11112) Rev Henry Maturin, younger son of the Rev. Charles Maturin.  Born in Prussia St. Dublin Sept. 1771 (IGI Sept 17).  Baptised in St Anne’s Church, Sept 22,1771.  Entered Trin: Coll: Dub:, Jan 9, 1786 as a pensioner with a private tutor aged 16 (Alum. Dub.).  Scholar T.C.D. 1788.  B.A. Vern. 1790.  Fellow  T.C.D. 1792.  M.A. Æst. 1793. In the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trinity College Dublin (TCD MUN/5/5) there is a reference to the appointment of Henry Maturin to the parish of Clondevadogue, Raphoe, County Donegal on the 1st August 1797. “This day the Rev'd Henry Maturin was presented to the living of Clondevadogue in the Diocese of Raphoe, vacant by the death of the Rev'd Docr Hamilton”.   He was Rector of Clondevaddoch, Co. Donegal, dio. Raphoe, from Aug 7, 1797 for 44 years.  Married May 25, 1802, Elizabeth, daughter of John Johnston, Esq., Belvedere Place, Dublin.  See below for the relationship between Elizabeth’s daughter Emma (111126) who married her first cousin, Benjamin Johnston.  Elizabeth was born in 1777. She died at Aghnagaddy Glebe, Ramelton, April 8, 1826 in the 50th year of her age.  He died at Fannet Glebe, Jan 3, 1842.  He was the author of a Visitation Sermon on “The Pastoral Office”, preached in Raphoe Cathedral in 1801.  There is a mural tablet erected to his memory in the Parish Church of Clondevaddoch, with an appropriate inscription concluding with these words:- “He lived beloved and died lamented.  A grateful congregation and other friends have erected this monument to the beloved memory of one who being dead, yet speaketh.”

Rev. Combe states: (Henry) studied at Trinity College under the tutorship of the learned Dr.Thomas Elrington, afterwards Bishop of Ferns, where he gained a scholarship in 1788 and graduated two years later.  In 1792, while still only twenty years of age, he obtained a Fellowship.
At an early age he became involved in the Evangelical Movement and was closely associated with John Walker, Walter Shirley junior (see Gabriel 11111 - brother of his wife Anne Augusta) and Thomas Kelly, the hymnwriter, all four of them having been ordained about the same time.  They used to attend special meetings for prayer at the residence of Alderman Hutton in St.Stephen’s Green.  During a visit to Ireland the Reverend James Garie, Chaplain to Lady Glenorchy, wrote:
“Breakfasted this morning with my dear friends, Messrs. Walker, Maturin, etc. at College.  O how pleasing to see God raising up pious, zealous, wise young men in that place.”
Maturin ministered for a short time at Bethesda Chapel, the well-known evangelical church, and was appointed one of its trustees.  When he and his three companions were invited to preach at St.Luke’s by the curate of that parish, their forthright presentation of the Gospel was deeply appreciated and drew large crowds to the church.  Alarmed by this turn of events the rector of St.Luke’s reported the matter to Robert Fowler, Archbishop of Dublin, who not only reproved them but forbade them to preach in his diocese.
It was possibly in consequence of this that Henry Maturin resigned from his Fellowship in 1797 and was appointed the same year to the living of Clondevaddock in the Diocese of Raphoe which was in the gift of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College.  Here in this remote parish, one of the most northerly in Ireland, the remaining years of his ministry were spent.  He must have entered on his new duties with some trepidation, the vacancy having been occasioned by the murder of the previous rector, Dr.William Hamilton, in March 1797. 

Hamilton was born in Derry in 1755, the son of merchant John Hamilton.  He entered Trinity College Dublin on 1st November 1771 (Scholar in 1774, B.A. 1776,  M.A. at in 1779 and became a Fellow the same year, B.D. 1787 and D.D. 1794).  On 16 January 1790 he was installed in the parish of Clondevaddock and eventually became a magistrate.  An intelligent man, he founded a society - Palaeosophus, which with another called Neosophus became the Royal Irish Acadamy in 1786.  He wrote two books on the geology of the Antrim coast and another condemning the French Napoleonic version of democracy; all were tinged with his virulently anti-catholic and anti-nationalist views in support of the government.   By the age of 42, as a clergyman, magistrate and government supporter he had incurred the wrath of the local rapparees (Irish free booters / banditii) and in the troubled times before the 1798 rebellion he was eliminated - at the house of Dr. Waller at Sharon (between Manorcunningham and Newton Cunningham)  on 2nd March 1797.   What little remained of him was buried at Derry in the same tomb as his father.

His widow Sarah was granted an annuity of £700 by the Irish Parliament  (about £25,000 today) "he having been lately most cruelly murdered on account of his meritorious exertions as a Magistrate." 

Charles Robert Maturin gives a gruesome dramatisation of the events, transferred to Inquisitorial Spain, in  Melmoth the Wanderer (OUP 1998 pp 255-6) and footnotes “(The same) circumstance occurred in Ireland 1797, after the murder of the unfortunate Dr Hamilton. The officer was answered, on inquiring what was that heap of mud at his horse’s feet, - ‘The man you came for.””

It was under these circumstances that Henry Maturin was presented to the living of  Clondevaddock on 1st August 1797, and made his way alone north to Donegal through all the turmoil leading up to the 1798 rebellion.   North Donegal, and the Lough Swilly area in particular, suffered havoc in the Rebellion.   He later revisited Dublin and on 2 May 1802 married Elizabeth Johnston.  Their daughter Elizabeth is recorded as being born in Dublin in 1804 but all the other children were born at Fannet Glebe.

Under his faithful ministry, however, a great transformation took place at Clondevaddock.  According to his obituary in the Londonderry Sentinel, when he went to the district it was “notoriously savage and lawless” but when he died, forty five years later, he left it “not behind the very foremost in civilization and piety.”
Though no longer a Fellow of Trinity College, Henry Maturin continued to take an interest in education.  Four of his own sons, Henry, Charles, Benjamin abd Edmund, together with Robert McClintock, Francis Turnley and Richard Smith, were prepared by him for university careers.  The last of these was almost certainly the same as the Richard Smith who became Rector of Killoe and who challenged a statement of Dr.Cahill, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Raphoe, in 1854.  Maturin was also responsible for opening some new schools in the Clondevaddock neighbourhood.  A schoolhouse was built by him at Drumfad from a grant of £20 by the Kildare Place Society and from a sum of £5 collected by subscription.  The schoolhouses at Glenfanet and Munnagh, both of which were erected by him, were placed under the control of the London Hibernian Society.  He also built a schoolhouse at Tamney, raising the money by parochial assessment.  It is still (2002) a source of irritation in the parish that when Henry was on his death bed the Presbyterian minister wrote to the London Hibernian Society declaring that he had been instructed to say that the school at Drumbeg was no longer required by the Church of Ireland as it was attended almost entirely by Presbyterian families;  control of that school was transferred to the minister and has remained so.  
In Raphoe, as in Dublin, Henry Maturin was closely identified with the Evangelical Movement.  On Wednesday, 30th July, 1800, he preached a sermon on “The Pastoral Office” in St.Eunan’s Cathedral, Raphoe, on the occasion of the Bishop’s Visitation.  Reading through this discourse, one cannot fail to be impressed by the deep sincerity which underlies it.  At an early point in the sermon he reminded his clerical hearers of the need for vocation.  There were those, he suggested, who entered the ministry from wrong motives.  Some might do it with a view to personal advancement; others in order to lead lives of idleness.  Without a true sense of vocation, however, one’s ministry could never be effective.
“Unless our credentials be clear, as members of the community we may perhaps be respectable, but in the Church of Christ we can neither speak with authority nor expect with confidence a blessing on our labours.”
When speaking about the content of the minister’s preaching, he enunciated several fundamental evangelical principles - the total depravity of man, the centrality of the Cross and justification by faith.  Expounding the last of these three doctrines, he was careful to point out that faith was the instrument rather than the basis of man’s justification.
“Faith itself, of which such glorious things are spoken, forms no meritorious title; it does but credit the glad tidings and receive the free salvation.  It comes from God as one of the fruits of the Spirit.  Casting down imagination, and chasing away the delusions of self-love, it brings the proud sinner to the feet of the Saviour, and makes the rebel the willing subject of the Redeemer’s Kingdom.”
He also argued that Christian faith was very much more than mere intellectual assent since it involved a change of heart.
Despite its moderate tone and balanced ideas, this sermon does not seem to have been favourably received by all, for when it was published the following year it was prefaced by a letter to the Bishop in which the preacher vindicated his views.
“The doctrines it contains have, I know, been misrepresented by some, and misconceived by many.  To me, however, they appear to be founded in Scripture, strictly conformed to our Articles, and essentially connected with life and peace.”
This sermon was preached only three years after his arrival at Clondevaddock.  During the many years of his ministry which followed he succeeded in allaying whatever suspicions and prejudices had been aroused against him and built up a fine reputation in the diocese for devoted service and nobility of character.  After his death on 3rd January, 1842, two lengthy appreciations appeared in the Londonderry Sentinel.  Many years later tribute was paid to his memory by the Reverend James Reid Dill, Presbyterian Minister of Dromore.  Describing him as “one of the most saintly men I ever knew”, he continued:
“It was a great treat to hear him converse, he was so fluent and intelligent on every subject.  In the Scripture he was a regular concordance; his sermons were evangelical, beautiful, logical and scriptural, and his prayers extempore were the utterances of a mind filled with sacred truth ………It was my privilege to be often in his company, and often to attend Sabbath evening service which he conducted in the Rectory.”
He is commemorated in Clondevaddock Church by a marble tablet erected by the parishioners and also by the lectern which was presented by his relatives.  The inscription on the tablet reads:
“To the memory of the Revd. Henry Maturin who for forty four years faithfully discharged the duties of Rector of this parish; affectionate and impressive in his teaching, kind in his manner, mild and humble in his deportment and uncompromising in his testimony to the truth; he lived beloved and died lamented; a grateful congregation and other friends have erected this monument to the beloved memory of one “who being dead yet speaketh”.  Obit. 3rd January, 1842, Aetat 70 years.”
His tombstone may be seen in Clondevaddock churchyard.

On the 25th May, 1802 at St.John’s Church, Dublin, Henry Maturin senior, Rector of Clondevaddock, married Elizabeth Johnston by whom he had a large family.

The following are the names of his children:-

111121)  Elizabeth Maturin. Daughter of Rev: Henry Maturin (IGI - born 1804 in Dublin),.  Married March 30, 1826 at Clondevaddock Parish Church, to Rev: Thomas Henry Cotter Finny of Dunlear Glebe, Co. Louth.  She died at Fannet Glebe, Jan 10, 1833 in the 30th year of her age.  Their issue was one son,

1) Henry Maturin Finney, afterwards a clergyman in England who died Feb 14, 1865, leaving a widow, Agnes Leslie, daughter of the Rev: Edward Leslie of Lisburn and 3 children.  Born at Dunleer Glebe, Co. Louth 14 June 1830, educated at Cork and TCD, Senior Moderator and Silver medallist for Mathematics and Science 1851, BA 1852; ordained by Bishop of Winchester July 1853, Curate of parish church, Lymington, Hants 1853-58 (with his cousin Benjamin Maturin) Secretary to Colonial and Continental Society, Dublin 1858-63; Curate of Gotham 1863-65; died 17 February 1865, buried at Gotham.  Agnes’ mother was Margaret, daughter of Thomas Edward Higginson of Lisburn, Co. Antrim; born 23 Dec 1836, baptised at Lisburn Cathedral 8 Jan 1837; married at St. John’s, Ryde, Isle of Wight (by Rev. Benjamin Maturin) 13 Jan 1859.  Married secondly 16 May 1874,  of Lismore Cathedral. 

 

111122)  Rev: Henry Maturin, born Feb 10, 1805 (IGI - at Fanet, Donegal) baptised Clondevaddock 17 Feb 1805.  Entered Trin: Coll: Dub:, Oct 14, 1822 aged 17 (pensioner, schooled by his father). B.A. Vern. 1827.  M.A. Æst. (Nov) 1832.  Rector of Gartan, 1831.  Married July 17, 1832, Frances Anne Hay, 4th daughter of Robert Hay Esq. of Spott House, Barny Hill, East Lothian (IGI -incorrectly states “at Barney Hill, Lothian, Ireland” c.f. below: in fact Spott is just west of Dunbar.  See below for Hay / Babington line).  She died at Gartan Aug 7, 1868 aged 63.  In the early 1870’s  Rev. Henry Maturin, address Gartan Gebe, Church Hill, is noted as owning  94 acres in Co. Donegal.  He died at the Rectory at Gartan Oct 29, 1880, buried at Church Hill, Co. Donegal.

Rev. Combe states:  Henry Maturin’s eldest son, Henry, was born at Fanet on the 10th February, 1805 and educated at Trinity College where he graduated in 1827.  On the 18th September, 1828 he was ordained deacon in Derry Cathedral for the Diocese of Raphoe.  He served for a time in the parish of Tulloghbighy and on the 16th March, 1831 was instituted as Rector of Gartan, some ten miles west of Letterkenny, (Church Hill is next to Lough Gartan) where he remained until his death.  Besides being one of the most extensive parishes in Ireland, Gartan was also one of the most poorly paid.  He seems to have led a quiet, secluded life and never to have figured prominently in the diocese.  In 1857 a schoolhouse was built at Gartan and a couple of years later the church exterior was repainted.  It is unlikely that any major repairs were carried out during his incumbency, however, as the building was quite new, having been consecrated in December, 1820.  In several places in the Rural Deans’ reports favourable comments are inserted on the excellent attendances at the church services.
Henry Maturin junior deserves to be remembered for his philanthropic works.  Together with the Reverend Henry Brougham he founded the Donegal Protestant Orphan Society.  In 1846 and again in 1848 he wrote to the press, describing in detail the symptoms of the potato blight and urging that remedial measures should be taken.  According to his obituary in the Londonderry Sentinel:
“……..in the terrible famine of 1848 he had been unceasing in his efforts to relieve the poor starving people; he collected large subscriptions for them and chartered a large ship laden with oatmeal for Dunfanaghy from whence he had the cargo carried to Gartan, and not having offices large enough to contain it, had it stored in wooden sheds adjoining the Glebe-house, where he had it distributed daily for six months among the poor of all denominations in the surrounding district; thus, under Providence, saving the lives of hundreds of the starving poor.”
He died on the 29th October, 1880 and was buried at Churchhill, Gartan where he is commemorated by a tablet in the chancel.  His funeral was attended by a vast crowd, including all the Roman Catholics of the district, both clergy and laity.  In July, 1832, at Burney Hill, Lothian, he had married Frances Ann Hay by whom he had several sons, none of whom entered the Ministry.

 

Note Hay / Babington (from IGI so needs thorough checking)

William Hay born 30 Dec 1699 married Elizabeth Sinclair 11 May 1759 (?? needs checking - children when he was 60?).  Had family:
Robert Hay born about 1766, married Catherine Babington 12 Oct 1791 at Spott, E. Lothian, died 1844.  She was born about 1770 at Killaghtee, Donegal and died about 1844.  Had family;

William Hay born 1794(??), died 29 Aug 1855
Catherine Hay born 9 Feb 1794 at Spott
Elizabeth Hay born 28 July 1795 at Spott
Isabella Hay born 9 Jan 1797 at Spott
Rebecca Hay born 1 Jun 1798 at Spott
Frances Ann Hay born 4 Jun 1805 at Spott married Henry Maturin as above.  Had family including:
Frances Anne Maturin

Letitia Hay born 30 Jun 1808 at Spott

Georgina Hay born 5 Feb 1810 at Spott

Humphrey Babington married Catherine Hamilton 1765.  Had family:
Catherine Babington married Robert Hay above.
Ralph Babington born 1766, married Jun 1789 Rebecca Scanlon (Marriages - Walkers Hibernian Magazine p 336), he died 1806
Catherine Babington (heiress of Greenfort, Fannet Head) born 1794, married Major Baptist Johnston Barton of Derryhallagh, Co Monaghan 1815.  She died 1865.  He was born 1774 and died 1819.  Had family:
Baptist John Barton born 1816 at Fannet, died 1857.  Had family:
Baptist John Barton born 13 Jul 1848 at Fannet.  Had family:
Baptist Johnston Barton born 21 Oct 1876
Edward Humphrey Barton born 1884, married Christian Letitia Aileen Johnston 1911.  He died 1952.  She was born 1881 and died 1958. See J12156.

Note that Katherine Johnston, second daughter of John Johnston (rector of Clondevaddock to 1731 who married Mildred Hamilton (daughter of Andrew Hamilton, Archdeacon of Raphoe)) married William Babington of Urney.

The family of Henry Maturin and Frances Anne was as follows:-

1111221) Henry Maturin, born at Gartan Vicarage, 1833 and baptised at Gartan.  The Belfast Newsletter reports on Nov 16 1857 that a Henry Maturin was an Ensign in the Prince of Wales Donegal Militia, the "fine regiment, 510 strong . . lying at Ebrington Barracks" (Londonderry);  his uncle Charles Maturin was a Captain in that Regiment.  Henry was commissioned as Ensign in 81st Foot Apr 16 1858,  Lieut: Mar 12 1861 with 1st West India Regt:  died unmarried at Sierra Leone Dec 7, 1869 aged 33. Notice in local Army paper in Sierra Leone:  

DEATH
On the 7th inst at Tower Hill Barracks, Lieut. Maturin 1st W.I.R. (West Indian Regiment).
The death of this gallant and sincerely lamented officer may be said to have been very sudden.  He had been apparently out of sorts for some days; not that the genuine kindliness of manner which endeared him so much to his brother officers was impaired, but he seemed to some extent, ill at ease.  He did not however put himself in medical hands.
At noon as we understand, on the 7th. he complained of a fever and pains in the head:  medical aid was promptly called in but the fever could not be subdued; and at 5 p.m. Mr Maturin succumbed to the great grief of his friends.  His remains were conveyed early next morning to the new Burial ground and consigned to their last resting place with the usual military honours.  Peace be with him !

