by Gordon Duffus

His will read as follows, a copy of it having been filled in Cape Town:

“I, John Sutherland, Lieutenant Colonel in the 2nd Regiment of Bombay Light Cavalry, do hereby make my last will and testament. I leave my landed property on the Knysna River in South Africa to my four sons, John, Robert, Eric and Alexander, share and share alike about 3 000 acres to each, Melkhout Kraal to John, Westford to Robert, Eastford to Eric and to Alexander, and I bequeath £1 000 Sterling to each in deposit in Government or other good securities in the Cape of Good Hope until each shall have attained his majority. The eldest, John Sutherland, M.A. to have the management of the landed property and money, and to be guardian of his brothers until each shall attain his majority.

I bequeath £2 000 to each of my three daughters, the interest for their support, the capital to remain in Government or other good security in the Cape Colony until each attains her majority – under the control and guardianship of their eldest brother. In the case of death of either sons or daughters before majority, their money or portions to be divided among the children, or the survivors of them, share and share alike.

I bequeath to Ushrut, mother of my children, the interest of £2 000 per annum and the capital to remain in Government or other good security in India or South Africa, where she may be residing, and on her death to be divided among the children or the survivors of them, share and share alike.

I bequeath to the poor of my native parish of Duffus, Morayshire, £200 to be divided among them by the Kirk Sessions.

The reminder of my property I bequeath to my brother Alexander Sutherland Esquire, near Elgin, Morayshire, to my sister, Mrs. Anderson, Elgin, and to my dear friends and benefactors, Dr. and Mrs. Coleridge of Rajpootana, share and share alike.”

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Although there was no longer the Colonel’s salary of £10 000 p.a. all seemed well. Then disaster struck! It was found that the Knysna properties had been mortgaged to a shipping fire in Cape Town (Thomas Watson and Co.) from whom the Colonel had borrowed money, doubt less on excellent security. Then two banks in India failed. The Colonel had money deposited in one and was shareholder of the other. Finally a foreign claim was made in India against the estate. By 1856 the Sutherland estate was declared insolvent.

by Gordon Douglas Duffus

The title "Lord of Duffus" began with Freskin de Moravia, the progenitor of the houses of Sutherland and Murray. Freskin, a soldier in the army of King David the Saint, marched in King's army when he put down the last rebellion of the men of Moray.

In 1705, Kenneth Sutherland succeeded to the title and lands of Duffus upon his father's death. The property, at this time, was either in the hands of Kenneth's brother James or was heavily mort- gaged to Dunbar of Thunderton. Revenue would be nonexistent or very slow in coming.

At the time of Kenneth's father's death, Kenneth was out of the country on "Crown business inthe West Indies." This circumstance necessitated an extension of the legal period "for entering asheir to the estate." Upon his eventual return to Scotland, Kenneth was allowed to assume the title Lord of Duffus.

In 1707, Kenneth took his seat in Parliament and cast his vote for "The Union." In 1708 he married Charlotta Christiana, the daughter of Eric de Sioblade, the Governor of Gottenburg. Due to the poor financial situation which he inherited, Kenneth was forced to seek employment in Queen Anne's navy, raising to the rank of Captain. On June 28, 1711, while on patrol in the West Indies, Kenneth encountered eight French privateers and the fight was on. After "a desperate struggle," during which Kenneth received "five bullets in his body," he was forced to surrender his forty-six gun frigate to the enemy.

In August of 1715, Kenneth was invited to a meeting by the Earl of Mar. The meeting was set for the forest of Braemar and among the invited guests were the Marquesses of Tullibardine and Huntly, George Keith, the Earls of Erroll, Kilsyth, the Lords Rollo, Drummond, and Ogilvy, General Hamiliton, Gordon of Auchintoul, Campbell of Glendaruel, Glenngarry, Lyon of Auchterhouse, and Auldbar. Mar choreographed the entertainment and concluded a general hunt with an empassioned speech in favor of a Rising for the House of Stuart. The lighted- hearted proceedings took a more serious turn when plans were formulated for each participant who then re- turned to their respective spheres of influence to put the plans into effect. Around this time, Kenneth's contemporaries described him as being "boastful and unstable."

Kenneth honored his Jacobite commitment when he and his kinsman, the Mackenzie Earl of Seaforth, marched into Tain at the head of five hundred Mackenzies, MacDonald's, and Chisholms. The Chevalier, St. George, was proclaimed as King James VIII at the mercat cross and Kenneth's future would now depend on the outcome of the rebellion

After the taking of Tain, Kenneth attempted to get the Lairds of Culloden and Kilravock to surrender their houses and arms to the rebels. Culloden and Kilravock held out and the attempt failed. Seaforth and Kenneth started to march their clansmen south to meet Mar and the Jacobite army at Perth but were delayed by the inclement weather.They did succeed, however, on being on time for the Battle of Sherriffmuir. During the confused fighting, Kenneth begged the Earl of Seaforth to allow him to lend their combined force to a charge. The command was never forth- coming and the Jacobite force, though not actually beaten, withdrew from the field. As they jour- neyed north the army began to dwindle away until there was nothing left. Mar had lost the one truly great opportunity to regain the throne for the Stuarts. The rebellion foundered and then collapsed completely.

The rebellions' leaders, being financially better off than the men under their command, left the clansmen behind and scattered throughout the kingdom in their respective bids for freedom. Kenneth ran north, passing his castle and estate at Skelbo and probably learned that his property had been seized by his feudal superior, the Earl of Sutherland, who was a staunch Hanoverian. Kenneth succeeded in reaching Caithness where he boarded a ship for Sweden and safety.While in Sweden Kenneth learned that the British Government was actively searching the continent for him. He gained an audience with the British minister in Stockholm and advised that he was return ing home to surrender himself within the terms of the Amnesty Agreement. While traveling to the channel ports, Kennth was seized and imprisoned on orders of the British resident at Hamburg. He was kept locked away until after the amnesty date had expired at which time he was sent, in chains, to the Tower of London. On the 4th of October, 1717, never having stood trial Kenneth was released from captivity.

Due to his naval experience, Kenneth was invited to Russia to perform the duties of a naval advisor to the Czar. He departed Scotland but returned in 1733, having less than one year to live. His return and the return of other Jacobite adherents raised a question to the legal status of the attainted noblemen. Lord Chancellor Hardwick addressed the problem: "To Lord Duffus and several others have only pardoned the pains of death execution and imprisonment of persons, and it is extremely doubtful whether any civil capacity could be restored."

Kenneth Sutherland, 3rd Sutherland Lord Duffus, died on March 30, 1734 devoid of his title, his lands, and any dreams he may have had for a Stuart restoration. His son, Eric, attempted to have the title bestowed on himself but met with opposition from the House of Lords. He used the the title anyway!

This is a verbatim copy of the advertisement as published:

Extensive Sale

OF

Landed Property

AT THE KNYSNA

In the Insolvent Estate of JOHN SUTHERLAND.

