52 Ancestors:# 3 ~ Esther Bellasis nee King (1770 - 1805)

No Story Too Small

This post is for week 3 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge (2015) by Amy Crow from No Story Too Small.

You can read the list of my posts HERE

"The Carrajan by Mrs Bellasis,
Sydney" and was painted circa 1803**.

Esther Bellasis has been well documented at this blog over the last few years. Her "fame" is that she left behind in Australia this beautiful picture which Esther had drawn sometime after 1801 when she arrived in Botany Bay with her husband George Bridger Bellasis.

George had been sentenced to 14 years in the colony having killed someone in a dual in India for causing dishonour to his sister in law. George as it happens was pardoned and returned to England before returning to India where he married for the second time to Esther's sister.

Meanwhile, Esther had died at the Bellasis home in Berkshire and was buried in Puttenham in 1805.

Image courtesy of Ancestry. Puttenham Bural Records - 1805

A close up and personal image reveals

Image courtesy of Ancestry. Puttenham Bural Records - 1805

There is so much more details I am sure that I can unravel about Esther and George. George had quite a standing in India because of his rank in the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). His father was a vicar so between the religious and military backgrounds there is much to be gleaned from the wider family records.

I am curious about Esther. She stayed with her husband, she went from India to Australia and experienced life in the early years of the colony. I view Esther as a tough woman, despite being described as "sickly"

Actions

1. Work on the timeline for Esther & George Bridges Bellasis especially 1801-1805 period
2. Preparation for next Australia trip in terms of other paintings created by Esther, George's pardon and his involvement with the early Freemasons.
3. Explore the supply of material I have already located about George Bridges Bellasis creating a structure of his military career, the duel and his subsequent marriage to his sister in law.
4. Berkshire Records Office & other archives.
5. Revisit my copies of the Charles Kerry Manuscripts in the Puttenham One-Place Study archive as there are several references there about Esther Bellasis.
6. The details surrounding George's pardon are quite interesting and mention that Esther was quite sickly. Explore anything else on this line of enquiry (hopefully"!)

** The original of the painting is in the State Library, New South Wales, Australia