Come to our Easter Family History Surgeries at Berwick-upon-Tweed

This weekend is the start of the Berwick 900 Festival that celebrates 900 years of Berwick’s history.

The theme of the Easter weekend, 3  to 6 April is “Our Christian Story” that celebrates Christian institutions, religious life and a few of the great Christian leaders in the town.

At St Andrews Church, Wallace Green, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1ED as well as the “Moments in Time” Flower Festival, inspired by the church’s history, there will be display panels about Robert Balmer, an inspirational minister at Golden Square, Dr John Cairns and Berwick’s well known physician, Philip MacLagan, a church elder.

Although all these men were born in Scotland and at times lived elsewhere, they all had strong links with Berwick. Like them, John Hamilton Hall, a freeman, was born in Coldstream, moved to Berwick as a child where his father was a doctor, left the town to fight in India, returned when he retired from the army, aged 40, got married and then moved to Edinburgh.

Did your family move into or out of Berwick ?
Why did they do that ?
If your family is associated with Berwick, Tweedmouth or Spittal, the Berwick 900 Our Families Project would love to hear your family stories.

Normally you need to visit Berwick Record Office to consult the transcripts of church registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for Berwick and Tweedmouth. However, over the Easter weekend, you can look at some of the registers in the churches where the events took place – Berwick Parish; St Andrews and Berwick Roman Catholic churches and Tweedmouth Parish Church. Look on the Berwick 900 website for opening times.

Are you wondering how to start your family history ? Perhaps you’ve started researching your family but have hit a brick wall.

If you need any help why not come along to our Family History surgeries in St Andrews Church from 12 to 2pm each day from Good Friday to Easter Monday and speak to experienced genealogists.

Come to a talk about John Hamilton Hall (1799-1865) at Kelso on 29 March

Looking through the roll of the Berwick-upon-Tweed Guild of Freemen admitted in the 19th century, one occupation stood out. John Hamilton Hall's occupation was stated as Captain, Honourable East India Company; he lived in Ravensdowne.

This was part of the research I did for Berwick 900 last year and this led me to research him further.

He was born in Coldstream in 1799, but his father was a general physician in Berwick and a Freeman. Seeing his name and occupation in the Guild records led me on an interesting but puzzling hunt for information about his family, his career as an officer in the East India Company’s Bombay Infantry.

This Sunday, 29th March, at the Abbey Row Community Centre, The Knowes, Kelso, TD5 7BJ, I’ll be talking about John Hamilton Hall's life and career. Map.
Doors open at 2pm; the talk begins at 2.30pm. 

However, just as importantly, I’ll be discussing how I researched him, some of the problems I found and the difficulties in reading and understanding the records. I'll also be discussing some of the online resources I used, so at the very least you should leave with a better understanding of researching your ancestors in British India.

The talk has been widely advertised so come early to get a good seat. I warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not.

We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy, and there’ll be light refreshments (donation expected) available after the talk.

If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it with one of our volunteers

Free Access to FindMyPast This Weekend (7-10 November)

To celebrate Remembrance Weekend, FindMyPast is offering free access to most of their records from noon (GMT) on Friday, 7 November to 11:59am (GMT) on Monday, 10 November.

Use the time to explore their collections of UK parish records, historical newspaper pages, military records and passenger lists.

I used FindMyPast to research much of the information about John Hamilton Hall  and his family, including census records and military records relating to his service in the East India Company's Bengal Infantry from 1819 to 1838.

You'll need to register and log in.

In some respects, FindMyPast is easier to search than Ancestry so give the FindMyPast Free Weekend a whirl and add a comment below if you find something interesting.

Another Member of John Hamilton Hall's Family Joins the Berwick Guild

My earlier articles about John Hamilton Hall, born in Coldstream on 22nd October 1799 were John Hamilton Hall - Dangerously Assumed to be Unique and John Hamilton Hall's Application to Join the East India Company.

I gave a talk about him in Berwick-upon-Tweed about 6 weeks ago and was asked lots of questions.
By a strange but happy coincidence, Linda Bankier, the archivist at Berwick Record Office informed me a few weeks later that one of John’s great great granddaughters was going to be admitted as a Freeman of Berwick Guild and she suggested that I go along to watch. It turns out that the Admission Ceremony is open for anyone to attend and it’s normal for the applicants’ family and friends to do so.

