Various Victorians or, Clearing my desktop ..

Photos ... Names ...

I spot an interesting-looking picture on the web. I download it. Mostly, I investigate it. A little.

But sometimes I don't get round to it, and an odd collection of Victorian faces sits on my desk top, until a quiet Sunday. Like today. 

I picked this lady because she seemed a little unusual. The costume seems more like a stage outfit than day wear. Is this a case of Marie Antoinette playing milkmaids?

Well, her name was Agnes Maxwell Burt WRIGHT (b Edinburgh ?1849; d Dunkeld 1 March 1929). She was the daughter, one of four chidren, of William Burt Wright, MD, of Edinburgh, and Margaret Isabella née Wallace. And both families were, indeed, 'of interest'.

Father was apparently the nephew of another William Burt Wright (d 1821,'drowned in his bathroom'), a wealthy planter in Jamaica. It seems the family had roots in Westmoreland and Scotland. Wright senior is mentioned in a number of essays etc dealing with the now fashionable topic of slavery. I see that a couple of his five creole slaves took the name of Wright so it all gets a bit complex.

Anyway WBW the medical man died twice, it appears. His death is announced at 14 Manor Place, Edinburgh 11 January 1848. Later, he was said to have died the following year in London. I think the former is correct. After all, it was reported in the newspapers.

In the some seven years of his married life, he and his wife, Margaret Isabella Wallace (d Bognor 10 May 1899), had had four children. The important word there is 'Wallace'. Mrs Wright was a member of a hupper Scots family of that name, and eventually the heiress to the estates of Auchinvole. Which passed to her only son, William Burt Wright (again). Alas, before his death aged 45 from a bout of flu, he had frittered Auchinvole Castle estate away.

Sadder was the fate of eldest sister Isabella Maxwell Wright. She married Andrew Robertson, a widower with four children, added another daughter to the tally, and died just a matter of months later. Their daughter died in 1968, a Tunbridge Wells spinster. The other two sisters remained unmarried, Margaret died in Rossshire 27 March 1917. Agnes, who seems to have spent much of her adult life living with the Rutherford family in the Manse at Dunkeld, was the last survivor. 

The handsome gentleman is labelled as Thomas Richard BIRCHALL. Born Billinge, Lancs 13 May 1872; d Whiston 16 August 1947. Son of Joseph Birchall, variously a tailor, a draper and an auctioneer,

and his wife, Mary Ann. There seem to have been five sons (John Knowles, Joseph, Robert, Albert E) and three daughters (Eliza Ann, Mary Ann, Nellie).

He seems to have led an ordinary life in the trades of auctioneer, land agent, cab-owner  et al, and, 26 April 1898, married Annie née Waite. I see that in 1901 they were living at St Helen's so that is probably when this photo was taken. Thomas and Annie had no offspring. It was brother Robert's son who executed Thomas's will.  Maybe something else on the family is to be found ... but I stopped here.

Which leaves the weird looking gentleman. Edgar Musgrave (b Shillington/Cambridge Terrace 26 April 1835; d 1914). Well, he had an excuse for looking weird. He was struck blind at the age of three months. But probably not for his behaviour thereafter. 'He is the son of the Rev George Musgrave, lord of the manor of Shillington; the grandson of Mr George Musgrave (d 27 June 1861) who was High Sherrif of Bedfordshire in 1836 and a nephew of Mr Henry Musgrave JP of Beech Hill, near High Wycombe (b 2 Noember 1887)' related an article entitled "Come Down in the World" in the Portsmouth Evening News. He certainly had, 'His mother was the daughter of Mr Albert Oakes a member of the Indian government'. Yes. Actually, the Presidency of Madras.

Edgar was not the eldest Musgrave son. That distinction, and its heritage, belonged to Horace Musgrave. In May 1852 Horace was gazetted an ensign in the Cape Mounted Riflemen. By October he was dead, Aged 21. And blind Edgar, who played the piano so nicely, became 'the only surviving son'. And thus the heir to the lot. 'Landed proprietor' 'income from parents'. And a husband. The lady was a Miss Henrietta Marie Teschemaker, from Bath, 'youngest surviving daughter of John Teschemaker, Doctor in Civil Law, of Exmouth, formerly of Amersford, Demerara', by whom he had three children before she divorced him.

