The Plymouth Prances are remembered for their contribution to the
medical profession, the law and for the founding of the Devon and
Cornwall Banking Company. William (The younger) was involved in
the
setting up of the South Devon and East Cornwall and Greenbank
Hospitals
both now demolished and resumed under Derriford Hospital. A number
were
medical practitioners among them Charles Rooke Prance, son of
William
the Younger, and Cyril Seymour Prance the great grandson. The latter
gave
long service to Plymouth Hospitals. The early Plymouth Prances
were
owners of land and property, some by inheritance, and the parish
church
in the coastal village of Wembury has a Prance family vault in the
churchyard and memorial tablets inside. These are still privately
maintained. Very interesting are the letters written between the
years
1801 and 1815 by Hannah, the second wife of William the Elder to
various members of her family, extracts of which appear in the
'Prance
Chronicle'. Apart from the early Cambridgeshire Prances, for which
more
research needs to be done, the Plymouth Prances and the later
generations in London are the most professional and noteworthy of
the
family in Britain. It must be said though that this branch is the
most
thoroughly researched.
WILLIAM PRANCE 1755-1813 (The Elder)
A Contemporary Portrait
William Prance's two marriages may have been the source of much of
the
Plymouth Prance's wealth. He first ran away with and married Anna
Connell in Scotland in 1781, only child and heiress of Courteney
Connell of Plymouth . It appears that he married her a second time
in
Appledore in 1782, for safety sake! She died in 1792 having borne
him
four children. His eldest son, William (the younger) became Mayor of
Plymouth and was the co-founder of the Devon and Cornwall Banking
Company. Secondly William married Hannah Gibbs nee Newcomen,
grand-daughter of Thomas Newcomen of Dartmouth, who invented the
steam
engine about 1705, which in 1765 James Wyatt improved upon. Hannah
Gibbs was the widow of of Nicholas Gibbs 1756 - 1790, whose grandson
Frederick Waymouth Gibbs C.B. and Q.C. was tutor to the Prince of
Wales, afterwards King Edward V11. Hannah married William in 1795
and
had two daughters and two sons by him. The eldest son was Robert
who,
aged twenty-four, rode two hundred miles on horseback to London to
make
his fortune in the stock exchange. This he did by eventually
founding
the firm of Robert Prance & Co, stockbrokers. This latter branch
of
the family became the main arm of the London Prances in Hampstead.
William died in May 1813, aged 57 years and was buried at George
Street
Chapel, Plymouth in the tomb near the chapel in which his wives Anna
(aged 29) and Hannah (aged 56) were buried.
WILLIAM PRANCE 1782-1861 (The Younger)
A Contemporary Portrait
William Prance was born in Plymouth 13th.June 1782. In the
nineteenth
century the Plymouth branch of the family, which includes those that
went to live in Hampstead, appears to have amongst them the
wealthiest
and most publicly noticeable members of the Prance family. He
Married
Sarah Gribble in 1816 and had issue of four children . His early
training was as a solicitor although it appears that he spent much
of
his early life engaged in manufacturing and other commercial
interests.
He went in for public works and was elected Governor of the Hospital
for the Poor within the Borough. In 1825 on the failure of Sir
William
Elfords Bank he became one of the assignees and the expertise he
acquired during this crisis he, in conjunction with D.Derry Esq.,
supplied the place of the Old Bank by establishing the Devon and
Cornwall Banking Company and William became its chairman and
director.
From the first election of the Town Council in Plymouth in 1835
William
was one of its active members and held the office of Alderman from
1841
to 1859, becoming Mayor of the Borough in 1842 and held that office
with credit during Queen Victoria's first visit to Plymouth. He
became
a magistrate in 1836.
In politics he was a Liberal and the Liberal electors invited him to
represent them in parliament but he declined due to the claims of
his
family. Previously in 1840, he, in conjunction with the Revd. John
Hatchard was deeply interested in the establishment of a Public
Hospital in Plymouth with the result that the Devon and East
Cornwall
Hospital was built and opened in 1840 and for eighteen years was its
treasurer. The Prance Ward was named after him and later at
Greenbank
Hospital which succeeded it. He was one of the earliest supporters
of
the Bible Society and for many years its secretary. As a dissenter
and
consistent member of the Baptist Church, George Street, Plymouth his
faith never wavered and was respected by all sections of the
Christian
Church.
This account of him taken from the Plymouth and Devonport Journal
28th.
March 1861 in which the writer, signed R., said William Prance "was
not
a quick and brilliant man or remarkable for his eloquence.....but
his
sterling worth lay beneath a somewhat phlegmatic exterior. To have
lived so long and yet leave behind the memory of no public fault,
error
of judgement, haste of temper or mistake of purpose is a great
thing."
His portrait in oils hangs in the Atheneum, Plymouth.
Mr.C.S.C.Prance was consultant ear, nose and throat surgeon to the
Plymouth clinical area. Son of solicitor Henry Penrose Prance, he
was
educated at Newton College, Newton Abbot and entered
St.Bartholomew's
Hospital, London, in 1913. In 1924 he was appointed honorary
consultant
ENT surgeon to Tavistock Hospital and the South Devon and East
Cornwall
Hospitals. He married Delma Williams in 1946 and they had a son, now
The Reverend Robert Prance.
Cyril Prance devoted most of his time and energy to public service
not
only as a surgeon but in other ways unrelated to medicine. During
the
second world war he was responsible for various hospital departments
damaged by the blitz and was a member of the hospital management
committee for twenty years. He was president of the Plymouth Medical
Society from 1953/1954. From 1945 to 1961 he was county commissioner
of
the St.John Ambulance Brigade and was made a Knight of Grace of the
order of St.John in 1958 and a member of the Chapter General of the
Order in 1960. He was appointed OBE in 1956. Non-medical activities
included work in local government and as a Plymouth magistrate and
he
was a governor and trustee of Kelly College in that town for twelve
years.
One incident, in a career which took Cyril Prance to many parts of
the
country was when he was caught up in the historic mutiny at Dartmoor
Prison. He was there in his capacity as honorary surgeon when the
rioting started and he helped to tend the injured. "I used to treat
certain patients at the prison and on this occasion I went there to
check up on one of them, although the doctor in charge had asked me
to
come and give him a hand with people who had been hurt in incidents
that preceded the mutiny. I drove into the prison and got to
the
hospital. Prisoners were all round the hospital making a tremendous
noise. They didn't attack us although we expected them to do so.
Then
Colonel Wilson arrived and I saw him lead a little over a score of
men
against the convicts."
