Robert Thomas Little, Cash - Witness, E. B. Ry

[genna]

Does anyone know what a Cash - Witness is?
In the bapt entry for one of his sons in 1896 and in the burial entry for his wife in the same year Robert's trade/occupation was given as Cash - Witness. One of many occupations he's had over the years. I'm presuming E B Ry is East Bengal Railway. There is an additional note which looks like Sealdah in the baptism entry. I know that Sealdah has a main railway station in what is now Kolkata. Whilst I could hazard a guess at the meaning I can't find any reference/description of what a Cash - Witness is.
Genna

[ShaunJ]

See https://www.appendix3exam.com/2018/06/traffic-cash-witness.html

[genna]

Many thanks ShaunJ.

Gemma

[thewookie]

Hi there Genna,
I'm wondering if the Robert Thomas Little you refer to is my Great-Great Grandfather. He had a son Robert Henry Kentish Little?
If this is the same I'd love to know your connection, and also any information you may have!
I'm sorry, I'm new to this form and not sure if I can message you directly.

[genna]

Hi thewookie

My Robert Thomas Little was born abt 1832 probably in Ireland. He married Mary Amelia Harris in 1854 in Rangoon. They had at least 7 children, the eldest of which was Robert Henry Kentish Little b 1856 and baptised 3 Aug 1856 in Calcutta. With a name like that it's fair to assume Robert Thomas is your Gt Gt Grandfather. He is also my Gt Gt Grandfather making Robert Henry Kentish my Great Uncle.

Do you have access to Ancestry? I, and several others, have trees with details of the Little family on there.

Let me know what information you're looking for and I'll see if I can help.

Regards Genna

[thewookie]

Hi Genna,
Yes I have quite an extensive family tree going back to my 4th great-grandfather (Robert Little) who was from Galway in Ireland. He had three sons, William, Thomas and Robert (my 3rd great-grandfather). All three of whom went to India to join the East India Company army.
Robert Thomas Little was actually born in Bombay, India in 1830 and died in 1904 in Calcutta. 
I'm intrigued about Robert Henry Kentish Little. I have a copy of his marriage certificate on which he is named Robert Henry Kentish Clifton. There is a connection between the Littles and a Clifton family in Australia.

Thomas Little, one of the brothers who went to India actually did very well for himself and came to Australia (I live in Perth, having moved from London 14 years ago). Thomas established a trade route between India and Australia and actually created a town called Dardanup and introduced Catholicism to the area. He had an adopted daughter who came with him from India, and she married into the Clifton family...!

You can find more about Thomas Little here - https://kiltullaghkillimordaly.com/thomas-little-1800-1877/

I only found out about Thomas Little's connections to Australia last year, and had been driving through the town he established for 13 years without having a clue!

I'd love to know why Robert HK called himself Clifton on the marriage certificate. I do know that the Clifton family in Australia were very well-to-do, so am wondering if that name seemed preferable. Robert Thomas Little actually went back to London and ended up in workhouses a couple of times, before returning to India.

Sorry for rambling on, I had been trying to research my father's ancestry for years without much joy and it all came together last year.

Regards

Dean

[genna]

Hi Dean

I think we were in touch last year via Ancestry! I did know about the research done by Stephen Lally concerning Thomas and Eliza Little however I have not been able to make a direct connection between them and Robert Thomas Little.  There should be some connection but I have yet to find it. Do you know that Stephen Lally has just published a book in May 2022 "Thomas and Eliza Little: Irish Pioneers in India and Australia"? Perhaps the answer is in the book. I haven't yet decided if I should buy it.

You mentioned that Robert Thomas Little was born in 1830 in Bombay. Where did you get that information from? I haven't yet found a birth/baptism for him. In the 1900 US Census for his daughter Isabel Emily, then married to William Murdoch, her father is shown as having been born in Ireland and her mother as having been born in England.

I am not yet certain that our Robert Thomas Little was the one shown in the Greenwich Workhouse registers. I have listed them only as possible entries on my Ancestry tree. Why would Robert leave his family and come to England and then find himself in the workhouse?

I still have no idea why several members of the Little family used the surname Clifton on several occasions nor does anyone else I have been in touch with. Another family mystery that may never be solved.

Regards Genna

[thewookie]

Hi Genna,

Yes I've been in contact with Stephen Lally over the past year, and he actually sent me a signed copy of his new book. He did confirm with me that he is certain that my line is the same as Thomas Little.

I'm about half-way through his book. It is very interesting. There is a section in there about Robert (the brother of Thomas Little), and his wife. It does state "Only one of their children is known and he is Robert Thomas, born in 1830. There may have been other children who died in infancy". I believe he got this information from The British Library, where he did an awful lot of research.

I do have the death information of Robert Thomas, which has him passing away on 3 January 1904, with his age being recorded as 74. Giving a date of birth of 1830.

There is also the text in the Greenwich Union workhouse admission for 1879, which states 'A labourer, no home. Wife and family in India.' The one question mark I have around this is that it states his age at time of admission as 47, which would indeed give him a year of birth of 1832, not 1830. My thoughts on him coming from India was that as a labourer he couldn't find work in India, and returned to London with the hope of getting work.

Regards

Dean

[genna]

Hi Dean

The reason I asked where you got the information about the birth of Robert Thomas Little in Bombay in 1830 is that the same details are shown in several trees on Ancestry but none cite a source. I agree that the burial entry for Robert Thomas gives his age as 74, so born 1830, however a transcript by FIBIS of an entry in The Times of India in 1904 gives his age at death as 72, so born in 1832. The transcription also says Robert Thomas was the son of the late Robert Little of Loughrea, Galway, Ireland. I have taken that as indicating that Robert Little (Snr) lived and died in Ireland. Isabel Emily, one of the daughters of Robert Thomas gives her father's place of birth as Ireland in a census of 1900.

Does the section in Stephen Lally's book about Robert give his wife's name? That might help in looking for details about Robert Thomas.

Regards Genna