Rev Dr William Spencer
- Greg Austen
- Nov 6
- 16 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
When Lorraine Spencer sends me some family history documents I now know that there will be another great story awaiting me. In this case it is the story of William Spencer the brother of Thomas Spencer and an uncle of Edmund Spencer.
William was the second son of Thomas and Katherine Spencer. He was born at Knossington on 16 May 1830 two years after his brother Thomas.
As can be seen from the reference above he became a church minister. He also attained a Doctorate of Divinity degree. I have not been able to establish where he studied but I assume it was either Cambridge or Oxford.
William married Kate Rogers on 14 July 1859. William and Kate had five children.
They were:
Katherine Florence born 15 December 1861 in Calcutta, India died 12 March 1933;
Charles Tallant born 27 February 1864 in Calcutta, India died 1947;
Alice Maud born 18 August 1867 in Calcutta, died 14 March 1943;
Richard Bertram born 27 March 1871 in India died 4 April 1872 in Gibraltar;
William Clement born 20 November 1873 Meean Mir, Punjab, India died 1942.
In the course of reviewing the family tree for information about William and noting the children who had been born in India I conducted a search for William that might explain a period of time in India. The information below was the outcome.
It appears that William and Kate lived in India at least for the period from 1861 until some time in the 1870s. By the time of the 1881 Census they were living in Devon.
William is age 50 in 1881and his occupation is stated as Assistant Curate of St Georges Clist where they are living. There is a part of his occupation that is hard to read but seems to suggest that William was still also assistant chaplain to "Bengal in India".
Kate is age 40, their daughter Katherine is age 19, Alice is 13 and William is 7. They have a cook and a housemaid. Son Charles is not living with them. He was age 17.
In the 1891 Census William's occupation is shown as "Indian Chaplain retired". He and Kate and daughters Katherine Florence and Alice Maude plus son William Clement who is described as a student are all at home at the address of 6 Langford Place, London. This address is in a very exclusive area of London. The photograph below was part of a real estate listing which suggested house values in this area were 2 million pounds and upwards. I suspect that William may have been a tenant rather than owner of this house.
Charles Tallent Spencer
Charles was the second born of the children of William and Kate. He was born at Howrah near Calcutta in India in 1864. As can be seen from the image shown above Charles became involved in railways. More about this follows later in this blog.
Charles' second name of Tallent came from his mother's family. The name Tallants was the middle name of Alexander Rogers the husband of his grandmother Sarah Armston. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any information on the parents of Alexander so at this stage we do not know the person in this family who had the surname Tallant. The name is recorded clearly as Tallants on the marriage certificate of Alexander and Sarah but is Tallents on a birth registration record for their son Clement as shown below.
In searching for the origin of the Tallents name I looked into the life of Alexander Tallents Rogers. In due course I came across a Census record for 1861 which recorded Alexander and Sarah as living at The Priory at Eastgate. The Priory was described as a Classical and Commercial Boarding School and Alexander was the Headmaster.
In due course I found a history of the Priory building and information about Alexander, including his portrait which appears below.
The Priory was built in the period 1812 to 1818 by the architect Thomas Espin. He was the master of Louths Mathematical, Architectural, Nautical and Commercial Academy known as the Mapletoft School. Thomas moved that school into the Priory when he finished building it. When Thomas died his brother William took over the school and he subsequently appointed Alexander Rogers to the role of Headmaster from 1831.
In the 1861 Census where I found reference to the Priory School I also noted that Clement Rogers, son of Alexander and Sarah was age 26 and his occupation was architect. No doubt he had studied architecture at the Priory.
Alexander ran the school for the next 40 years until he sold it in 1871. Below is a copy of the for sale advertisement which provides a great description of the school. I note that Alexander is described as "the owner" of The Priory.
The Priory is currently run as a hotel.
Returning to the story of Charles Tallent Spencer we see a continuation of the Tallent name by Charles in the naming of his son Kelvin Tallent Spencer. Kelvin also gave the name to his son Geoffrey Tallent Spencer who it seems also applied it to his son Ian David Tallent and further to his daughter Hillary Jane Tallent.
