Caithness: James Ernest in Calcutta?

There's a possibility that this photograph shows James Ernest Caithness as a young man in the mid-1860s. The original is a carte de visite by Bourne & Shepherd, a well-known and successful photographic studio operating in Calcutta at that time. 

In support of the date, below is a photograph of Samuel Bourne, one of the founders of the company, taken in 1864. His style and general appearance, including curly hair, moustache with full beard, typical of that decade, is similar to that of the probable James, seen above.

The picture below is of Bourne & Shepherd's premises in Calcutta:

An example of the reverse of one of Bourne & Shepherd's cartes de visite, showing their trade-plate, can be seen at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29057987@N03/4530922991/in/photostream/

Note that the simple trade-plate and lack of further decoration on the reverse of the carte, as well as the rounded corners, confirm the mid-1860s date - of the example, that is. Unfortunately, vital details (corners, reverse view) required for dating purposes are lacking for this picture: something to remember when rephotographing the ancestors - include the entire item, not just the subject of the photo as clues may be lost.

No precise information is currently available regarding James Ernest's whereabouts in the 1860s. We know he was in Calcutta for the birth of his eldest child in 1878, a year after his marriage in London. In 1878, James Ernest would have been 39, while the photo portrait appears to be of a man in his twenties.  It's interesting to speculate that he may have visited Calcutta, spent some time there prior to his marriage and had his photograph taken at Bourne & Shepherd's. 

Cooke & Kelvey, the firm James Ernest joined in India, was co-founded by Robert Thomas Cooke, brother-in-law of James's uncle, Edward Bear Ridges. 'Anglo-Indian' watch brand Cooke & Kelvey first opened its doors in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1858.

Caithness, James Ernest (1839-1902) 2

James Ernest Caithness married Eugenie Sarah Henrietta Westmacott on 11 December 1877 in Paddington, London. His father is given as James Ramsey Caithness a Merchant and hers John Guise Westmacott a Surgeon. John Guise was the grandson of the renowned sculptor Richard Westmacott senior (1747-1808) and nephew of the very renowned sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott (1775-1856). James Ernest Caithness had done well for himself.

James Ernest and Eugenie Caithness had nine children. The eldest Hilda was born in Calcutta in 1878. James was up to something in India. In 1882 Sir Rivers Thompson, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, came up with the idea of an exhibition in Calcutta to promote products from the British Empire. The Exhibition was held on 4 December 1883. One bronze medal was received by ‘the honourable J E Caithness member of the General Committee’.

Calcutta International Exhibition 1883-84 bronze medal

Apart from being on the Committee for the Calcutta International Exhibition (1883-84) James Ernest Caithness played a very important part in the early 1880’s as a member of the Legislative Council of Bengal. In 1895 James Ernest Caithness is mentioned as being a ‘past master’ of the ‘Calcutta Trades’ Association’.

James Ernest by 1895 had become the Senior Partner of the firm Cooke & Kelvey. Based at 20 Old Court House Street, Calcutta and also in Simla they are described as being ‘pearl and diamond merchants, jewellers, gold and silversmiths, watch and clock-makers….’  They also had an outlet at 150 Leadenhall Street, London.

Cooke & Kelvey's premises in Calcutta

It may be just a coincidence but during the late 1860’s and onwards diamonds were being discovered in South Africa: on 8 August 1870 the Cape and Natal News mentions a ‘Humansdorp party’ including a Mr Caithness leaving for the diamond fields 70 miles north of Hopetown. In 1873 a Captain Caithness, possibly a relative of James Ernest, donates a ‘collection of stones from the diamond diggings’ to the Library and Museum Committee in Southampton, later to be incorporated into Southampton University.

James Ernest’s uncle, Edward Bear Ridges (1825-1906) was working in Calcutta at the time as a Partner in the firm Dykes & Co (Coach Builders). It was perhaps Edward Bear who helped his nephew get a job at Cooke & Kelvey. Edward’s brother-in-law, Robert Thomas Cooke (1831-1914), was the Co-Founder of the Company. 

