1892 journey on the Ballaarat

Portrait of Wentworth Cavenagh, Commissioner of Public Works of South Australia from 4 March 1872 to 22 July 1873 from the State Library of South Australia

Browsing the National Library of Australia's 'Trove' digitised newspaper collection recently, I came across a shipping departure notice which gives a succinct family history of my Cavenagh and Mainwaring great great and great great great grandparents. The Cavenagh-Mainwaring family were about to sail for England on the Ballaarat.

The Ballaarat was a P & O ship of 4752 tons built in 1882, designed for service between the United Kingdom and Australia. The P&O history site remarks that "Her dining saloon was considered particularly fine, and patent iron beds replaced bunks for her first class passengers."

Ballaarat – 1882 Greenock retrieved from http://www.findboatpics.com.au/sppo2.html

Latest News. (1892, April 27). Evening Journal (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1912), p. 2 Edition: SECOND EDITION. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article204477375

Lots of information to follow up and facts to check.

Until I came across this information I did not know that James Gordon Cavenagh, my great great great grandfather, an army surgeon with the Royal Staff Corps, was at Waterloo. He is listed on page 20 in the list of officers as a surgeon in the Royal Staff Corps in John Booth's 1816 book of The Battle of Waterloo. He is also listed in The Bloody Fields of Waterloo: Medical Support at Wellington's Greatest Battle by Michael Crumplin published in 2013.

I also didn't know very much about his son, my great great grandfather, Wentworth Cavenagh. It appears that he was educated at Ferns Diocesan School in Wexford, Ireland. When he was 18 years old he went to Canada, Ceylon, and Calcutta and from there to the Bendigo diggings.

Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration (V.D.)

In the index of the the second volume of the official history of the Australian Army Medical Service in the war of 1914-18, which I referred to in my recent post on No. 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen, I noticed that my great grandfather was referred to as DE CRESPIGNY, Col. C. T. Champion (D.S.O., V.D., A.A.M.C.). I knew about the D.S.O. awarded in 1917 for distinguished service in the field and I knew that A.A.M.C. stood for Australian Army Medical Corps but I had not come across an award of V.D. To me the initials had a different meaning.

The Volunteer Officers' Decoration (V.D.) was instituted in 1892 to reward the "long and meritorious services of Officers of proved capacity in Our Volunteer Force" in Great Britain. In 1894 the decoration was extended to include commissioned officers of all Volunteer Forces throughout the British Empire. The qualifying period was 20 year's service. In 1899, the Volunteer Officers' Decoration was superseded in the colonies by the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration. In 1923, the Royal Warrant was amended to count war-time service in World War I as double, so long as the service, on the active list, was outside of the dominion, colonies, dependencies, and protectorates.

When C. T. C. de Crespigny received the award in February 1927, it was still referred to by its former name, perhaps because of the post-nominal letters of V.D. :

The latest awards of the Volunteer Officers Decoration (V.D.) for long service in commissioned rank include Cols. M. H. Downey, D.S.O., and C. T. C. de Crespigny, and Major H. W. H. Seager, M.C.  (NAVAL AND MILITARY. (1927, February 28). News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), p. 4 Edition: HOME EDITION. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129209748 )

 The award was included in Australian Army Order no. 111 of 26 February 1927.

The green ribbon has faded somewhat.

My brother now has our great grandfather's medals. They are:

• Distinguished Service Order
• 1914 - 1915 Star
• War Medal
• Peace Medal ( with Mention in Despatches)
• Two Coronation Medals
• Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration

Sources

• Volunteer Officers' Decoration. (2014, February 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:31, May 28, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Volunteer_Officers%27_Decoration&oldid=595165317
• Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration. (2015, May 27). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:37, May 28, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Colonial_Auxiliary_Forces_Officers%27_Decoration&oldid=664323610  
• National Archives of Australia: B2455, CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY C T (folio 39)

V is for Vizefeldwebel

My great grandfather Fritz Hermann Boltz was born on 17 July 1879 at Trechwitz near Götz fifty-five kilometers east of Berlin and about seventeen kilometers west of Brandenburg an der Havel.

Fritz was the younger of two children of August Bolz (1840 - 1916), a foreman in a Trechwitz brickworks, and Wilhelmine Bolz née Bamberg (1844 - 1926).

Friz became a soldierthe rank of Vizefeldwebel [Senior Sergeant] in the 35th Fusilier Regiment [Prinz Heinrich von Preussen; Prince Henry of Prussia's Own]. He left the colours at the end of 1912, at the age of 33.

On 26 April 1909 at Brandenburg an der Havel he married Hedwig Anna Bertha (known as Anna) Bertz (1885 - 1961).

