Plantation owner Hugh Mill Bunbury of Guyana was the third and arguably the most eccentric of the six sons born to Thomas Bunbury of Cranavonane and his wife Mary Mill. He was born on 11th February 1766. He appears to have moved to the West Indies as a young man, possibly with one of his brothers. In 1799, just 2 years after the island's conquest by Britain, he founded the great Devonshire estates in British Guyana. The children of his first wife provide troublesome - his daughter Lydia was disinherited for marrying the French Romantic poet Count Alfred de Vigny; his son Henry was written out of the records, possibly for his erratic behaviour as a young man in Scotland. His second marriage to Alicia Lille produced four sons, of whom the most prominent was Charles Thomas Bunbury, commander of the Rifle Brigade and husband of Lady Harriot Dundas. Hugh's grandson Hamilton Bunbury converted to Catholicism and became one of Pope Pius XI's Privy Chamberlain to, as well as heir to the Bunbury family seat of Cranavonane. Another grandson was the much decorated businessman, Evelyn James Bunbury.
On 6th August 1791, the year of his father's death, he was married in St. Vincent to 16-year-old Lydia Prisca Cox, the eldest of seven children born to Herbert Palmer Cox and his wife Jane. (Reports that suggest this marriage was in the UK are wrong.)
Herbert Cox was born in London in 1748 but left England for St Vincent on assignment with the British Army, sometime between 1770 and 1774. (1) On 6th August 1774, he was married in St Vincent to Jane Alexander, daughter of the Hon. Harry Alexander of Antigua and his wife, Lydia Martin. Herbert became a prominent individual on St Vincent and is listed as a member of a "Friendly Club" in 1785. He held several ranks in both the British Army and the St Vincent Island Militia from at least 1789 until his death aged 75 on 8 April 1824. In addition to his military and governmental duties, Herbert owned slaves and at least one sugar plantation. Lydia and her twin sister Margaret were baptized on 20 August 1775 in the island's St George's Anglican Cathedral in Kingstown.
Margaret Cox, Lydia's younger twin, was married on 29 August 1796 to former army surgeon Dr Alexander Melville, with whom she had ten children. Lydia's younger brother Francis James Cox lived on the nearby island of St. Lucia and died on 1st July 1824 aged 39.
Their younger sister Anne Elizabeth Cox was married in 1809 to James Grant, a kinsman of Sir Alexander Grant.
Lydia's youngest brother Douglas Leith Cox was married in 1821 to Magdalen Sutherland with whom he had several children, born in St Vincent, Scotland, Canada and Hampshire in England.
Another brother Philip Greathead Cox did not surivive childhood.
In 1796, the British captured the former Dutch colony of Demerara which then became British Guiana, now Guyana. Hugh, Lydia and their baby daughter Lydia Jane Bunbury moved there soon afterwards. (Lydia was apparently born in 1796 although there is no documentary proof of this yet).
In 1798, Hugh allegedly fathered an Edward Bunbury from a mixed race association, and it was Edward who later became the operator/owner of the Bunbury sugar plantations. This information came from Anthony Bunbury's research.
In 1799 Hugh purchased some bushland outside Essquibo in Demerara which he cultivated into what later became the Devonshire and Devonshire Castle estates, specialising in coffee, cotton and sugar. The published 'Recollections' of his illegitimate nephew Major Thomas Bunbury include some references to this plantation - and to the compensation his uncle received for the loss of slaves following the prohibition of slavery. Hugh had offered to purchase his nephew a Majority in the army but this was declined. In 1800, Lydia gave birth to a son, Hugh Mill Bunbury, whose birth may have resulted in Lydia's premature death. A newspaper article in The Times of London on the probate of Hugh M Bunbury states Lydia died in Demerara but was buried in St Vincent on 1st September 1800.
Hugh and Lydia's daughter Lydia Jane Bunbury came to literary fame in 1825 when she was married in Pau to the French dramatist and Romantic poet, Count Alfred de Vigny (1797 - 1863), then a Captain in the Red Mousquetaires of Louis XVIII. De Vigny was born in 1797 in the Touraine region of France to aristocratic parents who, though once wealthy, had lost their fortune during the French Revolution. The family moved to Paris where de Vigny was raised among other families nostalgic for the ancien régime of pre-Revolutionary France. In 1814, he followed family tradition and joined the Royal Guard, in which he served for thirteen years. While serving in the military he had several poems published, noted for there stoical despair and pessimistic views. It was towards the end of his time as a Musketeer that he met and married Lydia Bunbury. After they were married, Lydia revealed that she had lied about her date of birth, stating she was born in 1799 (rather than the expecetd date of 1796). Vigny was born in 1797 and Lydia did not want him to know she was older. The problem of Lydia's date of birth is discussed on p. 215 of Alfred de Vigny et les siens, PUF, 1989. (With thanks to Janette Mcleman Carnie).
The story runs that Hugh disapproved of Vigny. Indeed, according to French gossip, Hugh was 'so conspicuous an example of insular eccentricity that he never could remember his son-in-law's name or anything about him, except that he was a poet'. At any rate, he seems to have disinherited Lydia on account of the marriage. Lydia, poor thing, became a chronic invalid shortly after the marriage. She also never learned to speak French fluently. Being a Romantic poet, de Vigny became involved with several other women, including the great Romantic actress Marie Dorval. De Vigny was also said to have been disappointed when Hugh's second marriage to Alice Lillie deprived the couple of an anticipated inheritance, as evidenced by the court case of 1839, see below.