I append the children' details for a curious reason. As I play around with these portraits, I like to attach those which are relevant to some of the Findagrave memorials which exist on that splendid site.  Well, on the say-so of the contemporary newspapers (even the Morning Post!), I added the birthdates of the little Musgraves. The 'guardians' of the page rejected them as 'not agreeing with their data'. What data? They only have to fork out a few quid for birth certificates .. anyway, here is the correct 'data'

(1) Horace Edgar Musgrave born at The Beacon Exmouth 3 September 1861. Married St Michaels Church 8 April 1891 Cecilia Elizabeth Ross of The Warren Geraldine, NZ. Died Eden Hill, Mount Pleasant, Sumner 30 June 1924. Buried Bromley Cemetery, NZ. A Sunday drive from where I live.

(2) Philip Cransto(u)n Musgrave born at Shillington Manor 6 August 1863. Married Alice Marion. Son. Lt Commander RN. Died Esquimault, BC, Canada 17 February 1920.

(3) Ethel Henrietta Musgrave born Shillington Manor, 23 February 1865. Married Archibald Wilson McArthur, Lieutenant in the Indian Marines.

Here, in plus, they are in the British records. Some 'researchers' hav'n't got a clue! 

Edgar, however, started messing around. Notably with a Mrs Louisa Esther Broughton, née Peover, wife of the paymaster on the ship Topaze, by whom he had an illegitimate son, Edgar Harold, which died in infancy. Henrietta, claiming desertion for two years and adultery,  divorced him and married a Mr Manuel Eyre ... Edgar married the now widowed (30 July 1876) Mrs Broughton (1878), professing to be a bachelor

 

and they can be seen in Paddington in the 1901 census. Esther is running a boarding house at 65 Portsdown Rd, Maida Vale. And there is a clutch of family .. James [Robert Alexander] (22) Son, Charlotte [Margaret Louise] (20) daughter, Francis E Lucas (3) grandson, Constance Marshall (8) adopted daughter, Clare Fitzgerald (69) sister born Somerset ... oyyy, what a puzzle! His,? Hers? Theirs? Oh! where's George William Reginald MacMahon Musgrave .. died aged 1.  And there's a Laura Sarah Lucas, granddaughter, too .. not to mention Esther's daughter by the ill-fated Francis Delves Broughton RN, Laura Louisa Broughton (b Woolston, Southampton 15 April 1869) ..

Anyway, Edgar was pulling a con trick round the streets of London to 'boost the family income' (they have 7 rooms in Maida Vale in 1911, so what boosting?)  and his artistic aspirations ..

He died in 1914. 

Shall I tidy up the rest?

Well, daughter Charlotte married mining engineer Thomas Draper, and went off to Brazil. She died 8 July 1941 leaving a family.

Son James 'printers clerk' married (3 Feb 1907) Maude Mary Browne and had four daughters ...

Laura Louise was seemingly the source of the little Lucases. I don't know who Mr Lucas was. Her children were born, obviously illegitimately, as 'Broughton'.  She was found dead, seemingly from war action, 25 February 1944.

 

Clare Fitzgerald was the widow of the Rev John Fitzgerald Vicar of Camden Town. And yes, she was née Musgrave, daughter of George Musgrave. Born 24 April 1831, the elder of Edgar's daughters.

As for Constance the adopted child ... I see a Constance ?Marie Musgrave of 49 Star Street, Maida Vale born 13 April 1893, father Edgar Musgrave, at school in 1904 ...  

I think I've delved deeply enough into this family! I leave them to their twigs, and to the boringly untrusting Betty and Dan of findagrave who can take it from here. If I can find this much in one long morning, on folk who mean nowt to me, you should be able to build a (correct) mega-tree in a week? ...