he was a soldier poet.
There are applications for baptisms which have been filmed but they are not in any order and it was just luck that we found an application for the baptism of the child of Sarah Jane Hollowell and Henry Anthony Kriekenbeek, to be named James Henry. He was born on the 19th of September 1844, and baptised on the 5th Dec 1844 in Colombo.
The witnesess were James Thomas Anderson,senior, of JaffnaMr James Thomas Anderson, junior, of Jaffna.
Mrs Amelia Anderson, (wife of JTA jnr),born Hollowell.
and Mrs Sarah Biddle, born Hollowell...in England.
Thomas Ajax Anderson:
His poems suggest that Scotland was his birth place around 1783 and perhaps that his 1st wife was called Julia
Another treeholder has a daughter (Emma) of his first wife (unknown) married at St Johns Cathedral in Calcutta on 23 FEB 1819 (to George Higgins) so his first marriage would have been 20 years at least before his second to Sarah
Commanded the 7th Division from Batticaloa in the 1803 war
1806 Army List: Lieutenant 19th (or 1st Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment of Foot Regimental rank from 17 November 1806
"Writers on Ceylon; Capt. Anderson's Ceylon and other Poems" - Souvenirs of Ceylon by Alastair Mackenzie Ferguson
Pub: Feb 1809 "Poems, written chiefly in India" By Thomas Ajax Anderson shows him as "late paymaster and Adjutant to a Corps of Pioneers on Ceylon" "Ceylon ! I envy still thy spicy shores, In fancy view the form my soul adores, And muse upon my Julia's last farewell !"
In 1811 he was tried by court-martial for ( 1 ) " submitting to be told by his commanding officer that he had told a lie," and (2) for not having fulfilled his written promise to leave the regiment within a year of his departure for England on September 24, 1807. He was acquitted on the first charge, but found guilty on the second, and publicly reprimanded. This did not, however,
induce him to quit the regiment or to cease writing poetry, for next year he published " Ceylon : a Poem in Three Cantos," and in 1815 he took part for the second time in a Kandyan war, commanding the force which marched from Batticaloa.
Notes and Queries Vol 124 by William White (1911): "He was in Ceylon 1798-1816, and wrote ' The Wanderer in Ceylon : a Poem in Three Cantos,' " (written 1817)
Thomas, Sarah and family left Ceylon in September 1816, on the ship Alexander for Mauritius and England,
The shipping record for her and family travelling round and leaving Ceylon in 1816 does have a Miss Hollowell, travelling with them, but only from Trincomalee to Colombo and not any further, presumably her sister, but have never come across any other record, naming her.
arriving in March 1817. They set up home in Chelsea, London. They had one more child.
1817-1824? at some point the family moved to Wales where first husband died.
Monday 19 April 1819 Morning Post - War Office, April 16, 1819 I9th Regiment of Foot. -Captain Montgomery Cairnes, from the half-pay of ihe 60th Foot, to be Captain of a Company, vice Thomas Ajax Anderson, who exchanges.
Awarded a temporary pension of £100 on 25th June, 1821, for injuries sustained in the performance of military duty in Kandy in 1815
1821 Army List: promoted Captain 23/03/1807 half pay from 08/04/1819
1824 ‘Leave of Absence’ published
'Anderson, Tho Ajax, Capt 60th Foot died Feb 1824, buried - St John Cardiff (Glamorgan Parish Registers)
‘widows pensions and bounty’ – abstracts of applications 1823 to 1825, WO 25/3089. Record for 1825, four surviving children received £12 each (Julia, Caroliane, Victoria Maria and William Henry Hulse) widow (2nd wife) has pension = £60
'lately' - 'At Cardiff, aged 45, Major T. A. Anderson, of the 60th Foot, author of "The Wanderer in Ceylon", and several other poetical productions'
His son with Sarah - William Henry Hulse Anderson marries Sarah Augusta Mills White, sister of Samuel Ethelbert and Adolphus
The second husband has a daughter with Sarah who marries the brother of Sarah Augusta Mills White - Adolphus
J. Penry LEWIS wrote: "The First Ceylon Poet: Captain Thomas Ajax Anderson." (1969)
One day I found out that the first wife of Charles Ajax Anderson was a Dutch lady .
But rereading my notes I could not find it anymore when I needed it.
So I decided to put all my other rough notes on the internet
From the internet
from list of inscriptions of Ceylon
The Anderson Families in British Ceylon are slowly revealing secrets after years of searching.
We have not got a firm connection between our James Thomas Anderson and Thomas Ajax Anderson but the families are slowly intertwining through the Hollowells.
Thomas Ajax Anderson was known as the Soldier Poet and his Army record should be in the British National Archives with the 19th Regt foot.
We have the following family information from Ceylon.
His first wife's name is not known, but they had a child baptised in Colombo on the 10th April 1808, and named her Julia.The reference number is Volume 22 page 60.
His second marriage was to Sarah Hollowell, date unknown, but the following children were baptised in Ceylon.
1. Caroline, baptised 10th April 1808, Colombo, same reference number and date as above entry.
2. Denvers Wrentmore, baptised 6th October 1811 at Colombo,
reference number Vol 22 page 109
3. Frances Caroline, baptised 21st January 1813 at Colombo, reference number Vol 22 page 122
4. Victoria Maria, born 8th October 1814, baptised 24th February at Batticaloa, Volume 23 page 761
5. William Henry Hulse, born 12th June 1816, baptised 22nd February 1816 at St Stephen's Church Trincomalee, reference Volume 20B page 774.
These records are in the Diocesan Library of the Anglican Church in Colombo, and are not available on LDS films as far as we know.
There are applications for baptisms which have been filmed but they are not in any order and it was just luck that we found an application for the baptism of the child of Sarah Jane Hollowell and Henry Anthony Kriekenbeek, to be named James Henry. He was born on the 19th of September 1844, and baptised on the 5th Dec 1844 in Colombo.
The witnesess were James Thomas Anderson,senior, of Jaffna
Mr James Thomas Anderson, junior, of Jaffna.
Mrs Amelia Anderson, (wife of JTA jnr),born Hollowell.
and Mrs Sarah Biddle, born Hollowell...in England.