One of Cooke & Kelvey's historic Indian timepieces

James Ernest Caithness and his uncle Edward Bear Ridges were also neighbours in Ealing when they were in England - living in very substantial houses called ‘Berriedale’ and ‘Orchard Dene’.

James Ernest Caithness died on the 16^th February 1902 leaving a pregnant widow and eight children. A mariner’s life was definitely not for him and who could blame him? He left his widow £70,000 and I think some of that paid for the hats his daughters wore at the wedding of his second child Ethel in 1905.

The wedding of Ethel Caithness to Walter Sirr Sheldon 25 February 1905

Guest post by Tom Sheldon 2 x g grandson of James Ernest Caithness

Caithness, James Ernest (1839-1902) 1

Is it a mariner’s life for me?

James Ernest Caithness was born at No.7 George Row, Bermondsey (just south of the River Thames) on 17 May 1839. His father James Ramsey Caithness (1815-60), a Master Mariner, and mother Elizabeth Watson nee Ridges (1815-51) had married the previous year in Southampton.  James had been both born & baptised as James Edward but decided he preferred the middle name Ernest at some point during his life.

There was a strong maritime tradition in his family. His grandfather James Caithness had seen action whilst serving in the Royal Navy against the French in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. His father James Ramsey and his uncle George had received their education at the Lower School of the Royal Hospital Greenwich and joined the Merchant Service rather than the Royal Navy.

The Royal Hospital, Greenwich

James Ramsey Caithness decided to settle in South Africa and in the early 1840’s brought his wife and the young son James Ernest out to join him. They were to have five more children, born in either Cape Town or Port Elizabeth, before his wife Elizabeth Watson died in early 1851. He remarried by the end of the year.

Young James Ernest was to witness the harsh realities of a mariner’s life. His father James Ramsey had his fair share of accidents – through no fault of his own. The worst incident perhaps was in 1855 when one of James Ernest’s brothers, likely to have been Alfred Douglas, was killed during a fire on board the ‘Flying Dragon’ whilst his father was in command (the same ship had also caught fire the previous year under Captain Carter off Simon’s Bay).  James Ramsey Caithness himself died in 1860 ‘after a long and painful illness’ aged 44.

Family oral tradition mentions that James Ernest tried his hand at sheep farming in South Africa. Life at home was apparently hard. His mother and father had died and his widowed step-mother had five step-children and three of her own children to support. James Ernest Caithness disappears for a while and next shows up at his wedding in London in 1877. His life has taken a new direction – Eureka!

