James Fenning was born at 5 Tamford Hill, in Middlesex, England on November 21, 1835. He died in Cobbins, Blackheath on November 5, 1907. He was buried in Guilford.
On September 10, 1862 in Kent, he married Rosa Clara Silva. She was born on September 7, 1839 and baptized on January 23, 1846. She died in July 19, 1926.
James Fenning and Rosa Clara (Silva) Fenning had eight children:
FIRST BORN: George Silva Fenning (June 16, 1863-April 11, 1943) who married Florence Alice Waters (1874-1961)
SECOND BORN: James Edward Fenning (February 17, 1867-June 15, 1923) who married Fannie Elizabeth Brown (1879-1963).
Click here for a letter from Rev. James Edward Fenning to his mother, Rosa Clara Silva in May 1920. It includes an update on Rev. Fenning’s religious life, role on the High School Board, gardening. At the time this letter was written, Rev. James Edward Fenning’s wife Fannie Elizabeth (Brown) Fenning was fourteen days away from giving birth to the couple’s fifth child, Mary Ruth Silva.
THIRD BORN: Frances Rosa Fenning, born May 1, 1868 in Paddington, St. John, Kensington and died February 28, 1956 in Shalford, Surrey, England.
Click here to read a letter from Frances Rosa Fenning to sister-in-law Fannie Elizabeth Brown dated November 29, 1934. It concerns a parcel of family heirlooms being sent by parcel from England to Canada.
Click here to read a letter from Frances Rosa Fenning to sister-in-law Fannie Elizabeth Brown dated November 24, 1937. It concerns, in part, the sale of a painting by Willem van de Velde to the National Maritime Museum.
Click here to read a letter from Frances Rosa Fenning to Fannie Elizabeth Brown, dated October 31, 1948. It contains discussion of the Letitia Dickens brooch being passed down in the family (and an apparent family connection to Charles Dickens through Sarah Jane Spencer Austin), of children being born and new houses being built. It mentions sisters Lucy, Lily and Mabel.
Click here for a letter from Frances Rosa Fenning to great-niece Mary Ruth Silva (Fenning) Tomlinson, dated February 25, 1966 regarding Frances Rosa Fenning’s will and estate. It mentions brothers George, James and Frederick, and sisters Lilian and Mabel, as well as nieces Marjorie and Rachel Fenning, and Marion Grace Silva (Fenning) Disraeli.
The 2011 Census indicates that Frances Rosa Fenning (age 42) and her mother Rosa Clara Fenning (age 72) were living in Shalford, Holbrook, Surrey, along with two servants: Rose Perry (age 22 of Battersea, London) and Maude Ellen Heath (age 20 of Merrow, Surrey).
FOURTH BORN: Lucy Marian Fenning, born August 5, 1869 in Paddington, St. John, Kensington and died September 27, 1961. She married John “Jack” Sinclair Hamilton, who was born July 1874 in Bromley, Kent and died on July 10, 1937 in Surrey, England. They had no children. Lucy Marian ran a private school.
Click here for a letter from Lucy Marian (Fenning) Hamilton to sister-in-law Fannie Elizabeth (Brown) Fenning, from 1928. It includes discussion of Lucy’s nephews George Silva Fenning and Frederick William Fenning’s trip to the UK earlier that year.
Click here for a letter from Lucy Marian (Fenning) Hamilton to sister-in-law Fannie Elizabeth Chappell from 1945. It mentions Lilian Emily, Mabel Katherine, Mary Ruth Silva (Fenning) Tomlinson, George Lloyd Tomlinson, John Fenning, Evelyn Maud (Brown) Fenning, Phyllis and Charles Shirreff, Rachel Ellen (Fenning) Preston.
FIFTH BORN: Lilian Emily Fenning, born May 9, 1871 in Paddington, St. John, Kensington. She was Christened on July 13, 1871 in Bromley, Kent. In 1894 in Richmond, Surrey, she married Hugh Shirreff (1865-1931). One of her drawings is below. She died August 28, 1951 in Wotton Under Edge, Durley, Stroud. They had four children.
- Phyllis Langford Shirreff (January 20, 1895-February 10, 1975) who married Reginald Bernard Bettson (1885-1951) in 1933.
- Private Howard Fenning Shirreff (May 12, 1896-1977), died in Bridport, Dorset. He immigrated to Canada on the Caronia, via Halifax, in May 1919. Fenning, Lieut J.E., is listed as next of kin for Howard Fenning Shirreff, Private, who enlisted in Nov. 6, 1914 in Kingston, Ontario. Regimental number 59881, 21st Battalion. He married Lily C. Johnson in 1924 in Greenwich, London and they had one son,
- Kenneth Charles Shirreff, who married Sheila Tuck. They had four daughters,
- Living female (1951-)
- Living female (1954-) who married Living male and had two children,
- Living male (1972-)
- Living female (1976-)
- Living female (1956-)
- Living female (1967-)
- Kenneth Charles Shirreff, who married Sheila Tuck. They had four daughters,
- Olive Cicely Shirreff (August 16, 1900-April 1, 1979). She died in Taunton Deane, Somerset, England.
- Charles Hugh Shirreff (December 17, 1906-April 15, 1988). He died in Yeovil, Somerset, England. During the Municipal Census of
The 1901 Census indicates that Lilian Emily Shirreff, aged 29, was living in Park Road, Bognor, Sussex, along with her daughter Phyllis, son Howard, newborn daughter Olive and two services: Annie Elizabeth Mary Keates (aged 23, of Brixton) and Ethel Constance Pittard (aged 19 of Lewisham, London).
The 1911 Census indicates that Lilian Emily Shirreff, aged 39, along with her husband Hugh Shirreff, aged 46, were living in Sanderstead, South Croydon, Surrey, along with their children Phyllis (16), Olive (10) and Charles (4), and a servant named Florence Edna May Weller (aged 16 of Leatherhead, Surrey).
SIXTH BORN: Frederick William Fenning (November 24, 1872-December 16, 1924) who married Evelyn Maud Brown (1875-1951).
SEVENTH BORN: Mabel Katherine Fenning was born January 18, 1874 in Paddington, St. John, Kensington. She died June 27, 1951 in Shalford, Surrey, England.
Click here to read a letter from Mabel Katherine Fenning to her niece, Mary Ruth Silva Fenning, dated September 19, 1940. It names other family members including George Fenning, Edna Boddy Fenning, Olive Cicely Shirreff and Charles Hugh Shirreff, and describes living during a time of war.
EIGHTH BORN: John Dunkin Fenning was born May 6, 1875 in Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, England. He was baptized on July 18, 1875. He died on April 7, 1902 in the Boer War. “FENNING—On April 7, at Cape Town, John Dunkin, youngest son of James Fenning, of Lloyd’s and Elmhurst, Abbey Wood, Kent, aged 26.”
Fenning Genealogy 