WILL BE SOLD ON THE SPOT

On Tuesday, the 9th of July, 1872,

AND IF NECESSARY, ON THE DAY FOLLOWINg

THAT VERY VALUABLE FARM

CALLED

"Melkhoutekraal,"

FORMERLY the Property of the late GEORGE REX, Esq, situate on

the banks of the RiverKnysna, adjoining the Town and Harbour

of Newhaven, acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful,

healthy, and romantic spots in the Colony, well provided with Water,

Wood, and excellent Pasturage throughout the year. On it is the

large Family Residence with necessary Outbuildings, Gardens, &c.

There are extensive Forests,-and, whether for pleasure or profit,

this is considered a most Valuable and Desirable Property. The Farm

(after deducting the Ground on which the Town of "Newhaven" is erected with its

Commonage) measures upwards of 1,000 morgen. There

are some old cultivated Lands (about 200 acres) in Fields of from 20 to 50

acres, divided from each other bt rows of Pear Trees, Quince and other

hedges, and are all irrigable by a Permanent Stream. These Grounds are

well adapted for OSTRICH FARMING, and could be easily enclosed

by Iron Wires or Spars.

The position of the Stream, and its power, admit of turning an over-

shot Wheel, and the water was used in former years for working a Thrash-

ing Machine and a Corn Mill.

The Trustee, in offering for Sale the remaining Erven in THE

TOWNSHIP OF NEWHAVEN, blocked and now forming 148 LOTS,

would particularly call attention to the fact that from the position and

capabilities of the Knysna Harbour, and the vast tracts of valuable Forest

in that District, and the opening up of New Roads to the Interior of the

Colony, the Town is destined before long to acquire considerable importance

as a place of Business, and that this is the last opportunity which will

present itself for the purchase of Erven in this locality.

---- ----- Sale Trustee

A series on Military Graves and Memorials:

Above article "The Military Chest", Volume 4, No. 4 - July / August 1985.

A CORNER OF SOME FOREIGN FIELD:

The Graves of the Sutherland Brothers in India (by Major Alan Harfield).

In this series I have dealt with military memorials and graves from a variety of countries which is only to be expected as officers and soldiers from the United Kingdom have served their country wherever the need arose. They served not only in the British Army but many joined the armies of the Honourable East India Company and served with distinction in India and the Settlements that came under the rule of the Company. Looking back over the series I note that I have, to date, only included two item dealing with soldiers who have been buried in India.

The sub-continent of India contains a vast number of graves, some in cemeteries in cantonments, some in remote locations where men fell in conflict, some in cemeteries adjacent to battlefields and there are, in addition, many isolated graves of officers and men who have died en route from one station to another, not always as a result of any action but more often than not as a result of fever. The cantonment cemeteries abound with gravestones and each one will have a story relating to the deceased person whose marker it is, and it is difficult to select just a few of the thousands who died in India and relate their story. The next three articles in the series will deal with people who departed from their home shores to serve in the vast continent fully expecting to return home, probably to a life of retirement, but who, after many years' service in India, died and are buried in that vast sub-continent.

The first of these accounts relates to two brothers from Scotland who became officers in the Honourable East India Company's Army and who died and were buried in India during the middle of the neneteenth century.

The elder of the two brothers, JOHN SUTHERLAND, was born in 1792, the son of ERIC SUTHERLAND, a farmer in Rosevalley, Duffus, Co Elgin, and his wife, JEAN Lawson. He was baptised at Duffus on 1January 1793. The SUTHERLAND family could trace their ancestry back to 1254 with connections to the Dukes of SUTHERLAND and Earls of DUFFUS.

JOHN SUTHERLAND began his military career on 21 March 1809, at the age of seventeen when he became an Ensign in the Elginshire Local Militia. In the following year he was appointed as a Cadet for Infantry in the East India Company and was posted to the Bombay Army on 26 May 1811. He joined the 4th Regiment, Bombay Native Infantry as an Ensign and he remained with the regiment and was promoted to the rank of lieutenany on 15 November 1815. It was in the following yeat that JOHN SUTHERLAND was loaned to the NIZAM of HYDERABAD to serve in his army.

Before continuing with the story of JOHN SUTHERLAND it is necessary to record, briefly, the background to the NIZAM's army which consisted of a regular establishment of cavalry and infantry. It was important to the East India Company that the Nizam's army be trained and maintained in an efficient manner and in 1811 it is recorded that the infantry section then consisted of six battalions each of 800 men. These were divided into two brigades and were commandered by a European officer, of the rank of Major. Each battalion had a European Captain Commandant and a European Adjutant.

At that time the resident at Hyderabad was HENRY RUSSELL who served as Resident from March 1811 to November 1820 and it was he who vigorously set about carrying out reforms in the Nizam's army. There was a degree of resentment at the reforms that were carried out among the sepoys and in November 1812 the "Muhammadan" sepoys of one of the infantry regiments stationed near the Rsidency mutinied and having captured their Commander, Major EDWARD GORDON, tied him to the muzzle of a gun and threatened to "blow him away". He was rescued by "loyal" troops and the ringleaders of the mutiny were caught and executed. At about the same time a similar mutiny broke out in the lines of another of the Nizam's regiments, this one under the command of Captain CLARK. This revolt, which was at Indur, was also brought under control but as a result of these mutinies the Resident was able to convince the Nizam's goverment that the army should be reorganised and permission was given for the raising of two battalions of regular infantry which were to be equipped and trained in the same manner as the Company's army. The two battalions that were formed became known as the Russell Brigade and subsequently retitled the 1st and 2nd Infantry, Hyderabad Contingent. When it was formed in March 1813 the two battalions each had an establishment of 954 officers and men of which only three were European officers. Just over two years later, on 20 August 1815. Captain HARE (the East India Register shows him as Lieutenant ANDREW HARE of the 7th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry) marched on the city of Hyderabad to quell an uprising created by one of the Nizam's sons. During the action in the city one European officer serving with the Russell Brigade was killed. He was Lieutenant WILLIAM JOHN DARBY of the 2nd Regiment Madras Native Infantry who had been loaned to the Nizam's army.

In 1846 RUSSELL carried out another reform and on thos occasion it was on the cavalry and this resulted in a general expansion of the whole force which by the end of reorganisation consisted of 56 European officers on loan from the HEIC; 6297 Indian cavalrymen and 7711 infantry and artillery soldiers. The general "superintendence and direction" was given to a Commandant and a small band of five officers, one of whom was to be the Staff Officer. Captain EVAN DAVIES of the 7th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry was appointed Commandant and the five officers, four of whom were to serve with each of the four risalas, or divisions were: Lieutenant HENRY BROWN SMITH, 8th Regiment Madras Cavalry; Cornet WALTER HAMILTON, 4th Regiment Madras Cavalry; Captain PHILLIP W. PEDLER, 9th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry; Lieutenant SAMUEL WILLIAM WELLS, 7th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry; Lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND, 4th Regiment Bombay Native Infantry.