Charles was born in Calcutta on 27 February 1864.
Charles followed a very successful career as an engineer. In the Census of 1881 Charles who is age 17 is living with his grandfather Alexander Rogers in Surrey and is a student in engineering.
The document below lists Charles as a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1883 at age 19.
The document below is a little hard to read but it records Charles' experience in a number of engineering projects over the period August 1886 to November 1889.
A later document dated 25 January 1890 is shown below. I have endeavoured to establish the experience and assignments that are recorded for the period. Unfortunately some parts are simply too difficult to read.
1881-82 he was employed at the works of J & G Rennie Marine Engineers, Blackfriars.
Jan 1882 - December 83 he was a student at Crystal Palace School of Practical Engineering and gained high honours.
April 1884 - May 1885 Charles was an Articled Pupil to ? Galbraith .... and was employed on construction of South Cornwall Railway.
May - December 1885 Charles was Assistant Engineer for Mr Barclay Bruce ? on the works of the Abbotsbury Railway, Weymouth.
Various other positions are listed and towards the end there is mention of Charles being in charge of surveys for extending a railway 150 miles up the River Uruguay and that he is now proceeding to an appointment with the same firm as chief of the survey party for a line of railway of 200 miles in Southern Salvador Central America.
Charles was an acknowledged expert in railways as evidenced by the newspaper article below announcing his appointment to the board of the Salvador Railway.
A lot has been written about the development of the railways in South America. I came across several long stories including one that contained a very good summary of Charles involvement.
Within this excellent document detailing the history of Salvador there is a chapter on the development of its railways. Below is the story of Charles' involvement.
In the month of April last a change took place in the general management of the Salvador Railway, when Mr. C. T. S. Spencer, the newly-appointed chief, proceeded to his post via Mexico City and Salina Cruz. Mr. Spencer served his pupilage with the London and South-Western Railway, mainly on the North Devon and Cornish branches. When out of his articles, he accepted an appointment as District Engineer on the Abbotsbury Railway, near Dorset, which line is now a part of the Great Western Railway system. In 1886 Mr. Spencer went out to Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), as District Engineer on the Brazil Great Southern Railway, and subsequently rose to the position of Chief Constructing Engineer. On this line he built the Ibicúy Bridge, which still ranks as the largest bridge in Brazil, being over a mile long, with some 70-metre spans resting on cylinders sunk by the pneumatic process, which at that time was in its infancy. When the line was completed, Mr. Spencer surveyed an extension running into some hundreds of kilometres, and passing through the beautiful district of Missiones.
Mr. Spencer, still a young man, then went to Salvador, and in 1889 he surveyed the La Unión-San Miguel line. This railway was partly constructed by the Government, and its completion to San Miguel is now being pushed forward. In 1892 Mr. Spencer went to Colombia as General Manager of the Antioquia Railway, which commission he held until the Government attempted to cancel the concession without paying any indemnity to the company. He afterwards went to Angola, and drew up the plans for a large railway scheme from the coast inwards; a part of this line has since been built.
Upon returning to London, Mr. Spencer accepted the post of Consulting Engineer to a railway-constructing syndicate in the City, and a few years ago he was elected to a seat on the Board of the Salvador Railway. Mr. Spencer visited the Republic in 1908, and on his return pointed out to the Chairman that, owing to the opening of the Tehuantepec Railway, a special steamer service connecting up Acajutla with Salina Cruz would probably prove a paying concern. Mr. Mark J. Kelly, the able and experienced Chairman of this railway, with his customary quickness of perception, combined with his own not inconsiderable experience of the Republic of Salvador, of which for fifteen years he had acted as Consul-General in England, at once fell in with the idea, and the steamship Salvador was the result.
Mr. Spencer is an Associate Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. While it is a subject of regret that Mr. Charles Stewart, late Manager of the Salvador Railway, was compelled to abandon his post owing to ill-health, the shareholders of the railway may be unreservedly congratulated upon obtaining the services of so able and experienced an engineer as Mr. Spencer.
