Brick Wall - India early 1800s

[Dolly Rocker]

In 1820, in Calcutta, my 4 x great grandfather Joseph Bodycote, a soldier in HM 17th regiment of Foot (later the Leicestershire Regiment, married Elizabeth Beckwith, born 1803 in Madras. I have a copy of their marriage entry, which does not give the names of their parents.

I can only find a birth entry for Ann Elizabeth Beckwith in Madras in 1803 and I cannot tell whether she and Elizabeth are the same person. Other people researching this line have decided she is, apparently without any confirmation. There again their research is unreliable in that they are attributing other children to the family who are manifestly not theirs, although probably nephews of Joseph.

In 1821, their oldest child Charles (my 3 x great grandfather) was born in Berhampore in the presidency of Bengal. A daughter Amelia, who appears to have died young, was born before the family left India.

In 1824 Joseph left the army and returned to the English Midlands - probably Leicester. He was invalided out with chronic Hepatitis and Rheumatism and I 'm not sure how long he survived afterwards. His wife Elizabeth however lasted until 1884, when she died in Leicester Workhouse. She is described on the censuses as having been born in Madras, but is not stated to be a British Subject, unlike her son Charles. I have been advised that the Workhouse records are unlikely to take me any further.

Through another branch of the family two conflicting stories have come down. One is that Elizabeth was in fact an Indian woman. The other is that her father was an army officer of high rank. Either way she was apparently unused to having to dress herself when she first came to England. I am sceptical about the second story as I am not sure a high ranking officer would want his 17 year old daughter to marry a common soldier. I am simply not sure about the first and I can't find any evidence either way.

The whole thing is complicated by the fact that Joseph's granddaughter Ann was married in Leeds in 1881 by someone named Beckwith and in the presence of a witness named Beckwith - could they be relatives?

This is such a brick wall for me and I would love to find some answers. I would really welcome have any ideas how I can take this forward.

Thanks

D

[Uncle John]

Had a look in FIBIS and couldn't even find the entries you've mentioned.

[Gwen@coggiecorner]

have you tried british india family history site

[Mary from Italy]

I see someone called Sheila posted on GR about Joseph and Elizabeth last year - was that you?

[Mary from Italy]

Nothing for Joseph on TNA, but I take it you already have his discharge record?

Nothing for Bodycote on the India Office site either.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Probably not much help but women took their nationality from their husbands, so she would automatically become a British Subject on marriage.

She was possibly Anglo-Indian by birth, English father, Indian mother, which again would give her British citizenship - and probably servants to dress her, lol.

OC

[kylejustin]

yes, i think she may have had servants too, specially if she wasnt dressing herself. or maybe she was wearing things that needed family help, and when she moved to england, the people there didnt know how to wear those clothes, so she took to them herself?

[Tilly Mint]

I've not long recieved some photo's from a family member i found...on one of them my G Aunt has all her servants around her, she and her husband owned a chain of hotels in India and a lot of the military bigwigs stayed in them.

Sorry i'm not able to help with your request, i found a lot of stuff "googling", have a go, you may touch lucky.

[Dolly Rocker]

Thanks for your responses. Yes, Mary, it was me and I'm still going round in circles with this one. I have Joseph's army record, which is interesting in itself, but doesn't answer my questions. I have spent years googling this one as and when without coming up with anything. Uncle John - I and another distant relative have copies of the marriage entry and Charles' birth is on familysearch, but otherwise I'm stuck. There are any number of ways of spelling Bodycote, which makes life even more difficult.

OC, that's what I would have expected, but the census generally says just born Madras India without the British Subject, whereas her son is always described as a British Subject. I wondered whether that was significant, but maybe it's not.

If my Elizabeth is really Ann Elizabeth then I can go a bit further back, but I can't see there's any point without knowing for sure.

Would DNA testing show whether I had any Asian blood? Does anyone know?

D

[kylejustin]

was anyone in your family dark skinned? if she was part indian, her children and grandchildren might have shown it.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Workhouse records MIGHT just give you her date of birth which could help eliminate the baptism you found.

The two family stories are not conflicting at all - she could be both Indian AND the daughter of a high-ranking officer, anglo-Indian in other words. Marriage to a soldier would have seemed quite proper in those circumstances.

Have you investigated any Beckwiths in the regiment at the time of her birth? What are the names of the parents given for Ann Elizabeth?

DNA testing could tell if you have Asian blood but this geograhical DNA-testing is fraught with errors. There simply isn't enough data at the moment. However, google it and read carefully, lol, particularly the bit where they say, or don't say, what they are going to do with those results and who owns your data should you decide to proceed.

OC

[Tilly Mint]

I have a copy of my Grandmothers wedding cert to her 1st husband, under her name it has "Anglo Indian", she was born in Nowshera, this was 1900, so a lot later than yours. Her husband was a Sergeant Major.

Have you looked at the London Gazette, i found my Grandmothers 1st husband there.