On 11 July 1818 a troop under the command of lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND was ordered to move to Bir to guard that part of the state. SUTHERLAND had orders to move around the area of Bir so that it could be seen that troops were in the district. Whilst taking part in this excercise of "showing the flag" SUTHERLAND received information that a rebel, DHARMAJI PARTAB RAO, who had troubled the Nizam's goverment for years, was in the area and he immediately made plans to apprehend the rebel. SUTHERLAND's account of the ensueing action reads as follows: "I do myself the honour to inform you that DHURMAJEE (SUTHERLAND uses the alternative spelling of the name) and his brother are our prisoners. From intelligence received during the march on the night of the30th, I changed the directionfrom Dyton to Deeby, which place I reached a little after daybreak on the morning of the 31st, and surrounded it with a few men who had come up for some miles at a gallop; the place was afterwards closely invested, and two 30-feet ladders being ready by three o' clock, preparations were made for an escalade. Eighty mounted men were formed into eight parties, and so placed as tp prevent escape. Fifty matchlock-men were posted on a hill which overlooked the village to cover our advance, and the remaining I formed into two storming parties, one under 1st JEMADAR SHADEE KHAN, and the other under myself. On a signal given to the hill and repeated to SHADEE KHAN we advanced to the storm. The garrison threw open the gates to receive my party and stood to defend it sword in hand. SHADEE KHAN advanced with a coolness and determination which would have done credit to any troops, planted his ladder, and advanced through the body of the place to meet the other party. I was wounded at the gate and unable to advance, but not before we had made an example of the fellows who so gallantly defended it; the two parties, however, advanced and carried everything before them, drove the garrison from bastion to bastion, and at last came to yhe one where DHURMAJEE had taken post with a few men; they threw down their arms, and here DHURMAJEE and his brother were made prisoners. The Ghurrie (fort) is of considerable strength, and noted as a receptacle for thieves ans vagabonds; it is a square of 150 yards with eight bastions. The garrison were chiefly Bingaris (Banjaras), and fought with the utmost determination, neither giving up their arms nor taking quater, except DHURMAJEE and his party. Our loss is, therefore, I am sorry to say considerable...."

JOHN SUTHERLAND's account of the action shows the determination of the well trained Indian troops who were, in this instance, acting under the sole command of one young European officer. SUTHERLAND makes light of his wound but does include himself in the return of casualties that he submitted to the Resident. The casualty list for this short engagement was "Killed - one jemadar and eight horsemen. Wounded - one lieutenant and 22 horseman..." Lieutenant SUTHERLAND received an official "thanks" from the Resident and he was complimented on the "gallant conduct of the men under his command..."

By the end of the year 1818, SUTHERLAND was again getting ready to take to the field with the Nizam's army. A force consisting of the Russell Brigade (1780 officers and men, including 174 artillerymen); the Berar Infantry (1st Battalion flank companies, 116 men, 3rd Battalion, 886 men and an artillery section of 81 men) and the Reformed Horse (three risalas amounting to 2000 under Captain EVAN DAVIES) assembled at Umerkhed, which was between Nander and Hingoli, and about forty miles from the latter place. The Nizam's force were to effect the capture of two forts that were held by insurgents. The two forts were Nowah and Umerkhed and were defended by not only the insurgents but also by a large number of Arabs. The Nizam's force took up a position before the fort at Nowah on 8 January 1819. A battery was erected some 600 yards from the fort and it, and another battery, opened fire on 11 January and very soon silenced the enemy guns.

On the nightof the 13th, the enemy made a sortie but this was driven back and on the following night the 18-pounder battery with the Nizam's force advanced to wthin 250 yards of the fort.The next attempt to break out by the enemy came on the night of 19 January when, at about ten o' clock, a party of rebels led by the rebel chief HAWAJI attempted to surprise the camp from the rear. However, the sentries were alert and the picquets quickly turned out and after some shooting, the enemy retreated but were pursued by Lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND who was leading a part of Reformed Horse. Unfortunately in the dark the rebels were able to regain the safety of the fort. The final assault on the fort came on the 31st when at 2.00pm breaches were made in the walls and the infantry stormed the fort which, within the course of an hour, quickly fell into the hands of the Nizam's force. About two hundred of the enemy fled from the gate of the fort but were intercepted by a party of infantry commandered by Lieutenant I. CAMPBELL (Lieutenant IVIE CAMPBELL, 12th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry). As the enemy broke up into groups to escape, they were charged by Captains DAVIES and SMITH and lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND who were with three sparate detachments of the Reformed Horse. The enemy were all killed or captured but not without losses. The casualty figures for both sides were given as 439 enemy killed and 100 prisoners of whom 80 were wounded. Six European officers were wounded, 2 Indian officers killed and 10 wounded, 20 sepoys killed and 171 sepoys wounded. The officers listed as having been wounded were "Captains CURRIE, LARKIN and JOHNSTON, of the Nizam's Berar Infantry. Lieutenant KENESLY, of the 86th Regiment doing duty with the Russell Brigade, and Lieutenants JOHN SUTHERLAND and BURR, Reformed Horse..." Once again JOHN SUTHERLAND had been in the thick of the fighting and had received his second wound in action. The actual extent of his injuries are not recorded.

A year later JOHN SUTHERLAND was again in action. At the north-western end of the Nizam's territory, cavalry had been stationed in an attempt to restore order in that area which was used as a hunting ground by the notorious freebooter SHAIKH DALLA.

SHAICK DALLA had been one of the most enterprising of the Pindari leaders prior to the war of 1817 and when the bands of freebooters were broken up and dispersed, SHAIKH DALLA continued to lead the life of a robber and outlaw and frequently made attacks on the villages in the Hyderabad territory so that there was a constant need to have troops stationed in the north-west to meet this threat. In December 1820 a detachment of the Reformed Horse was stationed at Udgir. The force was 170 strong and under command of Lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND who had been sent into the area to bring about law and order. On arriving on 22 December, SUTHERLAND found that the local fort had been occupied and filled with armed men. SUTHERLAND sent a letter to the fort calling for a meeting but his letter was rejected. On the morning of the 24th he and his party were fired upon by a number of enemy skirmishers. SUTHERLAND again attempted to bring about a peaceful settlement but the enemy opened fire on his troops. The enemy were merely local outlaws who were probably supporters of the rebel leader SHAIKH DALLA but SUTHERLAND pressed on with his attack on the fort. He led a party of about a hundred horsemen and, by making a detour, was able to cut off the enemy skiemishers from returning into the fort.

Whilst this was happening, a party of matcklock-men came out of the fort to attack SUTHERLAND's party from the rear but as he had that time accomplished his attack on the skirmishers he turned his troops about and charged the matchlock-men.The enemy within the fort, seeing the charge, shut the gates leaving their own party outside to face SUTHERLAND's horsemen. With only a small force at his disposal, Lieutenant SUTHERLAND was unable to assault the fort and due to this the enemy evacuated the fort during the hours of darkness. Although many of the enemy escaped, Lieutenant SUTHERLAND visited other forts in the area and destroyed many so as to render them useless to the enemy and was able to bring some semblance of order into the district. For these activities Lieutenant SUTHERLAND was again "noted" in a letter by the REsident and was instructed to continue"as far as the means placed at his diposed would, allow, to reduce to subjection all persons within his reach who were not obedient to the Nizam's Goverment..."

Lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND moved to Bidar where he was given additional troops consisting of five companies of infantry and a 12-ponder gun and a howitzer, from Bolarum. On 10 January 1821 he moved his force to Kishnapur where the DESHMUKH TIRMAL RAO had refused to pay revenue dues to the goverment for the past three years and had also committed other crimes. On arrival at Kishnapur on the morning of 12 January. Lieutenant SUTHERLAND rode up to the gate and met the DESHMUKH. The DESHMUKH, feeling that he was unable to trust the cicilian officials of the Nizam's goverment, refused to surrender to SUTHERLAND and he and his supporters escaped from the fort during the hours of darkness.

The troops under command of Lieutenant SUTHERLAND then marched to Bhawanipeth to bring LACHMAN REDDI DESSAI and his followers to justice. The leader REDDI DESSAI surrendered himself to the Nizam's troops but his followers resisted for a while and then these, too, escaped from the local fort under the cover of darkness. The detachment continued to clear the district of rebels and on completion of that operation marched to Bolarum.

Mr HENRY RUSSELL relinquished the office of British Resident on 1 December 1820 and the post was then filled by Sir CHARLES METCALFE. RUSSELL had, during his nine years in office, brought the Nizam's army from an inefficient state to that of being a respected force that had proved itself to be capable in combat and well disciplined. It was about this time that Lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND married. The actual date is not clear. He was married by Moslem rites at the chief mosque at Bhuetpore to USHRUT HASSAINI, a Persian princess who had come to India in the entourage of SHAH HASAN ALI SHAH on a trade mission during 1818 or 1819. It is known that the marriage ceremony was witnessed by SIR CHARLES METCALFE and the young Rajah of Bhurtpore. A second ceremony took place, this was a Presbyterian ceremony and it would seem that the marriage between the Princess and the young Lieutenant was recognised by the Goverment of India as, later, when JOHN SUTHERLAND's will was processed it was in favour of his widow USHRUT HASSAINI BEGUM (known as BIBI). The date of the two ceremonies is therefore likely to be in December after SIR CHARLES METCALFE had taken over on 2 December and before 22 December which was the date that SUTHERLAND arrived at Udgir.

In December 1821, the Russell cavalry was broken up and the horses and equipment sold and the men allowed to serve for a short while as dismounted cavalry but after the set time had to either accept a discharge or be drafted into another Corps. At that time the headquaters of the Reformed Horse was established at Mominabad and Captain SMITH and "Captain SUTHERLAND" marched their risalas to the new station and during this reorganisation the two units were reduced to 700 men in each. It was in the 1821 edition of the East India Register that Lieutenant JOHN SUTHERLAND is shown for the first time as being in the "3rd Regiment, Light Cavalry" of the Bombay Army and the entry is annotated showing him as serving with the "Nizam's Horse".

The reorganisation of the Nizam's forces also allowed some of the European officers to be employed on civil duties and a report written by the Resident to the Goverment of India on 12 June 1823, on his return from a tour of inspection records: "There are manifest signs of improvement and increase in cultivation, the people are certainly less oppressed and more at their ease. The good undoubtedly done in this respect is in itself highly important, and were it even unaccompanied by an other benefit would be sufficient to warrant graet gratulation..." Sir CHARLES METCALFE was , in the report, referring to the use of his European military officers on civil administrative duties. His report singles out one officer, namely Captain SUTHERLAND, when he comments "I may mention the district in which Captain SUTHERLAND is stationed as corroborating the former part of this remark..."

JOHN SUTHERLAND was promoted to the rank of Captain on 1 May 1824 and continued to be held on the strength of the 3rd Regiment Bombay Light Cavalry but still in employment with the Nizam's army. In 1826 he was again in action and on this occasion he was present at the siege and capture of Bhurtpore. After the storming of the fort on 18 January 1826 by the forces under the command of LORD COMBERMERE, Captain JOHN SUTHERLAND was placed in command of the escort of the booty captured at the taking of the fortification. It was during the siege and the capture of the fort that Captain JOHN SUTHERLAND again received wounds whilst in action, but as before there are no specific details of the actual wounds that he sustained.

On 7 January 1828, information was received at Morminabad that Lieutenant STIRLING of the Cavalry, who had been employed on civil duties in the District of Gulbarga, had put himself at the head of his own cavalry escort and a party of the Nizam's troops had attempted to take Dandoti. It was during the action on 3 January that Lieutenant STIRLING had been killed. On receiving the news, Major JOHN SUTHERLAND (he had at this time been granted a local rank in the Nizam's army) marched to Dandoti arriving there on the evening of 11 January after completing the 135 miles with four forced marches. However, on arrival he discovered that the Arab garrison had already surrendered to his younger brother Captain ERIC SUTHERLAND who was also serving with the Nizam's army. This was probably the last time that JOHN SUTHERLAND saw active service with troops as after this he became more and more involved in the administration of the state. He was promoted to the rank of Major in the Bombay Army on 12 October 1835 and in 1837 he was appointed Resident at Gwalior. In the following year, on 28 February, he was made Lieutenant-Colonel and continued to serve in his post as Resident. Although remaining in the post of Resident at Gwalior he is shown in the East India Register for 1841 as serving in the 2nd Regiment Bombay Light Cavalry. In 1843 he proceeded on furlough and sailed to the Cape of Good Hope where he spent three years during which time he compiled, for the Cape Goverment, a document entitled "Memoir on the Kaffirs, Hottentots and Bosjimans of South Africa". The report was published in 1847.

On his return to India he was appointed Agent to the Govenor-General of Rajpootana and he was still serving in this post when he died at Bhurtpore on 24 June 1848. The obituary, published in the Eastern Star on 8 July 1848, records that he was "in the enjoyment of perfect health, as we are led to believe, he rode out on the morning of the 23 June to a village in the neighbourhood, and it seems did not return till about 9 o' clock when the sun was shining with great power. In the course of the afternoon apoplexy supervened, and despite all the attention paid him, terminated fatally nextmorning..." The entry in the East India Register for 1849 in the casualty section reads: "Unit, Cav. Name, Lt Col JOHN SUTHERLAND. Date of death, 24 June 1848. Place, Bhurtpore." The Eastern Star obituary records that "the remains of Colonel SUTHERLAND were conveyed to Agra, where the immense concourse attending the funeral testified to the esteem in which the deceased had been held..." He was, of course, buried at Agra but a statue was erected to his memory in the Jullundar Gardens at Ajmere as a tribute to this officer who had financed the building of a Hospital Medical College and Dispensary at Ajmere during his lifetime.

