CHAPLIN, Charlotte Child
As Charlotte Gower, she was born at Newport, Kentucky, USA around 1832, only daughter of Richard Emptage Gower (c1805-11 April 1890), a railway accountant, and his wife Susanna née Johnson (1806-26 April 1883). In 1851, Charlotte was a 19-year-old, living at Military Road, St Matthew's, Ipswich with her parents, Richard 45 and Susanna 45, with three siblings Richard 17, Thomas Foote 14 and Walter 12, all except Charlotte being born at Little Bealings, Suffolk. Her father Richard was the brother of Charles Foote Gower (1807-1867), soap manufacturer, Ipswich councillor and J.P. In 1871, Charlotte was living with her uncle, 70-year-old barrister, Cuthbert Johnson at 'The Waldrons', Croydon and she married at St Matthew's Church, Ipswich on 5 June 1879, as his second wife, George Chaplin Child-Chaplin, a 'landed proprietor' of Colliston, Forfarshire. In 1881, they were visitors at Upper Addiscombe Road, Croydon, the home of 66-year-old widow Jane Frith but Charlotte's husband, George, died at Colliston House, Forfarshire on 9 December 1883, aged 70, an estate that he had inherited in 1869. In 1891, Charlotte was a 59-year-old widow, living at 'Kentucky House' 87 Anglesea Road, Ipswich with her 53-year-old brother, Walter Gower, a soap manufacturer. A member of the Ipswich Art Club 1895-1913 and exhibited from Kentucky House in 1895 a watercolour, 'Studland Bay' and the following year, two watercolours 'Longstone, Derbyshire' and 'A Bit of Old Haddon' and a further two in 1897 which were her final exhibits. Charlotte Child-Chaplin died at 87 Anglesea Road, Ipswich on 9 February 1913, aged 81, they had no issue.