Flowers for the Queen

Flowers for the Queen

John Folley and flowers

When Queen Victoria visited Jersey in 1846 she was
presented with a basket of flowers by John Folley,
who received a gold sovereign in return

Dating of photograph

This picture of John Folley, with a basket of flowers, is not believed to date from the time of the visit, but a few years afterwards. It is an albumen print, hand-coated using a flotation technique and plain toned with no metallic additive, indicating that it was produced between 1851 and 1855. The sharp, even lighting suggests that the picture was probably taken outside in daylight. The legs of a stand used to support the subject and hold him still for the long exposure necessary can just be seen in the picture. These stands were popular from the late 1840s to the early 1850s, again helping to date the picture to about 1850, still one of the earliest surviving photographs taken in Jersey.

John Folley came to Jersey from Stoke and married Henriette Mary Malzard. A collection of the family's photographs, taken by some of the most important photographers in the island in the second half of the 19th century, are held by the Jersey Archive as part of the De La Taste/Folley collection.

From the information held at the Archive, census records and other family records available online, it is possible to piece together a family tree which covers the individuals whose photographs are held by the Archive.

• Descendants of John Folley

Family

John Folley was born in Plymouth, Devon in 1818 and came to Jersey before the age of 23. He is recorded in the 1841 census as a gardener working for Advocate Francis Godfray at Bagatelle, St Saviour. Also working in the household was 23-year-old Henriette Mary Malzard, who married John. He clearly prospered because ten years later the 1851 census shows the family living in Vallee des Vaux with John farming 18 acres - a substantial holding in Jersey.

John and Henriette had six children - John Henry (1846- ), William (1848- ), Harriet (Henriette) (1850-1950), Mary Ann (1852- ), Albina Florence (1856-1914) and George (1862-1914). William emigrated to Australia, although the last letter his family received from him was from River Plate, Argentina. George emigrated to Jacksonville, Florida, as did his elder sister Mary Ann, who married Ernie Brandt there but was widowed while still quite young.

Harriet married William Henry Ford (1853-1936) and they lived at 3 Queen Street and had three children, Percy William, Albina Florencfe and Hilda Blanche, who married William Ernest Hacking. Harriet died six months short of her 100th birthday at the Bath Hotel, Bath Street, St Helier. Her daughter Hilda lived even longer, dying at The Limes, St Helier, in December 1982, six weeks short of her 103rd birthday.

John Folley's wife Henrietta died in 1886 and the following year he married again to Phoebe Green (nee Layzell), who survived him when he died in 1897.

Gallery

Click on any picture to see the full-size version

• 
  John Folley
• 
  John Folley's first wife Henriette
• 
  John and his second wife Phoebe
• 
  William Folley by R Eager of Bath Street
• 
  William Folley photographed by J Daly
• 
  William Folley
• 
  Henriette with her younger brother George taken by Henry Mullins
• 
  Four generations at the baptism of Brian Roger Ford Wilson: Florence Wilson, her mother Hilda Ford, and her grandmother Henriette Ford, née Folley with the baby
• 
  Henriette Folley by Henry Mullins
• 
  Henriette Ford in 1937
• 
  Henriette Ford with her great-grandson Brian Ford Wilson at the age of 98 in 1949, the year before she died
• 
  Henriette Ford in 1917 with grandchildren Florence and Peter Hacking at 11 Gloucester Street
• 
  Hilda Ford in 1881
• 
  Percy William Ford
• 
  William Henry Ford in uniform by R Eager
• 
  William Ernest Hacking 1893 by Henry Mullins
• 
  William Henry Ford by J Daly, La Motte Street
• 
  William Henry Ford and Harriet with their grandchildren Florence and Peter Ford Hacking in Grouville Bay
• 
  William Henry Ford and Harriet with their daughters Albina Florence and Hilda Blanche
• 
  Albina Florence Folley by R Eager
• 
  George Folley photographed by T Price
• 
  George Folley, his wife and daughters in Florida
• 
  George Folley's home in Florida
• 
  Mary Ann Folley, by R Eager, of Bath Street
• 
  Mary Ann Folley, widow of Ernie Brandt by A F Wildenhain, Jacksonville, Florida
• 
  Mary Anne Folley and her granddaughter Susan in 1914