Obituaries appeared in other India papers including the Friends of India on 13 July 1848 in which he was shown to be holding the appointments of "Agent, Governor-General in Rajpootana, and Commissioner of Ajmere" at the time of his demise and in addition to his military and civil duties he is shown as having been the author, in 1833, of the work Sketches of the Relations subsisting between the British Goverment in India and the different Native States. The report in the Mofussilite published on 30 June 1848 actually gives details of the funeral service and records that "eleven guns were fired from the saluting battery and the 34th N.I. with three rounds of blank ammunition closed the ceremony..." Other reports appeared in the leading newspapers The Delhi Gazette and the Bombay Times.

His younger brother who was also serving in the Nizam's army had pre-deceased JOHN by just over two years. ERIC SUTHERLAND was the third son of ERIC and JEAN SUTHERLAND and was born at Rosevalley on 1 May 1798. He was appointed a Cadet for Infantry in 1817 and was admitted on 17 October 1818. He was appointed Ensign on 5 October 1818 and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 23 July 1819 and posted to 2nd / 13th Regiment of the Bengal Native Infantry. As a result of reorganisation he was transferred to the 27th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry in May 1824 although by this time he had been seconded for service with the Nizam's army. He joined the Nizam's force from 27 March 1821 and continued to serve in that army until his death. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 24 September 1826 and in January 1828 was in command of the Nizam's troops at the siege and capture of Dandoti. Although his elder brother arrived with reinforcements, ERIC had already succeeded in forcing the Arabs in the fort at Dandoti to surrender.

At the end of the following year, on 31 December 1829, he proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope on furlough on a sick certificate and remained there until rejoining for service on 10 January 1831.

He was appointed to the command of the 1st Regiment of the Nizam's cavalry in 1832, a post he held until 1837. He was promoted to the rank of Major on 8 October 1839, and on 30 January 1840 he, like his elder brother JOHN, moved to the civil administration and became Resident at Hyderabad, a post he held until his death in 1846. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in January 1846 but in the following month died on 27 February at Hyderabad. He was buried at Hyderabad in the Residency Cemetary. ERIC died unmarried and when his will, dated 20 April 1838, was proved on 5 June 1846, it is recorded that he left "400 guineas to poor householders of his Native parish, the Kirk Session of Duffus."

The two brothers having left their native Scotland were destined never to return and both achieved fame for their gallant military service in India and both contributed much to the civil administration of the turbulent lands of the Nizam of Hyderabad in whose service they gave many years of their lives.

Their is far more documentary evidence concerning the service of Lieutenant-Colonel JOHN SUTHERLAND and he receives many mentions in the book The Life & Correspondence of Charles, Lord Metcalfe, late Govenor General of India, Govenor of Jamaica & Govenor General of Canada by John William Kaye.

JOHN SUTHERLAND served in India thirty-eight years and his brother, ERIC, twenty-seven years but both eventually fell victim to the climate and died before they could retire and return to their native Scotland. They are, I believe, typical of many such officers who served their country and India and who eventually died and remained in a foreign field.

References:

History of the Hyderabad Contingent by Major R.G. Burton, Calcutta, 1905.

The Hodsen Index, National Army Museum.

East India Registers 1810 to 1849.

Miscellaneous newspaper reports.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to extend my appreciation to Mrs DENISE COELHO, great-granddaughter of Colonel JOHN SUTHERLAND, who first brought to my notice the careers of these two officers and for allowing me to have access to the information that she assembled for the writing of the history of the SUTHERLAND family.

Gaelic Names: Suithearlarach (Singular) & Na Suithearlaraichean (Collective)
Motto: "Sans Peur" (French for "Without Fear")
Slogan: "Ceann na Drochaide Bige!" (Gaelic for "The Head of the Little Bridge!")
Pipe Music: "The Earl of Sutherland's March"
Crest: A cat-a-mountain saliant Proper
Supporters: Two savages wreathed head and middle with laurel, holding batons in their hands proper.
Plant Badge: Butcher's Broom, Cotton Sedge
Animal Symbol: Cat
Arms (Earl of Sutherland as recorded for the fifteenth Earl, 1719):
Shield: Gules, three mullets Or, on a bordure of the second a double tressure flory counterflory of the first.
Septs: Cheyne, Chiene, Clyne, Duffes, Duffus, Federith, Gray, Grey, Keith, Mouat, Mowat(t), Murray, Norman, Oliphant, O'May
Allied Clans: Gordon, Murray, Oliphant

The Earldom of Sutherland is claimed to be the oldest in Britain...

Edited to SUTHERLAND content.

The SUTHERLANDS

Although Mrs. Williams and I decided to end the SUTHERLAND saga with Newsletter No. 35, I felt I should add these extra jottings gleaned from my recent research overseas.

Firstly, quoting from his granddaughter, MARY CUNNINGHAM MOORAT'S book, "ALFRED and ELIZA STARK", the Colonel's journal from which we quoted in Newsletter no.33 was burnt when the Colonel's tent was accidentally destroyed by fire in Graaff Reinet and salvaged by Miss NEALE - how lucky for us!

In his will lodged at Fort William, India, he left Melkhoutkraal to JOHN, Westford to ROBERT, Eastford to ERICK and ALEXANDER, plus 1000 pounds each; 2000 pounds to each of his daughters and to the mother of his children USHRUT, the interest of 2000 pounds p.a. and on her death the capital to be divided among his children. We know of course there was no capital to divide.

ELIZA SUTHERLAND, his daughter, born 24 April 1840, who had married ALFRED STARKE both worked devotedly for the C.M.S. in India and described by her daughter MARY MOORAT as one of "the saints of God on earth". ELIZA died on 13/7/1917 aged 77 after working on various missions stations in Soutalia and Calcutta. She is buried in the Lower Circular Rd. Cemetry, Calcutta together with 3 of her sons and her daughter, ROSALIE.

On a family tree produced by a member of the SUTHERLANDS, ERIC, son of the Colonel, is given as having attained a B.A. degree, but the archives of Edinburgh university list ROBERT and ERIC as only matriculants or students for one year and that in 1846,the year prior to their return to Knysna. JOHN, the elder son, obtained hid M.A. in 1841 from King's College and University, Aberdeen.

I had the opportunity to visit the grave of the Colonel's parents on which his name is added to their stone. The cemetry is alongside the roofless church of St. Patrick's, marked as an ancient monument, situated just to the right of the entrance to Gordonstoun school. The stone is placed on a wall in an enclosure and, sadly, the other stones are too worn to decipher the names. I also discovered his parents of the parish of Duffus were married on 23/9/1790 at Old Mills of the parish of Duffus, and there is no mention of him being a widower or having married ANN, daughter of BRODIE of BRODIE as appears on a family tree drawn up by another descendant. BRODIE of castle Brodie also confirmed this.

Written by MARGARET PARKES.