The Army record of Thomas Ajax Anderson should reveal where and when he was born, where, when and to whom he married and the same information for his children
Thomas Ajax Anderson
The following comes from officer's birth certificates, will and personal papers, WO 42/1. In the National Archives, (formerly the public record office). This mainly consists of his widow Sarah, claiming a pension after his death, and of course having to prove the marriage and the children. Did not find T A Anderson's birth date though.
Thomas Ajax Anderson married Sarah Hollowell, 04-May-1807 at Colombo
Julia baptised 10-Apr-1808 at Colombo, born 1807, (child of his first wife, her maiden name unknown)
Caroline, baptised 10-Apr-1808 at Columbo, born 11-Mar-1808
Victoria Maria, baptised 24-Feb-1815 at Batticola, born 08-Oct-1814
William Henry Hulse, baptised 22-Sep-1816 at Trincomalie, born 12-Jun-1816
The same information is in 'widows pensions and bounty' - abstracts of applications 1823 to 1825, WO 25/3089. Record for 1825, they got 12 each (60), as the above record makes no mention of Denvers Wrentmore, who i think, died as an infant, as I have never seen any record of him. Also states that Julia is not living with mother in law, so either is with her mother or if her mother was dead at this point, then relatives.
There are two children from the first marriage, Julia, and Emma, who was born 1804 in Ceylon, I am virtually sure they are the children of Thomas Ajax. In the book by Thomas Ajax, 'Poem's written chiefly in India' published in London in 1809, it is also a google pdf file on the net. Emma and Julia appear a lot, which suggest certainly that his 1st wife was called Julia. Also try 'infant' on word search, seems to suggest two daughters from 1st marriage, and maybe the 1st wife died when the children were very young.
Emma marries a George Higgins in Calcutta, on the 23-Feb-1819, they have three children, all born in Calcutta, she dies in Calcutta, 01-Mar-1836
Emma Higgins, b. 09-Sep-1820
George Edmund Higgins, b. 27-Feb-1822
Charlotte Julia Higgins, b. 1823
Her daughter Emma marries a Charles Grissell, 12-Sep-1842, at Agra, (the name grissell turns up as a second name in the children of Victoria Maria Anderson and William Hamilton Nicholetts).
The following comes from the Ceylon Government Gazette, deaths, for 1816, have never found a birth date.
'At Trincomalie on the 23rd June, Frances Molesworth Caroline, third daughter of Captain T. A. Anderson, H. M. 19th Foot'
Sarah Hollowell, although the records seem to say she was born 'aboard in Gibraltar' from 1861 census. Have never proved anything, she must have been very young when she married Thomas Ajax.
The family left Ceylon in September 1816, on the ship Alexander for Mauritius and England, arriving in March 1817. They set up home in Chelsea, London. They had one more child.
Louisa Jane was born 17-Feb-1819 in Chelsea, at some point the family moved to Wales.
Thomas Ajax, died in Cardiff, Wales, 08-Feb-1824
Louisa Jane died in 1829 in Cardiff.
On the 20-Apr-1830 Sarah Anderson remarried, to a John Biddle, in Cardiff, who was a ships captain. They went on to have two sons and a daughter.
John Mathew, born 01-Apr-1832 in Bristol
Thomas James Biddle, born 18-Jul-1833 in Bristol
Eliza Anne Biddle, born, 11-Jun-1836 in Chelsea
Both sons, were doctors, and died rather young in their forties, the daughter, Eliza Anne, married a George Douglass Barber, 19-May-1857 in India, he did not survive the 'Indian Mutiny' but Eliza Anne did at Lucknow, she later remarried a Adolphus Charles White, on the 17-Mar-1864, in Chelsea.
Both Sons had children, although Eliza Anne did not, and have found no evidence of any.
Sarah Biddle, died in 08-Feb-1870 in London, her death certificate has her age as 76, so born in 1794, married at what 13?. Even found and tried to read her gravestone, but no new information unfortunately. The shipping record for her and family travelling round and leaving Ceylon in 1816 does have a Miss Hollowell, travelling with them, but only from Trincomalee to Colombo and not any further, presumably her sister, but have never come across any other record, naming her.
The baptism of James Henry Kriekenbeek, 05-Dec-1844, witness a certain Mrs Sarah Biddle, nee Hollowell, in England, don't know what to make of this, but anything is possible.
Below is from the British Library
LIST OF INSCRIPTIONS ON TOMBSTONES AND MONUMENTS IN CEYLON, OF HISTORICAL OR LOCAL INTEREST, WITH AN OBITUARY OF PERSONS UNCOMMEMORATED
By J. Penry Lewis, C.M.G. Ceylon civil servant, retired
Nevrang in collaboration with Lake House bookshop 1993
Colombo
1528. - September 13, 1808 - James Hollowell.
Lieut. James Hollowell, 2nd Ceylon, Regt.,
2nd Lieut. James Baillie's Regt. (3rd Ceylon), 13th Augt., 1805.
Lieutenant Hollowell belonged to Wexford. He had a son, James Hollowell, who was also in the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, 2nd Lieutenant 1811-17, and Commandant at Chilaw in 1818, and a brother (?) Lieutenant William Hollowell, 3rd Ceylon Regiment. Lieutenant James Hollowell, married at Galle, in 1811, Catherina Adriana Fybrandsz, who was born in 1787 and died December 13, 1858, at Jaffna. Their daughter, Amelia, married James Thomas Anderson, junior, son of James Thomas Anderson of Jaffna.
There were a lot of family connections between Swinhoe, Biddle, Anderson and the Day family in England. It at times does seem to go round in rather large circles. Have more info in anyone in interested. Been doing this for a number of years, although a lot more info is on the net now.
Have never joined T. A. Anderson or Sarah Hollowell, to any contemporary relative of theirs. Which is odd, because usually they turn up, on a census looking after the others children, getting educated in England. Or maybe as guardians of their children. Thomas Ajax died in 1824, aged 45, so probably born around 1779 in Scotland, which the poems suggest was his birth place. He was I would suggest quite a character, that's from reading the poem's. The other two books were, 'A wanderer in Ceylon' published 1819, and 'Leave of Absence' published in 1824.
Caroline Anderson married a Robert Swinhoe, 28-Feb-1828 in Calcutta.
There are some entries in the book by JP Lewis -Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon 1913, to suggest that your gggf Anderson may in some way be connected to Captain Thomas Ajax Anderson of the 19th Regiment in Ceylon 1798-1816.