When an English theatre troupe visited Paris in 1827 with a Shakespearean production, de Vigny became interested in the stage. In 1831, he presented his first original play, La Maréchale d'Ancre, a historical drama recounting the events leading up to the reign of King Louis XIII. In 1835, he produced a drama titled Chatterton, based on the life of Thomas Chatterton, considered one of the best of the French romantic dramas. It made de Vigny famous and for a while, he was seen as Victor Hugo's literary rival.
In 1833, Lydia was caught up in a family scandal when her first cousin Henry Mill Bunbury married another first cousin, Mary Bunbury, to the dismay of her uncle Colonel Hamilton Bunbury. For more, see Bunbury of Cranavonane.
Disillusioned by politics, failed love affairs, and his lack of recognition as a writer, de Vigny withdrew from Parisian society after 1840. In 1845, following several unsuccessful attempts, he was elected to the prestigious literary society, Académie française. Three years later, de Vigny retreated to the family home at Charente, for which the French critic Charles Augustin Sainte-beuve coined the phrase 'tour d'ivoire' or 'ivory tower'. There, he lived quietly until his death from stomach cancer in 1863, a few months after Lydia herself had passed away after a long illness. De Vigny is interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris, France. They left no children. (2)
Burke's states that Hugh Mill Bunbury was born in 1800 and died in Canada in 1866. He was born in Guyana, after his father's first marriage in St Vincent West Indies to Lydia Cox. There is something mysterious about this man who, like his sister, was disinherited by their father. (3) The notion that he was a ladies man is suggested by the fact that he was married four times. One of the earliest references to him concerns some marriage banns, dated 11-25 August 1822, between a Hugh Mills Bunbury and Mary Ann Eugenia Lauretta Chiles. It is assumed this marriage did not take place as, when he married Maria James in 1823, the register described him as a bachelor.
Report from Times Online Archive:
Wednesday January 5th 1825:
Insolvent Debtors Court, Tuesday, Jan. 4. 1825, Hugh Mills Bunbury late of Cambridge University was opposed by Messrs Pollock and Heath for a great number of creditors, principally trades people. The insolvent, who is a fashionable looking young man, not yet 24 years of age, stated in the course of his examination by Mr. Pollock that he went to Cambridge about the 26th of April last, accompanied by Mr. Platt, who is Bachelor of Corpus Christi College, as his tutor. He took his wife down there also, with a young lady named Harris. On his arrival he engaged lodgings at two guineas a week, in the suburbs of the town. He had previously lived for eighteen months at Walworth, and was in the habit of attending Mr. Hartley’s office, in New Bridge Street, BIackfriars, for the purpose of qualifying himself by legal study to enter Lincoln's Inn. He remained at Cambridge only until the 1st of September, when he again returned to Walworth, and through the medium of an advertisement in The Times newspaper, obtained a situation on trial at the British Annuity office. He was arrested on two actions and gave bail. The persecution of his creditors prevented him from retaining his situation or returning to the University and taking his degree of bachelor of arts. He had engaged himself in the conveyancing department of the British Annuity office, with the intention of applying his salary to the payment of the demands against him. He is not the son or the nephew of Sir Charles Bunbury; nor had he ever said he was. His father was never Commissary General of the Ionian Islands, nor did he say he was; but he had been Commissary General of the Leeward Islands. He is 23 years of age, and has been married 18 months. Shortly before he went to Cambridge, his income was reduced to 120l a year; but his father's agent gave him a sum of 120l when he was going to college. In 1812 he received 600l from his father; in 1813, 800l. He had no specific allowance. Up to 1822 he might have spent 40,000l but in the middle of 1823 his income was cut down to 10l per month. He was proceeding, but . . . . .
The Chief Commissioner recommended him to answer the questions put to him, and not boast of the enormous sums of money he had squandered. . . . .