1111222) Catherine Hay Maturin, (IGI - Christened Feb 2, 1834 at Church Hill, Donegal), died at Gartan June 12, 1844 aged 10.

1111223) Elizabeth Maturin born at Gartan Apr 3 1835, died unmarried Mar 6 1897, buried at Church Hill, Gartan on 13 Mar.

1111224) Robert Hay Maturin, born at Gartan Mar 12, 1836; died unmarried at Letterkenny, Co. Donegal, Jan 31, buried at Church Hill, Gartan Feb 3, 1906.

1111225)  Frances Anne Maturin, (IGI - born May 28, 1838 at Gartan, Donegal) baptised at Church Hill.  In 1910 noted as “of 3 Norwood Place, Letterkenny”.  In 1920 Dr Henry Maturin Johnston visited her and found her to be in such poor health that he took her back to Stranolar for her last few days but she rallied and died 9 years later on Oct 5 1929 aged 91.

1111226) Charles Maturin, (IGI - born May 22, 1841 at Gartan, Donegal), Lieut. 17th Madras Native Infantry 1861.  Died, after a short illness, unmarried at Gartan Aug 5, 1869 aged 28.

 

1111227) John Maturin, born Jun 6, 1842 at Gartan Glebe, baptised at Church Hill, Gartan; entered Trinity College, Dublin, October 1858 aged 16, L.R.C.S.I. 1863, L.R.C.P. Edinburgh 1864, F.R.C.S.I. 1889; of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Assistant-Surgeon 30 Sept 1864, Surgeon-Major 30 Sept 1876, Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel 1884, Brigade Surgeon 11September  1890, Colonel Oct 3, 1895, retired June 6 1902; served in India (3 tours) 1865 - 87, in Ashanti Expedition1873-74 (medal);  Ceylon 1891-95, Principal Medical Officer, Colchester, 1895 - 1902.  Married Jul 20, 1871 at South Stoneham, Hants Adeline, daughter of Lieut. Col. William Charles Drummond, who was born Mar 19, 1848 and has issue.  (Census on 3 April 1881 records the family at sea or in a foreign port on Royal Naval vessel “Crocodile” ;  John M.  described as “Surgeon Major A M D”, Adeline as aged 38, born in Hampshire).  1901 census - at 21 The Avenue, Colchester with Daniell CP still at home aged 25 and two servants, Alice Spinks (cook) and Eliza Jessupp (housemaid).  In 1910 still noted as at The Avenue. Died  at Colchester 5 February 1920.  Had family as follows:

11112271)  John William Henry Maturin Born 20 May 1872, baptised at South Stoneham 15 Jun; educated at Dover College; entered the Army as 2nd Lieut (Prince Albert’s) Somerset Light Infantry 13 Aug 1892, transferred to Army Service Corps 1 Apr 1895, Lieutenant 30 Sep 1895, Captain 11 Mar 1900, Adjutant 1 Jan to 31 Dec 1904, Major 1 Apr 1907, retired 19 Dec 1908; served in South African War 1899-1902, D.A.A.G. 19 Feb to 10 Oct 1902; on Staff at operations in the Orange Free State February to May 1900, including actions at Poplar Grove, Karee Siding, Houtnek (Thoba Mountain), Vet River (5 and 6 May) and Zand River; operations in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony October 1900 to December 1901, in the Transvaal Jan to Feb 1902, in Orange River Colony Feb to May 1902 and in the Cape Colony Sep 1901 (Queen’s medal with three clasps, King’s medal with two clasps). On 1 Aug 1915 as a Major in the Reserve of Officers with the Army Service Corps he was appointed Lt.-Col. (temp), the rank which he relinquished on 6 May 1919, when he ceased to be employed but was granted the rank of Lt.-Col. on that day.  The Courts report in the Times 18 Dec 1915 cites Major John in the divorce of Blanche Catherine Marie Johnson (née Everett), proof of adultery being provided at the County Hotel, Salisbury on 1 Aug, the day on which he achieved his Majority .

 

11112272)  Arthur Edward Maturin born at Southampton Sep 30, 1873, baptised at St Marks, Southampton 10 October 1873; educated at Dover College and at Epsom College.  In 1910 described as being “of Foxton, New Zealand”. Information from Ian Maturin that he grew up, colourfully, in New Zealand.  Married Annie Jamieson (née Young) in Wellington NZ.   He died 26 October 1960, buried at Taita, Lower Hutt, NZ.  His family is:

111122721)  Mavis Lily Maturin born 28 May 1913 at Masterton.  Married L L Carter at Wellington Registry Office 14 July 1933.  Divorced 15 June 1951.

111122722)  Ina Constance Maturin, born 1914, married James Baillie at Wellington Registry Office 14 July 1933.  Divorced 12 June 1939

111122723)  Living Maturin

111122724)  Joyce Florence Maturin born 1917

 

11112273)  Daniel Charles Percy (Percy) Maturin was born 2 Apr 1875 in Tynemouth, Northumberland where his father was stationed.  For the 1881 census Percy was with his family on board HMS Crocodile en route for India.  He was educated at Epsom College where he is noted in the 1891 census.  By April 1901 he was living with his parents in their retirement home in Colchester, but his occupation details are left blank.  

He joined the 3rd Battalion Suffolk Regiment (West Suffolk Militia) on 21 Dec 1901, was commissioned Lieutenant 6 Feb 1904 but resigned in Apr 1908.  On 8 May 1908 he arrived in Montreal on the Empress of Britain, with just £20 in his pocket and bound for Winnipeg.   He returned from Montreal to London on the SS Corinthian, arriving on 8 Oct 1910, noted as a clerk travelling third class.  The 1911 census notes him "at present unemployed, book-keeper" again living with his parents in Colchester.  His journey back to Calgary has not been found but he enlisted in the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force there on 7 April 1915 at the age of 39 (described as having blue eyes (a Maturin trait), being an Anglican, 5’7” tall with a 36” chest plus 3” expanded!).

On 21 Apr 1915 he was commissioned as Lieutenant in the 50th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and left for Europe on 27 Oct.   It is unclear when Percy was made up to Captain as no Gazette entry can be found but his Army records from Aug 1915 refer to this rank.  On arrival in England the Battalion was based at Bramshott.  Almost immediately, on 14 Dec 1915 Percy was sent down to a medical board Shorncliffe, near Folkestone.    It was found that chronic otitis media had caused partial deafness in both ears and that he would be permanently unfit for "General Service" but could undertake Light Duties.  

On 15 Mar 1916 he transferred to the 9th Battalion Reserve Battalion at Bramshott. For his Light Duties he was appointed as Record Officer with the Canadian force at the vast military camp at Shorncliffe on 16 Nov 1916. Early in May 1917 he "ceased to be A/Bde Record Officer to the 2nd Canadian Reserve Brigade" and on 23 May 1917 transferred to the Alberta Regiment Depot in London.   

In the June qtr of 1917 his marriage to Katherine Marsh Hart was registered in the Elham district which covers Folkestone, Kent.  Katherine was the 25 year-old daughter (born in Folkestone 18 Mar 1892) of painter and paper-hanger John Hart and his wife Mercy.  In the 1911 census Katherine was a waitress in a Folkestone cafe, living in the 3-bed terrace family home at Greenfield Road with her parents and brother, Bonney.   The 40 year-old bachelor must have been as glad to find a bride as the spinster was to find a husband.  From June 1917 Percy's pay records noted that he was billeted but there is no indiction as to where the newly-weds were able start married life together.

Katherine A Maturin's birth was recorded in Fulham in Mar qtr 1918.

A Medical Board had met in London on 5 Nov 1917 to examine Percy for deafness and found that he had had recurrent discharges from both ears since the age of 7.  His hearing had deteriorated in the previous two years.  His right ear heard noise only from 15 ft. and his left ear from 10 ft.  The Board recommended that ordinary service conditions would aggravate the problem, that the condition was permanent but confirmed that he could be fit for light duties at home.

Though the medical records state that the condition was not apparent before enlistment it is very likely that serious deafness, for which there was little treatment available at that time, had affected Percy from early childhood.  He must have learned to live with the handicap, and disguise it to a degree, to be able to pass the Army medical in Calgary.  Such a condition would explain his unemployment and living with his parents at a time when four of his brothers were distinguishing themselves in the Army.

On 11 Feb 1918 his revised light duties at the Alberta Regiment Depot in London were deemed to be less than justified by the rank of Temp. Captain and Percy reverted to being Temp. Lieutenant.  He was “secd. for duty with Ministry of Munitions” and “ceased to be secd. for duty” (as a temp. Lt.) on 20 Dec. 1918 (London Gazette).

Meanwhile Katherine was assigned "Pay and Separation Allowance" from Sept 1917 and was staying at various addresses in west London, including Merton Park Wimbledon, West Kensington and Ealing.

On 9 Jan 1919 Percy was posted as a Casualty to Calgary and he was formally Struck off the Strength on 8 Feb 1919.  

The arrival of repatriated troops at Halifax, Nova Scotia on the SS Olympic on 17 Jan 1919, reported in the Manitoba Free Press on 18 Jan, included "Lieut. Daniel Charles Maturin GPO, Calgary" among those on the two trainloads of men being taken back to Alberta.  Travelling "Saloon" on the same ship were Katherine (aged "25") and baby Katherine at 11 months.

Percy died in Vancouver BC on 28 July 1960 aged 84 (BC Archives).  Katherine briefly returned to the UK arriving in Liverpool from Montreal on the SS Sylvania on 7 Oct 1960 to stay at 82 Wandsworth Road, Fulham, London SW6.  On 1 Dec 1960 she took the SS Saxonia from Southampton back to Halifax NS.

Katherine died in West Vancouver on 10 July 1983 aged 91

111122731)  Katherine A Maturin born Mar qtr 1918 in Fulham.  She married Henry James Taylor who was born in Abbotsford, BC on 19 May 1907 and died in North Vancouver on 23 Nov 1985.


11112274) Reginald George Maturin born 13 November 1877 in Poonamalee, Madras, India;  educated at Merchant Taylors’ School; joined the Royal Field Artillery as 2nd Lieutenant 24 June 1898, Lieutenant 16 Feb 1901; Captain 21 April 1906, Adjutant Royal Artillery 27 Feb 1908; employed with West African Frontier Force 20 Dec 1902 to 26 Mar 1904; served in South African War 1900-1902, at operations in the Orange Free State, Feb 1900, in Orange River Colony and Cape Colony Feb 1900 to 31 May 1902 (mentioned in despatches, “London Gazette”, 28 Jan 1902, Queen’s medal with two clasps, King’s medal with two clasps, D.S.O.) In 1914 as Captain in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery promoted to Major on 30 Oct 1914, Lt.-Col. (temp) on 13 Apr 1916, awarded Silver Medal for Military Valour on 29 Sep 1918, awarded to be Brevet Lt.-Col on 1 Jan 1919 “for distinguished service in connection with Military Operations in Italy”, relinquished the rank of temp. Lt-Col. on 1 Apr 1920 (London Gazette).  Married Ella Jane Maturin-Baird (11112311, daughter of Daniel Maturin-Baird) in 1917. Died 1962 leaving family:

111122741)  Anne Maturin married Keith Cameron, who died 1980, lived in Milton under Wychwood, had family.

11112275)  Edgar Maturin born 4 Feb 1881 at Bellary, Madras, India; educated at St. Helen’s College, Southsea, at the Merchant Taylors’ School, at Bedford Grammar School and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst;  1901 census recorded in Kent; joined the Army Service Corps 1 May 1901, 1st Lieutenant 1 May 1902, retired June 1907.  In 1910 noted as living at 25 Earls Court Gardens, S.W.  On 26 Sept 1914 as “late Lt.” in the Army Service Corps he was confirmed as Lieutenant in the Reserve of Officers and made temp Captain on 11 Dec 1914  (London Gazette). 

11112276)  Hugh Geoffery Maturin born 26 Mar 1885 at Sitapur, Oudh, India and baptised there; educated at St. Helen’s College, Southsea, at the Merchant Taylors’ School, at Bedford Grammar School (1901 census noted as “Geoffrey” at 50 de Parys Avenue, Bedford) and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; entered the Army as 2nd Lieutenant unattached 13 Aug 1904, 2nd Lieutenant Indian Army 29 Oct 1905, Lieutenant 61st Regiment of Pioneers 13 Nov 1906.  Married Gaynor.  Awarded OBE before joining the RAF in 1940. Granted wartime commission as a Pilot Officer (84358) on 1 July 1940, Flying Officer on 2 Apr 1941 (confirmed on 1 Jul), appointed Deputy Assistant Provost Marshal 1 Sep 1941, Flight Lieutenant (temp) on 1 Oct 1942.  Relinquished his commission on 18 Sep 1945 (London Gazette).

1111228) William Hay Maturin,  (IGI - born Aug 1, 1845 at Gartan Glebe) . LRCSI 1865, Licenciate KQCPI 21 Dec 1865, Home Surgeon for County & City Infirmary Londonderry, Medical Officer for the Churchill Dispensary District of the Letterkenny Union. Died unmarried at Gartan April 1, 1873 aged 29, (“beloved in life for his many amiable qualities, and deeply regretted in his death by every family in the entire district.  In him the poor have lost a kind friend, and the sick a skillful and attentive physician”)  buried at Church Hill, Gartan.

1111229)  Humphrey Lea Sharpe Maturin, (IGI - born Dec 24, 1848 at Gartan Glebe)

Licenciate KQCPI 13 July 1870,  LRCSI 1870 Surgeon. 1871 census - noted in Kent, England. Medical Officer for the Churchill Dispensary District of the Letterkenny Union at 18 June 1873.  In 1888 noted at Gartan Lodge, Letterkenny.   Died unmarried at Gartan Glebe May 17, 1899, (“aged 52”) buried at Church Hill, Gartan.

Humphrey and Derryveagh. John George Adair was a land speculator from Queen’s County who took advantage of the collapse of land prices during the famine. Entranced by Glenveagh he started buying up farms and estates in 1857.  One of those near Gartan was bought from a family of Johnstons who had ruined themselves trying to keep their tenants from starvation.   His most brutal act was the clearance of 47 families from Derryveagh apparently as an act of revenge for their spoiling his sport as he "trespassed" over land for which he was due ground rent but did not own the shooting rights.  Adair cleared the estate for sheepwalks despite the strongest representations from Henry Maturin at Gartan.  During a visit by Adair to Gartan Glebe, to discuss the problems with the Rector, the Glebe barns were set ablaze and destroyed.  There must have been a very twisted logic as Henry Maturin had only ever supported the cause of those dispossessed by the Clearance.

One of the consequences of the Clearance was the murder of a shepherd, Adam Grierson in 1863.  He was a lowland Scot who had been brought in by Adair to look after the newly created sheepwalks but the life was not to his liking, he had taken to drink and made the decision to emigrate.  The day before he and his family were due to leave he was murdered.  Francis Bradley was one of those evicted from Derryveagh; he had been heard to make threats against Grierson and was immediately accused of the crime. No jury would agree to convict him and he was kept in prison for two years while three trials collapsed. On the fourth trial the defence called Humphrey Lea Sharpe Maturin as a boy of 15 who gave evidence that he had seen the accused in Church Hill at the moment that the estate bell was being rung and therefore a time when it would have been impossible for Bradley to get to the scene of the killing.  Though a number of cottagers had said this before it was the word of the Rector's son which was accepted by the judge and the accused was finally freed, though there was still great suspicion of his close involvement with the crime.

 

111123)  Charles Maturin, second son of Henry Maturin 11112, born Aug 13, 1806 (IGI - at Fanet Glebe, Donegal) baptised at Clondevaddock 17 Aug 1806).  Entered Trin: Coll: Dub:, Jan 19, 1824. B.A. Æst. 1828. M.A. Æst. 1833.  Barrister-at-Law.  Captain Prince of Wales Own Donegal Militia.  Married at Londonderry Cathedral  April 1848, Jane Baird, only surviving child of Daniel Baird Esq. of Boom Hall, Londonderry.  She was born in 1820, died at Queenstown, Co. Cork in 1851. He is noted in the 1850 Dublin Directory at 30 Blessington St, Dublin (barrister - Hilary term 1832). He died at Castlerock, Co. Derry on Aug 31 1887, buried at Baron’s Court, Newton Stewart, Co. Tyrone.

The family with Jane follows.  Charles had also had a relationship with Anne Richards as below.

 

1111231) Daniel Baird Maturin-Baird, who took the additional surname of Baird under his grandfather’s will by Royal Licence dated Feb 26 1875.  Born Jul 27, 1851 at Bessington Street, Dublin, baptised at St. Peter’s, Dublin 1853. Captain Prince of Wales Own Donegal Militia 1869-75.  In the late 1870’s he is noted as being a landowner of 4900 acres.. Now (1880) of Mourne Lodge, Newtonstewart and of Boom Hall, Londonderry. Married Eleanor, daughter of John Parsons, Cardiff, (born Jan 16, 1871) on Dec 23, 1889 at St Peter’s, Regent Sq, London. (1910) of Newton Stewart and Croy, Kingston -on-Thames.  Had family:

11112311) Ella Jane Maturin-Baird, born Feb 23, 1891 at 30 Holland Park Gardens, London. Married Reginald George Maturin in 1917 (11112274, 4th son of Surgeon Major John Maturin - see above).  Had family - see  111122741 Anne above

   
11112312) Dorothy Lucy (Dinah) Maturin-Baird, born Nov 8, 1893 at 30 Royal Crescent, Holland Park, London.  Married Lancelot James (James) Clayton (born Kingston, Surrey 1st qtr 1881) in 1915.  James was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the Gloucester Regiment on or about 21 July 1915 and was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant in 1/5th Gloucesters.  He was badly gassed in the trenches from which he never recovered.  His medal card appears to record his death on 28 November 1921 but family hearsay notes this as being in 1922.  Dinah devoted herself to bringing up their only child, Patrick.  On his death in 1944 she became increasingly reclusive for 40 years until her death in 1985.

