William MacLeod - General Merchant

[alansdad]

I am trying to trace William MacLeod who was General Merchant, trading MacLeod & Co in Coleman Street, London in 1841. He was registered bankrupt in 1842/3 and can find no further information on him from that point. I have a copy of a letter from his wife Ellen to Mountstuart Elphinstone dated 1850, which indicates that she is a widow but living in Chelsea at the time. William was born in Scotland and had 3 brothers, including the Rev. Alexander MacLeod of Uig, and spent a considerable part of his life working as a civil servant in Bombay, as a private secretary to Elphinstone. He returned to England and set up as a General merchant in partnership with a Lewis Houston and they had propert in Liverpool and London. I have searched for death records for William, however the only 2 that I can find in London are not this William. Anybody Help??

[Mutley]

Do you have a rough age or baptism or birth date for William?

[Mutley]

There is a family in the 1841 census in St. Mary Lambeth.
William Macleod born 1801 in Scotland and wife Ellen born 1806 in Foreign Parts.
Possible children,
Jessie 1826, John 1826, Donald 1827, Mary 1829, Murdock 1833, William 1837.

Are they yours?
HO1007/1054/4/2 (TNA Copyright)

[Mutley]

In 1851 Ellen is in Manor Grove, Chelsea with Murdoch. She is a widow, an annuitant (E.J.C.) born Bunestones on Sea!!! Murdoch was born in 1833 in Liverpool.

Mary Nixon was a visitor. HO107/1473/227/4

[Mutley]

For process of elimination, please could you tell us the references for the two William's deaths that you have found that are not your William.

I suppose you have checked out Mcleod, there are several of them in the time frame, for example, one in June 1845 in Chelsea.

[Keyboard86]

Just in case this is not one of the two in London you have discarded:-

William McLeod June 1845 Chelsea V3 page 34

Keyboard86

[Keyboard86]

Snap Mutley!!

Keyboard

[Kerrywood]

Just in case this is not one of the two in London you have discarded:-
William McLeod June 1845 Chelsea V3 page 34

According to Ancestry's London Burials database, this man was buried at Chelsea Hospital, 30 Apr 1845, aged 83.

From the same source, the one who died in St George Southwark in 1847 was buried 10 Dec 1847 at St Marylebone (from the Old Kent Road), aged 67.

The initials EIC against his widow's name in 1851 show that she was in receipt of a pension from the East India Company. Should you want to pursue that, the records are at the British Library (India Office).

[alansdad]

Thanks for all your posts, The William you found in the 1941 census is the correct family, and Ellen was receiving a pension from the EIC in 1850. The two McLeods in London are indeed the Chelsea one and the other was in Southwark as Kerrywood states and he too is too old to be my William. Any idea where Bunestones on sea might be??

[alansdad]

Hello,

Thanks for your post, I have some letters from the EIC between William and Mountstuart Elphinstone and will be visiting the British Library in the near future to see if I can find anything more from the India Office records, hopefully I will find more information there.
Thanks again