Walter Linnott Hervey/Laiban

Question

I think I could be a descendant of Walter Linnott Hervey, b. 4/24/1838, in Blacktown, India (now known as Georgetown). However, this site says, "Since he had no children."  That part is not stated in the actual family tree information, so I am wondering if that information is true.  I am intrigued by Walter and his mother, Laiban, who I think may have been Indian. I have had my DNA tested by two companies, and it shows a small amount of DNA in the general India area. Hervey was my maiden name.  I can't find any other information on Walter or Laiban. Can someone find anything for me? I've been searching for months. Thank you!

Answer 1

Walter Linnot Hervey is apparently the illegitimate son of Albert Henry Andrew Hervey (bc 1814 d Edinburgh Scotland 1877).He eventually became a Major General in the Madras Army and in 1850 published a very interesting book on his early experiences which was republished in shortened form around 1987 (google him) He married in Burma around 1840 Emily Sophia (apparently British, d of an artillery officer) and had at least 4 children and numerous descendents,His book is full of good advice for young officers  and, inter alia, he warns against getting involved with Indian or mixed race girls something he seems to have had first hand experience of, In the early days when there were few European women it was very common but, once steamships speeded up the journey, there was an increasing influx of European women and it became increasingly unacceptable

Comments

Thank you so much for the information! I've tried searching for his name, both spelled as Hervey and as Harvey, but I cannot find anything about him, nor the book you mentioned (I'd love to read it!). Can you tell me your sources, and perhaps also give me links? Thanks again!

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 Hope this is of interest ,How do you know you are descended from Walter Linnot. Apart from his birth I have found no reference to him

Albert Henry Andrew Hervey

Published a book in 1850 in 3 volumes entitled Ten Years in India which was well received

https://archive.org/details/tenyearsinindia00unkngoog

An abridged version is

A Soldier of the Company: Life of an Indian Ensign, 1833-43

Hervey, Captain Albert ; edited by Charles Allen

Published by Michael Joseph, 1988, 

ISBN 10: 0718131215 ISBN 13: 9780718131210

 

The introduction to the abridged version suggested that his predecessors were illegitimate sons of a wealthy family who had been found posts in India out of sight and out of mind. Albert says nothing about his ancestry but was one of three brothers who had been educated in England and found posts in the East India Company’s Army by their guardian the Hon Hugh Lindsay (1765-1844) who was, inter alia, a Director of the Company. The implication is that their parents had died in India before he went in 1832. Whether Lindsay was related or merely a guardian of orphaned officials children is unknown but see annex below which suggests the illegitimate sons were the sons of Andrew Barnard who married Lindsay’s sister and became Governor of the Cape of Good Hope.Why they were called Hervey is unknown. Andrew couldn’t find his baptism entry so just signed an affidavit.

When Albert wrote the book he was in England on leave he mentions he had married in Burma but, apart from mentioning a failed courtship with an English girl Amanda in Madras, doesn’t discuss his love life. He does warn young officers about many things including getting involved with Indian or mixed race girls-no doubt from his own experience.

The free Mormon site has lots of Indian records https://www.familysearch.org/ 

Once in India

Had a son Walter Linnot Hervey b 24 April 1838  cr. 1 Nov 1840 Black Town Madras mother Laiban. The implication is that they were not legally married and she was Indian or of mixed race

 5/10/1841 Moulmain Burma he married Emily Blundell aged 20 I havn’t noted her birth-her father was supposed to be an artillery officer. An Emily Blundell was buried St. Thomas Mount Madras 2/3/1843 aged 38-any relation? There were quite few Blundell in India at that period.

 

 

Annex Earlier Hervey in India

There are various refs to the name in India back to the 1760’s.