During the 1914-18 war he was a Feldwebel-Leutnant in infantry Ersatz battalions [reserve, depot and training] at Berlin and Küstrin/Cüstrin near Frankfurt on the Oder in East Prussia. With senior experience, and too old for front-line action, Fritz served as a training officer.

Peacetime regulations had allowed for certain senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs) to be promoted to the rank of Feldwebel-Leutnant to fill positions as platoon commanders for which commissioned officers were in short supply. This system was extended during the war, but only  those who had retired as senior NCOs before the war and were of good character could be given this appointment. Some retired officers were also called up to serve as a Feldwebel-Leutnant. In practice a Feldwebel-Leutnant was given administrative duties, and generally did not serve on the front line.

The 35th Fusiliers formed part of the 56th Infantry Division. During the First World War the regiment initially served on the Western Front notably at Liège and the Battle of Mons. In 1915 it was transferred to the Serbian Front, then back to the Western Front in 1916 for the Battle of Verdun, then to the Eastern Front in 1917 and back to France for the German Spring Offensive of 1918. (Dale, C. "Prussian Line Fusiliers 33rd-40th Regiments." Imperial German Army Uniforms 1900-14. C. Dale, 14 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. <http://s400910952.websitehome.co.uk/imperialgermanuniforms/inf%20prussian%20fus.htm>. )

In 1916 Fritz spent some time in hospital. My mother recalls being told that her grandmother Anna went to nurse her husband. Their son would have been only about eight years old at the time but perhaps he stayed with relatives.

I recall it being mentioned that Fritz was wounded at Verdun. I cannot find any record of this. While casualty lists for the German army for World War 1 have been digitised I have not yet been able to find his name.

After leaving the army in 1912, Fritz lived in an apartment in Florastrasse, Berlin Steglitz, attached to a public school, where he worked as a caretaker. This was his address when he was called up in 1914. He returned after the war and was still living there in the 1940s [memory of his grand-daughter, my mother]. He retired about 1949, age 70.

Fritz died 6 April 1954 at Berlin Zehlendorf.

D is for Durham Light Infantry

Major George Champion Crespigny, 68th Foot, was killed on 30 July 1813 in the Battle of the Pyrenees during the Peninsular War against Napoleon's forces in Spain.

Major George Champion de Crespigny (1788–1813) by British School Date painted: c.1810 Oil on canvas, 76 x 65 cm Collection: Durham Light Infantry Museum from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/major-george-champion-de-crespigny-17881813-46147 retrieved 24 March 2014

George was the son of Philip Champion de Crespigny (1738 - 1803) and his fourth wife Dorothea née Scott (1765-1837).  He was born in 1783 at Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk. He was the tenth of fourteen children. Three of his older siblings died before he was born.

On May 19 1804, at the age of twenty-one,  George became an ensign, a regiment's lowest-ranking officer,  in the 13th Regiment of Foot by purchase.

Recorded in The Gazette (London Gazette), issue 15702, 15 May 1804, page 622

George's father Philip had died the year before, on 1 January 1803.  His mother married Sir John Keane on 27 March 1804. In 1804 his surviving half-siblings and siblings were:

• Philip (1765-1851) was a civilian prisoner of the French from 1803 to 1811.
• Anne (1768-1844) had married Hugh Barlow of Pembrokeshire Wales in 1791.
• Maria (1776-1858) married John Horsley, a captain in the Royal Horse Guards, in July 1804.
• Fanny (1779-1865) remained unmarried.
• Eliza (1784-1831) eloped with Richard Hussey Vivian (1775-1842) and they married at Gretna Green in September 1804. Vivian, later Lord Vivian, was a major in the 7th Light Dragoons. Vivian was soon to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
• Charles Fox (1785-1875) had been at Cambridge University in 1803. 

As a younger son, George was probably destined for a career in the church, army, navy or possibly  law. Although his father had been a lawyer, George chose the army. George had not been to Cambridge like his brother, so perhaps George was not suited to the career of a lawyer.

An ensign was the most junior commissioned officer. In 1871 the rank was replaced with 2nd lieutenant. The duties of the officer included carrying the regimental colours, the flag or ensign of the regiment.


In May 1812 George de Crespigny, Captain from the 68th Foot, became a captain in the 89th Foot. He exchanged with Captain Peter le Mesurier. (The Royal Military Chronicle VOL.IV May,1812 By The Duke of York pages 476-7)

On 17 October 1812 George, promoted by purchase to be Major, was back with the 68th Foot. ( The London Gazette Publication date: 10 October 1812 Issue: 16657 Page: 2065)

John Green, late of the 68th Durham Light Infantry, that is the 68th Regiment of Foot, wrote of his experiences in the Peninsular War from 1806 to 1815.

Green writes of the unnecessary strictness of a major when he, Green, was ill in the middle of July 1813.