When I arrived at the Guildhall, I was greeted by the Halberdier dressed in a serge morning-suit; the applicants were having a walk-through of the ceremony so on his instruction I waited in the ante-chamber where the Chairman of the Guild was being enrobed.
The Ceremony is formal but friendly.
We stood. The Sergeant at Mace entered, bearing the Mace and was followed by the female Mayor wearing a suit of the same colour as the Halberdier and an ornate gold chain around her neck. She was accompanied by the Sheriff and the Town Clerk.
There was a speech by the Mayor, each of the 3 applicants stated their claim, the Town Clerk confirmed that the claim had been verified and the applicants' sponsor confirmed the identity of the applicant.
Each of the applicants, in turn claimant, took the Freemen's Oath, to uphold the law, the traditions of the Guild and take care of fellow Freemen's belongings.
The Mayor told the Town Clerk to enter the applicants' names in the Freemen's Roll and the applicants signed the book.
The Mayor and the Sheriff each addressed the meeting and the Chairman of the Guild welcomed the new Freemen, clothing them with the purple robes of a Berwick Freeman.
After the ceremony, there was lots of photography.
If you get the opportunity, it’s worth watching; the next ceremony is on 30th September.

More information on the Berwick Guild and the ceremony.

John Hamilton Hall's Application to Join the East India Company

In my blog, John Hamilton Hall - Dangerously Assumed to be Unique, I noted that the Guild records show the admittance of John Hamilton Hall on 24 October 1840, when his occupation was Capt, East India Company.

1. How did he become a Captain in the East India Company ?
2. What kind of Captain was he ?
3. Where did he work or where was he stationed ?

The huge and powerful British East India Company was originally formed to trade with the East Indies but at different times traded not only in India and Sri Lanka (Ceylon), but also in Hong Kong, Burma, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. By 1840, the Company ruled large areas of India and other places with its own private army and navy exercising military power and assuming administrative functions which lasted until 1858.
After that, its military and administrative powers came under the rule of British colonial power  - the 'Government of India' and the records of the Company before 1858, and of the Government of India up to Indian independence in 1948 are collectively known as the India Office records housed by the British Library.

The Families In British India Society (FIBIS) have indexed a huge amount of the India Office records and their database search is easy to use.

I searched for John Hamilton Hall on FIBIS and was delighted to find a reference to a cadetship application, however, was it the right one ? FIBIS states that images are viewable at FindMyPast.

The record should be visible at Find My Past but isn't, it's missing; as I later found out by phoning the British Library, it got missed out of the digitisation.

However, the diligent British Library staff kindly photocopied the application.

It's a preprinted application form with blanks for answers.

Page 1 shows the application from John Hamilton Hall, as a Cadet for the Bombay Infantry, nominated by John Bladen Taylor at the recommendation of Stewart Marjoribanks. It's signed by JB Taylor and Stewart Marjoribanks and dated 27 April 1819. I've used italic below to indicate handwritten entries.

Page 2 asks questions
Question 1: Is the Signature to this Petition in your hand-writing ?
Answer: It is

Question 2: At what School have you been educated ?
Answer: Christ's Church School

Question 3: Of what nature has your education been ?
Answer: Classical Education

Question 4: What is the profession, situation,  and residence of your parents or nearest of kin ?
Answer:  My Father is a Physician and resides at Berwick upon Tweed

Question 5: Have you read the Terms upon which you enter the Company's Military Service ?
Answer:  I have

Page 3
Question 6: Who recommended you to John Bladen Taylor Esq for this nomination ?
Answer:  Stewart Marjoribanks Esq

I've left out questions 7 and 8 but note the applicant's signature.

It's followed by a handwritten letter:

My dear Sir,
           The bearer JH Hall is the young gentleman for whom you were kind enough to give me a Bombay Cadetship form
I always am,
My dear Sir,
27th April 1819
Yours  sincerely
S Marjoribanks

Also in the application are some preprinted forms:

Birth of John Hamilton Hall

Agreement by John Hamilton Hall's father, John Hall

Confirmation of nomination by Stewart Marjoribanks

British India was divided into three territories (called Presidencies): Bombay, Bengal and Madras.
Bombay covered the smallest area in the west of present-day India, extending through Sind and to the coastal area of what is now Pakistan and also included Aden (now Yemen).

I wondered whether John would have gone first to be trained at the East India Company Military Seminary (Addiscombe Military Seminary), Addiscombe, Croydon, Surrey but I don't see his name in the cadet records.

1. Who was John Bladen Taylor ?
2. Who was Stewart Marjoribanks ?
3. Where was John Hall's house at Berwick-upon-Tweed ?
4. Where was Christ's Church School ?

