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Hi Kind people,

I'm wondering if one of you kind folk could do a look-up or two (well, several really) for me as I'm trying to trace the family of Captain William Heny Cleather (of the 1st Ceylon Regiment) who were in Ceylon in the early 19th Century.

He was born in Plymouth, Devon c1782, was indentured to his father's law firm in 1797, matriculated at Oxford in 1802 and went out to Ceylon in 1806. He married Amelia Loodan (1777-1842) on 17 December 1807 at Galle and subsequently had by her several children:

Anna (1812-1887) (m Rev, Carr John Glyn 25/04/1839, Somerset)
Thomas George (1813-22/04/1820)
Mary (mention in Mother's Will 1842)
Sophia Louisa (1816-05/09/1881) (m Rev George John Collinson 1843 Witchampton, Dorset)
Elizabeth (m William Littlehales 29/04/1836, Walcot, Somerset)
Amelia (mention in Mother's Will 1842)
A N other

Capt Cleather died in Colombo 26/07/1820, a few months after his son Thomas. There is a report that his widow "Mrs. A. Cleather, died at the same place on March 18, aged forty-three." But this is incorrect as she died in Bath, Somerset in 1842, shortly after she wrote her Will.

A lengthy obituary in the Asiatic Journal includes the lines:
"He has left a disconsolate wife and six
young children to lament, through life,
his great and irreparable loss.

I have the names of 5 surviving children - who was the 6th (Thomas George, of course, was already dead)?? Or was it simply that the author of the obituary did not know of the child's death so shortly before the father?

There is reason (from reading the widow Amelia's 1842 Will) to believe that Anna was a daughter of a previous marriage:
"...finding by my husband’s will that I have no control over his property which he left to be divided equally amongst his Children as a proof of my affection for my precious Child Anna who will have £600 of her father’s property...
...The Rest of my Property I wish to be divided equally between my precious Children Sophia Elizabeth Mary and Amelia..."
...or am I just reading between the lines here? ...but why was Anna singled out for special treatment in Amelia's Will?

So, it would be good to know...
Dates of Birth/Baptism for all the children
Name of the 'missing child' if there really was one
Was there a previous marriage, if so to who, and when...

Any help would be much appreciated,

Thanks

Simon

PS Seasonal Greetings to one and all!

Entry from Marriage Announcements 1731-1850

Husband surname Glyn
Husband first names C.J.
Husbands rank/occupation Reverend
Husbands unit Witchampton
Wife surname Cleather
Wife first names Anne
Wifes fathers rank/occupation Captain
Wifes fathers unit 1st Ceylon Regiment
Marriage date 25 Apr 1839
Place of marriage Bathwick
Edition Date Jun 1839
Page number 651
Detail At Bathwick, the Rev. C.J. Glyn, Rector of Witchampton, Dorset, youngest son of the late R.C. Glyn, Bart. to Anne, third dau. of the late Capt. Wm. H. Cleather, 1st Ceylon reg.

(looks to be more Cleather on below, also has 1820 Monument Inscription,biographical notes)

http://search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/

(Families in British India Society)

Chris :)

02 June 1842 - Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette - Bath, Somerset

June 1, at No. 8, Sydney-place, Amelia Cleather, aged 62, widow of the late Captain William Cleather, of the Ceylon regiment.


Burial
County Somerset
Place Bathwick
Church name St Mary the Virgin
Register type Parish Register
Register entry number 833
Burial date 08 Jun 1842
Person age 62
Burial person forename Amelia
Burial person surname CLEATHER
Burial person abode Sydney Place


County Somerset
Place Bathwick
Church name St Mary the Virgin
Register type Transcript
Marriage date 25 Apr 1839
Groom forename Carr John
Groom surname GLYN
Groom condition wid
Groom abode 8 Old Sydney Place
Groom occupation Clergyman
Bride forename Anna
Bride surname CLEATHER
Bride abode 8 Old Sydney Place
Groom father forename Richard Carr
Groom father surname GLYN
Groom father occupation Baronet
Bride father forename William Henry
Bride father surname CLEATHER
Bride father occupation Capt H.M. Army
Witness B. R. LITTLEHALES
Witness G. Lewen GLYN
Register note Licence. Witness 3 Php HARFORD

http://www.freereg.org.uk/


07 May 1836 - Oxford Journal - Oxford, Oxfordshire, England

ECCLESIASTCAL PREFERMENTS.

