Henry Franceys 1688?-1748

Henry FRANCEYS or FRANCIS 1688?-1748

Biographical Note

Son of William Franceys of Derby, apothecary and sometime mayor there. BA Emmanuel College, Cambridge 1709, MA 1713; Venn adds that he was ordained and maybe rector of Caldecote, but this must be a different Franceys; Henry's will makes it clear that he followed his father's profession as apothecary in Derby. An 18th-century building in Derby Market Place, still known as Franceys House, was probably begun to be built by William and improved by Henry.

Books

Franceys used an engraved armorial bookplate (Franks 11184). The extent of his library is not known; in the main part of his will, he left most of his property in trust for the benefit of his daughter Dorothy Ashby, and her daughter. In a codicil, he added that his friend Basil Nicoll was to receive "all my physic books my silver cupping glasses ... all my recipies particularly for my fam'd convulsive powder and pill powder".

Sources

• Will of Henry Franceys, The National Archive PROB 11/760/231.
• Derbyshire's lost houses.
• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Venn, J. and J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge, 1922.