 An entry on Wikitree (which may not be properly sourced) says

Andrew Barnard  b 1762 (father Thomas Hervey bc 1727 but see below )  and  Marg Maria Coghlan had a child Henry Augustus Hervey 1/12/1786 St Mary Marylebone London and Andrew Hervey  (25/9/1790 St George Southwark (cadet attestation papers sworn by Andrew 19 Feb 1806 presented by Earl of Hardwicke) m 1/9/1810 Sophia Francis Cawnpore India  d Darjeeling 14/6/1862) then M  Anne Lindsay (sister of Hugh Lindsay) 31/10/1793 Edze Angus Scotland and mistress Rachel van de Caap then d 27/10/1807 Cape of Good Hope.) He left a PCC will dated 9 Feb 1808 (not inspected).He was Colonial Secretary at the Cape of Good Hope. His wife Lady Anne Barnard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Anne_Barnard  It said she was a travel writer and her husband was the son of Thomas Barnard the Bishop of Limerick

Augustus Frederick Henry Andrew and Anne Sophia Thomson Hearvy (spelt thus) cr 24 July 1816 Benares India to A Hearvy/Sophia

Henry Augustus Frederick Hervey m Margaret Adriana Giessler 3/6/1798 Colombo Ceylon   c1810 in India had Margaret Anne b 23 Oct 1812 cr 28 Nov Bombay and the 3 brothers above given the Christian names used His wife died before 1819 in India, he remarried Harriet Anne Barnfield bc 1800 29/11/1819 Calcutta , they had Caroline Augusta Hervey in 1823 who d Sarat Bombay 24/11/1823

Henry d 21 May 1824 Coromandel Tamil Nadu ,This would tally with the 3 brothers having lost their parents before they returned to India.

NB Frederick Augustus Hervey (1730-18 3) was 4^th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry-judging by his biography he was a confirmed womaniser. The Herveys were a well known aristocratic family of eccentric tendencies. They said there were men, women and Herveys!

 

Answer 2

Walter Harvey

mentioned in the record of Richard Harvey

Name	Walter Harvey
gender	Male
Wife	Maria Elizabeth
Son	Richard Harvey

Other information in the record of Richard Harvey

from India Births and Baptisms

Name	Richard Harvey
Gender	Male
Christening Date	21 Mar 1855
Christening Place	Cochin, Madras, India
Birth Date	21 Apr 1845
Father's Name	Walter Harvey
Mother's Name	Maria Elizabeth

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• No image available

India Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947

Indexing Project (Batch) Number	C00068-4
System Origin	India-EASy
GS Film number	463297
Reference ID	v 32 p 10

Citing this Record

"India Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FG4G-N9S : 8 December 2014), Walter Harvey in entry for Richard Harvey, 21 Mar 1855; citing Cochin, Madras, India, reference v 32 p 10; index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 463,297.

Comments

Thank you, but I don't think this is Walter Linnott Hervey (sometimes, though, Harvey gets mistaken with Hervey). The reason I think he's not: look at the birth date for Richard Harvey: April 1845 ; christening: 21 Mar 1855. Even if there's a typo with 1845 vs. 1855 (and the months were reversed), Walter L. would only have been 17 when Richard was born (not impossible, but seems a bit young to me). If there is no typo with the date, Walter would've have been 10 when his son was born. I do appreciate you finding this for me, and so fast! Thanks!

If we could keep looking to find Walter Linnott Hervey, I would appreciate it. thank you!

Answer 3

4 children noted to Gen Albert Hervey

Harriet Hervey  aged 16 m 9 March 1857 Moulmain Stephen Masascan McKertick 21 father Manascan McKertick (with wife Anna had children in Moulmain,Manascan d there 29/6/1875 aged 67 and was buried the next day)) Harriet was buried there 6/2/1864 (died 5th) husband Stephen. They had a dau Lucy Julia there b 23 July 1858 cr 25 Aug. A son Samuel Arratoon 30/12/1863 cr 2 Mar 1864. He  remarried Emily Jane Cannah 21/11/1865 and had further children. A Stephen Macertich (race White) died 23/Oct 1899 Calcutta aged 56 who is probably related. McKertick is a most unusual name only found in India-probably a misspelling of something else.

