E is for Edmund

Edmund Alexander Champion de Crespigny, youngest child of Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny (1850-1912), a retired Royal Navy officer, and Annie Rose Charlotte Champion de Crespigny nee Key (1859-1935), was born 12 July 1890 and baptised at Bramshaw, Hampshire, England, on 14 October 1890.

At the time of the 1891 English census Edmund was 8 months old, living at Round Hill, Bramshaw with his parents, two brothers and sister, and two adult cousins of his parents and three servants.

Tne years later in 1901 he was at boarding school at Bramshaw.

Edmund died aged 15 on 29 May 1905 at Cushendun, near Ballycastle, County Antrim, Ireland. The cause of death was a diabetic coma and he had been in the coma for two days.

• 

• 

Two photos of Edmund shared by a cousin in response to this post. “From Rose Champion De Crespigny’s family history book.”

The death certificate informant was Ada McNeill, a maternal cousin.

Cushendun Bay and town from Altagore. Photograph from geograph.org

Cushendun, Northern Ireland. Photograph by Quentin Michon 2008 retrieved from Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Cushendun is in the north-east of Ireland, north of Belfast

At Bramshaw Hampshire there is a memorial for Edmund which states he was buried 30 May 1905.

Identity theft

Some years later an unknown person assumed Edmund’s identity. On 30 December 1919 a man calling himself Edmund Alexander Champion de Crespigny aged 29 (born 1890) married Elise Emma Richard at Lausanne, Switzerland. He stated he was the son of Philip Augustus Champion de Crespigny and Annie Rose Key and that he had been born at Lyndhurst [less than six miles from Bramshaw].

There have been cases of people assuming the surname Champion de Crespigny, claiming to be an illegitimate child of a member of the family. This was different. This man was not claiming to be an illegitimate child, his claim was to be the son Edmund who had died in 1905. This man died in 1967 and I wrote about him at Edmund Alexander Champion de Crespigny (1890 – 1905 or 1967?)

The real Edmund was my 5th cousin twice removed.

Wikitree:

• Edmund Alexander Champion de Crespigny (1890 – 1905)
• The man who assumed Edmund’s identity

Off to Cornwall

On our first day in England we collected our hire car and drove south to Looe in Cornwall via Southampton, Fordingbridge and Bridport.

We had been warned about the traffic but the roads were very easy although travelling into Southampton was slow.

In Southampton we admired the docks from which some of our forebears left England. They would have been much busier in the past. (My ancestors were never busy, I’m sure.)

 

 

Greg’s PhD thesis dealt with the writings of James Curtis, a Ballarat spiritualist who came from Fordingbridge in the New Forest. We saw the house where Curtis was born and raised.

We enjoyed afternoon tea in Fordingbridge.

My step grandfather George Symes grew up in Bridport in Dorset where his father, who had served in the army in India, ran a small pub. The pub still stands.

We crossed the Tamar into Cornwall

Our final destination was Looe in Cornwall. We had been warned about the narrow lane :

As you can see from the photos, we are lucky enough to enjoy a stunning view of the picturesque harbour from all the rooms on the front of the house and the front decking. However, it’s necessary to negotiate a very steep, narrow and windy private lane to access the house (you have to pay for those views one way or another!). … This very typically ‘Cornish’ lane [is] very tight and not for the faint-hearted.

The views were terrific but the warning was serious, our dashboard lit up and the warning sounds were very musical.

 

Related posts

• X is for excess exiting England
• J is for James: James Curtis (1826–1901)
• I is for inn