Here is where we meet the Routledge line of my family. They go back generations and are part of the Border Reivers. Anne married Thomas Clark in Farlam in Cumberland and it is from Thomas's family that this journey begins.
First of all we meet Terence Thorpe who was born in Simla,India in 1876. Terence's grandfather was William Thorpe and in 1805 he was a Gunner in the Artillery, he would then move to India where he worked in the Ordnance Department of the East India company. Out of interest William Thorpe's father, also called William, died in the Battle of Waterloo. The battle of Waterloo was fought in 1815 and it came about after Napoleon was declared an outlaw at the Congress of Vienna following his return to power. The battle was between the French and the seventh coalition of nations.
We then meet Emma Leicester. Her father James was a Labourer and would move to Calcutta in India in 1808 and this is where Emma was born. Emma's brother James would marry Janet Melville Smith and this would introduce us to the Leslie Melville family and this is where the fun begins. Janet was born in 1851 the daughter of Charles Smith and Julia Leslie Melville. Her father was the commander and owner of a schooner called Attaran and he traded in a variety of goods. The ship also seems to have been involved in the East India company trade in opium to China. He carries on his merchant business dealing between Calcutta and Agra as the country opens to commercial expansion. The East India company was founded in 1600 to trade in the Indian Ocean region. At its peak it was the largest corporation in the world and it had its own armed forces. After The Indian rebellion in 1857 the British government nationalised the company.
Her mother Julia was the daughter of the honourable William Henry Leslie Melville who in turn was the son of the Earl of Melville. Julia's Aunt was Marianne Leslie Melville and she would marry Abel Smith in 1822. Abel Smith was born in 1788 and made his wealth from the banking industry. He was also a member of parliament. Their grandson Wilfred Robert Abel Smith was a Major in the Grenadier Guards and would sadly die in 1915 in France. Wilfred married violet Elizabeth Catherine Somerset. Catherine's father was Richard Henry Fitzroy Somerset the second Baron of Raglan. Richard's father Fitzroy James Henry Somerset was killed in the battle of Crimea in Sevastopol in 1855. The battle of Crimea was fought between 1853 and 1856 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, France and the UK. It came about around the time of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the expansion of the Russian Empire. The siege of Sevastopol in 1855 was the final episode of the war and it was an attempt to restrict the Black Sea Fleet from threatening the Mediterranean.
Wilfred and Violet's son was called Ralph Abel Smith and he was born in 1903. He also served in the Grenadier Guards. Ralph married Olive Morton Ismay and her father is James Hainsworth Ismay, who was born in Lancashire in 1867, his brother is Joseph Bruce Ismay. It is Joseph and James father who was the chairman of the White Star Line famous for its doomed ship the Titanic. Thomas was born in 1836 at Maryport, Cumbria the eldest son of shipbuilder Joseph Ismay. At the age of 16 Thomas moved to Liverpool to be an apprentice with a firm of shipbrokers and would then travel to South America. After his return to England in 1858 he purchased the White Star Line, which had gone bankrupt, for the sum of £1,000. In 1859 when he was 22 years old Thomas would marry Margaret Bruce. Margaret was born in 1837 to Luke Bruce in Scremeston, Northumberland. Thomas would go on to amass a fortune rising from a worth of £2,000 to half a million pound. He would retire in 1892 and it would be his son Joseph Bruce Ismay who took over as head of the firm.
So... I've gone through the timeline above...now it's time to do a deep dive into some of the more interesting names I've discovered in the family.
First of all Thomas Ismay who was born in 1755. He died in 1795 a prisoner of war in Guadeloupe after being captured by the French. The invasion of Guadeloupe at the time was the British attempt to take the island from France during the French Revolutionary War.
George Bruce Ismay was born in 1902 and sadly died in 1943 in Tunisia. He was in the First Battalion the Irish Guards when he was killed in action.
Through Abel Smith we meet the Hood family who in turn takes us to Horatio Nelson...yes that Horatio Nelson. The rwo Hood's of interest are:
Rosa Penelope Hood who was born in 1853 and died in Messina Italy in 1922 was a Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria.
Mary Elizabeth Hood was born in Hanover Square in 1846 and died in 1909 in the Core d'Azure. She would marry Hugh de Grey Seymour who was the 8th Marquess of Hartford. Their daughter Emily Mary born in 1873 would marry Reginald Edmund Walker and they would move to British Columbia in Canada. There seems to be a rolling theme with Canada in my extended family.
Horatio Nelson Sandys Hood (yes it is a relative of the great Horatio Nelson) was born in 1843 and died in 1881 on board HMS Pegasus in Shanghai. The British would provide trade protection and would have naval dominance at the time in Shanghai.
I love a bit of interest in my family and I hope you do to...so keep following for more interest and possible intrigue.
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