The Insolvent continued. He had Miss Harris on a visit with him because his wife was in delicate health. He had met her at the house of Mr. Pilme, a sculptor. Whilst he was at Cambridge, two poor men were drowned; and he raised 31 by subscription for their widows, all of which he paid over, except l5s, part of his own donation, to gentlemen named Martin and Campbell, members of the University. At one time there was a concert at Cambridge. Madame Catalani, Miss Stephens and other eminent performers were there. He gave a breakfast and dinner on that occasion. Signor Placci, Signor Spagnioletti, Mr. Sapio, Mr. Vaughan, and others attended his entertainment. The dinner was provided by Mrs.Dickinson the cook of St. Catherine’s Hall. Mr. Rutledge supplied the cheese and dessert, consisting of pineapples, melons, etc.. Mr. Newton supplied part of the wines, and Mr. Haughton the remainder. The entertainment was given, not at his college rooms, but at his lodgings. He did not know the amount of the bills. He expected an increased allowance from his father when he went to Cambridge. He did not borrow any money while there, except 3l from Mr. Bramah when he was coming up to town. He entered a debt of 26l in his schedule, as due from Mr. Corrie. It was the caution money he was obliged to lodge with him on entering the college. He was not aware it had been forfeited. He was obliged to dispose of part of the clothes he had had of Mr. Creek, and also two rings and a watch, to bring his wife up to town. His books, and a few articles of plate, were seized for three weeks' rent at Walworth. He contracted a debt with Mr. Ridgely for china and glass; he returned the glass. He also contracted a debt with Mr. Thrower for silk dresses &c. He gave some of them to his wife, and made Miss Harris a present of some: the remainder he pledged. He had not accounted for the duplicates in his schedule, because he had given them up to his brother-in.law, to whom he was indebted. The 120l he had received from his father's agent had been expended in travelling, and in paying his College expenses. He never had a horse of his own, but he had hired a horse and gig: and he occasionally drove a second horse tandem. He was never charged for the extra horse. He had never been a member of either of the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh. When he went to Cambridge, he owed 70l to tailors, &c.; during his stay there he increased his debts to upwards of 500l. The following affidavits were then put in and read :-
A. Campbell, Esq., of Jesus College, Cambridge, swore, that the insolvent entered a Fellow Commoner of St. Catherine's Hall and stated himself to have been an officer in the 16th Lancers, but had sold out about two years for the purpose of entering the Church; that he was allowed 900l a year by his father, who was brother to Sir Charles Bunbury; that his mother was a rich heiress; that when he reached 25 years of age, he would become entitled to considerable property, and that it was his intention to keep a couple of hunters, besides horses for driving. In consequence of these representations, the deponent and other members of the University introduced him to several of their friends.
Wm. Ford, A. B., stated, amongst other things, that the insolvent represented that he had taken the degree of A.B. at Edinburgh.
Mr. Creek, tailor, &c., swore that he had been induced by the insolvent's representations respecting his family, fortune &c to give him credit for 40l worth of clothes. On one occasion the insolvent said to him, "I wear the gown usually worn by noblemen, and I shall require to have such a gown made."
Mrs. Dickinson, cook of St. Catherine's Hall, stated that she was induced by similar representations to give him credit for cooking and pastry to the amount of 29l.
Mr. Corrie, of Cambridge, swore that the insolvent's name was struck out of the College board and nothing was due to him.
Mr. Rutledge stated that he had given the insolvent credit for 18l worth of cheese and fruit.
When the above affidavits were read ,the insolvent was examined in explanation at great length by Mr. Cooke, and stated that he went to Cambridge at the instance of Mr. Platt, and of Mr.Ross, the barrister, of Lincoln's.Inn, who is his relation. He did not know the difference when he entered between a fellow commoner and a pensioner. His father's name is the same as his own. When in town he resides at No. 4, Burlington Street; he is a West Indian planter, having estates In Demerara. He is now travelling, abroad. He had received a promise that his income should be doubled. When he contracted the debts complained of, he gave a reference to his uncle, Thomas Bunbury - to another uncle in Berkshire - to Mr. Holmes of the Treasury – to Dr. Wright, and to Mr. Ross.
The Chief Commissioner here directed Mr. Bramah's affidavit to be read. It stated that the insolvent represented that he had been an officer in the 16th Lancers-that he was to receive 30,000l on the death of his mother - that he was the nephew of Sir C. Bunbury - that he was promised a valuable living by Lord Grey, but that the Bishop of Salisbury had refused him ordination until he should have attended a course of divinity lectures, &c.
Insolvent's examination renewed - He endeavoured to effect an arrangement with his creditors, to whom he offered to pay 5s. in the pound, and 2l a month out of his 10l and still more if he obtained a salary; but they refused to accept it, and he was obliged to surrender in discharge of his bail.
Mr. Pollock addressed the Court on behalf of the opposing creditors,
Mr. Cooke, on the other side, complained of the introduction of the affidavits of persons who were not creditors, for the purposes of blackening this young man's character, and protracting his imprisonment. He had obtained no credit by whatever vain representations be might have made to his fellow-students in their rooms; but his doors were beset by rapacious trades people, anxious to force their goods upon him, because he had the appearance of a gentleman; and he was now forced by these very individuals to endure this day's ordeal for the paltry sum of a couple of hundred pounds. If he had been guilty of errors, they were the errors of a youth reared in extravagance. He was now but 23 years of age and he trusted that some indulgence would be extended towards him by the Court.
The Court observed, that this schedule must be amended, by the insertion of the duplicates, &c.; and when the necessary alterations were made, and the notices all served, they would state what the period would be for which they would remand this insolvent. It certainly would not be an inconsiderable one. They had often had occasion to remark upon the facility with which tradesmen gave credit to young men who were sent to the seats of learning, who were therefore not entitled to much protection from this Court. The present case, however, was of a very different description; for here the insolvent was not a raw inexperienced boy, but one who had led a long career of extravagance, and even boasted of having squandered 40,000l. It was to be hoped that this day's exposure would operate with a beneficial effect upon his mind; if not, nothing that he could say could add to it. When the alterations were completed, the insolvent would be brought up to receive the judgment of the court.
