The intriguing life of Mr. Evelyn Medows, late of 51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London

Evelyn Medows was born in about December 1736. By the time he married his second wife, Harriet Maria Norie in 1811, he was already 74 years old and had lived a colourful life. In 1776, four years before Harriet was born, Evelyn was a key player in one of the most famous British court cases: the trial of the Duchess of Kingston for bigamy. The Duchess remains a noted, or perhaps notorious historical figure, but of Mr. Medows, we don't hear quite so much. Here's what I have pieced together.

The first-born son of Lady Frances Pierrepont and Philip Medows, Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park, Evelyn would at first blush appear to have the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth. Not quite.

Lady Frances and her only sibling, Evelyn Pierrepont, later the Duke of Kingston upon Hull, became orphans when she was a minor. An eligible young woman, she could have become very wealthy through a well-orchestrated marriage. The Duchess of Marlborough would have seen to this, but Lady Frances on the day of her 21st birthday went to the opera and stepped out at intermission for an elopement with Philip. Tsk, tsk, said her aunt, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, nee Pierrepont, in a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. Lady Mary's own elopement is legendary.

So, no great fortune on either side of Evelyn's family, but enough social standing to get by on and enough money to live comfortably, it seems.

Young Evelyn at the age of 14, in 1751, became a page to the Duke of Cumberland.

Clip from The London Magazine and daily chronologer for 1751, courtesy Google Books




In 1755 (age 18), Evelyn Medows Esq. became an Ensign in the First Regiment of Foot Guards.

Clip from The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, Vol. 24, 1755, courtesy Google Books



Somewhere in the next 20 years, young Evelyn seems to have lost his taste for the military life. There are references to him here and there as an "adventurer" who seems to have been as at home in France as in England. He may have been living it up secure in the knowledge that as the eldest nephew of the childless Duke of Kingston, he would inherit a great estate. After all, who wouldn't?

Even so, in 1760 Evelyn married Margaret Cramond, according to some sources but I have not verified this. In fact, I know very little about this marriage, but there is no mention anywhere of children, and Evelyn outlived Margaret, perhaps by many years. Or, she was just a tolerant wife. The way Evelyn is described in writing from the 1770s makes him sound very much the bachelor.

While Evelyn Medows was enjoying life, his uncle Evelyn Pierrepont was doing the same. We will next enter the stormy waters churned up by the so-called Duchess of Kingston.

A timeline and links for Harriet Maria Campbell, formerly Dickson, formerly Medows, nee Norie

A woman with three husbands, each prominent and notable, but for three quite different reasons. Here is an overview of Harriet Maria Norie's life in timeline form.The books at the end relate to a famous case of bigamy among the upper class.

1700

1780

• Born, probably at home, 39 Burr Street, London, fifth of nine known children.
• November 5: Baptised at St Botolph Aldgate.

1800

1810
1811

• May 25: Married Evelyn Philip MEDOWS, Esq.

1830

• December 18: Married Major General Sir Alexander DICKSON, G.C.B., K.C.H.

1840
1841 CENSUS

•  June 6: Charles Street, Berkeley Square with sister Isabel NORIE and 4 servants.

1842

• July 12: Married Sir John CAMPBELL, K.C.T.S.

1850
1851 CENSUS

• March 30:  51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square with husband Sir John CAMPBELL and 4 servants.

1860
1861 CENSUS

• April 7: 51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square with husband Sir John CAMPBELL and 4 servants.
• November 25: Died at Richmond, Surrey.
• November 30: Buried at Kensal Green All Souls.

1862

• February 13: Letters of Administration to Sir John CAMPBELL, Henry Hay NORIE, nephew, and Rowland BENNETT.

In 1776, Harriet Maria's first husband caused his uncle's wife, the so-called Duchess of Kingston, to be tried for bigamy. I hear they sold tickets to the trial. This was a huge event, all before Harriet Maria was born, and 35 years before she and Evelyn Philip Medows were married.

Sir John Campbell's brother-in-law wrote the leading work on navigation: J.W. Norie

Did Sir John Campbell own the house he lived in during the mid-1800s, on Charles Street, Berkeley Square, or did his second wife bring it into their marriage? She was married three times, to three different men: one famous for losing a court case, one an early 19th century military hero, and one a one-time leader of the losing side in the Portuguese civil war between two brothers.

Harriet Maria Norie, the second wife of both Sir Alexander Dickson and Sir John Campbell

In 1842, over 20 years after the death of his first wife, Sir John became the third husband of Harriet Maria Dickson, nee Norie.

Harriet Maria's father, James Norie, was not a wealthy man, at least, there are no hints suggesting he was, which is about as definite a statement as I can make. He came from Morayshire, Scotland, established a school in London after moving down from Scotland. Harriet Maria's mother, Dorothy Mary (nee Fletcher), was the daughter of a merchant, Jacob Fletcher, who was, it appears, a London man. Again, I haven't seen anything to suggest he was a particularly notable or rich merchant. My impression is that this was a happy and creative family of teachers, writers, and painters, who perhaps had more intangible wealth than money.

One brother, John William Norie, 1772 to 1843, became a leading writer on navigation, with Epitome of Practical Navigation (1805) being one of the most frequently-mentioned of his books. There is a portrait of J.W. Norie in the National Portrait Gallery. It's from the entry for J. W. Norie in the Dictionary of National Biography that we get the information about his and Harriet Maria's parents.

"NORIE, JOHN WILLIAM (1772–1843), writer on navigation, born in Burr Street, London, on 3 July 1772, was son of James Norie (1737–1793), a native of Morayshire, who, after being trained for the presbyterian church, migrated to London in 1756, and kept a flourishing school in Burr Street, Wapping. Norie's mother was Dorothy Mary Fletcher (1753–1840), daughter of a merchant in East Smithfield.

The son, John William, resided, according to the ‘London Directory’ for 1803, at the ‘Naval Academy, 157 Leadenhall Street.’ At the same address William Heather carried on business as a publisher of naval books and dealer in charts and nautical instruments at the ‘Navigation Warehouse.’ Heather's name disappears in 1815, and the business was henceforth conducted by Norie with a partner, Charles Wilson, under the style of Norie & Wilson.

