Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 10.djvu/357

12 S.X. APRIL 15, 1922.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 291 to which Lord Caledon belongs), whose daughter Emily Jane married John Nichol- son's first cousin, Captain Melville Hogg, 2nd Scinde Horse. The document further states that the Parish Register could not then be found ; and I have recently en- deavoured to trace it, but with a like result. Surely the testimony of both parents " and other relations " may be safely accepted as to date of birth. I pass now to date of baptism, a certificate of which I also obtained from the India Office and now append : This is to certify that I baptized John, the son of Alexander and Clara Nicholson, on the 18th day of December 1822, in the parish of St. Thomas, Dublin. G. BELLETT, Incumbent of St. Leonard, Bridg- north, Shropshire. Bridgnorth, January 9th, 1839. This document suggested some curious points which claimed elucidation, towards which the Parish Registers again afforded me no assistance the only baptismal record for 1822 being that of one female ! Then again, was the Rev. G. Bellett in- cumbent or curate of the parish in 1822 ? I ascertained that he was neither. Could he have been the minister of some con- venticle within it ? This was not possible, unless he subsequently conformed, as it is manifest from the above certificate that he was incumbent of Bridgnorth in 1839. As biographers differ about the religious persuasion of the General's parents, I thought it well to trace the career of the Rev. G. B. The T.C.D. records show that he took his degree of M.A. in 1832. From various ecclesiastical documents and private information I find that he was ordained Deacon 1821 and Priest in 1822, by Dr. Jas. Saurin, Bishop of Dromore, for a curacy in his diocese ; from 1827 to 1835 he was curate of Ballymodan (Bandon) ; and, in the latter year, he was appointed to Bridgnorth. My next step was to find out the patron of that living, who proved to be Thos. Whitmore, Esq., of Apley Park, J.P., D.L., M.P. for Bridgnorth, whose daughter Catherine Mary became Lady Bandon in 1832. This curate of Bandon was evidently persona grata with her, and doubtless her influence procured his advancement. He married Elizabeth, sister of Sir Edward Denny, and had a family of six children, all born at Bridgnorth. That he was reputable as a clergyman, a gentleman and an author there can be no doubt. The following literary output stands to his credit at the British Museum : 'Antiquities of Bridgnorth' (1856), 'Lec- ture on City of Rome ' (1853), ' Sermons ' (1836, 1845, 1853), 'Facts against Irving- ism' (1862-1867). If Alexander Jaffray Nicholson was a Quaker, as some assert, it seems unthinkable that he should have had his son John baptized by an Episcopalian clergyman, or put his four sons into the Army; it is also noteworthy that his two daughters married clergymen of the Estab- lished Church. The family record is as follows : Alexander Jaffray Nicholson, M.D., married Clara Hogg (sister of Sir James Weir Hogg) in 1820 and had the following issue : 1. Mary, b. October, 1821 ; m. Rev. Edwd. Maxwell, rector of Roding, Essex. 2. JOHN, Brig. -General, b. 1822 ; killed at Delhi, 1857. 3. Alexander Jaffray, b. 1824 ; killed in Khyber Pass, 1842. 4. Lily Anna Floyer, b. 1825 ; m. Rev. John Hobart Seymour, rector of Newcastle, Co. Down. 5. James Weir Hogg, b. 1827, d. 1840. 6. William, b. 1828 ; killed on the Afghan frontier, 1849. 7. Charles (Colonel), b. 1832 ; m., 1859, Elizabeth Gillelan of New York. All his sons died without issue, and I think we may safely assume that he was a Churchman. The first of his line to settle in Ireland was the Rev. William Nicholson, M.A., who was murdered in the Rebellion of 1641, and whose grandson became a member of the Society of Friends and was known as " William the Quaker." There is no evidence to show that all his descend- ants followed this example I do not labour the point as it is not of any moment ; but Captain Trotter, one of the General's biographers, says that " Dr. Nicholson, a Quaker, had been guilty of marrying a lady of another Church, and was at once expelled from the brotherhood." This, I am assured by a very high authority on Quaker usages, is fiction, as the delinquent would simply and automatically " drop out " and there an end. It is not known in what street in the parish of St. Thomas the great soldier saw the light ; his father resided in Moore Street, in Lower Gardiner Street, and probably in some others. 1 have not endeavoured to clear up this crux. J. F. FULLER. Dublin.