Ernest Francis Fitzherbert Wright (1919–2007)

Ernest Francis Fitzherbert Wright was my great uncle and was always called Francis , possibly because his father was called Ernest (FitzHerbert Wright), and possibly because he didn’t like the name Ernest despite being fond of his father. He died in 2007, and is much missed by our family. I’ve included the tribute made by my elder brother at his Funeral Service at Chelsea Old Church in October 2007. There was also a Memorial Service at the parish church in Ebbesborne Wake, Wiltshire (where his ashes were interred with those of his wife, Betty).

Finally I’m using Family Tree Maker software

I’ve finally succumbed to using a family tree make software. I’ve chose iFamily for Leopard for no other reason than it works on an Apple Mac. OK it came with a Royal GEDCOM file, and I was able to link into it in a few places, but real reason is that I have so many notes now that I need to get a bit more systematic about how and where I sort them. I’m allergic to subscription sites like Ancestry.com because I think family history should be both open and collaborative like the Wikipedia. I’m also not a collector of copies of Birth Certificates and original census records. I looked a Genes Reunited as well and it’s family family tree builder is at least free to use and looked user friendly. It also separates out the buying of copies of ancestral records which Ancestry.com doesn’t do. Downside is your family tree is hidden from Google as you have to log in to use it, and their search just isn’t as good as Google at helping me find others researching similar trees because it’s too structured. What I would really like to see is an open and collaborative family tree platform like the Wikipedia, but with the ability to be able to buy related ancestral records. Until that comes along I’m going to just use Google as it’s free and my iFamily for Leopard> software as it works on a mac and is relatively cheap compared to an ongoing subscription. I’ll going with this blog as every now and then someone gets in touch and as mentioned above it the connecting and collaborating I like even if there’s no open platform to it. I’m not going to bother about buying any copies of ancestral records because I think the should be free and in the public domain. However, I may go quiet here, while I enter all the notes I’ve collected.

Rev. Robert Dorrien Kirby Update

I’ve been in touch with Father Michael Blain about how the Rev. Robert Dorrien Kirby was killed by cannibals. Father Blain edits The Blain Biographical Directory of Anglican Clergy in the Pacific and has added a terminal note Robert Dorrien entry. He mentions that Bishop Feetham would have noted if Robert Dorrien was there in New Guinea as a priest, or functioning as a priest while employed in government service. So he thinks it is puzzling to see him in the other list as a military or naval chaplain. As he points out once a priest always a priest, but if not licensed at the time of his death, his being ordained is not directly relevant to the biographical account. He also pointed out that his clerical years are fragmentary – so he gets the impression it did not work out well for him. He’s also sent a message to the compiler of the ‘Cable Clergy Index’, for this
has details of all priests who held a licence in the Australian Anglican church. As the CCI presently does not have Kirby, he suspects that he is not in fact within that category.

My great grandfather faced Court Marshall

I just found an update on the The AIF Project database that says that my great grandfather George Henry Kirby faced a Court Marshall in WW1. There’s a whole host of correspondence from his wife Elsie (Alice Marie Maitland), his father Alfred Octavious and mother-in-law Theresa Maitland, at the National Archives of Australia. So it’s definitely him and he even had tattoos.

Rev. Rev Robert Dorrien Kirby killed by cannibals but not eaten?

George Graham had asked me previously about one of my distant relations, Rev Robert Dorrien Kirby. He was the son of my great great great uncle Augustus George Kirby (1847-1926). George assumed that Robert Dorrien had been buried in New Guinea, but wondered what cemetery, e.g. Military. It’s just that the The Times death notice below, seemed to imply that he was wounded due to war actions, so he wondered why is there no reference to him in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission data base (Civilian or Military)?

The Roll of the sons and daughters of the Anglican Church Clergy throughout the world, and of the Naval and Military Chaplains of the same, who gave their lives in the Great War 1914-1918, mentions that Rev. Robert Dorrien Kirby, son of Rev. Augustus George Kirby, Vicar of South Weald, Died at Yule, Illama, New Guinea, April 29, 1916.