The ‘Navigation Warehouse’ has been immortalised by Charles Dickens in ‘Dombey and Son’ as the shop kept by Sol Gills (cf. J. Ashby-Sterry's article ‘The Wooden Midshipman’ in All the Year Round, 29 Oct. 1881, p. 173). Norie retired about 1830, but the business was carried on in the same place until 1880, when the premises were taken down and the firm removed to 156 Minories, where the figure of the little midshipman which decorated Norie's house of business still exists.

Norie, who is variously described as ‘teacher of navigation and nautical astronomy,’ and ‘hydrographer,’ died at No. 3 Coates Crescent, Edinburgh, on 24 Dec. 1843, and was buried in St. John's episcopal church."

The entry is from an old edition of the Dictionary. Since then, the properties where Norie's business was have both been redeveloped. Norie's firm survives as Imray. A detailed, illustrated short history of the firm is found on Cruising World's website.

The little wooden midshipman is on permanent loan from Imray to The Charles Dickens Museum at 48 Doughty Street, London.

So, we know there was at least one famous Norie, but I still don't think they were wealthy.

How could Sir John Campbell, K.C.T.S., afford to live on Charles Street, Berkeley Square?

As I've been looking at records of the life and career of Sir John Campbell (1780 to 1863), many times I've wondered about money. I first found him because I've been looking at  Charles Street, Berkeley Square in London, a prestigious address with many poobahs as neighbours, and that's where he lived in the last decades of his life. My lingering question was, how could he afford it?

Sir John's father, William Campbell, was a Commissioner of the Navy, a high-ranking civil servant, but not necessarily a wealthy man once the benefits of his office (notably, a house) were removed.

Sir John's two sisters married two brothers of the Onslow family, who themselves have an illustrious pedigree. However, any Onslow family wealth and land would have bypassed Elizabeth and Marianna Onslow nee Campbell and passed to the male heirs.

Sir John did enjoy some hospitality from his sister Elizabeth and her husband, Reverend George Onslow. In the 1841 census, we find Sir John and "Elise", whom I assume to be Sir John's daughter Elizabeth, with the Onslows at their family home, Dunsborough House in Send, Surrey. I've taken this to be either  the normal reciprocal visiting among family members or a temporary residence for Sir John and Elizabeth. At some point during or after 1834, Sir John returned from his stay as a prisoner of war in Portugal. During his absence, his only child Elizabeth may have been sent to stay with the Onslows, and perhaps Sir John joined her there.

Website for The Wey Valley, with a picture of Dunsborough House and interesting history about the villages of Send and Ripley

So, I've ruled out inherited wealth, but I should look for the will of Sir John's father and also of Sir John's siblings, just in case there is a pot of gold somewhere. It's unlikely any siblings transferred any wealth to him. I think each had a family of his or her own to care for.

Sir John's first wife, the young Portuguese lady Dona Maria Brigida de Faria e Lacerda has a noble-sounding name and it wouldn't surprise me if her family had a prominent position in Portugual. However, she married out of her society and went to England, where she died young. Sir John was persona non grata in Portugal after supporting the losing side in the War of the Two Brothers (and being a noted prisoner of war following it). Also, I have always had the impression that being an army officer in his day was not usually a way to get rich. I suppose perhaps there were occasional opportunities for plunder, but he hardly seems to have been in the right place and time for that, at least not at the latter stage of his Army career.

Having written off these various sources, I took a closer look at who owned 51 Charles Street and how Sir John came to live there at all.

The descendants of Sir John Campbell, KCTS

This is part of my ongoing exploration of Charles Street, mainly in the 1871 census, though as it happens Sir John died in 1863.

I became curious about Sir John's wealth (or lack of it) and where it went after his death. One avenue I explored was the obvious one: his descendants.

Sir John's Portuguese wife and young son died when the boy was young, leaving only a daughter, Elizabeth Campbell (1818 - 1883). During Elizabeth's childhood, Sir John was away fighting on what ended up being the losing side of a revolution in Portugal. He then spent some more time there as a prisoner of war, while the British government washed their hands of him.

My suspicion is that Elizabeth may have been raised during his absence by one of Sir John's two sisters, Elizabeth. (His other sister, Marianna, died in 1810.) The two sisters had married two brothers from a very good family. Elizabeth married Reverend George Walton Onslow (1768 - 1844) and had at least 11 children.

One clue to the connection between this Elizabeth and Sir John that helped me find her and then figure out she was his sister, was that one of the children's name was Pitcairn Onslow. Sir John's mother was Annie Pitcairn and the name is a handy finding aid, especially when wallowing in a soup of Campbells.

Marianna Campbell married Reverend Arthur Onslow (1773 - 1851), and had at least three children. One, William Campbell Onslow, has the name of his grandfather (William Campbell) embedded in his own name.

In 1844, at the age of 26, Elizabeth (Sir John's daughter) married Edmond Sexten Pery Calvert (1797 - 1866), who would have been 46 or 47 by then. As far as I know, she was his first wife. The Calvert family has a lot of interesting connections, but I will try my hardest not to tell you about each and every one.

The Family Life of Elizabeth and Edmond Sexten Pery Calvert

It is hard for me to prove this next bit with absolute certainty, but my interpretation of the evidence suggests that E&E's first child was actually not one child, but twins. Felix Calvert was born in the spring of 1845 and died very soon thereafter. It looks like Felix had a twin sister, Frances Elise Calvert, who also died very soon after birth.

The next year, a daughter was born and survived. Her name was Frances Elizabeth Calvert, born on August 9, 1846. Her birth was noted in the magazine The Patrician.

A little brother, also called Felix, arrived on September 12, 1847. One source of confusion in researching family history is that names were recycled within the same generation, as this branch of the Calvert family demonstrates. In fact, from one generation to the next, the name "Felix" is very common in the Calverts and also in their relatives, the Ladbrokes.

