Richard, Frederick's Second Son

The Writers' Building, Calcutta c.1915

Richard is first mentioned in the local directories in 1834, living with his younger brother Robert at 75 Doomtollah and working as an assistant in the Registrar’s office. According to the India Office List of Uncovenanted Civil Servants 1850, Richard was born in 1810 and joined the Registrar's Office of the Bengal Secretariat as an assistant in 1837. He was appointed as a first class writer in 1849. By 1850 he was a widower. Between 1850 and 1852 he secured an additional personal allowance of Rs.50 per month - a 62.5% increase which he had negotiated on behalf of himself and his fellow writers. [1] Richard achieved the distinction of being mentioned in despatches from 1854 to 1857 attempting unsuccessfully, while the Mutiny raged across India, to have the personal allowance backdated to 1847! [2] There is no further mention of Richard after 1856. Perhaps he was a victim of the mutiny, although Calcutta was unaffected except for the occasional wave of panic. [3]

According to the 1940s family tree Richard had four sons, but four other children were also recorded in local directories, three of whom died in infancy. His eldest son Frederick Richard was born in 1831 or 1832, and joined the service in 1849 as a Sixth Class Writer earning 25 Rupees per month. At that time Richard was a First Class Writer earning 80 Rs per month. According to Reginald, Frederick Richard married a "Miss Nascekelly" and they had one son, Richard, a priest. There is a record of his marriage in the Ecclesiastical Returns, as follows:

MARRIED 1851, 18th August. Frederick Richard Deefholts. Aged 19. Bachelor. Resident at Collingha. Son of Richard Deefholts. TO Annie McNeelance. Aged 20. Spinster. Resident at Collingha. Daughter of Galbraith McNeelance [Volume 80/ Folio 457] [4]

Annie's death the following year is also recorded. [*] After that, Frederick Richard apparently left the Bengal Secretariat. There are references in various directories to various F. Deefholts in various parts of India, but as noted earlier it is impossible to distinguish which is which. NCD 1858 mentions an F.R. Deefholts, working as an Assistant to Gladstone, Wyllie & Co, merchants & agents, in Bassein (Burma). In 1859 there is no further mention of him, but in 1860 an F.R. Deefholts and an F. Deefholts are both included as Assistants to John Ogilvy Hay & Co, merchants and agents, Bassein, and there is an F.Deefholts listed as working at the railway office in Calcutta (1861/2).

Local directories record the appearance of the Rev. R. Deefholts, S.J. at St Xavier's College, Calcutta, in 1876. He stayed there until 1887, when he became the Rector of St Joseph's College School, Allahabad. In 1888 he is listed as a Military Chaplain at Sitapur, after which there is no further mention. Apart from Reginald's tree there is no evidence to establish his parentage. [5]

The 1940s family tree states that Frederick Richard had three younger brothers, "William (PWD), married a Burmese, issue unknown", "Henry (Bengal Secretariat) married Miss Myers", and "Edmond (Customs) married Miss D'Souza".

Assuming two years between siblings, William would have been born around 1834. There are records in contemporary local directories of a William L. Deefholts employed as a Record-keeper in the assistant commissioner's court at Nathoing Kyoung in Bassein, Pegu province, Burma, from 1858 to 1862. He reappears in 1866 as a Head Clerk, executive engineer's office, Myanoury, becoming an accountant in the executive engineer's office, Moulmein, the following year. In 1869 he moved to Rangoon, as an accountant with the PWD. He then appears between 1870 and 1874 at the Deputy Commissioner's Office in Prome.

The Ecclesiatical Returns has a record of the burial of a Claudita Deefoltz in the Roman Catholic Cathedral, Rangoon. She died on 30th September 1907 of inflammation of bowels, aged 75 years - thus born 1832. Possibly she was William's wife. [6]

There is also a record of the marriage of a Charles James Deefholts, son of William, at the cathedral in Rangoon in

1901. He was a telegraph signaller, then aged 26 (thus born 1875). He married Adelina Theresa Fegredro who was

later known as a musician under the name Madame Adeline Deefholts. He appears in the Royal Humane Society –

Annual Report 1899, under “Bronze Medal Citations”:

Deefholts, C.J. Signaller Telegraph Department Rangoon. Case 2998: On the 11^th August 1898, a woman named Ma Sein was swept out into deep water while bathing in the Irrawaddy River, Upper Burma. Deefholts, at great risk, swam out and effected her rescue. [7]

They had a daughter, Dorothy Inez, born in 1902, who married Tom Bradley in Rangoon in 1924.

