LILLICRAPS marry in Rangoon but how did it come about

[grahamsittee]

I have an interesting problem. Luckily it involves a rather uncommon name.

Ester (Esther) COOK is born in Devon in 1836 (although on the 1861 census states 1826). In 1860 she marries William Henry LILLICRAP (1824) and they have a daughter Deborah Mary Rosi (1861). They have a further son Thomas.

William is lost at sea in 1864 and in 1871 Ester and Deborah have moved to Southampton.

6 June 1891 Deborah Mary Nora(?) Lillicrap (there just can’t be two of those) marries Henry Anthony David in Rangoon and a witness at the wedding was E Lillicrap (presumably Ester). Henry was born in Bedminster Bristol in 1838. He married his first wife Jane Victoria Hazelwood in Rangoon in 1863 and died in Rangoon in 1900. His occupation on the death registration looks like pilot.

Just how they got together is a mystery as I can not find the Lillicraps on any ship going to Rangoon and the age difference is considerable. Also I can not find out what happens to Ester or Deborah.

Any thoughts or suggestions of avenues to explore would be welcome.

[StanleysChesterton]

I have an interesting problem. Luckily it involves a rather uncommon name.

Ester (Esther) COOK is born in Devon in 1836 (although on the 1861 census states 1826). In 1860 she marries William Henry LILLICRAP (1824) and they have a daughter Deborah Mary Rosi (1861). They have a further son Thomas.

William is lost at sea in 1864 and in 1871 Ester and Deborah have moved to Southampton.

6 June 1891 Deborah Mary Nora(?) Lillicrap (there just can’t be two of those) marries Henry Anthony David in Rangoon and a witness at the wedding was E Lillicrap (presumably Ester). Henry was born in Bedminster Bristol in 1838. He married his first wife Jane Victoria Hazelwood in Rangoon in 1863 and died in Rangoon in 1900. His occupation on the death registration looks like pilot.

Just how they got together is a mystery as I can not find the Lillicraps on any ship going to Rangoon and the age difference is considerable. Also I can not find out what happens to Ester or Deborah.

Any thoughts or suggestions of avenues to explore would be welcome.

My first two thoughts are:
Maybe he was in the navy and they had some way of getting women abroad that's not on a currently published passenger list.  And/or maybe he met the bride in the marina/harbour area when she sailed in on a friend's private holiday yacht.

As a pilot, maybe he owned his own boat.  He'd have certainly known lots of people with boats.  Little boats wouldn't have had published passenger lists maybe; any records of those might be small/local/private collections.   

[Jebber]

It looks as if Esther died of Senile Decay in Bengal  22 July 1919 as Esther Harriet. The name has been indexed as LILLICRAF

[grahamsittee]

StanleysChesterton, Many thanks for your thoughts but I doubt they had resources or connections who owned private holiday yachts.

Appreciate your ideas though.
Graham

[grahamsittee]

Jebber,

Many thanks for finding that. It is certainly the mother although I am not sure where the Henrietta came from

I appreciate your help on this.

Graham

[ShaunJ]

I cannot find the Lillicraps on any ship going to Rangoon

There are no published outgoing passenger lists from UK before 1890, as far as I am aware.

[grahamsittee]

ShaunJ many thanks for your advice. I appreciate it.

Graham

[KGarrad]

It might be worth checking FIBIS (Families in British India Society), as some of their records include Burma?

[Jebber]

Deborah Mary Rosa DAVID died of Diabetes aged 37 on the 15 October 1911, she was buried the next day in the Cantonment  Cemetery of  Bengal.


Esther may well have taken Deborah to  India in search of a husband for her, women were in great demand by the British men in India, many single women went in search of husbands. You may find it of interest to read  "The Fishing Fleet Husband  Hunting in the Raj"  by Anne de Courcy, it tells of the life the British women lived in India at that time. 

Those women that failed to find a husband and came home still single, were described as "Returned empties"