There is also the possibility, if one is to read Miles and Mills, that he somehow ties in with a the case of MacKenzie v Bunbury, reported in The Times in February 1830. This states that 'Mr. Hugh Miles Bunbury' , defendant, 'who is a gentleman of property ... having a son of an untoward disposition, sent him to a small school in a remote part of Scotland where, however, he soon formed an attachment to a young lady which induced his master to take measures to be relieved of his charge'. Through the medium of his friend, Mr Ross, Hugh then put his son into the office of a Mr. MacKenzie, plaintiff, 'a writer to the signet at Edinburgh'. 'One of the earliest uses' which the pragmatic boy 'made of the plaintiff's law books was to seek out and copy a contract of marriage according to the Scotch law, and which he immediately entered to with the young lady above-mentioned'. By the time friends of both parties discovered the marriage, 'the young gentleman' was seeing 'another lady whom he liked better'. The marriage was duly annulled at a cost of £30. In the meantime, Mr MacKenzie had tired of his charge whom he found to be 'anything but an agreeable appendage to his family' . He sent him to a friend in London who then dispatched him to friends in Hampshire. It transpired that poor MacKenzie had to foot all these bills himself, including the £30 annulment and £60 travel expenses, which is why he had been obliged to take Hugh to court. Hugh, then living in France, wrote a letter to assure him of payment but no money followed. Hugh was ordered to pay up, but cut the travelling expenses from £60 to £25. (4)
Hugh married his first wife, Maria James, on 16th December 1823, in Newington, Surrey. Their only child Amelia Ann Bunbury was born shortly afterwards.
We do not yet know what became of Maria Bunbury but on 6th October 1828, Hugh was married secondly to Anne Gresty (sometimes written as Greisty), the wedding taking place in Middlewich, Cheshire. Anne died in July 1839 in Uxbridge, Middlesex, having begotten six children, Lydia Ann Bunbury (born 1830), Hugh Mills Bunbury (born at Nantwich, Cheshire, on 25th March 1832), Henry Thomas Bunbury (born 1834), Maria Louisa Bunbury (born 1836), Alfred Bunbury (born 1838) and Ann Gresty Bunbury (born at West Drayton, Middlesex, on 8th June 1839).
It seems Anne died in 1839, perhaps in childbirth while giving birth to Ann in June. The West Drayton connection must have been strong because in December of that same year Hugh was married thirdly, in the same town, to Jane Johnson. (3) Their son Herbert Augustus Johnson Bunbury was christened on 25 October 1840 in Calais & St. Omer, France. Sadly the baby died the next day and was buried in Calais on 28 October. It seems likely that like Anne, Jane died shortly after the birth as there is no further record of her.
On the 1841 census, three of Hugh's children - 11-year-old Lydia, 5-year-old Maria and 3-year-old is registered as living in High Street, Bromley, Kent. However, 2-year-old Ann was staying with the Wilkinson family at Willaston, Nantwich, Cheshire.
On 10th November 1845, 45-year-old Hugh boarded the Toronto ship and set sail across the Atlantic from London to New York with his three sons and four daughters. Amelia was by then 22 while Lydia, the eldest child of his second marriage, was 15. Hugh's third wife Jane does not appear to have sailed with the family.
The Bunburys settled in Canada. A report on the 16th June 1847 gives the following: "Hugh Mills Bunbury was a visitor at "the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the Loyal Orange Association of British North America" in" Cobourg, Canada West".
On 22nd October 1858, 58-year-old Hugh was married fourthly to 20-year-old Anna M. Lowrie in Ontario, Canada. It seems they had already been together for some time as they had a son, Alfred William Bunbury, who was born in 1854. This suggests that Hugh's older son Alfred (by Ann Gresty) had died young.
In the 1861 Census, Henry Mill Bunbury was living in Verulam Township, Ontario, with Charles H. Bunbury, aged 12, and Edward J Bunbury, aged 11. Both boys were born in Upper Canada.
Hugh and Anna's son Alfred William Bunbury was born in 1854 and married in Bristol in November 1882 to 24-year-old school mistress Emily J. Perrin, daughter of Martha Perrin. At the time of the 1891 Census, 37-year-old Alfred worked as a Wholesale & Retail Stationer and lived at 6 Seymour Road, St Philip & St Jacob Out, Bristol. (Registration district Barton Regis.) Alfred died in Bristol, aged 69 in September 1922. (GRO cert: 6 a 129). Emily died in Bristol in April 1928, aged 70. (GRO cert: 6 a 153). They had three children - Norah Lillian Bunbury (Dec 1883 - Aug 1897 who died in Bristol aged just 14), Hugh Mill Bunbury (21 Sep 1889 - Apr 1972, who died in Evesham, aged 83) and Cecil Edward Bunbury (May-Nov 1899, who died in Bristol aged six months). Alfred's son Hugh married Daisy Leonore Webb (d. 1981) in Bristol in 1919. Their daughter Clare Leonore Bunbury was born in Bristol on 5th August 1921. In May 1947 she was married in Heywood to John D. Wheeler. hey had two daughters Sarah Wheeler (born 1948) and Jane Wheeler (born 1951). Clare died in March 2004 in Sutton, aged 82.