(Mrs. PAEKES recently received a missing page from The Bombay Times andJournal of Commerce of July 12, 1848, on which the second half of the Colonel's obituary appeared. "Like many of our most eminent men in India," states the writer, "he rejoiced in the excitement of field sports; when engaged in hog-hunting some years since, he lost his cap, and, in galloping on without it, received a stroke of the sun, from which he never recovered." Well, he obviously did recover but it seems that his health was badly affected from then on and that this was the reason for his coming on two years sick leave to the Cape. Was it then a second attach of sunstroke which led to his demise when out riding with his friend the MAHARAJAH of BHURTPORE? One wonders whether or not it was a heart attach and that "sunstroke" was perhaps a term used to explain sudden death where a doctor was not present and burial in the hot climate was pressing.)

Dear Members,

The Municipality has officialy taken over the running of Millwood House and Mrs. Blackstock, the new Curatrix, appointed. We are fortunate in their choice. Mrs. Blackstock is interested, concerned and already deeply involved in the future of the Museum. We wish her a rewarding time in office and the assurance of our support, and any assistance she may need.

D. Burger

CHAIRMAN

In this newsletter we are bringing to a close the account of the coming to Knysna of the SUTHERLAND family and of the people who were most closely associated with them. In a small community a sudden increase in population makes an enormous impact witha ripple effect which extends down the generations. This is what the effects of the SUTHERLAND "invasion" can be said to have caused here.

ROBERT and ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, the Colonel's second and youngest sons however, did not play a significant role in the annals of Knysna. ROBERT, ERIC and ALEXANDER had returned to Scotland to complete their education on the departure of the family from their brief introduction to their new property in Knysna at the end of September 1845. After a little over two years ROBERT and ERIC (ALEXANDER having died, were back again having travelled out to the Cape on the Scotia witha band of immigrants, arriving on 11 March 1848. THOMAS HENRY DUTHIE wrote in his diary of 29 March: "...ROBERT SUTHERLAND came up with his emigrants - a funny set - strange scenes with the SUTHERLAND party..." after seeing them in George on their way to Knysna. ROBERT remained in the district farming at Westford for some time and is mentioned several times in the DUTHIE diary, somewhat indignantly on Sunday 18 November 1848: "In consequence of some of ROBERT SUTHERLAND'S people taking away the boat Mr. ANDREWS (the Rev. Dr. ANDREWS the vicar of the district) could not get over and obligrd to remain with us the night." After this ROBERT disapperas from view.

ERIC SUTHERLAND

ERIC was perhaps most of all the family associated most closely with Knysna. All his children were born here and he formed many a close tie with the local community. He was born in Delhi in 1827 and was twenty-one years old when came to Knysna for the second time with his brother ROBERT and the immigrants. He settled on the farm Eastford across the Salt river which was soon referred to as "ERIC SUTHERLAND'S place" and the wooded parts as "ERIC SUTHERLAND"S Bush". On 27 August 1853 he married CAROLINE RICE, spinster, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Dr. ANDREWS with THOMAS HORN and DAVID PEARCE as witnesses. They had a large family (as was usual in those days), of twelve children and judging by his designation on the baptismal certificates of those of his children born before 1860, as "gentleman", he did not appear to have had any employment in particular. But he did act as Poundmaster at Melkhoutkraal from 1858 - 1862, succeeding JACOB REX who had held the post for the previous few years. In 1858 he had been declared insolvent; his brother JOHN had already left Knysna for Queenstown (Melkhoutkraal being let to THOMAS BAIN while he was constructing the Causeway); and the SUTHERLAND fortune had evaporated.

ERIC "soldiered on" in Knysna and like his brother JOHN, became involved in public affairs. But there the resemblance ended, so much so that he was often thought to be JOHN'S half-brother though there are no records available to prove this. He was described as an Eurasian, a dreamer and a "poet". In 1859 - 1860 he was one of the Churchwardens at the newly-completed St. George's Church and became the Hon. Secretary of the Immigration Board and a committee member of the Reading Society. The Reading Society was the forerunner of the Knysna Public Library for which meetings were held in the Reading Room, a wooden building built of yellowwood planks and witha thatched roof next door to the new schoolhouse in the main street (situated on the corner of the present Main road and Long street) which was at that time called Church street. It was removed, sadly, to make way for St. George's Flats. The first meeting in the Reading Room was held on 6 August 1858, and ERIC served on the committee for three years. During this time he taught for a while being the first teacher to use the new schoolhouse. He succeeded Mr.W.F. HOMER (one of the witnesses at the baptism of his fourth child) who was the last teacher in the old schoolhouse (the present Art Centre), and was succeeded in turn in 1860 by Mr. J. GIBB. Reputed to be able to recite long passages from Shakespeare by heart, ERIC could at least familiarise his pupils painlessly with some of the works of the Bard!

From 1861 he became for many years one of the law and general Agents enrolled at the Magistrate's Court and was appointed a Sworn Appraiser of the Supreme Court in 1874 and 1875. In the usual manner for the times he advertised his services in the Mossel Bay Advertiser, a typical entry of 24 June 1874 reading: ERIC SUTHERLAND, Law and General Agent , Sworn Appraiser to the Master of the Supreme Court, Market Master. Knysna.

The Eastford estate, about 2,600 acres in extent, had been put up for auction in the Colonel's insolvent estate in August 1868. It was bought by the Anglican Church as a parish endowment for the sum of 755 pounds. The original cottage, at one time occupied by JACK REX, is now owned by the RYAN family.

Apart from applying for legal licences and game licences for various clients to shoot buffalo, etc. his work as Agent included applying for marriage licences too. One such was in 1864 for HENRY MORGAN, bachelor, and CLARA ANNE MORROW, widow, "both residing in the village of Knysna in the District." This licence issued for 5 pounds, will be of interest to his descendants, and was obtained by ERIC as were all the licences, from the Office of the Colonial Secretary.

But in 1867 ERIC was still living at Eastford when on 23 January the launching of the 34 ton schooner Annie Benn took place at the Salt river mouth "on the property of Mr. ERIC SUTHERLAND." The vessel was built by JOHN BENN 1, progenitor of the famous BENN family of Knysna Pilots. JOHN BENN named the little schooner after his daughter , ANNIE, and it was built on the site of the launching. ERIC made one of the "key" speeches on what turned out to be a very well-attented occasion so much enjoyed by all present that the turning of the tide passed unnoticed and when the dogshores were hurriedly removed, the Annie Benn, instead of gliding smoothly into the water, got stuck halfway and had to be floated off later, but it was such a happy gathering that no-one was dismayed being buoyed up with optimism that this was to herald the revival of boat-building at the Knysna brining in its train prosperity to the little community.

ERIC SUTHERLAND finally left Knysna in November 1874 and settled in Uniondale. Here he started a General Agency business for himself. He was elected a churchwarden there together with one WILLIAM DUDLEY, on Easter Sunday 1875, and remained in Uniondale until his death on 22 September 1875, at the early age of 52 years after a "short but painful sickbed", leaving a grieving widow and twelve children.

Church Register of Baptisms.

Baptised 4/5/1851 ERIC, son of ERIC SUTHERLAND and CAROLINE RICE of Eastford. Occupation, Gentleman. Witnesses: THOMAS HORN , ANNE HORN.

