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Ellen Bentall was born on 20 June 1837 and baptized at St. George in the East, now in Whitechapel, on 22 October 1837. Her family story is a sad one, and I would like to know how it ended, for better or worse.

Her father was named Alfred Bentall, occupation Mariner, and her mother was named Elizabeth Ann Ackland. They were not married at the time.

Alfred Bentall (1813 – 1839) was born at Totnes, Devon, attended a naval school at Portsmouth named HMS Excellent as a midshipman, and passed exams in seamanship in 1832 and navigation in 1833. Later, he became captain of a merchant brig named Permei. There is a record of that ship’s arrival in England in October 1837, having left Ceylon under his command on the 23rd April that year. He arrived to find that he had become a father. In his Will, written that November, he left most of his estate “for the support, maintenance and education of my reputed or illegitimate daughter named Ellen by Elizabeth Ann Ackland, now of Chapel Street in Devonport in the county of Devon".

A marriage record shows that Alfred and Elizabeth Ann were married in the same church in 1839. Her father is listed as Joseph, a carpenter. There is a plausible baptismal record for an Elizabeth Ann Ackland, baptized on 14 Aug 1818, also at Totnes, Devon, with a father named Joseph, on which his occupation was listed as ‘servant’.

In December 1839, Alfred’s ship ran onto rocks in a fog near Venice, and a few days later he drowned while trying to recover the cargo.

In May 1840, Elizabeth Ann produced a son. She wrote a Will, signed on June 1st, which starts “I, Elizabeth Ann Bentall, of Hoddesdon in the county of Hertford, widow, bequeath to my sister Jane Caddy of Devonport the sum of five pounds”. It then left everything else “in trust for my daughter Ellen Bentall and for my son at present unnamed”. The executors were two of Alfred’s brothers, both then living in London.

The baby, was baptized Alfred Bentall at the same church in Whitechapel on 17th July, 1840, but then died about 12 days later and was buried at Plymouth, in Devon on 29th July. Elizabeth Ann also died at Stoke Damerel (which is the parish in Plymouth that includes Devonport) not long after. Her Will was proved on 20th October.

So Ellen was alive in June of 1840, but I have searched for but found no record of a marriage or of her death. The sister, Jane Caddy, is also a mystery. Maybe someone knows or can find out more about Ellen or other relatives who might have helped raise her.