Ruth Morgan

Posted by Ffiwsia on Sunday 19th of December 2021 18:01

Jane Gould was never Jane Morgan, as her parents didn't chamge their name to Morgan until they inherited the Tredegar Estaate in 1792, by which time Jane had already married Ball.

Ball and Jane married in Dec 1782, were presented at court by Sir Charles and Lady Gould in January 1783 (Morning Chronicle, 10 Jan 1783), and separated in May 1783 (deed of separation, National Library of Wales, Tredegar Estate P1/48). They do not appear to have been divorced. There is no mention of a (prospective) child in the deed of separation, nor does a 'Miss Ball' feature at extended family gatherings of the Gould/Morgan/Homfray families, so it seems likely the marriage was childless.

The 'Fashionable Cypriad', vol II p. 31 (published in 1799, so after Ball's death) mentions a 'Mrs Ball', formely the mistress of Captain B___ll ('natural son of Sir ____ H_gh_s) and mentions that she had formerly been Ball's mistress, had two children by him and appeared to have received some sort of settlement from him. The children were said to be under the 'care and protection' of Lady H, so potentially Mary is one of these.

Posted by Pieter van der Merwe on Thursday 15th of March 2018 19:09

Trying again...1753 for the Hughes/PETERS marriage!

Posted by Pieter van der Merwe on Thursday 15th of March 2018 19:07

1753 of course for the Hughes/ Ball marriage: in haste...

Posted by Pieter van der Merwe on Thursday 15th of March 2018 19:05

The maiden name of Ruth, later Lady Hughes (1731-1800) is not known. Her first husband's name was (possibly William, or William John) Ball: their sons were (Captain) Henry Ball and David (as above). It was Henry who married Jane Gould Morgan (1759-1846), in 1782, by whom she had a daughter Mary still alive in 1800, since mentioned in Lady Hughes's will. Following the death of Henry in 1792 Jane remarried in London to Samuel Homfray of Merthyr Tydfil and Pennydarren Place, Glamorgan, coal and iron master. It is not yet clear when Ruth Ball's first husband died, or if she married Edward Hughes in 1765 or 1772. If she did so in 1765 her name was then Wheeler (i.e. she had an intervening husband, but no such marriage has been found). Hughes was himself a widower. He first married in 1853 to Anne Peters (nee Jacob) widow of Dr Charles Peters (d. 1746, see ODNB) but she died in childbirth in 1755, the year before he returned to sea after five and a half years on half pay.