The entry on page 71 says, "I met William Hall who still lives (in 1886) to recount the main incidents of British rule in Ceylon or the narratives of many who were connected with his family including the poetical Major Anderson".
138. William Hamilton Nicholetts Major,Bengal Army
William married Victoria Maria Anderson daughter of Thomas Ajax Anderson Major. Victoria was born in 1813 in Ceylon. She died in Sep 1881 in Hastings district,Sussex,England.
1. 1871 census, Hastings,Holy Trinity,Sussex,England
Victoria M. Nicholetts friend widow age 56 pensioner from military fund Ceylon
2. 1881 census, 44 Church Rd,Hastings,St.MaryMagdalen,Sussex,fol 82 p 17 FHL 1341243
Victoria M.Nicholetts boarder offs Pensions from Milt Fund widow age 68 Ceylon
3. free bmd, deaths, age 68
William and Victoria had the following children:
166 M i William Gilbert Nicholetts.
167 M ii Edwin Nicholetts.
+ 168 M iii Gilbert Alfred Nicholetts Late 68th Regt.
+ 169 M iv Captain Robert Charles Nicholetts H.M. Bengal Staff Corps
+ 170 M v Henry Samuel Nicholetts
171 M vi Arthur Melville Bunbury Nicholetts.
172 M vii Septimus Nicholetts.
173 M viii Richard Casement Nicholetts was christened on 5 Mar 1848 in Lucknow, West Bengal, India.
174 M ix John Brontrees Nicholetts.
from list of inscriptions
I met Mr. Wm. Hall, who still lives to recount the main incidents of British rule in Ceylon or the narratives of many who were connected with his family, including the poetical Major Anderson." ("Ceylon in 1837-46," p. 31.) This refers to Captain Thomas Ajax Anderson of the 19th Regiment, who was in Ceylon 1798-1816, the author of " Poems written chiefly in India," published in 1809 out of a poem called " The Wanderer in Ceylon," which was published in 1817, and of others contributed to the Government Gazette, which for twenty years or more had a " Poet's comer." In 1811 he was tried by court-martial for ( 1 ) " submitting to be told by his cormnanding officer that he had told a lie," and (2) for not having fulfilled his written promise to leave the regiment within a year of his departure for England on September 24, 1807. He was acqtutted
....................
Captain T. A. Anderson, in a note to his poem " The Wanderer in Ceylon," pubUshed in 1817, states that " The gallant Captain Hardinge of the St. Fiorenzo, who was killed in action with the French Frigate La Pied- montaise off Colombo, was buried there together with many officers of rank, such as General Doyle, Colonels Petrie, Bonnevaux, Barbut, Blair, Blakeney, Hunter, Hayter, &c., not to mention many distinguished Admirals and Generals in the earUer periods of the Colony, who did honour to their respective nations." Capt. Hardinge, a younger brother ot Lord Hardinge, was killed on 8th March, 1808, towards the end of a three days', engagement with the French frigate in the gulf of Mannar. (See Cotton, p. 45.)
There are the tombstones with inscriptions of Colonels Petrie and Barbut and of Major Blair still to be seen, but none of the rest. As Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter died at Trincomalee, Lieutenant-Colonel Hayter at Jaffna, and Lieutenant Blakeney perished in the Kandy massacre, it is curious that they should be interred in the Pettah. Captain Anderson describes the Pettah Burial Ground in the following verses in the same poem (Canto III.), and his note, quoted above, explains the allusions. There is no sign of any " Lusian" tomb in the place, i)ut it may have been originally used as a burial ground by the Portuguese : — That square with walls encompassed round Is the colonial burial ground. How many a restless plotting brain Its narrow limits now contain ! The mind which fixed upon this spot. Where human grandeur is forgot. With rev'rence views the silent scene, And ponders what each once has been ! Some Lusian warriors here may sleep. Who boldly plough'd the eastern deep. And undismay'd by perils bore The cross to many a pagan shore. By fierce, but erring zeal impell'd, Their daring course undaunted held ; How swift their empire rose and fell Let history's mournful records tell ! And here those Belgic chiefs repose. Who tore the laurel from their brows. Who cheok'd their rivals' proud career. And fix'd a rising empire here. Till conqu'ring Britain won the gem And fix'd it in her diadem ! Then pause, and in this sober hour, Behold the emptiness of pow'r ; How vanished all their regal state, No ready slaves around them wait. No sycophants are on the watch. Each motion, word, or look to catch ; Ah, no ! the fawning minions run To worship at the rising sun ! Within that vault's capacious breast Some patriot chief perhaps may rest. No crowds now listen to that voice That bade a sinking land rejoice ! Some beauty, proud of youthful grace, The kindest heart, the sweetest face, Whose thrilling glance bade all adore. Now hears the tender vow no more ! Perchance some bard, whose tuneful lyre Was richly fraught with heaven's own fire, How silent all its silver tones. The Ij^e its absent lord bemoans ! And some have cross'd the swelling wave, From poverty's cold grasp to save A parent or a drooping wife. And mingling in these scenes of strife, Indulg'd a hope, their little hoard Might comfort to their age afford ; Yet here, away from every friend, Those cherish'd dreams have found an end. Others, who at their covintry's beck. Have firmly trod the reeking deck. And 'mid the battle's purple tide Have on the eastern billow died ; Some to these distant shores who came In tented fields to purchase fam.e, Who proudly hop'd a name to raise, That bards might harp in future days ; But found, too late, these forests yield No glorious wreath, no hard-fought field ! Disease, the warrior's wily foe. Has laid their sanguine ardour low ; And with the coward, and the slave, They share one undistinguish'd grave ! From all their arduous labours free, The fathers of this colony Repose upon this spot of earth, Far from the land that gave ^nhem birth, And palsied is the head and hand That bravely fought or wisely plann'd ! These melancholy thoughts impart, A solace to a wounded heart. While every gleam of happier hue Steals like the rainbow from my view, This weed-grown monumental space Recalls that dear-lov'd youth's embrace, Who hail'd with me this distant realm, While hope and rapture rul'd the helm. Whose early spring tide, bright and clear, Gave promise of a fruitful year, It might have sooth'd his parting breath. If he had met a soldier's death. The meed of the distinguish' d few Who nobly bled at Waterloo ! But here the hapless youth, denied This guerdon of a warrior's pride, And on this unfrequented spot He died unhonor'd and forgot, Wither'd in manhood's opening prime, A martyr to a burning clime ! E'en he, a trifler 'mid the throng Who boast the melody of song, Who pom's this meditative lay O'er these forgotten mounds of clay. Pass but a few brief years and then He slumbers with his feUow men. And may perchance as widely claim Some slight memento of his name, May, far from his paternal halls. Repose within these very walls. And not a living soul retain The memory of his idle strain, Fled like a summer's morning haze. That vanishes e'en while we gaze. " The dear lov'd youth " may have been Lieutenant John Kerr of the 19th, who died at Colombo on January 17 1803 a brother officer of Captain Anderson's of the same standing ; or Lieutenant Saunders, or Lieutenant Nixon of the same regiment, who died in 1810 ; or Lieutenant John Winn, who died at Colombo the same year, and, I think was also of the 19th. The other three officers who died at Colombo between 1796, when the regiment arrived'in Ceylon, and 1812, when apparently Anderson wrote his poem, were officers of some service.