The last child of Elizabeth Campbell Calvert of whom I'm aware of was Walter, born on September 4, 1849 at Charles Street. I would be on solid ground in suggesting this event happened at the home of Sir John Campbell and his second wife, Harriet Maria (nee Norie), at 51 Charles Street.

Frances Elise died before she was 10 years old, in the spring of 1856.

Her two brothers, however, did live quite long lives. Their father, Edmond Sexten Pery Calvert, died in 1866 at 68. Felix was 19, Walter 17 and their mother, Elizabeth 48 when that happened. She did not remarry.

For much of her life, Elizabeth lived with her son Felix. She died at 65 in late December of 1883. Felix lived on, farming the Calvert estate at Furneux Pelham in Hertfordshire until his death, unmarried, at age 62. He was a Justice of the Peace.

The youngest, Walter Campbell Calvert, went into the military and reached the rank of Captain in the 5th Dragoon Guards. He died in 1932, having had the longest life of them all, at 82. He too appears to have been unmarried and as far as I know, left no children.

And thus the line of Sir John Campbell, KCTS, expired. There are many collateral descendants – nephews, nieces, cousins, and so on – but no one who traces back to Sir John directly.

What happened to the family fortune?

The question to ask before that one is, "Was there a family fortune?" I have looked into this and the answers were surprising. That's for another day, though.

A wonderful newspaper clipping from 1835

This comes from the The Court Journal: Court circular and fashionable gazette of July 1835, page 503.

 

(It says: "A meeting took place on Wednesday evening at Battersea fields between R. J. Mackintosh Esq., attended by Major General Sir John Campbell and William Wallace, Esq. attended by Dr Richard Burke. The word having been given, Mr Mackintosh's pistol missed fire, and Mr Wallace fired in the air. A second fire took place without effect, and the parties, after a mutual explanation, shook hands.")

Summoned by loyalty, a soldier returns to the field, but for the wrong side

In 1824, Sir John Campbell found himself, at the age of 44, a widower with a 6-year-old daughter, and in mourning for his 3-year-old son. Before the year was out, he had resigned from the army, where he had distinguished himself in fighting in Portugal during the Peninsular Wars of the early 19th century. He and young Elizabeth were apparently living quietly in London. Then everything changed, again.

Sir John's late wife, Dona Maria Brigida do Faria e Lacerda, was Portuguese and I suspect from a good family. Sir John himself was friends with the royal family, or at least, part of it. By the late 1820s, Portugal was in a crisis over succession, which was a fight between one brother (Dom Pedro) favouring a constitutional monarchy and reform, and the other (Dom Miguel) wanting to stay with an absolute monarchy. It turned into a civil war.

The story of the Portuguese War of the Two Brothers is complicated. The highlights, for my purposes are simple enough, though.

British soldiers fought on both sides! Their leaders were officers who had been brothers in arms in the earlier Peninsular Wars. Men on both sides held knighthoods in both England and Portugal. All of them were at least notionally fighting illegally, according to the Foreign Enlistment Act.

To make things a little awkward for me in the research department, there were too many Campbells around, officers with the KCTS decoration, who served in the Peninsular Wars and possibly in this Portuguese civil war. Anyone who decides to study the story more closely will need to be cautious. I can only hope I am not getting the facts too confused.

There is no doubt that Sir John Campbell of my story, the man who eventually lives at 51 Charles Street, was at the head of the Miguelite forces, as they were called. He supported the absolutist cause whole-heartedly. On the other side were Admiral Sartorius and then Sir Charles Napier. Their respective forces were a mixture of English and Portuguese, and not professional soldiers, but what we might charitably call a motley crew.

A few brief glances at some of the debates in the House of Lords and the Commons after the war ended indicates that the British politicians were not in unanimous support of either side in the Portuguese war. Again, this is an over-simplification, but Sir John became something of a political football.

In the early days of the war, his side did well, but then the tide turned. Sir John was captured on board a ship (apparently leaving Portugal) with some allegedly incriminating papers. Papers or no, his side had lost. He became a prisoner of war.

This was an unpleasant imprisonment. Reading between the lines, I suspect there was a good deal of seeking revenge involved, because in some quarters the Miguelites had a reputation for being barbaric to their own prisioners. English visitors to Portugal after the war, in the early 1830s, reported seeing Sir John behind the bars of the prison compound.

His appeals to the English government for help went unanswered, on the basis that he was fighting in a foreign war on foreign soil, not in a British cause.

Why did he do it?

I've read that Sir John was a personal friend of Dom Miguel from his earlier time in Portugal, and I assume that the granting of the honour of KCTS, whenever that was, cemented that friendship. Sir John's politics must have been conservative, which mattered a great deal against the backdrop of the Reform movement in England.

He was held for at least nine months, much of which was apparently in solitary confinement. The degree of deprivation is in the eye of the beholder, but certainly it was a hard time, during which he was abandoned by his country.

I'm a little surprised that he was ever allowed to return to England. Having fought for the losing side in a battle that put British soldiers against each other, he could have been called treasonous without a huge stretch of the imagination.

I suspect what saved him was the fact that no one had clean hands.

By the time he returned to England in about 1834, his daughter was 16. He had been away from her for a few years (at least).

Here was a man who had spent much of his life achieving honour and glory as a soldier, only to end up disgraced. In the Commons debates, reference was made to his having a Portuguese wife (with the implication being that his loyalty wasn't to Britain), but no one pointed out that Maria Brigida had been dead for ten years.

He'd lost his wife and son, had hardly seen his daughter, had fought on a losing side and been imprisoned, and could probably never return to the country he must have come to love, Portugal.

He had reason to be a bitter and disappointed man, and maybe he was. Or, maybe he was so convinced of the rightness of his cause that he spent the rest of his life deploring the wrongs done to him. I don't know. The dictionary of biography says he lived a quiet life.

The quiet lasted until 1863, some 20 years after the civil war ended. It was then succeeded by that quiet which comes to us all, one day.

