The Rippon family history has been fairly clear from censuses, which place my great-great grandfather George in close proximity to his brother Richard, and directories, which identify the tobacconist's business in Bartholomew Close, London, which Richard and his uncle ran. The name Crofton re-occurs frequently within the Corke family that George's daughter Mary married into; this, combined with the Mormons' International Genealogical Index and a web-based index of marriages in North Yorkshire led me back a further generation.

My great-great-grandfather George Rippon married the daughter of Joseph Baron Symes.  A reference in the London Gazette to a legal dispute over his father's will  turned up a connection to Jamaica, in that, as revealed in the online Jamaica parish registers, he was the son of a longstanding relationship (there were several siblings) between John Symes, an attorney whose will mentions his slaves, and  a woman of mixed race.  Records for John Symes's origins are limited, but he was clearly educated at his father's expense; but his apprenticeship articles in the National Archives indicate that one term finished before its due time, and was completed by his signing himself into articles for the remaining period. This would suggest that he might himself have been illegitimate, though recognised and supported by his father perhaps up to the age of 21; but the fact  that his admission to the Middle Temple Law School records him as the "oldest son of Robert Symes, of Jamaica" suggests otherwise. Perhaps he simply annoyed his father by marrying without permission?  

John Rippon Farmer m. 17 JULY 1783 at Boldon, Co Durham Jane Crofton b. ?1755 Heworth N Yorks Jane Crofton Rippon b. ?1791 Abraham Crofton Rippon Richard Rippon George Rippon

John Rippon Jane Crofton Abraham Crofton Rippon b. ?1793 m.Eliza ?Brakspear Eliza Brakspear Rippon b. ?1836 Jane Crofton Rippon b. ?1838 Abraham Crofton Rippon b. ?1839 Ann Harriet Rippon b. ?1842 Jessy Rippon b. ?1858 William Brakspear Rippon Emily Mary Rippon b. ?1846 Alice Maude Rippon b. ?1847 Arthur Rippon b. ?1851

John Rippon         Abraham Crofton Rippon Eliza ?Brakspear William Brakspear Rippon b. 6 MAR 1844, London, St Sepulchre m.1 JUNE 1867 at St Bartholomew the Great, London Amelia Partridge

John Rippon Jane Crofton Richard Rippon m.Harriot ? b. ?1800/1801, London John Abraham Rippon b. ?1827 d. ?BEFORE 1841 Harriot Ann Rippon b. ?1829 d. ?BEFORE 1841 Richard Oliver Rippon b. ?1831 d. ?BEFORE 1841 Jane Rippon b. ?1832 George William Rippon b. ?1835 Elizabeth Rippon b. ?1837 Mary Rippon b. ?1839/1840

John Rippon Jane Crofton George Rippon b. ?1798 d. 2 MARCH 1861, St Bartholomew's Hospital Warehouseman/Tobacconist m.7 JUNE 1846 at St Giles Cripplegate Mona Murray Symes chr. 18 SEP 1818, St Giles, Camberwell  d. 3 FEB 1888, 98 Lauriston Road Hackney Burial: 7 FEB 1888, Gt Northern Cemetery Southgate Mary Rippon b. 5 AUGUST 1846, Lying-in Hospital, City Road d. 17 FEB 1885, Crofton Lodge, Friern Barnet Burial: 21 FEB 1885, Gt Northern Cemetery Southgate  m.27 APRIL 1867 at Register Office Hackney Benjamin Corke

John Symes Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonney Joseph Baron Symes b 10 FEB 1780 chr. 11 AUG 1781 Kingston, Jamaica; scholar at St Paul's School 179411JA Lt. Royal London (West) Militia 15 MAR 1810 m. Mary ? Harry Beckford Symes b 24 SEP 1810 chr. 9 NOV 1817 St Mary Newington Edward Wolstonecraft Symes b 17 MAR 1812 chr. 9 NOV 1817 St Mary Newington Mary Elizabeth Symes b 14 SEP 1814 chr. 9 NOV 1817 St Mary Newington Charles Richard Symes b 26 NOV 1816 chr. 26 JAN 1817 St Matthew Bethnal Green Mona Murray Symes d.o.b not known, chr.18 SEP1818 St Giles Camberwell Augustus Murray Symes b 19 AUG1820 chr. 1 OCT 1820 St Matthew Bethnal Green James Augustus Symes b 29 MAR 1822 chr. 22 MAY 1822 St Matthew Bethnal Green Maria Louisa Symes b 3 AUG 1824 chr. 29 AUG 1824 St Matthew Bethnal Green m. ?  Stebbins | Rosina Stebbins m. Charles Gread

