ID numbers, highlighted in yellow, are listed below in numerical order.
ID:6 Henrietta Maria CHRISTIANA (wife of Capt. James READ) (page 155)
For the sake of context, here is a recent photo of the shoreline near Khejuri (Kedgeree), the place where Captain James Read was buried. It shows the shallow swampy nature of the anchorage. The relevant description of James' death and burial is on p.158. In 1826 when James was buried, the cemetery was apparently quite close to the shore, but the huge cyclone of 1864 changed the landscape by filling the gaps between islands with sediment. As a result, the cemetery is now located some distance inland. Such is the changeable nature of an alluvial delta in a monsoonal region.
Here are recent photos of Henrietta's grave, incorporated in the Wyatt family obelisk in the Highgate Cemetery, London (source: Wyatt family tree, ancestry.com):
Zooming into the above photo reveals...
A list of persons in the tomb is as per the following note:
At least we learn that Henrietta died in October 1867 (possibly the 18th? ...illegible).
It is possible that the obelisk was commissioned by James Wyatt's second wife Florence Rose Percy King (1847-1912) whom he had married in 1872, five years after Henrietta's death.
And for something completely different...
Here is a cartoon of 1833, not related directly to our families, but indicative of the social pressures in the 19th century which prompted women like Henrietta CHRISTIANA to take advantage of the 'Fishing Fleets' (see notes, page 155):
Source - State Library of NSW.
ID:30 Agnes Mary Josephine TESTAR & Robert Lewis William READ (page 171).
(also see the TESTAR Family Tree, page 261).
An exciting find! Finally I have discovered some details of Agnes's arrival in Calcutta. I had earlier speculated that she and Robert Lewis William Read may have travelled together to Calcutta, but I was wrong. Having departed from Southampton, she arrived in June 1850, apparently unaccompanied, just one month before her marriage to Robert Lewis William READ. There was no passenger on the ship under the name READ. It is still possible, though, that they had met in London and planned to meet in Calcutta to avoid the stigma of 'living in sin' during the voyage.
The vessel was the steamer/sailing ship 'Hindoostan' (usually spelled 'Hindostan' in most records; sometimes 'Hindustan').
I also note that Agnes must have departed Southampton sometime quite soon after 6 February 1850 because on that day she was one of the witnesses at the London wedding of her uncle Thomas Hitchins TESTAR (see page 259, CHRISTIANA Family Tree).
There is a painting of the 'Hindoostan' (unknown artist) departing Southampton on its maiden voyage back in 1842:
The artist has contrived to depict the vessel sailing directly into a headwind, a fact which would not have escaped unnoticed at the time, given that steam engines were a relatively recent innovation on the high seas, especially on international voyages. For India, this was cutting edge stuff, the maritime equivalent of the new-fangled Railways on dry land.
For the sake of context, here is a photo of Agnes's point of arrival (Chandpal Ghat, Calcutta) as it was in 1850, the year she arrived. all the vessels in this photo appear to be sailing ships - no steamer in sight:
The following newspaper article pertains to their later life in New Zealand after 1880. I found the article in New Zealand's Wanganui Chronicle of 8 September 1883 (Volume XXV, Issue 10410, page 1), where the complete article may be read. It records that Robert Read and his son Francis Read were both provisional directors of a newly-established meat and produce export company. It also serves to confirm the family's pastoral links to Patea and Kakaramea, and implies that Robert Read had not yet made the move to live in New Plymouth. It is not yet known when the Read family moved to New Plymouth, but this article implies that it was after 1883:
Next is a photo (source) showing three of the labels eventually produced by the company:
ID:34 Rosalin(d) WYATT (p.180) The first daughter of James WYATT and Henrietta Maria CHRISTIANA may be more properly spelled Rosalie, not Rosalin or Rosalind. If the entry for Rosalie is correct, it appears she died on 8 August 1933 - at the age of 102. Scroll back to see her grave in the photos of the Wyatt family obelisk under ID:6.
ID:36 James Matthew George WYATT (p.181) The wife of James Matthew George Wyatt was listed as Eliza Pinta on her grave - no mention of the surname HEARN. Scroll back to see her grave in the photos of the Wyatt family obelisk under ID:6.
Also, here is James' probate record (via ancestry.com):
ID:66 Louisa Maria READ & Augustus HINDS (pages 189, 265, 275).
On the record of her marriage, she was Mary Louisa READ, birth 1855 (India, Select Marriages, 1792-1948) via ancestry.com. No image available on ancestry yet.
The 1935 probate record for Louisa's husband Augustus Sylvester Gore HINDS was:
ID:68 Walter READ (page 192).
Correction: Walter's father-in-law Henry Campbell RAIKES was married to Robina Mary Bannerman Lessel BISSETT, not to Susan BISSETT. Oops, and my apologies.
(also see TESTAR Family Tree, p.266)
* I note that Aggie's father Robert READ visited England from Nainital in 1877 (month/s unknown; source is the letter on p.194 of the CHRISTIANA Family Tree). This was the same year that Aggie took her first Communion at the New Hall school (in April 1877) and her first Confession (7 June 1877). I intuit that Robert went to England at that time partly to be present at those events, and possibly also to investigate the potential of re-locating to New Zealand. During that trip, there can be little doubt that he would have left his Nainital real estate rental business in the hands of Mary Jane Corbett (see pdf document at F13:162,163).
* From the NZ Archives comes this photo captioned "Agnes Read playing tennis" at the New Plymouth Tennis Club, dated very approximately 1910 (1900-1916). In the background on the hill is the New Plymouth Hospital.
Photo source:
ID:106 Thomas Gore HINDS (page 205)
* Thomas's corrected birth-date is 20 May 1882 at Bellary, Madras, India (not 1881 as quoted in the SYMES Family Tree).
* His baptism was on 20 June 1882, also at Bellary.
(Source: India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947, v.63, p.158, FHL film #521870).
Note that 'Madras' referred to the Madras Presidency, a vast EIC administrative area centred around Madras, and not just to the city itself.
On that birth record (photo not yet available), Frank's father was named as Augustus Sylvaster [sic] Hinds and his mother as Louisa Mary.
ID:107 Frank Gore HINDS (page 206)
The page of the Railways record showing Frank's 1906 resignation (via ancestry.com). The date is September 13, not 12 as incorrectly quoted in the SYMES Family Tree:
ID:109 Rose Mary Gore HINDS & Hugh Evelyn RAYMOND (page 207)
Hugh Evelyn Raymond's grandson has kindly provided another interesting snippet, this time about his grandfather's driving skills. This article appeared in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on Friday 6 September 1935:
