Jackson Wray [1824-1855]

In 1823 Hugh Boyd Wray married Anne, the eldest child and only daughter of Francis Biddulph and Mary Steele. Their only son, Jackson Wray, was born on the 22^nd of March, 1824, in Borris-in-Ossory, Queen’s County. He was named after his grandfather, Jackson Wray. The name Jackson came from the Jackson family of Coleraine, one of whom, Jane Jackson, had earlier married into the Wray family.

Jackson ‘Joe’ joined the Army, and fought in the Crimean War.  A portrait of Jackson in full uniform is in private possession. Jackson kept a journal in the first 15 weeks of 1955, while he was serving in the Crimea with the Connaught Rangers. It contains details of the conditions in the lines during the siege of Sebastopol. The journal was published in The War Correspondent, the official Journal of the Crimean War Research Society.[1]

On February 19^th, 1855 Jackson wrote to his father Hugh from the Camp before Sebastopol:

We are all quiet still, yesterday I went to see our new [works] at Inkerman, those made by the French are magnificent, the work is so far superior to ours, they work and guard them for us, but we supply the Guns and Gunners, as soon as the Fire opens. On nearing the most advanced Battery we passed some six or seven of the dead Russians who fell at Inkerman, the bodies are quite black, but clothed and accoutred just as they fell, except their Boots, those articles are always stripped the moment the fight is over. Some of the large Mortars 13 inch shells are in the advanced Battery and will astonish the Russian Ships, that lay in the harbour.

Well my dearest Father, I have to thank you for another nice Parcel which came to Balaclava on Saturday with our Draft.  The clothing could not be better and the Telescope is an excellent one, I shall now be able to watch “Monsieur La Russe” more closely, the Tooth Brushes and Powder are also safe. Please God the Telescope will be brought Home yet [as] a match to the poor old Waterloo one[2], [I] shall have  an Inscription on it when please God I do get Home, “Received this Present from my fond Father on the 17^th Feby, when Encamped on the Heights before Sebastopol.”[3]

Capt. Jackson Wray of the 88th Foot (Connaught Rangers) was killed in action, in the assault on the Quarries. 7^th June 1855.

There is a Memorial in the Second Brigade, Light Division, cemetery overlooking Sebastopol

 "Sacred to the memory of Major Bayley, Captain Corbett, Captain Wray, and Lieut Webb of the 88th Connaught Rangers who fell while assaulting the Quarries on the night of the 7th June 1855."

In spite of recent searches by a member of the Biddulph family his burial place at Sebastopol has never been found.

Anne Wray died in November 1872 and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, County Dublin. Her husband Hugh died the following year.

The death of their son, Jackson Wray, is commemorated on the same gravestone in Deansgrange Cemetery, but he is not buried there.

There is a second Memorial to Jackson Wray in St Stephen’s Church of Ireland, Mount Street Crescent, Dublin.[4]

CRIMEA

ALMA INKERMAN

Sacred to the memory of the late CAPTAIN JACKSON WRAY

Of the 88^th Regt The Connaught Rangers

Who fell before Sevastopol,

On the night of the 7^{th of} June 1855,

After storming and while holding,

The Russian advanced works,

Well known as the Quarries.

This tablet is erected by his mourning

And deeply affected parents

HUGH BOYD WRAY and ANNE WRAY

As a record of their heartfelt sorrow

For a dearly loved and only child

And a memorial of all he was to them

As a fond and dutiful son:

And of the worth, youth, courage and unaffected piety

By which he was distinguished as a friend,

A gentleman, a soldier and a Christian.

We mourn for one whose honoured name will stand

Foremost amid the valiant of our land

Yet better far we know to him ‘twas given,

To be the soldier of his Lord in heaven.

“They shall be mine” saith the Lord of Hosts,

“In that day when I make up my jewels.”

Malachi III-17.

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[1] The Crimean War Research Society, http://cwrs.russianwar.co.uk/

[2] Hugh Wray, Jackson’s father, fought at Waterloo.

[3] Transcribed by Peter Colquhoun.

[4] http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie

Anne Biddulph [1801 – abt. 1872]

Anne Biddulph was the eldest child of Francis Biddulph [1770 - 1826] of Mount Oliver, Queen’s County and Mary Steele [1779 - ] of Kyle, Queen’s County. She had one sister, Elizabeth, and  three brothers. Her eldest brother Nicholas Biddulph inherited Fortal, in 1824. Her younger brothers, Richard and Francis Biddulph, both emigrated to Canada.

In 1823 she married Lieutenant Hugh Boyd Wray [1795 – 1873], 40^th Regiment of Foot.

