Wraxall baronets - a saga

[Mark Jennings]

On 19 September 2020 Colin P posted:

<WRAXALL (UK 1813) - this baronetcy is stated to become dormant on the death of the present baronet and his heirs.  This may be because there are unknown descendants of the yr sons of the 5th Bt

This pedigree is a real can of worms!

The 5th Baronet, Sir Morville William Nathaniel Wraxall (1834-1898) is stated to have married "Susannah Harriet Claringbold of Walmer, Kent" in 1860, and his wife is said to have died in 1884 (Burke's).

I can find no such marriage, but it may have taken place in India, since their first two children (Morville, later the 6th Baronet, 1862, and Emilie, 1865 [not 1861 as per Burke's - see her baptism record as Emily Elizabeth Wraxall from Agra, 8 April 1865, citing a birth date of 13 March1865, which is consistent with an age of 16 claimed at the 1881 Census - see later) were both born in India.  

Curiously, there is a marriage at St James' church, Chatham, Kent on 4 May 1859 between a James Morgan, son of Charles Edward Morgan, and Susanna Harriett Claringbold, daughter of John Osmon Claringbold - in the 1851 Census, John Claringbold, mariner, is living at Walmer with his 8 year old daughter, Susannah.  It is hard not to conclude that this was the mother of the 5th Baronet's children.  What happened to her first husband, James Morgan, I cannot say, but if his wife's marriage with Sir Morville actually took place and was valid, he must have died fairly quickly after the marriage.  Certainly the authorities have always treated the Wraxall-Claringbold marriage as having been valid, since their issue succeeded to the baronetcy and hold it still.

It would appear that Susannah Claringbold/Morgan/Wraxall did not die in 1884, as claimed.  There is no UK death registration in that year for a Susan Wraxall or any variant.  Instead, she may be found in the 1881 Census at Islington, living as the wife of one Arthur J. Porcher, a 28 year old labourer in an iron warehouse.  They had two daughters, and his step-daughter Emily E. Wraxall, aged 16 and born at Agra, India, was living with the family.  It would appear that Susannah survived until 1931.

Turning to the issue of Sir Morville and Susannah Claringbold, in addition to the 6th Baronet there were two sons, alluded to in Colin's original post:

(1) Charles Edward Lascelles Wraxall, born 27 May 1868; joined the Royal Navy, 1882, and was dismissed for theft in 1900.  In 1903 he was charged with attempting to murder a policeman at Plymouth, under the name of George Welles; he was found not guilty by reason of insanity through alcoholism, and sent to Exeter Prison during His Majesty's pleasure.  He was possibly the George Welles who died at Windsor in 1940, aged 72.  In 1894 at Stoke Damerel, he married Alice Tilby (died Plymouth 1943 aged 69) and by her, he had two sons, living with their mother and paternal grandfather in 1911 (Census):

(1)(1) Charles Lascelles Edward Wraxall, born Devonport 1897; died 13 January 1925 (Probate); married in Devon 1920 Elsie Lillicrap (afterwards wife to Ernest Phillips); had one son:

(1)(1)(1) Donald C. E. Wraxall, born at Plymouth 8 May 1921; died at Torbay 1995; married at Plymouth 1942 Marjorie Winifred Heardson (1920-30.7.2003); had two sons:

(1)(1)(1)(1) Brian Glenn D. Wraxall, born 1943; died California 11 May 2012; married 1stly at Hounslow 1966 (div. California 1981) Linda A. Dimbleby; married 2ndly Joan Kelly Provost.  Issue: one daughter, Rebecca Kelly Wraxall, born California, 1983

(1)(1)(1)(2) Terence Jeffrey Wraxall, born Plymouth December 1946; married 1stly Torbay 1973 Susan Purcell; married 2ndly Loughborough 1993 Janet Roome.  Issue by first marriage:

(1)(1)(1)(2)(1) Lascelles Marcus E. Wraxall, born Beverley, Yorkshire 1975; of London 2004

(2) Horace Henry Edwin Wraxall, born Camberwell, Surrey, 3 December 1870 [NB not named Horatio, and not born 1869 as per Burke's]; said to have emigrated to Canada and died at York, Ontario, 3 October 1906, having been hit by a train; a Horace Horatio Wraxall, 34, labourer, born England, son of "Horace Wraxall and Emily Collingbrook", married at York, Ontario 6 August 1901 to Georgina Marwick - they had a son John Wraxall (1904-1960) who in turn married and had at least six sons, who between them had several sons - each of these may be in remainder to the baronetcy (assuming that Sir Morville's marriage to Susannah Claringbold took place and was valid).

