William Henry Whiting M

WHITING

[offspring of William Henry Whiting]

William Henry Whiting M.13

b. 1804 baptised 11^th October 1805 at Portsea.

d. 1887 7^th November at Bologne sur Mer.

m. 1830 9^th March, Elizabeth, fourth dau. of Rev. Norman Gastin at Colombo (d.1882).

1813 death of father on active service in the Peninsular War.

William Henry joined the Ceylon Civil Service (by patronage) as the Assistant Collector of Colombo arriving by the ICS chartered ship Maitland, on June 20^th 1826, and was a member of the Service from 1826 until retirement in 1856. The Collector (later re-titled Government Agent) was the chief official of a district collecting revenue and sitting as a magistrate. William Henry’s choice of career may have been influenced by his father whose Regiment saw service in Ceylon in 1802-3.

1826-32 Assistant to the Collector, Colombo.

1830 marriage at Colombo; of the other Gastin children, Eleanor married John Huskinsson of the CCS in 1825; Lucy married Capt. Botell Trydell of the 83^rd Regt. also in 1825, who was later promoted Major in the 2^nd Ceylon Regt. and was Commandant of Fort Macdowal, Motale 1826-9; Ann married William Lucas, a surgeon, in 1835, and Sophia, described as a beauty with black hair, married David, son of Lt. Col Martin Lindsay, owner of Rajawella, considered the best estate in Ceylon, only to die within the year.

One son, the Rev. Norman Gastin LLD (jnr.) became Colonial Chaplain at Galle, and another, William was an officer in the 83^rd Regt.The Gastin family seat was at Castle Bellingham, nr. Braganstown, Co. Leith, Ireland.

1832-3 was Fiscal and Sitting Magistrate, Jaffna.

1833 Asst. Government Agent at Hambantota, a small south coast town with extensive salt pan production. 12-17^th January, member of the jury in the Supreme Court before Chief Justice the Hon. William Norris which acquitted Chief Moligoda Disawa of raising rebellion.

1833-7 Asst. Government Agent, Western Province and District Judge, Four Korales with a 'cutcherry (courthouse) at Ootooankandy'.

1837-9 Asst. Government Agent, Eastern Province and District Judge, Batticaloa, an east coast port.

1839-43 Acting District Judge, Colombo No1 North during which period he came into conflict with Robert Langslow, the District Judge of Colombo South. Langslow was quite clearly an eccentric who was eventually charged with dilatory justice, insubordination and contempt towards the Governor Sir Colin Campbell in 1843, by whom he was suspended before being dismissed by the British Government in 1844; a petition hearing before the House of Commons failing to secure his reinstatement. Numerous examples of odd behavior are documented against Langslow, and his son, also called Robert appears to have been similarly afflicted. Whilst employed as Assistant Secretary of the District Court of Colombo South where his father was Judge, Robert jnr. brought an action against William Henry for having assumed the office of Judge without authority and for trying an allegation of assault committed by Robert jnr. against F.J. Saunders of the C.C.S. at the Queen’s Birthday Ball of 1842. The action against William Henry was transferred to the Kalutara court but in the meantime Langslow snr. entered judgment by default against his brother Judge of the North Court.On application to the Supreme Court the allegation against William Henry was dismissed.

Naval Surgeon Edward Cree described Colombo in 1840 as being set on a long low coast, lined with coconut trees and backed by a broken outline of lofty mountains crowned by the remarkable 7,000’ high Adam’s Peak - the pretty bungalows scattered along the shore amongst the low palms, and some within the fortifications being laid out in four or five streets. These were low buildings with red tiled spreading roofs forming a veranda all around with reed blinds to keep out the sun which were watered in very hot weather for coolness.

1845-56 Government Agent, Eastern Province, probably residing in the coffee growing central highlands where the climate was less oppressive and where in 1854 at Pusselawa his daughter Elizabeth was married.

1851 Listed in the Ceylon Almanac as Government Agent at Trincomalee.

1856 Retired from service.

1858 Natural History of Ceylon compiled by Sir James Emerson Tennent published this year acknowledged earlier contributions from William Henry.Whiting on the proposition that heavy falls of monsoon rain were thought to transport fish, he quotes William Henry, then of Trincomalee, who claimed that he had often been told by natives of such rains of fishes and that on one occasion he was taken to a field by a native “which was dry when I passed over it in the morning, but which had been covered in two hours by a sudden rain to the depth of three inches, in which there were seen a quantity of small fish.The water had no connection with a pond or stream whatever.”

1863 The family had returned to Hampshire by this date and were living in Ryde, Isle of Wight, where two of his daughters were married and where the topography is perhaps reminiscent of Ceylon.

1867 living at 21 Richmond Road, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater to where his aunt Elizabeth-Sarah Whiting moved shortly before her death.