1) Patrick Gerald Maturin Clayton   Born 3rd qtr 1919 at Kingston, Surrey.  Pictured right at Frinton in 1928. 

Hythe, Kent, war memorial records note Patrick Gerald Maturin Clayton Lieutenant H.M. Submarine Stonehenge, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve,  lost at sea on Monday, 20th March 1944, aged 24. Son of Lancelot James and Dorothy Lucy Clayton, of Hythe, Kent.

The official Admiralty report stated HMS Stonehenge sailed from Trincomalee, Ceylon on 25 February 1944 for a patrol in the Malacca Straits area. She was due to return to her base on 20 March but did not do so and nothing further has been heard of her; the enemy had no knowledge of her loss. The most likely explanation is that she struck a mine. There were no survivors.  However there is some room for elaboration as this was a very young crew with David S. McN. Verschoyle-Campbell, a dashing lieutenant of 23 in command, already awarded the DSO and DSC, who may have been searching for more adventure than luck allowed.  More detail is given on a BBC archive site

In March 2009 an album with 66 photos of Patrick as a young boy in Hythe (above left) was put up for sale at South Downs Auctioneers in Midhurst, West Sussex.  The auctioneer, Paul Dunn (above right), investigated the inscription, found this site and persuaded the vendor that the "right thing to do" must be to return the album to the family.  The album had been found in a charity shop on a border of Wiltshire so evidence of ownership since 1985 is not available.  The family is very grateful to the anonymous vendor for his/her generosity and to Paul Dunn for his thoughtful consideration.

 

11112313)  Gladys Muriel Maturin-Baird, born Sep 13 1895, Croy, Kingson-on-Thames.  Died 1912.

11112314)  Charles Edgar Maturin-Baird, born, Feb 28, 1899 at Croy. Lt Colonel Irish Guards.  Married first Angela Harter in 1922.  She died in 1979.  .

111123141) Patricia Maturin-Baird, married Alastair Montgomerie, Lieut.  Commander  RNVR DSC who died 1990. Had family:

Married second Evelyn Wilbrahim in 1979; she died in 1997.  He died 1994

 

1111232) Charles Maturin, born 20 Aug 1850 at Sandycove Avenue, Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland. He died on 29 Apr 1851 at Rev. T. Finney's house in Queenstown, Cork, Ireland - 12 days after his mother died on 17 Apr at the same place.

 

The Births announcement is in the Dublin Evening Post, 22nd August 1850 (page 3, column 3) and the Deaths announcement is in the Dublin Evening Mail 2nd May 1851 (page 3, column 5).

 

Charles (111123) relationship with Ann “Annie” Richards in the 1860s, produced two sons, listed below. Although Ann Richards is shown with the Maturin surname on her sons’ birth certificates, no evidence of a marriage has yet been found. Charles returned to Ireland while his sons were very young, but the fate of Ann Richards is unknown. Charles put his second son (Henry) up for adoption (see below) and his first son (Charles) was left with his nanny in London.

 

1111233) Charles Maturin, born 28 Feb 1866 at 14 Dorchester Place, Marylebone, London, England.

 

Charles seems to have suffered from mental health issues and lived with his nanny in London until she was too old to look after him (his father only paid for his care until 1870). He was admitted to St Marylebone Workhouse on 16th January 1890 (recorded on the Register of Lunatics). He appears on the 5th April 1891 census at Leavesden Asylum in Hertfordshire, where he died of TB in the first quarter of 1899.

 

1111234) Henry Maturin, born 25 Mar 1867 at 14 Dorchester Place, Marylebone, London, England.

 

Henry was adopted in June 1867 by a gentlewoman named Julia Nutt who gave him a new name of Frederick Smith (later Frederick Nutt-Smith); he was also given a new birth date of 21 Apr 1867. It is not clear how the adoption was arranged i.e. did Julia know Charles Maturin, was it a chance encounter, or did they have a mutual friend who facilitated this? Julia was a daughter of John Nutt, an attorney and town clerk of Canterbury, Kent.

 

Julia needed a child in order to deceive her wealthy lover, Frederick Smith, that they had a child. It is thought that Julia did in fact give birth to a baby boy in April 1867, but he died soon after; hence Julia’s desire to find a replacement of similar age. Julia named her adopted son after Frederick Smith, and persuaded Frederick senior to pay her maintenance for the child. However, Frederick became suspicious about the circumstances of the child’s birth and exposed Julia’s deception. He subsequently sued her in 1872 to cancel the maintenance agreement and prevent her from pursuing him further. The motive for Julia’s deception is not stated in the court records, but it seems likely she was trying to convince Frederick to marry her. Postnatal depression may well have triggered Julia’s deceit.

 

After Julia’s deception was laid bare in court, she took Frederick Nutt-Smith (Henry Maturin) to live with her best friend Elizabeth Laycock at Winchmore Hill in Middlesex. It is not clear what happened to Julia after that, but Frederick Nutt-Smith was later adopted by Elizabeth Laycock and her husband Frederick. Julia died in 1881 in Hertfordshire.

 

N.B. Ancestry DNA test results have linked descendants of Frederick Nutt-Smith to descendants of Margaret Maturin (1774-1856) - person no. 11113 on this page: http://maturin.org.uk/Gabriels-grandchildren/  The common ancestors are therefore Rev. Charles Maturin (1729-76) and Elizabeth Denson. See person no. 1111 at the top of this page: http://maturin.org.uk/Charles/

 

Henry Maturin/Frederick Nutt-Smith married Emma Ann Rhodes on 27th July 1889 at St Paul’s church, Winchmore Hill, Middlesex and they had issue:-

 

11112341) Wilfred Nutt-Smith (1890-1944)

 

11112342) Philip Nutt-Smith (1891-1956)

 

11112343) Olive Juanita Mary Nutt-Smith (1893-1946)

 

11112344) Vera Rosalie Nutt-Smith (1897-1979)

 

11112345) Evelyn Elizabeth Nutt-Smith (1901-1986)

 

111124) John Maturin, third son of Henry Maturin 11112  born June 8, 1808 baptised June 10 at Clondevaddock.  Solicitor at Law.  Married April 2, 1845, Harriett Humfrey, 4th daughter of John Black Esq. of Sligo, at Booterstown, Co. Dublin.  The 1850 Law Directory notes a J Maturin (solicitor) at Upper Temple Street, Dublin but he is not listed in the Dublin Directory as living at that address. He died at Newton Stewart, Co. Tyrone on 8 May 1889 and was buried there.  Will proved in the Principal Registry, Dublin (328,89) 13 Aug 1889 by Harriett Maturin, relict and sole executrix. She died at 58B Rathmines Road, Dublin on Jan 31 1907 and was buried at Mount Jerome cemetery.

Their issue is as follows:-

1111241)  Elizabeth Maturin, (IGI - born Jun 24, 1846 in Dublin)  died Dec 6, 1857, aged 11.

1111242)  Leslie Maturin  Born in Dublin on 20 May 1848 Leslie was admitted as LRCSI in 1874 and as Licentiate KQCPI on 10 November 1875.  Such was his promise as a physician that, even before he obtained his diploma, in 1874 he was selected to fill the responsible post of Assistant-Accoucheur in the Maternity Unit of Dr. Steevens' Hospital in Dublin where he had already held the appointment of Surgical Resident Pupil for a longer-than-normal period (1).   He accepted appointments to the wilds of the isles in far western Ireland as "Medical Officer etc" for the Achill Division of the Achill Dispensary District of the Newport Union, Co. Mayo on 1 Mar 1876 and a fortnight later as Medical Attendant to the Royal Irish Constabulary, Achill and Admiralty Surgeon and Agent for the Stations of Keel, Achillbeg, Dugort and Bullsmouth (2).  These did not quench his thirst for adventure.  

On 26 October 1876 he sailed from the Clyde on emigrant sailing ship "The Marlborough" as Surgeon-Superintendent, arriving in Port Chalmers (the port for Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand) 85 days later on 20 January after an exemplary voyage in a healthy, clean ship (3). He must have returned almost immediately as he is next recorded as volunteering to be a surgeon to the Russian Sick and Wounded Society during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8 (1).  After the fall of Plevna in December 1877 thousands of Turkish prisoners were marched to Bucharest under appalling conditions with many dying by the wayside from untreated wounds, rampant typhoid and dysentery.  Prince Charles of Rumania personally thanked the Society's surgeons, with "Drs Maturin and Davis" particularly noted for their work (4).

Leslie returned to the comparative peace of temporary Medical Superintendant of Kilmainham Fever Hospital, Dublin on 6 April 1881;  the post became permanent and he remained in sole charge until the hospital closed in 1883.  Whilst there his work, recorded in the Dublin Journal of Medical Science, was recognised as remarkable.  Early in 1883 he became Resident Medical Officer and Registrar to Cork Street Fever Hospital in Dublin (1).

The promotion enabled him to marry a Scots girl he met when she was visiting relations at Blessington.  On 3 September 1883, in St Giles Church Edinburgh the wedding took place between Leslie and Leila Scot Skirving (5).

 

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story of Leila, the Scot Skirving family and the encounter with Joseph Merrick - the Elephant Man.

 

1)  In Memoriam - Leslie Maturin.  Dublin Journal of Medical Science Vol 79, no. 1 / January 1885 -

2)  The Kirkpatrick Archive, The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin

3)  Report in the Otago Witness, Issue 1313 27 January 1877 Page 11 - available on-line
This sailing compares very well with the voyage taking Charles Jephson and Olivia Kensington with their family to Aukland from July 1862 on the "William Miles".  That journey was 106 days, 5 died at sea and the steerage passengers were on the point of insurrection at the filthy conditions and abominable food.  Olivia (daughter of Assistant Commissary William Maturin) was a second cousin of Leslie's.

4)  Report in The Times 9 January 1878, issue 29147,  page 5 col. D

5)  Marriage certificate 685/04 0205 witnessed by R Scot Skirving and A H Maturin (Albert Henry - Leslie's brother)

6)  Grave at plot 361 Mount Jerome Cemetery, with thanks to Yvonne Russell for making this image available on-line.


1111243)  Albert Henry Maturin, born Jan 27, 1850.  B.A. 1882 Trin: Coll: Dub:.  Divinity Test 1884, M.A. 1885; Deacon and Priest 1885; curate Coleraine 1885-90.  Rector of Maghera, Co. Derry 1890 - 1926. The living had a value of £282. In 1937 his address was Hafod, The Fields, Alsager.  Henry Gabrial M. Memoriam notes him as being at Alsager, Stoke-on-Trent in 1941.  Died unmarried Dec 22 1944.

 

Rev. Combe states:  Albert Henry, the eldest son, (sic ??) was born at Blackrock, Co.Dublin, on the 21st January, 1850, and graduated from Trinity College in 1884.  On the 20th December, 1885 he was ordained priest in Holywood Church for the Dioceses of Down, Connor and Dromore.
After serving a curacy at St.Patrick’s, Coleraine, he was appointed in 1890 to the living of Maghera in the Diocese of Derry.  Here he was responsible for effecting many renovations in the church.  In 1902 the Rural Dean observed that the church appeared “rather neglected”, but the following year noted that it had been “repainted externally and internally at a cost of over £250”.  During his incumbency two new windows were opened in the north wall of the church, a new heating chamber was built and an effort was made to improve the ventilation.  At the last vestry-meeting attended by Maturin he reported that, with the bishop’s approval, he had placed texts over the windows and chancel arch.  On the occasion of his departure he presented the church with a brass alms dish and communion linen damask.  Two years later he presented the church at Clondevaddock with alms dishes and a baptismal ewer inscribed “These Alms Dishes & Ewer are the gift of the Rev Albert J Maturin in memory of his parents John & Harriet Humfrey Maturin 1928.”

After his retirement in 1928 he lived in England, first at St.Deniol’s Library, Hawarden, Chester, and then for many years at Roslyn House, Alsager, Stoke-on-Trent.  No sooner had he resigned from Maghera than he was seized with regrets and misgivings and made an attempt to have himself reappointed.  This was not feasible, however, as a new incumbent had meanwhile been nominated.  It is possible that this may have embittered him against his former parishioners, for in his will he left £100 to Maghera Presbyterian Church but nothing to the parish. 

1111244) Charles Gabriel Maturin, (IGI - born Sep 9, 1852 at Blackrock, Dublin)  Surgeon. L.R.C.S.I. Drowned while crossing the Allagalla River in Ceylon, Dec 17, 1877 (sic “Visitations” gives Dec 8, 1878) aged 25.

1111245)  Charlotte Florence Maturin, (IGI - born Jan 6, 1857 at Blackrock, Dublin)  died Feb 10, 1859, aged 2.

 

1111246)  Frederick Gray Maturin, (IGI - born May 17, 1863 at Blackrock, Dublin) married Adelaide Charlotte (Ada), daughter of William Grant Douglas, Commander Royal Navy, of St. Margarets, St. Andrews, Fife, and widow of Harris W. Dick on Nov 8, 1890 at Windsor.  In 1910 described as “of Villa San Mateo, Carmina di Antiquera, Malaga, Spain”. Had family:

11112461)  Norah Leslie Maturin, born in London Jun 2, 1891

11112462)  Ruth Gabrielle Maturin, born at Egham  Oct 5, 1894

 

1111247)  Stopford John Maturin, (IGI - born Aug 26, 1864 at Blackrock, Dublin)

 

111125)  Maria Maturin, 5th child of Henry Maturin 11112, baptised at Clondevaddock 27 Jan 1811, died unmarried at Fannet Glebe, Sept 26 1833 in the 23rd year of her age. Buried at Clondevaddock, Donegal 28 Sep.

 

111126) Emma Maturin  6th child of Henry Maturin 11112 born Jan 8, 1812 at Fanet Glebe, baptised at Clondevaddock 10 Jan 1813. Married Jan 11, 1843 (but location uncertain) to Benjamin Johnston Esq. M.D (of Riversdale, Midleton, Co. Cork, B.A. T.C.D 1837, M.B. Dublin 1842, M.D. 1870, F.R.C.S.I. 1845). In Slater’s Directory of 1846 - Johnston, Benjamin, M.D., Physicians & Surgeons, Bridge St, Rathmelton is noted.  Afterwards Medical officer at Midleton, Co. Cork, where he died June 2, 1876, aged 59.  In the 1870’s the "Trustees of Benjamin Johnston," address Glebe, Tamney, Milford, are noted as owning 85 acres in Co. Donegal. She now resides in Dublin (1880).  She died at Gorsehill, Ballybay, Co. Monaghan Nov 6, 1890, aged 78; buried at Midleton.  Will proved in the Principal Registry, Dublin by Benjamin Johnston, Henry Maturin Johnston, M.D. of Stranorlar, Donegal the surviving executors.  Their issue consisted of 6 sons and 4 daughters - see the pages for The Johnston Story.

 

111127)  Rev: Benjamin Maturin. 7th child and 4th son of Henry Maturin 11112 Born Dec 16, 1815 at Fanet Glebe, baptised at Clondevaddock 17 Dec 1815. Entered Trin: Coll: Dub:, July 1 1833.  Pensioner i.e. paid a fixed annual fee for his education, schooled by his father (Alumni Dublinenses 1935). Downe’s Theological Prize.

B.A. Vern. 1838. Deacon 1839 by Bishop of Dromore; priest 1840 by Bishop of Derry.   Curate at Newtownards in Down (1839 -1840), Kilbarron (Ballyshannon) in Raphoe (1840 - 1842) and Raloo in Connor (1842 - 1846). M.A. Æst. 1865.  Curate at Biddenden, Beds and then at Ringwood, to his cousin Charles Henry Maturin, from 1848 to 1852.

When Benjamin was appointed to Lymington  there had not been an incumbent for a considerable time.  The Rectory remained in the the possession of the Bishop of Bristol until 1857  when it was transferred to the Ecclesiastical Commisssioners.
Vicar 1869 to 1905.  In 1877 the living’s Patron was Bishop of Winchester with a tithe of £80, with £200 from Eccles. Comm. - a net income of £300 plus a house, (population 4295); in 1889 the TRC was £80 but an average of £67 with £200 stipend, giving a gross income of £267. Rural Dean of Lyndhurst 1892, Canon of Winchester Cathedral 1903, died at Lymington Vicarage on Tues Oct  31, 1905, buried at Lymington Nov 4.  Author of Sermons on "The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper Examined and Explained, and the Duty of Celebrating It Recommended and Enforced" (Lond: 1848 price 2/-).

Salisbury and Winchester Journal Saturday Nov 4th 1905
Death of the Vicar of Lymington
Canon Benjamin Maturin, Vicar of Lymington, one of ablest and most respected clergy in the diocese of Winchester, died suddenly on Tuesday morning, at the age of 90 years.  He greaduated from Trinity College, Dublinin 1938, proceeding to his M.A. In 1853.  He was ordained deacon in 1939 and priest in 1840, and became curate of Newtownards and later of Ballyshannon.  He came to England in 1846on accepting the curacy of Biddenham =, and had afterwards done 57 years service in the Winchester diocese.  He was curate of Ringwood from 1848 to 1852, when Bishop Sumner appointed him to the Vicarage of Lymington, which he held ever since, his jubilee as vicar being celebrated with considerable interest in1902.  He was also for 52 years chaplain of the Lyminton Union, resigning that post last year.  He had been Rural Dean since 1892, and was made an honorary cannon of Winchester Cathedral in 1903

Married (1st) June 3, 1840,  Anna Johnston, only daughter of John Johnston Esq. of Belfast. (See note on Johnston pedigree under Emma Maturin 111126.)  IGI states her birth in 1817 at Fannet Glebe but there is no such record in the parish registers.  She died at Fannet Glebe, May 15, 1842, aged 25, buried at Clondevaddock 18 May. (sic. IGI states, incorrectly, Jun 15).