John Hamilton Hall - Dangerously Assumed to be Unique

One of the dangers of family history research is assuming that the person you're seeking is the person you've found.

With common names, John Smith, Fred Brown, James Hogg, there must be thousands of individuals.
Adding a middle name reduces the number of possibilities and adding a rare middle name must reduce them still further.

When I chanced across John Hamilton Hall son of John Hall (deceased), admitted to Berwick-upon-Tweed Guild on 24th Oct 1840 with the occupation of Capt, East India Company, I thought this would be an easy person to find, an interesting person, and no competition from people with the same name.

How wrong I was.

Confusingly there are several men named John Hamilton Hall in the early to mid-19th century:

• one of Dunglass; I think this one’s father was General Hamilton Hall, who lived at Mount Hall, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and died at Bombay (now Mumbai), India.
• another, the son of a physician who was a Freeman of the Guild of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
• another who was married in 1858 in Madras, India, to Victoria C Raulim who had a child in 1861,
• another who was married on 15 December 1860 in Belgaum, Bombay, India to Annie Malcomson.
• another was appointed to Middlesex Regiment (1st Battalion) 57th Foot: records for 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot and later, after 1881, when known as Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment). 

and there are many more in the USA and
another one in England in the First World War (World War I) was appointed Major, 16th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, later Temporary Lieutenant Colonel., then Lieutenant Colonel, then Temporary Brigadier General, then  Brigadier General.

The details below refer to the son of a physician who was a Freeman of the Guild (as I've been researching him for the Berwick 900 project).

His parents were John Hall (the physician) and Mary Dickson.
He was born, 22 Oct 1798; baptised, 8 Nov 1798 in Coldstream (Berwickshire, Scotland.)
The Guild records show the admittance of John Hamilton Hall (2nd son of John, deceased) on 24 October 1840. His occupation is shown as Capt, East India Company.
He married Ann Grieve in September 1841 at Easington, Co. Durham, about 80 miles south of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Interestingly, Ann Grieve was the daughter of a Berwick-upon-Tweed Guild Freeman.

The 1851 Scotland census shows Capt. John H Hall and family living at 17 Regent St, Portobello (now Edinburgh).
I've transcribed the details:

Abbreviations: BEW - Berwickshire, NBL - Northumberland, INV - Inverness-shire.

In the London Gazette Issue 21658 published on the 6 February 1855. Page 12 of 40, his promotion 'To be MAJORS in the East Indies.' was listed as
Capt John Hamilton Hall, Bombay Infantry.

I've found him in various Portobello directories, but not before 1857.
Portobello Directory for 1857-8 lists Hall, J HEICS 10 John St
Portobello Directory for 1860-61 lists Hall, J H EIA 10 John St

The 1861 census shows:

Abbreviations: BEW - Berwickshire, NBL - Northumberland, MLN - Midlothian

Portobello Directory for 1861-62 lists Hall, J H major EIA 10 John St
Portobello Directory for 1862-63 lists Hall, J H major EIA 10 John St
Portobello Directory for 1864-65 lists Hall, J H major EIA 10 John St

A search on Families In British India Society (FIBIS) showed a transcription from Allen's Indian Mail - the 16 February 1865 edition about his death on 10 February 1865 at Portobello. http://www.fibis.org/


Portobello Directory for 1866-67 lists Hall, Mrs J H  10 John St


His family's gravestone is at the back of St Mark's Episcopal Church and churchyard, Portobello High Street.
It reads
'In memory of John Hamilton HALL Major of H.M Indian army who died 10th February 1865 aged 65 years and Ann GRIEVE his wife who died 6th April 1884 aged 78 years, also John Grieve HALL Major Royal Engineers, their elder son who died at Cawnpore India 12th January 1884 aged 41 years, also Ann Grieve HALL, their only daughter who died 10th January 1929 aged 83 years and
Burnett Grieve HALL, Colonel Royal Marine Artillery, their younger son who died in London 7th September 1928 aged 84 years. '
Picture of the gravestone.

The family tree is:

There are lots of questions that occur to me:

1. What years was John Hamilton Hall in India ?
2. In what campaigns and actions was he involved ? 
3. Why was his army career so interrupted ?
4. Is the John Hamilton Hall of Dunglass related ?
5. Why did he wait until he was over 40 to be admitted as a Freeman of the Guild ?
6. Did he meet Ann Grieve as a result of being admitted ?
7. Did he die as a result of ill-health or wounds sustained in India ?

If you know the answers to these questions or if you're related to any of the people named, please leave a comment.