The first book, by Shaw, is about the War of Two Brothers. The other two books are from the Duke of Wellington's earlier experiences in Portugal. I have written before that Sir John Campbell was mentioned favourably in dispatches by Wellesley, late the Duke, but this may not be true, or it may be true but some of the mentions may refer to other Campbells. I post links to some of the books here in case anyone is interested in finding out more.

The young Portuguese bride of Sir John Campbell: Dona Maria Brigida

I have mentioned a few things about Sir John Campbell, KB, KCTS, and left off suggesting that the KCTS (Knight Commander of the Tower and the Sword, Portugal) shaped his life.

As far as I can tell, Sir John Campbell stayed in Portugal after the Peninsular Wars, on loan to the Portuguese army until 1820. He left when the constitutionalists started to become too heated. When he returned to England, he lived in Baker Street with his Portuguese wife, Dona Maria Brigida do Faria e Lacerda, and Elizabeth, their daughter, who was born in Lisbon in 1818.

Sir John and Maria Brigida were married in 1816. She was 18 years old. He was 36.

Upon their return to England in 1820, or perhaps shortly before, their son, John David Campbell, was born. Elizabeth and John David are the only children I know of in this family.

Sir John was given what sounds like a reasonably quiet job in England, in command of the 75th Regiment of Foot while they were at home and not off fighting abroad. This is a famous regiment (the Gordon Highlanders) but during Sir John's tenure, I have the impression nothing much happened. (Another avenue for the eager military historian to pursue.)

I wish I could draw the curtain here and say they lived happily ever after. At this point, Portugal was experiencing unrest but not war, and Sir John had a comfortable family life in London, from the sounds of it.

Alas.

Some day I would like to go to the Parish Church in Marylebone.


View Larger Map

I've seen it from the outside without knowing (nor, at that time, caring) but haven't gone in.

As far as I can tell, there is still a plaque on the east wall, reading as follows.

"To the memory of

Dona Maria Brigida do Faria

E Lacerda

Wife of

Sir John Cambell, K.C.T.S.

Lieut Col in the British, and Maj Gen in the Portuguese Service.

She died much lamented

on the 22nd Jan 1821, in the 24th Year of her age;

Her remains are deposited in a vault of this Church.

Also of

John David Campbell

Son of the above who died 28 May 1824

Aged 3 years and 9 months"

http://www.archive.org/stream/miscellaneagene01howagoog#page/n31/mod e/2up 

Having lost his wife and little boy between 1821 and 1824, Sir John retired from the army and sold his commission by the 1st of October, 1824. Thus he and young Elizabeth (only 6 years old when her brother died; motherless since age 3) were apparently left alone.

There is always the possibility that Sir John married a second time during this period. I have found no mention of such an event, however, and the notes in biographic sources are consistent in saying he had two wives.

At this point my impression of Sir John is that he was living quietly and was enjoying a life of reasonably high social standing. His sisters and brothers appeared to have married well, and he probably had good family connections on his mother's side (the Pitcairns). I would say the same of his father's, but I haven't been able to trace them back with any confidence.

Things were about to change, and the KCTS was going to make a big difference in Sir John's life.

Knight Commander of the Tower and Sword, Portugal: the honour that shaped a life

Sir John Campbell's entry in the Index of Wills and Administrations after his death in 1863 identified him as Knight Commander of the Order of the Tower and Sword of Portugal. What did this mean? It certainly did turn out to be handy in tracking him for at least part of his life.

In The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, of Great Britain and Ireland, including all the titled classes, by Charles R. Dodd, 1845 (Google e-book copy), at page 70, I found a fairly detailed entry for Sir John.


 

What a treasure trove!

Here is the new information. It is a repetition of what the clipping says, broken into points for follow-up.

• Father was William Campbell, Commissioner of the Navy Board.
• Mother's maiden name was Pitcairn.
• Mother's father was Major Pitcairn of the Marines, killed at Bunker's [sic] Hill.
• 1780: Born 1780 (this is a little more precise that the census, which estimated 1781).
• 1800: Entered the army in 1800.
• 1806: Became Captain of 7th Hussars in 1806.
• 1807: Was exchanged into the 10th Foot [I assume that is 10th Regiment of Foot] and was a Brigade Major in 1807 in the expedition under General Crawfurd. 
• 1808: Military service in 1807 and 1808: Miserere, Buenos Ayres, Roleia, Vimiera.
• 1808: With cavalry under Lord Anglesey in 1808 at Sahagun and Benevente.
• 1809: Portuguese army 1809 as a British Major and a Portuguese Lieutenant-Colonel.
• 1810: In all campaigns in peninsula and Pyrenees before and after 1810.
• 1810: Around 1810 became Colonel of 4th Cavalry.
• 1811: In 1811 became Lieutenant-Colonel in British army, but was apparently serving with the Portuguese at the time.
•  1815: Created Knight Bachelor, his English knighthood, in 1815.
• 1816: Married a Portuguese lady in 1816, Dona Maria Brigida de Faria e Lacerda, of Lisbon.
• 1820: Sometime between 1810 and 1820, became a Major-General in Portuguese military.
• 1820: Stayed a Major-General till 1820, at which point he was Deputy Quarter-Master General of the Portuguese army.
• 1821: From 1821 to 1824, commanded 75th Foot (British).
• 1824: In 1824 sold his British commission (as a Lieutenant Colonel).
• 1820: Date unclear, perhaps 1820, became a Portuguese Lieutenant-General. This rank was given by "Don Miguel, whose cause he espoused."
• 1820: In 1820, received the order of the Tower and Sword of Portugal.
• 1842: Married again in 1842, the relict of Major-General Sir Alexander Dickson, K.C.B. (Presumably this wife is Harriet Maria, with Sir John in 1851 and 1861.)
• 1845: In 1845 (date of the book), he was living at 51 Charles Street.

This painted a different picture.

I had earlier thought of Sir John as a retired military man of 80 growing old with his 80-year-old wife, and assumed they had been together forever. Turns out, both had been married before.