Recorded on 1851 census at Poulner Lane, Ringwood (near the Manor House) as:
Benjamin Maturin, head, widower aged 35, curate of Ringwood
Henry M., son, aged 8, scholar
Eliza Fenner, servant, ?widow aged 33, born in Ringwood

Appointed incumbent of Lymington, Hants, July 4 1852. 

1861 census at 3 Highfield, Lymington
Benjamin Maturin, head, aged 45, curate of Lymington
Adelaide M., wife, aged 30, born in Lymington
Adelaide M. M., daughter, aged 5, born in Lymington
Laura S. M.,  daughter, aged 2, born in Lymington
Benjamin A. M. Son aged 11 mnths, born in Lymington
Gertice? Rock, cook, unmarried, aged 57 born in Milton, Hants
Jane Henstridge, nurse, unmarried aged 25, born in Ringwood
Susan Gough, servant, unmarried aged 22, born in ???ham, Hants

1891 Census at Belmore Lane, Lymington with “Fanny Elizabeth” still at home, plus three servants.  The house at 3 Highfield, Lymington then occupied by Henry Daniell, banker.

 

Married (2nd) June 5, 1855, Adelaide Daniell, youngest daughter of Ralph Allen Daniell Esq. of Fairfield, Lymington, at Lymington.  She was born at Fairfield, Lymington on Sep 9, 1830.  The Salisbury Journal reported:  On 5th June 1855 at Lymington, by Rev C H Maturin, assisted by Rev. W H Thompson, the Rev. Benjamin Maturin, minister at Lymington, married Adelaide, youngest daughter of the late Ralph Allen Daniell Esq of Fairfield, Lymington.  Has issue.

By 1st marriage to Anna (Johnston),

1111271) Henry Maturin, born at Fannet April 5, 1842.  Educated at Marlborough College, at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and at Paris.  M.R.C.S. Eng. 1864, L.S.A. 1865, L.R.C.P. and L.M. Edin. 1872.  Surgeon Fleet Cottage Hospital, Medical Officer of Health, Winchfield, Hants for Hartley Wintney Union in 1910. 

In 1861 he is noted as a 19 year-old "student in medicine" with Samuel Sumner Dyer at the practice in High Street, Ringwood (on the corner of Lynes Lane).  (Dr Dyer had graduated from Kings College, London and, having qualified, returned to his father's practice in Ringwood;  Henry's father and his cousin, Revd. Charles Henry Maturin (1799-1862), had both worked closely with the Dyers who were supportive churchmen and Church Wardens.)
 
Married, by Rev. Benjamin Maturin at Ringwood on Apr 30, 1868, Elizabeth Grace Davy, daughter of Robert Davy Esq. of Ringwood: (by his wife Mary White, daughter of Thomas Manning, Elizabeth was born Jul 28 1844). (cricket.org notes him as a right hand bat playing for Middlesex and Hampshire, rated as First-Class 1863 to 1882: see website for statistics.  1881 census Henry described as a General Practitioner at The Oaklands, Hartley Wintney, Hants, with his family, three domestic servants, and a Swiss governess. 

In 'Cricket in North Hants' (published 1905) Lt Colonel J May notes:
'Dr H Maturin, of Oaklands, Hartley Wintney, is probably the oldest man living who still plays cricket regularly, batting and bowling with activity and success. He was born in 1842 but seems to have found out the secret of eternal youth. Dr Maturin, who is the son of the late Rev. Canon Maturin, vicar of Lymington, has been playing cricket ever since he was big enough to handle a bat. When he was 17 he played at Lord's for Marlborough College against MCC. In 1862, when he was only 20, he played for the Gentlemen of Hants against Eleven Players of England, at Southampton, and it is recorded in 'MCC Scores and Biographies' that 'Lillywhite was hit by a ball on the nose by Mr Maturin, and was unable to finish his innings.' Two years later, when playing at Hove, Mr Maturin made 58 for the Gentlemen of Hants against the Gentlemen of Sussex, when the former won by 5 wickets. From 1864 or 1865 til 1876 Dr Maturin played regularly for Hants. In 1863 he played once for Middlesex, and in 1864 and 1865 for Gentlemen of the South v Professionals of the South at The Oval. When he settled down in Hartley Wintney in 1873 the Hartley Row Club was at a very low ebb, but Dr Maturin soon infused new life into it, and as the captain and secretary for the next thirteen years he did much to strengthen the club, which once again became one of the best in North Hants. For several years past Dr Maturin has been president of the club, and, as mentioned above, he is still among the playing members, and there is every appearance of his being in for a long innings yet.' (With thanks to John Childs for his research).

Henry died Feb 24 1920 at Hartley Wintney.

11112711)  Violet Elizabeth Maturin - born at Fawley, Hants, (IGI - christened Jul 22, 1870).  1901 Census staying in the house of Francis and Emily de Soyres (a retired civil engineer) at 4 Leicester Place, Clifton, Bristol, “Living on her own means”.  Four entries in the London Gazette from 13 Jan to 14 July 1943 refer to her still as Violet Elizabeth Maturin at Oaklands, with a Protection Order, Adjustments and their revocations under the Liabilities (War-time Adjustment) Act 1941.

11112712)  Francis Henry Maturin,  born at Fawley, Hants Dec 4, 1871, christened Jan 25, 1872;  educated at Marlborough College, at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London and at Caius College, Cambridge, matriculated 1889 B.A. (Honours) 1892, M.B.C.M. 1899, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Lond. 1896.  House physician at St Bartholomews.  House Surgeon Royal Infirmary Derby. Medical Officer No. 2 District Lymington Union, Medical Officer of Health, Lymington Rural District. Admiralty Surgeon and Agent.  Married Nora Elfrida, elder daughter of Henry Daniell of Fairfield, Lymington by Henrietta his wife, daughter of the late Rev. John Price;  married at Lymington (by Rev. Canon Benjamin Maturin) on Tues. Dec 16, 1902. On 2 Apr 1916 Major Francis was promoted to temp. Lt.-Col but this was followed on 14 Apr 1917, for the Territorial Force Hampshire Regiment,  that Capt. (temp. Lt.-Col.) F. H. Maturin to be Maj. (temp. Lt.-Col.), with precedence as from 1st June, 1916. 15th Apr. 1917 and Maj. (temp. Lt.-Col.) F. H. Maturin, from temp. Lt.-Col., to be acting Lt.-Col., with precedence as from 2nd Apr. 1916.  By 1917 he had moved to the RAMC as Lt.-Col. Temp. on 12 July and confirmed to be full Lt.-Col. on 8 Oct 1917.  He relinquished his commission, as a temp. rank ! on 11 Apr 1919.  He died 4 Apr 1939, described as “M.B. B.Ch. Cantab” (London Gazette). An undated newspaper clip refers to an estate for “Francis H. Maturin, Monmouth House, Lymington , late Lt.Col. (T.D.) 2/7th Hants Regt. (n.p. £49,339)  gross £54,465”.  Had family:-

111127121)  Benjamin Francis Henry Maturin, born at Monmouth House, Lymington Dec 23, 1903 and baptised at Lymington Parish Church.  Little is known about his early schooling but, like his father and grandfather, he went to Marlborough College.  The Register for September 1917 implies that his father was on his duties as Lt. Col. (RAMC) in India as his aunt, Miss Daniell, is noted as the contact at Monmouth House.

His academic record is scant.  He did play in the College 1st team for Rugby though the report in “The Malburian” of 15 February 1922 on his play as inside three-quarter was a little critical:

“- brilliant up to a point, but often, after a wonderful break-through, he spoils his efforts by an ill-judged pass.  Can pick up the ball beautifully and has improved noticeably in defence.”  

Ben played briefly in the School 1st XI at Cricket but he did not inherit his grandfather Henry’s skill:  

“He played for the School in the early part of the term, but had rather a bad spell in the middle.  He played some very sound innings in House matches and, with Streatfield, saved the side in three innings.  He has had bad luck in not being tried for the School again.  He was tried as  a fast bowler but he hurt his side and now bowls much slower when he is put on.  A very safe field.” (1)

Hockey was his favoured sport.  He played as a forward in the College 1st XI as a reliable goal scorer.

 

At his initial meeting with the Pro-Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford it was observed, perhaps wryly, that Ben was  “not musical” and had “no knowledge of Literature”;  he was a “strong, healthy typical public schoolboy whose intellectual interests have not been awakened”. As a Tylney Exhibitioner he was was awarded the £20 per annum available to two Queen’s undergraduates from Hampshire each year. (2)  Within a month of going up to Oxford in 1922 he was playing hockey for the Colours against the Whites in the Freshmen’s Match (3).   A year later he started up the ladder on his way to playing for England in 1925 (4).  

Though he had a nomination for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank he went up to read Modern Languages (French), but achieved his BA in 1927 with an examination in Military History (5) and went into a solicitors office in the City.   By 1929 he had moved to 182 Cromwell Road, London.  

In that year Ben fell for Kathleen Louise Stone (neé Palmer) who was in the process of divorcing her husband, obtaining a decree nisi in June which was made absolute on 13 Jan 1930.  Their daughter, Diana Nora Rosemary, was born on 23 Jan 1930 (6). Ben and Kathleen married on 20 Mar 1930 at Wandsworth Registry Office (7) and apparently moved to Esher.  Life changed for the family man.  On the marriage certificate he is a solicitor so he must have been very confident about the results of his Law Society examinations on 25 Mar 1930 (8).  He gave up international hockey in preference for squash for the Royal Aero Club (9).  He worked his way up from the the 3rd division of the Bath Club Squash Trophy - briefly (in the absence of others) - to the 1st division (10).  Cricket skills still eluded him; in August that year on a visit home he batted for Lymington against Leamington but was bowled out for 3 runs (11).    

“Benjamin and June” Maturin were living at “The Nest”, West End Lane, Esher from 1931 to 1934 (12).  Perhaps surprisingly Ben took a solo holiday in 1934 to Madeira, returning to Southampton on the “Arlanza” on 10 April, apparently alone but the passenger list is alphabetical (13).   They moved to 9 Emperors Gate SW7 in 1934 (14).  Despite both appearing in the directories at Emperors Gate and “Mrs BFH Maturin” being the name in the phone book at that address, June was also on the electoral roll at first at no. 24 (in 1934), then 26 Basil Street (in 1937) (15), about 100 yards from Knightsbridge Tube Station.  It maybe that this was investment property for letting.  It is certain though June and Kathleen were one and the same as Basil Street was cited as her residence in the following divorce.  

The romance had evaporated.  In 1936 Kathleen / June had a prolonged affair with one Joseph Boston and was discovered in the November.  Ben immediately sued for divorce on 17 December.  Despite later admitting that he had four times strayed with a Joan Elridge in the autumn of 1937, he was granted a decree nisi in March 1938.   He requested and received custody of the eight-year-old Diana (16).  Joan was single, living in Baker Street (17), and was almost the same age as Ben.  Perhaps she was the loyal secretary.  She died a spinster at the age of 89 in 1995 (18).  Kathleen went on to marry Richard Scott in 1940 and Charles Henderson in 1946.  

Ben had continued to play squash at the Royal Aero Club so it is no surprise that, though at 36 he was too old for regular service at the outbreak of WW2, he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve.   He was commissioned as an Acting Pilot Officer (75797) in RAF Equipment Branch on 9 Nov 1939;  that rank was confirmed on 22 Jan 1940 (19).  Ben was “flying a desk” for the duration of the war, first based in Belfast where he was in the team which supervised the extension of RAF Nutt’s Corner near Belfast.  This was the base for Coastal Command and also, with the lengthened runways, the reception point for the “Anglican Liberator bomber” and aircraft crossing the Atlantic from North America.  Whilst he was stationed there for an extended tour he met and fell for Belfast girl, Peggy Templeton.  He became a Flying Officer on 22 Jul 1940 and, just as he got his promotion to Flight Lieutenant (temp), (on 1 Mar 1942, confirmed on 2 Nov 1943 (20)) he was told that he was being posted away from Ireland.

On 8 April 1942 Ben wrote to Peggy from London (21) to let her know that his car “seemed to be sorry too to be back in England” and it had “protested by getting a flat tyre” but he was going to lay it up in his mother’s garage in Lymington.   He was “in a hopeless mess” getting his tropical kit together before embarking, “by the end of the week” on the voyage in a convoy going to Bathurst, the RAF Station in The Gambia, West Africa.  That station was the base for the Sunderland flying boats which patrolled the South Atlantic for submarines and covered the convoys up the African coast to Gibralter.  Diaries by other officers at the base report the tropical heat, beating sun, constant dust and aggressive native wildlife as a “substitute for hell” (22).  At least Ben’s desk was out of the heat of war but none of his comments on the tropical heat survive.  

Apart from a “wartime hint” in February 1944 (which would have had to pass the censor) that Ben would be going into the second front and a record of his visit to Belfast in early April that year no further details of his whereabouts are available until after the D Day invasion. Then, at the end of August 1944, Ben was posted to “the Continent” with the “RN Party 1732A” of the British Liberation Army for the foreseeable future (24). By September he had been promoted to Squadron Leader.  There is no indication of his duties between September and December on the progress through France to Belgium.  He was detached from his unit,  which still had all his kit, he was sleeping under canvas, having “quite a bit of excitement . . which I cannot tell you about now”, catching colds, had received no mail because of the constant movement and was generally very down.  

He had to fly back very briefly to Old Sarum (near Salisbury) on 27 September and return to Belgium immediately without getting touch with anybody.  On the 12 October (25) he admitted to Peggy that she was the first person he could tell about his tragic loss that  “My own Diana died on Sept 21st.  You know a little about her and how much I thought of her.  She was the grandest kid . .”.  In the loneliness of his duties he boxed everything up inside himself and could discuss his grief with no-one.   There is little documentary evidence about Diana  It is possible that she spent significant time in Lymington with her grandparents as they were specifically mentioned in the notice in The Times (26) and that Diana was their “beloved granddaughter”.  It would have been impossible for her to accompany her father on his tours of duty.  Lymington may have been thought too close to enemy action and from early in 1944 had been virtually cut-off by the military in the preparations for D Day.  It is not known if she was evacuated to Shropshire or just living with friends of the family.   She died at Hall Farm, Bourton, Much Wenlock, Shropshire where she was staying with Mr W E Downes (27).  Though the Notice in The Times stated that she had died of acute meningitis the certificate gives acute poliomyelitis as the cause.   

Though, from family correspondence, he was in Brussels for VE Day his date of discharge from the RAF is unclear.   The separation of war, being in The Gambia and then in France and Belgium for three years with no home leave, had its consequences for the relationship with Peggy.  At the end of the war he was 42.   Faced with a dilemma, in 1946 she made the decision to marry another man.  Ben was distraught.  Much can be inferred from the fact that though he pursued her to the honeymoon he then remained firm friends to both of them and after about 1958 he visited regularly and became honorary Uncle to their family.  

In 1946 he had registered to vote from 12 Claverton Street, Westminster, moving to 5 South Terrace, Kensington in 1949 to briefly look after his mother before going to what he described as a “tiny flat” at the prestigious Nell Gwynn House, Chelsea (behind Sloane Square) in 1950.  By 1962 he had moved to 42 Wilton Place (between Belgravia and Knightsbridge) with the Earl of Lichfield as a neighbour (29).  Later he had the flat at 56 Chesil Court, Chelsea Manor Street (between Sloane Square and Kings Road, Chelsea) which at that time commanded the rent of £475 a year (30).  

At some point before the war had he switched career from solicitor to stockbroker.   In 1958 he wrote (31) that he had returned to a “different firm in the Stock Exchange”, though he resented the chains it put upon him as it was impossible to be away for long and then pick up the threads again.  He found the work “exciting, always exacting and even requires concentration for success, which therefore does not give too much time for bitter reflection”.  He was a lonely man.  After about 1961 he welcomed his regular visits to  his “adopted family”.  They remember the morning ritual of him going out to buy and then studying “The Pink’un”.  

He was successful in his profession to the point that for Christmas 1967, the year before he reached retirement age, he took a cruise to the West Indies returning at the end of January 1968 and then left England “this time for good” that April. He wrote:  “The Government takes such a huge proportion of the income of retired people living on past savings – unearned income they call it – that I felt inclined to get out even at such a late age. But where to go & what to do was another matter, and here I am as rootless really as ever, wandering with my affairs still unsettled. If I return to England before the end of March I lose the possible advantages which I am aiming for, so I hope to fill in the time abroad. After that I am allowed to spend up to three months in England in any one year.”  This was more the desperation of a man cornered by circumstances than looking forward to foot-loose adventure in his emerald green Jensen, spending time in Paris, Nice, Morocco or Ibiza and contemplating (but never achieving) a trip across the border from Ireland to Belfast for an illegal stay in the UK.  He was in Paris when the Student Riots erupted in June 1968 which “put a blackout on everything” but he had to stay within easy reach of The Royal Bank of Canada which was then his only contact address.(32)    

For the winter of 1968/69 he took a French boat from Marseilles to Casablanca in the coincidental company of two Englishmen who were taking a brand new Vauxhall car for publicity photographs and testing in Saharan desert conditions.  The offer to take a seat in the car was accepted with alacrity though there was little to do except sit.  After some days Ben made his way back, by very primitive transport, to Marrakech staying for some weeks in an hotel in the Arab quarter of the city.   “Not all the amenities work properly but the room is spotlessly clean” and he could walk over to the European quarter to use the Mamounca Hotel (where Winston Churchill stayed for his painting forays) as a club for the English papers and a drink by the swimming pool.  The winter passed in the warmth before he gently made his way back to London via Ibiza. (33)

For the next 19 years Ben divided his time between London, first at Chesil Court and later at the Naval & Military Club, 94 Piccadilly (34), Morocco, Ibiza, Paris (where he eventually had a flat),  and Nice when his sister Adelaide lived there.  His health steadily deteriorated with increasingly painful legs and hips, a recurring hernia problem made worse by inadequate continental surgery, constant colds and flu, prostate problems and old age.  He kept in regular contact with his “adopted” family in Belfast, visiting whenever the tax regime permitted.  The constant migration became a chore, the continual packing and re-packing more than he was really capable of.   Towards the end, in December 1987 he was feeling the cold and wanted to live in some warmth and peace, with English being spoken around him, and dragged himself down to Gibraltar in the hope of finding some sanctuary.  With the reopening of the border crossing with Spain the Rock was crowded and accommodation was difficult even for native Gibraltarians;  he allowed himself to be persuaded to return to Paris (35).   His sister Adelaide was his only close living relative.  She and her husband, Hans Welser, visited him in Paris in December 1988.   Shortly afterwards he was admitted to hospital there and after a brief illness died on 16 January 1989.  He was buried in the same grave as his father in Lymington.  