According to the 1940s family tree, Edmund Alfred was the fourth son of Richard Deefholts, married his cousin, Miss D'Souza, and was a Customs Officer. His birth is recorded in the East India Register & Directory for 1839. He appears in another directory in 1858 as an assistant in the judicial department of the Calcutta Police, resident at 10 Blackburn's Lane. He is recorded in the List of Uncovenanted Civil Servants 1859 [L/F/10/75] as an assistant in the Steam Ship department, a 20 year old bachelor, earning Rs25, having joined the previous year, confirming his year of birth as 1838/9.

The local directories list him the same year (1859) as a signaller in the electric telegraph office, living at 13 Gree Baboo's Lane, and then as a clerk in the letter mail despatch department of the GPO, living with his uncle Robert at 7 Emambaug 2nd Lane, where he stayed until 1869. From 1870 onwards he is listed as a customs officer in the Preventive Service, living at 40 Gooreeamah's Lane then back at 19 Chandney Choke, then 7 Emambaug, 2nd Lane from 1871 to 1874, where his son Joseph Edmund was born in 1872. They moved from 3 to 8 Mirzapore 2nd Lane and back again between 1874 and 1884, during which time Richard Alfred, Amy, Ernest and Henry Oswald were born. He is listed as an Assistant at the GPO from 1881 onwards. His last known address was 84 South Road, Entally (1885), however he was father to Ann Caroline (Dotty) in 1886 as well as Genevieve (Elsie) and Eda (dates of birth unknown).

After 1885 he no longer features in the directories and Mrs C.R. Deefholts appears at 30a Convent Road, Entally from 1892 to 1895, suggesting that Edmund died in the intervening years since women were rarely listed in their own right whilst their husbands were alive. Caroline Rose Deefholts died on 15th April 1904 of suspected plague, aged 59 years 2 months and 1 day, the "Relict of Edmund Alf. Deefholts" She was buried at John's Cemetery, Sealdah. She left a will, which had been witnessed by a John D'Souza (possibly her brother?), in which she refers to their children.

Joseph Edmund married Miss Marie Johanna Luker at the age of 35 in 1907. At the time he was a Pipe Layer at the Calcutta Corporation. [339/39] Their daughter, Iris Mary, had been born the previous year [342/48] and they had another daughter, Agnes. Marie died as a widow in 1936 and was buried in the Lower Circular Road Cemetery, Calcutta.

Richard Alfred married Lilian May Rodrigues at the age of 24 in 1899, Joseph acting as one of his witnesses. At that time he was working for the Government Telegraph Office in Calcutta. The next year saw the birth of their daughter Ludovica Noreen, by which time he was a Telegraph Signaller in Mandalay. Their second daughter, Ivy Henrietta, was born two years later, also in Mandalay. (She later had a son, Carl, who had three daughters: Donna, Lisa and Anita). In 1904 their third child, Edmund Alfred, died of inflammation of the bowels at the age of six months at the Agra Cantonment. Their next son, Alfred Malcolm, also died at Agra, of enteritis at the age of ten months, in 1905. Their youngest son, Ralph, was born in 1921 and emigrated with his family to the UK in 1955. Richard Alfred died in 1938 at the age of 61, and was buried in a family vault in the churchyard at St John’s, Middleton Row, Sealdah.

Henry Oswald married Ethel Sylvia De Barros in 1909 at the age of 26, at that time a signaller in the Government Telegraph Office in Chittagong. The marriage was witnessed by his brother Richard. [357/24] Their daughter, Beryl May, was born in 1917 and married James Barry, a policeman, in 1937. They had one daughter.

Anne Caroline (Dotty) married a Mr Cecil Augustine at Moorgheehatta, aged 19, in 1906. The marriage was witnessed by her brother Richard. No records have been found of the other four girls except for the reference in their mother's will.

The first record of Henry Augustus is in a directory in 1856, when he is listed as an assistant to Gladstone, Wyllie and Co, Merchants, Calcutta. In 1859 he worked as an assistant at the GPO, and then joined his father as a section writer in the Bengal Secretariat, where he remained until the last mention of him in 1888. According to Reg, he married a Miss Myers. His three sons, Henry, Frederick and Claude, all married Kennedys - presumably sisters. He also had three daughters, Clementine (married Mr D'Silva, followed by Mr Victor), Eva and Annie.

The eldest son, born in 1860 or 1861, was Henry Cecil M. Deefholts. HCM is recorded in the India List as a Customs Officer in the Preventive Service from 1882 (9th Grade) up to 1895 (7th Grade). Local directories list him as a preventive officer from 1882 up to 1900 (after which no directories consulted). HCM's marriage is not recorded in the Ecclesiastical Returns, but there is a record of a Henry Egerton Deefholts, born on 31st April 1889, the son of Henry Cecil and Ada Susan Deefholts. Sadly, Henry Egerton's death from paralysis of the brain is also recorded three months later (now shown as the son of Henry and Matilda Deefholts). There is also a record of the marriage of in 1917 of Ada Millicent Deefholts, aged 25, the daughter of Henry C. Deefholts. [419/362] No offspring have been traced. The third child, Cyril John, was born in 1894 or 1895. The fourth, Enid Maud, died of TB at the age of 30 in 1928. [8] She was followed by George Maurice, Claude Ashley and Eric Carl.

