This is my first post and I am typing with my fingers crossed that someone will be able to help me!
With a distant cousin in America (I am in France) we have been piecing together the life of John Charles Felix Rossi RA. He was born in Nottingham in 1762 and died in London in 1839. He was a sculptor who, among other things, has works in Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and also did the caryatides at St Pancras station! He married twice - first Mary Williams (my ancestor) and then to Peggy Oreton Coleman. He had a total of sixteen children - I still have a couple missing. He died in complete poverty as he more or less went out of fashion….. Luckily there is a lot of information about him in on internet.
However, until recently the only information I had about his father was that he was a « Quack Doctor » born in Sienna. Then, with the help of another chat site, I found the name of his father - he was ANSANO ROSSI SENESINO. He practiced in Nottingham and then in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire.
In 1775 he was living at 9 the Haymarket in London and in 1777 the house and goods were auctioned off. The Gazette, 2nd June 1778 gives notice of Rossi's incarceration in the Fleet Prison for debt "Anfano Rossi Senesino, alias Rossi Anfelmo, formerly of the Haymarket, Westminster, late of Nottingham, Surgeon."
What I would now like to do - and I hope you can help me - is find more information about Ansano - when he was born and where exactly, who did he marry and where - and did he have any other children, when did he move to England? I cannot find a death for him. We have contacted both Nottingham and Mountsorrel archives, but they cannot help!
I know this is a lot to ask, but I have tried and tried to find the information and haven’t got anywhere.
I have tried to find a history association in Sienna, but I don’t speak Italian and cannot find anything!
I would be VERY grateful for any advice to help me on my way!
Many thanks
Tilros