1882 Will of Eliza Whiting of Stoke Newington, probate granted to Hon. Jessie wife of Fitzroy Stanhope of France. Fitzroy Stanhope was the second son of the 7^th Earl of Harrington.One of the Harrington family homes was at Stanhope Lodge, Queens Road, Cowes, IoW.

1887 7^th November, died in Bologne sur Mer, France, where he had taken up residence.Described in his Will as formerly of Richmond Road, Bayswater, but now of Bologne sur Mer. Probate granted to Edwin Stanhope Pearsall, who was the fourth son of the 7^th Earl of Harrington and who had in addition assumed his mother’s surname.

Henry John Whiting N.11

b. 1830 1^st December, Colombo

d. 1831 6^th January, Colombo

Tombstone at Galle Face cemetery, Colombo, inscribed “Sacred to the memory of Henry John, son of W. H. Whiting Esqr. by his wife Elizabeth” with dates.- Item 106 of the work, A List of Inscriptions and Monuments in Ceylon by J. P. Lewis [1913]. Maternal grandfather Rev. Norman Gastin died shortly after Henry on 23^rd April 1831 and is also buried in the same cemetery. It is recorded of Gastin that whilst Colonial Chaplain at Kandy a quantity of plate belonging to the deposed King of Kandy was discovered there in 1823.He applied for it for use in Kandy church and a silver salver, a cup and two candlesticks forming part of the royal treasure was handed over to him that purpose. These items had disappeared without trace by 1913.

G(eorge) W(illiam) Whiting N.12

b. Ceylon after 1830

1851 Listed in the Ceylon Almanac as resident in Trincomalee with his father.

Elizabeth Whiting N.13

b. Ceylon

m. 1854 7^th March, James Allix Wilkinson at Pussellawa, (central highlands) Ceylon.

1841 Two “Miss Whitings” entered on the passenger list of the ship Euphrates leaving Ceylon on 2^nd December for England accompanied by their uncle and aunt, Surgeon William and Mrs. (Ann) Lucas.The Euphrates was a paddle steamer built in 1834 by Camell Laird for the East India Company.

1854 marriage.Elizabeth’s husband, known as “Jilks” had been a captain in the 15^th Foot Regt. stationed in Ceylon from 1845-50 and involved in putting down the Rebellion of 1848.Educated at Eton, one of six sons and described as good looking, he was a brother of (twins) Major General Osborn Wilkinson C.B. and Major General Johnson Wilkinson who recorded their exploits in India and Ceylon in their autobiography “The Memoirs of the Gemini Generals” published in 1895.James, though by no means phlegmatic, was never known by his brothers to have lost his temper. It is recorded of him that whilst in Ceylon on a game shoot in 1845 he saved his brother Johnson from certain death when he coolly shot dead two charging elephants at short range. On leaving the army he worked in Ceylon under the Commissioner for Lands 1848-9; was Assistant Civil Engineer of the Roads Department 1860-1; was in Ireland 1864-6, probably assessing the farming potential around Elizabeth’s mother’s ancestral home at Castle Bellingham, nr. Braganstown, Co. Leith; returning to Ceylon in 1866 as a coffee planter at Peradeniya in the hill country near Kandy, purchasing the Stellenberg and Newmarket Estates.Their return coincided with the collapse of coffee in Ceylon due to a virulant fungal infection. They lived on the latter estate until his death in 1868 when their son Cecil Harry Twigg Wilkinson (1856-1904) succeeded.Cecil married in 1882 Agnes, daughter of Rev. Wadham Huntley Skrine at Bogawantalawa.

Lucy Whiting N.14

b.Ceylon.

d. c.1881

m. 1863 Richard Tassell Anthony Grant J.P., Ryde, IoW. (Bapt. 22^nd Nov. 1838 Alverstoke)

After the family returned from Ceylon to live in the Isle of Wight, Lucy married Richard Grant of Staffa, IoW, the son of Sir Thomas Tassell Grant KCB, FRS, [1795-1859] and his wife Emma, and grandson of Thomas Grant of Soberton and Ann (Tassell).Richard was the Paymaster R.N. of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Sir Thomas had been born in Portsea and entered naval service in 1812 being appointed Storekeeper of Clarence Victualling Yard at Gosport in 1828, becoming Controller of Victualling and Transport Services 1850-8. He invented steam machinery for making biscuits in 1829 for which he received a Parliamentary grant of £2000 and later in 1849 invented a device for distilling drinking water from sea water which in 1855 was used aboard HMS Wye during the Crimean war producing 10,000 gallons a day.He also invented a life buoy; a feathered paddle wheel, and Grants Patent Fuel, used by the Navy. His fortune made by patents he lived in one of the large Nash houses in Chester Terrace in Regent's Park where he died on 15^th October 1859. Richard’s brother William Burley Grant became a Vice Admiral and another family member was Admiral Sir William Lowther Grant [1846-1929].

