William Archibald Smith and Caroline Louisa

[Edward]

I’ve hit a complete brick wall with tracing my 2nd Great Grandfather who I know was in India. There are a multitude of records of his time in India, but no trace of him before this. From the records which are birth records for his children and his death I know that:

He was born around 1851
His wife was Caroline Louisa –
He had at least 7 children all of whom were born in India. Henry Archibald, Edith Isabella, Clara Elizabeth, George Earnest, Gertrude Lilian, May Louise and Cyril Thomas Frederick.

He worked:
– in Aug 1881 in Sabarmati as a Fireman for Great Indian Peninsula Railway.
– in May 1884 in Bulsar as a Train driver for Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway.
– in Feb 1892 in Rawal Pindi as an Engine driver for North Western Railway. (Sibi section).
– in Aug 1892 in Sharigh as a Train driver for North Western Railway.
– in Oct 1897 in Rawal Pindi as an Engine driver for North Western Railway.
7 Nov 1900 he died of Epilepsy and was buried the same day at West Ridge, Rawal Pindi.

as no one in our family seemed to know of any connection with the Indian Railways the level of information so far has been surprising. However I still don’t know:

Who Caroline Louisa was before they married.
Where and when they married.
Where either of them originate from.

Any pointers on where to go from here would be welcome or anyone who has further information.

[Sylvia Murphy]

This certainly does look like a problem Edward. I have not yet been able to find a marriage record for William Archibald and Caroline Louisa. What are the possibilities:
– they married in a remote location in India by a, for example, non-conformist or missionary chaplain who did not make a copy of his records to be sent to the India Office
– a record of their marriage in India was otherwise missed from being included in the copies sent to England
– they married outside of India – maybe in Britain?
which brings us to consider William Archibald’s life and career before 1881
– there is no clear evidence of him being born in India, though a William Smith was born & bap in Poona in 1850 to Bernard and Ellen.
– Careers in the Indian Railways often followed a period of Army service – many men took their discharge in India either with pension, or after a shorter limited period of service to join a railway company
– There was also direct recruitment of railway staff from Britain, so he may have responded to an advertisement there.
In either scenario it is quite possible that William married Caroline in Britain and brought her to India with him.

btw: I haven’t been able to find a death for Caroline Louisa or a remarriage for her. Do you have any record of her later life and death?

[Edward]

Thank you Sylvia for those hints. I’ve been back for another dig with little progress. However I did find a record of William Archibald Smith as a Freemason in the Sukkur Lodge in 1873. Unfotunately it doesn’t aid tracking his origins. I also came across a marriage registered in Karachi, Bombay, India in 8 Mar 1916 between Reginald Smith and Millicent Ethel May Baker, listing William Archibald Smith as father (though it doesn’t mention he is deceased). As Reginald is also a driver on Indian Railways I’m guessing he may be another child that I didn’t know about and who isn’t listed in the birth records I’ve discovered so far.

Of Caroline Louisa I have discovered nothing of her marriage or life either before or after the birth of her children.

I have been previously been working on the fact that their daughter Clara Elizabeth married another Smith William Hulme Smith. His family line traces back easily to England and I was hoping William Archibald would appear somewhere along that line and that William Hulme and Clara Elizabeth were distant cousins, but that has born no fruit.

The name combination William Archibald seems strangely rare which has made records easier to find (unlike many of the other Smiths). There is one born in America at the right time, but he appears to die in America in 1932. There is possibly one in Canadian Census records. I have a William James Smith married to a Caroline Louisa in England, but the middle name is wrong and he doesn’t appear to leave England.

I shall try following the army line next.

[Edward]

A tiny crack appeared in the wall yesterday. While hunting for records for a different family member I came across two pleas for insolvency for William Archibald Smith. One for 1883 and the other for 1874 which is 4 years earlier than previous records of his life in India. The interesting point is that in 1883 he is listed as European, but in 1874 he is listed as West Indian. I have found a possible baptism record for a Wm Archibald Smith in Jamaica for the right date give or take 2 years. Still no record of a marriage to Caroline. Now to work out when he moved from the West Indies to India and why.

[Pia Smith]

Hi,

I don’t suppose they have any link to an Edward Terence Smith at all? As that’s my gt-grandad and I’m at a dead end! He married an Olga Winifred Harper.

Thanks,
Pia

[Author]

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