Baptised 13/11/1853 ALICE, born 26/9/1852 daughter of ERIC and CAROLINE (Gentleman) of Eastford. Witnesses: JOHN REX, ELIZA WENTWORTH, AGNES DALGAIRNS.

Baptised 10/9/1854 ALEXANDER, born 14/4/1854 son of ERIC and CAROLINE SUTHERLAND of Eastford. Witnesses: Wm. ANDREWS, ERIC SUTHERLAND, ANNE HORN.

Baptised 7/9/1856 GODFREY born 10/7/1856 son of ERIC and CAROLINE, Gentleman of Eastford. Witnesses: FREDERICK HOMER, ERIC SUTHERLAND, MARY SUTHERLAND.

Baptised 25/4/1858 ALFRED born 21/3/1858 son of ERIC and CAROLINE of Eastford. Witnesses: Wm. ANDREWS, ERIC SUTHERLAND, ELIZA STARK.

Baptised 18/8/1860 FRANCIS born 14/4/1860. (Sic)

Baptised 31/7/1863 ARTHUR born 18/6/1863 son of ERIC and CAROLINE SUTHERLAND, Agent.

Baptised 6/10/1865 ELIZA CATHERINE born 12/9/1865 daughter of ERIC and CAROLINE Agent. Witnesses: HARRIET FICHAT, Magd. DALGAIRNS, ALICE SUTHERLAND.

Baptised 4/12/1867 MARY AMELIA born 19/10/1867 of ERIC and CAROLINE. Agent. Witnesses: Wm. BREACH, AMELIA WEST, JESSIE REX.

Baptised 25/6/1869 ROBERT HENRY born 14/5/1869 of ERIC and CAROLINE SUTHERLAND. Agent, Knysna. Witnesses: JOHN BLAKE, JOHN EEDES.

Baptised 3/3/1871 CAROLINE WEST born 22/12/1870 of ERIC and CAROLINE. Agent, Knysna. Witnesses: ALICE and ELLEN HARE, ARTHUR BLAKE.

Baptised 3/10/1872 JOHN born 9/8/1872 of CAROLINE and ERIC, Agent of Knysna. Witnesses: Wm. LLOYD, Wm. BREACH, J. METELERKAMP.

Among the names ot the witnesses to these baptisms there are many of those men and women who played a role in the shaping of the social history of Knysna.

And what of the three little sisters, AMELIA, MARY and ELIZA SUTHERLAND? They were born in Central India, according to a descendant, and spent about ten years at the Knysna taught by Mrs. WENTWORTH and her sister, Miss MAGDALENE DALGAIRNS. They left Knysna for India on 1 December 1856 and landed at Calcutta on 12 March 1857. Here ELIZA was to meet and marry ALFRED STARK of the C.M.S. (Church Missionary Society). The couple were engaged in missionary work in India and managed to raise twelve of their sixteen children there. They were deeply respected and loved and proud that their surviving children all "did well" in their lives.

MARY SUTHERLAND married a sea captain named FOOKS, who died and left her sufficient money to set up a Home for the unwanted children of British soldiers and tea planters in the tiny village of Toong, 5000ft. up on the Darjeeling-Himalaya railway. Her two sisters and nieces and nephews frequently visited her there to escape the heat of the plains and because they were a very united family. The third sister AMELIA or "MINNIE", as she was known, also married and remained in India, but not very much is known about her.

The WENTWORTHS and DALGAIRNS.

So much for the SUTHERLAND family, and now to go on to the fortunes of Mrs. Eliza Wentworth and her two sisters AGNES and MAGDALENE (sometimes called MARTHA) DALGAIRNS who came from England to this country as 1820 Settlers. Their father, CHARLES DALGAIRNS, a widower, led a party under Mr DW CLARKE, of 33 British Settlers leaving London in 1819 on the 547 ton NORTHAMPTON. They arrived in Algoa Bay on 30 April 1820. The three daughters were then about 15, 13 and 12 years old (according to the dates of their birth - but are often described as being 13, 11 and 8 years old at that time). The eldest of the three, AGNES, the "MISS DALGAIRNS" of SOPHIA PIGOT'S diary was the most friendly with SOPHIA, though on the voyage out from England there was daily and intimate contact between all the members of the PIGOT and DALGAIRNS families. The friendship continued for many years. In 1824 SOPHIA PIGOT married DONALD MOODIE and after several years in Grahamstown settled in Graaff-Rienet for a while in 1833. Here they met up with CHARLES DALGAIRNS and his daughters who were living there "very precariously".

CHARLES DALGAIRNS was dogged by ill-luck and misfortune and had gone "from Blaaukrantz to Somerset farm, then to a grant of land on the Kariega river (now Moneysworth) where he built a rough hut. Selling this, he moved to Uitenhage, where ELIZA (now 22 years old) became the second wife of the local District Surgeon, Dr CHARLES AUGUSTUS WENTWORTH. She bore him two daughters and soon afterwards was widowed.

CHARLES DALGAIRNS owned the farm "Sandkraal" and even here he was unfortunate as the water supplied by springs on the farm flowed the wrong way, ie, away from the property towards the town. The local authorities of Uitenhage in fact, bought the property from him but at a price he felt was far below its proper value. Soon afterwards he left Uitenhage and died eventually at the end of his wanderings in Graaff Rienet in 1835. CHARLES DALGAIRNS nevertheless had a claim to fame having been one of the moving spirits in the switch to the breeding of merinoes from Cape sheep.

ELIZA DALGAIRNS was not fortunate in her marriage to Dr WENTWORTH. He was from all accounts a volatile man, extravagant and attractive to women. He was accused by his friend GEORGE BIRD in a letter dd. 28 January 1819 before he came out to the Cape while he was completing his medical training in London of being spendthrift and indiscreet and "extravagant in your cloathes (sic)" and by his brother of "lacking resolution". His brother was hurt by his leaving England without letting him know, and by not giving him the name of the ship on which he sailed. In fact, Dr CHARLES AUGUSTUS WENTWORTH saled out to the Cape on the Settler ship Duke of Marlborough leaving Portsmouth in 1820.

By 5 November 1821 he was married, aged 25, to MARY ANN LEWIS WERNICH, aged 17, from Ireland, in the Dutch Reformed Church, Cape Town. He set up his practice in Wynberg - "a very depressed area" - and practiced there for about six years. He became a member of the Litarary Association of Cape Towm in 1824 and two years later on 12 January was appointed Medical Attendant to Govenor Lord CHARLES SOMERSET'S household in place of the enigmatic Dr JAMES BARRY who had resigned. His relationship with the SOMERSET'S did not last long however, as the Governor and his family sailed for England on 5 March 1826. He resigned this post soon afterwards an May and by October of that year his debts had caught up with him and he was served with a Note of Sequestration. Soon he was declared insolvent. Difficult months followed, and in December 1827 he was thankful to accept the situation of District Surgeon in Uitenhage. He brought his wife and three young daughters to the little town and soon became part of the community. Here he met the DALGAIRNS family. He divorced his wife MARY ANNE in November 1830 and after a very short interval, married ELIZA DALGAIRNS on 15 January 1831 at the English Church, Port Elizabeth.

