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Son of Adam Gordon Geddes Father of Violet Alice Geddes |
Timeline
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Obituary in the Times |
Andrew David Geddes started in 39th Foot, but soon transferred to 27th Foot. He sailed to India in 1855, where his regiment was involved with the Indian Mutiny. The regiment returned to England in 1868. Later, he went to Malta in 1877, and then to Hong Hong in 1879 as Lieutenant Colonel. He returned to England in 1884, placed on half-pay. He then was appointed Liutenant-Colonel of 83rd Regimental District (the Royal Irish Rifles) at Belfast. He died in Belfast.
For full details, see Career of Andrew David Geddes. See also 27th regiment in the Indian Mutiny and 27th regiment travelling to Hong Kong.
Wife: to Emily Jane Eckford (1839-1932). They were married in 1864.
Children:
| Name | Dates | Married | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emily Ethel Geddes | 1865-1937 | in 1902 to Capt. Edward de Sulis | They had no children. |
| Diana Catherine Geddes | 1866-1949 | ||
| Marion Margaret Geddes | 1868-1893 | ||
| Ernest David Eckford Geddes | 1869-1936 | in 1905 to Annie Morgan | Major R.M.A. They had no children. |
| Violet Alice Geddes | 1871-1961 | in 1903 to Frederick Lewis Dibblee 1872-1937 | See her webpage. |
| Lilian Maud Geddes | 1872-1907 | in 1901 to Lt. Col. Sir Lionel Berkley Holt Haworth 1873-1951 | Two children. He was in the Indian Army. He also married Gwendoline Olivia Geddes. |
| Malcolm Henry Burdett Geddes | 1874-1914 | in 1905 to Annie Vera Eleanor Christie 1884-1954 | Two children. He was in Indian Army. |
| Caroline Gordon Geddes | 1875-1893 | ||
| Cosmo Gordon Geddes | 1878-1881 | Died aged 3 in Hong Kong, bitten by a dog | |
| Mabel Ada Geddes | 1880-c.1953 | in 1908 to Cyril Charles Johnson d. 1933 | She was born in Hong Kong. He was Indian Army CSI CIE. Two children. |
| Gwendoline Olivia Geddes | 1883-1965 | in 1912 to Lt. Col. Sir Lionel Berkley Holt Haworth 1873-1951 | She was born in Singapore. He was in the Indian Army. One child. He also married Lilian Maud Geddes. |
See Letters from Andrew Geddes and Letters from Andrew Geddes' children. The letters written by Andrew to his sister while in India mention some facts about his wife's family, the Eckfords. He and his wife Emily also wrote to her parents.
The following was written in April 1990 by John Frederick Dibblee, grandson of Andrew David Geddes:
Andrew made his will in Edinburgh when he was Captain in 1866, leaving everything to his wife, and thereafter to any children. He was quite well off, probably mainly his wife's money, the estate amounting to £13325.7.2 (£13036.6.8 net). I like the following "Estate Abroad: The deceased was possessed of three shares of one thousand roubles each of the Central Russia Coal and Mining Company Limited upon which no dividend has ever been paid and which are of no value."
Click on picture for larger version. Comments were marked on back.
 Andrew David Geddes |
 Emily Eckford |
 Emily Eckford |
Group photos of their children |  May Ethie Violet Ernest Diana |
 Lily Gwen Ernest Mabel Mary Ethel Violet Diana Carrie Malcolm (photo taken 1892 - Cosmo died young) |
 Ethie Geddes |
 Diana Geddes |
 Diana Geddes |
 Ernest May |
 Lilian Violet |
 Malcolm Henry Burdett Geddes |
For more photos of Violet Alice Geddes and her family, see her webpage.
From someone researching Victorian swimmers:
Emily Ethel took part in the 1889 Portsmouth Ladies' championship in the sea, off Southport Beach, and this race was the most important amateur ladies' championship of the year in that era, no official national championship existing until 1901, and that as a by-product of the Portsmouth race. The Portsmouth S.C. was the largest club in the world with over 1500 members, and the ladies' branch was also by far the largest around, hence their championship was widely reported by newspapers up and down the country. Although not one of the very front rank of their swimmers, finishing unplaced in the seven-strong field, merely taking part was no mean feat. I wanted to look at all the girls and women who took part to see what sort of people they were, and from what type of backgrounds. The Portsmouth S.C. was, unlike many other clubs, very egalitarian, and deliberately open to allcomers from varying social backgrounds. At Portsmouth you could get free professional swimming tuition and coaching in sea swimming, so you could learn from scratch and quickly get up to a decent level. It might be that the Geddes family learned to swim abroad, however. I'm assuming more than Emily Ethel swam.
At a time when not everyone was in favour of women swimming in public, and the subject split the Amateur Swimming Association, it marks her mother down as very broad-minded for allowing her to take part in what was a public event off Southsea Beach on the August Bank Holiday in front of a large crowd, some of whom undoubtedly attended hoping to see the ladies in their costumes, preferably wet, and police regularly cleared men with telescopes from the seafront! It may or may not be a coincidence that Emily Ethel appeared the year following the colonel's death, so we won't know whether he was a progressive or not. But as a pioneer female swimmer, she played a part in getting women's sport accepted, and promoting the women's cause, whether or not she was aware of it at the time.
The family were at St. Ronan's Road in Southsea from the late 1890s, and still there in 1911 at the same address, when 71 year old Emily had Gwendoline, Mabel and Mabel's Indian Army officer husband, Cyril, with her. Emily Ethel was in the army wives' quarters in Malta at that time, so the army family connection suggests you socialise and marry back into the army. The star of the show seems to have been Emily, their mother. Travelled all over the globe, had 11 children, and lived to be 92 - what a life!
© Jo Edkins 2014 - Return to Geddes index