Category Archives: Drake

2024 Glengallan Deuchar Dinner

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Guests at the dinner; Jane modelling the veil with Megan and Alun looking on (©Christine van Zyl); Veil, Christening Set and Seal; Megan and Alun displaying the veil.

Megan and Alun attended the annual Deuchar Dinner at the Glengallan Homestead on Saturday 14 September 2024. The homestead was built by John Deuchar and the dinner commemorates the lavish dinner he held there on 16 September 1868 to celebrate its construction. The Warwick Examiner reported:

BALL AT GLENGALLAN. — On Wednesday evening last, John Deuchar, Esq., entertained a large party on the occasion of opening his new house, which is generally acknowledged to be the finest and best finished residence in the colony. A great number of his friends, including the “elite” of the surrounding districts and Brisbane, were invited. Dancing commenced at nine o’clock, and was kept up with great spirit until twelve o’clock, when the party adjourned to supper laid in the spacious balcony, which was rendered perfectly warm and comfortable by being enclosed with Venitian blinds. The supper table, which was 100 feet in length, presented a most imposing appearance, and everything connected with it was managed in the well known hospitable manner of the worthy host and hostess. … Dancing was then resumed, and kept up without cessation until six o’clock, when the numerous guests took their departure, having spent an exceedingly pleasant evening.

Glengallan homestead ready for the party.
©Glengallan 2024

The homestead was similarly prepared this time, but with heavyweight plastic blinds and gas heaters to manage the chill Darling Downs air. The modern contingent also didn’t have the stamina of the settlers of old. Matters were concluded before midnight, but we too spent “an exceedingly pleasant evening” with everything connected with it being well and hospitably managed by the dedicated volunteers and staff of the Glengallan Homestead Trust.

Apart from having a very nice dinner, the purpose of our visit was for Megan to donate some Marshall family photographs and heirlooms to the Trust to enhance their collection. The artefacts will also allow more to be told about the Marshalls, who owned the property for the longest, but were not directly involved in the running of the station after Charles Marshall’s death in 1874. Rather than just handing over the items with a handshake we prepared a narrative to explain their provenance and significance.

Megan is the great-great-granddaughter of the Marshalls of Glengallan and inherited a number of items which she would now like to re-unite with the Glengallan story. We would like to provide a short narrative to give context to these items so I am going to provide a quick background to the items and Megan is going to show them off and hand them over to Donna Fraser.

Charles Henry Marshall

The story of the Marshalls at Glengallan starts with Charles Henry Marshall.

He came to Australia in 1843 as the bookkeeper for the Van Diemen’s Land Company at Stanley on the north coast of Tasmania. He went on to become the Superintendent of their Woolnorth sheep station (the NW tip of Tasmania) and made quite a bit of money with his side hustle of growing potatoes.

He left in 1849 and by 1850 was on Glengallan in partnership with Robert Campbell tertius. In 1852 he became the sole lessee. In 1854 he went into partnership with John Deuchar – who would later build this house.

To add to the collection we have a framed photograph of Charles Marshall and the Marshall letter seal.

©Alun Stevens 2024 ©Glengallan 2024

Quite small with an M in the same style as is seen on the Marshall silver which is on display in the visitor centre.

Charlotte Augusta Dring (Drake) Marshall

Charles returned to England in 1857.

On 6 April, he had dinner with William and Mary Marshall, at 19 Regents Park Terrace – an elegant, four storey, terraced house in a very nice part of London. Both William and Mary were his cousins. William on his father’s side, Mary on his mother’s. Also at the dinner were the Drakes from No. 21.

William Henry Drake and his wife Louisa Purkis had met and married in Perth as two of the earliest settlers in WA. Their second daughter, Charlotte Augusta Dring, was born at Albany. William Henry was a Commissary and went on to be the Colonial Treasurer of WA. After Perth, he was posted to Tasmania, Canada and to Balaklava in Crimea during the War. After the War, the family settled back together at No. 21 Regents Park Terrace.

William Henry kept a detailed Journal which is how we know Charles had dinner with them. It also shows that the Drakes then saw rather a lot of Charles. He was clearly an avid suitor.

11 April: He had dinner with them.
13 April: He called on them.
18 April: He went to see an exhibition with the Drakes.
27 April: He went to see an exhibition of Crimean relics with the Drakes.
8 May: He dined with the Drakes.
12 May: He had tea at the Drakes.
 