We need to add to this a second marriage for the 5th Baronet which is not found in Burke's.  By the 1880s he had become a temperance campaigner, and in 1890 he went out to Australia on a mission.  At Carlton, Victoria he married on 13 February 1892 to Mary Chambers Stockwell, daughter of the late James William Stockwell of North Carlton (The Age, Melbourne , 20 February 1892).  Sir Morville died at George Street, Sydney on 20 October 1898 (see Sydney Morning Herald, 21 October 1899 [sic]), and his widow remarried at Sydney in 1903 to John R. Heckley; she died 16 March 1940 aged 73 (Sydney Morning Herald, 19 March 1940).  By this marriage, valid or otherwise, one further son was born:

(3) Morville William Edward Wraxall, born at Carlton, Victoria, 11 January 1893 (The Age, 14 January 1893); served curing World War I with the A.I.F.; died at Sydney, 6 October 1929 (Sydney Morning Herald, 12 October 1929); married at Parramatta 10 January 1920 Alma Mary Wakeling (Cumberland Argus, 7 February 1920).  There was apparently no issue from this marriage.  His widow died 27 December 1960 aged 60 (Sydney Morning Herald, 29 December 1960), apparently leaving an illegitimate son born in 1935 who used the surname Wraxall but did not share that family's bloodline.

So, apart from casting doubt on the legitimacy of the entire Wraxall line, we now have two additional heirs to the Baronetcy, born 1946 and 1975, as well as further potential heirs in Canada, if the identification of the Canadian emigrant with the 3rd son of the 5th Baronet be accepted.

[Mark Jennings]

Of course, it is possible that "James Morgan" who married Susannah Claringbold in 1859 was actually Morville Wraxall - they both were the son of a Charles Edward...

[Mark Jennings]

The actual marriage entry from Chatham, 1859 states that the groom was "James Morgan, Sergeant, 23rd Regiment, aged 21, son of Charles Edward Morgan, gentleman".  He signed as "James Morgan".

There was a James Morgan serving in the 23rd Regiment during the Indian Mutiny - he received the Mutiny medal, with the clasps for "Lucknow" and "The Relief of Lucknow".  The regimental records state that he was then a Private, and had been originally a labourer from Monmouth; he received "a slight wound" at Lucknow on 17 March 1858 [this was presumably during the retaking of Lucknow in March 1858].

During the early 1890s, Sir Morville Wraxall often delivered a stock lecture in Australia about his experiences during the Indian Mutiny.  According to the Port Melbourne Standard of 21 March 1891, he said that on 17 March 1857 (sic) his regiment "went to China" and "on arriving they were immediately ordered to India"; he was "shot in the jaw when his regiment was marching to Lucknow", "about 4 miles from Lucknow".

Coincidence?

Additionally, when Morville William Wraxall (afterwards 6th Baronet) enlisted in the Army in 1883, his next of kin was stated to be his mother "Portia" [ie Mrs Porcher] of 8, Second Avenue, Plaistow, Essex; in 1891 Arthur Porcher and his wife Susannah (aged 45, born Walmer, Kent) were living at Plaistow (Census).  Susannah Porcher died at West Ham, Essex, Q1 1931, "aged 86".

[Mark Jennings]

In a ticket for one of his "Indian Mutiny" lectures in 1891, Sir Morville Wraxall is said to have been "late Royal Welch Fusiliers", ie the 23rd Regiment.  However, no-one named Wraxall appears in the Medal Roll for the Mutiny.

[Mark Jennings]

And for final evidence that Sir Morville Wraxall = James Morgan, we have the original baptismal entry for the 6th Baronet:

Morville William Morgan, son of James & Susannah Morgan, baptised at Fyzabad, Bengal, India, 27 February 1862 (born 23 January 1862).

Although the 1859 marriage was conducted with the groom using a false name, it was presumably still valid since he used that alias consistently between at least 1858 and 1862.

[dpth...@gmail.com]

For what it's worth, Debrett's 1920 gives her a birth year of 1864, which I suppose is possible to put her at 16 in 1881, though the specific 1865 date in the baptismal record is likely more accurate.

On Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 7:26:05 AM UTC-5, Mark Jennings wrote:

....I can find no such marriage, but it may have taken place in India, since their first two children (Morville, later the 6th Baronet, 1862, and Emilie, 1865 [not 1861 as per Burke's - see her baptism record as Emily Elizabeth Wraxall from Agra, 8 April 1865, citing a birth date of 13 March1865, which is consistent with an age of 16 claimed at the 1881 Census - see later) were both born in India...

[dpth...@gmail.com]

and again, for what it's worth, the names Horace and Horatio seem to have been often confused, or even considered the same name. Horace Walpole 4th Earl of Orford, is considered to have been named for his uncle Horatio, later 1st Lord Walpole, and I have read some letters in which Horace is called by his friends "Horatio, Junior".

On Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 7:26:05 AM UTC-5, Mark Jennings wrote:

...(2) Horace Henry Edwin Wraxall, born Camberwell, Surrey, 3 December 1870 [NB not named Horatio, and not born 1869 as per Burke's]...

[Mark Jennings]

Indeed, which makes it odder than in Canada, the man who I am fairly sure was Horace Henry Edwin Wraxall called himself "Horace Horatio Wraxall" (and was apparently known as Horatio).

In any case, I think it is now clear that the Baronetcy has a range of additional heirs, foremost among whom is Terence (1946) and his son Lascelles (1975).  The Canadian Wraxalls seem to have a strong case for also being included (perhaps only a DNA test would be conclusive, given the flexible use of names in the various records...)

[andy jo sales]

Re the Wraxall’s you are missing chucks of information