John Fry junior studied Classics at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1798. In 1801 he was instituted as Rector of Desford. He married Martha Larkin, daughter of Nicholas Larkin of Ewehurst, Sussex and they had 9 children. All of them were baptised by John at Desford and some were buried here.
 

The eldest son, John, was born in 1802 and followed his father into the church. He became a Naval Chaplain and sailed to South Africa. In 1828 he was married in Cape Town Cathedral to Catherina Reinera de Wet, of Dutch farming descent. Catherina died in 1839 when their son, John Larkin Fry, was only 3. John became Rector of St Paul’s, Rondesboch.  He married again in 1851 to Jane McCabe, daughter of an army officer.  Jane died in 1858 and in 1861 John married Louisa Elliott. John’s health was poor and they decided to return to England but he died at sea in October 1861. A porch was erected at St Paul’s Church in his memory.

​

John Larkin Fry married Jane Elizabeth Armstrong and they had a daughter, Miriam.  A descendant of this branch of the family, Rupert de Koch, visited Desford in the mid-twentieth century and met Betty Dickson and Kathie Emmerson, who were guardians of Desford history at the time. He also managed to visit the grave of John Fry, his x4 grandfather in Kent.
 

The second of John and Martha’s children was George, baptised in 1804. He served in the Royal Navy and died at sea in 1832.
 

Next was Mary, baptised 1806 and buried in 1810. There is a memorial tablet to her on the south wall of the chancel.

​

The fourth child, Augustine, baptised in 1808, became a GP and surgeon and married Frances Blount of Birmingham. In 1851 they were living at Bushloe End, Wigston with their children John B (c1841), Mary A Frances (c1844), Caroline (c1845) and Alfred (c1848). Augustine died in 1858 and was buried at Desford.
 

John B became a doctor and had a daughter, Augusta, who married Edward Hall and in turn also had a daughter. Mary Frances married Thomas Howard but had no children. Caroline married and it was her granddaughter, Miss E Cadbury, who presented the portrait of Rev John Fry to St Martin’s. Alfred emigrated to Australia, had a son and two daughters, then one grandson who had no children, so the line died out.
 

John and Martha’s fifth child was Amelius, baptised in 1810. He served in the Army and died in India in 1834.
 

Next was Elizabeth, baptised in 1811.  In 1836 she married Robert Chamberlain, son of Henry (see Lucius below). Robert was curate at Woodstone. They had two sons and two daughters. Elizabeth died in 1848 and is buried at Desford.

​