There is then a little gap in recorded sightings of Charles but he must have been around given developments.
 
29 July: Charles again dined with the Drakes.
4 August: John Deuchar had also been doing things other than farming, but closer to home. He married Eliza Lee in Sydney. But Charles wasn’t far behind.
8 August: Charles went with Charlotte and her mother to an Art Union exhibition.
15 August: Charles went with Charlotte and her parents to the Tower of London and dinner.
18 August: Charlotte’s sister, Louisa, writes to her to congratulate her and wish her every happiness. What had happened?
26 August to 5 September: Charlotte, her parents and Charles went to Devon to visit various members of Charles’s family.
6 September: Charles, Charlotte and William Henry went to see Charles’s brother William in Clapham, London.
11 September: Wedding invitations were sent out.
23 September: Charles and Charlotte married at St. Pancras. This was also the wedding anniversary of Charlotte’s parents and of the Marshalls of No. 19.

Which brings us to the second item to come back to Glengallan.

Queen Victoria at her wedding in 1840 had set the trend for white wedding dresses and veils. Her choice of a lace veil from Honiton in Devon made them the most desirable of accoutrements and Charlotte thought so too.

We don’t know whether she bought it while they were travelling in Devon or at an outlet in London, but this is her Honiton lace veil which Megan is now donating to Glengallan for their collection. (See banner above.)

We also have two photos of Charlotte Augusta.

©Alun Stevens 2024 ©Alun Stevens 2024

Charlotte Louisa Marshall

After their marriage Charles and Charlotte honeymooned in Scotland and departed for Australia on 12 December 1857. They arrived at Sydney on 17 February 1858, at Brisbane on 4 March and at Glengallan a few days later.

So Charles had been away for over a year.

Life settled down and their first child, a daughter, Charlotte Louisa, was born in the old wooden house on 23 February 1859.

She was the first of the Glengallan Children. Mary Deuchar had been born on 4 June 1858, but this had been at her grandmother’s house in Double Bay, Sydney.

Charlotte Louisa was not only born on Glengallan, she was also baptised on Glengallan, on 17 April 1859, by Rev William Woodman Dove. Rev Benjamin Glennie’s diary shows that there were 15 people in attendance.

And she was presented with this silver Christening set which is also being donated to Glengallan.

It is Sterling Silver engraved CLM and hallmarked for Sheffield 1855.

There is also a photo of Charlotte Louisa (called Louie) as a girl.

©Alun Stevens 2024 ©Alun Stevens 2024

Those are all the items, but, if you will indulge me for a few more minutes, there is one more story to tie them all together. We need to jump forward 25 years. John Deuchar and Charles Marshall have died. Charlotte Augusta’s mother has also died in Grahamstown, South Africa and her father has married a local young lady three years younger than Charlotte Augusta. Charlotte is now the partner in Marshall and Slade dealing with William Ball Slade.

On 2 November 1883 Charlotte Augusta wrote to William Ball Slade:

Did I tell you that Louie is engaged to be married, (she has been engaged for some months but it is not given out yet) to Horace Ayliff, he is a nephew of my Step Mother Lady Drake, & is going to be a Barrister, but is not called yet – His Father is the leading Solicitor in Graham’s Town so will be able to put work into Horace’s hands – I shall not like Louie’s leaving to go to South Africa to live, but of course if it is for her happiness I shall have to let her go – & she thinks the hot Climate will suit her better than the cold & damp of England – However I do not see much chance of their being married at present as he must make a position first.

On 13 June 1884, she wrote:

Do not be surprised if you have a visit before very long from my eldest daughter, she is most anxious to accept an invitation she has had from the Arnolds in Sydney, & had just planned to accompany Dr. & Mrs. Taylor, but not it is decided that Mrs. Taylor does not go out yet so Louie is looking for another Chaperone – If she does go, she wishes much to have a peep at Glengallan, where she was born.

On 27 February 1885 she wrote again:

I am getting Louie’s things ready as I believe she will go to the Cape to be married this Spring.

She had wanted to see Glengallan again, but didn’t make it. She was married in Cape Town on 23 May 1885 and the wedding veil you have just seen was one of the “things” that her mother got ready for her. So we can be confident that the girl from Glengallan also wore it at her wedding.

Thank you all and especially Jane Brenner for modelling the veil.