.....................................................
Captain Anderson wrote some verses " On the Death of Major Blair," which are contained in bis book of " Poems written Chiefly in India," which he published in 1809. These verses are deseribed by him as " Written during a Time of Great Mortality from the Jungle Fever," and are as follows : — " Is not the tyrant weary yet ?
..............................................
Captain T. A. Anderson was one of the officers of the 19th who took part in this expedition, and his die^ry is printed at the end of some of the copies of his " Poems written Chiefly in India."
.........................................................Captain Anderson, who has been already quoted, tells, in his " Wanderer in Ceylon," the following tale of a lady buried in Wolvendaal Church, which he states is a " melancholy fact." It is impossible to identify her ; there is no inscription that suits. These
verses must be her only commemoration : —
..........................................................................
Adriana Gertruida Anderson
......................................
On leaving Batticaloa on April 25, 1815, he was presented with an address signed by Captain T. A. Anderson, the Commandant, Lieutenants O'Shea of the 19th and James Bagnet of the 73rd (afterwards Collector), and Assistant Surgeon J. Scott.
........................
He was gazetted Major, vice Logan, September 5^ 1805, after his death. These lines were written by Lieutenant Thomas Ajax Anderson, 19th Regiment, and are included in "Poems written chiefly in India," published by him in 1809. (London, printed by the Philanthropic Society, St. George's Square, for J. Asperna, Cornhill.)
..................................................
nant T. A. Anderson, with the 19th Regiment, which formed part of Colonel Barbut's force from Trincomalee, passed Ma tale on February 18, 1803, he describes it as " a group of villages close to the road," the inhabitants of wliich" were not Candians but aU Moormen." Fort Macdowal had not yet been constructed, but he adds in a footnote to his diary that " here Fort MacDowall was afterwards thrown up for the protection of these villages." A detachment of the Malay Regiment was posted there under Lieutenant Driberg and Ensign Moses, and the fort having no doubt meanwhile been constructed. Captains Madge and Pearce, with 55 rank and file of the 19th Regiment marched from Kandy on April 15 to garrison it. By May 23, as we learn from the letter of that date from the " officer of the 19th Regiment " at Kandy to Lieutenant Ariderson, the detachment at Fort Macdowal had only eight men out of fifty fit for duty. Captain Pearce, it seems, had by May 31 returned to Kandy, for a letter from Quartermaster Brown written on that day mentions that he was HI, and Lieutenant Ormsby of the 51st, writing to Lieutenant Anderson on June 10,
......................................
at Kandy to Lieutenant Ariderson, the detachment at Fort Macdowal had only eight men out of fifty fit for duty. Captain Pearce, it seems, had by May 31 returned to Kandy, for a letter from Quartermaster Brown written on that day mentions that he was HI, and Lieutenant Ormsby of the 51st, writing to Lieutenant Anderson on June 10, says : " Pearce is in great danger Madge at Fort Macdowall, I believe, is in as bad, if not worse, predicament than we are, as he has not a person in his garrison in health." ButPearce recovered and returned to Fort Macdowal, for he was one of the officers before whom Corporal Barnsley made, on June 27, his deposition as to the massacre of the Kandy garrison, the others being Captain Madge and Assistant Siu'geon Gillespie. On hearing of the fate of the garri^ion at Kandy, Captain Madge evacuated the Fort there, which had been besieged for three days, and succeeded in bringing off the other officers named, and Lieutenant Driberg, 13 men of the 19th Regiment, and 22 men of the Malay Regi- ment. " Nineteen sick Europeans he was obliged to leave behind him, having no means of transporting them." (Cordiner, vol. II., p. 215 ; Marshall, pp. 91, 105.) Ensign Moses appears to be the only officer buried at Fort Macdowal. Lieutenant Anderson owed his escape,. as we owe his " Poems " and his " Journal," to the fact that he left Kandy on March 20 in command of a detachment consisting of 12 convalescent Europeans and a guard of 30 Malays, for Trincomalee, which he reached on the 28th. * Extracts from these and other letters are appended, with Lieutenant Anderson's " Journal of the Proceedings of the Trincomale Detachment, commanded by Lieut. -Col. Barbut of His Majesty's 73rd Kegiment, from their leaving Triucomale, until their arrival at Candy," to some of the copies of Lieutenant Anderson's " Poems Written Chiefly in India," published in 1809, but copies of this book containing these appendices are very rare — in fact, I only know of one, now in the Colombo- Museum. The British Museum copy lacks them.
The officer of the 19th already quoted, writing his last letter to Lieutenant Anderson on May 23, eleven days after Carrington's death, says : " I have not much news to give you, except that our mortality and sickness is every day increasing; such is the melancholy state of our detachment, that out of two hundred and thirty-four men remaining out of those you left behind, there are not above five fit for duty, and even their services are required to attend those who are in the hospital. The number at present in the hospital is one hundred and twelve, mostly fevers, and fifty-six in barracks."
........................
Lieutenant Anderson wrote a poem in seven stanzas "To the Memory of the British Officers Massacred at Kandy," which is published in his " Poems written chiefly in India." The last verse but one runs :■ — " When parting at that fatal stream, Discolor'd now with gore, Ah little, little did I dream. That we should meet no more ! "
.........................................
Lieutenant Anderson wrote a poem in seven stanzas "To the Memory of the British Officers Massacred at Kandy," which is published in his " Poems written chiefly in India." The last verse but one runs :■ — " When parting at that fatal stream, Discolor'd now with gore, Ah little, little did I dream. That we should meet no more ! "
The Dutch family Kriekenbeek from Ceylon.