Green, John. 'Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life', 1827. Louth. page 171 retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/vicissitudesaso00greegoog#page/n185/mode/2up

The major is almost certainly George de Crespigny. Green records the death of the Major ten pages later in his account of this part of the campaign.

Major Crespigny was killed on the 30th of July. ( The London Gazette Publication date: 16 August 1813 Issue: 16763 Page: 1609)

John Green wrote of the 30th of July and the events leading up to it including "Pampeluna" (as the siege of Pamplona was called by Green), the division being stationed at "Marcelain" (Marcaláin is 11 kilometres or 2 1/2 hours walk north of Pamplona).

Green, John. 'Vicissitudes of a Soldier's Life', 1827. Louth. pages 179-181 retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/vicissitudesaso00greegoog#page/n193/mode/2up

Another modern account of the 68th Foot's action may be found in "Notes on Wellington’s Peninsular Regiments: 68th Regiment of Foot (Durham Light)" by Ray Foster at http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/Britain/Infantry/WellingtonsRegiments/c_68thFoot.html

21st June 1813 (after the battle at Vittoria)                                                                                                                
Present after battle (PAB) 484

Grant has been badly wounded so that Inglis will return for a while to hold the brigade and in fact will have it for a considerable time onward. There is much marching and counter-marching about the foothills of the Pyrenees in the Bastan Region during the next month ending with a night march in teeming rain to come up to the concentration of the army about Sorauren, for a while during all of this Inglis will be in charge of the whole of 7th Division but, when the CIC decides for the offensive on 30th July Dalhousie is back in command ready to send Inglis and his men forward and down into the Ulzama valley just west of Sorauren village, they meet General Vandermaesen's  men who put up a stout resistance trading volley for volley in a sustained fire-fight which is only broken off when Soult's men are streaming off in rear of these others who effectively become a rearguard as the whole enemy array attempts to disengage, going off to the rear at some pace. The Major of 2/68th one George Crespigny is shot through the throat and killed during the pursuit, a great relief it seems to most of his junior officers and men who saw him as a martinet, Captain Henry Irwin and Ensign John Connell fell seriously wounded and Lieutenant James Leith lightly so, of the men, three died and another sixteen were injured so that:

30th July 1813 (after the second battle at Sorauren)                                                                                                
PAB 461

 Foster's theory of the reasons for the relief felt by de Crespigny's men on his death is based largely on Green's book. (email 6 July 2014)


Additional sources

• On younger sons at the time of Jane Austen:  Handler, Richard, and Daniel Alan Segal. "Jane Austen and the Fiction of Culture." Google Books. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Web. 04 Apr. 2015. <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ItlrTo8mqSgC&pg=PA48&>
• Durham Light Infantry Museum frequently asked questions http://www.dlidurham.org.uk/Pages/HistoryFAQs.aspx 

Z is for Zulu War

When my son asked me to write about the Zulu wars for the letter Z of this blogging challenge, I found a second cousin four times removed, Henry Germain Mainwaring (1853-1922), who served in the Zulu war of 1879.

Henry Germain Mainwaring was a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion 24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot. He sailed for South Africa on 2 February 1878 and was there until 20 December 1879.

H. G. Mainwaring of the 2/24 Regiment. Photograph from the "Ron Sheeley Collection"

From 20 January 1879 the 24th Regiment was camped at Isandhlwana, an isolated hill in the Zulu kingdom in the east of Southern Africa. B Company of the Second Battalion had been left to guard the stores and hospital at Rorke's Drift ten miles away. Rorke's Drift was a mission station and the former trading post of James Rorke, an Irish merchant. It was near a ford, known as a drift, across the Buffalo River which formed the border between the British colony of Natal and the Zulu kingdom.

On 22 January, Lord Chelmsford, British Commander-in-Chief,  took the second battalion of the 24th, with the artillery and some of the Natal Native Contingent away from the camp to seek battle with the Zulus, who had been reported to be south-east of the camp. 1,800 British and Colonial troops were left in the camp including 585 men of the 24th Regiment, the only British regular infantry regiment among them. While Chelmsford was absent, the camp was attacked from the north-east by a force of Zulu warriors, said to number 20,000. Of the 1,800 British forces, about 300 survived. These had fled south-west across the Buffalo River; of the 585 men of the 24th only ten survived.

The Battle of Isandlwana, 22 January 1879.  Charles Edwin Fripp (1854-1906), 1885 (c). A small band of the 24th gathered in a square around their Regimental Colour. In the aftermath of the battle there were several groups of bodies found which indicated that men had gathered themselves together to fight to the last. In the background rises Isandhlwana Kop which, significantly, is shaped like a Sphinx, the badge of the 24th.

