James Stuart CB of Gracehill

[Fritz10]

I am a great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Francis Stewart-Moore, nee Stuart, so that line is my main interest.

I possibly can tell you more about James Stuart CB's children. I'm presuming you're meaning the Major-General who served in India? (There are quite a lot of James Stuarts!).
I'm interested that you're descended from him and that your great-grandfather was his eldest son. What was his name?

[Benody1921]

Hello!

My 2nd great-grandfather was Henry Benson Stuart, born 1834 in Calcutta. His father was James Stuart CB, secretary to the military government in India (b. 1784 d. 1859). HB Stuart was married twice but seemed to like having children outside of his marriages. My great-grandad was born Henry Whiting Stuart on 28 Aug 1883 in Luton to Henry Benson Stuart and Sarah Elizabeth Whiting. He was adopted by Edwin Dunn and Betsy Brooks and his name was changed to George Harry Dunn and his place of birth was changed to Wollescote, Worcestershire.

The only other children I know of that James Stuart had were James Irwin Stuart who was born and died in India at age 2, my Henry Benson Stuart, and now I've learned of Olivia Grace Stuart.

[Fritz10]

This is what I've recently learned about James's Stuart's children – from research done some years ago. 'In each case the birth certificate gives the father’s name as Major James H.C. Stuart (initials H.C. unaccounted for). They are said to have been:
1.   Henry Todd, later Major-General Henry Todd Stuart of the Madras Army (retired July 1882). Evidence circumstantial but he was born 3 December 1827. Father a Major at the time. Married 1 August 1854 Mary (surname unknown but born 1 February 1826 and died 18 February 1911) and died 26 October 1910. Nine children!
2.   James Irwin. James Irwin Stuart, born 14 July 1832, Baptised 21 March 1833.
Died aged two years and four months. Burial date, 9 December 1834.
Calcutta.
3.   Henry Benson. Born Calcutta 1835 and apparently named after Col. Benson, a friend of his father. Mother’s name not on baptism certificate. He was brought up by James’s sister Caroline in the Irwin household in Belfast, and educated at Rugby School. His guardian was James Ruddell Todd, 33 Portland Place, London. Nominated for service in the HEICS (Honourable East India Company Service) Army by Sir James Weir Hogg, Bt, of India House and 16 Grosvenor Square, London, with reference from Col Benson. He was an Ensign in the 18th Native Infantry 1854/55, 4th European Regiment Bengal Army and referred to in 1887 as Captain Henry Benson Stuart. He was author of ‘A History of Infantry from the earliest times to the present’ and last heard of in the Argentine in 1893. He married on 17 Nov 1859 at St Saviour’s Church, Paddington, Middlesex, Isabella Louisa, daughter of Joshua Carter of the Bengal Civil Service, and had three children.

[Fritz10]

There is no evidence of a first marriage. Do you know any details?
And it does appear that his children were illegitimate.

The person who provided this material - many years ago - obviously didn't know about Olivia Grace.
I don't know her birth date but I have found out some other info.

Olivia Stuart married George Thomas Gowan at Calcutta, 1854. (Source: Women in India)
She was probably about 21. Her brother was born in 1835, which would make him 19 at this time.
In ‘Narrative of Events Attending the Outbreak of Disturbances and the Restoration of Authority in the District of Moradabad in 1857-1858’ [the Indian Mutiny] by J.C. Wilson Esquire, aka Cracroft Wilson, Judge and Sessions Judge of Moradabad. He makes considerable reference to a Captain Gowan of the 18th Regiment Native Infantry.
Henry Benson Stuart (Olivia’s brother) was in the same regiment in 1854/55. (retired as a captain)
Robertson & Co.'s Bengal almanac, companion, and ... 1853.


EDITED BY C. U. WILSON, M.A., OF THE BENGAL EDUCATION SERVICE,
List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in Bengal possessing Historical or Archaeological Interest. Calcutta, 1896
St Paul’s Cathedral. Consecrated 1847.
June 1857. George Thomas Gowan.
To the beloved memory of GEORGE THOMAS GOWAN, Captain in the 27th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry, and Commandant 9th Regiment, Oude Irregular Force, second son of Major-General G. E. Gowan, Bengal Artillery, killed at Sitapur, Oude, June 1857, in the 35th year of his age. He fell whilst endeavouring to recall the mutinous sepoys of his own corps to order and obedience.
June 1857. Olivia Grace Gowan and infant
Also to the memory of OLIVIA GRACE, daughter of Major-General James Stuart, Bengal Army, and wife of Captain G. T. Gowan, who, with their infant son, George Boyce Combe, was cruelly murdered by the rebels at Sitapur, June 1857.

Fascinating, but very sad.