©Alun Stevens 2024

Portraits of a Merchant Family

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The book; Benthall Hall, Shropshire.

While researching our paper, The Wrong Marshall, Megan met Tim Benthall on an online forum. This was fortunate as Tim has provided us with a lot of invaluable information and a number of family documents that we could not have obtained otherwise. Our favourite is what we call “The Analogue Photograph“. This was a document signed by all the descendants of Dorothy Marshall (neé Chadder), the wife of Dr. William Marshall, who were present at her 80th birthday function on 29 August 1822, before the invention of cameras. We both enjoyed working with him.

Tim was working on a book about his Benthall ancestors that is now complete and has been published. PORTRAITS of a MERCHANT FAMILY is an elegant and impressive book in coffee table format available on Amazon:

Benthall Hall is a National Trust property in Shropshire. It contains about 70 portraits that depict eight generations of a single family, together with their many relatives. The two portraits on the front cover are of William Bentall and Dr. William Marshall. They met in Devon and became friends in around 1760, one a young merchant and the other a medical student. They remained friends for life, and became the patriarchs of that large extended family. Their children and grandchildren intermarried, and in the 19th century this clan exemplified the importance of “incest and influence” in maintaining a successful merchant class (as engagingly described by the anthropologist Adam Kuper in his book of that title). Its most successful members sometimes brushed with greatness, becoming entrepreneurs or civil servants in the British government and its colonies. Several others lived colourful but less respectable lives. The author draws on public and private documents to bring this family to life and show how, for better or worse, they lived through the political and social developments of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Any net profits from sales of the book will be donated to the National Trust.

The Author Notes state:

T. P. Benthall was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in West Bengal and educated in England. After graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Mathematics, he spent over fifty years working with computers, as an operations research analyst, management consultant and executive at a computer software company, before being coaxed into becoming a genealogist and amateur social historian.

Whilst the book is primarily about the Benthall family, it is also a wonderful source of pithy information about the Marshall, the Adams, the Drake and the other families who joined together to further their own joint interests. It is meticulously researched and presented and definitely a must read for anyone with an interest in these families.

The book is previewed here on the Amazon US site. If you wish to buy it, you will need to find it on your local Amazon site.

©Alun Stevens 2020

The Drakes in London

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Having returned to England following the end of the Crimean War, the Drakes settled down to enjoying the many attractions of the centre of empire. They visited the big attractions of the time – the Crystal Palace, Wyld’s Great Globe, and Kew Gardens.

They also met and entertained their many acquaintances and friends from Western Australia, Tasmania, Canada, and the Crimea. They attended concerts, shows, and exhibitions. They attended lectures, including two by Henry’s friend, William Howard Russell of the Times, about his experiences in the Crimea.

Henry took an interest in the preaching of Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a popular, but controversial Baptist preacher of the time.

Their son, John, wrote to them telling them that he was getting married. His fiancé was Matilda Elizabeth Ormiston, whose grandmother, Elizabeth Fulloon, had been the first superintendent of the famous (in Australia at least) Parramatta Female Factory.

Their daughter, Charlotte Augusta Dring, also married during this period, to Charles Henry Marshall. There was much engagement between the Drakes and Marshalls, and the family even travelled to Devon to meet Charles’s relatives.

Not long after the Marshalls left for Australia, Henry was informed that he was to be posted to Gibraltar. While he waited, he managed to fit in attendance at the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Victoria, and the family enjoyed the annular eclipse of the sun. Henry, Louisa, and their youngest daughter, Laura, even attended a lecture to prepare themselves for it.

The military eventually came through and the family left for Gibraltar on 27 April 1858.

 

Megan has done an excellent job of researching all the events, places and people that Henry refers to. She has assembled a lot of information including contemporary pictures, photographs, and commentary of the events the Drakes attended. Together they provide insight into Victorian life, but with the added interest of a family connection. There is also a lot of information for those interested in the Marshalls of Glengallan.

This is a big article, but worth the read. It can be found HERE

Comments welcomed.

©Alun Stevens 2018

The Drake Family Bible Etc.

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In our last post we indicated that we had been contacted by an antique dealer who had come into possession of a a collection of Drake family memorabilia including the Drake Family Bible. We bought the collection and it has now arrived.

We are slowly working through the material – collating, organising, photographing and scanning. There is quite a lot of stuff so this will take some time to complete. We have started with some of William Henry Drake’s awards and the family Bible.