 Chelmsford and his troops arrived back at camp that night. John Price, of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment, wrote to his parents:

We arrived in camp about nine o’clock at night, and all the tents were burned to the ground, and where we had to sleep was a very uncomfortable place among the dead bodies all night…  from http://www.1879zuluwar.com/t2449-various-eye-witness-accounts

Henry Germain Mainwaring was among those with Chelmsford. He was a Lieutenant in F company of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment.

The mission station at Rorke's Drift was attacked by several thousand Zulu warriors on the afternoon of 22 January and the battle continued overnight. 140 British and colonial troops, including 36 men in the hospital, defended the garrison. Chelmsford's troops arrived at 8am on the morning of the 23rd. Seventeen British soldiers had been killed, ten wounded, and 450 Zulus had been killed.

The defence of Rorke's Drift 1879 Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville  via Wikimedia Commons

The battle was reported around the world. For example it was reported in New Zealand in the Otago Witness of 22 February 1879 where Mainwaring's name was listed as one of the officers of the 24th Regiment which had been in the battle and "almost completely annihilated" in the "massacre".

The remainder of the 24th cleaned up after the battle and buried the dead. Mainwaring made a map of the battlefield showing the graves of those who were killed and were buried.

Mainwaring received a medal and clasp for the South African Campaign of 1877, 1878, and 1879. He was promoted to Captain in 1880. In the First World War he served as a Brigadier General.

Location of the Zulu Kingdom, Southern Africa, ca. 1890 by Seb az86556 [CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

1879 map of Zululand with Rorke's Drift and Isandhlwana highlighted by red arrows

References:

• UK National Archives WO76/233 South Wales Borderers (2nd Batn). Descriptions relating to individuals have been created using information from a nominal card index relating to Army Officers' service compiled in the 1980s.
• David, Saul. "Zulu: The True Story." British History. BBC, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/zulu_01.shtml>. 
• "24th - Anglo-Zulu War 1879." 24th, 2nd Warwickshire, Regiment - Fact Sheets. The Royal Welsh Regimental Museum Trust, 16 July 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://royalwelsh.org.uk/downloads/B05-01-24th-Anglo-Zuluwar1879.pdf>. 
• Luscombe, Stephen, and Charles Griffin. "The 24th Regiment of Foot." British Empire: Armed Forces: Units: British Infantry. Britishempire.co.uk, 7 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishinfantry/24thfoot.htm>.
• "The Battle of Islandlwana." Zulu War. Britishbattles.com, 10 Apr. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britishbattles.com/zulu-war/isandlwana.htm>.
• Austin, Ronald J. (Ronald James) (1999). The Australian illustrated encyclopedia of the Zulu and Boer wars. Slouch Hat Publications, McCrae, Vic

Johnna Bell comrade of the late William Stanley Plowright

Family Notices. (1918, November 2). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 13. Retrieved August 16, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1422614

This notice appeared in The Argus of 2 November 1918.  It was inserted by the mother of William Stanley Plowright who had been killed at action at Lagnicourt, France.

John Bell's family had inserted a notice on 30 October:

Family Notices. (1918, October 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 1. Retrieved August 16, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1442998

The roll of honour circular completed by his family states he was 25 years old when he died (Born about 1893).  He had been born in St Kilda and gone to school at High Street, Prahran.  His occupation was labourer.

The Australian War Memorial has a picture they believe to be of John Bell:

Australian War Memorial ID number	DA11506
Photographer	Darge Photographic Company
Object type	Black & white - Glass original half plate negative
Place made	Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Broadmeadows
Date made	c October 1915
Collection	Photograph
Description Studio portrait possibly of 1357 Private (Pte) John Bell, labourer, of Prahran, Victoria. Pte Bell enlisted in the 29th Battalion on 23 July 1915 and embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Ascanius on 10 November 1915. The Battalion remained in the Suez Canal area training until 16 June 1916 when they embarked for France and the Western Front. Pte Bell was killed in action on 30 September 1918 near St Quentin in the Somme area, France, aged 25 years. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the concession to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. In the 1930s, the Australian War Memorial purchased the original glass negatives from Algernon Darge, along with the photographers' notebooks. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or unit name, for each negative.

Permalink: http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/DA11506

DA11506

Darge Photographic Company

Black & white - Glass original half plate negative

Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Broadmeadows

c October 1915

Photograph

Description
Studio portrait possibly of 1357 Private (Pte) John Bell, labourer, of Prahran, Victoria. Pte Bell enlisted in the 29th Battalion on 23 July 1915 and embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Ascanius on 10 November 1915. The Battalion remained in the Suez Canal area training until 16 June 1916 when they embarked for France and the Western Front. Pte Bell was killed in action on 30 September 1918 near St Quentin in the Somme area, France, aged 25 years. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the concession to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. In the 1930s, the Australian War Memorial purchased the original glass negatives from Algernon Darge, along with the photographers' notebooks. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or unit name, for each negative.

