There are some very interesting
stories about the Spry relations.
One such early Dr Spry, was
Nathanial. He was born around 1658, and
in 1703, aged 45, he sat for a portrait.
Dr Nathaniel
Spry,
Aged 45 1703 B. Burghende (active 1692–1703). Dr
Nathaniel Spry,
Aged 45 1703 Royal Cornwall Museum.
William Spry (born England, died Barbados, September 4, 1772) was a jurist and governor of Barbados.
On 25 September 1764 he arrived with his
family at Halifax, Nova
Scotia, having been appointed judge
of the vice-admiralty
court over all America, which had
been recently constituted by act of parliament. In the proclamation that
announces the opening of the court he is styled “The Right Worshipful William
Spry, Doctor of Laws.” The other officers of the new court were: vice-admiral, the Earl of Northumberland; registrar, the Hon. Spencer Percival; marshal, Charles Howard, gent. These officers probably expected to fulfil their duties by deputies. Judge Spry opened his court at Halifax on 9 October 1764. Its creation had been opposed in the colonies, and the passage of the Stamp Act the next year, with the accompanying disturbances, probably prevented its extension to other provinces. The Court was abolished in 1768. Judge Spry was appointed Governor of Barbados in June 1767. Spry arrived at Barbados the following year, and died in office in 1772.
Spry married twice:
- Firstly to Amelia Pitt, a daughter of Thomas Pitt of Boconnoc (died 1761), a brother of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham.
- Secondly to Katherine Cholmeley (1739-1817), a daughter of Robert Cholmeley (d.1754) of Barbados, a son of James Cholmeley (d.1735) of Easton Hall in Lincolnshire. Katherine's sister Jane Cholmeley (Mrs Leigh-Perrot) was the aunt of the novelist Jane Austen. By Katherine he had a daughter Wilhelmina Spry who married Sir William Earle Welby, 2nd Baronet
Amelia Pitt was the daughter of
Sir Thomas Pitt, an MP
He was the grandson and namesake of the better known Thomas Pitt and the son of Robert Pitt, MP of Boconnoc, Cornwall. He was the elder brother of William Pitt the Elder.
He was Assay master of the Stannaries from March 1738 to February 1742 and Lord Warden of the Stannaries from February 1742 to March 1751, when the Cornish Stannary Parliament met for the last time.
As head of the family, Pitt inherited both his grandfather's immense fortune and his parliamentary boroughs - he had the complete power to nominate both MPs at Old Sarum and one of the two at Okehampton, as well as considerable influence in at least two Cornish boroughs, Camelford and Grampound. He had himself elected Member of Parliament for Okehampton in 1727, the first election after he came of age, and represented the borough until 1754; but on a number of occasions he was also elected for Old Sarum, which meant that when he chose to sit for Okehampton the Old Sarum seat was free to offer at a by-election to somebody else who had failed to get into Parliament.
Her mother was Christian
Lyttleton the daughter of Sir Thomas Lyttleton and his wife Christian
Temple. Her mother's brother (her uncle) William Lyttleton was Colonial
Governor of South Carolina 1756 - 1760 and Governor of Jamaica 1762 - 1768
As the youngest son, he did not expect to inherit the family estates and served in various government appointments. He became governor of colonial South Carolina in 1755. As such he was a major factor in the eventual story of America's independence. His insistence on respecting the treaty rights of native peoples aggravated settlers on the frontier of South Carolina and led to a severe rift between those respecting the King's directives and those opposed
The opposing
factions eventually fought the civil war in South Carolina that was perhaps the
key factor in America's independence. He was appointed Governor of Jamaica in 1760, and envoy-extraordinary to Portugal in 1766. He was raised to the Irish peerage in 1776 as Baron
Westcote.
Amelia's brother was Thomas Pitt
Lord Camelford.
Her great grandfather, was Thomas
Pitt, who discovered the "Pitt Diamond" in India. It became part of the French Crown Jewels.
Her uncle William Pitt and his son, her cousin William Pitt, were both MP's and both were the Lord Mayor of London.
Perhaps a little bit of nepotism played a factor in the appointment of officials in Jamaica.
The Pitt family were good friends of the Mudge family.
The final resting place of the Governor of Barbados,
his Excellency William Spry Esq. He served as governor from 1768 to 1772 and
now rests in the church yard cemetery of the Cathedral of Saint Michaels in
Bridgetown, Barbados.
First Spry to Jamaica.
Edward Sprey Lt to
Buller 17 Mary, widow of Capt. Edw. Spry, applied for arrears 18 April
1656.
Lieutenant Buller's Regiment was
part of Oliver Cromwell's Invasion. He also
Served in Col Dolman's Regiment and in the Netherlands
The Invasion of Jamaica
was an amphibious expedition conducted by the English in the Caribbean in 1655
that resulted in the capture of the island from Spain. Jamaica's capture was
the casus
belli that
resulted in actual war between England and Spain in 1655. For the next period
of the
island's history,
it was known as the Colony of Jamaica.
Within a year the 7,000 English officers and troops that took part in
the invasion were reduced to 2,500.
Lieutenant Spry Bartlett, 4
October 1816 28th Regiment of Foot
served in Jamaica
John Spry, was a Lieutenant in
the Royal Navy 1783. He was ordered to
take the ship Elizabeth to the Sicily Island, with salt.
Elizabeth continued to serve until 1766, when she was broken up.
In 1807, Mrs John Spry died. She was the sister of Rev Dr Hillington of
Hampton Court.
In 1811, the War Office posted
that 1st West India Regiment -
Hospital-Mate, John C, Spry to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Beresford, promoted
in the Royal York Rangers.
Some Connections with India and
the East India Company
[1]SPRY, HENRY
HARPUR (1804–1842), writer on India, born at Truro on 6 Jan. 1804, was son of
Jeffery or Geoffry Spry (d. 1829) of the excise, by his wife
Philadelphia, daughter of Joseph Knight of Bodrean, near Truro. [2]
Henry was educated as a surgeon, and entered the service of the East India
Company, being appointed assistant surgeon on the Bengal staff on 10 April
1827.
In 1841 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was also a fellow of the Geographical Society, and a member of the Asiatic Society, besides being secretary of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India. He died at Fort William, Calcutta, on 4 Sept. 1842.
He was the author of: 1. ‘Modern India, with Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindustan,’ London, 1837, 12mo. 2. ‘Suggestions for the Introduction of Useful and Ornamental Plants into India,’ Calcutta, 1841, 8vo.
Dr Henry Harper Spry was 2nd Assistant Garrison Surgeon and Secretary to the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India and was the Surgeoncy of the Lower Orphan School, and Medical advisor to on of the Assurance Societies. He died from a fall from his buggy, and a serious injury developed on the brain as a result. He is buried at the Military Burial Ground Bhwanipore, India.
He was the brother of Dr Edward John Spry of Truro Cornwall,
who married, as his second wife, Ann Mudge.
Ann was the daughter of William Mudge and his wife Sarah Cole Roberts,
from Probus. Ann died in 1890.
He wrote a paper
for the Edinburgh
Medical and Surgical Journal, Volume 28 - An Outline of the Homeopathic
Doctrine or Medical Theory of Hahnemann, in 1827. (ebook free download)
His obituary in the Lancet provides an insight into how
clever and respected he was.
"We grieve to announce the death his morning of Edward
John Spry, Esq, senior surgeon to the Cornwall Infirmary, whose loss is a
public calamity. His skills and
experience had established a deservedly high reputation, and placed him by
general consent foremost in his profession.
He was constanatly consulted in serious and obscure cases over all this
part of the county; for his bretheren who availed themselves of his aid, knew
that they could rely with equal confidence on his professional judgment and his
professional honour. In the general
duties of public life he was scarcely less valuable to society. He took an active and leading part in the
affairs of the town, which he served more than once as chief magistrate; and
all parties respected him for his integrity, intelligence and public
spirit. He assisted in the proceedings
at the opening of the Cornwall Railway, at the beginning of May, immediately
after which an anxious and laborious professional duty, with the exposure and
fatigue of a nigh journey, led to a rheumatic attack, which resulted in
inflammation and dropsey of the heart."
Their
sister Emma Spry married Henry Leverton, her sons were both Doctors
Children of Dr
James Spry 1774 - 1842 and Frances
Robinson 1782 - 1869
5*5
Rev James Spry was Prebend at Salisbury
Cathedral, he was the son of Rev John Spry and Jane Hume, and married Emma
Trant. He merged the two names.
Dr James Hume Spry Surgeon for the East India Company, at their
warehouse in London. He died in 1842, his will is at the National Archives.