There are connections to Portugal, an earlier wife, high ranks and honours in both British and Portuguese military, lots of action in battles, command of the 75th in England, and a hint of something out of the ordinary "whose cause he espoused".

Order of the Tower and Sword

This Portuguese honour was dormant for some time, though it dates back to 1459 according to a history by Jose Vicente de Braganca.

In 1808, the Prince Regent used this as the only non-religious Portuguese honour the British could accept, to reward those who had helped the Portuguese royal family escape from Napoleon's soldiers, who had invaded Portugal, to Brazil.

It is a high honour, still in use.

Sir John was made K.C.T.S. in 1820. To understand the significance of the dates of various events in Sir John's life requires a quick and superficial romp through Portuguese history. I know I will get some of this wrong. If you'd like to offer an explanation or more information, please do! Use the comments form at the end of the post and you will be my new best friend. This was a complicated time and place and I can only gloss over it.

Portugal and Britain by the Methuen Treaty of 1703 had established a mutually beneficial trading alliance, with port flowing north and textiles coming south. From time to time on Charles Street I have run into Portuguese wine merchants, especially with Thomas March, whose parents (March and Gonne) both came from families trading in wine (port) in Portugal. The British merchant colony at Oporto is what most trails lead back to when looking at Brits in Portugal in the 1700s and the first decades of the 1800s.

The 18th century in Europe was a time of upheaval, when liberals pressured the absolute monarchs for more freedom. The French Revolution is perhaps the best-known example.

In the early 19th century, Portugal was allied with England against France and Spain. The Portuguese royal family, as mentioned earlier, fled to Brazil when Napoleon's forces invaded. So did approximately 10,000 other people, apparently, effectively removing all Portuguese leadership and leaving behind a Portuguese-British protectorate.

Sir John fought on the British-Portuguese side against the French and Spanish in the Peninsular Wars. He was mentioned favourably in the (later) Duke of Wellington's field dispatches more than once. This probably supported the granting of his British knighthood in 1815.

After the Peninsular Wars, when Portugal was quieter, Campbell remained there and helped build up the Portuguese army. He married Dona Brigida of Lisbon in 1816.

The political climate in Portugal began to heat up again around 1820, with anti-absolutist factions gaining power. I sense that it was of his own accord that Sir John decided to leave Portugal. Whether he already held the KCTS at this point I don't know, but it's possible. That fits with his later loyalty to Dom Miguel, loyalty which I suggest shaped the rest of Sir John's life.

The Portuguese royal family was divided in its opinion about how absolutist to remain. This led to the War of the Two Brothers (1828 to 1833), with one brother, Dom Miguel, attempting to push back all reforms and hold on to absolute power. To cut a long story short, Sir John backed the wrong horse, as I will explain in more detail next time.

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I have not read the books below. The first one is highly regarded but (this is the honest truth) my dog ate it before I could read it. The second and third are texts I would like to have a peek at, especially the last one, a first-hand account of The War of the Two Brothers by a British lady in Oporto. It's out of print but I wanted to make its existence known.

  Siege lady: The adventures of Mrs. Dorothy Procter of Entre Quintas and of divers other notable persons during the siege of Oporto and the War of the Two Brothers in Portugal, 1832-1834

Sir John Campbell, Knight Bachelor, and his wife Harriet Maria: what probate told me

In 1851 and 1861, Sir John Campbell and his wife Harriet Maria were  living at 51 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London  with four servants in 1851 and two of the same plus two new ones in 1861.

My first impression was that this was a couple who had spent 50 or 60  years together. There was no mention of children in either census, but  as Sir John and Harriet were each born in about 1781, any children they  had may well have been married and gone by 1800 to 1810.

Sir John's presumably self-described occupation changed just a little  over the 10 years. He was a Knight Bachelor and a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Army.

The fact that he was knighted gave me some hope of finding a formal and  detailed biography somewhere, and I wasn't disappointed. Sadly, the name  "John Campbell" is hardly rare. Even "Sir John Campbell" born around  1780 isn't unique. Throughout, I've had to be careful not to get mixed  up with other Sir John Campbells and other army officers of the same time, named Campbell.

Knowing that Sir John and Lady Campbell were each 80 years old in the 1861 census, it made sense to look for information about their respective deaths first. This is following the principle of working from the known to the unknown, a good basic research strategy.

Sir John Campbell: Information from probate

I am quite grateful that the National Probate Calendar for England is available online through Ancestry.com. This index lists all the grants to people who acted as executors and administrators of estates. It often gives a few good clues about where a person spent the latter part of their life, how much money they had at the end, and often identifies one or more close relatives.

A quick search for Sir John Campbell dying in 1861 or later turned up an entry in the Wills of 1864.

Instantly, I had a positive identification:
Sir John Campbell, Knight, late of 51 Charles Street;
and some new information:

• He died 19 December 1863 at his home on Charles Street;
• He was Knight Commander of the Order of the Tower and Sword of Portugal;
• His effects were originally valued at under £8,000. In March 1865, the value was changed to under £10,000.
• His executors were Richard Onslow of Wandsworth, Surrey, Esquire, and William Campbell Onslow of 28 Leinster Gardens, Middlesex, Esquire, a retired Lieutenant Colonel of Her Majesty's Indian Army.

This provided me with clues to last a month. Wonderful stuff!

It will be confusing to start into Lady Campbell's details here but don't worry, I did the same for her and will be back with more about her, too.

Sir John Campbell, Knight Bachelor, and many directions for research

 Yes, I know I promised something about Queen Victoria's god-daughter and I will deliver, but not yet.

I found a story that's held my attention for a couple of weeks now, and I hope you will find it interesting too. I'll have to tell it in installments I'm afraid. So far there have been elements of:

• the history of the English in Portugal in the early 1800s
• the patterns of marrying and remarrying within a certain social group and class
• the way military officers stick together
• the way women are so poorly represented in historical records compared to men
• charming portraiture from the mid-1800s
• a family with some notable artists
• another family with a knack for marrying well
• the fate of a foreign bride
• money and how it moves between generations 
• and lots more.