Guest Post by Tom Sheldon, 2 x great grandson of James Ernest Caithness

Photo portrait by kind permission of June B-R

Natal Witness Births 1897

Name, Gender, Date of Event, Date of Advert, Details

Allen m 2-Mar-1897, 4-Mar-1897, at 259 Commercial Road

the wife of Dr James F Allen of a son

Andrews m 9-Feb-1897, 17-Feb-1897, at 346 Prince Alfred Street

the wife of George Andrews of a son

Armitage m 7-Jan-1897, 13-Jan-1897, at the Brickfields, PMBurg 

the wife of John L Armitage of a son

Ball m 7-Mar-1897, 10-Mar-1897, at the Oaks, PMBurg 

the wife of Stephen Ball of a son

Barratt m 1-Jan-1897, 5-Jan-1897, at the Windsor Castle Hotel, PMBurg 

the wife of Charles Joseph Barratt of a son

Boast m 6-Feb-1897, 10-Feb-1897, at Ulundi, Estcourt 

the wife of Edwin Boast of a son named Noel Edwin

Brockbank  f  20-Feb-1897, 1-Mar-1897, 

the wife of W Brockbank N.G.R. South Coast Surveys of a daughter

Dales  f  3-Feb-1897, 13-Feb-1897, at Nottingham Road 

the wife of  WA Dales of a daughter – both well

Davis m 13-Mar-1897, 29-Mar-1897, at New Amalfi, East Griqualand 

the wife of Alfred Davis of a son

Fynney  f  1-Feb-1897, 5-Feb-1897, at Elsdale, Umsindusi 

the wife of Oswald Fynney of a daughter

Gray m 17-Mar-1897, 23-Mar-1897, at the Sanatorium, Estcourt 

the wife of R Gray of Ellerslie of a son

Harvey m 19-Mar-1897, 24-Mar-1897, at Rose Cottage, Dundee 

the wife of TJ Harvey  of a son

Hassard m 17-Feb-1897, 23-Feb-1897, at 2 Bellevue Villa's, 

Berea Road the wife of Chas. Hassard Assoc. Minister C. Es. of a son

Hassard m 17-Feb-1897, 27-Feb-1897, at 2 Bellevue Villa's, Berea Road 

the wife of Chris Hassard Assoc. Minister C E's of a son

Jardine  f  8-Jan-1897, 8-Feb-1897, at Heatherleigh 

the wife of John Jardine of a daughter

Larkan m 3-Mar-1897, 8-Mar-1897, at Antioch Enqabeni 

the wife of George Larkan of a son

Methley  f  5-Jan-1897, 13-Jan-1897, at Newstead, Curry's Post 

the wife of Willoughby L Methley of a  daughter

Moberly m 15-Jan-1897, 9-Feb-1897, at Cintra House, Ladysmith Natal 

the wife of Dr. G Keble Moverly of a son

Plowman  f  29-Mar-1897, 31-Mar-1897, at 335 Burger Street, PMBurg 

the wife of GT Plowman of a daughter

Pusey m 29-Dec-1896, 11-Jan-1897, at Mandaal, Clavis, Charlestown 

the wife of Fred Pusey of a son

Reynolds  f  27-Mar-1897, 31-Mar-1897, at the Sanatorium, Berea 

the wife of Frank Reynolds of a daughter

Shepstone  f  27-Dec-1896, 28-Jan-1897, at 286 Bulwer Street PMBurg 

the wife of Walter Scott Shepstone of a daughter

Smith m  7-Jan-1897, 13-Jan-1897, at Smithfield, Dundee 

the wife of Thomas P Smith of a son

Smith m 29-Jan-1897, 1-Feb-1897, at Edendale 

the wife of ES Smith of a son

Stevens m 31-Jan-1897, 4-Feb-1897, at the Sanatorium, Estcourt 

the wife of Mr F Stevens of Scotsfontein of a son

Tatham m 2-Jan-1897, 8-Jan-1897, at Sunnyside, Dundee Natal 

the wife of WH Tatham of a son

Van Der Plank m 18-Feb-1897, 27-Feb-1897, at Camperdown 

the wife of FB Van Der Plank M.R.C.V.S. of a son

Von Der Heyde m 11-Jan-1897, 1-Jan-1897, at Bizana, Pondoland 

the wife of Robert Von Der Heyde of a son

Wingfield-Stratford m 12-Feb-1897, 24-Feb-1897, at 93 Commercial Road, 

the wife of Richard N Wingfield-Stratford of a son

Recent Blog Queries

At the top of this blog is a tab which takes you to the Beginners Guide to South African Research. Click on the tab to access the guide: it may answer many of the queries which I receive via the search facility and comments form. If you are new to South African family history - and this also includes overseas ancestral links with Britain and other countries (no boundaries in internet genealogy) - read the guide for a general overview and helpful tips.

To start researching your South African ancestors go to NAAIRS at
www.national.archives.gov.za/ 

For the numerous people requesting details on the Anglo-Boer War, although there are several relevant posts on this blog (use the search facility at the top of the blog page), for more in-depth information go to
www.angloboerwar.com/ 

You are welcome to post comments on any topic using the appropriate comment form on this blog. 

Interested in the Waratah? See the new blog on this controversial topic at www.waratahrevisited.blogspot.com/

Emigrants dining on board ship: 1850s

Souvenir Saturday: Caithness Scorey 1814

St Mary's Church, Totton, Eling, Hampshire
James Caithness snr. (1786-1826)
married Ann Scorey (1796-1889) here
on 30 June 1814

                                  
Acknowledgement:
Photograph by Peter Hay

St Mary the Virgin is the oldest of the churches in the Totton area. Several years ago during the reordering of the church excavations, part of a Celtic cross dating back to the 9th (possibly the 6th) century was found. The site of St Mary's has been a place of Christian worship since that date.