Well, I knew from the The Blain Biographical Directory of Anglican Clergy in the Pacific he been adjudged bankrupt in Jun 1911 before heading off to New Zealand, but by 1915 he was no longer on Crockford’s Clerical Directory. Seems like he ended up in New Guinea as a missionary as I have just chanced upon an account of the death of a missionary called Richard Dorrien Kirby, who was killed by the Kikos of the village of Bagama, on the Kikori River, in an An account of a visit to the New Guinea Mission in 1916 by The Right Reverend J. O. Feetham (Bishop of North Queensland) called From Samarai to Ambasi – “IN THE WHITKIRK”. I’m assuming that the Richard Dorrien Kirby being referred to is the same person as the Rev. Robert Dorrien Kirby, and so have included the relevant section from the account including the ‘Cannibal Feast’ below:

Thorosia or Theresia, Maitlands in Ceylon

George Graham found the announcement below from the The Times for the death of my great great grandfather George Keith Maitland (1854-1896).

The Times, Saturday, Mar 21, 1896 DEATHS
MAITLAND – On the 17th inst., at Reading, the result of an accident, GEORGE KEITH MAITLAND, of Thorosia, Bogawantalawa, Ceylon, and The Old Garth, near Reading, second surviving son of the late George Ramsay Maitland, W.S., Edinburgh, aged 42.

There’s a few things that are intriguing me. Firstly, it seems to suggest that the accident happened in Reading, rather than Ceylon, but seems to suggest that he was still based in Ceylon as well as in Reading. I explain why this intrigues me below. I also wonder whether they mean Theresia rather than Thorosia, as I have found some other references to George Keith Maitland of Theresia (see below).

Obituary Sir Alexander Charles Maitland Gibson, 2nd. Bt.

No portrait so far but I found this obituary originally from the Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland), Monday, February 21, 1848; Issue 19756, for my ancestor Sir Alexander Charles Maitland Gibson, 2nd. Bt who married Helen Gibson-Wright, daughter of Alexander Gibson-Wright of Clifton Hall and Margaret Gibson, on 30 Apr 1786:

Sir Alexander Charles Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 3rd Bart

Just found another portrait and obituary, this time for my great great great great uncle Sir Alexander Charles Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 3rd Bart. He was the elder brother of my great great great grandfather George Ramsay Maitland.

Sir Alexander Charles Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 3rd Bart

It’d from the Old faces, old places and old stories of Stirling (1898) by William Drysdale, and I’ve included the obituary below:

Sir James Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 4th Baronet (1848-1897)

Just found a portrait of Sir James Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 4th Bt, while trying to find out more about Charles William William Ramsay in a PHD paper by Stephen Anthony Hill on ‘Sir James Maitland and the Howietoun Fishery, Hill’. He was the nephew of my great great great grandfather George Ramsay Maitland:

Sir James Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 4th Bt

The paper quotes Burke’s Peerage (1936) and explains how the Maitland baronetcy had been founded in 1818 when the title was awarded to General Alexander Maitland (1728-1820). Alexander was succeeded by his son, Alexander Charles (1755-1848), who, in turn, was succeeded by Sir James Maitlands father, his grandson, also Alexander Charles. Sir James Maitland had two female children, Mary (1871-1944), and Sybile who died at only 4 months of age in 1873. On his death in 1897, Sir James was succeeded by his cousin, John Nisbet Maitland (1850-1936), the only child of his father’s brother, George Ramsay (1821-1866). This is only partially correct as my great great grandfather George Keith Maitland was also a son of George Ramsay (Maitland).

Charles William Ramsay Ramsay of Barnton

Just found a picture of Charles William Ramsay Ramsay of Barnton by Robert Pattison, from the Freemason Collection of Portraits of Famous Masons.

Charles William Ramsay Ramsay

Charles was the last of the Ramsays of Barnton, and as the obituary from The Gentleman’s magazine, Volume (220 1866) explains below after his death from an omnibus accident his estates devolved to his cousin Sir Alexander C. Gibson-Maitland 3rd Bt.: