FM Lord Allenby's family

[michaeldr]

Help!

I am trying to read a newspaper article with two handicaps;

firstly it is not in my native tongue

and secondly, the writer is none too smart either!

eg: Monty is given the first name 'Arthur' instead of Bernard Law

Be that as it may

I am more interested in deciphering his bit on a relative (?) of FM Lord Allenby's

The writer refers to Sir Arthur Downes retired (1930s) ex-chief medical officer British India

and his wife, Lady Florence who is alleged to have been Allenby's sister

[did Allenby have a sister? I have not found one so far]

Can anyone point me in the direction of web info on this couple?

Thanks in advance

Michael

[domsim]

Hi Michael

Did a quick Google and found this on a family history site:

‘Lady Downes Florence Maria Chapman (d. date unknown)

Florence Maria Chapman (daughter of Horace Chapman) was born in Wiltshire, England, and died date unknown. She married Arthur Henry Downes on Bet. January - March 1902 in London, England, son of Thomas Richard Collins Downes and Sarah Elizabeth Turner.

Notes for Florence Maria Chapman:

This lady was sister to Dowager Lady Allenby. See note re Allenby Memorial Park on Mount Carmel under Sir Arthur Henry Downes, re memorial to Lord Allenby. 1917. The Allenbys had lost their only son Michael, who had been killed serving as a horse artillery lieutenant in France. As consolation Lady Allenby had arrived in Egypt in early October to assist in Red Cross work.

More About Florence Maria Chapman and Arthur Henry Downes:

Marriage: Bet. January - March 1902, London, England.

Children of Florence Maria Chapman and Arthur Henry Downes are:

+Elizabeth Arthur Downes, d. date unknown.’

So she was actually Allenby’s sister in law.

This from dictionary of national biography:

‘Allenby, Edmund Henry Hynman, first Viscount Allenby of Megiddo (1861–1936), army officer, was born on 23 April 1861, St George's day, on the estate of his mother's family at Brackenhurst Hall, near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, the second child and eldest son of six children (three boys, three girls) of Hynman Allenby (c.1822–1878), a country gentleman, and his wife, Catherine Anne (1829×31–1922), daughter of the Revd Thomas Coats Cane of Nottinghamshire. Married in 1859, Allenby's parents, after the death of Hynman Allenby's father in 1861, established the family home at Felixstowe House, Felixstowe, Suffolk (subsequently demolished)’

Cheers

Dominic

[michaeldr]

Dominic,

You're Googling is streets ahead of mine

That's just the start I needed

Many thanks

Michael