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-   -   Who Do You Think You Are - Olivia Colman 9th Jul (http://genealogistsforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=26790)

Olde Crone 10-07-18 08:14

Thanks Merry, that's more or less what I thought. So not a wedding photo then.

OC

Merry 10-07-18 09:19

She, in particular, looks too young, if the photo was taken 20 years later.

kiterunner 10-07-18 09:33

Yes, that's strange. So maybe it's not her at all?

Anstey Nomad 10-07-18 10:25

The photo certainly looked mid century to me, but what do I know?

I thoroughly enjoyed this programme but, as always, I thought there were loose ends that were glossed over. As the moral tide turned in the nineteenth century and it became less acceptable to consort with the indigenous population, these mixed race children were a nuisance and I don’t think Olivia can assume that ‘India Harriet’ was loved by her English family. If she had grown up with her mother she would probably have spoken very little English and it is more likely that she was immediately shipped off to school, where she would have been bullied for being different, and then married off as soon as was decent.

On a personal note, I would have loved it if they had gone inside the church in Kolkata, as that was where, dare I mention this, Joseph Bodycote was married in 1820.

Merry 10-07-18 10:28

I'm very surprised the experts who are involved in the production of the programme allowed themselves to think that was the correct date for the photo.

I have a book with a photograph of my 3xg-grandfather in it. He died in 1821 aged 72 and looks about 35 in the photo, so maybe it was taken in the 1780s :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Olde Crone 10-07-18 11:19

Yes, I did wonder how soon after arriving in England she was packed off to boarding school. Even in those days it seems rather cruel and uncaring to put a four year old on a boat for six months without any kind of escort or caretaker. Sounds more like grim Christian duty than an act of love to me.

OC

kiterunner 10-07-18 11:26

Although the passenger list said she was 7 years old. Surely she could easily have knocked a few years off her age later in life.

So, even if we agree that the woman in the photo looks Anglo-Indian (I wasn't really sure about that), it seems dubious that it is Harriot. And the fact that no record has been found of William's marriage or Harriot's birth doesn't really prove anything, so we don't really know whether she was mixed race or not. I suppose "India Harriot" in her grandmother's will is a clue, if we know for sure that she was referring to the same person!

Olde Crone 10-07-18 12:15

But "India Harriot" not "Indian Harriot".

I thought the woman in the photo did look as if she had some Indian blood, but what does that prove? Could she have been Harriot's daughter?

OC

Ann from Sussex 10-07-18 13:41

Far from being the sweet family nickname Olivia ascribed to "India Harriot", I thought it could be taken - given the views at the time about mixed race children - as a derogatory description. There was no need to have made any reference to India or Indian at all.

kiterunner 10-07-18 14:28

I've rewatched the bit about Richard Campbell Bazett's two eldest sons being born before the separation from Margaret Ann, but I didn't spot an image of William's baptism record. I did have the sound off though. There was a pile of papers on the table underneath a census page, one of which was a parish register page from Waltham Holy Cross, Essex, but it looked to be post-1813.

I did note down some names from the family tree which they showed:
Olivia's parents are Keith Colman and Mary Anne Leakey, with "Uncle Richard" being Mary Anne's brother. Mary Anne's father was Alexander Graham Leakey 1911-1994, a navy surgeon, son of Alexander Bazett Leakey and Gwladys Elizabeth Thomas. Alexander Bazett Leakey's mother was Mary Bazett born 1841 (daughter of Charles and Harriot.)


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