1881 Richard, described as a widower, was staying at Egerton Lodge, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, with the Earl of Wilton (81yrs) and his Countess (38yrs) and the Earl and Countess of Cadogan, together with a large retinue of staff.

After the death of Lucy Richard remarried in 1884 to Mabel [1861-1917] the daughter of Lt. General Charles Bingham Baring [1829-1902] of the Coldstream Guards, who had lost an arm at the battle of Alma in 1854 but still managed to shoot game into old age.His son (Mabel's brother) later acquired a baronetcy. This branch of the Baring (banking) family was still living in Ryde in the 1990’s.

Emily Whiting N.15

b.1839 Ceylon

d. ?

m. 1864 15^th December,Lt. Colonel C. P. Ibbetson of 11^th (Prince Albert’s Own) Hussars at St. Thomas's, Ryde, IoW.

Emily’s husband was Charles Parke Ibbetson (b. 1820 London) who had married his first wife, Lady Adela Consande Maria Child Villiers, at Old Church, St Pancras, London on 17^th November 1845. Born in 1820 she was the daughter of George Child Villiers, 5^th Earl of Jersey and majority shareholder in Childs Bank, and of Sarah Sophie, daughter of the 10^th Earl of Westmorland.She died on 4^th September 1860, leaving issue. Her father had served as Lord Chamberlain to William VI and her brother the 6^th Earl (1809-59) was a Member of Parliament and a Lord in Waiting to Queen Victoria.

The 11^th Hussars was one of the smartest army regiments until brought into public ridicule under the command of the incredibly stupid Earl of Cardigan who had purchased the rank of Lt. Colonel for a sum reputedly in excess of £40,000.The regiment achieved distinction during the charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimea in 1854.

1869 Stepdaughter Adela Sarah Ibbetson married her cousin Ernest Villiers on 21^st July at Clarendon, Wilts., Ernest and Adele were residing at Ardbrecknish Forest Lodge, Glenorchy, Inishail, Argyll at the time of the 1881 census with four servants, and divided their time between Scotland and their property at Clarendon.

1881 Charles and Emily were living at 34 Chester Terrace, Regents Park, St Pancras, London, with one male and two female servants.

1901 Emily living in St Marylebone, London, presumably widowed.

Lucy Ann Whiting

b. 1841 Colombo, Ceylon.

d. 1877 aged 36yrs. IoW.

m. 1863 Richard Tassell Anthony Grant J.P., Ryde, IoW. (Bapt. 22^nd Nov. 1838 Alverstoke)

After the family returned from Ceylon to live in the Isle of Wight, Lucy married Richard Grant of Staffa, IoW, the son of Sir Thomas Tassell Grant KCB, FRS, [1795-1859] and his wife Emma, and grandson of Thomas Grant of Soberton and Ann (Tassell). Richard was the Paymaster R.N. of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Sir Thomas had been born in Portsea and entered naval service in 1812 being appointed Storekeeper of Clarence Victualling Yard at Gosport in 1828, becoming Controller of Victualling and Transport Services 1850-8. He invented steam machinery for making biscuits in 1829 for which he received a Parliamentary grant of £2000 and later in 1849 invented a device for distilling drinking water from sea water which in 1855 was used aboard HMS Wye during the Crimean war producing 10,000 gallons a day. He also invented a life buoy; a feathered paddle wheel, and Grants Patent Fuel, used by the Navy. His fortune made by patents he lived in one of the large Nash houses in Chester Terrace in Regent's Park where he died on 15^th October 1859. Richard’s brother William Burley Grant became a Vice Admiral and another family member was Admiral Sir William Lowther Grant [1846-1929].

1881 Richard, described as a widower, was staying at Egerton Lodge, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, with the Earl of Wilton (81yrs) and his Countess (38yrs) and the Earl and Countess of Cadogan, together with a large retinue of staff.

After the death of Lucy Richard remarried in 1884 to Mabel [1861-1917] the daughter of Lt. General Charles Bingham Baring [1829-1902] of the Coldstream Guards, who had lost an arm at the battle of Alma in 1854 but still managed to shoot game into old age. His son (Mabel's brother) later acquired a baronetcy. This branch of the Baring (banking) family was still living in Ryde in the 1990’s.

Louisa Mary Whiting

b. Ceylon

m. 1869 2^nd Sept. to Charles Julius, son of Henry Brune at St James, Westminster. [d. by 1882]

Unrelated

Algernon Oswald Whiting

younger son of George Whiting [and Caroline (Johnson)] of Clinton Villa, Addington Road, London, who was a Master of the Supreme Court, London, 1852 until his death in 1864 in a railway carriage between Kilburn and Kensington.

Born in 1861 educated at Merton College, Oxford. Planter in Wallaha Lindula, Ceylon. Retired by 1915 to become Secretary of Ceylon Association in London, 61-2 Gracechurch Street, London E.C. Died 1931 Chessington Cottage, Worcester Park, Epsom, Surrey, leaving relict Mary who died 1941.