John Bell signed up with the Australian Imperial Force on 23 July 1915 and joined 2 August.  He was aged 22 years one month, unmarried and a labourer.  He arrived in Egypt in December 1915 and at Marseille in June 1916.  His service seems entirely to have been with the 29th Battalion. (National Archives of Australia: B2455, Bell John : SERN 1357 : POB Melbourne VIC : POE Melbourne VIC : NOK F Bell George).

William Stanley Plowright had joined the AIF on 5 April 1915. He was aged 21 years 9 months, unmarried and a carrier or driver, who was training to be a printer.

William went to the Gallipoli peninsula from Alexandria on 30 August 1915.  While serving with the 24th Battalion, he was wounded at Anzac on 29 November 1915 and spent some months in hospital on Malta. He rejoined his unit in April 1916 and then later that month transferred to the 58th battalion.  He arrived in France on 29 June 1916.  He died 27 March 1917.

It seems that John Bell and William Plowright did not serve together.  They were the same age and presumably were friends from childhood.  Perhaps they met up while in Egypt and in France despite serving with different battalions.

Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny (1851 - 1883)

Constantine Pulteney Trent Champion de Crespigny was born at St Malo, France, on 5 May 1851, the son of Philip Champion Crespigny and his wife Charlotte Frances née Dana. He was christened on 28 May at the Anglican Chapel, Saint-Servan-sur-Mer, which is two miles from St Malo.  He was the third child of the couple; his older sister Ada was born in 1848 and his brother Philip was born in 1850.

Not long after his birth his parents emigrated to Australia from England with their two older children. They left Constantine in England in the care of his grandparents and aunt. The Champion Crespigny family embarked from Plymouth on the Cambodia on 3 December 1851 when Constantine was not yet 7 months old. They must have determined he was too small and not strong enough to make the journey.

The family stayed in touch by letters and copies of some of this correspondence survives. For example:

undated but before July 1856

My dearest little Ada and Loup Loup:
     A thousand thanks for your nice little letter which delighted me.  Little Conny could not read them but Charlie learnt them by heart and repeated them to the little darling. I hope Ada has received the little books I sent her by this time and that you have both had a ride in Papa's new carriage. Grandpapa will send you some seeds for your garden by the Great Britain Steam Ship and I hope you will have as much pleasure in growing your mustard and cress as Charlie has. Conny and Charlie are always talking of you and longing to have you both as playfellows. Do send me word what I can send you my little darlings to amuse you. I am very glad the boots fitted so well. Goodbye to you both. Conny and Charlie send you many kisses and I am ever your Affte. Gd. Mama.
     Gd. Papa and Aunt send you many loves and kisses.

The letter is from Eliza Julia Champion Crespigny  née Trent (1797 - 1856), wife of Charles James Fox Crespigny (1785 - 1875), and mother to Philip senior. Loup Loup was a nick name for Philip junior and means wolf. Charlie is the cousin of Constantine, Charles Stanley Champion Crespigny (1848 - 1907), the son of Philip's older brother Charles John Champion Crespigny (1814 - 1880). The aunt was Philip's sister, Eliza Constantia Frances Champion Crespigny (1817 - 1898). It was Constantia who spent much time caring for young Con.

from letter of 9 January 1858 from Charles James Champion Crespigny at Cheltenham to his son Philip

... The care she [Philip's sister Constantia] takes in your dear Con and the delight she has in him is not to be described. It will be a great loss and pain to us to part with him when the time comes that he must go to school. He says positively that he will not go till he is eight and gets on so well with us that it will be time enough. I much wish to live long enough to see him grow up and started in the world but this is hardly to be expected.

When old enough and if we think it will be best to send him to the College here - 600 boys! but it is very good and terms very moderate, within sixty pounds a year - if a boy is at a boarding house, the last forty and twelve or fourteen to the college and about twelve per annum to hire the presentation or pay about one hundred in purchase of a presentation which is always saleable when you want it no longer. I have offered to pay for Charlie's if Charlie will send him there and I think Charles has made up his mind to do so. I much wish the two dear boys to be brought up together. They are exceedingly fond of each other. Conny is of course exceedingly fond of Constantia but he will say that he likes me but "except you know my Papa and Mama and my brothers and sisters, I like them best of all." He is often talking of you all and asking various questions about you. He has excellent qualities and gets on well in everything. He never will be idle a moment but must read or write or draw, but it would be needless to speak of him as I am sure Constantia has told you all about him. He is delighted now with Charles with us for his holidays. ...

I must give you Conny's last remark to Constantia just reported: He said: "Grand P was sent to school at 5 years old because he was not loved. Now I am so much loved you will not bear to part with me at 8. You will not know how to let me go to school." The fact is I was so hideous they could not bear the sight of me and till 5 I was left always with servants in the country.