 

1) Marlborough College Archives - “The Marlburian” 1922

2) St John’s and the Queen’s College, Oxford archives

3) Report in The Times 21 Oct 1922 p 5 col G - Hockey, Oxford Freshmen’s Match

4) Report in The Times 9 Mar 1925 and many more mentions in the Sports columns
 
5) Oxford University Archives at the Bodleian Library, Oxford

6) Report in The Times 12 Mar 1938 - High Court of Justice

7) Marriage at Wandsworth March qtr 1930 Vol 1d p 629

8) Report in The Times 12 Apr 1930, p 4 col C - Law Society Examinations - passed Trust Accounts and Bookkeeping

9) Report in The Times 18 Nov 1931 p 5 Sports - Squash Rackets

10) Report in The Times 28 Oct 1936 p 6 Sports - Squash - report on Bath Club Cup

11) Report in The Times 26 Aug 1930, p 5 col E - Cricket reports

12) Electoral Rolls for Esher, 1931, ’32 & ’33;  it can only be surmised that Ben wanted to draw a line under Kathleen’s previous marriage and registered her as June.

13)  Ancestry Incoming Passenger Lists Royal Mail Lines Arlanza arrived Southampton 10 April 1934 from Buenos Aries, Ben marked as boarding in Madeira.

14) London telephone directories 1934, 1935.

15) Electoral rolls for Brompton ward 1934 & 1937

16) National Archives J 77/3638/2752 and J77/3712/3092 and report in The Times 12 Mar 1938 - High Court of Justice

17) Electoral Roll for Portman ward 1929-30 at no. 120 Baker Street

18) Register A39A District 2501A Entry 166 Joan Eldridge born 25 Oct 1906, death registered in Camden Jul 1995.  Electoral Roll entries on Ancestry,co.uk until 1965 in Holborn and St Pancras

19) London Gazettes 28 Nov 1939 and 20 Feb 1940.

20) London Gazettes 27 Mar 1942 and 17 Mar 1944

21) Family archive - letter written from The Royal Aero Club, Piccadilly, written 2 April but postmarked Chelsea 8 April

22) The memoir of Flt Lt George Gregory who also arrived in 1942   http://95squadron.webs.com/memoirs_GWG.html

23) www.95squadron.webs.com » RAF No. 95 Squadron » Bathurst

24) Family archive - letter postmarked Bicester 26 August 1944

25) Family archive - letter from “86 EU RAF British Liberation Army - On Active Service” 12 October 1944
26) Notice in The Times 26 Sep 1944

27) Register Wenlock Vol 6a, p 617  

28) Photo from family archive

29) Electoral Rolls 1946 Westminster, Victoria Ward, Claverton Street; 1949 Brompton Ward, South Terrace SW7; 1950-59 Chelsea,  Church Ward, Nell Gwynn House; 1962 Westminster, Wilton Ward, Wilton Place SW1

30) Family archive - in 2014 a one-bedroom flat in Chesil Court is available for £465 - per week

31) Family archive - letter from the Royal Aero Club 18 December 1958

32) Family archive - letter from The Royal Bank of Canada, 3 Rue Scribe , Paris IX 30 July 1968

33) Family archive - letter from Poste Restante Marrakech 23 January 1969

34)  The Royal Aero Club lost its clubhouse at 119 Piccadilly in 1961 and wandered the West End, including a spell at the Junior Carlton Club, 94 Pall Mall from about 1968 until moving to the United Services Club at 116 Pall Mall early in the ’70s.

35) Family archive - letter from 4 Grande Chaumiere, 75006 Paris 17 August 1988


111127122)  Charles Patrick Maturin (Patrick), born at Monmouth House, Lymington, 17 March 1906, baptised at Lymington Parish Church.  There is no record of his schooling (he did not attend Marlborough College to follow his grandfather, father and brother).  The only known facts are from the report of the Coroner's inquest following his death from gas poisoning on 11 Sept 1940 at 54 Rawlings Street, Chelsea.  Adelaide (of 31 Crompton Court, Brompton Road) gave evidence that Patrick was single, of independent means and in June had been lodging in Danvers Street but had no financial problems and had never threatened to take his own life.  Eric Graddon, a retired Army officer of 43a Cadogan Street, Chelsea had known him for three years and had met him on Sunday 8 September when he thought him "very jumpy" so found him the lodgings at Rawlings Street (1).  He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery 17 September.  Family hearsay records that Adelaide had been very concerned about Patrick's drinking but had been unable to convince their parents that there was a problem.  He must have been a very lonely man.  He was of independent means but without an apparent purpose in wartime when his elder brother was already commissioned in the RAF and, by surmise, his sister was already deeply committed to very important but very secret war work.

(1) West London Press, 20 September 1940. 

 

111127123)  Adelaide Elfrida Maturin was born at Monmouth House, Lymington 16 November 1909 and baptised at Lymington Parish Church.

Little is known of Adelaide's schooling until her entry into form LV1 at Wycombe Abbey School at the age of 14 in January 1924.  The school magazine that year mentions a single attempt to follow her grandfather by "bowling well" at a cricket match on 10 July 1924 for the Under 15 XI against Godstowe but without appearance in any other teams.  It is also noted that she was confirmed by the Bishop of Buckingham on 4 December 1924 and left the school in December 1926 (1). There is no further record of her early life until her name was noted in an organisation chart (2) for the Directorate of Intelligence in November 1941.  In the Propaganda Section of the Central Intelligence Section Miss Maturin appears with "Lieutenant Wintle" (later Major Colin Wintle, deputy head of the Special Operations Executive D/Q section (3)), Mr JD Carleton (whose name was deleted in February 1942) and Major Neame. 

That early Propaganda Section was small but became enormous and a vital part of the war effort. Much has been written, including the work of Lee Richards  (3,4) but many documents have still not been released by The National Archives.  In August 1941 infighting over the creation and dissemination of propaganda between the "upstart" SOE, the Foreign Office, the Ministry of information, the War Office and MI6 was settled by the creation of the Political Warfare Executive which, under Foreign Office control, took over the responsibility for that area.  Department D/Q of the SOE, however, retained control of the Press propaganda which had been developed by the first head  of that department, Leslie Sheridan. Before the War he had been a journalist with the old Mirror and the old Herald, before turning to the Bar and heading for a brilliant career which was cut short by the outbreak of War.  Though described as "a behind the scenes operator - with more enthusiasm than intellect" (4) he was the prime mover in the Department which was responsible for distributing clandestine propaganda, rumours (true and false) and the British perspective to the world's press via their own local news agencies.  The Department was staffed by journalists, many of them recruited by "Sherry" Sheridan including Kim Philby who had been on the staff of The Times. It is an indication of the sensitivity of the work that, even after 50 years, only half the papers for Department D/Q have so far been released. 

Adelaide was an integral part of the operation.  Lashmar and James (5) comment that "the real power behind the throne (at SOE) was ----- the remarkable SOE secretary, Adealide Maturin.  Professionally she had proved highly capable. ---  Highly intelligent, attractive and taciturn, Adelaide had natural authority.  Capable of great attention to detail, she was (later) considered to be a natural manager of MI6's large, delicate long-term "front" operations."  Leslie Sheridan had been married to Doris, a fellow journalist on the Mirror who worked the news agency Britnova in New York for most of the war (4);  this agency had been set up by Sheridan to covertly encourage the USA to support the British view and was wholly financed by Dept. D/Q. 

On the 12 October, "quietly in London" Adelaide married Lieutenant-Colonel Sheridan;  in the engagement announcement in The Times on 2 October Adelaide's address was 25 Pelham Court London SW3.
With the end of the War most of the SOE returned to civilian life but elements of Atlee's government were increasingly concerned about the spread of Soviet influence and communism.  In 1947 Christopher Mayhew, then a Foreign Office junior minister, formulated a plan to use the experience gained by the SOE Dept. D/Q for ideological warfare.  The Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, agreed and Leslie Sheridan (whose credentials from the Herald and Mirror must have chimed with Atlee's new government) together with Victor Cannon Brookes (the legal mind in the SOE and private secretary to the war-time head of that department, Lord Selbourne) and Adelaide (in charge of the money and all expenditure) created and operated the Information Research Department, as a department of MI6, financed by the "Secret Vote" within the Foreign Office. The MI6 agencies set up during the War, such as Britnova Ltd, the Arab News Agency and Globe News Agency in Calcutta, were still running under the old regime with the connivance and support from The Hulton Press.

The IRD became a web of inter-related publishing companies, grouped around the publisher Ampersand Ltd., which was added to the news agency core to commission books, commission or massage articles and news items from apparently neutral authors opposing the communist point of view and then make sure that these were made available in every possible outlet, particularly in area where communism was making inroads.  Normally local newspapers would have to pay reporters or news agencies for copy.  IRD companies made sure that sympathetic articles were available at little, or sometimes no, cost to newspaper or radio news editors all over the world.  Co-operation from Reuters was essential and operations in some sensitive geographical areas were substantially but unobtrusively funded by the Foreign Office.  Prominent MPs, authors and journalists, including Harold Macmillan's son Maurice, Vic Feather, Robert Conquest, Malcolm Muggeridge, Denis Healey and Christopher Mayhew were recruited, knowingly or not, to write for Ampersand companies.  Leslie Sheridan even tried to recruit a young Tony Benn in 1950, tempting him with an offer of a very generous £1100 salary, on top of his pay as an MP but, in his diaries Benn says that his "Dad told (him) to turn it down" as both he and Sheridan knew it was illegal for an MP to take an "office of profit".   Many worthy but low-volume publications were subsidised by funds from the Secret Vote as entire print runs were bought for distribution at low cost through British Embassies to libraries and colleges in susceptible areas.  It seems that Adelaide sat in the middle of all these machinations, as a secretary extraordinaire, effectively the managing director of a chain of news agencies across the world employing some 600 staff, minutely controlling all expenditure (4). A fascinating glimpse of the mind-set and very real fears of Soviet domination plus reaction to the nuclear threat is set out in Lashmar & James' "Britain's Secret Propaganda War" (5).

A significant recruit to IRD, in personal terms for Adelaide and Leslie Sheridan, had been Johann Leopold Welser.  There had been an announcement in The Times on 10 June 1939 of the forthcoming marriage between the 22 year-old Caroline Margaret Theobold and "Hans" Welser of Geneva.  "Margaret's" grandfather was the Revd. Charles Theobald, one-time curate to Charles Henry Maturin at Ringwood shortly after Adelaide's grandfather, Benjamin, had been appointed to Lymington;  Charles Theobald moved to Chale on the Isle of Wight and was made Rector at Lasham, Hampshire in August 1883.  Despite this background Margaret was described as "German of no occupation" living at 70 Brook Drive, Kennington, London SE11 when she took the Oath of Allegiance to become a British citizen on 6 May 1940 (6).  Johan did not apply for his naturalization until May 1946;  his address then was given as 106 Wilmot Way, Banstead, Surrey (7). They were living at 14 Coleherne Court, London SW5 in May 1961 when their daughter's engagement was announced in The Times.  It must have been very shortly after that the marriage broke up.
At the same time Adelaide's marriage to Sheridan came to an end.  In the late spring of 1962 Adelaide married Johann (Hans) Welser in Westminster and, on the same page of the register index, Leslie Sheridan married Caroline Margaret Welser (8).

An OBE was awarded to Johann in the Birthday Honours 1960 when he is described as a Grade 7 Officer, Branch A, Foreign Office.  Adelaide had to wait until the Birthday Honours in 1962 before she received her OBE; she was described merely as a Chief Executive Officer, Foreign Office.

Though instrumental in the creation of IRD Sheridan had to accept that career civil servants should head the ever-growing department. In any case he seemed to be most comfortable making deals in the background and retained his public cover as a "public relations consultant" (until just one Foreign Office year book in 1961 named him as assistant head of IRD).  A letter from him to The Times on 13 March 1946 about the Dutch in the East Indies is signed off as "Public Relations Advisor in England to Indie in Nood - Geen Uur te Verlliezen, The Hague".  Perhaps the pompous Muggeridge reflected an Establishment view when, in his diary for for 13 November 1950, he described Leslie as "Rather a sad piece of debris, former news editor of the The Mirror, now publicity consultant, and black propaganda specialist for the Government, SOE in the war - the whole bag of tricks."  Leslie Frederick died on 21 January 1964 at 14 Coleherne Gardens, SW5 (though his address was given as Hurstland Cottage, Hartfield, Sussex - he was described as the "dearly loved husband of Margaret") with the funeral at St Mary the Boltons SW10 on Friday 24 January.  "A friend" wrote a rather cryptic obituary in The Times on 28 January.  "His utter integrity quickly brought him to the centre (of the SOE) and his caustic wit and gift for friendship illuminated what was for many of us a grim experience.  It was fascinating to watch the sureness of his professional approach on a subject like propaganda, befuddled as it was by a crowd of amateurs: and to see how the occasional quickness of his Irish temper was invariably followed by the disarming smile and the spontaneous wisecrack which unanswerably summed up the situation."   

Johann, "of the Information Research Department", appears briefly in press reports as a prosecution witness in the trial under the Official Secrets Act of the 27 year-old journalist Jonathan Aitkin (also accused of lying under oath), Brian Roberts (his editor at the Sunday Telegraph) and Colonel Douglas Cairns (Army advisor in Lagos, Nigeria) over a leaked report on the Biafran War in January 1971. 

Adealide was at the very centre of the IRD until her retirement in 1970. The department became an embarrassment to Government in the mid 70s as a former employee, Guy Burgess, enabled a spotlight to be put on its activities from Moscow.  Investigative journalists in the UK uncovered more than might be desired and Dr David Owen finally axed IRD in 1977     Adelaide and Johann had retired to a cottage near Petworth, West Sussex where she died in March 1990 (9). 

An intriguing question arises with regard to the appointment of a distant cousin, Gillian Maturin 111324322 to become secretary to Winston Churchill in about 1950.  Gillian left her home in New Zealand and took up her new post despite having had no contact with her estranged father (who was living in England) for many years.  It is assumed that Adelaide would have had access to the Great Man through her SOE work and could therefore have been a link and obtain an offer on the prevailing "old-boy network".  The mystery is how she would have known of Gillian.  There are three possibilities:

a)  Gillian's grandfather, William MacCarthy Maturin 1113243, lived at the United Services Club in Pall Mall until just before his death in June 1932.  He had risen high in the Navy and was connected to the Beaumonts and Pennymans of Yorkshire. It is possible that the young Adelaide met him as a distant relative.

b)  Adelaide's father, Francis Henry Maturin 1112712, a Lieutenant Colonel in WW1 may have known William MacC Maturin, perhaps through the United Services Club.

c)  Adelaide's brother, Benjamin Francis Henry Maturin 11127121, was in the RAF as was Gillian's father, Charles Bagot Beaumont Maturin 111342432.  They followed parallel wartime careers, both ending as Squadron Leaders but there is no definite information on their postings.  It would seem unlikely that two men with such an unusual name could avoid meeting at some stage over six years of war.

More investigation is needed!

Footnotes     

(1) Wycombe Abbey School archives - with the very kind help from Mrs Christina Cunninham, school librarian and archivist
(2) National Archives, Kew, HS8/965
(3) Black Propaganda - Clandestine Psychological Warfare of World War II - Lee Richards
(4) Whispers of War - The British World War II Rumour Campaign - Lee Richards
(5) Britain's Secret Propaganda War - Paul Lashmar & Oliver James
(6) London Gazette 14 June 1940
(7) The Times 13 May 1946 
(8) Adelaide and Johann in 2nd quarter 1961 Westminster Volume 5c reference 647
Leslie and Caroline in 2nd quarter 1961 Kensington Volume 5c reference 2130 Photographs by kind permission of Michael Pine-Coffin
(9) Chichester March 1990 Volume 18 page 1851 Reg no 390

 

11112713)  Sybil A. Maturin - born in the second quarter of 1876 at Hartley Wintney, Hants.  Sybil was a gifted musician and studied viola, violin and piano at the Royal College of Music.  In 1898 The Musical Times reported that she was part of a quartet with fellow pupils (Haydn Wood, Tom Morris and Cyril Clensy) to play Joseph Haydn's D major quartet.

The 1901 and 1911 censuses note her at 120 Queens Gate, Kensington as a music teacher. 

By 1907 she had taken her place playing viola in a string quartet with Beatrice Langley (leader and first violin), Marjorie Hayward (second violin) and Adelina Leon (cello) at the "Thursday Twelve O'Clocks" subscription concerts at the Aeolian Hall, Bond Street;  according to adverts in The Times the 30 shilling subscription tickets for the 12 concerts had sold before the first one took place but the 3 Guinea tickets were still available.  In 1908 Sybil joined Marion Scott, another avid supporter of the "new" music of Stanford, Walford Davies, Parry, Frank Bridge, etc.  The Marion Scott Quartet comprised Marion as leader (first violin), Herbert Kinze (second violin, Sybil (viola) and Ivor James (cello). 
Her certificate for the Teachers Registration Council in February 1921 gives her address at 19a Marylebone Road, London W1, qualified as an associate of the Royal College of Music and having taught violin and piano at 120 Queens Gate from 1899 to 1919.  A post as violin mistress at St Mary's Hall, Kemptown, Brighton was abruptly terminated by her resignation in 1920.  It may be coincidence that her father, Henry, died on 24 February 1920.