Today the church stands on the hill looking out over the bay to the container port on the Southampton side of Millbrook. On this side, not far away is the expanse and beauty of the New Forest. St Mary's finds itself at a threshold between the industry of Southampton and the quiet of the forest. Within the tension of both lies the possibility of both old and new.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totton_and_Eling

Mariners: Caithness and the Prairie

Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope: Thomas Bowler

In March 1856 the brigantine (sometimes called schooner) Prairie, 150 tons, American-built, sailed from the Cape of Good Hope bound for Melbourne, with James Ramsey Caithness as master. The vessel was carrying Cape produce including wine, oats, flour and raisins; her crew numbered eleven and there were nine passengers on board. Weather during the voyage was stormy: the boats and watercasks staved, the bulwarks much damaged and the head rail on one side carried away.* 

Running repairs were made by the mariners as best they could but on proceeding to her destination the Prairie met a violent gale off Cape Otway on 26 May, when she was dismasted. This was a perilous situation, making headway impossible, and to save all on board as well as the cargo, Caithness ran the ship ashore at Sisters' Creek - between Rocky Cape and Emu Bay - on 2 June. Although some reports stated the ship was 'little injured' and might be refloated after her cargo had been discharged, this proved over-optimistic. James and some of the crew, who had had to resort to camping on the beach, were taken from the site of the wreck by the Titania and there would have been time to reflect bitterly on another lost ship and the costs thereof. The stranded cargo on the beach near Rocky Cape would be sold at public auction.

The voyage had taken over three months. Meanwhile, back home at the Cape, Eliza Caithness was soldiering on, caring for five boys aged ten and under. Two of these were Eliza and James's sons: Douglas Sturges was nearly a year old and Charles Chance, 4 years. Frederick James (6), Edward Harry (8) and George William (10) were children of James's first marriage. Then there was their older sister, Emily Mary Anne. James jnr, the eldest, by then about 17, had either left home or was thinking about doing so. It can't have been easy for Eliza and the family with the head of the household gone for three months at a time, nor for them to hear the news that the most recent trip had ended badly. 

Events of the preceding few years, particularly the death of his son Alfred in the Flying Dragon debacle, would take their toll on James's well-being. Though he couldn't have known it, at the time of the wreck of the Prairie he had only a brief future ahead of him. In 1858 a daughter, Kate Elizabeth, was added to the household: she was not quite two when her father died. James Ramsey Caithness would sail the seas no more.

Death Notice of James Ramsey Caithness
August 1860 (Cape Archives)

Acknowledgement:
Tom Sheldon

*Loss of the Prairie report in People's Advocate, Launceston, 16 June 1856

Mariners: Caithness Ships and Family

Ships in Stormy Seas

James Ramsey Caithness emerges in these pages as an unlucky mariner: six of the ships he was associated with came to grief in dramatic style. In 1844 it was the schooner Mary in Algoa Bay, in 1848 the brig Lady Leith on Thunderbolt Reef, in 1851 the Diadem at Plettenberg Bay; in 1854 the Sea Gull in Table Bay and in April 1855 the tragic Flying Dragon, ‘consumed by fire’. 

There was one more disaster in 1856, not in South African waters but off Melbourne, when James was in command of the brigantine Prairie - further evidence that he undertook several voyages to Australia.

It was a hazardous business, going down to the sea in ships. The Cape’s deep waters and bays were particularly dangerous, the wind and weather unpredictable. James was fully aware of all the risks yet probably gave no thought to changing his occupation. He was a mariner born and bred.

A considerable family depended on him. He and his first wife, Elizabeth Watson Ridges, had five sons and a daughter. The last-born, Frederick James Ramsey, arrived in August 1850. This boy would never remember his mother who was dead and buried (in ‘Scorey’s Vault’ at St George’s Cathedral, Cape Town) by January 1851. James Ramsey Caithness is described in the burial register as Captain of the brig Diadem; in December of that year this ship was wrecked.  

Within months of Elizabeth’s death, James married again. This was a sensible option for a seafaring widower with a large family, the youngest just a year old. His second wife, Eliza Noyle, brought him a further three children – two sons and a daughter - between 1853 and 1858.

