11. Harold Jennings Sedgwick - His Parents - Rev James Henry Sedgwick and Ellen Jennings.Some questions answered

Revealing the true identity of Claude Annesley brought with it so many other questions.  

One thing is certain about this puzzle, had his son Dale known about the theft during the Boer War,  he would have insisted the monies be repaid to the British Treasury!  

But really what was a 19 year old going to do with £2000+ in Pretoria in 1902?

There is a saying that I often use - When one door closes another opens - and that is exactly what has happened.

Harold Jennings Sedgwick possibly had no knowledge of whose blood was flowing through his veins.

Finding another family, never before known to us, of brilliant men, academics, clockmakers, Clergy, all who had influenced so many others, was a wonderful surprise. 

There is no doubt at all that Harold was a very good looking man.  Perhaps that is the reason one certain lady was seeking him out in Sydney, and why he managed to marry three times.

One day more details may emerge, perhaps somewhere there is another family.  Possibly one belonging to the mysterious Dorothy Joy Annesley.  OR to others unknown.

But time to solve a few known mysteries before delving into the very interesting people who were his ancestors.

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In 2014, we travelled through UK on a three month holiday, "Walking in our Ancestor's Footsteps".

We visited a great many of the places that our ancestors had lived and worked,  married and died, visited museums and cathedrals, all the while marveling at the importance of those who shaped our DNA.

Of particular interest was finding Harold's father's headstone.  Was Claude/Harold's named on it?

That mystery was solved one Saturday in April, 2014, when we found ourselves at Royal Tunbury Wells and walked almost immediately to the grave.  Was there mention of a son?  Not one.

Harold's parents were Rev James Henry Sedgwick and Ellen Jennings.

James was a missionary in China. He spent quite a few years there, and married Ellen.  Their son was born in China.

But it was a visit to the Birmingham University Library that provided an insight into James's life and difficulties serving abroad.

He wrote many articles, and papers.  They are stored loosely within the Archives, not catalogued.  It would take forever to try to find and collate all his works.

But we were lucky enough to find some articles and letters particularly regarding his health as he was having trouble with his eyesight and asked for a transfer.

James's request to return to Hong Kong or England due to his health was rather rudely put by the Bishop who more or less told him like it or lump it!

Another question regarded Mr Elwin.

Remember those letters that Claude/Harold received in 1922 from the solicitor named Ewyn in Dover?

While it will never be found the true facts, there is something to consider.

The Elwyns wrote to Harold using his alias, Claude Annesley.  Now to be able to do that, they had to have had contact with him as early as 1916, when the first letter was written.

Were they aware that he had changed his identity, it seems very likely, and what was the connection?

While serving in World War 1 he spent a lot of time in England.  Did he visit his father and his family?  Another unknown, but there was a relationship between his parents and the Elwyns.

Time to shed some light on that and other discoveries.

To do so, we spent hours in the Birmingham University Library, as the Anglican Church had been most helpful in finding where any records relating to Rev Sedgwick might be stored.

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At this point in the research regarding Harold's parents, there were some stumbling blocks.

James and Ellen married in China, that information came from their wedding certificate.

But what was Ellen doing in China?  A young girl from a family of Clergy living in China in 1880?

How did she get there? 

Those questions were answered by a stroke of luck, when reading pages and pages of documents relating to the Church Mission in China.

There it was, reference to Rev Elwyn.  Ellen went to China with his family as a Governess for his children.

 In fact he had to then seek a replacement and the issue arose about the cost of the voyage.  Before his marriage to Ellen, James had asked to return to England, as his eyes were poorly.  The argument was that if the Church didn't have to pay for James to return that they could then pay for a replacement for Ellen!  Diplomacy!

 

James and Ellen were married by the Rev Elwin, in China on 1st October 1881

 An indication of some of his letters that have been catalogued.

It was a rather emotional time at the Birmingham Library Archives, when I discovered the following letter written by James to the Committee.  I read it out, and the librarian and myself both became rather teary.

Lovely words, written so very long ago.    Sad words

   

Their transcription:

Hang Chow,  June 13th 1881

My dear Mr Wigram

In September 1880  applied to the Committee for leave to return to England to consult a skilled oculist and they kindly granted a conditional consent.  I could never bring myself to contemplate a return home within ten years with any degree of satisfaction and it is now with unfeigned pleasure that I am in a position to give notice to the Committee that, with their consent, I may be able still to stay on for some years.  The change is brought about by my contemplated marriage to which I ask the sanction of the Committee.