As to some of Hugh's other children by Ann Gresty:
1) Hugh Mills Bunbury jr, the eldest son, appears to have married Louisa Jane Ruttan on 12 May 1858 in Canada. They had children - Anna born c.1858 (who married George Anderson on 2 September 1884) and Hugh (born .c. 1860). HMB jr. may also have fathered Charles Bunbury either with Louisa or someone else prior to their marriage; Charles was the husband of Mary R. Hutchison. HMB jr. then married Adda or Adde Cole (Adelaide Cole, who was born in 1847) and died in 1902 aged 68. (This information was provided by George and Annie's great-granddaughter Susann Anderson who has copies of both the Bunbury-Cole marriage license and HMB's death certificate from 1902).They lived in the Durham East/Port Hope area of Ontario and their son Henry Mills Bunbury III was born circa 1869-1872). Henry Mills Bunbury III was married in Picton, Ontario, on 25th March 1891, to Edna Stacia Stortts.
2) Henry Thomas Bunbury, the second son, married JANE MONA DAINTRY on 5th September 1867 in Hamilton, Canada. She was born 18 Nov 1844. Henry died in Hamilton, Wentworth, Ontario on 14th February, 1913 aged 78 years. (3a) Their daughter Mona Bunbury married Judge Thomson of Hamilton.
3) In 1849 Lydia Ann Bunbury was living in Otanabee Township, Peterborough, Ontario with her father. Later in the same year she was married in Coburg, Northhumberland, Ontario.
At any rate, the Guyana property duly passed to a Robert Bunbury. And that's all I know of this branch. In 2004, a friend working in Guyana sent me a photocopy of the Georgtown Telephone Book that listed 24 Bunbury's and a good few Bumbury's (separated by the Bumper to Bumper Car Service!). She also sent me an article from the Guyana Stabroek newspaper dated Sunday 19th October 2003 relating to a Roger Bunbury who was wanted for double murder so I hope he is not too closely related. I am also in touch with Anthony Bunbury whose great-grandfather, George Bunbury, born 1854, was a gold-miner and farmer in Guyana and married Mary Burnett; I think their son married a Guyana girl. There's also mention of an Edward Bunbury who owned a plantation at Sparta. Anthony's uncle Lancelot Bunbury, who passed away in 2004, lived in his grandfather's house in Diamond just outside Georgetown. In his last correspondence with me he said there was more than one Sydney Bunbury living in Guyana today, one of whom was his first cousin via an Uncle Lyndon Bunbury.
In the summer of 2007, I was contacted by Dan Bunbury. His father David Bunbury (1933-2006) was born in Georgetown, British Guiana, and his mother hailed from Colorado. His grandfather Leslie Bunbury (1903-1967) was also born there. He had a brother Philip Bunbury, a sister Coraline Bunbury and another sister. Leslie’s family - and his wife's family - were involved in the colonial administration, as well as the sugar industry. In 1971, during the diaspora that followed Independence, Leslie’s widow left ‘old BG as they used to call it’ with her only other son. David was subsequently recruited to teach chemistry at a small Catholic university in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, after finishing his PH.D. at Notre Dame in the States. Dan and his three siblings were born and raised in Antigonish. Dan was born in 1962, has a Ph.D. in Canadian History and now works in health research.
In March 1822, seven years after Napoleon's fall at Waterloo, Hugh Mill Bunbury took as his second wife Alicia Lillie, daughter of Philip Lillie whose address is given in Burke's as Drumdoe Castle, County Roscommon. Drumdoe is located on the southeastern shore of Lough Arrow but I know of no such castle. Alicia bore him a further four sons - Peter, Henry, Charles and Francis - and four daughters. Sometime after this Hugh took residence at West Hill in Wandsworth, Surrey, where he still had an address at the time of his death in 1838. His wife surivived him until 13th October 1863 when she died at her London residence, 7 Prince's Square in Bayswater. (*) All their children are looked at again below except (until further information arises) the fourth son Francis Hamilton Bunbury (born 1839, died unmarried in Munich aged 19 in 1858).
In 1839, just months after Hugh Mills Bunburys death, a court case took place between his children by his first marriage to Lydia Cox (ie: Henry Mill Bunbury and Lydia de Vigny, with her husband Count Alfred also mentioned) and the seven infant children of his second marriage to Alicia Lillie. The main question was whether the Court in Demerara (governed by the laws of Holland) or the Court of Chancery in Great Britain were the proper jurisdiction for the trial of the suit. It transpired that in 1799 Hugh purchased some bushland in Demerara which he cultivated into what later became the Devonshire and Devonshire Castle estates. Upon his marriage to Lydia in August 1791, Hugh had 'made a settlement of certain slaves with their future issue, and increases, for himself for life, and afterwards for his wife for life, and afterwards for the issue of their marriage on attaining 21 or marrying'. As the Devonshire estates did not exist at the time of this marriage settlement, the case was to decide whether the children of his second marriage had any rights to the estate. The details of the case themselves are too complex to note here but the link is footnoted below. The Emancipation Act did not come into affect in Demerara (aka Guyana) until 1840. (5)
Hugh and Alicia's eldest daughter Alicia Mary Delphine Bunbury was born in Nice in 1823, lived with her mother at 7 Prince's Square and died at Stroud in Gloucester as a 76-year-old spinster in March 1899. The second, Elizabeth Catherine Bunbury (1827 - 1916) was married at Reinach in Switzerland on 6th November 1854 to Count Constantine Jasienski of Indorow and Narewka in Volbynia. (6) The Count died at Zitomir in Poland in March 1916. They had no children. The third daughter, Anne Maria Bunbury (1829 - 1906) became a Carmelite nun. The Times (Friday, Oct 16, 1829) mentions a daughter born 'to the lady of H.M. Bunbury' in Versailles on 11th October 1829 which may have been Anne Marie and also supports the notion that Hugh lived in France at the time of MacKenzie v Bunbury. The fourth and youngest sister Alicia Belinda Bunbury (1833 - 1885) likewise married Count Alexander Jasienski, presumably a brother of Constantine, and left issue a son of whom no further details are known.
