My wife's ancestors - Kerr - Contents

Charles Kerr

Tomb of Charles Kerr (died 1795), St. John's Cathedral Cemetery, Antigua.
From findagrave.
See modern satellite view.

Charles Kerr,
born 4 Feb 1748,
merchant,
of Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland,
and of Antigua, West Indies.
He mar Jane Tweedie.
Living Antigua at death.
He died 11 Dec 1795, age 47 yrs.
He was bur St. John's Cathedral Cemetery, St. John's, Antigua. See findagrave.
Charles and Jane had issue:

Jane Kerr.
Wife of Humphry Davy. See wikipedia.
Known as Jane Apreece after her 1st marriage.
Only child, heiress of her father's estate.
She was born Feb 1780.
Her birth date is given on two memorials at Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton. The floor memorial says born 5 Feb 1780. The wall memorial says born 15 Feb 1780.
She mar 1stly, 3 Oct 1799, to Shuckburgh Ashby Apreece [born 1773]. No issue.
He died 6 Oct 1807, age 34 yrs.
She was left with money, no compelling need to marry, no children, no father, and still young (age 27). She was a wealthy socialite and widow in London and Edinburgh. She became well known in social and literary circles in England and Scotland.
She mar 2ndly, 11 Apr 1812, to Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet [the famous chemist, physicist and inventor, born 17 Dec 1778, often incorrectly spelled Humphrey]. No issue.
Humphry was knighted 8 Apr 1812 just before the marriage.
He gave highly popular lectures.
He was created a Baronet in 1818.
He was President of the Royal Society 1820-1827.
He died Geneva, Switzerland, 29 May 1829, age 50 yrs. Title extinct.
He was bur at Cimetiere de Plainpalais, Geneva. Memorial tablet in Westminster Abbey.
Jane lived for many years a widow.
[Cox and Serjeantson, 1897] says she lived for some time (must be 1841-1855) in the house in Sheep St, Northampton that formerly belonged to her uncle Dr. William Kerr.
Her grave says she lived for many years in Park St, Mayfair, London (see map).
She died Park St, London, 8 May 1855, age 75 yrs.
She was bur with her uncle at Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton.

Sir Humphry Davy, 1821.
From here.
See images at [NPG].

The Journal of Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott writes about Jane Kerr in his journal, and says he is related to her father.

The Journal Of Sir Walter Scott, 7 Feb 1826.
From pp.107-108 of vol.1 of 1891 edn.

See transcript: "Had letters yesterday from Lady Davy" [Jane Kerr] "and Lady Louisa Stuart, two very different persons. Lady Davy, daughter and co-heiress of a wealthy Antigua merchant, has been known to me all my life. Her father was a relation of ours of a Scotch calculation. He was of a good family, Kerr of Bloodielaws, but decayed. Miss Jane Kerr married first Mr. Apreece, son of a Welsh Baronet. The match was not happy. I had lost all acquaintance with her for a long time, when about 20 years ago" [her husband died 1807] "we renewed it in London. She was then a widow, gay, clever, and most actively ambitious to play a distinguished part in London society. Her fortune, though handsome and easy, was not large enough to make way by dint of showy entertainments, and so forth. So she took the blue line, and by great tact and management actually established herself as a leader of literary fashion. Soon after, she visited Edinburgh for a season or two, and studied the Northern Lights. One of the best of them, poor Jack Playfair, was disposed "to shoot madly from his sphere," and, I believe, asked her, but he was a little too old." [He was born 1748. She was born 1780.] "She found a fitter husband in every respect in Sir Humphry Davy, to whom she gave a handsome fortune, and whose splendid talents and situation as President of the Royal Society gave her naturally a distinguished place in the literary society of the Metropolis."

Sources yet to be consulted

Will of Charles Kerr of Antigua. Probate 30 June 1796.
- See transcript by Bob Janes.
Lady Jane Davy in [DNB, 1921-1922 edn].

There is a verse of 1811 about the impact Jane Kerr (then age 31) made on the scientist John Playfair, and on other intellectuals.
It is printed on p.108 of The Journal Of Sir Walter Scott above:

"Have you seen the famed Bas bleu, the gentle dame Apreece,
Who at a glance shot through and through the Scots Review,
And changed its swans to geese?
Playfair forgot his mathematics, astronomy, and hydrostatics,
And in her presence often swore, he knew not two and two made four."