His sons
1. 1. Lieut
Edmund Trant Spry Lieutenant Her Majesty's 24th Reg. Bengal Native Infantry
1806 - 1838
2. Brev Captain Philip Lane Spry 1810 - 1844 35th Madras Native Infantry
3. Rev Arthur Brown Spry, was the subject of the Old Bailey hearing 1812 - 1870
4. Dr Robert Wood Spry Hon East Indies Service, Assistant Surgeon 1817 - 1844
5. Dr Henry William Spry of Jhansee Surgeon Major in Her Majesty's 39th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry
2. Brev Captain Philip Lane Spry 1810 - 1844 35th Madras Native Infantry
3. Rev Arthur Brown Spry, was the subject of the Old Bailey hearing 1812 - 1870
4. Dr Robert Wood Spry Hon East Indies Service, Assistant Surgeon 1817 - 1844
5. Dr Henry William Spry of Jhansee Surgeon Major in Her Majesty's 39th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry
6. Thirteen letters from the Rev
Arthur Browne Spry, Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment...
- This record is held by British Library: Asian and African Studies
1.
Dr
Henry William Spry Surgeon Major 1831
- 1882 Bengal
2.
Edmund
Hume Spry Bachelor died in
NSW 1859
Sons of
Rev Arthur Spry and Matilda Brown
Reference:
|
Mss
Eur B219
|
Description:
|
Thirteen letters from
the Rev Arthur Browne Spry, Bengal Ecclesiastical Establishment 1838-67, and
his wife Matilda (d 1859) to relatives in Norfolk, including several written
from Allahabad, where Spry was Chaplain, during the Mutiny; with photocopies
of typescript transcripts.
|
Date:
|
1841-1867
|
1. 1. Arthur
Hume Spry Indian Civil Service 1837 - 1896
2. Major Frederick Edmund Spry 1841 - 1881 Madras Infantry
3. Herbert Charles Hume Spry 2nd V.B., Wilts. Regt. and Behar Light. Horse
2. Major Frederick Edmund Spry 1841 - 1881 Madras Infantry
3. Herbert Charles Hume Spry 2nd V.B., Wilts. Regt. and Behar Light. Horse
Sons of Arthur Hume Spry
1. Frederick Hume Spry WW1 RA Shell Shocked [1]
2. Major Leighton Hume Spry
Sons
of Major Frederick Edmund Spry
1. 1. Col. William Edmund Hume Spry 1879 - 1955 Indian Army
2. Major Charles Augustus Hume-Spry RA Served in WWI
2. Major Charles Augustus Hume-Spry RA Served in WWI
Sons of Dr Henry William Spry
Surgeon Major
1 1. William
Murray Spry served in Boer War Tpr
35818
2. Henry Edmund Spry arrived in Australia in 1888 and became a Barrister in WA
2. Henry Edmund Spry arrived in Australia in 1888 and became a Barrister in WA
Major Leighton Hume Spry Major Charles Augustus Nelson Hume Spry
A Case of Stealing from Mrs Spry
639. DANIEL HARRINGTON was indicted for stealing, on the 25th of January, 4 dishes, value 8l.; 4 dish-covers, value 12l.; 4 dishcover handles, value 4l.; and 1 printed book, value 1s.; the goods of Arthur Brown Spry, clerk, in a certain vessel in a port of entry and discharge.—2nd COUNT, stating them to be the goods of James Edward Pattenson.
HENRY CREW . I live with Mr. Ogleby, a pawnbroker in High-street, Poplar. On the evening of the 25th of January, the prisoner came, and produced this handle of a tureen, plated with silver, and wanted a sovereign for it—it is worth 1l.—he said he had several more at home—a police-man was sent for, and took him.
JOHN DAVIES (police-constable K 94.) I went into Ogleby's shop, and asked the prisoner where he got the handle from—he said he found it in the street at Rotherhithe, where he had been in work, at the Surreycanal, unloading a barge of stones—I took him to the station, and found his account of where he had been working incorrect—I went and searched his house, but found nothing.
PHILIP HOOKER . I am an officer of the Lord Lowther vessel, in the East India Docks, which is part of the port of London. There was a case on board containing these articles—I saw it on board on the 21st of January—it was then unbroken—I have since seen it in a broken state at the Thames Police-office—the case produced is it.
JOHN ADRUM NEWTH . I live in Arnold-place, Walworth, and am clerk to Mr. Maynard, an outfitter and general agent. We received this case from Mrs. Spry, with instructions to ship it in the Lord Lowther, a ship of 1400 tons burthen, to go to Calcutta—I put it into a cart to go to the dock, and afterwards saw it in a shed at the docks—it was then perfect.