 From about 1858 there was a photograph of Con taken with his grandfather. The original is in my father's possession.

From: Constantine Pulteney Trent ChC

To: Philip Robert [his father]

[London]

April 9 1859

My dear Papa

I beg you will write to me next time. I am sorry Mama had rheumatism when you wrote. Charlie has got the measles. I have seen a panorama * of Delhi with the Massacre of Cawnpore! My Aunt did not go as she could not stand that, so I went with Payne.
I am too busy pasting in my scrap-book to finish this myself. Charlie and I had no more pictures to paste, but Grd.papa went out and brought us home 4 dozen old "Punch's". I send my love to all and remain

Your affecte

Con

What fearfully hot weather you have had! I am very glad you are en permanence at Amherst. We have your letters up to Feby.12.¹

In 1861 Con was living with his grandfather, aunt and three servants (cook, parlour maid and house maid) at 11 Royal Parade Cheltenham.

 Contemporary photos of a Royal Parade house currently for sale given an indication of their home:²

Letter 4

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC [Aunt Constantia]

To: Ada ChC [age 14]

[Cheltenham ?]

May 19th, 1862

My dearest Ada

I was delighted to receive your very nice note and to read such a cheering and pleasant account of you all and I am sure it must fill you with joy to see your dearest Papa's health so wonderfully improved. I hope both he and your dearest Mama continue well. It was also a great comfort to me to find you were all getting the better of that dreadful whooping cough. Your dear brother Con is not looking well just now and I shall be glad when we can go to the sea or somewhere for a change next month and when you receive this I hope we shall be not here. Perhaps we shall go to Malvern as that is much nearer than the sea-side and the mountain scenery is very beautiful. Con would enjoy it I think even more than the sea.

A young friend of ours at College here has asked Con to take a long walk with him on Saturday and he is looking forward to it with great joy! The young Collegian is much older than Con who is rather proud of being patronised by him but I don't much like Con going out in the scorching sun and shall persuade them to put off their walk to the evening.

I have nothing more to tell you, my dearest Ada, except to beg you to write to me as often as you can and to tell me all about each one of the family at Daisy Hill. [Daisy Hill was the name of the goldfield by Amherst.] With fondest love to all

Ever yr Affte Aunt E C F Crespigny

On 14 July 1869 Con joined the 69th (The South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot as an Ensign.  He is listed in the 1870 Hart's Army list.³

 In 1871 Con was still with his grandfather and aunt at 11 Royal Parade Cheltenham.  There were still 3 servants, one of whom, Susan Tolman had been in the household ten years ago. Con was an ensign with the 69th Regiment.

A clipping from the journal [The Bro]ad Arrow of 13 May 1871, in my father's possession, notes the promotion, by purchase, of Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion-Crespigny from Ensign to Lieutenant in the 69th Foot. According to Stephen de Crespigny, Con had served with the 69th Foot against the Fenian invasion of Canada in 1869. The London Gazette of 14 November 1871 page 4664 announces that

Lieut. Constantine Trent Pultenay Champion Crespigny from 69th Foot to be Lieut from Charles Stanley Champion Crespigny who retires from 41st Foot. 

Less than a year later the London Gazette of 18 October 1872 page 4939 notes the retirement of Lieutenant Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion-Crespigny of the 41st Foot, "receiving the value of his commission" dated 19 October 1872. From Letter 10 below, it appears he suffered from tuberculosis.

 Con's grandfather died 4 March 1875.  Con joined his parents and siblings in Australia.  He arrived in Melbourne on 16 November 1875 on the iron clipper ship Melbourne which departed London on 17 August.  It was the maiden voyage of the ship and a report of the ship and the voyage appeared in The Argus of 17 November 1875 on page 4.

Letter 10

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC [sister of Philip Robert]
To: Rosalie Helen Beggs [her niece]⁴

Priory Street

Cheltenham

12th May, 1876

My dear Rose

I have not written to you since your marriage but I very often think of you all and especially of you and your dear Frank, and believe you are all very dear to me for yr loved parents' sake tho' so far away and unknown. Con being amongst you seems to bring you all even nearer to my heart than ever, and you, the youngest of all my nieces, yet the first to marry, you of whom your dear Mother has so often written in deep sorrow and anxiety when you have been laid upon a bed of sickness, - you can hardly imagine the tender interest I take in you, or how earnestly I wish and how fervently I pray that your married life may be blessed with true happiness, for dear Con assures me your husband is one of the best fellows he ever met and sure to make you happy! And the satisfaction and comfort yr parents feel in seeing their darling married to one they have so long known and esteemed must, I think, render yr happiness as perfect as it is possible to be in this world.