The witnesess were James Thomas Anderson,senior, of JaffnaMr James Thomas Anderson, junior, of Jaffna.
Mrs Amelia Anderson, (wife of JTA jnr),born Hollowell.
and Mrs Sarah Biddle, born Hollowell...in England.
Thomas Ajax Anderson:
His poems suggest that Scotland was his birth place around 1783 and perhaps that his 1st wife was called Julia
Another treeholder has a daughter (Emma) of his first wife (unknown) married at St Johns Cathedral in Calcutta on 23 FEB 1819 (to George Higgins) so his first marriage would have been 20 years at least before his second to Sarah
Commanded the 7th Division from Batticaloa in the 1803 war
1806 Army List: Lieutenant 19th (or 1st Yorkshire North Riding) Regiment of Foot Regimental rank from 17 November 1806
"Writers on Ceylon; Capt. Anderson's Ceylon and other Poems" - Souvenirs of Ceylon by Alastair Mackenzie Ferguson
Pub: Feb 1809 "Poems, written chiefly in India" By Thomas Ajax Anderson shows him as "late paymaster and Adjutant to a Corps of Pioneers on Ceylon" "Ceylon ! I envy still thy spicy shores, In fancy view the form my soul adores, And muse upon my Julia's last farewell !"
In 1811 he was tried by court-martial for ( 1 ) " submitting to be told by his commanding officer that he had told a lie," and (2) for not having fulfilled his written promise to leave the regiment within a year of his departure for England on September 24, 1807. He was acquitted on the first charge, but found guilty on the second, and publicly reprimanded. This did not, however,
induce him to quit the regiment or to cease writing poetry, for next year he published " Ceylon : a Poem in Three Cantos," and in 1815 he took part for the second time in a Kandyan war, commanding the force which marched from Batticaloa.
Notes and Queries Vol 124 by William White (1911): "He was in Ceylon 1798-1816, and wrote ' The Wanderer in Ceylon : a Poem in Three Cantos,' " (written 1817)
Thomas, Sarah and family left Ceylon in September 1816, on the ship Alexander for Mauritius and England,
The shipping record for her and family travelling round and leaving Ceylon in 1816 does have a Miss Hollowell, travelling with them, but only from Trincomalee to Colombo and not any further, presumably her sister, but have never come across any other record, naming her.
arriving in March 1817. They set up home in Chelsea, London. They had one more child.
1817-1824? at some point the family moved to Wales where first husband died.
Monday 19 April 1819 Morning Post - War Office, April 16, 1819 I9th Regiment of Foot. -Captain Montgomery Cairnes, from the half-pay of ihe 60th Foot, to be Captain of a Company, vice Thomas Ajax Anderson, who exchanges.
Awarded a temporary pension of £100 on 25th June, 1821, for injuries sustained in the performance of military duty in Kandy in 1815
1821 Army List: promoted Captain 23/03/1807 half pay from 08/04/1819
1824 ‘Leave of Absence’ published
'Anderson, Tho Ajax, Capt 60th Foot died Feb 1824, buried - St John Cardiff (Glamorgan Parish Registers)
‘widows pensions and bounty’ – abstracts of applications 1823 to 1825, WO 25/3089. Record for 1825, four surviving children received £12 each (Julia, Caroliane, Victoria Maria and William Henry Hulse) widow (2nd wife) has pension = £60
'lately' - 'At Cardiff, aged 45, Major T. A. Anderson, of the 60th Foot, author of "The Wanderer in Ceylon", and several other poetical productions'
His son with Sarah - William Henry Hulse Anderson marries Sarah Augusta Mills White, sister of Samuel Ethelbert and Adolphus
The second husband has a daughter with Sarah who marries the brother of Sarah Augusta Mills White - Adolphus
J. Penry LEWIS wrote: "The First Ceylon Poet: Captain Thomas Ajax Anderson." (1969)
One day I found out that the first wife of Charles Ajax Anderson was a Dutch lady .
But rereading my notes I could not find it anymore when I needed it.
So I decided to put all my other rough notes on the internet
From the internet
from list of inscriptions of Ceylon
The Anderson Families in British Ceylon are slowly revealing secrets after years of searching.
We have not got a firm connection between our James Thomas Anderson and Thomas Ajax Anderson but the families are slowly intertwining through the Hollowells.
Thomas Ajax Anderson was known as the Soldier Poet and his Army record should be in the British National Archives with the 19th Regt foot.
We have the following family information from Ceylon.
His first wife's name is not known, but they had a child baptised in Colombo on the 10th April 1808, and named her Julia.The reference number is Volume 22 page 60.
His second marriage was to Sarah Hollowell, date unknown, but the following children were baptised in Ceylon.
1. Caroline, baptised 10th April 1808, Colombo, same reference number and date as above entry.
2. Denvers Wrentmore, baptised 6th October 1811 at Colombo,
reference number Vol 22 page 109
3. Frances Caroline, baptised 21st January 1813 at Colombo, reference number Vol 22 page 122
4. Victoria Maria, born 8th October 1814, baptised 24th February at Batticaloa, Volume 23 page 761
5. William Henry Hulse, born 12th June 1816, baptised 22nd February 1816 at St Stephen's Church Trincomalee, reference Volume 20B page 774.
These records are in the Diocesan Library of the Anglican Church in Colombo, and are not available on LDS films as far as we know.
There are applications for baptisms which have been filmed but they are not in any order and it was just luck that we found an application for the baptism of the child of Sarah Jane Hollowell and Henry Anthony Kriekenbeek, to be named James Henry. He was born on the 19th of September 1844, and baptised on the 5th Dec 1844 in Colombo.
The witnesess were James Thomas Anderson,senior, of Jaffna
Mr James Thomas Anderson, junior, of Jaffna.
Mrs Amelia Anderson, (wife of JTA jnr),born Hollowell.
and Mrs Sarah Biddle, born Hollowell...in England.
The Army record of Thomas Ajax Anderson should reveal where and when he was born, where, when and to whom he married and the same information for his children
Thomas Ajax Anderson
The following comes from officer's birth certificates, will and personal papers, WO 42/1. In the National Archives, (formerly the public record office). This mainly consists of his widow Sarah, claiming a pension after his death, and of course having to prove the marriage and the children. Did not find T A Anderson's birth date though.
