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Armed Forces / Re: Uniform ID and dating please.
« on: Sunday 29 May 11 06:03 BST (UK) »
Dear Littlefishlock
Your story about the old lady who gave you the box of material relating to the Surtees and Wallis families is fascinating. I have been doing some research on Major James Wallis (1785-1858) whose life and pictures have interested me greatly. I think I may have solved the riddle of how the portrait of the officer in the 46th Regiment came to be with the other items in the box. For a start, I do believe this is James Wallis, painted around 1812/3. In 1836 Wallis married Mary Ann Breach (c. 1798 -1869). They did not have children. His sister Ann (c. 1796 -?) married Alexander Taylor (Tayler) in 1817. Their daughter, also Ann (1822-1897) married Thomas Hilton (1813-1883). Their sixth child and third daughter, Dora (1849-1897) married John Baker White. Their eldest daughter Mary Baker White (1869- ?) married William Villiers Surtees, and their sixth child and second daughter, Barbara (Doreen) Feliciana Surtees (1899-1989), who was unmarried, is your lady. I wonder if you still have the portrait (which does look like a later black and white photograph of an original (coloured) watercolour on ivory), and the other material?
Your story about the old lady who gave you the box of material relating to the Surtees and Wallis families is fascinating. I have been doing some research on Major James Wallis (1785-1858) whose life and pictures have interested me greatly. I think I may have solved the riddle of how the portrait of the officer in the 46th Regiment came to be with the other items in the box. For a start, I do believe this is James Wallis, painted around 1812/3. In 1836 Wallis married Mary Ann Breach (c. 1798 -1869). They did not have children. His sister Ann (c. 1796 -?) married Alexander Taylor (Tayler) in 1817. Their daughter, also Ann (1822-1897) married Thomas Hilton (1813-1883). Their sixth child and third daughter, Dora (1849-1897) married John Baker White. Their eldest daughter Mary Baker White (1869- ?) married William Villiers Surtees, and their sixth child and second daughter, Barbara (Doreen) Feliciana Surtees (1899-1989), who was unmarried, is your lady. I wonder if you still have the portrait (which does look like a later black and white photograph of an original (coloured) watercolour on ivory), and the other material?