Sisters Monica, Mary and Cecelia Bellasis.....A Work in Progress

Introduction
I started my research deep in a rural village in the depth of Surrey England. As my research evolved and I researched back through the generations exploring the lives of direct and indirect ancestors I stumbled into the surname of Bellasis.

The connection starts through the my 7 x Great Grandfather Henry Budd. Henry and his wife Martha nee Ottway raised a family of 8 in Puttenham from 1724. I can speculate on the birth place of Henry, as the neighbouring village of Shackleford as documentation in the village of Puttenham indicates "First of the Budd's", so I know he was not born there. There are some early records which indicate that a Henry Budd was resident in Shackleford and there are also references to Henry Budd in the neighbouring village of Elstead a few miles away. Certainly these villages were within walking distance of my 18th Century ancestors.

Henry and Matha raised their family of 7 children in a time, fairly reminiscent of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I can almost hear and feel the panic as Henry and Martha realised that they need to marry off their daughters to Gentlemen of certain means.

Their eldest daughter, Ester married George Bridges Bellasis. I have written before about the antics of George during his time in the East India Company, (for that post click HERE). The Bellasis family were well established. As I researched further through the line of Bellasis I encountered the half brother of George, Edward Bellasis. George's father had been a vicar and so I was very surprised to see that Edward converted to Catholicism in 1850. It was this angle and part of the family that posed the most research and questions, not only about the family, but about the religious aspects to it.

Edward Bellasis was born in 1800 to the Rev. George Bellasis and his second wife Leah Cooper Viall. Edward lead an interesting life, he was educated at Christ's Hospital and undertook legal studies at the Inner Temple. He formed a legal practice at the Chancery Bar and retired from legal practice in 1867. He died in France in 1873.

He was received into the Roman Catholic Church by Father Brownhill on 27 January 1850 and soon after his wife and children followed. He was keen on all things Catholic and was fairly instrumental within the Roman Catholic community; including founding the School of Oratorians at Edgebaston. Edward married twice, but it the children of his second marriage to Eliza Garnett that takes us along a fascinating path.

Together, Edward and Eliza had 10 children. Two sons, the eldest and youngest became Priests and three of his daughters became Nuns.

I had barely interpreted the information of the conversion, when I was sent this photograph by a fellow researcher.

The photograph is of three of the daughters of Edward Bellasis, Monica, Mary and Cecelia Bellasis. Where would the research lead and how far could I research their lives as Nuns? Now, I was in uncharted waters in relation to my research skills.

The Catholic Family History Society holds an index of Nuns, who were in the English Province of their Order. The index itself reveals the date of birth for the Nun, names of parents, religious name, dates of profession, date and place of death and the name of order.

Here are the basic details contained within the index:

Mary Bellasis

• Born 4th January 1842
• Died 18th June 1927, Harrowgate
• Entered into Convent 12th December 1863
• Professed 18th November 1865
• Religious Name - Francis Xavier

Monica Bellasis

• Born 25th November 1855
• Died 27th April 1927 St. Leonards
• Entered into Convent 16th January 1879
• Professed 16th January 1881
• Religious Name - M.Edward All of the Sacred Heart Child Jesus

Cecilia Bellasis

• Born 28th June 1845 
• Died 25 December 1930, Harrowgate. 
• Entered Convent 5th August 1869
• Professed 8th September 1871
• Religious Name - St. Aloyius

Just these few basic facts give me, in addition to the timeline of their existence a starting point as I try to piece together their lives within their Church and Faith. I think this is going to be an interesting journey.........

This post also appeared on Catholic-Gene

Japanese Ukiyo-e Floral Prints by Daniel & Denise Ankele

This is an eBook that I spotted via Amazon just after Christmas. I downloaded to my iPad and Kindle and viewed on my iPad as the Kindle is not in colour. At the time I downloaded, this was a free book.

This is a beautiful collection of floral prints from 1868 - 1912. The collection does contain a few landscapes, but in the main most are of flowers. This is a purely visual experience.

The Hibiscus by Mrs Bellasis circa 1802

One of the things that did intrigue me was the picture of the Hibiscus plant - a lovely vibrant picture. 

As readers may recall I came across a picture in the Mitchell Library, State Library for New South Wales that was drawn by my ancestor - Mrs Bellasis circa 1802 - 1803. You can read about that HERE

This made me wonder, just how the flower came to be in Australia? Or was it something that Mrs Bellasis drew from an early book?

Description of the Island of St. Helena

Written by an Officer in the Honourable East India Company and published in The News on Sunday 13th August 1815.