To begin with, you will probably already know that I have been looking at Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, as it was in the 1871 census. Since my last post, I decided it would help the research if I looked at the street in every census so I could better understand the transmission of the houses from decade to decade, and also so I could be sure of the numbering, especially in 1841 when the house numbers aren't actually shown on the census.

I've started putting together a spreadsheet from 1841 to 1901, showing the names of the inhabitants, in all 7 censuses, for each house. This has been illuminating and useful even with just half a dozen or so houses completed, so I will keep going.

Today's story introduces Sir John Campbell, a knight and an army veteran.

51 Charles Street, 1851

From the census, reference:
Class HO107
Piece 1476
Folio 364
Page 18
GSU Roll 87799.

On Ancestry.com, the page is found in the 1851 English Census at:
Middlesex >St. George Hanover Square >May Fair > District 17 > 18.

John Campbell, Head, married, age 70. Knight Bachelor late Lt Col 75 [indecipherable]. Born Kent, Chatham.

Harriet Maria Campbell, Wife, married, age 70. No occupation shown. Born Middlesex, Aldgate.

Servants:
Anne Sutton, Servant, unmarried, age 45. Cook. Born Norfolk, Aylsham.
Sarah Loal, Servant, unmarried, age 31. Ladies Maid. Born Northampton, Nassington.
Sarah Calligan, Servant, unmarried, age 35. Housemaid. Born Middlesex, Hackney.
Joseph Attersall, Servant, unmarried, age 22. Footman. Born Lincolnshire, Fiskerton.

The Campbells are at the same place ten years later. Two of the four servants have remained with them. I take this as a sign that someone was a decent employer, when the servants stay for a long time. Of course, there were other reasons to leave a household, even when the employer was good. I make fewer inferences about people leaving than about them staying.

51 Charles Street, 1861

From the census, reference:
Class RG9
Piece 46
Folio 53
Page 39
GSU Roll 542563.

On Ancestry.com, the page is found in the 1861 English Census at:
Middlesex >St. George Hanover Square >May Fair > District 15 > 39.

Sir John Campbell, Knt. Head, married, age 80. Formerly Lieut Colonel - Retired from the Army Inf. Knight Bachelor. Born Kent, Chatham.


Harriet Marie Campbell, Wife, married, age 80. No occupation shown. Born Middlesex,City of London, St. Botolphs.


Servants:
Sarah Loal, Servant, unmarried, age 41. Ladies Maid. Born Northampton, Nassington.
Joseph Attersall, Servant, unmarried, age 30. Butler and Valet. Born Lincolnshire, Fiskerton.
Henrietta Chandler, unmarried, age 32. Cook. Born Norfolk, Northwold.
Ellen Smith, unmarried, age 27. Housemaid. Born Bushy, Hertfordshire.

Given these two fixed points, we can start to explore some dimensions of the Campbells' lives.

4 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, in 1871

A new house, fresh blood and more stories. The first three households were reasonably different from each other. This one adds a new dimension: gasp, the man is in trade.

1871 census: 4 Charles Street. Source:

Class:  RG10; Piece:  102; Folio:  75; Page: 32; GSU roll:  838762.

Present at 4 Charles Street on census night in 1871

George Drew, Head, Married, 62. Master Grocer employing 2 men and 2 boys. Born Wimbledon, Surrey.
Mary A Drew, Wife, Married, 53. (No occupation given). Born Westminster, Middlesex.
George W. Drew, Son, Unmarried, 20. (No occupation given). Born Westminster, Middlesex.
Emma M. Drew, Daughter, Unmarried, 18.  (No occupation given). Born Westminster, Middlesex.
Ellen R. Drew, Daughter, Unmarried, 16. Scholar. Born Westminster, Middlesex.
Charles B. Drew, Son, Unmarried, 14. Scholar. Born Westminster, Middlesex.
Jane Wadie, Sister, Widow, 57. Annuitant. Born Wimbledon, Surrey.
Sarah Riddle, Servant, Unmarried, 19. General Servant. (Place of birth not shown).
G.R.C. Harris (male), Lodger, Unmarried, 20. Undergraduate. Born St Anns, Trinidad.

A picture of the house today, from Google Maps Street View.
Link for those who can't see the picture.


View Larger Map

Lambert of Carnagh: George Thomas Lambert was from the landed gentry of Ireland

In 1871, the principal occupant and head of household at No. 3, Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, was George T. Lambert.

Later Sir George, this particular Lambert was the younger son of an Irish landowner.

In 1851, George and Henry Lambert, brothers only a year apart, were at the College of St. Gregory [earlier I had erroneously written here "St. George's School"] in Downside, in the Parish of Midsomer Norton, in Somerset.

I have pasted some images of documents below, but they're blurry, I'm afraid. So, don't strain your eyes trying to read the details. I'll tell you what you need to know and give you links to the originals.

The page of the 1851 census return with them on it:

Reference: Class:HO107; Piece:1939; Folio:420; Page:2; GSU roll:221098

From this 1847 directory, we can see how Henry and George-Thomas Lambert ranked when it came to inheriting the family jewels. Henry, b. 1836 was the eldest son of Henry Lambert, Esq., of Carnagh, co. Wexford, b. 1786. George Thomas was born a year later, in 1837. By 1847, there were two boys and four girls. The directory doesn't give the girls' birthdates.








After the death of their father, George Thomas Lambert's brother Henry inherited the estate.

From the 1871 "genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry", we see Henry-Patrick Lambert, Esq. (formerly known to us as Henry, b. 1836), installed at Carnagh. This book tells us a little about Henry-Patrick's siblings as well.

George-Thomas, b. 9 November 1837;
Mary-Jane, married to P.-J.  Lynch, Esq., of Rose Park, Co. Dublin;
Anne, married 1870 to Edwin-Windham, Earl of Dunraven and Mountearl, K.P.;
Catherine, died unmarried, 7 March 1857;
Juliana-Margaret;
Letitia;
Fanny.