Thomas Ajax Anderson married Sarah Hollowell, 04-May-1807 at Colombo
Julia baptised 10-Apr-1808 at Colombo, born 1807, (child of his first wife, her maiden name unknown)
Caroline, baptised 10-Apr-1808 at Columbo, born 11-Mar-1808
Victoria Maria, baptised 24-Feb-1815 at Batticola, born 08-Oct-1814
William Henry Hulse, baptised 22-Sep-1816 at Trincomalie, born 12-Jun-1816
The same information is in 'widows pensions and bounty' - abstracts of applications 1823 to 1825, WO 25/3089. Record for 1825, they got 12 each (60), as the above record makes no mention of Denvers Wrentmore, who i think, died as an infant, as I have never seen any record of him. Also states that Julia is not living with mother in law, so either is with her mother or if her mother was dead at this point, then relatives.
There are two children from the first marriage, Julia, and Emma, who was born 1804 in Ceylon, I am virtually sure they are the children of Thomas Ajax. In the book by Thomas Ajax, 'Poem's written chiefly in India' published in London in 1809, it is also a google pdf file on the net. Emma and Julia appear a lot, which suggest certainly that his 1st wife was called Julia. Also try 'infant' on word search, seems to suggest two daughters from 1st marriage, and maybe the 1st wife died when the children were very young.
Emma marries a George Higgins in Calcutta, on the 23-Feb-1819, they have three children, all born in Calcutta, she dies in Calcutta, 01-Mar-1836
Emma Higgins, b. 09-Sep-1820
George Edmund Higgins, b. 27-Feb-1822
Charlotte Julia Higgins, b. 1823
Her daughter Emma marries a Charles Grissell, 12-Sep-1842, at Agra, (the name grissell turns up as a second name in the children of Victoria Maria Anderson and William Hamilton Nicholetts).
The following comes from the Ceylon Government Gazette, deaths, for 1816, have never found a birth date.
'At Trincomalie on the 23rd June, Frances Molesworth Caroline, third daughter of Captain T. A. Anderson, H. M. 19th Foot'
Sarah Hollowell, although the records seem to say she was born 'aboard in Gibraltar' from 1861 census. Have never proved anything, she must have been very young when she married Thomas Ajax.
The family left Ceylon in September 1816, on the ship Alexander for Mauritius and England, arriving in March 1817. They set up home in Chelsea, London. They had one more child.
Louisa Jane was born 17-Feb-1819 in Chelsea, at some point the family moved to Wales.
Thomas Ajax, died in Cardiff, Wales, 08-Feb-1824
Louisa Jane died in 1829 in Cardiff.
On the 20-Apr-1830 Sarah Anderson remarried, to a John Biddle, in Cardiff, who was a ships captain. They went on to have two sons and a daughter.
John Mathew, born 01-Apr-1832 in Bristol
Thomas James Biddle, born 18-Jul-1833 in Bristol
Eliza Anne Biddle, born, 11-Jun-1836 in Chelsea
Both sons, were doctors, and died rather young in their forties, the daughter, Eliza Anne, married a George Douglass Barber, 19-May-1857 in India, he did not survive the 'Indian Mutiny' but Eliza Anne did at Lucknow, she later remarried a Adolphus Charles White, on the 17-Mar-1864, in Chelsea.
Both Sons had children, although Eliza Anne did not, and have found no evidence of any.
Sarah Biddle, died in 08-Feb-1870 in London, her death certificate has her age as 76, so born in 1794, married at what 13?. Even found and tried to read her gravestone, but no new information unfortunately. The shipping record for her and family travelling round and leaving Ceylon in 1816 does have a Miss Hollowell, travelling with them, but only from Trincomalee to Colombo and not any further, presumably her sister, but have never come across any other record, naming her.
The baptism of James Henry Kriekenbeek, 05-Dec-1844, witness a certain Mrs Sarah Biddle, nee Hollowell, in England, don't know what to make of this, but anything is possible.
Below is from the British Library
LIST OF INSCRIPTIONS ON TOMBSTONES AND MONUMENTS IN CEYLON, OF HISTORICAL OR LOCAL INTEREST, WITH AN OBITUARY OF PERSONS UNCOMMEMORATED
By J. Penry Lewis, C.M.G. Ceylon civil servant, retired
Nevrang in collaboration with Lake House bookshop 1993
Colombo
1528. - September 13, 1808 - James Hollowell.
Lieut. James Hollowell, 2nd Ceylon, Regt.,
2nd Lieut. James Baillie's Regt. (3rd Ceylon), 13th Augt., 1805.
Lieutenant Hollowell belonged to Wexford. He had a son, James Hollowell, who was also in the 2nd Ceylon Regiment, 2nd Lieutenant 1811-17, and Commandant at Chilaw in 1818, and a brother (?) Lieutenant William Hollowell, 3rd Ceylon Regiment. Lieutenant James Hollowell, married at Galle, in 1811, Catherina Adriana Fybrandsz, who was born in 1787 and died December 13, 1858, at Jaffna. Their daughter, Amelia, married James Thomas Anderson, junior, son of James Thomas Anderson of Jaffna.
There were a lot of family connections between Swinhoe, Biddle, Anderson and the Day family in England. It at times does seem to go round in rather large circles. Have more info in anyone in interested. Been doing this for a number of years, although a lot more info is on the net now.
Have never joined T. A. Anderson or Sarah Hollowell, to any contemporary relative of theirs. Which is odd, because usually they turn up, on a census looking after the others children, getting educated in England. Or maybe as guardians of their children. Thomas Ajax died in 1824, aged 45, so probably born around 1779 in Scotland, which the poems suggest was his birth place. He was I would suggest quite a character, that's from reading the poem's. The other two books were, 'A wanderer in Ceylon' published 1819, and 'Leave of Absence' published in 1824.
Caroline Anderson married a Robert Swinhoe, 28-Feb-1828 in Calcutta.
There are some entries in the book by JP Lewis -Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon 1913, to suggest that your gggf Anderson may in some way be connected to Captain Thomas Ajax Anderson of the 19th Regiment in Ceylon 1798-1816.
The entry on page 71 says, "I met William Hall who still lives (in 1886) to recount the main incidents of British rule in Ceylon or the narratives of many who were connected with his family including the poetical Major Anderson".