That Dr WENTWORTH acted "the man about town" though without the resources for such a role is evidenced by his having to sign a promisory note in 1832 for his and his father in law, CHARLES DALGAIRNS'S subscriptions to the local Turf Club. He was nevertheless appointed a Steward of the Uitenhage Turf Club in 1833, the following year. But his candle was burning low and was soon to burn out when on 5 February 1834 to everyone's horror, he blew his brains out, leaving his widow ELIZA and his five children penniless. ELIZA'S two little girls CATHERINE CHARLOTTE (KITTY) and JESSIE, were under three years of age, and his three daughters from his first marriage, ANN OLIVIA, FRANCES and CHARLOTTE born in 1823, 1826 and 1827 were old enough to be conscious of the tradedy.

The Resident Magistrate, Mr H HUDSON, of Uitenhage, in reporting the "melancholy death of our District Surgeon" to the Acting Secretary to Goverment, wrote: "This part of the Country has sustained a great loss, he was a man of the first rate abilities, skilful and possessing the Confidence of the public, and I regret to say he has left a wife and five children entirely destitute." An inventory of movable property in the late Docter's estate was drawn up and signed by the widow ELIZA and by J BREHM, the Curators Dative, and some of the items, mostly fairly trivial, were marked "claimed by MISS A. DALGAIRNS" which indicates that ELIZA'S sister AGNES must have been with her at that time. They presumably left Uitenhage soon afterwards and joined their father in Graaff - Rienet. It is supposed that it was then that Colonel SUTHERLAND met the family and invited them to come to Knysna and teach the little SUTHERLAND'S and COLERIDGES whom he proposed to settle at Melkhoutkraal.

And so they all arrived in 1845, two maiden ladies, the Misses AGNES and MAGDALENE DALGAIRNS, Mrs WENTWORTH and five girls - the three nubile stepdaughters, ANN, FANNY and CHARLOTTE - and her own two rather younger daughters, KITTY and JESSIE. They were ensconced near Melkhoutkraal in a house called "Mount Vernon". Although her life was not a bed of roses, ELIZA WENTWORTH and her sisters settled in tolerably well in their new environment and lived out their lives in peace. ELIZA and MAGDALENE were the teachers and AGNES was postmistress until she died on 10 October 1867, aged 62. She was succeeded by Miss NEALE, Mrs's COLERIDGE'S sister. THOMAS HENRY DUTHIE was in the habit of drinking tea at Mount Vernon very frequently and was obviously fond of the DALGAIRNS ladies and ELIZA WENTWORTH, as he was of Miss NEALE too. All the English gentlewoman who had seen better days. An indignant entry in his diary dated 11 February 1849 reads "Called on poor Mrs WENTWORTH and sat an hour with them. They are much to be pitied for SUTHERLAND'S shocking treatment."

FRANCES AUGUSTA WENTWORTH, ("FANNY"), one of ELIZA'S step-daughters, was married to JACOB GOVERT REX on 1 November 1849. She was given away at Mrs WENTWORTH'S request, by THOMAS HENRY DUTHIE. "...all astir and getting ready for the fatal event", he wrote in his diary (in his enthusiasm he can be excused for writing the ominous-sounding "fatal" instead of what he really meant to say - ie "fatefull"! - started about 9 o' clock with a full packed wagon & several outriders to Mrs WENTWOTH'S where I had to receive the Bride.....- proceeded to the School House & reached just in time. - the Ceremony performed in a beautiful manner by the Bishop - happiness to JACOB & his nice little wife." (It will be rembererd that the School House had been "licenced" to be able to be used for marriages until the Church was completed). The bride was 23 and JACOB was 44 years of age. They made their home at Woodbourne where JACOB was farming. The long low cottage with a view past its oak tree over the Woodbourne vlei, the haunt of a large variety of water birds, can still be seen today. "JACOB built the original old cottage with its door only 5 ft. 8ins. high, which the DUTHIE family, all tall, referred to as having been built for "the littlke REXES". FANNY, "being of Scottishdescent, named "Woodbourne" after the little indigenous forest stretching up the valley east of the homestead, and the rivulet running through it."

ELIZA WENTWORTH died on 27 January 1882 at the age of 75 at Hunter's Home, proberbly at the home of her younger daughter JESSIE, who married GEORGE REX junior and settled there on the portion of his father's estate left to him, and named "Hunter's Home" by him. JESSIE'S elder sister KITTY married Dr JOSEPH J MUSKETT who practiced in Knysna for a while, leaving in 1879.

In the next generation the SUTHERLAND'S, REXES and WENTWORTHS were all united when JACOB and FANNY REX'S son JACOB HENRY SEWELL REX married ERIC SUTHERLAND'S daughter MARY AMELIA on 11 March 1886. They had six children.

ELIZA WENTWORTH and her sister AGNES lie side by side in St. George's churchyard (behind the little original church). The third sister, Miss MAGDALENE WENTWORTH, outlived both her sisters.

Notes:

1. Grill, J.W. (trans) J.F. Victorin's travels in the Cape, 1853 - 1855. Cape Town, 1968. pp 67, 83.

2. Reminiscences of Georgina Lister. Johannesburg, 1850, p.3.

3. State Archives, Cape Town. C.O. 4136

4. George Advertiser. 31.1.1867

5. Mossel Bay Advertiser. 8.1.1879

6. Metelerkamp, Sanni. George Rex of Knysna.

7. Rainier, Margaret. The journals of Sophia Pigot. 1819 - 1821. Cape Town, 1974

8. Ibid. p. 108

9. Butler, Guy ed. The 1820 Settlers. An illustrated commentary, Cape Town 1974, p.217

10. Rex family papers. In: S.A. Library. Box 2, Folder 22, Item 187

11. Ibid. Item 188

12. Morse, Jones, E. Roll of the British Settlers in S.A. Cape Town, 1971. pp.73, 167

13. Goverment Gazette. GN 12/1 13.1.1826

14. Crail Cards. In: S.A. Library

15. Ibid

16. State Archives Service, Cape Town. MOOC 7/1/124. No.28

17. Tapson (Perrins), Winifred. On to Knysna. Pt. II. Plettenburg to Knysna A trip through history. p.51. In: Looking Back, vol. XI, 3, June, 1971

Bibliography

Cape of Good Hope Almanacs

Genealogy of the Rex family, by Arthur J. Rex Beddy. Cape Town, 1971

Timber and Tides, by Winifred Tapson. 4th ed. Cape Town, 1973

J.F. Victorin's travels in the Cape, 1853 - 1855, by J.W. Grill. Cape Town, 1968

George Rex of Knysna, by Sanni Metelerkamp. Cape Town, 1963

The journals of Sophia Pigot. 1819 - 1821, by Margaret Rainier ed. Cape Town 1974

The 1820 Settlers. An illustrated cemmentary, by Guy Butler. Cape Town 1974

Roll of the British Settlers in S.A., by E. Morse Jones. Cape Town 1971