Albert Frederick Augustus Hervey  cr. 19/7/1844 Wilton Somerset  m 30 Jan 1868 Byculla Bombay Eliza Bennet 17 father Edward Lawrence Bennett both single. In 1880 he was concerned with setting up a telephone exchange in Bristol England and was stated to have been 13 years in the Indian Government Telegraph Service. He was divorced around 1889 and remarried. He died 6/2/1908 20 Carminia Rd Streatham (was there 1901 with wife Alice) buried West Norwood Cemetery

Margaret Emily Sophia Hervey b 8 Aug 1846 cr 2 Sept Madras mother Emily Sophia She m aged 18 20/10/1864 Cannanore Madras William Collier Angrave aged 31.He was a sailor with the P and O and rose to high rank. The family came from Cornwall originally (used the name Collier a lot). William d 27/1/1906 19 Montpelier Square SW leaving £6500 to his wife. They had around 7 children (William Albert St.Aubyn b 1867who became a Lloyds broker, Harold Alfred St. Aubyn b1871 5 Collier St.Aubyn 1882 , Margaret Helen St.Aubyn b 1868 m 1898, LouisaS t. Aubyn b 1876 m Edward Arthur  Underwood an Army officer and neighbour1899 (according to a paper 3/3/1905 she married him secretly without telling her parents, he went to the South African war returned, they had a child, he went to India ,was involved with other women; divorced, she later remarried well), Mildred Gertrude St Aubyn b 1878 m 3/3/1900, Gladys St. Aubyn b 1882 m 1/11/1907,Evelyn Flora St.Aubyn b 1880) and they seem to have all married well judging by the newspaper announcements .In 1901 they were at 83 Onslow Square South Kensington with 7 servants! Nearly all the children were b in the Southampton area or later Lewisham South London.

Henry James Arthur Hervey b 19 Sept 1848 cr 18 Oct 1848 Secunderabad St, John or  Madras mother Emily Sophia aged 20 m  7  May 1870  Cannor Madras  Henrietta Anne Taylor 20 father Charles William Taylor both single,In 1901 he was in Foots Cray Bromley 52 retired Indian telegraph official with his wife Henrietta 51 with dau Katheeen L C and son Henry A W 20 bank clerk Bank of England. He died 1917 Lewisham.

In 1871 Albert and his wife were in Southampton with a visitor Jeremy Collier Angrave 25 who is presumably a relation of her married daughter. Albert died 27/10/1877 at Edinburgh Scotland leaving less than £300; his widow Emila Sophia was at 28 South Grove Peckham. In 1881 she was a boarder at 44 Spencer Rd Lambeth, another boarder was Jeremy now a solicitor. She was still boarding with him (by now married) in 1891 but died at 20 Carminia Rd (the house of her brother Albert )20/2/1898 leaving only £79.

Despite being a Major General Albert and his wife had no money apart from his pension.

Albert’s 2 brothers

Charles Robert West Hervey  b Bombay 8/2/1818 d 27/2/1903 Torquay England .Left a will and about £2000.  In 1881 he was retired in Torquay and said he was b in Bombay. 1891 he said he was b Kaira in Gudjerat while in 1901 he said India.

He became a General in the Bengal Army,was a CB, and was famous for suppressing the cult of Thuggee. He was later chief of the Secret Special Service Dept in India . See eg Torquay times 8/7/1903

m Mary Ann Delamotte 2/9/1842 Begaum Bombay (father Peter Delamotte)

m 2 6/11/1880 Mary Elizabeth Bridges Dudley She 43 in 1901 so must have been 22 to his 62!

Had up to 7 children including Charles Gerald Barnard Hervey b 13/9/1850 cr 20 Oct Begaum Bombay

Henry Augustus Frederick Hervey b 5 1853 cr 20 April Begaum

Marriage 21/5/1873 Bath Hugh de La Motte Hervey1st Punjab cavalry late 103^rd regt gson of the late General Peter de la Motte CH and eldest s of Col Charles Robert West Hervey and Minnie Fanny Eliza d of the late Maj C O’Donoghue 76^th regt. They had 5 children and he died in India 1906

Gerald Augustus Frederick Hervey b 1817 India. He married Lucknow 6/10/1846 aged 28 Fanny Elizabeth Moule His health was ruined by service in the East and he retired sick . In 1871 he was  54 retired Captain in Melksham Wilts where his wife Fannie E 45 came from with  sons Gerald A F  b India (actually Umballa Bengal, he m in London 1885 and d 1932 Brighton) and Ernest L M 9 b Melksham 1881  98 The Grove Hammersmith London he said he was b Go Go East Indies, his wife, no children and a lodger.He d 1891 Fulham leaving only £182