The Bible is a lovely old leather bound book printed in 1747 in Oxford. A King James Bible in old English script and still in very good condition. The pages are still white and the leather is still smooth and flexible.

The fore and aft pages have been used to record births, deaths and marriages from 1743 through to the early 20th century mainly related to the families of the eldest sons of each generation. The fore pages are not in as good a condition as the rest of the book as they have become detached and worn where they have stuck out from under the cover. Nonetheless, they are legible and present some interesting genealogical information for those interested in the Drakes.

I have photographed and transcribed all of the fore and aft pages and have put them together here. Have a look and let us know what you think.

I have also photographed the “Warrant granting to Deputy Commissary General William Henry Drake the dignity rank and privileges belonging or appertaining to … Companions of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath.” Another interesting document. In flowing Victorian prose and prominently signed by Victoria herself (naturally), and also by Albert. Rather than create a new web page to display the document, I have added it to the existing page that discusses the award when Henry was in the Crimea. The award can be seen on the updated page here. If you click on the images, they will expand to full size.

©Alun Stevens 2018

Drake Collection

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We having been watching the traffic to Down Rabbit Holes with some interest. Visitors from all over the world following up on our blogs and also now finding us via online searches and the links on the Crimean War Research Society web site. Visitors as expected from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States, but also from France, Greece, China, India and Canada amongst others.

On Tuesday we had an interesting visitor. Instead of just reading our material, he also contacted us to tell us that he had a collection of Drake family documents from a deceased estate and was looking for a home for them. The collection includes:

  • The Drake family Bible dating from 1747 with records of births and some deaths
  • The warrant from Queen Victoria granting William Henry Drake the rank of Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath
  • Photographs
  • Family letters
  • Many other things.

This was all too tempting so we have bought the collection and will know its full extent when it arrives in the near future. From what we have seen, there will be some interesting new information to add to the family story which we will publish in due course.

It is good to see the web site helping uncover these hidden collections because without it we would not have been visible on Google.

As we say on the Home page, family history is like exploring rabbit warrens.

The Drake Crimean Letters

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My MA thesis was largely based on original letters written by William Henry Drake and his wife, Louisa, during the Crimean War. I also used a transcript of the Journal Drake kept during his time in the Crimea and after.

I have always felt that these letters should be made available to those who study the history of the Crimean War and to family historians interested in the Drake family. They provide a unique perspective on the conduct of the war from the viewpoint of a Commissariat officer, and also of the family interactions of that officer and the perspectives of his wife and daughter who joined him in the theatre of war.

I had toyed with the idea of trying to find a publisher, but wondered why any publisher would wish to publish such a large collection of letters, the subject matter of which has such a small audience, especially in this era of ebooks. That is why, having done all this work, I am thrilled to say that the Crimean War Research Society has agreed to publish them.

In transcribing the letters, I investigated all the places, events and especially people mentioned and have annotated the letters accordingly. I have also included ancillary documents, such as newspaper articles surrounding some of the events that occurred, as well as the evidence that Drake gave before the McNeill/Tulloch commission, and the Strathnairn committee of enquiry. These, I feel, provide context for the letters and will assist readers interpret and appreciate them.

The letters can be found here. [See NOTE.]

My thanks to web master Tom Muir for uploading the letters to the Crimean War Research Society web site.

©Megan Stevens 2018

NOTE: 10 JULY 2024
The Crimean War Research Society web site has closed down. The link above has been redirected to their archived site on Wayback Machine.

We have now also added the letters to this web site and they can be found here: The Drake Crimean Letters

More enjoyable times

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On 21 February 1856, Henry was informed that he had been appointed a Companion of the Bath. He was justly proud of the award and in writing to his parents said, “I shall want a bit of ribbon, C.B. colour to put on my coat. So you see with my Red Ribbon, my Chevalier Cross and Medal & three Clasps, I shall make an imposing appearance!”

Louisa sewed “Henry’s Red Ribbon on his Coat” and wrote to Henry’s parents that she “thought it looked very well and I am not a little proud of it.”

The war was coming to an end and the Drake’s enjoyed entertainment, theatre and the Grand Races on the Tchernaya River which was a great festival reportedly attended by some 100,000 people.

