Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke
Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson.
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On 30th December 1804 [her father] James Bruce Carstairs [aged 34] and [her mother] Andalusia Grant were married.
On 6th December 1809 Andalusia Carstairs was born to [her father] James Bruce Carstairs [aged 39] and [her mother] Andalusia Grant.
On 26th December 1823 Arscott Ourry Molesworth 7th Baronet [aged 34] died at Pencarrow House, Cornwall. His son [her future husband] William [aged 13] succeeded 8th Baronet Molesworth of Pencarrow in Cornwall.
In January 1831 the Bath Herald reviewed a performance of Andalusia Carstairs [aged 21] at a Christmas Eve concert: 'Behold & See (a duet with Braham from the Messiah, Handel), electrified the audience….. Her performance in the whole of the pieces allotted to her was sweet & beautiful in the extreme.'
In June 1831 Temple West [aged 60] and Andalusia Carstairs [aged 21] were married. The difference in their ages was 38 years.
In April 1839 [her husband] Temple West [aged 68] died from a stroke. His will, made within three months of the marriage, left his wife Andalusia Carstairs [aged 29] Mathan Lodge his Worcestershire and some £2000.
On 9th July 1844 William Molesworth 8th Baronet [aged 34] and Andalusia Carstairs [aged 34] were married at St George's Church, Hanover Square. They had met only four months before.
On 10th September 1845 [her father] James Bruce Carstairs [aged 75] died.
Egloshayle Church [Map]. After 10th September 1845. Memorial to [her father] James Bruce Carstairs [aged 75], commissioned by his daughter of Andalusia Carstairs Lady Molesworth [aged 35], wife of [her husband] William Molesworth 8th Baronet [aged 35]. The reference to him being the last Baronet of Kinross would appear to be a mistake although the last Baronet John Bruce 2nd Baronet had a sister Anne Bruce who married a John Carstairs of Kilconquhar?
On 22nd October 1855 [her husband] William Molesworth 8th Baronet [aged 45] died without issue. His half first cousin Hugh [aged 37] succeeded 9th Baronet Molesworth of Pencarrow in Cornwall. His will provided for his widow Andalusia Carstairs [aged 45] to live at Pencarrow during her lifetime.
On 16th May 1888 Andalusia Carstairs Lady Molesworth [aged 78] died. She left the bulk of her personal estate £26,140 13s & 7d to her friends Lord Torrington's nephew George Stanley Byng 8th Viscount Torrington [aged 47] who she had never met.