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- [S66] Other Researchers - John Rhys.
I have been puzzled about the origins of my wife's ancestor MG for some time. Leah said she just didn't believe in somebody with such an outrageously pretentious name and thought he had made it up. As you may have discovered there are very few Plumbes with an (e) in the early 19th century, so I set about looking on the net for the most likely candidate families, the most obvious being the Plumbes of Oxfordshire and Berkshire who have been extensively researched by their descendents.
What I discovered was a very strong India connection. Take a look at the following site
http://www.ocotilloroad.com/geneal/plumbe1.html
and the family of Samuel Plumbe born 1764.
Of his children, Robert was appointed Assistant Surgeon to the East India Company in 1829, in Madras, and Fanny travelled out to join him in Madras in 1830 (as I discovered from another site) and married there. Yet another brother joined the Indian army. The only brother unaccounted for on this family site is William who is believed to have 'died abroad'- ie contact was lost.
You may recall from my notes that MG was married in Madras in 1833, and that there was a family rumour passed down the generations about him being the 'black sheep' or ne'er-do-well who had been packed off to India. This seemed such an extraordinary coincidence of names places and dates that I surmised that MG was an unrecorded younger brother who had been sent out under the supervision of brother and sister.
I therefore requested a search for MG from Oxfordshire FHS, which unfortunately has drawn a complete blank, although the researcher suggested that maybe MG was one of the other brothers who had changed his name. My new hypothesis is that MG is in fact William Plumbe born c 1802, and changed his name when he got to India. This would imply that the age on his death certificate is wrong, but it would also mean he was 31 when he married, which seems more probable than 19.
It's some way short of conclusive proof but it still seems highly probable to me. I can recommend you to take a look at the site. As well as taking us back a few generations, it's a very interesting family to belong to, with a Boer war hero who allegedly inspired a Kipling poem, a famous architect Rowland Plumbe, a woman who pioneered more humane treatment of the mentally ill, two mayors of Henley, a child who inspired a Victorian tear-jerker and much more.
I don't have any great ideas on how to resolve the uncertainty, but thought you might like to look at the site anyway.
- [S66] Other Researchers - John Rhys, Burial, N2/56/191.
Aged 61. Died of Angina pectoris. On list for St Mark's and St Luke's Bangalore.
- [S66] Other Researchers - John Rhys, N2/15/276 .
By permission of the Governer - he being under 21?
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The Genealogy Zone
Abt 1814 - 1875 (~ 61 years)