Peace came with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 30 March 1856, but news only reached the Crimea on 2nd of April. Nonetheless, the Drakes attended the Great Ball on board the Bruiser on 31 March with Henry reported in the Illustrated London News as proposing the toast to the Captain and his wife.

More celebrations followed including an “excellent dinner” on board the Ottawa. The only sour note was that that night the Drakes’ stable burnt down singing Louisa’s horse, Jack.

The Drakes then went home via Kertch, but not before Louisa had “mustered Courage … to call on Miss Nightingale” who she regarded as “one of the Lions of the present day.” They stopped off in Constantinople, where Henry had some duties to attend to, and visited the tourist attractions. They eventually left on 21 July and arrived in London in early August and took up residence at 21 Regents Park Terrace where neighbours were to play a part in introducing their younger daughter Charlotte Augusta Dring to her future husband, Charles Henry Marshall.

The detailed description of these events can be found HERE

©Megan Stevens 2018

Balaklava, Kertch and the spoils of war

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The first letter Henry wrote to Louisa following his arrival in Balaklava contains the sketch in the banner showing the layout of the town and its harbour. The painting below it by William Simpson provides a better view of what Balaklava was like.

Henry’s letters and Journal at this time contain interesting descriptions of his domestic arrangements. He talks of his accommodation, his furnishings and his servants.

He mentions ongoing contact with William Howard Russell of the Times.

He also starts raising with Louisa the possibility of her coming out to the Crimea while leaving the younger girls in England to continue their education.

On 14 November 1854 he writes to Louisa to describe “One of the most miserable & wretched days.” This was the hurricane that destroyed and damaged many ships in and near Balaklava harbour and caused the loss of significant amounts of food, clothing and equipment just at the beginning of winter.

Henry worked and waited through the winter and in April 1855 heard that Louisa and their daughter Louisa Maria would leave Southampton at the end of the month. They arrived on 18 May, just in time to accompany Henry on the expedition to capture Kertch along with William Howard Russell and William Simpson.

The upper centre image in the banner is Simpson’s depiction of the burning of Kertch. The image below it, also by Simpson, shows the battleship HMS Agamemnon and the steamer Hope passing by Prince Woronzoff’s Palace near Yalta on the return voyage. The Drakes were onboard the Hope so would have enjoyed this view.

Not long after they returned, the British Commanding Officer, Lord Raglan, died. Henry was called on to provide lead for the coffin so that Raglan’s body could be returned to England. Louisa and Louisa Maria went to view the funeral procession which is depicted in the lithograph by William Simpson.

The cannon stands outside Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire and was one of those captured by the Allies and distributed by the Commission Mixte of which Henry was a member.

The new sections I have added are:

Balaklava and the Crimean Peninsular

Kertch

Death of Raglan and the spoils of war

©Megan Stevens 2018

More on William Henry Drake

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Here is the next instalment in my updates to the information on William Henry Drake and his family.

My last blog provided links to a short summary of his life and information on his early life including his posting to the Swan River Colony (Perth, Western Australia).

The Drakes were transferred from Perth to Hobart, Tasmania, where they stayed for two years. Henry was then posted to St John, New Brunswick, Canada, but had the opportunity to spend some time in England on the way which allowed his family to meet his parents.

He was also not in Canada for long and was transferred back to London, but did not spend any time there as the Crimean War began while he was in transit and he was rerouted.

He travelled to the Crimea via Greece (Piræus) and Bulgaria (Varna). He met a number of historic figures along the way and even banqueted at the Acropolis.

The updates can be found here:

Hobart

London and New Brunswick

Crimea

I have also added some navigation links so that you can move backwards and forwards through the various articles.

©Megan Stevens 2018

Updating William Henry Drake’s information

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My thesis contains a lot of information about William Henry Drake and his family, but there was a lot of information that didn’t make it into my thesis because of the tight requirements for the word count of theses. Since completing my thesis, I have also found a lot more information about their lives. My aim is to make this information available here.

I am, therefore, writing a series of blogs on various aspects of the family and will be publishing them as they are completed. I have started with three articles.

The first is a short summary of Henry’s life which provides a framework for the other articles.

The second covers the movements of Henry’s family following his birth in Portugal until, as a young man, he went to the Swan River Colony (Perth, Western Australia).

The third looks at his time in WA including his marriage and the birth of his children.

Other blogs will follow in due course.

©Megan Stevens 2018

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