[Benody1921]

That's great! Thank you so much. I found the story about Olivia and her family very sad; it stuck with me for the next day or so. Now I'll have to do some research on Henry Todd Stuart. Do you know the connection between the Todds and Stuarts? They are related in some way but I haven't been able to figure out how. I was thinking that Grace Lynde's (James Stuart's mother) mother might have been a Todd. James Ruddell-Todd was Henry Benson Stuart's guardian but also relative according to HB Stuart's cadet papers. I wondered who HB lived with in Ireland. I saw newspaper articles of his awards in school but couldn't figure out who he lived with. Then his cadet papers mentioned a Mrs. Irwin or Mrs. Irvine; it was difficult to read so I couldn't figure it out but Mrs. Irwin makes sense that it was his aunt Caroline.

The other marriage for Henry Benson Stuart was to Anna Mary Bourke (daughter of Theophilus John Robert Bourke & Mary Ann Lapeth) in 1868. They remained married but he had two children with Sarah Elizabeth Whiting: Mary Stuart, born 1881, and my great-grandad, Henry Whiting Stuart, born 1883. On the birth certificate for great-grandad, Elizabeth Whiting was the informant and she had the father down as Henry Benson Stuart, Captain on Full Pay of the 18th (tough to read but pretty sure it was 18) Regiment of Prince of Wales's Own. On Mary Stuart's birth certificate, Henry was the informant and he has himself down as Henry Stuart, Gentleman.

Several years earlier though, it appears he had 2 children with a woman named Julia (possibly Julia Johnson): Julia Benson Stuart (b. 1861) and Henry Stuart (b. 1862). Then there's the other three children he had with his first wife, Isabella: Henry Gowan Stuart (b. 1860 - obviously after his sister and her husband who were killed during the mutiny), James Douglas Stuart (b. 1863), and Annie Flora Stuart (b. 1865).

I wonder why no mother's name was given on the baptism records for the Stuart children. It's very frustrating. I'd love to know who Henry Benson's mother was. I know that James Stuart was married in 1855, near the end of his life, to a widow Maria Johnstone (nee Duffin). On his marriage certificate he has himself down as a bachelor. So either he was never married before and just had children with someone in India or he forgot about his previous marriage. Any guesses on who the mother(s) could be? Is it possible she was an Indian woman?

[Benody1921]

This is what I've recently learned about James's Stuart's children – from research done some years ago. 'In each case the birth certificate gives the father’s name as Major James H.C. Stuart (initials H.C. unaccounted for). They are said to have been:
1.   Henry Todd, later Major-General Henry Todd Stuart of the Madras Army (retired July 1882). Evidence circumstantial but he was born 3 December 1827. Father a Major at the time. Married 1 August 1854 Mary (surname unknown but born 1 February 1826 and died 18 February 1911) and died 26 October 1910. Nine children!

Just did a quick search on Henry Tod Stuart. It looks like he was the son of Charles Stuart, M.D., and Eliza Shakespeare (married 1821 Calcutta). Henry Tod Stuart married Mary Swiney, daughter of George Swiney, General - Bengal Artillery.

[Fritz10]

Well done on Henry Todd Stuart. It looks as if he wasn't one of James' Stuart's children.
The research I'm quoting was done decades ago, so I don't know the people who did it.
Re the mother of James' Stuart's children - there is a theory:

On 1855 30 May, Major-General James Stuart Married Maria, widow of Lieut Colin Johnstone, 21st Light Dragoons, and d.s.p. 1759.
It is possible that he knew her brother Adam Duffin, and therefore Maria, when he was at Trinity.
Descendant Michael Irwin posed a question as to why he dropped a legal career and went off to India? Suggested that it might have been to get out of some trouble. Inference that he was caught in the wrong bed and left to avoid scandal.
Or possibly in love with Maria Duffin when at Trinity and followed her out to India after she married Colin Johnston?
Either way, as D.G. (Jim) Stuart, his great grandson, put it he ‘must have been quite a lad, as it appears from Birth Registers etc. that he produced three illegitimate sons”. [Also a daughter!] Mother’s name never given on the birth certificates.
Michael Irwin noted ‘within Irwin family tradition there has always been the story of an affair between James Stuart (brother of Caroline Irwin) and the wife of a fellow officer. So maybe the mother of his children was the same Maria Duffin who married Lieut Colin Johnston, but was eventually to marry James Stuart in 1855 after her first husband had died. Little is known of Maria, though the families of Duffin and Lynd are connected. (James Stuart’s mother was Grace Lynd).

[Benody1921]

This is very intriguing! These Stuarts are quite exciting. I'm going to look more into Maria Duffin. I've ordered her Will today already. I tried to order James's Will and 3 codicils to see if it mentioned children but it came back saying it can't be found. I do know he left some money to his sister Caroline because she mentions the money in her own Will. Hopefully Maria's Will will be informative. It doesn't look like she and Colin had any children of their own. I'm curious about all of them now and won't be able to sleep.

[Gilby]

I am a great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Francis Stewart-Moore, nee Stuart, so that line is my main interest.

I guess that makes you a distant cousin of both myself and Benody then.  I’d like to pick your brains about what you know of the Stewart-Moores if I get the chance…

Benody, where/when can I find the marriage notice for Henry Benson Stuart?  Also, where are you ordering the wills from?

Was Charles George Stuart of Ballyhivistock (1793-1873) a brother of Major General James Stuart (c1784-1859)?