Charles married Edith Aelfreda Swithinbank on 30 April 1892. They had three children. They were:
Aeone Noel born 25 December 1894 at Bogota in Colombia;
Barbara Dorothy born 18 February 1896;
Kelvin Tallent born in Lausanne, Switzerland on 7 July 1898.
It seems that Edith was a nurse as she appears on a 1909 register of nurses.
From the time of the Census of 1911 Charles and Edith were living at The Hall, Harmondsworth in Yiewsley, Middlesex. They were still at this address in the 1921 Census.
The Hall is a very historic building. Below is a summary of its origins. Sadly this building and numerour others in this township are at risk of demolition as a consequence of the planned expansion of Heathrow Airport which is nearby.
Charles wife Edith had a sister named Gertrude Enid Swithinbank. The newspaper report below describes the provisions of her Will under which Gertrude left funds for her various nephews including Kelvin and Geoffrey Spencer.
Sir Kelvin Tallent Spencer
When I noticed the knighthood applicable to Kelvin Spencer I really had no option but to investigate this family member. Very quickly in my search I found an obituary for Sir Kelvin which told me of his service in WW1, his work in the aircraft industry and his appointment as Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Fuel and Power, during which time he helped Britain develop its civil nuclear power programme.
The obituary below was written by well known politician Tony Benn and published in The Independent. . This copy was republished in a magazine called Safe Energy which is the journal of the British anti nuclear and safe energy movements. The acronym SCRAM stands for Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace.
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, known between 1960 and 1963 as The Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield for 47 of the 51 years between 1950 and 2001.
The article below appeared in the Royal Engineers Journal.
The item below written in December 1981 is an insight into Sir Kelvin's personal views on the world of scientific development. Unfortunately it is only a short summary of the full piece of writing by him. The full document was not available.
Sir Kelvin's comments below assist in understanding why he became opposed to the large scale proliferation of nuclear power in Britain despite his involvement in its initial development.
Below are examples of some of the many reports published during the 1970s and 1980s when Sir Kelvin was opposing the development of nuclear power.
I came across the reference below to a TV interview with Sir Kelvin. Sadly the BFI will not allow the broadcast to be viewed outside Britain.
During my time searching for information on Sir Kelvin I came across the information below about his son Dr Geoffrey Tallent Spencer.
I also came across the information below about an interesting diary of Geoffrey's that was available for sale.
Harrison Spencer and his Family
I am currently working through the handwritten family tree produced by genealogist Lucy Marshall that provides me with details of the Spencer family .
The next family group I am now looking at is Thomas and William Spencer's brother Harrison and his wife Marian Lynn Spencer and their two sons Harrison Junior and Patrick.
Harrison was born at Sapcote on 17 October 1831. He was the next born after Thomas and William. Harrison grew up at Knossington at the Whalebones house. I have not been able to establish very much about his early years. Harrison did not marry until 3 October 1870 at age 39. He married Marion Emily Lynn. She was only age 17.
Looking at the Census information for Harrison I was interested to find that he was described as an Indigo Planter. Some research on this occupation revealed that it was likely he was engaged in this occupation in India. His brother Reverend William Spencer had of course gone to India in the early 1860s and was there through to the 1870s. Perhaps he encouraged Harrison to join him in Calcutta.
I also noticed that Harrison was not in any UK Census information in 1851. In fact the earliest I could find him was 1891.
I then went looking for more information on the indigo industry. During the period of the early 1800s through to the 1870s indigo was a sought after crop for the purpose of dye for the British cotton textile industry.
I came across the excellent publication shown below. It was available in digital form which assisted me in finding reference to H. Spencer and his connections to the Indigo industry.
Within the above book was the helpful information below.
As the title of the book indicated the area known as Behar was a major area for the growing of indigo. It had been a major area for the growing of sugar cane prior to the switch to indigo. The soils of Behar were very light and seemed to be well suited to crops like sugar cane. However they did suffer the draw back of being easily exhausted and in need of substantial fertilisation. In fact this issue caused a major failure of the sugar cane crop in the period 1845 to 1850.