MARRIED Lieutenant H. B. Wray, half-pay: 40th Regiment of Foot, to Anne, eldest daughter of Francis Biddulph, Esq. of Mount Oliver, Queen's County.  [Finns Leinster Journal 1771-1828 Wednesday, June 11, 1823]

Hugh Boyd Wray had fought at the battle of Waterloo and his name can be found in Dalton’s Waterloo Roll Call[1]. He retired in 1817 and  subsequently joined the RIC.

 ‘Miss Sibthorpe remembered hearing that Hugh Boyd Wray served as Chief Constable for the King's County, and she had seen his truncheon...[2]’

According to Jim Herlihy in his book The Royal Irish Constabulary Officers[3] Hugh Boyd Wray was tried and acquitted of murder at Kilkenny Assizes, August 1822, after which he was transferred to Queen’s County.

Hugh Boyd Wray retired from the Police Force in 1838 after 17 years. In 1838 he was presented with Plate when he left Birr and an Address which included the following tribute.

‘the acknowledged excellence , efficiency, and superior discipline of the Police force of this County, we feel bound to say, is mainly to be attributed to the activity and zeal  with which you have uniformly performed your duties.[4]’

He expresses his gratitude to the Viscount de Vesci and the Magistrates of the Queen’s County, for their ‘highly complimentary and flattering address’ and for 'the very handsome present of Plate which accompanies it…Your splendid Gift, I shall cherish as a lasting Memorial… and I shall hand it down to my son, with a Father’s request that he may as such value it’.

Hugh and Anne had one son, Jackson Wray, born in 1824, in Borris-in-Ossory, County Laois. He died in the Crimean War at Sebastopol in 1855.

Anne died in November 1872 and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, County Dublin. Her husband Hugh died the following year.

Wray - On the 23rd inst., [1873]at his residence, No. 4 Clifton-place, Monkstown, Dublin, in his 78th year, Captain H.B. Wray. He served as Lieutenant in the 40th Regiment in the Peninsular War, also at Waterloo. After a long illness he died in the Lord, much respected and lamented. Funeral will leave at 10 o'clock on to-morrow (Thursday) morning for Dean's Grange Cemetery.

The death of Jackson Wray is also commemorated on the same gravestone in Deansgrange Cemetery, but he is not buried there.

The grave in Deansgrange Cemetery, Kill o' the Grange, Co. Dublin, can be found by going through the main gates up to the turning circle, then turning left, close to Memorial Chapel, and on the left. The photograph of the grave was taken when the cemetery was new, before the main gates were relocated. The inscriptions are difficult to read:

VITTORIA   PYRENEES   WATERLOO

Hugh Boyd Wray late Captain 40th Regiment died 23 February 1873 aged 77 years

and Anne his wife Died 29 November 1872 aged 7? Years JUSTE ET VRAI

(and on the other side)

ALMA   INKERMAN   SEVASTOPOL

Jackson Wray... Regiment ...ed at Sevastopol...Hugh Boyd Wray...

 date

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[1] Dalton’s Waterloo Roll Call.

[2] The Wrays of Donegal, London and Antrim, by Charlotte Violet Trench. OUP, 1945.

[3] Jim Herlihy, Royal Irish Constabulary Officers, Four Courts Press, 2005, 2016.

[4] Leinster Express, 9^th March 1839.

Eliza Biddulph [1766- ]

Eliza Biddulph was the eldest daughter of Francis Biddulph, of Vicarstown, Queen’s County,  and Eliza Harrison, of Leeds. Her mother was described, at the time of her marriage to Francis Biddulph, in the Leeds Intelligencer of 19^th February 1765  as ‘a most agreeable young lady with a handsome fortune.’

Eliza Biddulph married Richard Grattan of Drummin, County Kildare, on 19th February 1788 in St. Mark’s Church, Dublin. Richard Grattan was the son of the Reverend William Grattan of Drummin and his wife Catherine Sherlock.

Dublin 21st February. Richard Gratton, of Drummin, co. Kildare, Esq, to Miss Biddulph, eldest daughter of Francis Biddulph, of Vicarstown, Queen's County, Esq.[Ramsey's Waterford Chronicle]

Richard and Eliza  had sixteen children:

Thomas William, born 19^th October 1788, died before 1828.

Richard Grattan, born 29^th January 1790 in Queen’s County.

Eliza Catherine, born 8^th January 1791, died by 1828.

Frank, born 13^th December 1791.

William, born 17^th November 1792, died by 1828.

Catherine, born 17^th b June 1794.