Hugh and Alicia Bunbury's eldest son was Philip Peter Mill Bunbury.
He was born on 23rd March 1824. His military career began on 16th April
1840 as a Cornet, 7th Dragoon Guards, and he rose to become Captain. On
12th January 1865 he married Georgina MacEvoy, daughter of Peter
MacEvoy of Wimbledon, Surrey, and Great Cumberland Place in London WI.
There is a suggestion of a Catholic conversion at this point. Georgina
died on 30th May 1885 in Croydon, aged 58. Philip died at West Hampnet on
28th July 1894, aged 70.
Philip and Georgina Bunbury's son, Major Hamilton Joseph Bunbury,
was 20 years old when he succeeded to the family seat of Cranavonane
in Ireland on the death of his cousin Henry Mill Bunbury in 1886.
Hamilton was born on 14th February 1866 and educated at Downside. He served
as a Captain in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment
and later as a Major in the 4th Battalion HLI. He became a Knight of the
Sovereign Order of Malta and, in 1923, served as Privy Chamberlain of
the Sword and Cape to His Holiness Pope Pius XI. He died unmarried
at Ballygate Cottage, Beccles, Suffolk, on 13th May 1949, and was buried
in the local Catholic Church. Philip and Georgina's only daughter, Mary
Alicia Bunbury, also took to the Catholic cloth, becoming a Nun of the
Order of the Good Shepherds. She died aged 86 on 12th March 1953.
Hugh and Alicia Bunbury's third son, Charles Thomas Bunbury, was born in Wandsworth in the spring of 1836. He joined the army in June 1855, serving as a lieutenant with the Rifle Brigade. He later commanded the Rifle Brigade, retiring in 1881 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. On 7th April 1875 he married Lady Harriot Emily Dundas, a descendent of Lawrence Dundas, a wealthy Scottish businessman and Member of Parliament. Her father, the Hon. Charles Dundas, younger son of the 1st Earl of Zetland, lived in Yorkshire. Lady Harriot's brother Lawrence Dundas of Aske Hall, Richmond, Yorkshire, was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1889 until 1892, in which year he was created 1st Marquess of Zetland. According to her obituary in The Times, Lady Harriot's 'early years were spent in Yorkshire, first at Oran and then at Middleton Lodge. A lover of horses, she was fond of hunting and driving. Second only to her love of horses was her fondness for music and painting. There are some still living who will remember the three sisters at Middleton Lodge, Lady Charlotte at the big organ, and Lady Harriot and Lady Alice each at a grand piano flanking the organ, giving musical evenings to their guests. Winter visits to the Riviera afforded opportunities for developing her taste for music and paintings. She often described the family progress by special saloon from Calais to Marseilles, where the railway then ended, and the rest of the journey to Nice by post-chaise. In the first chaise went her father, herself and the elder boys, followed by her mother and the other children, and in the third chaise the servants and luggage. Each chaise was drawn by four horses managed by one postilion only, riding one of the wheelers with long reins to the leaders. That arrangement struck her as extremely dangerous as they usually progressed at a smart canter, but she never remembered any accident preventing their safe arrival at their villa in Nice'. One of her aunts married Earl Fitzwilliam's agent and brother-in-law, Robert Chaloner, MP, a member of the wealthy alum mining family from Guisborough in Yorkshire. (See: R B Turton, The Alum Farm). Robert would become heavily embroiled in the controversial exodus of the Fitzwilliam tenantry to Canada that still has historians puzzling over whether Earl Fitzwilliam was the Oskar Schindler of the Irish Famine. (See Humewood Castle for more or 'Black Diamonds' by Catherine Bailey). After her marriage, she lived the life of an officer's wife, going with her husband to Ireland, Woolwich, Aldershot and finally to the Rifle Depot at Winchester where they lived at Cotswold House. The Bunburys remained in Winchester after Thomas's retirement, until his death on 9th October 1917, six months after Wilfred was killed in action. All four sons were in France when Wilfred was killed. Of their nine children, three died within three weeks during the whooping cough epidemic of 1886. Lady Harriot was on the committee of the Rifleman's aid Sociaty and the Soldiers & Sailors Wives & Families Association. Thomas and Lady Harriot had six children who survived childhood - four military minded sons, Charles, Wilfred, Bertram and Evelyn, and two daughters, Mary and Cecilia, all of whom are profiled below. Lady Harriot died at Ovington Gardens in London at the age of 90 on 11th December 1939. (7)
Thomas and Lady Harriot Bunbury's eldest son Charles Hamilton de St
Pierre Bunbury was born on 23rd September 1877 and educated at Prior
Park and RMC Sandhurst. He served in the Boer War after which, on 22nd November
1905, he married Dorothy Hughes, daughter of Herbert Hughes,
CB, CMG, of Ashdell Grove, Sheffield. He died on 9th May 1956 leaving three
daughters.
