 in Bedford; the youngest of 11 children. Her parents Admiral William Henry and Annarella Smyth moved to St John’s Lodge, Stone, Buckinghamshire, in 1842. She married Sir William Henry Flower on 15th Apr 1858 at St John’s Church in Stone. During 41 years of marriage she produced 7 children.
In later years she modelled herself closely on Queen Victoria, being of a similar size and matriarchal tendency. She died on 7th Jan 1923 in London at the age of 87 and was buried beside her husband in Stone Churchyard
Sir William Henry Flower, KCB, FRCS, FRS, was born on 30th November 1831 at Stratford upon Avon. He became a member of the surgical staff at Middlesex Hospital, London, after serving as an assistant surgeon in the Crimean War.
In 1884 he succeeded Sir Richard Owen as director of the British Museum of Natural History and revolutionized the art of museum display. He was knighted in 1892. He died on 1st July 1899 in South Kensington and was buried in Stone Churchyard.

Admiral William Henry Smyth was born on 21st January 1788 at 42, Great Peter Street in Westminster. He joined the Royal Navy on 18th May 1805 and served in the Mediterranean during the Napoleonic wars. He married Eliza Anne "Annarella" Warington in Messina on 7th October 1815 and they had eleven children between 1816 and 1835.
He retired from active service in the Royal Navy in 1825 and settled in Bedford, England, where he established a fine private observatory, equipped with a 6-inch refractor. During the 1830’s, he used this instrument for observing a variety of deep sky objects, including double stars, clusters and nebulae, and kept careful records of his observations. After completing his observations, he moved to St John’s Lodge in Stone near Aylesbury in 1842. His observatory was dismantled and the telescope was sold to Dr. Lee who had it re-erected at Hartwell House in a new observatory designed by William Henry Smyth.
His daughter Henrietta Grace married Rev. Professor Baden Powell and became the mother of nine, including Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell. In 1846 he accepted naval retirement and in due course was advanced to be an admiral. He died on 9th September 1865 and was buried in Stone Churchyard.

I live within 100 yards of Stone Churchyard and I have pictures of the memorial over the grave and withing St John's Churchyard plus Tan envelope of a letter in Aylesbury on 12th June 1856 to Miss G R Smyth at Stone Lodge

Penny Temple-Watts

27 December 2016, 15:06

Georgiana Rosetta Flower nee Smyth (1835-1923) was my great great grandmother. Rosetta (as she was known) had a sister named Jane Phoebe Smyth (1821-1842). Jane was never part of Rosetta's name to my knowledge and according to my family history records. Francis Smyth Baden-Powell was Rosetta's nephew as his mother Henrietta Grace Powell nee Smyth was Rosetta's sister. Francis Smyth Baden-Powell was brother to Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell founder of the scout movement.