An uncomfortable episode in about 1940 followed her joining three refugees from Nazi-occupied Austria to form a quartet - Dr Oskar Adler (first violin), Hans Keller (second violin) and Keller's mother (cello).  Keller's psycho-analytical report (1) on the functioning of a small group refers specifically to Sybil and is an interesting spotlight, though perhaps distorted!

(The Leader's) authority did give rise to manifestations of rivalry and envy, and thus for a short period, disintegrative processes were observable. .....  this could happen only if at least one of the other members was not capable of exhibiting the necessary degree of artistic education. This was the case with a female viola player who was a member of our quartet (necessarily) for a short time. Not only did her behaviour and her attitude towards the leader and towards the rest of the quartet exhibit signs of envy (in regard to the position of the first violinist), but she also rebelled obviously against the endo-psychic loss of individuality and power which came about through the strong influence which the leader exerted even on her – a fact to which she herself seemed frequently to have been alive. In other words: just as those members who fulfilled condition (1)/(ii) suppressed their ‘revolting’ tendencies and gave free reign to [discernible] submissive tendencies, the viola player in question was painfully aware of the fact that her submissive tendencies exhibited a considerable activity against her will. She consequently attempted to protect her endangered individuality by both concealed and open revolt, this attempt being also correlated to, and intensified by, her envy, her wish to be a leader herself. It might be interesting to note in addition that she displaced part of her manifestations of these anti-leader tendencies upon the other two members of the quartet, and this she did in a twofold manner: on the one hand, she rebelled against the other members, identifying them with the leader (this process being facilitated by the great amount of loyalty which the other members displayed to the leader); on the other hand, she often tried to treat the other members as her own protégés who were misused by the leader and who consequently needed her protection and her leadership. Thus she acquired in her estimation the position of at least a sub-leader who, moreover, owing to her (spasmodically imagined) superiority over the leader, could be considered, in other respects, the real leader of the quartet.

 

Giving due allowance for her position as a very independent, talented woman, growing up in England surrounded by the Suffragette movement, perhaps denied the access to University which had been automatically given to her brother, it is not surprising that Sybil should display the determination not to be dominated by men which has been a hallmark of so many Maturin women through time.  Adelaide Maturin was one of those women and a natural recipient of Sybil's album.


(1) Click here for the psycho-ananytical report.  Hans Keller's quartet in Austria included Oskar Adler.  Both were highly respected musicians, particularly close to composers such as Schoenberg, and both were fascinated by psychology.  They fled Austria after the Anschluss in 1938.  Keller was interned in the Isle of Man but joined Adler in the Lake District on his release.  Margaret Phillips was a sociologist investigating small-group psychology from about 1940; this reference link includes Keller's response to her questionnaire.

 

By Benmjamin's 2nd marriage to Adelaide (Daniell)

1111272)  Adelaide Maude Maturin. (IGI - born Easter Sunday Mar 23, 1856 at Lymington).  Married 1st  at Parish Church, Marylebone, London Mar 27 1883 Rev. Harry Fiennes Speed, eldest son of William Speed (K.C.); born 1857; Bencher Middle Temple of Brasenose College, Oxford, matriculated 13 Mar 1875, aged 18, Barrister-at-Law of the Middle Temple 9 June 1880: rector of Yarmouth, Isle of Wight 1895;  Author of “Cruises in small yachts and big canoes; or, Notes from the "Watersnake," in Holland and on the south coast, the logs of the "Water Rat" and "Viper," on the Thames and south coast, with remarks on anchorages for small craft” London, Norie & Wilson, 1883.
Married 2nd Carl Marsh “of Keyhaven, Hampshire”;  still living in 1956 (Ringwood Church Guide - Keppel).

1111273)  Laura Susan Maturin. (IGI - born May 20, 1858 at Lymington.  1881 census at Lymington Vicarage aged 22). Married, at Lymington (by her father) on Aug 14 1895, Rev. William Hall M.A. of Trinity College Dublin; curate of Keynsham and Queen Charleton, Somerset 1909, formerly Head Master Portora School, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.

1111274)  Benjamin Allen Maturin,  (IGI - born May 4, 1860 at the Vicarage, Lymington, baptised  at Lymington: educated at Marlborough College and St. Bartholomew’s  and St. Thomas’s Hospitals; L.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. and L.M. Edin. 1884.  1881 census - aged 20 a medical student lodging at 16 Woburn Place, St George Bloomsbury, London). Married Elise Agnes Eleanor, daughter of Colonel Alexander Malcolmson of Southsea, Hants (born at Aden 17 July 1864) at St. Jude’s, Southsea Dec 3 1885.  Joined R.A.M.C. Aug 1 1885, Substantive Major Aug 1 1897, retired Aug 1 1905.  Died Jan 7, 1937 aged 76 at 53 Millbrook Road, Southampton. 

1111275)  Frances Elizabeth Maturin. (Born Apr 8, 1862 at the Vicarage, Lymington.  1881 census at Lymington Vicarage aged 18 ?).  In 1910  “of Castle Court, Boscombe, Hants.”

1111276)  Charles Maturin, (IGI - born Jun 26, 1865 at Lymington).  At Marlborough College in 1881 census but went to King Edward VI Free Grammar School, Bury St Edmunds from 1881 to 1884.  Baptised at the parish church, Lymington; educated at Marlborough College and at Pembroke College, Cambridge, pensioner aged 20 on 1 Oct 1884, matriculated Michaelmas 1884, B.A. 1887. Deacon (Chichester) 1890, Priest 1892 by Bishop of Chichester, curate at Eastbourne 1890-92, Minstead 1892-99 and Easton 1899-1900. Vicar of Colbury, Hants 1901 and Chaplain to the New Forest Union 1901.  Mrs Barker-Mill was patron of Colbury; the net value of the living was £200 plus house (population 1066).  Henry Gabriel M. memoriam notes a Charles M. at Parkstone in 1941.

 

111128)  Annie Maturin, eighth child of Henry (IGI - born 1817 at Fanet Glebe). Resides in Boston, Mass. United States (1880).  Died unmarried at Fanet Glebe aged 67 on 22 May 1885.  Admon (sic) (with will annexed) was granted at the Principal Registry, Dublin (132,85), to Elizabeth Greydon Dale.

 

111129)  Rev. Edmund Maturin.  Edmund was the fifth son and youngest child of Henry, rector of Clondevaddock and Elizabeth, nee Johnston. He was born Dec 1, 1819 at Fanet Glebe, Donegal. His mother died at the age of 50 on 8 April 1826 when he was only 5 years old.     His sister Elizabeth had married Henry Finney just the month before.  Brothers Henry and Charles had gone up to Trinity College Dublin in 1822 and 1824 respectively.  John was apprenticed to solicitor John Hogan in Dublin at about the age of 16 and likely to have left home in 1824.  The family remaining at Fanet Glebe was Maria, aged 15, Emma at 14, Benjamin at 10, Annie 8 and Edmund.  His father Henry did not marry again so it is likely that Edmund was raised by his elder sisters Maria and Emma.

There is no doubt that he was very intelligent and an outstanding scholar.  He was able to go to Trinity at the age of 13 on 21 October 1833 (five weeks before his 14th birthday) when his elder brother, Benjamin, had only qualified on 1 July 1833 at the age of 17. He entered Trinity College Dublin as a "pensioner" (i.e. he, or a sponsor, paid a fixed annual sum to cover his tuition) having been schooled by his father at Fannet Glebe. He was awarded the status of Scholar in 1836 and gained his B.A. in the spring of 1838 at the same time as Benjamin.   Too young  to follow his brother straight in to the Church he remained at Trinity and won the Hebrew prize in 1839, both the Berkeley Gold Medal for Greek and the Regius Professor of Divinity's First Premium in 1840 and Downe's Theological Prize in 1841.  Of these accolades it seems that the First Premium was the one which meant most to him.

 

Edmund fell ill in 1841.  During his recovery a seed of doubt was sown.  He had studied Divinity and protestant Church history to the point where he feared that he "dreaded the thoughts of dying in a state of doubt and uncertainty" as his studies had given him concern about the theological validity of the Reformation (1). He kept his thoughts to himself.  That may not be surprising given his family's escape from persecution in France for their Protestant faith and his father's life of dedication to a simple form of worship bordering on the Methodist.  Despite those contradictions, on the 12 December 1841, he attended High Mass at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Marlborough Street, Dublin, and been deeply impressed.  He had studied the Roman Missal, the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, and also Cardinal Wiseman's "Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church". He maintained a correspondence, moreover, with a priest in his father's parish of Clondevaddock "though (he) did not disclose to him (his) own doubts, but appeared as the advocate of the Protestant side, though in a moderate tone of argument" (2). The Roman Catholic Bishop of Raphoe knew something about Maturin's religious leanings, for in one of the letters the priest stated that the Bishop and himself had deduced from the general tone of the correspondence that he "would ultimately become a Catholic".

 

His father died on 3 January 1842.  He concealed his misgivings and on Sunday 19 March 1843 he was ordained Deacon by Bishop of Meath at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, (in the absence of the Primate who was ill). He served a number of curacies.  One record notes that he was first at Desertlyn (Moneymore), in the Armagh Diocese, from 1843 to 1845. The Armagh Guardian, however, announced that on Thursday Dec 24, 1844 Edmund, curate of Tartarahan - (now Tartaraghan) was married to Elizabeth Catherine, second daughter of Dominick Persse Esq. at  "Ramelton" (Rathmelton) Parish Church by the Rev. William Welsh. (3)  Edmund was priested by the Bishop of Derry in 1845.  From 1845 to 1846 he was curate at Clondehorkey in Raphoe Diocese (the parish which includes the villages of Dunfanaghy and Port na Blagh, next to his brother's parish of Gartan, and close to his father's old parish of Clondevaddock based on Fannet Glebe). Their first child, Edmund, was born at Dunfanaghy on 18 November 1845.  From 1846 to 1850 he was curate at the parish of Laghey, (also in Raphoe Diocese but south west of Donegal town) Elizabeth was born on 15 January 1847 at Rathmelton, Catherine (Kathleen) at Laghey on 18 March 1848 (4) and Henry on 25 January 1850 at Monaghan.  Edmund still described himself as being "of Laghay" in November 1850 (5).
Edmund's elder brother, Henry, had been instituted as rector of Gartan at the age of 26, though it was more normal for the clergy to serve several terms as curate before being appointed an incumbent of their own parish.  Perhaps it is a harsh judgement but Edmund appears to have been a self-centred man.  It seems that he was used to having his fierce intelligence rewarded quickly. At 31 he was still a curate and apparently unable to settle in to an Irish parish.  He laid plans to take his family to Nova Scotia, though he must have been aware of the difficulties to them.  The move may have had as much to do with his hidden intention to convert to Rome as his ambition for a remunerative appointment.

 

His interest in Roman Catholicism coincided with the growth of Tractarianism in the Anglican church.  By the early 1850s both Henry Manning and John Newman had converted to Rome.  The Tractarian movement had a fascination for the other clerical branch of the Maturin family as his cousin, William - perpetual curate of Grangegorman, Dublin, held to his High Church convictions despite public condemnation and, later, a noted decision by an ecclesiastical court.  William's son, Basil William, was ordained, followed his father's views but he did ultimately become a Catholic.

On 16 November, 1850 a power of attorney was issued in which Edmund stated his intention of leaving shortly for the British Colonies in North America, and authorised his solicitor, Alexander Johns, to collect rents from properties which he owned at Pembroke Street, Harcourt Street and Montague Lane in Dublin during his absence. (7) On 27 November 1850 he became curate of St.Paul's, Halifax.  In 1853 he was awarded the degree of M.A. by Windsor University, Nova Scotia. On the 6 July, 1854, Dr. Binney, Bishop of Nova Scotia, wrote to him offering him the Professorship of Divinity and Pastoral Theology at King's College. He did not accept this position, however, choosing to remain in his parish for a further four years.

 

An "Assignment of Charge" dated 8 December 1853 referred to land in Roscommon which John Conry had mortgaged to Henry Maturin (senior) in October 1795 for a total of £3000 (8).  Henry had assigned the mortgages to Edmund and his brother John.  The land was auctioned in 6 lots in February 1853 for a total of £11,582.  Edmund was to receive £700 after all the due process of law.  He was in need of money though and arranged for Alexander Johns and his brother Benjamin to make him an advance of £500 from funds held by the solicitor in connection with Benjamin's marriage settlement (to Anna Johnston) at 6% interest.


It is likely that their older children accompanied Edmund and Elizabeth to Nova Scotia. The very basic 1861 census for Halifax records the Maturin household as 4 males and 6 females, one between 1 and 2.  This figure tallies with Edmund and Elizabeth plus Edmund, Elizabeth, Catherine, Henry, Mary, Caroline, Benjamin and Anna.  It must have been a harsh regime. William Cogswell was born in 1852 but died at Halifax on 14 April 1859; it is likely that he was named after the prominent Nova Scotia family. Mary Emily came next in 1853 followed by Caroline Isabella Louise in 1855, Benjamin in 1858 and then Anna Maria in 1859 (but she died also at Halifax on 10 November 1861). By a Trust Deed dated 23 December 1858 any property Edmund formerly possessed was made over for the benefit of his family.  That deed was written when he was still in Nova Scotia and has not yet been located.

 

Edmund's elder sister, Anne, did go out to Nova Scotia sometime in 1856 after she had made her will in Dublin on 29 February that year; in October 1858 she gave Halifax as her address on a Memorandum (9).  When Edmund returned to Ireland Anne remained on that side of the Atlantic and is recorded on the Pedigree as living in Boston in 1880 though she had returned to Dublin by the time she prepared a new will in March 1884.

During Edmund's years in Canada his anxiety about the Reformation and his perception of the Roman Communion grew but he continued to keep his doubts concealed until 1859.  Ill-health had previously led to his first major theological doubts and in October that year he travelled back to England declaring that it was for the benefit of his health.  However, during this visit, on All Saints' Day (1st November), he was received into the Roman Catholic Church in London. Much to his delight the ancient Pontifical form of reception was used on this occasion. On returning to Canada he published a letter to his former parishioners at St. Paul's, outlining the reasons for his decision (10). His conversion coincided with intense religious dissension in the province. A powerful newspaper owner, Joseph Howe, had turned into a very active but belligerent Loyalist, protestant politician.  Skirmishes between Catholics and Protestants became physical, inflamed by a war of words between Howe's supporters and the Province's Irish Catholics.  After several Protestant controversialists replied to this letter, Edmund published a further treatise in which he explained his beliefs in fuller detail (11). This did little to mollify his opposition.  The diary of Adolphus Gaetz (12) exemplifies that reaction and misinformation:

"Tuesday, 16th (November 1859) —The Halifax community as well as this community has been thrown into a state of great excitement in consequence of the Revd. Edmund Maturin, Minister of the Church of England and officiating in St. Paul's Church at Halifax, having quite suddenly, and most unexpectedly renounced protestantism and embraced the Roman Catholic faith. It was evident to all who knew Mr. Maturin, that for some time past he has been labouring under a very unsound mind;—quite in a hurry and without even giving his family sufficient notice, he takes his departure in the Mail Steamer for England about four weeks ago, with intention, as many of his friends believed, of benefitting his health, when lo! and behold! the next Mail steamer brings the astounding news, that the Revd. Mr. Maturin has joined the Roman Catholic Church; had any other man done the same thing the surprise would not have been so great, for Mr. Maturin was continually holding up the errors of popery, to his hearers. By this change his family has been left altogether destitute; as no Minister can be received into the Romish Church who has a wife, he is obliged to abandon wife and family."

 

Though Edmund was appointed president of The Halifax Catholic Institute and was active in his missionary work to seek converts to Catholicism, travelling as far as St John, New Brunswick to deliver lectures, there is no suggestion that he ever sought ordination as a priest.  The assertion that he would abandon his wife and family must be an invention.  The significance of the Trust Deed of 23 December (above) written shortly after his return to Halifax is not clear at present.

 

Edmund Maturin did not remain a Roman Catholic for long. In Halifax in 1861 he published another work (13) in which he confessed: "with deep contrition and humiliation, that he was once deceived by the seductive claims of this system" and also that after "a long and painful mental conflict" he was "compelled to acknowledge that the whole theory of Church infallibility, as is now held by the Church of Rome, is a mere delusion of human invention".

 

On one hand it is possible to be impressed with the power of reasoning which induced the author first to enter and then to leave the Church of Rome, the courage and humility which such a course of action required and the kindly attitude which he adopted towards those from whom he differed. It is also an indication of his state of mind that he took this step when he was the other side of the world from the direct criticism of his peers and siblings.  A degree of selfishness is displayed in taking his family to strange and less-safe surroundings which cost the lives of two of his children. 

 

Between the death of Anna Maria in Halifax in November 1861 and October 1862 the family returned to Ireland.  Merrick Persse was born back at Rathmullen on 22 October 1862; his twin brother was still-born and his mother, Elizabeth, died within four weeks of the birth on 16 November at the age of 41.  Edmund had accepted the curacy, at Conwall in the diocese of Raphoe near Letterkenny; his brother Henry was Rector in the next parish at Gartan and Elizabeth's parents were not far away at Rathmullen.  The widower and the young family moved to the parish of Donoughmore in Derry from 1863 to 1866. On 2 February 1864 at Tamlaghtard, Londonderry, he married Eliza Anne, the second daughter of Mr John Cust of Magilligan. Eliza's only child, Charles, was born at Magilligan on 4 December 1864.   Edmund was curate at Errigal Trough in Clogher from 1866 to 1867 (in the parish where his grandfather, John Johnston had a country seat in the early 1800s) and at Carlingford in Armagh from 1867 to 1868.