ALEXANDER LAKE . I am constable of the East and West India Docks. In consequence of information I went into the hold of the Lord Lowther with the second officer, and saw this case, directed to the Rev. Arthur Brown Spry—it was broken in several pieces, and a small book was found in the ballast in the hold—I found four dishes and covers on the Friday morning between the water-cask and the ship's side—two of them are injured as if by forcing open the case—I have applied the handle produced to one of the covers—it fits it, and appears to belong to it
PHILIP HOOKER re-examined. The prisoner was a labourer on board the vessel, and was so on the 21st of January, employed in the hold stowing the articles away—he had access to where this case was.
MRS. SPRY. I am the wife of James Hume Spry, of Clapham. I saw these dishes and covers at the Thames Police-office—they are our property—I saw the handle at the Thames Police-office—it exactly resembles the other handles, and fits the cover—the covers have our coat of arms on them—all the handles are gone except this—I packed the articles in a tin case, which was soldered down and a wooden case put over it—I also put a little book called "Chit Chat" into the box—they were going to our son.
PHILIP HOOKER re-examined. The ship was nearly empty—there was about fifty tons of goods in the aft hold—this case would come into the prisoner's hands—they use crow-bars and things on board, which would break the case open and injure the covers as these are—the point of a crowbar would prize the case open.
Prisoner's Defence. I found it in the street.
Brigadier Sir Charles Chambers Fowell
Spry CBE, DSO
(26 June 1910 – 28 May 1994) was an Australian soldier and public servant. From
1950 to 1970 he was the second Director-General
of Security, the
head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) .
Charles Spry was born on 26 June 1910 in Brisbane. He
attended local state schools and then Brisbane Grammar
School. At the age of 18, he enrolled
in the Royal
Military College, Duntroon, from
which he graduated in 1931. After graduating from Duntroon, Spry served as an infantry officer in Hobart and Sydney, where he earned the nickname "Silent Charles" while adjutant of the Sydney University Regiment. From 1935 to 1936, he served in the British Army in India, where he joined in operations with the Duke of Wellington's Regiment in the Northwest Frontier.
ASIO's first Director-General, Geoffrey Reed, had been due to retire in February 1950, but his appointment was extended until the Menzies
Government could find a suitable replacement. At the time, Spry was the Director of Military Intelligence in the army, and was seconded to ASIO on 6 July 1950, with an option to remain in, and return to, the army if he so desired. He was discharged from the army on 15 June 1954, and his secondment ceased on 20 August, with Spry appointed solely to ASIO.
Spry was head of ASIO during the Petrov affair when Vladimir Petrov, Third Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Canberra, defected to Australia in 1954. Spry authorised the payment of £5,000 to Petrov to encourage his defection and as payment for documents he obtained from the Soviet embassy. Spry also instructed ASIO officers to seize Petrov's wife, Evdokia Petrova (also a Soviet intelligence officer), from a plane at Darwin Airport, where she was in the custody of Soviet Interior Ministry (MVD) officials being transported back to Moscow.
Spry remained Director-General for nearly twenty years, only deciding to retire in 1969 on medical grounds after a heart attack, and doubts about serving under Prime Minister John Gorton.
Spry was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order on 23 December 1943, for his actions in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, specifically for maintaining the flow of supplies in Papua New Guinea.
He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) on 31 May 1956, and knighted on 1 January 1964. The citations for both these honours simply stated "Public service". Barrister and academic Ian "Sam" Spry QC, is Sir Charles's son.
He is a
direct cousin from John Sprye and Margaret Brooking. 5*2 removed
Captain Richard Samuel Sprye
Indian Army m Henrietta Fowell He
advocated new Trade Routes
Rev John Thomas Sprye m Ann
Cannon
Courteney William Hele Fowell
Spry m Mary Lucy Chambers came to
Australia was a Magistrate
Augustus Frederick Spry m Firenze
Johnson
Sir Charles Chambers Fowell Spry
m Kathleen Hull
He died at Toorak, Melbourne in
1994
Another
cousin who deserves mention, as does the family is:
Courtney
William Hele Fowell Spry's sister Venetia Digby Fowell Spry,1840 - 1916 who
married Dr Charles Parsons, 1833 - 1922 3*4
Dr
Charles Parsons was Treasurer of the British Medical Association. He was one of the best known of Dover's
Doctors, and an authority on Dover's climatology. He died aged 90, and his obituary tells that
he lost no fewer than five sons making the sacrifice in the Great War and the
African War.