Description of the Island of St Helena

Rugged rocks and lofty mountains,
Interspers'd with crystal fountains,
Here and there a grove of trees,
Are all the wandering stranger sees;
The tradesmen, imitating fops,
With heads as empty as their shops;
The girls, drest out from top to toe,
Like painted dolls in puppet-show; 
Unsocial wretches here reside,
Alike their poverty and pride, 
Throughout this Isle, there's scarce a creature
With either breeding, or good nature:
For rugged rocks, and barren fields, 
Are all that St. Helena yields*.

*Except an abundance of water-cresses and plenty of fish.


A truly lovely poem, representing the Island of St Helena and the life of a distant ancestor; George Hutchins Bellasis.


George was an Officer in the Honourable East India Company. Following a period of illness he was destined to return to England. Whilst on the ship back to England he became unwell and the ship docked at St. Helena. George Hutchins Bellasis remained on the island for 8 months recuperating. While living on the Island he captured the island in a series of watercolours. Once he had returned to England the series of watercolours were published in 1815.

Taking part in the 3rd Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge hosted by West in New England

Carnival Of Genealogy 103: Female Genealogy

As modern women I believe we truly under estimate the hardship, suffering and resilience of our female ancestors. Let us consider what we have that they often did not.

• Electricity and Gas, forms of heating and light
• A benefit system that could be used if the need arose, without fear of stigma
• Running water that was safe to drink
• Accessibility to medicines that worked
• Security from unscrupulous employers, landlords and retailers
• A World where child mortality is low
• Being able to wash ourselves,clothes and dishes without have to visit the well first.
• Women's rights - we are able to vote, to own property and to be our own person
• ......the list is endless.

How would we cope if we had to work 15 hours a day for a meagre wage? Yet our ancestors did and they, in some form or other survived otherwise we would not be here today. Women are often the backbone of the family, not from necessarily a financial aspect, although, in rural 18th and 19th Century England women would have worked in the fields too, and the children. Women tended to the men folk, looked after elderly relatives in a domestic sense, looked after the children and tended to the homes and organised the food requirements, making the money goes as far as it could. I believe that we underestimate the female ancestors we each have and perhaps judge them in comparison to modern standards.

What though, if you had been born into the middle and upper classes? You grew up being unable to provide for yourself in a domestic and financial manner. If we want a cup of tea we switch the kettle on and make it. In the 18th Century, depending on your financial standing you either rang a bell and someone made you the drink of your choice or you went to the well and obtained the water, perhaps carrying it and any young babes several miles, poured water into a pan of some kind and boiled it over a fire. Could you even afford tea?

As I have researched my own ancestry, I have developed an attachment to some of my ancestors, their contribution to my ancestry is, in some cases overwhelming. The first is Esther Bellasis, who has been the resent subject of an earlier post, and I will not reiterate that here in its entirety, except to say that Esther made a contribution to history that she herself probably never even considered.

Esther was born Ester King in 1770, the daughter of John King and Mary nee Budd. The whole story resembles that of Pride and Prejudice as John and Mary had a family of 10 children, 9 of whom were girls,and nearly all of them involved with the Honourable East India Company in some way. Esther married George Bridges Bellasis in 1796 in Calcutta India. George was known as the most "Handsome man in India" a fact gleaned from the book written about the Bellasis family called "An Honourable Company" by Margaret Bellasis published in 1952.

What has been established is that the girls went out to India in installments, as they became of age and they were dispatched to parts of the "Empire" in the care of the elder sisters. The story is that one of Esther's sisters was proposed to. The proposal was later retracted and a dual between the proposer and George Bridges Bellasis ensued. As a result George Bridges Bellasis was sent to Botany Bay for life for killing the proposer, having been transported on board the ship called "The Fly" in 1802. When he arrived in Sydney, George was immediately given a conditional pardon by Governor King and on 24 June 1803 received a Royal pardon as an "act of commiseration towards a gallant, but unfortunate officer and an afflicted dying wife".

I wondered about Ester. Just what had her life been like? Married to a well to do member of the HEIC, was she shamed because of the dual and subsequent outcome of that?, then transported like a common criminal? I wish I knew just what she thought and felt. I wondered just what research material had been left behind of the Bellasis time in Australia. George it is well documented as a military man in Australia and India, there is evidence that he was involved in the Freemason movement in the early days of the colony.

I did a search online for "Mrs Bellasis"+Australia and for variations of - Botany Bay, Ester Bellasis and was very surprised to find this painting.