CLERGYMEN MARRIED. April 29, at Bath, the Rev. William Littlehales to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late Captain W. H. Cleather, of his Majesty's 1st Ceylon Regiment.


County Somerset
Place Bath
Church name Walcot - St Swithin
Register type Transcript
Marriage date 29 Apr 1836
Groom forename William
Groom surname LITTLEHAYES
Groom condition Bachelor
Groom parish Compton Bishop Som.
Groom occupation Clerk
Bride forename Elizabeth
Bride surname CLEATHER
Bride condition Spinster


Edits (below from google search, he is mentioned, 'he has issue six children')

http://tinyurl.com/zz78xkw

(also)

http://tinyurl.com/j47ny6b


Where did you find details of 1807 Marriage?...

There is this record on FMP which appear to be a list of children- unfortunately I can't read the dates, but presume they are in age order:

British Army Service Records Transcription

Elizabeth Cleather bapt 1808?
Mary Cleather bapt 1811?
Anna Cleather bapt 1811?
Sophia Cleather born 24/2/1816
Amelia Cleather born 23/ 2?/ 1817


Year 1815-27
Regiment 1stCeylon Rifles
Regiment / service number as transcribed 1st Ceylon Rl
Series WO 23 - Royal Hospital Chelsea: admission books, registers, and papers 1702-1876
Archive The National Archives
Archive reference WO 23
Piece number 123
Piece description Register of awards.
Year range 1815-1827
Record set British Army Service Records
----------------------------------------

1841 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
Sydney Place, Bathwick, Bath, Somerset, England

Amelia Cleather Female 60 1781 -
Mary Cleather Female 30 1811 -
Sophia Cleather Female 20 1821 -
Amelia Cleather Female 20 1821 -
Anna Glyn Female 30 1811 -
Carr Stuart Glyn Female 7 1834 -
Hannah Randall Female 35 1806 -
Ann Pratten Female 15 1826 Somerset, England
Sarah Rose Female 15 1826

(was looking at below, Cleather on FMP India Marriages, but not Loodan!, although says Lieutenant 2nd Ceylon Regiment, no, not him then!)

Chris :)

Entry from Transcription of Marriage Announcements 1809 - 1844
Marriage Date 10 - Jun
Marriage Year 1807
Husband First Names W. H.
Husband Surname Gleather
Wife First Names Emilia
Wife Surname Lovelace
IOR Reference None
Source Year 1809
Source Edition 1
Source Presidency Fort St. George
Source Event Marriage
Entry W. H. Gleather, Esq., to Miss Emilia Lovelace.
Transcribed by FIBIS Volunteers

http://www.fibis.org/

daughters marriage

Amelia Cleather
mentioned in the record of Harry Carrors and Amelia Cleather
Name Harry Carrors
Spouse's Name Amelia Cleather
Event Date 26 Nov 1850
Event Place Swanbourne,Buckingham,England
Father's Name Richard Carrors
Spouse's Father's Name William Henry Cleather
Citing this Record

"England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NV3W-Z9Y : 10 December 2014), Harry Carrors and Amelia Cleather, 26 Nov 1850; citing Swanbourne,Buckingham,England, reference ; FHL microfilm 1,042,441.

Chris- not seeing Loodan surname either:

From Ancestry:

India, Select Marriages, 1792-1948
Name: William Cleather
Gender: Male
Marriage Date: 10 Jun 1807
Marriage Place: Arcot, Madras, India
Spouse: Amelia Lovelace
FHL Film Number: 506955
------------------------------------------------------

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960
Name: William Henry Cleather
Event: Marriage
Gender: Male
Marriage Date: 17 Dec 1807
Spouse: Amelia Lovelace
---------------------------------------

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960

Extract of the marriage registers of Columbo 1807
William Henry Cleather Lieutenant in HM 2nd Ceylon Regiment and Amelia Lovelace Spinster were married by permission of His Excellency the Governor the 17th Day December 1807

Age fits with death:
Births & Baptisms

First name(s) Amelia
Last name Lovelace
Gender Female
Birth year 1780
Baptism year 1780
Baptism date 14 Feb 1780
Place St Marylebone
County London
Father's first name(s) Richd.
Father's last name Lovelace
Mother's first name(s) Amelia
-------------------------------

National Burial Index
First name(s) AMELIA
Last name CLEATHER
Birth year 1780
Death year 1842
Age 62
Burial year 1842
Burial day 8
Burial month 6
Place BATHWICK
Church description ST MARY
Church denomination ANGLICAN
County Somerset

(ah!, so could be that Marriage then, looks good AQ)

Chris :)

(things coming up on google, Richard Harris Lovelace, Amelia Tyssen, another daughter also, Elizabeth)


Surrey Marriages Transcription (Find My Past)

First name(s) Richard Harris
Last name Lovelace
Marriage year 1778
Marriage date 27 May 1778
Marriage place Battersea
Spouse's first name(s) Amelia
Spouse's last name Tyssen
Spouse's residence MDX St George Hanover Square


(below look to relate, copied, but need a look!)