She and Charles had
a large family
·
Hilda Osborne 1867
- 1868
·
Edith Digby Parsons 1868
·
Dr. Courtney Charles Parsons 1871
- 1900
·
Helen Janet Parsons
who married Arthur Pollexfin Robinson RN 1876 - 1926
·
Henry Bernard Parsons 1873
- 1961
·
Francis Newton Parsons
VC 1875
- 1900
·
Dorothy Parsons 1877
·
Arthur Hugh Parsons RN 1879
- 1931
·
Lieut Commander Raymond Sterieker Parsons RN' 1880 - 1915
·
Lieut Commander Guy Fowell Parsons RN 1882
- 1919
·
Lieut Godfey Craik Parsons RN 1886 -
1921
Lieut Robinson was a
Royal Indian Marine. Their son was Capt
Lancelot C.D. Robinson who died in 1935 at Quetta Pakistan.
Dr Courtney Charles
Parsons died at Harrismith in South Africa from illness in the Boer War.
Lieutenant Francis Newton Parsons received his Victoria Cross posthumously. Serving in
the 
Essex Regiment during the Boer war and under constant enemy fire, he
rescued at Paardeburg, on 18th February 1890, an injured comrade. Private
Ferguson had been wounded in the stomach, and, while trying to crawl to safety
from open ground, was wounded again. Lieutenant Parsons went out to him,
dressed his wounds, twice retrieved water for him from a nearby river, and
eventually brought him back to safety. Sadly, Lieutenant Parsons was killed at Dreifontein, aged 25, a month after his award was recommended on 3rd March 1900. He is commemorated on a tablet at the battlefield, along with 216 others, and later fellow officers erected a headstone on his grave, a lone marker in a field at the site. He is also commemorated in St Mary's church, Dover.
Lieutenant Parsons was an old Dover College boy, and, born in Dover in 1875, was the son of Dr Parsons, a surgeon who lived at St James' Street. He and his wife had eight children, and later in the same year, in December 1900, his brother, Courtney Parsons, a civilian surgeon, also serving in the Boer War, died from enteric at Harrismith[1].
Francis Newton Parsons VC (23 March 1875 in Dover – 10 March 1900) was educated at Dover College, joined the Essex Regiment and served in the Second Boer War. He was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Parsons was a chorister educated at King's College School, Cambridge from where he proceeded to Dover College, and then to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and on graduation was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Essex Regiment on 28 February 1896.He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 March 1898.
Parsons was 24 years old, and in the 1st Battalion, The Essex Regiment, British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deeds took place for which he was awarded the VC. He was recommended by Lieutenant-General Kelly-Kenny, C.B.. for the award and the citation was published in the London Gazette of 20 November 1900:
Parsons also received a posthumous Mention in Despatches on 8 February 1901.
For the Herron Family he is the 10th cousin*3.
In 1921, Commander Godfrey Craik Parsons died
from illness contracted on active services.Raymond Stericker Pasons died 1915 A member of the Hood Battalion, Royal Naval Division. He was killed at the Dardanelles, and is remembered on the Helles Monument.
Lieutenant Commander RN (Retired), Commissioned Temporary Sub Lieutenant RNVR & posted to Hood Bn. 29/9/14-4/6/15 DD
C' Company Commander 9/2/15-4/6/15 ; 27/3/15 Temporary Commission as Sub Lieutenant RNVR cancelled & appointed to RND as Lieutenant Commander RN so as not to interfere with his retired pay ; Mentioned in Despatch of GOC in C. MEF 12/6/15 (London Gazette 3/8/15 p.7667) ; Born 6/12/1880. Husband of Elsie Parsons, c/o Stillwells, 12 Pall Mall, London SW, later of: 50 Blenheim Rd., Deal. ;
On June 4th 1915, Able Seaman Joseph Murray of the Hood Battalion wrote in his memoir (page 81):- "Our trench was about five feet deep. Commander Parsons was standing on one of the short ladders that were provided to enable us to get over the parapet, looking at his watch and then glancing at us beside him, with a comforting smile on his face. ‘Five minutes to go, men.’ Then another glance at us. – ‘Four minutes…three minutes…two minutes…one minute, men. Are you all ready? Come on then men, follow me.’ Over we went into the withering machine-gun fire. Poor old Lieutenant-Commander Parsons was killed in the first second & many fell back into the trench"
He entered the service as a cadet in 1894, and became lieutenant, then retired, and became commander in 1911.
[1]
Information on Lt Parsons from an article by Bob
Hollingsbee, with information also from Tony Belsey, and with thanks to Joyce
Banks
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