Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Connections

On my mother's (Bird) side


My 5 times great uncle was William Wilberforce, the slave liberator.


His son was William Wilberforce Bird was MP for Coventry.


His son (my grandfather's great uncle) was another William Wilberforce Bird (1784-1857) who completed his education in Geneva and then spent 41 years in the service of the East India Company, being four times Deputy Governor of Bengal and for a short period in 1844 Acting Governor General of India.


Isabella Bird (1831-1904) was one of the 19th century's most remarkable and intrepid travellers, visiting and writing about America, Hawaii, India, Kurdistan, Iran, Tibet, Malaysia, Korea Japan and China. She wrote many books which are still available in print and it is extraordinary to read just how far she did travel when the only means of long distance travelling was by sea, taking with her countless pieces of luggage (including her camera).


Isabella's cousin Mary Bird (1859-1914) was the first female medical missionary to work for the Church Missionary Society, and spent almost her life in Iran


My Bird great grandfather was in the Indian Army


My grandfather was born in India, the youngest of four brothers who were all sent back to Jersey for their schooling at Victoria College. They then all went out to Chile where my grandfather was manager of a nitrate mine inland from Iquique. There he met my grandmother who was half Spanish and in the late 1920s they returned through the then new Panama canal to Jersey, being the only place in the UK that either of them knew.






On my father's (Nation) side
The Nation family is said to have originated in France (Nacien?) but the first concrete evidence of them is in Cornwall in the 1600s where most were Presbyterian Ministers.
My great great grandfather was a barrister in Exeter and was a founder member of a bank. He had two wives and nine children.
My great grandfather was in the church and was at various times in Grantham, Barrowby and Buxton before retiring to Lindfield in Sussex
My grandfather was in the army and was wounded in WW1
My father was first an accountant and then a stock broker.

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