Military B,D & M's in St Peter's the Fort Church, Colombo Ceylon

[TasTyger]

I've been hunting the web for a definite answer to whether there still exists the church registers for St Peter's the Fort Church, Colombo, Ceylon for the early part of the 1800S....

I'm trying to establish if the possible children and widow of a private in the 73rd Regiment of Foot were baptised and remarried post 1814 in this church. the private died at sea on the voyage to Ceylon in 1814.

In his book "Tombstone and Monuments in Ceylon", J Penry Lewis make reference... ... "The first chaplain was the Rev. James Cordiner, author of the book on Ceylon. He arrived in 1799
and left in 1804, and was succeeded by the Rev. the Hon. T. J. Twisleton. An assistant of his was the
Rev. William Hamlyn Heywood, appointed " Chaplain of Brigade to the Forces in Ceylon," March 3, 1804, who
was lost at sea on his voyage to England in the Jane Duchess of Gordon in March, 1809, and with him the
Register of Marriages which he was taking to England in order that a copy of it might be entered in the Registry
Office of the Bishop of London. He was succeeded by the Rev. George Bisset, M.A., l812-1820"... ...

If this was the case I would have expected later registers to have undergone the same procedure??

There are various references on the web that they might fall under the Presidency of Madras, the Archdeaconry of London, the Sri Lankan Archives even the UK Office of Nation Statistics??

We're dealing with the church where Cof E /Anglicans would go to have baptisms , weddings and burials done.  I know there was encouragement for protestants to attend the Wovendall Reform Church (Dutch) but I've looked at the on line records provided by the LDS and there are only a smattering of protestants amongst these.

Frustrated and hoping someone can point me in the right direction !!
Cheers,

Peter J Oakley (Tasmania)

[km1971]

Hi Peter

What was the Private's name?

Can we assume you have looked at the regimental BMDs on sites such as Findmypast?

Ken

[TasTyger]

Hi Ken,

The privates name was Samuel Peavers or Peevers. He came out to NSWs with Captain Cameron and 30 others of the 73rd Regiment as guards for the convicts on the "Boyd" in 1809.

I already have someone in the UK looking at the Description books and the next of kin registers for the regiment. This seems to be the only way I might get a lead otherwise if I can't locate church records in Ceylon.

Its a whole "maybe" scenario to try and make sense of a VDL mystery that has plagued the best of Tasmanian researchers for more than 30+ years.



It involves 2 men, James Peevor/Peves/Pevis/Pevo and William Clark (who is my ancestor) They both appear as "born in the colony" yet no one has made any sense of who they might be from all the records that are available. James Peevor changed his name to Clark around 1843. There had also been anecdotal stories from James Peevors family that William Clark was his brother?

Peevor is not a common name in the early part of Australian settlement. I'm simply trying a "fit" that may work with Samuel Peavers. He arrived in 1809 and then married a Mary McLeod who was possibly 14 at the time of their wedding in 1810 at Windsor, NSW's. He was commanded to Hobartown in 1811 and then the 73rd were ordered to Ceylon in 1814. He departed with his detachment on the "Windham" and died on 2 August 1814 at sea. James Peevor was "suppose" to be born circa 1808 in Launceston. William Clark was born 1813, where unknown...? I've just been taking a bit of licence in thinking perhaps James Peevor was actually born circa 1811  and with William being born 1813 they fit within the timespan for Samuel and Mary being in VDL.

Bobby Knopwood was the only chaplain in VDL in that time period and perhaps they never had the opportunity to have the boys baptised in VDL. With Samuel dying at sea what would become of Mary Peevor and the boys (still hypothetical they even exist) once they reached Ceylon? Could she have remarried fairly quickly to a Clark?? and then at sometime returned to VDL from Ceylon?

A newspaper account in 1816 tell that the "Windham" lost "upward of 80 souls on its 1814 voyage of the 197 persons on board. The majority must have been from the 28 women and 61 children onboard for the muster record displays only a few soldiers dying. If Mary died and the boys survived, what then? If none of the family survived then my whole "fairytale" is shot.

Hence a real need to see if they existed in the church records for St Peter's or not....

And yes I have looked at regimental BMDs with no result....