Port Elizabeth (Algoa Bay) in the 1850s was still in its early days though becoming an important town. An indication of the increase in its population – and consequently the amount of mail received – had been the establishment of a proper Post Office in a building for that purpose, with an official postmaster in charge. This structure deserves our attention, for ‘when the Post Office was moved across the Market Square, the [original] building became the abode of Mr Caithness and his sons.’* 

The [first] Post Office was a two-storeyed house which stood in a plot enclosed by a low fence at the foot of Castle Hill ... It was built in the early settler style with whitewashed walls and red-tiled roof flanked by two squat chimneys, whilst at the rear of the building were the usual out-houses and stables ... the rooms downstairs served as the Post Office. On the right hand side of the house was the old tumbled-down jail.

In the intriguing picture below, the main buildings of interest are identified by number:

1850 View of Castle Hill taken from the Market Square. No 2 in this pic is the first Post Office in Port Elizabeth, later the house of Mr Caithness. It is recognizable in the picture below dated 1864. Key: 1. Jail; 2. Post Office; 3. Richards and Impey; 4. Mrs Philips; 5. Mr Heugh; 6. Caesar Andrews; 7. Jailer Sterley's cottages; 8. Rev. F McClelland; 9. Mr Ashkettle; 10. The public well with people drawing up water.

1864 View of the Town Hall (with pillared portico and hatted gentlemen standing at foot of steps), the Obelisk at right; to right of Town Hall is the Market Bell and, beyond that, the 2-storeyed house of Mr Caithness, formerly the Post Office. It has three windows looking out over the Square. Note the absence of houses on the hill behind. The shape of the Caithness house with some minor alterations such as addition of a lean-to verandah (slanting roof with poles holding it up) remains much the same as the building was during its time as a Post Office.

* Port Elizabeth in Bygone Days, J J Redgrave (Wynberg: Rustica Press 1947)

Acknowledgement:
Tom Sheldon for details of Elizabeth Caithness's burial, also on the shipwrecks of Diadem and Prairie.

  

Mariners: Caithness and the Flying Dragon 3

W and J Pile Shipbuilders of Monkwearmouth:
The Flying Dragon was built at this yard

The reports of Flying Dragon’s disastrous fire at the end of July 1854 were still fresh in public memory when she was again in the news. 

Incredibly, within a matter of months the vessel was involved in a second fire. The headline, ‘Loss of the Flying Dragon’, would have given readers a sense of déjà vu as they perused their papers over breakfast.

An account in the Graham’s Town Journal was repeated in the Hobart Town Daily Courier on 16 July 1855 after the usual colonial time lag: 

Loss of the Flying Dragon: This vessel, which put into Simon’s Bay some months ago [July 1854], having a fire smouldering on board, was entirely consumed by the same destructive element on Tuesday last, when a youth, the son of the master, Captain Caithness, unfortunately lost his life. She had been surveyed and was expected to put to sea on Tuesday next. The unfortunate youth who perished on the occasion had previously encountered another narrow escape. He was on board the Sea Gull when she ran ashore in Table Bay, and by a miracle escaped being knocked overboard when another vessel came in collision with her on that occasion.

The Liverpool Daily Post of 12 June 1855 offers a precise date: ‘Cape of Good Hope, April 19, The Flying Dragon, Caithness, in ballast*, was burnt to the water’s edge in Simon’s Bay yesterday. Crew, except captain’s son, saved.’

It seems the second fire took place on the night of 18 April 1855. The use of the same phrase as in reports of the first fire – ‘burnt to the water’s edge’ - adds to a measure of confusion arising from the vessel’s two similar but separate tragedies. Initially it was stated that the Flying Dragon had been scuttled after the damage sustained in the events of July 1854. How then could she have been about to put to sea again in April 1855?

Subsequent to the first fire, an enterprising Cape businessman by the name of Suffert had purchased the Flying Dragon’s hull and instituted extensive repairs on the vessel. The considerable sum outlaid for this work would be covered as Suffert confidently expected to make handsome profits employing the Flying Dragon in taking settlers to Australia, with James Caithness as Master.