 

In 1868 Edmund made a very surprising move.  It may be coincidence that his second cousin Edward (111312) had visited Britain and returned to New York from Glasgow in 1867 (14).  He was the younger son of Charles Robert (11131) who was first cousin to Henry of Clondevadock.  Edward had emigrated to the USA in 1832 but crossed the Atlantic regularly,   Both men were Classics scholars. Edward's brother William was the Perpetual Curate of Grangegorman, Dublin which was only a matter of a few hours by train from Carlingford.  It is within the bounds of possibility that the two like-minded men met during that visit.

 

Two usually reliable sources state that in 1868 Edmund was appointed as Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, West Hoboken, New Jersey, USA (15).  There may be an element of exaggeration in the reports of this very odd move.  West Hoboken was being settled mainly by German Lutherans and the Episcopalian church was struggling.  Until October 1866 the Rector had been the Rev. Orlando Harriman who was also Rector of Trinity Church, Claremont, New Hampshire.  His stipend was just $200 (£40) a year though when he resigned it was $374 in arrears but his claim was contested and he only received $250.  The wooden church was very old with a congregation of about 30 (16).  The most puzzling aspect though was that church records compiled in the early 1920s detail the four rectors who each briefly filled the post between 1867 and 1870 but there was no mention of Edmund (17).  There is only one record of a "Maturen" in a list of "pastors" placing him between Mr Jarvis and Mr Jones (18).  William T Jarvis accepted the post in 1868 but on 2 November that year he died from scarlet fever after visiting a sick child.  Edmund had arrived in New York on the SS China on 29 October, by himself without his family.  He cannot have organised his trip via Liverpool with the aim of taking up this post but as an ordained minister he could step in to the breach.  Curtis P Jones was office for a vestry meeting on the 7 April 1869.  

 

Cousin Edward lived in New York City only a matter of miles from West Hoboken and may have been the catalyst for this visitation.  There is a suggestion that Edmund had acquired the Copley portrait of Captain Gabriel Maturin (19) and had made a trip to New York where the market among wealthy connections of the Livingston family might give a better price than trying to sell it in London or Dublin.

 

On his return to England from New Jersey, on 5 July 1870 a Policy of Assurance on his life was arranged with the Clergy Mutual Assurance Society of Westminster, London to pay £500 within three months of his death (20).  As he was able to receive a loan of £100 against that policy and bequeath the remaining £400 to his four surviving daughters these exact sums indicate that it is likely that this was a single premium policy without profits.  This would have been bought for a proportion of the final value determined by actuaries on his life expectation.

 

Edmund did not return directly to Ireland but instead went to St.George's, Hurstpierpoint, in Sussex.  After a disagreement with a previous Rector, Colonel Charles Hannington had his own church built in 1852, but it was licensed only as a private Church of England chapel in 1867. Edmund was curate there from 1870 to 1872.  The entire family is on the 1871 census at no. 1 Anwell Place, High Street, Hurstpierpoint with Edmund and Eliza Anne, Catherine, Henry, Mary, Caroline, Benjamin and Charles.    The stipend was not sufficient to afford live-in servants.  He was succeeded in the post by the Colonel's nephew, James Hannington, later to become the martyred missionary bishop of Eastern Equitorial Africa. In January, 1873 Edmund returned again to Ireland where he finally secured appointments as Rector, at Mullaghdun in Clogher (1873 - 1874), Aghavilly near Armagh (1874) and the longest tenure of his career at Cloncha (Malin) in Derry from 1874 to 1886).

 

On 18 May 1879 Eliza Anne died at Magilligan, aged 54. Edmund brought his third wife to Cloncha when, on 10 May 1883, he married Charlotte Amelia Hutchinson, nee Hunter, at St. Peter's, Dublin. She was the sixth daughter of John Hunter of London, MRCS, and widow of William Hutchinson of Dublin.

 

The church at Malin (in the parish of Cloncha) was kept in good condition during his incumbency; it was painted internally in August, 1875, and externally in July, 1879. The wall of the local burial ground at Lagg was repaired and a new gate erected.  

 

Whilst at Malin he prepared the Maturin Family Pedigree.  According to family verbal history, reported by Dr Coombs, Edmund received a gift of £50 (the equivalent of £2400 in 2005) when he left an unnamed parish and decided to spend that on investigating his family history.  The result was a detailed family tree dated 1 December 1880, gently emphasising the noble connections, and ignoring the black sheep, in the fashion common at that time.  The design of the diamond brooch presented by HRH Prince Leopold as a wedding gift to the daughter of Maturin Livingston on her marriage to George Cavendish-Bentinck is given centre place.  The rogues are ignored; Frederick Charles Maturin had featured prominently in the London newspapers at his trial for fraud in 1855 but he is noted as being "in China and other foreign countries but still living". It is more surprising that Edmund repeated Charles Robert Maturin's fictional history of the patriarch Gabriel being a foundling in Paris and imprisoned for 25 years in the Bastille.  A transcription of his copy of Rachel Garrigue's will of 1724 has come down through the family;  this has clues to the true story based in Guyenne.  He detailed the grant of the arms to the Rev. Peter Maturin, Dean of Killala, including the acknowledgment of the family home in Montauriol, but made no attempt to reconcile his research.

Newbliss

He may have been searching for his Johnston roots as Dowra in Kilmore was his next brief appointment (1886 - 1887) and finally he arrived at Newbliss in Co. Monaghan (1887 - 1891). "Trustees" were patrons of the Newbliss living which yielded a £50 endowment, £70 from Diocesan Schedule, a £10 "gl.grant" from "RCB" and a personal augmentation of £50 for a net income of £180 plus house. During his incumbency he improved the heating by installing an "Underground Air-Warming Stove"! He died at Newbliss Parsonage on Saturday, 21 November, 1891 and was buried two miles away at Killeevan Churchyard. Perhaps the finest tribute of all was paid to him after his death by his own parishioners at Newbliss. In the Vestry Minute Book the following entry appears:
"This being the first meeting since the death of the Reverend E. Maturin, that sad circumstance was referred to by the Vestry; and a deep sense of the loss they have sustained was unanimously expressed, with strong feelings of their warmest gratitude and appreciation of his faithful and loving ministry."
 

Though none of his sermons has been preserved, Edmund Maturin was evidently a gifted preacher. The parishioners of Conwall informed him in an address that his sermons had been "very acceptable to the full congregations who listened to them" and in another address the parishioners of Carlingford praised him for his "clear exposition and forcible application of the sacred truths of the Gospel". A similar compliment was paid by the members of his congregation at St.George's, Hurstpierpoint. Captain Hadley Vicars, of the Ninety Seventh Regiment, heard him preach in Canada and noted in his diary:
 
"Sunday, 24th April, 1853. Went to hear Mr. Maturin at St.Luke's - a very good sermon and enjoyed it."

Despite his restless nature and the erratic life which he led, Maturin seems to have earned the esteem and good will of all who knew him. On the 18 June, 1866, Bishop Higgin of Derry wrote to him:

"I shall at all times be happy to bear testimony to your exemplary conduct and ability."

Another who appreciated his worth was Dr. James McIver, Rector of Ardstraw and Fellow of Trinity College. On the 22nd September, 1866 he wrote: "I beg to say that I have been intimately acquainted with the Reverend Edmund Maturin for many years - and have always looked on him as one of the ablest and best informed men as well as most upright, single-minded, large-hearted and pious gentleman it has ever been my privilege to know."

Edmund Maturin was the author of several works, all but one of which were produced in Canada. These included "Lectures on the Origin of Christianity in England and Ireland," "Letter to the Lord Bishop of Fredericton," "Thoughts on the Infallibility of the Church," etc. His only literary contribution to the Church of Ireland was a history of the Post-Reformation Bishops of Derry, published in 1867 entitled "Brief Memoirs of All the Bishops of Derry since the Reformation". Though scarcely deserving to be classed as a scholarly work, it is, nevertheless, a useful handbook, containing much valuable biographical information.

 

Edmund was knowledgeable on ancient books.  Eighteen titles have been traced so far which have his   printed Armorial bookplate pasted inside the front covers; this plate is item number 20015 in the "Catalogue of British and American Book Plates by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks".  The titles traced could well have been found the library of Edmund's father, Henry, who prepared four of his sons to the standards in Latin, Greek and Hebrew required by Trinity College Dublin.   Part of such a library may well have been collected by his grandfather, Gabriel James Maturin, Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin.  Any theological and classical library is most likely to have been inherited by his elder, only ordained, son Charles, as the second son, Gabriel, was destined for the army and the youngest, William, had secured a sinecure in the Post Office.  Of Charles' two sons, though Gabriel graduated from Trinity he showed little inclination for the church while Henry did commit himself to the life in Holy Orders.  It can only be a matter of conjecture as to why Edmund particularly, rather than his brothers, should inherit a collection of books including Cranmer's Great Bible of 1549, Sirvius's Virgil of 1532, Sophocles' tragedies printed in Venice in 1533, Valerius Maximus from Venice in 1514 etc.  All these works are now in the hands of University Libraries or have been offered at auction (21).  Edmund must have taken a significant number with him to Nova Scotia as in December 1855 he was unsuccessfully offering to exchange "certain works in his private Library" "for a Polyglott Bible" owned by King's College, Halifax (22).

 

A copy of his will is preserved in the Armagh Will Book for 1892 (23) copied before the originals were sent to the Four Courts in Dublin where they were subsequently destroyed in the fire.  It was made in Malin on 26 January 1886 and notes the Trust Deed dated 23 December 1858 written when he was still in Nova Scotia.  He had drawn a £100 advance from the £500 Assurance Policy of 1870 but the remaining £400 was to be shared between his surviving four daughters. Two small shareholdings had already been passed to his wife, Charlotte Amelia, who also received all his other possessions and furniture with the exception of the "Cottage Piano" which was left to his daughter Elizabeth.

 

The list of books, trinkets and pictures or photographs left by Charlotte Amelia in her will of October 1894 (24) to members of the Maturin family is remarkable only for its triviality and a flash of spite:  Elizabeth Maturin was specifically bequeathed just one small book - "How to Deal with Temptation".  

 

Edmund bibliography:  

Rev Dr C Coombs, Armagh, extract from a Ph.D. thesis on Irish Huguenot clerical families, written in the 1970s, held at The Representative Church Body Library, Braemor Park, Churchtown, Dublin 14

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online - available on-line 


Footnotes
1) "The Claims of the Catholic Church" by Edmund Maturin page 7 and following (available on Google books)

2) ibid  page 12

3)  The Armagh Guardian 31 December 1844 - Marriages

4)  The Belfast Newsletter 28 March 1848 - Births

5)  Power of Attorney 16 November 1850  Proni Ref: D639/138

6)  With thanks to Patrick Bradley, researching the Huther family, and his expert colleagues on Rootsweb.  Patrick determined that Mary Huther took over the Derry photographer's business on the death of her husband in 1877 but did not run it in her own name until 1880.  The experts pointed out that the photo is printed as a mirror image with the wedding ring on the right hand and the dress buttoned on the wrong side.  The style of the dress and hair were typical of the late 1850s to early 60s.     The hand-tinted carte de visit must therefore be a reprint of either an Ambrotype, popular at that same time, or a tintype, introduced in the mid 1850s and common until the early 1900s.  Both these processes reversed the image.  The most likely date is therefore 1861, or early 1862 before the pregnancy with Merrick Persse became obvious.  The date of the return to Ireland in 1861/62 is uncertain so it may be that the original picture was taken in Nova Scotia. Londonderry was the nearest town to Malin where Edmund was rector from 1874 to 1886.

7)  Power of Attorney 16 November 1850 as in note 5

8)  Assignment of Charge 8 December 1853 Proni Ref D639/145

9)  Memorandum of Agreement 23 October 1858 between Anne Maturin and Edward Johnston Quinan - family archive

10)  "The claims of the Catholic Church" (by Edmund Maturin, Halifax 1859)

11)  "A defence of the claims of the Catholic Church, in reply to several recent publications"  (by Edmund Maturin,  Halifax, 1859).
 12)  "The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz" - Public Archives of Nova Scotia available on-line

13)  "Thoughts on the Infallibility of the Church with especial reference to the Creed of Pope Pius IV" (by Edmund Maturin, Halifax 1861)

14) SS Caledonia from Glasgow to New York, arriving 16 Sept 1867 - Ancestry.com New York Passenger Lists 1820-1957 under name of Maturine

15)  a) Rev Dr C Coombs - see bibliography;  b) Visitations on Ireland vol 5 FA Crisp 1911, p 126 - copies of the printers' proofs of the Maturin pages in the family papers are evidence that Edmund's sons and daughters had vetted  their father's entry; even though the spelling of "West Hobroken" had gone uncorrected the fact of the visit had not been disputed.  

16)  Letter to The New York Times, 16 September 1909 - "Harriman's Father" from the Rev. Edmund Janes Cleveland, Rector of West Hoboken.  Orlando Harriman was the father of the US railway magnate, E H Harriman and grandfather of Averell Harriman, the prominent Democratic politician in the Truman, Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

17)  Pages 53 to 56 of the St John's Episcopal Church, West Hoboken records, assembled from various sources including the 1921 Jubilee Committee.  These were kindly traced and copies given by the Rev Richard Hogue.

18) "History of the County of Hudson" Charles H Winfield (1874)  p 397

19)  This website - the life of Captain Gabriel Maturin

20) Edmund's will dated 6 February 1892 - Armagh Will Book for 1892 - microfiche at  Proni mic/15c/1/13?

21) The detailed list of books carrying Edmund's armorial bookplate is:

 

Cranmer's Great Bible of 1540 - this edition printed by Edward Whitchurch of London in 1549.  Included in the sale of part of the Trivulzio Collection by the Darlington Memorial Library, University of Pittsburg, 6 to 11 February 1888 at George A Leayitt & Co.  787-789 Broadway, New York City


Servius's Virgil - edited by R Stephanus (Estienne), Paris 1532.  Owned by Rev W C Green MA rector of Hepworth, Diss; article in The Antiquary Vol 43 1889 page 378.  He was given it by a friend who bought it "for a mere nothing" at an auction at Liverpool in 1860.  Edmund's bookplate is accompanied by undated inscriptions by Dr Edward Craven Hawtrey (1789 - 1862, headmaster at Eton 1834 - 1853) and E R Payne (appointed rector of Hepworth in 1819).  Green, Hawtrey and Payne all graduated from King's College, Cambridge.  Green was mistaken in assuming that the Maturin of the bookplate was the "Kingsman",  Charles Henry Maturin, Vicar of Ringwood, Hampshire.


The English Historical Library by William Nicolson, 2nd edition London 1741. Notes by Edmund on end paper dated 1862.  Offered at auction by Lyon & Turnbull, London 2007.   


Opera ad Optimas Editiones Collata ...  Macrobius Theodosius.  Biponti 1788.  Offered by AntiqBook, London, Ontario for $250 in 2011.

Sophocles Tragedies in Greek edited by Adrian Turnebus - Paris 1553.  Sold for £304 by Christie's, London in 1995.  A second copy of the Tragedies is held at JRUL - below.


The following five titles were collected by Richard Copley Christie (1830 - 1901).  His library of 15,000 volumes was bequeathed to Owen's College and is now at John Rylands University Library, part of Manchester University.  It must be coincidence that Christie was given the Copley name as no connection can be found to that family in a brief search on his parents and grandparents.  It may be that Richard's father, Lorenzo,  saw no harm in admiring the Lord Chancellor in 1830, John Copley (Baron Lyndhurst).

Sophokleous Tragōdiai hepta (Sophocles' tragedies and dramas) - Venice 1533.

Scriptores rei rusticae  / Libri de re rvstica (agriculture from ancient Rome to 1800 in Latin and Greek).

Valerius Maximus -  Factorum et dictorum memorabilium libri IX - Venice 1514 (Rome civilisation, social life and customs in Latin)

Q. Horatius Flaccus (Horace) - Birmingham 1777 (in Latin)

Quintus Curtius  (Curtius Rufus) - edited A Francinus -  Florence 1517

The following two titles are held by Cambridge University:-

Ḥamishah ḥumshe Torah (Bible - Old Testament in Hebrew, prepared by Menasseh ben Israel) - Amsterdam  1635

Tēs Kainēs Diathēkēs hapanta (Bible - New Testament in Greek)  - Geneva 1553


The following six books are held at the Roman Catholic foundations of St Mary's University / King's College, Nova Scotia:-

Summa conciliorum onmium : ordinata, aucta, illustrata ex Merlini, Joverii, Baronii, Binii, (Louis Bail 1610-1669)  Paris 1672.
 
The ancient ecclesiastical histories of the first six hundred years after Christ (by Eusebius,of Caesarea, Bishop of Caesarea,ca. 260 to ca. 340, translated into English by Hanmer) London 1663.
 
The annals of the world : deduced from the origin of time . . . (James Ussher 1581-1656) - London 1658.

Aristotelis opera omnia quae extant . .  (Aristotle, prepared by Strozzi and Duval, in Greek and Latin) Paris 1619.
 
Polybij Megalopolitani Historiarum libri priores quinque.  (Polybius, prepared by Perotti and Musculus in Latin and Greek). Basel 1549.

Des. Erasmi Roter. opervm sextvs tomvs Novvm Testamentvm (Erasmus, translation and commentaries on the New Testament)  Basel 1541

Though Edmund's book plate was not present it is useful to note the following:
"The Schoolmaster" - Roger Ascham (John Upton's edition of 1789) held in the Special Collections at Michegan State University; the title page has a manuscript inscription "ex libris Gabrielis Maturin" which, at this date, cannot have been Dean Gabriel James but may have been Edmund's uncle Gabriel who did become a private tutor for Eton College students.

 

22)  King's College, Nova Scotia, Board of Governors'  meetings - minutes: 7 Dec 1855, 1 February 1856, 7 March 1856

23)  Edmund's will dated 6 February 1892 - Armagh Will Book for 1892 - microfiche at  Proni mic/15c/1/13?