Cheers,

Peter

[km1971]

Hi Peter

Tough challenge. In my experience children were baptised before setting off on long sea voyages due the high probability they would be lost at sea. In 20 years of military research I have only come across one definite case of a women who was widowed overseas not re-marrying within the regiment. This was recorded in the back of the muster book as she was given free passage back to the UK. There would have been more but as I am sure you have discovered, the army just did not care about wives and children. This one was only recorded as there was a cost involved. Given the ages of the children there is a good possibility that if the children survived they adopted the surname of a second husband. Or if orphaned were again adopted within the regiment.

Muster books from a later period would almost certainly have a record of what happened to any money owed to Samuel Peavers. But paper and ink were expensive in 1814. It was usually recorded in the next quarter’s book.

The medical journal of the Windham has not been survived. That would be the only document recording the names of the deceased. If you can find a copy of the “historical records” of the 73rd Regiment it may break down the deaths into men, women and children. It will also tell you (if you do not know already) if other ships were involved in transporting the regiment. It does not follow that families travelled on the same ship as their husbands. This book has not been reprinted, but the Black Watch museum should have a copy.

Ken

[TasTyger]

Well I haven't made a stroke of progress moving this research in the forward direction but it looks as if someone years ago beat me to when Samuel Peavers first joined the 73rd regiment.

A small publication was put out by the descendants of James Peevor/Clark following a reunion back in the mid 1990s. In it they state that Samuel Peavers was born late 1780s in Ballymin, Kerrigot, Ireland. He enlisted in the Irish Kerry Militia and then transferred to the 73rd Regiment on the 26 August 1808.

However I can't reconcile any of this information with resources I have been able to find. I can't find any place called Ballymin, Kerrigot ?? The closest I have to a place is Ballymun, which is in Dublin. Kerrigot just doesn't seem to exist as a place?

I'm not familiar with the Irish Militias but if he came from around Dublin whats he doing enlisted in a Militia so far south? Though I think Ballymin, Kerrigot is probably down in Kerry and the Dublin example is only coincidence...

So does anyone know more about the Kerry Militia or where I can find out more? or have a better explanation for where Ballymin, Kerrigot might  have been?

Cheers,

Peter

[km1971]

Hi Peter

In peacetime Militia men had to live in the home county of the regiment. But this was war time so they would have been embodied ('called out'), and Militias almost always served away from their own county. The march of 100 miles or so was part of the training and it stopped them nipping home to see their mother. So if he did not move to Kerry it is possible that they moved near to Dublin and he joined them there.

Another possibility is that the Militia had a system of balloting. Men selected could pay for a substitute, and these could come from anywhere, as they were often advertised for in national papers. Although your theory about Kerrigot may be correct.

I would ask at Kerry record office to see what they have. As well as Militia records they may have records of payments made to family members from the parish chest while the men were away. Another problem is that during the war with France they created Local Militias in addition to the 'regular' Militia. As suggested these only served in the home county - so only theory #1 would apply. Again the record office should know what was happening locally. Another way of finding the structure of the Militia in say Kerry would be to search for kerry militia on the London Gazette website, as the commissions of the officers should be on there.

Ken

[BritishCeylon]

Peter,
You may be in luck,  there is a Diocesan Library in the grounds of the Anglican Cathederal in Colombo which has very early records. The earliest for my British Ceylon military research has been baptisms in 1808 and marriages in 1807.
I have a number of 73rd Regt marriage and baptim entries for your time period in Colombo, Galle and Trincomalee, but none that match what you are looking for unfortunately.
The address is
The Librarian,
Anglican Diocesan Library,
Cathederal Precincts,
368/3A Bauddhaloka Mawatha
Colombo 7.  Sri Lanka.
cheers, Larry Andresen, in Babinda, Qld.

[TasTyger]

Hi Larry,

You gave me the same information via some other emails we had late Oct... I acted upon it straight away and sent a letter off early Nov but as yet I haven't seen my SAE reappear in my mailbox.

I really hope a clue does evolve from this because again I've reached a dead end in any research I've attempted based on clues left in Tasmanian documents...

Cheers,

Peter

[barryd]

I have done fairly extensive genealogical research in Ceylon but only on people of the higher levels of society in Ceylon, Lawyers, Tea Planters, Civil Servants, high ranking Police Officers etc. One marriage of Edward George Creasy married at St. Peter's, The Fort Church, Colombo only (so far) is recorded in the Law Times and the Times of London. Married 5 October 1886 to Gertrude Julia Crozier. Gertrude died 2 January 1897, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo and as indicative of some wealth her will is  proved in England which includes her death date and place of death. A listing of publications of BMD in Ceylon below.

http://www.genealogysrilanka.com/author/eileen-hewson/