to have been victim to Victorian coyness. Indeed, he seems
to have been positively irresistible to women and passion
quickly overtook his mourning when he began to court 16-
year-old Elizabeth Andrewes who enjoyed some local
celebrity on account of being a member of the Andrewes’, a
well-known family who lived at The Aubries in Bulmer -
one of the richest estates in north Essex.15 Through careful
patronage they, the Fosters and the Molyneux family, were
contemporaries, as were most of the tightly knit East
Anglian squireachy. But they did have a lot to live up to -
the better known member of the Andrewes family was the
Squire of Bulmer, Robert Andrewes, who along with his
wife was painted by a 22-year-old Thomas Gainsborough.

Coote  and  Son  to  auction  off  George’s  substantial
ownership of the village. This included:

 ‘numerous  lots,  the  important  Foxearth  Brewery.  Erected in
the  most  substantial  modern  manner,  with  Brewery  House,

managers  residence,  extensive  premises,  beerhouse,  gardens
and  paddocks,  in  occupation  of  Mr  David  Ward,  under  a
repairing  and  insuring  lease,  having  15  years  to  run,  from

Lady  Day  next,  when  the  entire  property,  with  its  accruing
increment   falls   into   the   freeholder,   thus   rendering   it   an
investment far superior to Consoles.’

 And this was not the only property to go to auction. By
agreement with her husband’s executors17, Elizabeth Foster
had moved to The Cottage, now for auction came:

John Foster was a good friend to Elizabeth’s father (The
Rector of Bulmer) and although the family were rich, much
of their wealth was tied up in property. From surviving
records we know that the rector lent the family money;
later waving the debt in exchange for Elizabeth’s hand in
marriage, perhaps as part of a complex dowry arrangement
– they married at Foxearth on Elizabeth’s 18th birthday.

‘several small occupations, ‘Model Dwellings’, numerous cot-
tages and gardens, a blacksmiths shop, etc. forming almost the
entire pretty village of  Foxearth. .The advowson and right of

Patronage  and   Perpetual   Presentation   to  the   Rectory   or
Parish  Church  of   Foxearth,  with   charming  residence  and
grounds,  a  highly  restored  and  beautifully  adorned  church,

about  23  acres  of  Glebe  Lands,  and  commuted  tithe  rent
charge of £ 443 per annum.’

The proof that associates the Foster family to the
brewery and the Ward‘s is clear cut. The indisputable
evidence comes in 1894 following the death of George
Anthony’s heir his grandson William Francis Foster, who
had died twelve months earlier. George had entrusted his
estate to his brother John, his son Henry Marshall Foster
and Henry Crabb Canham, a friend and solicitor who was a
partner at Andrewes, Andrewes and Canham in nearby
Long Melford. Sadly both George and his son died in the
same year16 leaving Canham as the only surviving executor
to the estate, proceeds of which were to go to George’s wife.
That July he instructed the Sudbury auctioneers George

Naturally David Ward was anxious that his numerous
rivals would be defeated in acquiring the brewery and most
of the other property. Within a short space of time he
managed to secure enough funds to buy the majority of the
Foster estate. He bought everything except the rights to the
living of the parish, the church, rectory and glebeland. The
brewery and land was bought by private treaty for just

Intercessionaries including Elizabeth Foster helped the
deal through, with the proviso that the necessary money
would be paid in one lump sum. Unfortunately Victorian
obscurity precludes us learning anything more but it is

 Rev Henry Marshall, curate at St Mary’s Reading, died April
9 1885 aged 27; his father died 30 October the same year. Both
are buried at Foxearth in the Foster family plot.

William Henry Irvine (nephew) William Francis Foster
(grandson) who died 1893 and Henry Crabb Canham (family
solicitor).