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« on: Thursday 09 December 10 02:33 GMT (UK) »
Hello Eidde,
Your message confirms that you and I are related by marriage, so we are cousins-in-law or something like that, and I have in fact met D a few times, also related. You and I have never had the opportunity to meet, so I am very pleased to correspond with you Eidde and I send greetings from the cold and snowy North. Hello to D. as well.
Elizabeth Boyd Kerr's mother was one Sophie Mascot born in Boulogne, France, thought to be about 1865 and died in about 1920. This is anecdotal and we have no certificates to prove anything - the information comes from notes taken by a family member in conversation with EBK, including the following: EBK was born in Boulogne, Sur-Mer in 1884. She attended St. Winifred's in Torquay in 1900 and then the Pensionnat de Mme. Bouvier & Marx (Not sure about the spelling! Can't read the hand-writing) in Boulogne in 1901. Then she went to Hendry's Glasgow Business College in 1902.
After that the family moved (back?) to Hong Kong. There EBK met Samuel Baker, 2nd engineer to Thomas Kerr, Chief Engineer on the S.S. Hang Sang. (Thomas Kerr was an engineer both on ships and then at the China Sugar Refinery at the end of his career.) EBK and Sam married on December 19, 1905. Their four daughters were all born in Hong Kong, and the three eldest, Sophie, Dorothy and Helen all attended boarding school at a very young age in Torquay, travelling alone by ship from Hong Kong. There is a story that the school in Torquay was chosen because it was run by a French relative or friend of either EBK or her mother Sophie Mascot. Possibly the same school as EBK attended? The girls usually spent their school holidays with their uncle, Sir John Baker, Governor of Broadmoor. Samuel retired in 1929 and the family moved back to the UK. He died in 1935.
I have in my possession a rather dilapidated little album, an autograph book that EBK kept, and in it are several contributions from visitors and special friends, and luckily most of them are dated and show the location where they were written. Most of the writing is beautiful calligraphy, but it is now so faded that it is not always readable. I can confirm that EBK was in Boulogne in 1901, Paisley, Cotford and Torquay in 1902, and Hong Kong in 1903, although there is a rather touching letter from her mother saying goodbye to her in December 1903 (did she go back to the UK for a visit?) The book is full of poems and homilies (some French, some English) and some pencil sketches. EBK was in Hong Kong in May 1905, but we don't know if her marriage took place there or back in the UK in December. She transcribed the entire toast to the bride and groom made by a long-time family friend at her wedding reception into her little book. The speech makes reference to her being the result of the blending of the blood of the lily of France and the heather of Scotland! He calls EBK an East Point maiden - an indication of where they were? EBK also has contributions to her album on two ships - S.S. Sanuki Maru in December 1902, when the poem makes reference to her mother as well, and then the S.S. Kum Sang in 1910. Perhaps some ship's passenger lists would tell us more. The latter was a Jardine Mathieson ship. I will at some point make a copy of this little book if you are interested.
Now for my request. Captain Boyd - I am sure you have heard the story of his supposed portrait. He was the brother of Elizabeth Boyd (1816-1883), married to John Kerr. He was EBK's great-uncle and she claimed that he sailed the China seas in the mid 1800s. I have done some research on ships registers in the National Archives at Kew, but I don't have enough to go on. Does anyone have any information on him? I don't even have a first name, nor where he was born so I have reached a dead end with him. Elizabeth was the daughter of Andrew Boyd and Janet Bryson, both c1780. Hopefully my emails have been forwarded on to you. Do you also have a family tree somewhere that I can look at? I would be delighted to share mine with you.
All the best, I will write a little more on what I know about EBK's uncles and aunts soon.
J.
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