I sent off to the archive, The Mitchell Library, State Library for New South Wales, for a electronic copy and it is one of my genealogical treasures. What is especially wonderful is that the painting by Ester Bellasis is the earliest known piece of artwork by a woman in Australia, so it looks like Ester made her mark after all, which I find delightful, and this is what I meant when I said her contribution to history.

George and Ester returned to England in the early 1800s and Ester is commemorated at Puttenham Church having died in 1805 in Berkshire, at the Bellasis home. George returned to India and later remarried, to his deceased wife's sister, Elizabeth Kent nee King, herself a widow. George died in India in 1825 and the sister Elizabeth in Kent in 1837.

There is just something about that picture that I find soothing. Perhaps it is the fact that Esther was in some small way a women in her own right, in a small way an artist, a contribution to history that she would probably have never realised at the time. Did she get on the boat back to England and realise that the painting had been left behind, or did she intend to leave it far from home? We shall never know.

Do though, some of the characteristics and skills of our ancestors live on in us, two, three or even ten generations later?

This is a photograph of one of my Maternal Great Grandmothers, Caroline Ellis nee Harris 1844 - 1935 with four of her daughters. My Great Grandmother, Annie Prudence Butcher nee Harris is the lady on the far left. Caroline was in her early 90s when she died, as was my Great Grandmother, and that tradition was followed by three of Annie's five daughters. Yes, people are living longer, but is that the only reason for longevity? Isn't there a chance that genetics, passed from one generation to another simply continue, as do expressions, gestures and a hosts of other things that we inherit from our relatives.

When I look at this photograph, which I was given, from the daughter of the lady second on the left, who also died in her mid 90s, I am struck by the time line of history. When Caroline was born Queen Victoria had been on the throne for 7 years, and when she died we were just 4 years away from the Second World War. For me that is a perspective. The changes that Caroline had experienced are remarkable and I can't help but wonder just what she would make of the 21st Century, with our lives of internet shopping and communication via the internet and telephone, What would she make of an iphone or an ipad for example. So much development in what is historically speaking a short space of time.

I hope, that my ancestors would be as proud of me, as I am of them and the contribution they made to my ancestry.

Fearless Females - Day 1

March 1 — Do you have a favourite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.

I have a few favourite female ancestors, who for one reason or another I am drawn too. One I have researched quite extensively is Esther Bellasis nee King. Esther was my chosen subject for the Australia Day Challenge. The reason I am selecting her today is because Esther left behind a real contribution to very early Australian history.

This picture is titled " The Carrajan by Mrs Bellasis, Sydney and was painted circa 1803." Esther's story can be read by clicking the link above, but she left this painting in Australia when she left in circa 1802-1803. One question that I doubt I shall be able to answer is why she left it behind? Did she get on the boat and think Drat I forgot the painting?, or was it because she didn't care about it and it was a means to an end, created to fill the hours? Nonetheless, it believed to be earliest known piece of artwork in Australian by a woman.

Which made me think. Esther, although born in the village of Puttenham Surrey in 1770 lived much of her life in India, having married there in 1796. She did spend some time in Australia due to her husband, and Esther died in 1805 in England. So the question is did she paint in England, will there be painting lefts and sitting in the sitting room of a descendant of the King family? or perhaps in the archives at Surrey or maybe even something in India?

Ancestor of the week - George Bridges Bellasis & Ester King

Inspired by the post on Twigs of Yore in commemoration of Australia Day - 26 January, and doubling up as my Ancestor of the Week post.

Find the earliest piece of documentation you have about an ancestor in Australia. If you don't have an Australian ancestor, then choose the earliest piece of documentation you have for a relative in Australia.

1. What is the document?
2. Do you remember the research process that lead you to it? How and where did you find it?
3. Tell us the story(ies) of the document. You may like to consider the nature of the document, the people mentioned, the place and the time. Be as long or short, broad or narrow in your story telling as you like!"

The document I am going to use for this is the picture on the left of a pink Hibiscus and is titled "The Carrajan by Mrs Bellasis, Sydney and was painted circa 1803.

I first became aware of the Bellasis connection to my ancestry back in the late 1980s. I then did little research into that line beyond the records that existed in the rural Surrey parish of Puttenham and created what is online as the Puttenham One Place Study

Esther was born Ester King in 1770, the daughter of John King and Mary nee Budd. The whole story resembles that of Pride and Prejudice as John and Mary had a family of 10 children, 9 of whom were girls. I can almost here the cries of Mary King as she worries about her daughters finding good husbands. Just how the King daughters became connected to the Bellasis family is intriguing, but all but two of the girls (one married in England and the other died in 1795 aged 17 years) married men connected to the Honourable East India Company (HEIC) and their son also spent time in India before dying in the Gulf of Persia in 1812. The link to how I established this is rather wonderful. The Curate of the parish of Puttenham was a man called Charles Kerry. During his time in the village he kept a series of manuscripts and as part of those there is a reference or two to the Bellasis connection. It was this fact that acted as my springboard.