The eldest daughter Sylvia Dorothy Mary Bunbury was born in 1909
and married in 1939 to G/Capt Charles Broughton, CBE, RAF, son of
Charles Broughton of Timaru, New Zealand, with whom she had two daughters
Jennifer (b. July 1940) and Vivien (b. Jan 1947).
The middle daughter Pamela Constance Bunbury was married in May 1938
to Roy Denzil Lindo, elder son of Percy Lindo of Royston, Kingston,
Jamaica. They had a son David (Roy Anthony) Lindo (b. 1948)
and three daughters, Sandra (Vivienne) (b. 1938), Anne Caroline
(b. 1945) and Josephine Bronwen Mary (b. 1952). Roy was a brother-in-law
of Joe Blackwell, late husband to Meike Blackwell, for whom my daughter
Jemima Meike McClintock Bunbury is named.
The youngest daughter Virginia Jean Bunbury was born in 1919 and
settled in Washington DC.
They also had two sons, Neil and Nigel, who died in infancy in October 1923
and December 1925 respectively.
Thomas and Lady Harriot Bunbury's second son Wilfred Joseph Bunbury was born on 21st February 1882. He was educated at Beaumont and St George's College, Weybridge, where he matriculated at the London University Examination; he was afterwards at Ushaw College, Durham. Before the war he was in the firm of Wise, Speke & Co, Stockbrokers, Newcastle on Tyne. Wilfred was a well-known member of the St George's Hockey Club, for whom he played frequently; he also played several times for Northumberland County, his place being centre half-back. He was likewise a very keen cricketer, was a member of the Northumberland County Club, the Yorkshire Gentlemen and the Borderers, for all of which he used to play. He belonged to the Portland Park Tennis Club, at Newcastle, where he played most days during the season when he was residing there. (St Georges Gazette - 31st May 1917). On the 4th August, 1914, he joined the 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers, volunteering for foreign service and was promoted Lieutenant on the 27th December of the same year. He proceeded overseas to France with his Battalion on the 20th April, 1915 and was wounded at the Second battle of Ypres, 24th May, 1915. After some months of hospital treatment he was able to rejoin and attended a course of physical training and bayonet exercise at Aldershot. He was appointed Physical Training Officer first to his battalion, then to his Brigade, and subsequently to a Command Depot in Ireland. During the time he was Physical Training Officer he arranged most successful sports at Redcar in the summer of 1916, when he was complimented by the General. In September, 1916, he was appointed to Ballyvonare Camp, Buttevant, County Cork, where he started games for the men, such as cross country runs, and boxing matches, all of which were greatly appreciated by the convalescent soldiers in his charge. He held this appointment until he got orders to return to France.
He left England on 8th March 1917 and was attached to the 6th Battalion of the Northumberland Fusiliers when killed in action on the 15th April, 1917, leading his men to attack an enemy post. His Colonel wrote: 'He was leading an attack in a conspicuously gallant manner and was the first man into the enemy trench when he was hit in the face and died painlessly. We recovered his body and buried it at night. His death was a great grief to me as we were great friends when he was in my Company, where he always earned our admiration for the thorough way in which he carried out any work entrusted to him'. He was buried at Wancourt British Cemetery S.M 72.
On 24th September 1908, Wilfred married Dorothy Beresford, second daughter of Major Arthur John Preston, B.A., J.P. (late of the 33rd Duke of Wellington Regiment) of Swainston, Kilmessan, Co. Meath. His widow only survived him until 30th October 1918. They left a baby son, Wilfred, and two small daughters. The eldest daughter Dorothy Barbara Mary Bunbury was born in 1909, married Arthur Wilson and settled in Hove, Sussex. The younger daughter Margaret Joan Beresford Bunbury, born in 1911, became a nun of the Order of the Sacred Heart.
Wilfred and Dorothy's son, (Wilfred Joseph) Michael de St. Pierre Bunbury, was born posthumously on 3rd September 1917 and educated at Ampleforth and Peterhouse, Cambridge. He served as T/Lieut with the Royal Navy during World War Two and settled at 39 Paul Roos Street, Unitas Park, Vereeniging, South Africa. In June 1952, Michael Bunbury married the late Deirdre Mulcahy, daughter of Dr. Daniel Mulcahy of Perth, West Australia, and Mrs Hamish Mitchell of Dublin, and sister of John Mulcahy, founder of The Phoenix magazine. They have two sons, Patrick John de St Pierre Bunbury (b. 1956) and Dr. Michael Charles Bunbury (now living in Mustique, married to clothes designer Lotty Bunbury and father to at least one son and two daughters, Jemima Bunbury and Madeleine Bunbury) and two daughters Charlotte Bunbury (b. 1953) and the late Harriot Bunbury (who was married to Richard James Jessel from 1982 to 1997). I spent a very enjoyable evening in the company of the late Mrs Deirdre Bunbury (nee Mulcahy) in Ranelagh, Dublin, in about 2004. She lived at Rosary Gardens, London SW7, and died on 3rd November 2009.
