The following information comes courtesy of Robert Maxtone Graham, family historian and archivist. Writing in June 2003, 7th. Lord Sudeley points out that he was most pleased to have been able to supply information for this publication, also written by Evelyn Pritchard, who charted the Tollemache history of Ham in the informative 1998 booklet "Ham House and its owners through four centuries 1610-1948". Lord Sudeley was originally permitted by Janet Mary Maxtone Graham (1928-1996) to make a complete facsimile copy of Dame Eva Anstruther's original family "scrap book" which also contained The Gossip Notes of Ada Tollemache, Lady Sudeley and which Janet (Rance) Maxtone Graham inherited from her mother (Dame Eva's daughter) Joyce Anstruther. In the preface to this 2003 book, Evelyn Pritchard writes:
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Ada Maria
Tollemache married Charles Douglas
Richard Hanbury-Tracy - 4th.
Lord Sudeley (1840-1922) and was the daughter of Frederick James Tollemache and Isabella
Anne Forbes. Ada Tollemache very nearly married someone else. Click on this image for more comprehensive details. Frederick's brother, Lionel William John Tollemache, became 8th Lord Dysart. Their father was William Manners (Lord Huntingtower) whose father was John Manners whose parents were Lord William Manners (2nd. son of the 2nd. Duke of Rutland) and Corbetta Smyth. Corbetta Smyth was the daughter of William Smyth (Smith), an apothecary of Shrewsbury and his wife, Mary. |
June Sampson, writing in the Kingston Guardian (Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, London) in October, 2003, discusses the emigration to New Zealand of many Ham (Petersham) families. She uses Evelyn Pritchard's above-featured book as her source and, clearly, rates it very highly. "Miss Pritchard’s book is a little masterpiece ...".
Setting the scene, June writes: "Evelyn Pritchard has painstakingly unearthed this previously unknown chapter of our local past. The result is The 1841 Emigrants from Ham to New Zealand, a book that not only breaks new ground, but is an engrossing read from start to finish." To see the full text of June Sampson's article, click on the title link. Via the link may also be found information for purchasing the book.
"In January 1841 a group of Ham villagers boarded the Lord William Bentinck at Gravesend and sailed 12,000 miles to the new colony of New Zealand. They never returned. Why did they brave such a hazardous journey? What happened to them when they got there? Was their seemingly foolhardy decision eventually proved right?" The emigration of these families, declares June, "was an act of immense courage".
"In 1849, Algernon Tollemache set sail for New Zealand. He lived there on and off for the next 16 years and his letters to his brother at Ham House describe conditions in the new country and the lives of the Ham ex-pats."
"Algernon, a wealthy man used to luxurious living, was prepared to rough it as he travelled round his new territory. Of one trip he writes:
- I rode the whole time on the same horse and it also had to carry my blankets, cloak, change of clothes etc. I rode not less than 800 miles there and back, sleeping at night in all sorts of places and having the whole time to wash my own linen. I did this in rivers and I used to hang things up to dry during the time I was eating my food…we lived on pork almost the whole time…all the rivers are full of eels…so that one can always get food of some sort.
Algernon returned to Ham House in 1876. He died in 1892, aged 86, and was buried at St Peter’s Church, Petersham. The almshouses that still survive in Ham Street were erected by his wife in memory of him."
Gratitude is expressed to Sean Duggan and the management of the Kingston Guardian for permission to include the above extracts on the site.