Con had been enjoying himself immensely in your house when he last wrote to me. It was such a pleasure to him to see his little sister in her dignified matronly character! Poor Con! 'Twas a sad fate for him to lose his profession and to be an idle man at 25. But the love of parents, brothers and sisters which you have all so freely and fondly bestowed upon your newly imported brother, has brightened his life, hitherto so sadly clouded, and if only his hopes of employment are realised, I trust his life may yet be a happy and useful one.

I feel so grateful to everyone of those who have been so kind to Con and I know how kind and hospitable your father-in-law has been and how he has enjoyed himself at Eurambeen (I don't know if I spell the name right!). I suppose Con rides with you sometimes when you are together. Mount him on a good horse and he is at the summit of felicity! He has told me of the rides he has enjoyed. He must be dreadfully missed in your old home, particularly, I should think, by Vi, as she is nearest yr age. I hope she enjoyed the ball at Woolaston to which she was enabled to go by yr dear Frank's kindness.

Try and find time now and then to write to yr old Aunt, my dear Rose, and with much love to you both

Believe me always

Yr affte Aunt

E C F Ch. Crespigny

In June 1877 Con was appointed truant officer for the Education Department: From The Argus of Friday 15 June 1877 page 4:

Mr. T. C. Crespigny has been appointed truant officer for the St. Kilda district.

 From The Argus of Saturday 16 June 1877 page 7:  

Mr. Crespigny's appointment as truant officer, announced in Friday's Argus, includes the district of Prahran as well as St Kilda.

In July 1877 Con wrote a letter to the paper concerning an attack on his dog, a terrier, in Albert Park.  He was living in Gurner Street, St Kilda. The letter was published by The Argus on 7 July 1877 page 8.

Map showing Gurner Street and Albert Park retrieved from Google maps 7 April 2013

In 1879 there was an assault case in which Constantine seems to have been involved.  Waiting on newspaper report digitisation to be completed. Will update this post then:

FRIDAY, MARCH 14. 

The Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian (Vic. : 1866 - 1888) Saturday 15 March 1879 p 3 Article

LrConstainines " Crespigny summoned Mathias Lyons for assault. The evidence. showed that the plaintiff and walking near the South Beach last Sunday

The Sydney Morning Herald of 10 August 1880 reported the arrival of the Wotonga at Sydney on 9 August having sailed from Melbourne.  Passengers included CP Crespigny and P C Crespigny.  This may well have been father and son, C P being Constantine Pulteney, or possibly Con was accompanied by his older brother Philip.  This appears just to have been a visit to Sydney.  CP Crespigny left Melbourne on board the Sobraon  in February 1881.

From The Argus of 14 February 1881, Shipping Intelligence on page 4:

Letter 11

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC

To: Rosalie Helen [her niece]

29 Kingsholm Road

Gloucester

4th Aug, 1881

My dear Rose

Con wishes me to tell you how glad he was to get your letters and how much he regrets his inability to answer them. He has been very weak and ill ever since his return. A few weeks ago there was some slight improvement. The intense heat we had seemed not only to benefit his lungs but to relieve his fever. Certainly he ceased during those extremely hot days to suffer from daily attacks of fever, tho' in some ways the intense heat tried him severely. But with a sudden change in the weather and fall of temperature his fever returned with increased severity. One of the lungs got worse and had to be treated with repeated blisters. It is now better but the daily attacks of fever are terrible, lasting sometimes 8 hours during which he suffers acute headaches, shortness of breath, cough and nausea. He seems sometimes ready to die, so very ill is he.

Under these circumstances I am sure you will see how difficult it is for him to write even a few lines to his Mother and I am always trying to impress upon him that he ought not to tax his strength by writing, and that if he must write, it should be only to his Mother and let that be considered enough for the family. I feel sure you will forgive him for deferring to write to you till he is better, altho' it is a very great pleasure to him to hear from you. I hope this will find you and your husband pretty well. I was sorry to hear that he had not been well. With fond love from Con and much from me

Ever Yr affte Aunt

E C F Ch Crespigny

Con is only able to take a short drive for little more than half an hour on his best days when he feels his best.

Letter 12

From: Eliza Constantia Frances ChC

To: Rosalie Helen [her niece]

Tuesday, 6th March [1883]

My dearest Rose

Just one line to enclose 2nd half £5 notes. I hope you recvd first half all safe in last mail.⁵ My heart aches for yr poor Mother who would now, as I believe be receiving my letter of 25 January, telling her how near death her darling was - tho' I scarcely knew that he must be taken from me the very next day. I miss him more and more and long to go to him.

God bless you and your husband, dearest Rose.

Your affte Aunt

E C F Ch Crespigny

Con's death was announced in The Argus of 24 March 1883:

Constantine is buried at St Peter's, Leckhampton, Gloucestershire with his grandparents. His grave states:

"Constantine Trent Pulteney Champion_Crespigny. Late of HM 69th Regt. Born 5th May 1851. Died 26th January 1883. Youngest son of Philip Robert Champion Crespigny of St. Kilda, Melbourne, Australia"⁶

The verse under Constantine's inscription is  Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

On 5 March 1882 Constantine's nephew, the second son of Philip, was born at Queenscliff, Victoria and named Constantine Trent.

