George Ravenscroft - Personal Life

Personal Life

Little is known about Ravenscroft’s personal life, character or appearance, though his father described him in his will as a responsible family man and an astute businessman. He was born in 1632, the second of five sons of Roman Catholic parents who hid their true faith and lived outwardly as Anglicans, and he was baptized in Alconbury Weston, England, in April 1633. From 1643 to 1651 Ravenscroft attended the English College in Douai, France to train for the priesthood, but he dropped out before finishing his training and returned to London by 1666.

After settling in London and establishing a successful import/export business that made him wealthy, Ravenscroft married Hellen Appleby, from Yorkshire, England, in 1670 or 1671 and had three children with her. Ravenscroft died on 7 June 1683 after suffering from "a palsy" and was buried in the Ravenscroft vault in the Church of St.John the Baptist in Chipping Barnet, North London, England. Today in Chipping Barnet a school, a park, a garden, and a road are called Ravenscroft, suggesting the importance of the Ravenscroft family in the area at one time.