James Gunness

[Damormar]

My great, great grandmother was Mary Anne Fendall who was part Indian and born in Calcutta in 1830 She was married to Fredrick William Blume on April 25th 1848. She was the daughter of Mary Gunness (also part Indian) born 1813 and William Fendall born 1799 (he was a Major in the 4th Dragoons) they were married in DumDum Bengal India on the 7th Jan 1827. Mary Gunness was the daughter of James Gunness who was born in 1872 in Kilkenny Ireland - He joined the British Army in 1803 as a private in HM 67th Regiment and in 1805 was stationed at Fort William Calcutta In 1806 his first child James was born, then followed Mary 1813, Anne (illegitimate) 1816 who died in infancy and Richard 1817 - MY QUESTION - On all the children's birth, death and marriage certificates I have been able to find there is NO MENTION of their mother only mentions their father James. I assume she would have been Indian as the children are part Indian. I am about to go to India to see if I can find the mother (or mothers) of these children and any help I can get from anyone to assist my search would be greatly appreciated. Apologise for the length of the post but I needed to follow the family tree back. Lastly James was discharged from the 67th in 1824 with malaria in Poonah India at 41 years old and I have been unable to find any further records relating to him.

[Damormar]

Opps James senior was born in 1782 NOT 1872 sorry

[Lesley Robertson]

I have moved this thread to a more suitable forum, where experts in India genealogy might be found.

[helachau]

There's a military record on Find My Past. If you have seen, have you been able to "interpret" the entry "Landed at ..... 16 June 1824."?. Looks like "Gravesend" possibly?

[Damormar]

Thank you "helachau",

I will have a look but it seems unlikely as all his children were still in India as was their mother who he must have had some relationship with as he presumably had 4 children with her. There were several James Gunness's (Guinness) in the army at that time. Maybe as he had malaria he did return to the UK. It would be nice to find him but what I am really interested in is his Indian "wife/mistress" who gave him his 4 children. Now that is a real conundrum - I think the only hope I have is to go to the parish records in the Catholic Church system in India unless there is someone else out there who has also researched this and has the answers. If I find out anything more after my trip it will be posted here for all other descendants.

Thanks

Rob

[Lesley Robertson]

Are you familiar with the Families in British India Society? They have an excellent website HERE.

[Lesley Robertson]

Are you familiar with the Families in British India Society? They have an excellent website HERE.

[smj7290]

Lesley, you've posted it twice!

I must agree that the British India Society (BIS) are absolutely brilliant! Do check out Lesley's link.

[helachau]

If you check his military record have a look at his Period of Service. He has 191 days service as a Private from 1 January 1824 to 24 July 1824. His E. Indies service period is recorded as 22 April 1805 to 31 December 1823.

If still serving in India shouldn't the additional 191 days be reflected against the E. Indies service?

[Damormar]

Yes I have his military record and he was discharged from the army in 1824 at the age of 41 (he had malaria) but I can find no records of him after that time - I've checked as many of the Indian cemeteries from that age but to no avail however he did become a corporal for a period so that may explain the discrepancy in the number of days as a private - don't know just guessing. T%hanks for replying to my post