The lady is Miss Jennings daughter of the Reverend P. Jennings, Longfield Rectory Grevesend, who came out two and a half years ago with the Elwins and has continued with them since; honoured and loved, not along with them, but by all who know her.  Of her earnest priority  and suitability to become a real wife to a Missionary there can be no question and to this both Bishop Mouls and Mr Elwin can testify.  With the assistance which a wife can always render a husband the perversion of eyesight from which I suffer will not so seriously interfere with my reading as much as is necessary to my usefulness in every way with Miss Jennings for my wife I look forward to being at least as useful again as before, for in addition to her many other uncommon virtues, she manifests a zeal for the study of Chinese, and has made a progress, which are altogether remarkable in one who has been so comparatively short a time in the country.

Some members of Miss Jennings family have died of consumption, but as far as the Doctor who has examined her and her own feeling and knowledge are guides, she herself we are both thankful to God to be so far assured is free from disease, and she is now beyond the age (31 next birthday) when the latent seeds of disease generally develop.

But we believe and trust that no such latent seeds of consumption at present and these remarks are only made to guard against the possibility that some members of the Committee may be informed of the late death of Miss Jennings's younger brother.  Miss Jennings came out to China at the Society's expense and as Mr Elwin required that a substitute be found for her, I beg to request that the passage money of such substitute may be granted by the Committee and that such money be placed at the disposal of Mr Jacobs, Messrs Dickson, Stewart, Mansion House Blogs.

Begging for an early reply and hoping that the God of Missions may help and bless us from all and to restore Mr Elwin speedily.  I remain, Very sincere, Yours JH Sedgwick.

They married, Ellen became pregnant, and there was a series of letter that he wrote again, this time he mentioned his wife was "poorly".  The common terminology for pregnant.

The chapter was closed, when letters announcing that Ellen had died were discovered.  The actual date of death was not confirmed, but Mr Elwin and others wrote to England advising the death, and the situation that James was now placed in, with the baby.

A rather poignant story.  Ellen whose own mother died, when she was a baby, died, shortly after the birth of her son.  Unfortunately though he did not rise above it all!

Ordination of Rev James Henry Sedgwick

 Rev Elwin:

A son of Edward Elwin of Dover, Kent, a solicitor, he was born on 11th November 1845, and died on 1st May 1922. He married Mary, daughter of William Stephen Jacob on 23rd November 1869, the service being conducted by the Reverend George Andrew Jacob, an uncle of Mary's. Mary was born on 14th October 1854 at Poona, India, and died on 7th August 1888 at Anerley, London.

After being ordained priest by the Bishop of London on 19th December 1969, Arthur and Mary set off for China as missionaries. They were to stay in China on four occasions, 1870-1874, 1878-1884. 1886-1894 and 1895-1900. On 7th January 1902 Arthur resigned from CMS on medical grounds.

Arthur and Mary had children:

1 Elizabeth, born and died 5th July 1870.
2 Rosa Mary, born 13th October 1871 at Hangchow, China.
3 William Hedger, born on 8th May 1873 at Hangchow.
4 Edith, born on 2nd April 1875.
5 Arthur Crawford, born on 15th July 1877.
6 Bertha, born on 14th May 1879.
7 Philip, born on 9th November 1881.
8 Rowena Ruth, born on 14th December 1884.

Ellen cared for those children.  Did his wife then care for Harold?

Bishop Moule 

George Evans Moule (January 28, 1828, Gillingham, Dorset – March 3, 1912, Auckland Castle) was an Anglican missionary^[1] in China and the first Anglican bishop of mid-China.

He was the second of eight sons of Henry Moule, an inventor and the vicar of Fordington, Dorset and his wife Mary Mullett Moule née Evans. He graduated from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1850.



 He was made a Doctor of Divinity in 1880 and in 1905 was made an honorary Fellow of the college. In 1857 he was accepted by the Church Missionary Society and arrived in Ningpo in 1858. In 1861 he was joined there by his brother Arthur Evans Moule.

They survived the Taiping Rebellion, and in 1864 he began missionary work in Hangchow, remaining there until 1874. In 1880 he was made Bishop of Mid-China,with the seat of the diocese at Hangchow.

He resigned as bishop in 1907, and returned to England in 1911, to die the next year at the residence of his younger brother Handley Moule, the Bishop of Durham.

In some ways it is easy to feel sorry for Harold.  He must have felt unloved, and perhaps unwanted.

He obviously suffered from not having his mother, perhaps that became

 a reflection of who he became.

But he also carried so much emotional "baggage".

He told lies to cover his lies, sometimes that must have been very difficult indeed.  Never knowing which ball was bouncing, which story he had told, to whom.

  

Despite all that, he was very well respected when he first joined the Australian Army in WW1.

In fact, he even trained my Durnford cousin in Mackay!