---

Footnotes

Letters, copy held by my father Rafe de Crespigny:

The originals of these letters were in the possession of my grandfather Sir Constantine Trent ChC/CdeC. After his death in 1952, his second wife Mary Birks nee Jolley, Lady de Crespigny, had them copy-typed by Ms W M Walsh, and distributed the copies among members of the family. I obtained a set through my father Richard Geoffrey CdeC, Constantine Trent's elder son. It seems probable that most of the letters were collected by Ada Champion Crespigny (1848-1927), eldest daughter of Philip Robert ChC (1817-1889), for many of them are addressed to her.

<sup>1. Constantine ChC, born in May 1851, was now just under 8 years old.
The asterisk has a note by the transcriber: from here adult writing by Charles James Fox ChC.
The siege of Cawnpore [modern Kanpur] concluded on 24 June 1857 with the slaughter of the British defenders as they sought to leave under promise of safe conduct. Panoramas were common forms of exhibition at this time. The spectators entered a large room and the event was displayed, normally in two dimensions, on the surrounding walls, aided by special lighting.
In February 1859 Philip Robert was appointed from Justice of the Peace to Police Magistrate at Amherst in the county of Talbot, some 5 kilometres northwest of that town. Philip Robert had formerly held general posts as Assistant Commissioner for Crown Lands, Magistrate in the Colony of Victoria and Warden of the Goldfields.↩

2. images retrieved from Google maps http://goo.gl/maps/66hZh retrieved 7 April 2013 and from http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/21093258 7 bedroom property for sale £1,800,000 Royal Parade, Cheltenham GL50↩

3. from page 215 of The Army List Author Colonel H. G. Hart Published 1870 Original from Oxford University Digitized 15 Oct 2007 retrieved from http://books.google.com.au/books?id=C_ANAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA215 3 February 2012 ↩

4. Constantia, born in 1825, was now 51 years old. Rose, born in October 1858, was now 17 years old. She had married Francis Beggs of Beaufort on 3 February 1876. ↩

5. One means of sending money with some security by post was to cut bank-notes in two. Each note was printed with a number in two places. Half a note, with only one number, was valueless, but when the two halves were put together they could be credited with a bank. ↩

6. Tombstone inscriptions from http://www.stpeters-leckhampton.org.uk/ retrieved 7 April 2013.
The full tombstone transcription is:</sup>

M11 Chest-tomb, on base, inward sloping sides, worn, once painted. Sc: LEWIS.Sc.

South: IN MEMORY OF

CHARLES FOX CHAMPION CRESPIGNY,
BORN AT HINTLESHAM HALL NEAR IPSWICH 30TH AUGUST 1785, 
DIED AT CHELTENHAM 4TH MARCH 1875. 
IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE OF BEING RAISED WITH THE FAITHFUL IN CHRIST
TO EVERLASTING LIFE. 
ALSO OF CONSTANTINE TRENT PULTENEY CHAMPION CRESPIGNY.
LATE OF H.M. 69th REGT BORN 5TH MAY 1851. DIED 26TH JANUARY 18--.
YOUNGEST SON OF PHILIP ROBERT CHAMPION CRESPIGNY
OF ST KILDA, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
- - - - - - LL YE THAT LABOUR AND - - - HEAVY LADEN - - - WILL OF - - -
North: IN MEMORY OF / 
ELIZA JULIA, THE BELOVED WIFE OF 
CHARLES FOX CHAMPION CRESPIGNY ESQUIRE,
WHO DIED THE 17TH DAY OF JULY 1855, AGED 59 YEARS.
PURE AND INNOCENT OF MIND, KIND AND BENEVOLENT, "HER WAYS WERE WAYS OF
PLEASANTNESS, AND ALL HER PATHS WERE PEACE." PROVERBS. III.17.
UNTO YOU THAT HAVE MY NAME SHALL THE SUN(sic) OF RIGHTOUSNESS ARISE
WITH HEALING IN HIS WINGS. MALACHI IV 2
I WILL RANSOM THEM FROM THE POWER OF THE GRAVE I WILL REDEEM THEM
FROM DEATH. HOSEA XIII.I.
- -EL- - - - NOT SHARE OUR SORROW, S-------- THE -OT-E--- BLESSED
- - - - - - - A FUTURE LIFE - - - - - - - - - -SAVED - - - - - .

 The verse under Constantine's inscription is  Matthew 11:28: Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The verse for his grandfather is derived from the Book of Common Prayer but is not a direct quote. ↩