138. William Hamilton Nicholetts Major,Bengal Army
William married Victoria Maria Anderson daughter of Thomas Ajax Anderson Major. Victoria was born in 1813 in Ceylon. She died in Sep 1881 in Hastings district,Sussex,England.
1. 1871 census, Hastings,Holy Trinity,Sussex,England
Victoria M. Nicholetts friend widow age 56 pensioner from military fund Ceylon
2. 1881 census, 44 Church Rd,Hastings,St.MaryMagdalen,Sussex,fol 82 p 17 FHL 1341243
Victoria M.Nicholetts boarder offs Pensions from Milt Fund widow age 68 Ceylon
3. free bmd, deaths, age 68
William and Victoria had the following children:
166 M i William Gilbert Nicholetts.
167 M ii Edwin Nicholetts.
+ 168 M iii Gilbert Alfred Nicholetts Late 68th Regt.
+ 169 M iv Captain Robert Charles Nicholetts H.M. Bengal Staff Corps
+ 170 M v Henry Samuel Nicholetts
171 M vi Arthur Melville Bunbury Nicholetts.
172 M vii Septimus Nicholetts.
173 M viii Richard Casement Nicholetts was christened on 5 Mar 1848 in Lucknow, West Bengal, India.
174 M ix John Brontrees Nicholetts.
from list of inscriptions
I met Mr. Wm. Hall, who still lives to recount the main incidents of British rule in Ceylon or the narratives of many who were connected with his family, including the poetical Major Anderson." ("Ceylon in 1837-46," p. 31.) This refers to Captain Thomas Ajax Anderson of the 19th Regiment, who was in Ceylon 1798-1816, the author of " Poems written chiefly in India," published in 1809 out of a poem called " The Wanderer in Ceylon," which was published in 1817, and of others contributed to the Government Gazette, which for twenty years or more had a " Poet's comer." In 1811 he was tried by court-martial for ( 1 ) " submitting to be told by his cormnanding officer that he had told a lie," and (2) for not having fulfilled his written promise to leave the regiment within a year of his departure for England on September 24, 1807. He was acqtutted
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Captain T. A. Anderson, in a note to his poem " The Wanderer in Ceylon," pubUshed in 1817, states that " The gallant Captain Hardinge of the St. Fiorenzo, who was killed in action with the French Frigate La Pied- montaise off Colombo, was buried there together with many officers of rank, such as General Doyle, Colonels Petrie, Bonnevaux, Barbut, Blair, Blakeney, Hunter, Hayter, &c., not to mention many distinguished Admirals and Generals in the earUer periods of the Colony, who did honour to their respective nations." Capt. Hardinge, a younger brother ot Lord Hardinge, was killed on 8th March, 1808, towards the end of a three days', engagement with the French frigate in the gulf of Mannar. (See Cotton, p. 45.)
There are the tombstones with inscriptions of Colonels Petrie and Barbut and of Major Blair still to be seen, but none of the rest. As Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter died at Trincomalee, Lieutenant-Colonel Hayter at Jaffna, and Lieutenant Blakeney perished in the Kandy massacre, it is curious that they should be interred in the Pettah. Captain Anderson describes the Pettah Burial Ground in the following verses in the same poem (Canto III.), and his note, quoted above, explains the allusions. There is no sign of any " Lusian" tomb in the place, i)ut it may have been originally used as a burial ground by the Portuguese : — That square with walls encompassed round Is the colonial burial ground. How many a restless plotting brain Its narrow limits now contain ! The mind which fixed upon this spot. Where human grandeur is forgot. With rev'rence views the silent scene, And ponders what each once has been ! Some Lusian warriors here may sleep. Who boldly plough'd the eastern deep. And undismay'd by perils bore The cross to many a pagan shore. By fierce, but erring zeal impell'd, Their daring course undaunted held ; How swift their empire rose and fell Let history's mournful records tell ! And here those Belgic chiefs repose. Who tore the laurel from their brows. Who cheok'd their rivals' proud career. And fix'd a rising empire here. Till conqu'ring Britain won the gem And fix'd it in her diadem ! Then pause, and in this sober hour, Behold the emptiness of pow'r ; How vanished all their regal state, No ready slaves around them wait. No sycophants are on the watch. Each motion, word, or look to catch ; Ah, no ! the fawning minions run To worship at the rising sun ! Within that vault's capacious breast Some patriot chief perhaps may rest. No crowds now listen to that voice That bade a sinking land rejoice ! Some beauty, proud of youthful grace, The kindest heart, the sweetest face, Whose thrilling glance bade all adore. Now hears the tender vow no more ! Perchance some bard, whose tuneful lyre Was richly fraught with heaven's own fire, How silent all its silver tones. The Ij^e its absent lord bemoans ! And some have cross'd the swelling wave, From poverty's cold grasp to save A parent or a drooping wife. And mingling in these scenes of strife, Indulg'd a hope, their little hoard Might comfort to their age afford ; Yet here, away from every friend, Those cherish'd dreams have found an end. Others, who at their covintry's beck. Have firmly trod the reeking deck. And 'mid the battle's purple tide Have on the eastern billow died ; Some to these distant shores who came In tented fields to purchase fam.e, Who proudly hop'd a name to raise, That bards might harp in future days ; But found, too late, these forests yield No glorious wreath, no hard-fought field ! Disease, the warrior's wily foe. Has laid their sanguine ardour low ; And with the coward, and the slave, They share one undistinguish'd grave ! From all their arduous labours free, The fathers of this colony Repose upon this spot of earth, Far from the land that gave ^nhem birth, And palsied is the head and hand That bravely fought or wisely plann'd ! These melancholy thoughts impart, A solace to a wounded heart. While every gleam of happier hue Steals like the rainbow from my view, This weed-grown monumental space Recalls that dear-lov'd youth's embrace, Who hail'd with me this distant realm, While hope and rapture rul'd the helm. Whose early spring tide, bright and clear, Gave promise of a fruitful year, It might have sooth'd his parting breath. If he had met a soldier's death. The meed of the distinguish' d few Who nobly bled at Waterloo ! But here the hapless youth, denied This guerdon of a warrior's pride, And on this unfrequented spot He died unhonor'd and forgot, Wither'd in manhood's opening prime, A martyr to a burning clime ! E'en he, a trifler 'mid the throng Who boast the melody of song, Who pom's this meditative lay O'er these forgotten mounds of clay. Pass but a few brief years and then He slumbers with his feUow men. And may perchance as widely claim Some slight memento of his name, May, far from his paternal halls. Repose within these very walls. And not a living soul retain The memory of his idle strain, Fled like a summer's morning haze. That vanishes e'en while we gaze. " The dear lov'd youth " may have been Lieutenant John Kerr of the 19th, who died at Colombo on January 17 1803 a brother officer of Captain Anderson's of the same standing ; or Lieutenant Saunders, or Lieutenant Nixon of the same regiment, who died in 1810 ; or Lieutenant John Winn, who died at Colombo the same year, and, I think was also of the 19th. The other three officers who died at Colombo between 1796, when the regiment arrived'in Ceylon, and 1812, when apparently Anderson wrote his poem, were officers of some service.