Robert Symes | John Symes ?born around 1740 Admitted to Middle Temple as "oldest son of Robert Symes of Jamaica" 13 MAY 1756 articled by Robert Symes of the parish of St John the Evangelist , Westminster to  John Grace of the parish of St George the Martyr, Southwark for four years from 26 November 1757 articled by himself to Thomas Strangeways of Gray's Inn for one year and twenty days from  1 June 1763 d. 19 DEC 1808, St Catherine Parish, Jamaica Attorney, Assistant Judge, slaveowner m. (1) ?Hester or Esther  who d. ?between 1766 and 1768 ?James Symes ?b. 16 JAN 1762 ?chr. 7 FEB 1762 St Sepulchre, Holborn ?Mary Symes ?b. 22 JAN 1764 ?chr. 12 FEB 1764 St James, Clerkenwell ?Elizabeth (Betsy) Symes ?b. 2 JUN 1765 ?chr. 16 JUN 1765 St James, Clerkenwell m. John Wiseman also (with Charlotte Barnes "a free Mulatto") William Symes b. about 1768 chr. 10 MAR 1772, Kingston, Jamaica (with Charlotte Barnes "a free Mulatto") John Symes b. about 1770 chr. 11 FEB 1773 Kingston, Jamaica ?died before 1781 (with Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonny "a free Mulatto") Robert Symes b. 21 AUG 1771 chr. 10 MAR 1772 Kingston, Jamaica George Bathurst Symes b. ?1771 bur. 3 OCT 1853 St Leonard's Shoreditch; Ensign, 39th Regt of Foot 29 MAR 1799, Lt, 68th Regt of Foot, 21 AUG 1801 To half-pay 29 MAR 1817 m. 4 MAY 1799 Elizabeth Heard Tucker (Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonny ”a free Mulatto” ) Sophia Symes b 31 MAR 1775 chr. 18 JUL 1775 bur. 13 APR 1776, Kingston, Jamaica (with Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonny "a free Quadroon") Thomas Bell Symes (with Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonney "a free Mulatto") Joseph Baron Symes b 10 FEB 1780 chr. 11 AUG 1781 Kingston, Jamaica; scholar at St Paul's School 1794 Lt. Royal London (West) Militia 15 MAR 1810 (with Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonney "a free Mulatto") John Symes b 8 APR 1781 chr. 11 AUG 1781 Kingston, Jamaica; scholar at St Paul's School 1794 (with Elizabeth Bonney "a free Quadroon") Henry Symes b 24 SEP 1789 chr. 14 JUN 1790 Kingston, Jamaica (with Elizabeth Bonner "a free Mulatto") Arabella Symes b. 11 JAN 1792 chr. 14 APR 1795 Kingston, Jamaica ?bur. 13 MAR 1803 St Sepulchre Holborn

Robert Symes slaveowner, Oxford plantation St Mary Parish Jamaica d. Esher, Surrey, 1783 ?m. ?Elizabeth Payne, 8 July 1738, St. Philip's, Antigua | John Symes m. (2) Jane ?Watson (widow) ?25 SEP 1752, ?Kingston, Jamaica ?George Turnpenny Symes Ensign, Coldstream Guards 1772 d. 18 JUN 1774 bur. Esher 25 JUL 1774 Mary Symes chr. 23 MAR 1761, Esher d. 18 JUN 1827 m. 23 APR 1783 Rowland Edward Williams of Antigua and Thames Ditton (d. 8 DEC 1826) Catherine Symes bur. Esher 6 JUL 1763 Catherine Symes chr. 26 AUG 1764, Esher m 21 JAN 1785 Henry Swann (1760-1824) later MP William Leigh Symes chr. 19 MAR 1768,  Esher d. DEC 1796, St Mary Parish, Jamaica Daniel Symes chr. 7 DEC 1769, Esher bur. 23 AUG 1770, Esher Daniel Symes bur. 29 FEB 1774, Esher Jane Symes m. Thomas Marsham Elizabeth Symes bur. Esher 1784

John Symes Elizabeth Bradshaw Bonney Thomas Bell (Villiers) Symes b. 15 JUN 1779 Kingston, Jamaica Admitted to Middle Temple 20 SEP 1802 Called to the Bar 27 NOV 1807 Lt. Royal London (East) Militia 16 MAY 1810 m. Sarah Tucker 1 JUN 1812, St Magnus Martyr, London John Bell Villars Symes b  8 DEC 1813 Lee, Kent Thomas Amelius Villars Symes b. 22 JUN 1815 Lee, Kent

William Tucker m. Elizabeth Plumer 13 Dec 1772, St Michael, Cornhill Sarah Tucker m. Thomas Bell Villiers Symes Elizabeth Heard Tucker b  9 DEC 1774 m. George Bathurst Symes Elisabeth Mary Tucker b. 10 JUN 1787 Shoreditch

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