Cyril John married Mary (Marie) Ann D'Silva in 1924. At that time he was living in Calcutta, in "Government Service". Marie was born in Ranchi (now part of Bihar state) in 1903/1904. Her father was Alfred Eustace D’Silva, who first married Winnefred Larkins, the daughter of John and Isabella Larkins. When Winnefred died during childbirth, in Burma, he married her sister Millicent Regina Larkins and settled in Ranchi where he became the head of the local technical School. No details have been found about Alfred’s father; his mother’s maiden name was Chambers. Marie was the fifth of ten siblings.

According to his grandson, Steven, Cyril John was in the Secret Service during the war and had four sons, Cyril Brian, who later worked for MI6; Erroll, who died when his ship, the Indian Enterprise, which was carrying High Explosives, blew up in the Red Sea in 1950; Keith and Donald. Family lore held that their ancestors had once owned vast tracts in Chinsura and were heavily involved in jute plantations. According to Steven, Cyril Brian had three sons: himself, James and Gerald. [9]

Cyril John's brother Claud was a schoolboy boxer, and held a long-standing hurdles record. He later joined the Customs Service. The story goes that he despised bullies and once took on a large thug (also in the Customs Service) giving him such a hiding he “turned to religion”. He played for the Bengal Province Hockey team in 1928 and narrowly missed selection for the first ever team to represent India at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam (being one of three on the reserve list). India won the gold medal for Hockey (the first of 6 successive victories at the Games). He regularly played for the Customs team, one of the best in Calcutta, as recalled in the following extract from the autobiography of one of his opponents:

“If anybody asked me which was the best match that I played in, I will unhesitatingly say that it was the 1933 Beighton Cup final between Calcutta Customs and Jhansi Heroes. Calcutta Customs was a great side those days; they had Shaukat Ali, Asad Ali, Claude Deefholts, Seaman, Mohsin, and many others who were then in the first flight of Indian hockey.” [10]

Maurice was also in the Customs. He married Marie Antoinette Cachart in 1924, at the age of 24. According to Steven, he was also a strong sportsman – especially swimming. According to his cousin, Ralph, he also played hockey for the Jhansi Heroes. He died of pleurisy - in his brother's arms - after a 200 mile ride in a motorbike sidecar. Finally, there is the marriage certificate of Eric Carl Deefholts, a customs officer, to Mary Farrel Beard, in 1934 aged 28. They had at least one son, Leslie Allan, born 1935. Ralph recalls that Eric was a “scratch player” at snooker, requiring no handicap, and regularly played in competitions at the Rangers’ Club. Henry Cecil himself lived on until 1930, when he died of acute cardiac failure aged 69 [11].

Reginald describes Henry Augustus' second son as "Frederick, son of Henry; Engineer; m Miss Kennedy". His full name was Frederick St Clair. He married Maude Estelle Kennedy in 1898 at the age of 32 (she 21). His profession is recorded as "Engineer". The marriage was witnessed by his younger brother Claude [266/278]. Their first child located in records was Aileen Clare, born in 1901. Frederick St Clair died in 1925 of Septicaemia [12].

Henry Augustus’ third son, Claud, was born in 1870 or 1871. According to Reginald, he worked at Harwood & Co and also married a Miss Kennedy. This latter detail is reinforced by Steven Deefholts, who said that his grandfather and two great-uncles all married Kennedy's. No marriage certificate has been located in the Ecclesiastical Returns, although his daughter's has: Beryl K. Deefholts, daughter of Claude E, married a Mr Joseph Stoddart in 1917 at the age of 21. Directories record a C. Deefholts, working as an assistant in the Medical Dispensary at 150 Dhurrumtollah St from 1896 to 1900. This was the address of Bristowe and Bennett, "Chemists, medical agents and dispensing chemists to the Medical Dispensary." C.E. Deefholts is also recorded as Manager, Bristowe & Bennett, resident at 49 Dhurrumtollah Street from 1896 to 1897. His Certificate of Burial, in 1925, recorded him as an accountant. He died of shock.

Apart from Reginald's tree, no trace has been found of Henry Augustus' four daughters, Ettie, Clementine (“married Mr D'Silva, followed by Mr Victor”), Eva and Annie, and no descendants of Henry Augustus have been traced except those of his eldest son, Henry Cecil.

Robert, Frederick's Third Son

History: Index