Indigo began to be planted in Behar in the late 1700s and was flourishing as an industry by the 1820s. The above book identifies the main factories for indigo production and their owners and managers. H. Spencer is identified as the manager of a factory at the location of Doulutpore at some time between 1856 and 1865. In 1866 he is identified as the manager of a factory at Dulsing Serai. It is also stated that the proprietors of this factory were E.T. Harrington, H. Spencer's estate, C. Strachan's estate, F.H. Holloway, E. Dalgleish, B. Coventry and E.M. Coventry.
H. Spencer and E. Dalgleish are also named as the owners of a factory at Hattowree and H. Spencer as owner of one at Rajkind in 1857.
A matter that may be of significance at this time is that Harrison and William's father Thomas died in 1856. Each of Thomas' sons inherited from their father. This may have enabled Harrison to make the investments he made in indigo production.
It seems to me that Harrison did well in establishing himself as a factory manager and investor in the indigo industry at a time when it was flourishing. Hard times were however experienced from around the late 1870s. The book mentions that "... a very black cloud hung over the Indigo industry in Behar in 1877." This was primarily the poor relationships between the planters and the ryats (peasants) whose labour was essential to the industry. As usual the local native population was being exploited. Alongside this synthetic dyes were being developed as cheaper alternatives to indigo.
We know that Harrison returned to England and married Marion in 1870. His son Harrison (known as Jack) was born 14 August 1872 at Portsea Island, Hampshire and second son Patrick was born 21 November 1874 at Bournemouth.
I believe that Harrison senior retained investments in India. It was interesting to find a record of his arrival back in Plymouth England by ship from Calcutta in January 1898. On the passenger list he gave his occupation as "Tea Planter". It seems that he may have moved from indigo to tea production at the time that indigo ceased to be a viable crop.
Lt Colonel Harrison (Jack) Spencer
Jack was the first born of Harrison and Jane's children. He as born at Southsea, Portsea Island near Portsmouth on 14 August 1872. At this date his father was age 41 and his mother Marian just 17. Jack and his brother Patrick seem to have been sent away from home to a boarding school from a young age. The Census for 1881 shows Jack age 8 and Patrick age 6 at a school Dean Park, at Holdenhurst, Dorset.
In 1891 Jack is listed at the Woolwich Military Academy in South East London. Woolwich is the Royal Military Academy tasked with the training of commissioned officers. It seems that from an early age Jack was destined for life in the military.
The extent of Jack's military career is best summarised by reference to the obituary published at the time of his funeral. Jack died on 9 May 1936.
During my research on Jack I came across the advertisement below for the sale of his medals. Its seems rather sad to me that these medals were subject to a sale and not retained by his family.
Jack had married Jane Maria Dupuis on 10 January 1899. The marriage was at the church of St Thomas in Exeter, Devon. The church of St Thomas has a long history dating back to 1261.
Dupuis is an unusual name so I did some research into the history of Jane's family. Below is a helpful summary that leads us through the family to Jane Maria's father Edward John Gore Dupuis.
Below is some of the history of Alphington which mentions Revd Dupuis as holding the rectory since 1880. My apologies for the very small font.
Below is the 1843 Baptism record for Edward.
Below is a further part of the newspaper report on Jack's funeral. His service in the military was clearly well recognised. Of interest to me were firstly the mention of the design of his coffin as being medieval with a large latin cross. The other aspect of note was that amongst the mourners was Countess Cairns.
Looking into why Countess Cairns would be at Jack's funeral I found that her husband the 4th Earl Cairns was Lt Colonel Wilfred Dallas Cairns who was a Rifle Brigade Officer. He had served in the Boer War. I assume that he served alongside Jack.