17 June 1775 - Kentish Gazette - Canterbury, Kent, England

Regiment of Dragoons, Richard Harris Lovelace, Gent, to be Cornet, vice Thomas ColletMawhoodi by pnrehale

15 December 1777 - Caledonian Mercury - Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland

Richard Harry Lovelace. rjffo Regiment light dragoons

Wow! So much! So quickly! Thanks all.

My marriage info was this:
"Captain Cleather was in the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, and from May 1, 1807, was Fort Adjutant at Galle, where, on December 17 the same year, he married Amelia Loodan."
https://archive.org/stream/cu31924007648516/cu31924007648516_djvu.txt
(which also says inter alia:
"He was, no doubt, a son of "Thomas Cleather, Esq.," whose death at Plymouth on February 25, 1819, aged sixty-four, is announced by an obituary notice in the Gazette, in which he is described as " a truly virtuous^, upright, and honourable man, universally beloved and respected. As a mark of the veneration and esteem in which he was held, both in his native town and neighbourhood, his remains were followed to the grave by no less than fifty gentlemen."
It is also announced that his widow, Mrs. A. Cleather, died at the same place on March 18, aged forty-three. The Misses E. and M. Cleather had left for England by the Vittoria on January 1 of that year...
...Captain W H Cleather (No. 319) was educated at Exeter College, Oxford, and arrived in Ceylon in 1805.' His third daughter, Anna, was the second wife of the Rev. Carr John Glyn, whom she married on April 25, 1839. She died in 1887. Captain Cleather died at the house of Major Delatre at Colombo."

(Incidentally ^ Thomas Cleaver was later found to be not quite such a 'virtuous man' - ...At the time of Mr Cleather's death, the balance in his hands amounted to £1,871 6s 4d and his effects have only been sutficient hitherto to pay 10s in the pound upon his debts, with some expectation of a small further dividend. The trust has therefore suffered a very considerable loss. We have before stated, that Mr Cleather appears to have home the character of a responsible person to the time of his death; but we cannot think that it was a measure of prudence on the part of the trustees to leave so large a balance in his hands, without any security being given by him...
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0AY-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA273&lpg=PA273&dq=%22Thomas+Cleather%22+attorney+plymouth&source=bl&ots=EyV1T3E27n&sig=_9vTODl8hmfq4U1sJxMTYJWUWDQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjbs-q2mfTQAhWMIsAKHYydBrIQ6AEINzAF#v=onepage&q=%22Thomas%20Cleather%22%20attorney%20plymouth&f=true

The daughter Amelia's marriage at Swanbourne makes sense as this was her brother-in-law George Collinson's parish.

Amelia / Emilia - the latter is a mistranscription, I'm sure. The Will clearly says Amelia
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/5111/40611_309602-00645?pid=336178&backurl=//search.ancestry.co.uk//cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DmCm965%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26gss%3Dangs-g%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26gsfn%3Dbridget%26gsfn_x%3D0%26gsln%3Dcleather%26gsln_x%3D0%26msbdy%3D1770%26msbpn__ftp%3DPlymouth,%2520Devon,%2520England%26msbpn%3D83196%26msbpn_PInfo%3D8-%257C0%257C0%257C3257%257C3251%257C0%257C0%257C0%257C5261%257C83196%257C0%257C0%257C%26msypn__ftp%3Dplymouth%26cpxt%3D1%26cp%3D11%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3Dib3%26pcat%3DROOT_CATEGORY%26h%3D336178%26dbid%3D5111%26indiv%3D1%26ml_rpos%3D58&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=mCm965&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true

As to 1st or 2nd Ceylon Regiment - it seems he was in the 2nd first and the 1st second!!

And I'm happy to go with Lovelace - Loodan looked a bit peculiar.

But this marriage in Madras is curious! Or did Ceylon come under the Presidency of Madras?