Eleanor, born 12^th December 1795.

Thomas Grattan, born 27^th September 1796 in Dublin.

Frances, born 19^th December 1797, died by 1828.

Harriet Grattan, born 16^th September 1799 in Dublin, died by 1828.

John Grattan, born 22^nd October 1800 in Dublin.

Henry Grattan, born 22^nd January1803, Dublin.

Edward, born 22^nd February 1804.

Frances [Fanny] Grattan who was born 15^th June 1805. She married William Willis in Limerick in 1826, and died in Dublin in 1866, aged 61. Deaths. Willis, May 27, at her house, 1 Sandford Avenue, Dublin, Frances, widow of the Rev. William Willis, M.D., formerly of Charleville, County Cork, and daughter of the late Richard Grattan, Esq., J.P., Drummin House, County Kildare.[1]

Anne Grattan, who was born 3^rd November 1806 in Dublin. She was married in St. George’s Church, Dublin on 12th September 1850, to George Cooke.

Nicholas Grattan was born 23^rd March 1808.

---

[1] The Belfast Newsletter, 1866, May 29.

Eliza Grattan’s date of death and her burial place are unknown. Possibly she is buried in Carbery graveyard, close to the Colley mausoleum.

Annie Adela Waller Biddulph [1847-1926]

Annie Adela Waller Biddulph, the eldest daughter of Francis Marsh Biddulph of Rathrobin, King’s County, and Lucy Bickerstaffe, was born on the 25^th March 1847.

She married John Willcocks, of Chapelizod, Dublin, on the 24^th April 1867. He was a retired Captain of the 3rd Middlesex Militia.

Their first daughter, Lucy Annie Willcocks was born in King’s County on the 22^nd of February 1868. She married Lionel Lockington Harty in Chapelizod in 1894. The wedding presents are described in a press cutting as being ‘numerous and very handsome.’ Mr. H.L. Harty gave them a piano and a brass lamp. Mrs Bickerstaff a white ostrich feather fan with a mother o’ pearl handle. There was a silver coffee pot, sugar basin and soup ladle, a Worcester china dessert service,  a set of silver dessert spoons from John Willcocks,  a carriage rug, Austrian china vases from Annie’s sisters Wilmot and Florence,  a Queen Anne silver teapot,  an inlaid marble clock, etchings of Irish scenery,  handsome table linen, and much more besides. The Rev. A. Dancer Purefoy, who officiated, presented the couple with a family Bible and prayer book. Mrs Purefoy gave them a Japanese tea table. From the servants came an antique silver mustard pot, flower vases, handsome silver punch ladles and a plush workbox, and a glass centrepiece mounted on mirror.

In 1901 Lionel and Lucie Harty lived at Balrobin, Barronstown, County Louth with their two daughters, Eileen R, aged 5, and Kathleen A, aged 3. By 1911 they have a son, Lockington, aged 8.

Marian Emma Willcocks was born on the 1^st of August 1869 in King’s County. She married Frederick Francis Ledwich, barrister at law, in 1891 in Chapelizod. In 1911 the couple are living in Ballitore, County Kildare, with their only daughter Violet Annie Biddulph, aged 18. Frederick was not practising as barrister, but ‘derived his income chiefly from dividends and annuity from land’.

Wilmot Willcocks was born on the 12^th of November 1870 in Charleville Street, Tullamore. She married Stafford Mouritz Cox, Physician and Surgeon, in 1897, in Chapelizod. By 1901 Stafford Cox is a widower, living in Roden Place, Dundalk, County Louth. Wilmot died in 1899 aged only 29.

The only son of Annie and John Willcocks was born in Dublin on the 14^th April 1872, and christened John. John Willcox, son of John Willcox and Annie died on the 7^th of March 1919 in Dublin. He was 46 years old.

Florence Caroline Willcocks was born in 1877. She married Benjamin Ivan Tilly in 1897. In 1901 they are living on St. Laurence’s Road, Clontarf, Dublin. Benjamin Ivan Tilly is the Registrar of the Metropolitan School of Art of the Science and Art Institutions, Dublin.  In 1911 they live at Belmont Terrace, North Circular Road, Glasnevin, Dublin.. Three children have been born to them, with only one surviving, who is not named in the Census return. Florence died in 1925.

Annie’s husband John Willcocks died in Dublin in 1882.