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Captain Anderson wrote some verses " On the Death of Major Blair," which are contained in bis book of " Poems written Chiefly in India," which he published in 1809. These verses are deseribed by him as " Written during a Time of Great Mortality from the Jungle Fever," and are as follows : — " Is not the tyrant weary yet ?
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Captain T. A. Anderson was one of the officers of the 19th who took part in this expedition, and his die^ry is printed at the end of some of the copies of his " Poems written Chiefly in India."
.........................................................Captain Anderson, who has been already quoted, tells, in his " Wanderer in Ceylon," the following tale of a lady buried in Wolvendaal Church, which he states is a " melancholy fact." It is impossible to identify her ; there is no inscription that suits. These
verses must be her only commemoration : —
..........................................................................
Adriana Gertruida Anderson
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On leaving Batticaloa on April 25, 1815, he was presented with an address signed by Captain T. A. Anderson, the Commandant, Lieutenants O'Shea of the 19th and James Bagnet of the 73rd (afterwards Collector), and Assistant Surgeon J. Scott.
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He was gazetted Major, vice Logan, September 5^ 1805, after his death. These lines were written by Lieutenant Thomas Ajax Anderson, 19th Regiment, and are included in "Poems written chiefly in India," published by him in 1809. (London, printed by the Philanthropic Society, St. George's Square, for J. Asperna, Cornhill.)
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nant T. A. Anderson, with the 19th Regiment, which formed part of Colonel Barbut's force from Trincomalee, passed Ma tale on February 18, 1803, he describes it as " a group of villages close to the road," the inhabitants of wliich" were not Candians but aU Moormen." Fort Macdowal had not yet been constructed, but he adds in a footnote to his diary that " here Fort MacDowall was afterwards thrown up for the protection of these villages." A detachment of the Malay Regiment was posted there under Lieutenant Driberg and Ensign Moses, and the fort having no doubt meanwhile been constructed. Captains Madge and Pearce, with 55 rank and file of the 19th Regiment marched from Kandy on April 15 to garrison it. By May 23, as we learn from the letter of that date from the " officer of the 19th Regiment " at Kandy to Lieutenant Ariderson, the detachment at Fort Macdowal had only eight men out of fifty fit for duty. Captain Pearce, it seems, had by May 31 returned to Kandy, for a letter from Quartermaster Brown written on that day mentions that he was HI, and Lieutenant Ormsby of the 51st, writing to Lieutenant Anderson on June 10,
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at Kandy to Lieutenant Ariderson, the detachment at Fort Macdowal had only eight men out of fifty fit for duty. Captain Pearce, it seems, had by May 31 returned to Kandy, for a letter from Quartermaster Brown written on that day mentions that he was HI, and Lieutenant Ormsby of the 51st, writing to Lieutenant Anderson on June 10, says : " Pearce is in great danger Madge at Fort Macdowall, I believe, is in as bad, if not worse, predicament than we are, as he has not a person in his garrison in health." ButPearce recovered and returned to Fort Macdowal, for he was one of the officers before whom Corporal Barnsley made, on June 27, his deposition as to the massacre of the Kandy garrison, the others being Captain Madge and Assistant Siu'geon Gillespie. On hearing of the fate of the garri^ion at Kandy, Captain Madge evacuated the Fort there, which had been besieged for three days, and succeeded in bringing off the other officers named, and Lieutenant Driberg, 13 men of the 19th Regiment, and 22 men of the Malay Regi- ment. " Nineteen sick Europeans he was obliged to leave behind him, having no means of transporting them." (Cordiner, vol. II., p. 215 ; Marshall, pp. 91, 105.) Ensign Moses appears to be the only officer buried at Fort Macdowal. Lieutenant Anderson owed his escape,. as we owe his " Poems " and his " Journal," to the fact that he left Kandy on March 20 in command of a detachment consisting of 12 convalescent Europeans and a guard of 30 Malays, for Trincomalee, which he reached on the 28th. * Extracts from these and other letters are appended, with Lieutenant Anderson's " Journal of the Proceedings of the Trincomale Detachment, commanded by Lieut. -Col. Barbut of His Majesty's 73rd Kegiment, from their leaving Triucomale, until their arrival at Candy," to some of the copies of Lieutenant Anderson's " Poems Written Chiefly in India," published in 1809, but copies of this book containing these appendices are very rare — in fact, I only know of one, now in the Colombo- Museum. The British Museum copy lacks them.
The officer of the 19th already quoted, writing his last letter to Lieutenant Anderson on May 23, eleven days after Carrington's death, says : " I have not much news to give you, except that our mortality and sickness is every day increasing; such is the melancholy state of our detachment, that out of two hundred and thirty-four men remaining out of those you left behind, there are not above five fit for duty, and even their services are required to attend those who are in the hospital. The number at present in the hospital is one hundred and twelve, mostly fevers, and fifty-six in barracks."
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Lieutenant Anderson wrote a poem in seven stanzas "To the Memory of the British Officers Massacred at Kandy," which is published in his " Poems written chiefly in India." The last verse but one runs :■ — " When parting at that fatal stream, Discolor'd now with gore, Ah little, little did I dream. That we should meet no more ! "
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Lieutenant Anderson wrote a poem in seven stanzas "To the Memory of the British Officers Massacred at Kandy," which is published in his " Poems written chiefly in India." The last verse but one runs :■ — " When parting at that fatal stream, Discolor'd now with gore, Ah little, little did I dream. That we should meet no more ! "
The Dutch family Kriekenbeek from Ceylon.
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