(left a bit out)



An intervening directory from 1858 tells us that George Thomas's mother was Catherine, youngest daughter of William Talbot, Esq., of Castle Talbot in the same county (Wexford) and sister of the late Countess of Shrewsbury. She and Henry Lambert were married 11 June 1835.

In 1858, the children listed are:

Henry, b. 2 December 1836;
George-Thomas, b. 9 November 1837;
Mary-Jane;
Anne;
Catherine;
Juliana-Margaret.






The family motto is Deus providebit, which I believe means "God will provide".

Next, a look at Carnagh.

George Thomas Lambert: the brilliant genealogical detective work laid bare

Last time: No. 3 Charles Street, Private Secretary to the Admiralty, and great genealogical sleuthing by me 


Let's get to the brilliance as fast as I can.

George Lambert wasn't very easy to trace using ordinary fishing techniques on the Web. He just wasn't a flamboyant guy, not that I could tell.

In short, I traced him forward in the census, finding him in 1881 and 1901, but not yet in 1891. He had a long career at the Admiralty, and at some point became a trustee of Greenwich Hospital. I don't know whether that was a full-time job.

I found the index entry for the grant of probate in 1918, to two ladies I guessed to be his sisters.

I just kept putting his name into searches, trying different additional words. There was a George Lambert, age 13, born in Ireland, appearing at school in Midsomer Norton, in Somerset, in 1851. Could this be the right one?

On the same list was another boy, Henry Lambert, 14, also born in Ireland. I wonder, were they perchance related?

It was hard to figure out the name of the school but eventually the pieces came together. I tracked down a reference to George in an issue of the school magazine, many years later, mentioning him as a trustee of the Greenwich Hospital. Bingo. He was Sir George, Companion of the Order of the Bath by the time he died.

He was unmarried.

The one interesting thing I found about him was a reference, late in life, to his having sailed to America and back, and while in New York, having been a guest of Madame Hoity Toity.

I realize the diehards among us want the details. They're coming.

But don't you think this was impressive detective work?

It gets easier, too, because there is enough history to this particular Lambert family that they appear in lists of peers.

More to come.

No. 3 Charles Street: Private Secretary to the Admiralty, and great genealogical sleuthing by me

It's one of those occasions when I feel so clever. Actually, instead of patting myself too hard on the back, I have to say that the Web makes research 1,000 times easier than it ever was. Wonderful!

OK, on with the show. Who lived on Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, in the 1871 census? Who were these people.

At No. 3 in 1871 we have:

George T. Lambert, Lodger, Unmarried, 33 years old, Private Secretary to the Admiralty, born in Ireland
Clara Beetles (?), Head, Unmarried, 33, Landlady of Lodging House, born Bewerty, Huntingdonshire
Lucy A. Sharp, Servant, Unmarried, 21, Domestic Servant, born Vauxhall, Middlesex
Agusta Beetles (?), Sister, Unmarried, 25, Milliner, born Earsdon, Cambridgeshire.

• Class:  RG10; Piece:  102; Folio:  75; Page: 32; GSU roll:  838762.
• 
  

I'm going to start with George.

Whoops! Forgot to give the Flea his Queen Victoria and Dracula numbers!

Back to our game of Six Degrees.

Henry Fleming -> Disraeli, Palmerston, Gladstone, others -> HM Queen Victoria

A Queen Victoria number of 2.
I suspect that is as high as he got.

Henry Fleming -> introduced the beauty, Virginia Pattle to the painter, George Frederic Watts at a party at Holland House -> Watts later married Ellen Terry, the actress -> Ellen Terry was Henry Irving's partner and leading lady, and of course would have known Bram Stoker, Irving's business manager and friend.

So far, a Dracula number of 3.

Henry Fleming -> spent many Sunday afternoons gossiping at the home of Thomas Carlyle, the writer -> Carlyle lived on Cheyne Walk, as did the Stokers, (though that doesn't prove they knew each other)

Possible Dracula number of 2.

I'd love to speculate about Henry Fleming and Oscar Wilde knowing each other, as they did have a few things in common, and Wilde was a friend of Stoker, but it would only be speculation.

The Stokers moved to London in the late 1870s, and Henry died in 1876, so it's not likely they crossed paths.

A goodbye, for now, to Henry Fleming

I have so loved researching Henry Fleming, who lived at No. 2, Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, in 1871.

But it's time to say goodbye, at least for now, because I want to move on down the street.

Here are a few things I'll mention before leaving.

1. Henry's mother, Catherine, was the daughter of a famous, or infamous, Irish Protestant leader, John Hunter Gowan II (aka Hunter Gowan). One of her half-brothers was Ogle Gowan, who started the Orange Lodge in Canada.

2. Henry's father was Captain Valentine Fleming, from Tuam, County Galway, in Ireland. He was a captain in the British 9th Regiment of Foot. He was Catherine's second husband, and died in 1824 when his four children were roughly aged 10 to 14. I have a copy of his will.

3. All three Fleming brothers, James, Valentine, and Henry, were apparently educated in Ireland, possibly all at Trinity College, Dublin, and all three were lawyers, though Henry didn't continue with the practice very long.

4. Although I have traced each of the brothers, I don't know what happened to their mother and their sister, Emma.

5. A James Fleming, who had a brother named Henry, both of Dublin, petitioned the House of Lords in the late 1820s to claim the title "Baron of Slane". I think this may have been the brothers, before they moved from Ireland to London. They did not succeed.

6. James became a QC, Chancellor of the Palatinate of Durham, and an official for the West Indies. His wife was Julia Mary Canning, and I suspect she had a reasonably impressive pedigree herself. Their children all had the middle name "Francis", except the eldest, who was named "Francis" as his first name.

7. Henry's nephew, James's son Francis Fleming had a distinguished career in the foreign service, and was variously governor of Antigua, and a senior official (possibly also governor) of Hong Kong, Sierra Leone, and Mauritius.

8.  Another nephew from the same family, Baldwyn Francis Fleming, followed his uncle Henry into the Poor Law Board and then the Local Government Board. My first impression is that he was a good civil servant who cared about the people he was responsible for.