Thomas and Lady Harriot Bunbury's third son Bertram John Bunbury was born in March 1887 and served as a lieutenant with the Rifle Brigade in the Great War. On 8th July 1915 he married Nira Hardcastle, daughter of Frank Hardcastle, DL, JP, of Bolton, Lancs. They had three daughters. The eldest Marie Justine Antoinette Bunbury was born in 1916 and married in 1941 to John Mair, son of Colonel John Allen Freeman Mair, MC, of Saltair, old Bosham, Sussex and had three sons, John Christian Mair (b. 1942), Antony Stefan Rumley Mair (b. 1946) and Simon James Justin Mair (b. 1954). The middle sister was Mary Teresa Lynette Bunbury (b. 1917) and the youngest Nira Mary Gabrielle Bunbury (b. 1923).
Thomas and Lady Harriot Bunbury's youngest surviving son was the much decorated businessman, Evelyn James Bunbury, CBE (1952), MC (1918), Knight of the Sovereign Order of Malta, JP for Surrey. He served variously as Director of the Excess Insurance Company & Mercantile Bank of India, Chairman of Oriental Telephone & Electric Company, Chairman of the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, Chairman of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia (London Board) and President of the Imperial Bank of India and Director of the Bank of England. He was born on 31st October 1888 and educated at The Oratory School, Queen's College Oxford (BA, 1910) and Caen University. He served as a Captain with the Grenadier Guards during World War One from 1917 to 1919. On 11th October 1928 he married his cousin Marjorie North, daughter of Lt Col Edward Bunbury North, CMG, DSO, DL, JP, of Summerdale, Holme, Westmoreland. (See Verstrume-Bunbury). They had a daughter, Gillian Mary Bunbury, born on 26th August 1929, educated at New Hall, Chelmsford.
Thomas and Lady Harriot Bunbury's eldest daughter Mary Beatrice Teresa Bunbury was born on 17th February 1879. On 20th December 1916 she married Lt Col Hew Wakeham Tompson, CMG, Royal Hampshire Regt, only son of Col. Henry Stewart Tompson of Alderminster Lodge, Bournemouth. He died 26th July 1933. In 1958 she was living at Woodston in Winchester.
Thomas and Lady Harriot Bunbury's second daughter Cecilia Mary Bunbury was born on 18th March 1891 and married on 30th April 1919 to Colonel Edward Charles Lentaigne of Tallaght, Co. Dublin,, DSO, late 4th Gurkha Rifles, grandson and heir to the formidable Victorian character named Sir John Lentaigne, FRCSI, who was Inspector General of Prisons in Ireland from 1854-77. Their only son John Lentaigne was killed at El Alamein while serving with the Rifle Brigade on 25th July 1942.
With thanks to Peter Bunbury, Anthony Bunbury, Dan Bunbury, Denise Bunbury-Westford, Lotty Bunbury, Vicky O'Mearain (nee Tindal), Jacky Quarmby, Jack Mulcahy, Janette McLeman Carnie, Susann Anderson, Judith Gantley, Ryan Chan, Gill Miller and others.
1. Herbert Palmer Cox was the son of John George Cox and Prisca Philpot.
He was baptized on 29 September 1748 in St Martin in the Fields, Westminster,
London. Herbert's name is found in the St Vincent Militia Commanders lists
as Ensign in 1789, serving under Lieutenant Colonel John Greathead. Is it
this man who leant his name to Herbert's son and Lydia's brother, Paul Greathead
Cox, who died in childhood?
2. For further reading: Alfred de Vigny by Arnold Whitridge (1933);
Alfred de Vigny by James Dolittle (1967); Vigny's Cinq-Mars: Dialogue
on Political Power by Virginia Boggs Gunn (1975); Alfred De Vigny
Et La Comedie-Francaise by Fernande Bassan (1984); Vigny: Les Destinees
by Keith Wren (1985); Paradigm and Parody: Images of Creativity in French
Romanticism by Henry F. Majewski (1989); The Novels of Alfred De
Vigny: A Study of Their Form and Composition by Elaine K. Shwimer (1991);
The Poetic Enigma of Alfeed de Vigny - The Rosetta Stone of Esoteric
Literature by Denise Bonhomme (2006)
3. If the Canada story is true, Hugh Mill Bunbury II's lifespan of 1800
- 1866 is exact with his distant cousin Captain
William McClintock Bunbury of Lisnavagh.
3a. Source: [S247] www.search.labs.familysearch.org).
4. The Times, Wednesday, Feb 20, 1833; pg. 6; Issue 15093; col C
5. The Times, Saturday, Apr 27, 1839; pg. 6; Issue 17027; col F and
The Times, Saturday, May 25, 1839; pg. 6; Issue 17051;col A
6. The Times, Friday, Nov 10, 1854; pg. 1; Issue 21895; col A
7. The Times, Friday, Dec 29, 1939; pg. 9; Issue 48499; col F