Thank you Chris Taylor for starting this profile. ~ Deborah Spooner
Adeline Maria Pattle was born on February 19, 1812, in Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. She was the first child born to James and Adeline Pattle. As shown in the family portrait painted in Paris, France 1818, Adeline was a beautiful girl who looked just like her mother. Her dark eyes carrying on the Bengali Grandmother tradition. Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Literary executor to Adeline’s niece Lady Henry Somerset (Isabella), writes “Adeline, a gentle beautiful creature, married and died young.”
Adeline travels started at a young age when she made frequent trips to Europe with her mother and Grandmother. We know she spent at least four years in France with her grandmother, Lady De L’Etang, alongside her sisters, Julia and Sarah, for her education. In 1822, Adeline returned to India.
In March of 1830, Adeline traveled to Cape of Good Hope aboard the Eliza with her parents and sisters Virginia and Sophia. It was on this voyage she met the young dashing British officer, Captain (later Lt-General) Colin Mackenzie, who was on furlough recovering from bout of Nagpur fever. On this trip Colin and Adeline became very close. While Adeline and her father remained at the Cape of Good Hope, her mother, who was too ill to remain, went on to England accompanied by Mackenzie. By the time they reached England they were friends, and Colin was invited to stay with the Pattle family while in Brighton.
By October 1831 Adeline was also in Brighton and Colin asked for her hand in marriage.
Marriage bans were placed and on May 28, 1832, Colin and Adeline were married in St. Mary, Bryanstone Square, Westminster, England. Adeline was listed as a “minor with permission from her mother” Adeline to marry. With a G. Becker and her sister Sarah as witnesses. Colin’s friend, Count Walewski, also attended the wedding. The young couple spent their honeymoon on a voyage back to Madras where Colin was stationed. They arrived on October 23rd. They remained there for over a year.
*Nine months later Colin and Adeline welcomed their first child. Adeline Anne born in March 1834. She married Henry Hoseason on July 17, 1855, in Bolarum, Madras, India. Henry was a young officer and adjutant to Colin. He was the son of Thomas and Angelica Hoseason. His mother was Granddaughter to Thomas Cochrane the 8th Earl of Dundonald.
Colin and Adeline were devoted to each other, and he “doted” on his children. In their separation they wrote numerous letters to each other. Colin called her “My Addy” and she in return “My beloved husband.”
By 1834 Lieutenant Colin was in the 48th regiment and marched to Bangalore and survived the campaign in Coorg. He was made adjutant to the General in charge. This was not a glamourous post but in April 1834 General Lindsey was so impressed with his performance he wrote several letters of recommendation for Colin. This friendship would last for years. It was around this time that with encouragement from his Addy that Colin turned to his faith more and more.
*On August 13, 1834, Mary Julia Blanche was born in Madras, India and baptized on August 23, 1834. She married Herbert Mackworth Clogstoun on January 8, 1856, in Bolarum, Madras, India.
While Colin went to the Straits of Malacca with his regiment, Adeline took their two young children to visit her mother in Calcutta. It was in those months that Colin’s infamous quality of seeing the bright side waned. His letters to his Addy were full of misery and the fact it took six weeks for letters to reach Calcutta certainly did not help matters. Adeline spiritual journey moved forward, and she wrote to Colin that she had taken “the Holy Sacrament” and encouraged him to follow suit. Adeline was pregnant at the time with their third child.
*Their daughter Rose Prinsep was born on October 28, 1835, in Calcutta, East India. She was baptized on January 30, 1836, In Calcutta, Bengal, India. She married David Arnot on March 16, 1857, in Balarum, Madras, India.
Colin went to Calcutta to visit Adeline around January 1836 and met for the first time their youngest child, Rose. “Addy” was not doing well, and they had prescribed and carried out a severe course of bleeding. Her health declined to “a state that a voyage to Europe was pronounced indispensable.” Colin, Adeline, and their three young girls boarded the Catherine with the first stop being the Sandheads. Colin could not continue the voyage with her, and they were separated on April 14, 1836. When her “much-loved Colin” came to say goodbye, Adeline “threw her arms around his neck and cried in the most entreating tone: “Oh, Colin, don’t leave me!” He could only say, “It is God’s will.” Adeline continued the voyage with their children and after a week felt well enough to send Colin a letter telling him “the doctor thought her improving.” This relieved some of Colin’s anxiety, but he continued to worry about his wife. He would continue to write loving affectionate letters to his wife for several months. They would go unanswered. Adeline “his Addy” would succumb to her illness and die at sea.
Adeline Maria Pattle Mackenzie died on May 28, 1836, en route to England aboard the Catherine. She was buried at sea. She was twenty-four years old. Addy left behind daughters Adeline Anne age three, Mary Julia age two and Rose Prinsep who was seven months old.
The girls were cared for by fellow passengers until they reached England. It was there where Colin’s sister, Mrs. King, took them into her care. They remained with their aunt for seven years. ~Deborah Spooner 2022
Pallot's Marraige Index: 1780-1837
The Institute if Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Canterburg, England
This week's featured connections are Redheads: Adeline is 13 degrees from Catherine of Aragón, 20 degrees from Clara Bow, 24 degrees from Julia Gillard, 17 degrees from Nancy Hart, 16 degrees from Rutherford Hayes, 11 degrees from Rita Hayworth, 16 degrees from Leonard Kelly, 10 degrees from Rose Leslie, 13 degrees from Damian Lewis, 20 degrees from Maureen O'Hara, 21 degrees from Jopie Schaft and 31 degrees from Eirik Thorvaldsson on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.