Rooted Lines Genealogy

Professional Genealogist and Researcher

The Knight of the Strand: From Newcastle Carpenter to Royal Bodyguard

Sir Fenwick Bulmer

Every life story contains the tension between origin and destiny. For Sir Fenwick Bulmer, that journey began in the humble world of a Newcastle tradesman and ended in the rarefied air of the King’s court.

Born on August 30, 1745, and baptised at St John’s Church, Newcastle upon Tyne, Fenwick was the second of at least seven children. His father, Thomas Bulmer, was a House Carpenter, a steady and respectable trade. The name Fenwick itself was a tribute to his roots, coming from his paternal grandmother, Ann Fenwick.

By his mid-twenties, Fenwick had already established his legal right to the city trade, gaining the Freedom of Newcastle upon Tyne and incorporation into the House Carpenters Company by patrimony, a right earned through his father’s membership.

The Lure of London and the Brothers’ Empire

Yet, the booming opportunities of the south soon called. Fenwick moved to The Strand, London, and quickly established himself, initially as a floor cloth manufacturer. He was soon followed by his younger brothers, Ralph, Blackett, and William, creating a true family enterprise in the capital.

The Bulmer brothers’ connection to arts and letters proved remarkable. While Ralph and Blackett continued in the floor-cloth trade, brother William Bulmer (who had apprenticed alongside the famous engraver Thomas Bewick in Newcastle) would go on to found the prestigious Shakespeare Press, becoming one of London’s most celebrated printers.

By 1776, Fenwick had transitioned his career, setting up shop as a Chemist and Druggist in The Strand, a sign of his growing mercantile ambition.

A Private Life in the Public Eye: Children and Scandal

Despite his professional success and apparent bachelor status, Fenwick’s personal life was complex and documented by the very parish records he thought he was circumventing.

Though there is no evidence Fenwick ever married, two children were born out of wedlock:

  1. Mary Anne Adams (born 1791)
  2. Henry Morgan (born 1797)

Henry’s story is the most dramatic. He was the son of Elizabeth Morgan (née Germain), who lived with her husband, John, at Plough Court. Elizabeth was Fenwick’s house servant The truth came out years later when Elizabeth told the church that Henry was not the son of her husband, resulting in Henry’s baptism record being officially amended to name Fenwick Bulmer as Henry’s biological father.

Fenwick clearly supported both children. In 1799, he wrote a heartfelt letter to his daughter, Mary Anne, when she was a school urging her to write to him monthly. More telling, when Mary Anne married Pierre Jean de Sales La Terriere an Army Medical officer in 1815, she married under the name Mary Anne Bulmer of the Strand, suggesting her father had formally, if quietly acknowledged her as his own. There are no details available to date about who Mary’s mother was.

Mary Ann de Sales La Terriere (nee Mary Ann Adams)

The Path to Knighthood and Inherited Wealth

Fenwick’s status reached its peak in 1817 when he obtained a Royal Licence from the Prince Regent, granting his son, Henry Morgan, the legal right to use the Bulmer surname.

Fenwick’s ascension continued. Already a member of the Honourable Gentlemen Pensioners (the King’s bodyguard), he was finally knighted by King George IV in 1821. This was the ultimate realisation of the House Carpenter’s son; Sir Fenwick Bulmer, Knight.

Upon his death on 24th May 1824, at his Strand residence, Sir Fenwick’s will revealed his immense success. The 14-page document showed an estimated wealth of £80,000 (equivalent to approximately £6.7 million today). Much of his estate, including significant property in London, was left to his legitimate male heir, Henry Morgan Bulmer.

The Unsolved Mystery of the Bulmer Arms

Sadly, Henry did not live long to enjoy his inheritance, dying intestate in 1828 at the age of 31. His estate was complicated by the fact that he had no heirs and left no will, prompting a lengthy legal inquiry into whether the property should escheat (revert) to the Crown.

The final piece of this genealogical puzzle involves a long-standing aspiration. In his will, Sir Fenwick referred to his son using the Bulmer Coat of Arms. Yet, records from the College of Arms confirm that neither Fenwick nor Henry were ever officially granted arms. The records found suggest Fenwick was probably referencing the historical and powerful Bulmers of Wilton Castle, an ancient family of barons and sheriffs descended from Sir Bertram Bulmer, with links to the Neville family and Raby Castle.

Did Sir Fenwick Bulmer, the successful chemist and knight of the realm, have a legitimate link to this noble lineage? Or was his reference a subtle, final claim to the aristocratic heritage he aspired to throughout his remarkable life?

The mystery of the link between the Newcastle House Carpenter and the Barons of Wilton Castle remains an intriguing piece of the Bulmer story, is a brick wall waiting to be solved.

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