9. Henry's brother, Valentine, became Sir Valentine, and was the Chief Justice of Tasmania for some time, before returning to England where eventually he died in retirement in Surrey.

10. Henry had kind of a double life: civil servant and socialite. As a civil servant, he was described in none-too-glowing terms, varying from boring through to incompetent, depending upon who was saying it, and when in his career they were commenting. I have yet to see a comment describing him as dynamic and indispensable, and yet he was a top-level official for decades.

11. In his social life, Henry knew everyone, and it is in this capacity that the real interest lies. He mingled with lords, ladies, writers, members of Parliament, Prime Ministers Disraeli and Palmerston, and probably Gladstone too, and his role was to spread strategically-placed gossip. This is the part of Henry Fleming's life most deserving of scholarly study.

I have collected a number of links to references to Henry Fleming. Though I haven't seen any one work devoted to the man himself, it is rather surprising just how many 19th century Londoners mention him in their own memoirs and accounts of the day.

He died in 1876, still employed by the Local Government Board, still living at No. 2, Charles Street, Berkeley Square, and on the same day as Lady Stanley, thus departing life in the same manner as he had lived it: in the penumbra of the upper class.

Clippings about the lost Baronetcy of Slane

From: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire. Sir Bernard Burke, publisher: Harrison, 1866, at pp. 217-218.
This copy provided by Google books.






A more modern book, A Genealogical History of the Barons Slane, by Lawrence F. Fleming (published by the author, 2008), mentions that James Fleming of Dublin and George Bryan of Jenkinstown, took their claims to the baronetcy to the House of Lords in 1828. Lawrence Fleming says later Flemings owe a debt of gratitude to these two, "for their rather foolish claims to nobility". He believes the evidence brought in opposition was conclusive proof that the claims were not well-founded, but by assembling the evidence for the House of Lords, the claimants unknowingly protected it from destruction a hundred years later, when the Four Courts building in Dublin was burned, taking so many historical documents with it.

Grandfather was a tyrant. Henry Fleming, Hunter Gowan and the Orange Lodge in Canada.

While on his father's side, Henry Fleming was descended from the Barons Slane, his mother's family were equally famous but also notorious.

Henry's grandfather was John Hunter Gowan II, often called Hunter Gowan.

Various descriptions of this man make him out to be a tyrant, a bully, and a violent leader. He was an anti-Catholic with a reputation for bloodshed.

One of his many children, Ogle Gowan, an illegitimate but recognized son, started the Orange Lodge in Canada. In The Orangeman: The Life and Times of Ogle Gowan, by Donald H. Akenson (, there is some description of Hunter Gowan's brutality back in Ireland.

There is also a paragraph mentioning how Ogle Gowan would use his half-brothers' and half-sisters' names when it suited him, even though he was "at daggers-drawn with his legitimate sisters and brothers".

"Catherine [Henry Fleming's mother], first married to a Sligo gentleman and also widowed had, as her second husband the Honourable John Fleming, third son and heir of Christopher, Lord Slane. A fine and noble man, Ogle was proud to say." (page 77)

I don't know if that's how Ogle said it, or if something has been lost in translation over the years, but my research to date indicates that Catherine married Captain Valentine Fleming, and that the descent from the Barons Slane was not quite as easily proven as Ogle might have suggested.

My other post for St. Patrick's Day today tells a bit more about the lost Baronetcy of Slane.

The Lost Baronetcy of Slane. Maybe you are an Irish noble and don't know it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In honour of the occasion I am going to post two stories connecting Henry Fleming to Ireland.

Henry Fleming's story is in turn part of a larger history and genealogy project, tracing the residents of Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, from the 1871 census.

The Charles Street Series

Flemings and the lost Baronetcy of Slane

There is a Slane Castle and a title, Baron Slane, attached to a little corner of Ireland near Dublin.

(U2 played there in 2001.)

I expect the castle is well taken care of, but the title is going begging for want of a suitable heir.

That's not for trying.

In the 1830s, one George Bryan petitioned the House of Lords in England to have himself recognized as the lawful inheritor of the title. It was a very complex claim, and the Lords referred it to a special committee. After five years of investigation, the decision was that the claim had not been made out, but Mr. Bryan was free to come back if further evidence surfaced.

Bryan's claim was opposed by a James Fleming and his brother Henry. I have seen references to these two being of Dublin, but also to James Fleming being one of Her Majesty's counsel. I have two theories.

1. The Fleming claim was made by James Fleming, a brother of Captain Valentine Fleming, and thus the uncle of James Fleming QC and his brother Henry of No. 2 Charles Street.

or

2. The Fleming claim was made by James Fleming, QC, when he was a student or a recent graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and thus living there, and that the Henry referred to was Henry of No. 2 Charles Street.

The latter theory seems more plausible because of the ripple effect this claim to the Baronetcy of Slane had in the generation to which James Fleming, QC, Henry of No. 2 Charles Street, and their brother Sir Valentine Fleming belonged. There is no doubt that this is the right family, it's just a question of which generation went to the House of Lords.

Sir Valentine named his second son Henry Slane Fleming.

James Fleming gave each of his children the middle name of Francis, other than the one who was actually called Francis Fleming. One of his other sons was Baldwyn Fleming. In the history of the Flemings as Barons Slane, the names Francis and Baldwyn are both prominent.

The three Fleming boys, James QC, Sir Valentine, and Henry of No. 2 Charles Street, and their sister, Emma, were perhaps raised with many tales of Irish greatness swirling in their heads, on both sides.

There is a Baron Slane today, Colonel Cyril Woods of Ontario, Canada, who was born in Ireland. Some controversy apparently surrounds the granting of arms to Colonel Woods, but without taking sides in an argument I do not pretend to understand, I think it may be safe to venture that Woods's claim may be for a slightly different title. Others can argue about the types of baronetcies and the intricacies. I am over my head.

There's another Irish story about Henry Fleming's family, but it's not quite so romantic. Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I'll post that one next.