24)  Charlotte Amelia's will of 1894 details the list of possessions to be given to the family but this was revoked in 1905 and her total estate valued at £1484 was bequeathed to her niece and sole executrix Isabella Mary Hamilton.  Probate was granted on 21 June 1916.  The original hand-written document is held at Proni, Belfast.


Edmund had family  as follows:

by 1st marriage to to Elizabeth Catherine, 2nd daughter of Dominick Persse Esq. of Ramelton
 

1111291)  Edmund Maturin.  (IGI - born Nov 18, 1845 at Dunfanaghy, Donegal) Manager, Belfast Bank, Moville.  Married June 17, 1879, Mary, 3rd daughter of Mr W. Hegarty of Letterkenny;  she died at 2 Sutton Villas, Darglo Road, Bray on Mar 8 1923.  He died  Nov 24 or 28, 1928.  Has family:-

11112911)  William Edmund Maturin.  Born Nov 19, 1880 at Moville, baptised at St Columb’s, Moville 1 Jan 1881; educated at Kilkenny College  Died unmarried.   A “William Edmund”  M is noted in the British Columbia Archives aged 37 at his death at “Essondale” (so born 1880/1) on 10 Nov 1918.

11112912) Mary Frances (Maymie) Maturin.  Born April 25, 1883.  Died unmarried Nov 6, 1939

 

1111292)  Elizabeth Maturin.  Born Jan 15 1847 at Rathmelton.  Died unmarried at Ballyscaddens, Knocklong, Co Limerick Nov 30, 1896, buried at Knocklong.                                                                
1111293) Catherine (Kathleen) Maturin. (IGI - born Mar 18, 1848 at Malin, Donegal).  At 1871 census in Sussex.  Married March 30, 1880, at Malin, Co. Donegal, to Dominick Dudley Persse, Bank of Ireland.  Died March 25, 1932. Has family:-

1) Caroline Elizabeth (Elsie) Persse.  Born Feb 5, 1881.  Died 1961.

2)  Kathleen Dunbar Persse.  Born Aug 31, 1882.  Married Godfrey Ellis Foy May 16, 1917 She died Nov 2, 1957.  He was born in 1871 Inspector with Royal Irish Constabulary in Meath and Kilkenny until partition in 1922 when forced to move to Warrenpoint, Co. Down; died Sep 28 1953. Has living family:-

3)  Dudley Persse.  Born April 3, 1884.  Died unmarried May 19, 1946.

4) Mary Isabel (Mollie) Persse.  Born Mar 14, 1886.  Married John Charles Prosper (Jack) de Mestre July 22, 1914: she died at Kings Heath, Birmingham 1955.  He was born Oct 28 1879 in Australia, went to South Africa to fight in the Boer War and came to the UK for service in the Great War with the Westmoreland and Cumberland Yeomanry, stationed at Tralee, Buttevant and Dublin; died at Kings Heath Aug 21 1957. Has family:-  

1)  Dudley John de Mestre.  Born 23 Feb 1916 at the Bank House, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.  Educated Harrow House School, Ealing and King Edward VI School, Birmingham.  Joined Lloyds Bank until war service.  Volunteered as a despatch rider with RASC in 1939 and evacuated with the BEF from Dunkirk.  Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in Royal Tank Regiment 1942, 1st Lieutenant 1943, Captain o/c HQ Squadron RAC Depot at Poona, India 1944-46. Manager with Lloyds Bank at Earlsdon, Coventry and Birmingham until early retirement in 1971.  Married Sheila Lilian Finney Dec 10, 1941.  She died 1980.  He died in Ringwood, Hampshire on 23 February 2007.  Has living family.

2)  André (Andy) de Mestre.  Born Dec 4, 1920 at Alverstoke, Hampshire.  Married Margaret Birtwisle Jun 3, 1946 at Hartford, Cheshire.  Emigrated to Australia Feb 12 1959; Spare Parts manager for Chamberlain Deere in NW District, NSW; was ordained in St John’s Anglican Church, Tamworth, New South Wales in 1982.  Died April 23 1993.  Has living family family:-

3)  Mary Mélanie (Mélanie) de Mestre.   Married 1st Harry Rawcliffe Jan 29, 1944 at Lahore, India: had family.

Mélanie married 2nd Thomas Neville-Hadley in 1952 at Nicosia, Cyprus: has  living family:

Married 3rd, but divorced

Died 2008

5)  Agnes Winifred (Winnie) Persse.  Born Jan 30, 1888. Died unmarried 1960

6) Edmund Maturin Persse.  Born Oct 2, 1890, married Kathleen Mary, daughter of Captain (later Major) William Arthur Persse RA, of Roxburgh, Co. Galway, June 6, 1931.  He served with West Yorks Regiment in 1914-18 and was awarded the MC, then joined the Colonial Service in Uganda.  He died Oct 25 1964.  She died Nov 10 1979.   Has living family.

 

1111294)  Henry Maturin.  Born Jan 25 1850 Manager Belfast Bank, Ballibay, Castleblayney Co Monaghan 1898 - May 1 1910. Married by licence at Ballybay May 28, 1879, Martha Skelly, second daughter of Mr Robert Skelly of Drogheda; Martha was born in 1852 and died in 1923 at Ballybay. As a young man Henry was blinded in his left eye when a thorn branch hit him while blackberrying, causing an untreatable infection. As a result he hated having his photograph taken and always turned his blind eye away from the camera. He retired from the Bank on 1 May 1910 and died on 20 Oct 1912. Had family:-

11112941) Jane Maturin. First child of Henry and Martha. Born Feb 18 1883 at Castleblaney, married George William Allen Howard on 11 Jul 1918. George was ordained deacon in 1912, appointed curate in Inishmacsaint dfrom 1912-13, Enniskillen from 1913 -16, acting chaplain to the Forces from 1916-189 and returned to the curacy at Enniskillen from 1919-20.    Jane died on 10 Jan, 1920, aged just 37.
11112942) Henry Gabriel Maturin. Second child of Henry and Martha. Born Aug 16, 1885 at Ballybay. Educated Portora Royal School, Enniskillen; Trinity College Dublin B.A. 1908. Div. Test 1908. He was ordained Deacon 6 June 1909 (and priested in 1910) for the curacy of Blackhill, Co Durham where he stayed until 1911.
Whilst at Blackhill he met Meggie Wandless. She was born in Sunderland on 19 July 1886 (and christened as Meggie), but was only 6 (and her brother Thomas John 4) when their father died of the effects of epilepsy, aged just 42, in 1892. The children were brought up a by a childless uncle and aunt. Meggie was a determined young lady. Though Henry had an “understanding” with a Miss McDewaine back in Ballybay, which his mother hoped would lead to marriage, Meggie (now preferring Margaret) had decided that Henry was the man for her. When she wanted something she generally got her way. A separation while Henry returned to Ireland to be curate at Omey 1911-13 and Delgany in Glendalough 1913-14 did not deter and they were married on 10 September 1913. Mother and daughter-in-law were never good friends. Unfortunately the marriage suffered from Margaret's domineering attitude. This must have caused immense conflict in a humble, intelligent man who had little ambition above giving a life of service to his parishioners, sustained by his deep faith.

 

Twin sons and a single son were all still-born and buried in Co. Kerry.

Henry was curate at Dingle in Ardfert 1914-15, moving to All Saints Belfast in the Diocese of Connor 1915-20 and at the neighbouring parish of St Nicholas Belfast 1920-23. Patricia was born on 10 June 1923 at 9 Sandhurst Drive, Belfast and Madeleine on 29 November 1927. The family moved to Rosnagrena, 52 Malone Road, Belfast in 1928 and stayed there until 1969. In that time Henry was appointed chaplain to Mission to Seamen (1923-26) and the Diocesan Curate for the Diocese of Down (1926 - 29), finally returning to be curate at All Saints Belfast from 1929 until his death on 24 September 1941. After his funeral on Friday 26 September his coffin was taken to Dean’s Grange Cemetary, Dublin for burial. His grave is in the older part of the cemetery surmounted by a simple white cross.

Perhaps Margaret says as much about herself as about Henry in her In Memoriam for her husband: “I do not think he ever realised how strong he was, and how he affected those about him. He did not need us - I sometimes think that he did not need anyone - and he credited everyone with living the same intent life that he lived.” A man of unassuming manners and retiring habits, Henry Gabriel Maturin exercised a gracious, spiritual ministry. He was much beloved in the parish of All Saints’ because of his pastoral gifts and thought-provoking sermons. In one of his obituaries it was stated that his “preaching had attracted much attention in the Diocese”. “The product of a cultured, well-informed mind, his pulpit utterances never failed to captivate the congregation”.
Margaret did not like having her name shortened to “Meggie” and decided to call herself “Cecille”. As a result it was “C.M.” who prefaced the In Memoriam in 1942.

Both girls were educated at the all-girls Ashleigh House School, long since demolished and redeveloped as luxury flats. Patricia was the “ladylike” little girl but Madeleine was the tomboy who was always climbing trees and getting in to trouble; nicknamed “Bobby” by her father as a son would been named Robert. Their mother “did not want to left all alone” and this selfish attitude deterred both girls from marrying.

111129421) Twin sons and a single son still-born
111129422) Patricia Gloria Gabrielle Maturin, born Jun 10, 1923. Became a driver for the British Red Cross. To celebrate the Centenary on 27 May 1970 she was invited Buckingham Palace. In 1971 she became an auxilliary nurse at Musgrove Park Hospital, which she thoroughly enjoyed, and stayed there until her retirement in 1983. She died on 10 May 1996.
111129423) Madeleine Yvonne Veronica Maturin born 29 November 1927. Margaret / Cecille was a dog breeder. Madeleine overcame the immense problems of coping with severe deafness from childhood by working from home for 33 years, clipping dogs - mainly poodles.
In 1969 the sisters moved from Malone Road to Sandyhill Park, Drumbeg. After 15 years they decided to make a break from the turmoil engulfing the north of Ireland and went to live in Moffat, Scotland. Enduring 21 months of home sickness they returned to Northern Ireland in 1986, to Ballyhalbert where Madeleine lived until her death on 1 December 2015.

 

1111295)  William Cogswell Maturin, died at Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 14, 1859 aged 7.

 

1111296)  Mary Emily Maturin, born Sep 1 1853 in Nova Scotia. Married Rev: Alexander Knox Aug 12, 1886 at the Parish Church of Ardstraw, Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone, (by her father Rev. Edmund Maturin and her brother Merrick Persse Maturin) when Rev. Knox was Rector of Passage, Co. Cork.  In 1910 at 9 St Peter’s Place, Drogheda. She died Feb 20, 1943. Had family:-

1) Alexander Edmund (Teddy) Knox.  Born Nov 26, 1889.  Engineering degree at T.C.D. before working in India. Married Gertrude Nye.  He died April 27, 1929, leaving family who eventually emigrated to Australia:-

1) Bruce Alexander Knox, born Aug 3, 1924.  The Brisbane Courier Mail reported that a Bruce Alexander Knox, late of Seven Hills, died aged 83 on 30 Nov 2007.

2)  Diana Knox, born Dec, 1928.

 

1111297)  Caroline Isabella Louisa Maturin.  Born Dec 4 1855 in Nova Scotia. At 1871 census in Sussex.  Deaconess 1890. In Chester from 1891 to 1900.  1901 census recorded in Staffordshire. Died Feb 8 1948.

1111298)  Benjamin Maturin. Born Feb 14 1858 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Educated at St John’s College, Hurstpierpoint, (1871 census in Sussex) entered Trin: Coll: Dub: Oct. 10 1878 aged 20 years, B.A. 1885 M.A. 1892. Deacon 1887 by the Bishop of Armagh and priest in 1888. Rev. Combe states: Benjamin was curate of Derryloran (Cookstown) in Armagh (1887 - 1889), Clones, (Co. Monaghan) in Clogher (1889 - 1890) and Rincurran, near Kinsale, in Cork (1890 - 1891).  C. of Milborne Port, Somerset, 1891-93; C. of Churchdown (Gloucester), 1893; C. of Lower Mitton, Stourport, 1895-96; C. of Badgeworth, Cheltenham, 1901-03; 1901 census recorded in Worcstershire; C. of Nafferton, Yorks 1904-07. Rector of St.Magnus’ Episcopal Church, Lerwick, in the Shetland Islands 1908-17. He died, unmarried Feb. 9,1917

1111299)  Anna Maria Maturin, died at Halifax, Nov 10, 1861, aged 2

111129T) Rev: Merrick Persse Maturin, born 22 October 1862 at Rathmullen, Co. Donegal.  Trin: Coll: Dub: 1880. B.A. and Div. Test 1884, Deacon and priest in Derry in 1886; M.A. 1887. Fellow T.C.D. Married Elizabeth  (“Lillie”) Knox Warke at Castlerock, Co. Derry on Aug 5 1890. She was the daughter of William Warke of Coleraine (and a descendant of John Knox), born Mar 22 1865 and died on 29 Dec. 1951.  Curate of Castlerock in Derry (1886 - 1891), rector of Cumber Lower, also in Derry (1891 - 1894) and then curate of Enniskillen in Clogher (1894-5).  

Curate at Battersea 1895-98,  instituted  as vicar of Wormleighton, Warwickshire on 23 September 1898 to 1899,  curate at Christchurch Forest Hill 1899-1902, St Clement’s Notting Hill 1902-04, Eakring (Notts) 1904-06, curate of Holy Trinity, Upper Tooting in 1906-1912, (living at 13 Crockerton Road, Wandsworth Common in 1910), Eakring (Notts) again 1912-15 vicar of West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire on 12 February 1916, rector of Winterbourne Came cum Winterbourne Farringdon, Dorset and perpetual curate of Whitcombe, Dorset (the last with an “annual value of £12 and 13 shillings”) both on 21 November 1919, rector of West Parley, Dorset on 6 December 1921 and finally as rector of Theydon Garnon, (near Epping) Essex on 2 December 1923 where he found Sir R W Abdy Bt. as patron of a living yielding £679 + 64 acres of glebe, giving a net £617 plus a house for a population of 687.

Author of “Ich Dien” in 1915, “The Spiritual War” 1916, “The Golden Stair” (a series of sermons on the Red Letter Saints) in 1928, “The Mind and Art of Dante” 1928 etc.

Living at Edgar Hotel Bath in 1937. Died Feb 14, 1938 at Bath but buried at Theydon Garnon Feb 17. They were known as Uncle Persse (pronounced Percy) and Aunt Lillie to Ellis Foy.  After Merrick's death Lillie moved first to an address in London and subsequently, during the war to become a PG in a family home in Warwickshire. Ellis Foy was working in the Land Army close by and was able to look after her, scooping her up when she got lost in the maze of corridors. When Jack and Mollie de Mestre confirmed that she was being systematically overcharged they arranged for her to stay in a home in Birmingham.

 

Edmund - by 2nd marriage on  Feb 2, 1864 to Eliza Anne, 2nd daughter of Mr John Cust of Magilligan

111129E)  Charles Maturin,. Born Dec 4, 1864, (IGI - at Magilligan), educated Ardingley College, in 1910 described as “of Belfast, of the Civil Service Post Office Department, Belfast”; died unmarried May 16, 1919

Henry

The inscription on plot 361 reads;
In / Loving and grateful memory of / LESLIE MATURIN, F.K.O.C.P.I / Dublin / who died 19th November 1884 / aged 35 / and / LEILA SCOT SKIRVING / his wife / who died 27th February 1917 / aged 62   (6)

Ben at Monmouth House Lymington

Parade ground Bathurst

(note 23) Bathurst market

Ben - (note 28)

Adelaide

Leslie (Sherry)

Caroline

Hans

Carte de visite marked in album as "Lizzie Maturin ?" "taken in 1861/62", by M. Huther, Carlisle Rd, Londonderry. The photo must be a reprint of an "Ambrotype" or a tintype as the image is reversed. (See note 6)

Marked "Eliz'th Maturin"  - photo taken by Chancellor, 55 Sackville Street, Dublin,
but after 1863 as patronage by "TRH The Prince & Princess of Wales" is claimed.

Marked "L Maturin" taken by J Glass, Londonderry 1870s
Either Eliza Cust or daughter Elizabeth aged 25-30

Edmund - photo taken in about 1870 by Mayall, Brighton, about 10 miles from Hurstpierpoint
Photographer to Royalty - charged 1 guinea (£1.05) for 12 carte de visite portraits instead of a more normal 5 shillings (£0.25) at lesser establishments

Edmund Maturin with daughter Elizabeth and wife Charlotte at the wedding of Mary Emily to Alexander Knox 12 August 1886.  
The enmity between the two women is palpable!

Horn Head from Portnablagh, Donegal

Paul Dunn in Midhurst

Edmund - before 1866 in London or Brighton

The Maturin Arms

awarded to Peter in 1728

Gabriel's grandchildren

including Peter (1705), his son Peter (1732), Dean Gabriel James daughters and the Quinan connection

Dean Gabriel's eldest son Charles (1729), his eldest son Gabriel (1767) and his family

Henry (1771), Charles' second son, and his descendants

Captain Gabriel (1730) second son of Dean Gabriel James

William (c 1740)

third son of Dean Gabriel and his family

Gabriel (1638), his son Peter (1668) and grandson Gabriel James (1700)

Henry Maturin - banker

Jane Maturin

Henry Gabriel

Meggie / Margaret / Cecile

Patricia

Patricia & Madeleine

The Knox wedding   

Click to enlarge  

Mary with Gertrude, Bruce and Diana

Above - Frederick Nutt-Smith in 1880.

Below - in 1888

Above - Frederick's passport photo in 1927

Below - Fred and Emma on the Isle of Wight

Madeleine

Newbliss Parsonage - photo by J Galway, 21 Fermanagh St., Clones

Click to enlarge image

Edward Maturin's notable places in northern Ireland 1819 - 1891. Click for a larger image

Marlborough College Hockey 1st XI

Click to enlarge image