Chris, the http://tinyurl.com/j47ny6b reference is the obituary that I originally referred to. Seeing your version of it, it's clear that the writer did know of the death of Thomas George - but refers to him as the 'eldest son' - implying there was another one... and I only have 5 girls names...

Austin, those baptism dates look useful. The 1841 census dates of birth are more suspect!

Thanks for all your help.

Simon

Austin, that's certainly the marriage. Why didn't it come up for me when I searched Ancestry? Hmm!

...and now I know Lovelace and Tyssen that's another 'wander in the woods' to take - 3 more names and I'll hit the 45,000 in my tree! Is this hobby addictive or what?!

Incidentally, my transcription of Amelia's Will is this:

I Amelia Cleather widow of the City of Bath being of sound mind do make this my last Will and Testament finding by my husband’s will that I have no control over his property which he left to be divided equally amongst his Children as a proof of my affection for my precious Child Anna who will have £600 of her father’s property I wish as much Stock to be sold out of my property within a twelve month after my death as will amount to £400 which with the aforesaid £600 will make up £1000 to be at her disposal The Rest of my Property I wish to be divided equally between my precious Children Sophia Elizabeth Mary and Amelia and I wish to name my affectionate Brothers Sir George Adams and Admiral Littlehales Mr xxx and Miss Adams to be joint Executors I leave my plate and Silver to my unmarried Children and out of my Books I wish Ben Littlehales to have Homers Iliad (Signed) Amelia Cleather May 20 1842 Signed & declared by the above named Amelia Cleather as for her last Will & Testament in the presence of us present at the same time who in her presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto set our names as Witnesses thereto – George Norman Surgeon 1 Circus Bath – Mary Littlehales (Niece to Amelia Cleather) 6 Camden Place Bath.

Dated 20 May 1842
Proved 17 June 1842

Simon

I presume the mentioned 'brothers' are brother-in-laws. Littlehales being the husband of William Henry's sister, Mary Anna. (I note she married Robert Bendall Littlehales as mentioned in 'An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall' - google books).

Just wondering where the Bendall name comes in- I've seen this somewhere? EDIT: See post below

If there was another son, he would have been born after Thomas (b1813), and as he isn't mentioned in the Amelia's will he presumably died before 1842?

OK- got it- I was a bit slow as I knew I'd seen the Bendall name whilst searching. This is the other son also mentioned on the record with the other children on British Army Service Records Transcription (FMP):

William Bendall/ Bendoll Cleather (original looks like 'died 1825 ???? 1826)

Anyway- it's enough to confirm that this is the child (likely born shortly before his father's death):

Devon Burials Transcription
First name(s) William Bendall
Last name Cleather
Age 5
Birth year 1820
Death year 1825
Burial year 1825
Burial date 13 Apr 1825
Denomination Anglican
Burial place West Teignmouth
County Devon
Country England

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Naval_Biographical_Dictionary/Littlehales,_Bendall_Robert

(Admiral Littlehales)


County Somerset
Place Batheaston
Church name St John the Baptist
Register type Transcript
Marriage date 29 Aug 1803
Groom forename Bendall Robert
Groom surname LITTLEHALES
Bride forename Mary Ann
Bride surname CLEATHER
Witness Thos WILATTS
Witness Thos CLEATHER
Register note Capt. In Navy

http://www.freereg.org.uk/

Chris :)

(think probably a lot of references for names about on google, Newspapers, and also below)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

(click arrow, top right, to Search our records)


Edits (with reference to 6, Camden Place, on Will above)

County Somerset
Place Bath
Church name Weston - All Saints
Register type Transcript
Marriage date 10 Aug 1838
Groom forename Bendall
Groom surname LITTLEHALES
Groom condition Bachelor
Groom abode 6 Camden Place Bath
Groom occupation Esquire
Bride forename Nancy Kegan
Bride surname TUGWELL
Bride condition Widow
Bride abode Westfield Villa Weston
Groom father forename Bendall Robert
Groom father surname LITTLEHALES
Groom father occupation Rear Admiral
Bride father forename John
Bride father surname HORNE
Bride father occupation Esquire
Witness B.R. LITTLEHALES
Witness W KEATING


http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r/?_q=bendall+littlehales

(items on above)

Yea! Austin, well done! That's fantastic to have found William Bendall.

...and Chris, there's the link across to Bendall Littlehales...

Of course, William Henry's sister Mary Anne was married to Bendall Robert Littlehales (later Vice Admiral).

Simon