The second fire put an end to the plan and cost the life of Caithness’s son. Although the latter is not named in contemporary accounts, this was in all likelihood Alfred Douglas Caithness, at twelve old enough to be learning the ropes crewing aboard his father’s ship. The boy had been involved in the Sea Gull wreck the previous July but had emerged unscathed. Now James endured the loss of a child in awful circumstances as well as the bitter disappointment of losing another ship. It’s not impossible that this double blow hastened James’s own early death, at the age of forty-five, five years later.** 

Suffert apparently continued his interests in ocean transport: in 1858 he sent the Colonial Office a tender for conveying emigrants to Melbourne.***

The Flying Dragon press reports dispel any doubts that it was James Caithness who was captain of the Sea Gull in July 1854 and there is a hint that James’s acquaintance with Suffert may well have been linked to the Sea Gull’s carrying passengers to Australia, though the gale prevented that particular voyage. 

Reference to the death of Captain Caithness’s son in the second Flying Dragon fire, the presence of the same boy in the Sea Gull incident, together with the absence of a burial record for Alfred Caithness are all strong pieces of evidence underpinning this chapter of the Caithness story.

Scrimshaw Flying Dragon

*      i.e.  with no cargo loaded

**    it is a guess that the boy was Alfred, but it's significant that no records of Alfred’s burial have been found;
       James jnr (christened James Edward) was the eldest son, then aged 16, but he did not die young.
***  Messrs H and E Suffert of Cape Town; the Suffert brothers were in partnership

Mariners: Caithness and the Flying Dragon 2

St George's Cathedral, Cape Town 1850
 by Thomas Bowler

Captain James Ramsey Caithness had buried his first wife - the mother of his first six children, Elizabeth Watson b Ridges - in ‘Scorey’s Vault’ at St. George’s, Cape Town, on 23 January 1851. He was based there from that date until at least January 1855 when his second child by his second wife, Eliza Noyle, was born in January 1855. 

This establishes that James was in the area at the time of the Sea Gull incident during the gale of July 1854. According to press reports at that date he was captain of the Sea Gull and about to depart for Australia with emigrants on board. The gale put paid to that voyage, and though the Sea Gull was refloated, the damage she had sustained being found to be less than initially imagined, she was eventually condemned. This meant James was, temporarily, a mariner without a ship and with a wife and eight children depending on him: stressful times.

As we’ve seen, the clipper Flying Dragon was launched with much fanfare on the Australia run, completing her first passage from the Downs to Melbourne in 76 days (some say less), ‘thus fully bearing out the character published of her’. So speedy was this barque that an unknown lady was moved to express her admiration in verse, comparing the Flying Dragon with an American rival clipper, the Sovereign of the Seas.*

How much greater, then, the general shock and horror when it was announced in the Illustrated London News (and other papers) that on 31 July 1854, en route from Ceylon to London, the vessel caught fire at midnight, 200 miles off the Cape of Good Hope and ran into Simon’s Bay near Cape Town in August, ‘burnt to the water’s edge where she was scuttled’.

The ILN eulogized thus: 

The Flying Dragon was built for the Australian trade by Mr J Pyle [sic,] of North Sand, Monkwearmouth, the builder of the Spirit of the Age and other vessels … celebrated for their superior sailing qualities, for Robert Smith, Esq., of Manchester; and made on her  passage out one of the fastest voyages on record … She was classed A 1 at Lloyd’s … built of East India teak … and one of the most perfect advanced models of beauty in ship-building that ever left this country. 

Fire at sea – in this case, 200 miles from shore – is one of the greatest calamities to be visited on any ship and on those who sail in her. It was nothing short of miraculous that there was anything left of the Flying Dragon to be brought into Simon’s Bay and even more astounding that the crew survived to accomplish that feat. However, that is far from the end of the story.

Ship afire

*Lines on The Flying Dragon by a Lady

'From the English Downs to Philip's Port, in seventy-one days she ran,
Whilst the Sovereign took from Liverpool just eighty days and one.
The Sovereign can no longer boast the empire of the sea,
Since the beauteous Flying Dragon has eclipsed her Sovereignty'

Acknowlegement:

Tom Sheldon for his research and assistance