Annie was married again in St Barnabas’ Church, North Dublin in 1898, to John Ouseley Bonsall Murphy of Riversdale, Palmerstown, County Dublin. John Ouseley Murphy was born in Queen’s County, a widower, and an accountant. In the 1901 Census they were living in St. Laurence, Palmerstown, Dublin, with her son John Willcocks, an annuitant, possibly money left to him by his father, and her stepson, John Cullinan Murphy, son of John Ouseley Murphy, aged 26, a student of Medicine.

Annie Adela Waller Biddulph died in 1926 and is believed to be buried in Chapelizod, Dublin, in the Willcocks plot.

Mary Biddulph [nee Marsh] [abt 1773-1861], Carrickbrennan graveyard, Monkstown, County Dublin

Sacred to the memory of Mary Biddulph widow of Francis Biddulph Esq. of . . . King's Co. late Registrar of the Court of Equity in Ireland. She . . . August 1861
aged 86 years. Their daughter Mary Biddulph . . .  1865 aged . . . certain hope... of their daughter Caroline Biddulph who died 28th  May 1874 aged 55 years.

Nicholas Marsh Biddulph [1805-1900]

Nicholas Marsh Biddulph was born on the 20^{th of} December 1805, the second son and seventh child of Francis Biddulph and Mary Marsh of Vicarstown, Queen's County. He was one of fourteen children, thirteen of whom survived. He married Elizabeth Maria Steele on the 25^th September 1824 in Gretna Green, Scotland. Both were recorded as being from Donnybrook, Dublin. Their first daughter, Margaret Anne, was born in Elm Villa, Irishtown, Dublin, on the 8^th of October 1826. A second daughter, Elizabeth, was also born in Dublin in 1831. Anna [1833-1912] was born in Galway. Adelaide too was born in Ireland in 1840.

Nicholas became a Lieutenant in the Irish Revenue Police. Known as the ‘Potheen Hussars,’ the Irish Revenue Police were mostly employed in the detection of illicit liquor stills. Their uniform was distinctive. As an officer Nicholas would have worn a blue frock coat and grey trousers, and probably cut a dashing figure. In 1835 he was in Crossmolina, but at some time in the late 1830s he seems to have left Ireland, as his eldest son, William, was born in 1838 in Marthen, Wales. A second son, christened Wellington James, was born in England in 1841. His youngest daughter, Rosalie, was born in 1845, in Somerset.

In the 1841 Census the family are found living in Gore Hedge, Frome, Somerset. Nicholas has independent means.

In the 1851 Census Nicholas is no longer with his family, and does not appear in the Census, but Elizabeth still describes herself as a wife, and not a widow. Elizabeth died in St. George, Southwark, in 1852. Two of their daughters, Margaret Anne, and Anna, married and emigrated to America.

Adelaide Biddulph, on her marriage to John Brooks on the 20^th of May 1861 in St. Mary’s, Lambeth, describes her father Nicholas Biddulph in the marriage register as deceased.

Some accounts state that Nicholas Biddulph lived until 1900. If the source of this information is Burke’s Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, there is some room for doubt as Burke’s can be inaccurate. However, there is a death recorded in Dublin of a Nicholas Biddulph in 1899 of advanced years. Had Nicholas returned to Ireland leaving his family in England?

Richard Clarke [abt. 1878 - 1916]

Richard Clarke was the son of William Clarke of Timoney Lodge, Corbally, and Rebecca Harvey. He was also the brother of Rebecca Clarke, who married William Nicholas Biddulph in 1889.

Richard Clarke joined the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1896. His service record from the Royal Irish Constabulary shows a broken service as he appears to have resigned twice in order to join Military Units. He first resigned in January 1900 and served with the "Imperial Yeomanry" in South Africa, before being reappointed to the RIC in October 1901. He did not remain long however, but resigned in March 1902 to join the ‘Irish Horse.’ He was, it would seem, a restless soul.

He was killed in action in 1916.

Clarke, Richard.

Rank, sergeant, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery [formerly Royal Irish Constabulary]; killed in action, October 20, 1916. [Ireland, Casualties of World War 1].

He is buried in Carnoy Military Cemetery.

In Memory of Gunner R. Clarke 5635,”A” Bty., Royal Canadian Horse Artillery who died on 20 October 1916.

Remembered with Honour.

His death is also commemorated in Ardcroney graveyard in Congor, County Tipperary. Ardcroney Church is no longer there having been removed in its entirety to Bunratty Folk Park, County Clare, but the graveyard remains.

Congor graveyard [Ardcroney Church]

In loving memory of William Clarke, Crowl, who died 20th Jan 1919, aged 89 years.

Also his wife Rebecca who died 23rd Jan 1925 aged 88 yrs.

And their son Richard who fell in France, 20th October 1916.