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Amended: 19.04.2008
Alice (c1864-1952), William (Colonel Sir Walter, MP, Dl) (1871-1932), married to Matilda Powles (c1864-1952) - Stage name: Vesta Tilley - Famous Musical Artiste. Also known as Lady de Frece.
Parents: Henry de Frece and Marion Rowe.
Anyone related to the above? Please get in touch. Thank you.
Regards,
Laurence Asslinger

It ain't really rocket science, Laurence. ;) I suspect you haven't been introduced to FreeBMD (see my other post).


Googled

"walter de frece" mp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_de_Frece

"Sir Walter de Frece (7 October 1870 – 7 January 1935) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1920 to 1931."

Tricked FreeBMD -- suspecting there might be some inaccuracy in the registration or transcription, asked for births of "defrece" rather than "de frece", and got:


Births Dec 1870
Defrece Abraham Walter W. Derby 8b 358


Could be him?

Birth cert will tell!

Ask FreeBMD for De Frece marriages, and you'll find a Henry marriage in 1871 in Liverpool. A second marriage perhaps? Which you may know, of course. ;)

If you do a general search of censuses at Ancestry for surname De Frece, you'll find some corrections to mistranscriptions / misspellings of the surname by an Ancestry user named Hilda, who can be contacted through that system. If you're not acquainted, you might want to sign up for the 14 free days, if you're not subscribed, and send a message!


... Ah, I suspect you are acquainted. In correcting Walter's name (to De FreSe, for some reason), she says:

"Later Sir Walter, who was married to the illustrious music hall artiste Vesta Tilley"

and the phrasing sounds familiar. ;)

Could your Alice actually be this person?


Births Jun 1866
De Frece Adel Liverpool 8b 231


-- in the 1871 census:


Henry M Freece 32 - head
Marian Freece 22 - wife of Henry
Addle Freece 5 <<<
Walter A Freece 5 months
Alice Rowe 17
Annie Wheeldon 17
Annie Burrows 13
Ada Fenoulhet 16
Laura Fenoulhet 18
Sarah Fenoulhet 39

Found what looks like the root household in London in 1861:


Abraham Defrece 60 -- born Holland, British Subject
Esther Defrece 23
Jacob Defrece 17
Mary Defrece 56
Julia Riordan 23


and went looking in 1851, and found 'em:


Abraham De Frece 49
Mary De Frece 45
Elizabeth De Frece 22
Ellen De Frece 16
Eva De Frece 18
Henry De Frece 14 <<<
Jacob De Frece 7
Moss De Frece 9
George Somer 1
Laurence Somer 5
Rebecca Somer 3
Blurnah Somers 26
Mary Banter 21


Name: Henry De Frece
Age: 14
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1837
Relation: Son
Father's Name: Abraham
Mother's Name: Mary
Gender: Male
Where born: Spitalfields, Middlesex, England


Will that do ya for now?? ;) So much more fun than my boring work ...

Hello Kathryn,
I am grateful for the trouble you are taking to help me out. Who are you? Is this a hobby of yours?
What is your boring job by the way? You intrigue me! Are we related by any chance?
Regards,
Laurence

If you click on Trying to Find on the left (and make sure there is no surname filter on), then just browse the threads, you'll see that there are loads of us who hang around here for want of anything better to do, solving people's genealogical puzzles. ;)

After starting my own quest nearly 3 years ago, I found that my gr-grfather had (in addition to a surname he had no claim to, unbeknownst to any of his family here in Canada ...

http://genesreunited.co.uk/boards.asp?wci=thread&tk=976217

... unless the black sheep younger brother of a Viscount tale is true ...) a sister who was on stage at the Adelphi Theatre in 1871, whom I even found a pic of here:

http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/20108

... so I guess I'm just drawn to the 19th century stars of stage and ... well, stage.

My work isn't all that boring, the particular job that's 3 weeks overdue right now is just a bit that way. And I'll tell all about my ancestors on the net, but not about me!

But enough about mine, back to yours -- is that them, and was any of that news to you then??

Thanks Kathryn! Happy New Year 2008!
I will look through the information you have sent me.
My wife has been going on at me that I spend too much time on the computer, so I will have to put the geneology to one side for a SHORT while.
Regards,
Laurence
P.S.: What is all this about the black sheep younger brother........ Has this got anything to do with Vesta Tilley? I have heard rumours in the past about somethging a bit askew, as far as one birth is concerned Are we talking about the same thing?

Nono, that one's my own black sheep younger brother of Viscount myth. ;) That was my gr-grfather's tale, and when I started investigating his real history about 3 years ago I discovered that he had a sister who was on the stage, you see, whom we'd never heard of. She's the one at the PictureHistory site. She seems to have abandoned the stage for wealth and domesticity -- but since I can't find her after 1882, she may have returned to it; who knows??

I just did a google images search for "vesta tilley", and there certainly are a lot of gorgeous pix of her on the net!

It is most probable that she performed in one of Henry de Frece's Theatres. He was my g g grandfather. Who was her agent?
Best regards,
Laurence