Mrs Frances Walkey of Alphington, circle of Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), previously attributed to Frederick Kerseboom (1632-1690), c.1678
© Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter. RAMM Accession no. 46/1925/709
... Who was Frances Walkey?
From information by Curator of Art. Page added and edited by Penny Sexton, Assistant Curator of Art, RAMM
This is an oil painting of Frances Walkey, who was the first wife of Samuel Walkey of Alphington (1643-1721). Frances died in 1678 and a memorial tablet in St Michael's Church at Alphington records her place in the Walkey family.
According to correspondence from John Lane (who bequeathed the painting to the museum in 1925) the sitter "was the wife of the squire of Alphington." Samuel Walkey lived at the Bishop's Place on a 99-year lease from the Courtenay family who resided at Powderham Castle. Therefore it left Samuel Walkey the principal resident in the social hierarchy of the parish of Alphington.
At present we have no date for Frances' birth or her origins. We know that when her husband Samuel Walkey died in 1721 he was 77 years old. If she was anywhere close to his age on marriage then we are looking at a birth c. 1643, putting in her in mid-40s when she died and at the time of the painting.
There is no surviving will for Frances, only one for her husband Samuel. He is generally known as Samuel Walkey I to distinguish him from his son and grandson of the same name. The will of this first Samuel is instructive. He describes himself as Gentleman and he is "Gent" on the memorial in St Michael's Church, Alphington. His son Samuel II used "Esquire" and his grandson (Samuel Walkey III) became a lawyer in the Middle Temple. There is no indication in the will of any business or trading activities, only an enigmatic reference to an apprentice called Lipscombe. Lipscombe may have been a successor to or contemporary of John Morish who, just before Walkey's death, was apprenticed to him "in Husbandry".
After Frances's death Samuel married his second wife, Sarah who died in 1726, outliving her husband by five years. He left her Bishop's Place (the residual lease thereof) together with "all my household Goods and Furniture and the Cistern in my Maulthouse". The cistern was probably a large lead storage container for water, which was connected via a pump to the house. It was clearly a valuable asset and therefore something worth listing in the will.
Samuel's will also mention five children, one son (Samuel) and four daughters (Sarah, Elizabeth, Grace and Dorothy). It is hoped that the Alphington parish registers will record their baptisms, thus establishing the chronology of the family's growth. At present it is not known whether Frances was mother to all five children or whether some were the offspring of Samuel and his second wife Sarah.
This information was researched and written by John Madin, for the Eye to Eye portrait exhibition held at RAMM in 2006.
Go to the page in 'Local Studies' there is an article written by Rowena Jay entitled: An Old Alphington Document: An Indenture, this fascinating document lists the name of a member of the Walkey family, Mrs Anne Walkey, who lived in the Manor of Alphington. Anne Walkey, I believe, was baptised on the 22nd November 1692, in Alphington.
(see also: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ewh.bryan/Walkey.htm)