Ester married George Bridges Bellasis in 1796 in Calcutta India. George was known as the most "Handsome man in India" a fact gleaned from the book written about the Bellasis family called "An Honourable Company" by Margaret Bellasis published in 1952. What has been established is that the girls went out to India in installments, as they became of age and they were dispatched to parts of the "Empire" in the care of the elder sisters. The story is that one of Esther's sisters was proposed to. The proposal was later retracted and a dual between the proposer and George Bridges Bellasis ensued. As a result George Bridges Bellasis was sent to Botany Bay for life for killing the proposer, having been transported on board the ship called "The Fly" in 1802. When he arrived in Sydney, George was immediately given a conditional pardon by Governor King and on 24 June 1803 received a Royal pardon as an "act of commiseration towards a gallant, but unfortunate officer and an afflicted dying wife".

I wondered about Ester. Just what had her life been like? Married to a well to do member of the HEIC, was she shamed because of the dual and subsequent outcome of that?, then transported like a common criminal? I wish I knew just what she thought and felt. I wondered just what research material had been left behind of the Bellasis time in Australia. George it is well documented as a military man in Australia and India, there is evidence that he was involved in the Freemason movement in the early days of the colony.

I did a search online for "Mrs Bellasis"+Australia and for variations of - Botany Bay, Ester Bellasis and was very surprised to find the painting above online. I sent off to the archive, The Mitchell Library, State Library for NSW, for a electronic copy and it is one of my genealogical treasures. What is especially wonderful is that the painting by Ester Bellasis is the earliest known piece of artwork by a woman in Australia, so it looks like Ester made her mark afterall.

George and Ester returned to England in the early 1800s and Ester is commemorated at Puttenham Church having died in 1805 in Berkshire, at the Bellasis home. George returned to India and later remarried, to his deceased wife's sister, Elizabeth Kent nee King, herself a widow. George died in India in 1825 and the sister Elizabeth in Kent in 1837.

Associated posts - Genealogical Wonder published November 2010 has more details on one of the King daughters.

All the posts submitted for this challenge are here

Bowring Family at Torquay

Through various bits of research I established the Bellasis family connected to a fairly well know Devonian family called Bowring. As I live in the County it was relatively easy to access the archives and cemeteries. I don't want to write more of the Bellasis & Bowring families at the moment as they are going to be the subject of a couple of "Ancestor of the week" posts over the next few months, but I wanted to load the photos up the Grave Encounters site and I couldn't do that without a small write up.

Having established that Lewin Bentham Bowring was buried in Torquay I telephoned to see if I could arrange for the grave to be marked so that I could find it it easier. When I met up with the groundsman he said that there were two graves and asked if I had known that. I said no. He then arranged for me to see the burial books, which indicated that in addition to the grave of Lewin Bentham Bowring and his wife Katherine there was also the grave of Lewin's son Captain Vincent Bowring, but the plot also contained the son Edward Lewis who had died in 1885 aged 15 years.

It is a purely a guess that the grave had been initially been marked with a headstone for Edward by his father, but by the time Captain Vincent Bowring had passed away in 1951 both Lewin and Katherine themselves were deceased and as the family already owned the plot someone made the decision that Captain Vincent could be interned there and placed the headstone accordingly, which means that the burial of Edward is no longer recorded at the site, and only in the burial register.

Buried in section C, Un-consecrated ground

Pray for the souls of

LEWIN BENTHAM BOWRING CSI

Chief Commissioner of Mysore and Goore

J P for Devon

Who died Jan 14^th 1910 aged 85

And KATHERINE his wife

Née BELLASIS

Who died March 18^th 1915 aged 74

Requiescant in Page

Pray for the soul of

Captain VINCENT LEWIN BOWRING

Royal Navy

Died Feb 23^rd 1951

RIP

Section C line 18 Grave

From the Cemetery records we can establish that also buried in this grave is

EDWARD LEWIS LLANISLAS BOWRING

Who died 3^rd July 1885 aged 15.

The plot was purchased by Lewin B BOWRING.

Katherine purchased the grave of Lewin Bentham BOWRING at the time of his death. She purchased a double plot and they lay side by side.

At the time of her death Katherine was residing at 90 Hagley Road, Edgebaston Birmingham.

Graves Transcribed March 2000, Photographed June 2002