Jack and Jane had only one child, their son Samuel Edward Harrison Spencer. I was a little surprised when I found he had been born in India on 8 March 1903. The exact location of his birth has been a little hard to nail down as it is described as various locations depending on the source. In order to get clarity on this I looked into the likely location of a military base on the assumption that the birth of Samuel in India would result from his father being posted to India at the time.
On the 1911 Census the location given for Samuel's birth was Kirkee, Deccan, India. This was the location of a base in India used by the Royal Artillery in the early 1900s. It is near Maharashtra City in Mumbai which was another location given for Samuel's birth.
Samuel followed his father's example and joined the military although in his case it was the navy. The return below shows that at age 18 he was a midshipman serving in the Mediterranean Sea.
Samuel looks to have had a successful career in the Navy and had achieved a position of second in command of a submarine.
This was also the era of the development of flying which Samuel had decided to take up. He acquired a flying qualification.
Sadly this had dire consequences. Below is the newspaper article dated Monday 21 July 1930 describing the terrible flying accident involving Samuel and a friend on the preceding Sunday.
Below is a copy from the official archived record of the investigation of the accident.
Below is a copy of the funeral record.
I covered the funeral of Samuel's father Jack earlier in this blog. Jane died on 15 July 1946.
Jane, Jack and their son Samuel are buried together at the St John The Evangelist Churchyard, Staplegrove, Taunton.
Lt Commander Patrick Spencer
Patrick followed the example of his brother Harrison (Jack) and also joined the navy. In researching his life I have to say that unfortunately I do not think he lived up to the high standards set by others in his family.
Below is Patrick's record of service in the Navy starting from 15 January 1888.
Patrick steadily advanced through the ranks from 1888 until 1903. Unfortunately in 1903 he was subject to a Court Martial as can be seen from the newspaper report below.
There are some comments on his service record relating to the Court Martial. A lot is very hard to read but the following comments could be read:
" Dismissed ship by Court Martial for 1. Neglect and 2. Knowingly making a false report. "
Patrick continued in the naval service and steadily rose up the ranks to Lieutenant in 1896. He served on numerous ships until November 1919 when he was placed on the retired list. At the time his record was noted "Not to be granted step in rank."
Patrick married 20 year old Evelyn, Grace Arnold Baiss on 10 July 1906 at St Pauls, Herne Hill, Camberwell.
Patrick and Evelyn had one child a daughter named Hesketh Marion Evelyn Arnold Spencer. Below is a Census record from 1911 when they were living in Ireland. Hesketh was born on 12 May 1909 at Skibbereen, Ireland.
Evelyn's names of Grace and Arnold are family names. Arnold was her father's christian name and Grace was his mother's name.
Arnold and his father William were both successful wholesale druggists/chemists in the city of London.
Here is the original Census form. It tells us the Patrick was serving in the Royal Navy Coastguard at this time. Note that they have three servants in the household.
Sadly the marriage between Patrick and Evelyn did not go well.
Patrick married again. In April of 1917 in a Civl Marriage at St Martins in the Field, he married Ruby May Ritchie Tillotson. This was also a second marriage for Ruby. She had been married to John L Tillotson who died on 24 January 1915.
Ruby May Ritchie had been born in Australia at Paramatta on 21 October 1880. She married John Tillotson in 1902 at her parents property in Parramatta.
Following Patrick Spencer's death in 1925 Ruby married again. The circumstances were unusual in that she married the man who had been married to her younger sister Beatrice. Tragically her sister had died in childbirth. The man Beatrice was married to was Brigadier Sir William Alexander.
Wikipedia tells us the following about Sir William.
The Brigadier-General in uniform.
The article below was published following Beatrice's death.
Below is a photo of Mrs Ruby Ritchie Tillotson - in other words a photo taken before Ruby became Mrs Patrick Spencer.
Below is the very interesting announcement of Sir William's marriage to his deceased wife's sister. Following that is another article touching on the matter of the children of Sir William and his late wife.
Although there is a feeling of disappointment in Patrick's general conduct it has been very interesting to learn about Ruby Ritchie and particularly her life subsequent to her marriage to Patrick.
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