Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/274

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268


NOTES AND QUERIES. ui s. iv. SEPT. 30, 1911.


2. Can any of the legatees of John McClelland inform me of his mother's maiden name.

Please send replies direct.

BARRY GASCOYGNE. Gromngen, Holland.

ROBERT BRUCE, EARL OF Ross. King Robert Bruce is said to have had an ille- gitimate son, also bearing the name Robert Bruce, who was created Earl of Ross. I should like to learn who was his mother. Pennsylvania. RUNNEMEDE.

JAMES ST. JOHN or SOUTH CAROLINA. James St. John went to South Carolina in 1730 with " Letters Patent from the Crown. He was commissioned Surveyor-General and Auditor of his Majesty's Revenue " in the (then) colony of South Carolina. His death is recorded in Old St. Philip's Church, Charleston, in 1743. I should be glad to ascertain the date of his birth and his parentage and ancestry.

E. HAVILAND HILLMAN, F.S.G. c/o Anglo-South American Bank, Old Broad Street, E.C.

AMERICAN HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. A list of about seventy documents, memoirs, letters, and reports from the year 1540 on- wards of travels into the States of Florida, Arizona, &c., is given in ' Two Thousand Miles on Horseback Santa Fe and Back,' by J. F. Meline (New York, Hurd, 1868), Many of these documents were then at the office of the Secretary of State at Santa Fe ; and there were also many valuable papers at the office of the Surveyor - General, the oldest bearing the date of 1682. Have these been printed yet ? M. N.

CEYLON OFFICIALS, WRITERS, &c. I

should be glad of information as to the ante- cedents and careers of the following.

1. Capt. Thomas Ajax Anderson, 19th Foot. He was in Ceylon 1798-1816, and wrote ' The Wanderer in Ceylon : a Poem in Three Cantos,' London, 1817. It is in the octosyllabic verse of Scott and Byron, and is of some merit. He had already pub- lished, while on leave, ' Poems written chiefly in India,' London, 1809, one of which is ' To the Memory of Alexander Anderson. M.D., late Superintending Surgeon in Mysore,' who was probably a relative. He has achieved the distinction, such as it is, of being the first person to write verse on the subject of Ceylon, its scenery and social life. For this reason he might have been given a short notice in the ' D.N.B.,' but (with Major Forbes, who wrote an excellent book on the


island ; Lieut. -Col. James Campbell, the earliest writer on the sport of the country ; and William Knighton, its first English historian) he has been excluded, though H. C. Sirr receives notice (included under that of his father, it is true), and his worth- less book is said to be " of interest."

2. John Angus, Acting Deputy to the Paymaster for the Eastern Division, Trin- comalee ; 1802-3, Sitting Magistrate, Pettah, Colombo, and Lieutenant, Colombo Militia, 1803 ; left Ceylon for Madras, 15 April, 1803. To which branch of the Angus family did he belong ?

3. J. H. Harington, who wrote ' Remarks intended to have accompanied Capt. Ma- hony's Paper " On Singhala or Ceylon "^ (see ' Asiatic Researches,' vol. vii. 1803, pp. 32-56). Mr. Harington was for a short time resident in Colombo in 1797. In what capacity ?

4. Henry Bristowe Onion, Ordnance De- partment, Ceylon, 1838-40. He died at Colombo, 1 May, 1840. He wrote a poem called ' The Minstrel Wanderer,' which he published at Colombo, 1838, "2s. 6d. stitched." Has any one seen a copy of the book ? PENRY LEWIS.

STAFFORD FAMILY OF WOKINGHAM. Is anything known of William Stafford of the Holt, Wokingham, who died at his house in New Norfolk Street on 20 July, 1796 ? What was the maiden name of Mary Alethea Stafford, his wife ? Are any of his descend- ants alive ? HORACE BLEACKLEY.

SIGNORA CORRADINI. Did an Italian dancer of this name appear at one of the London theatres in December, 1767 ?

HORACE BLEACKLEY.

' A CAXTON MEMORIAL.' In a volume of bibliographical pamphlets which I had bound up a good many years ago, I find one entitled ' A Caxton Memorial,' con- sisting of extracts from the churchwardens' accounts of the parish of St. Margaret, West- minster, illustrating the life and times of William Caxton. This ' Memorial ' is re- printed, for private circulation, from The Builder of 7 and 21 August, 1880. There is no name of author ; I think it must have been written by the late Mr. T. C. Noble, who gave me my copy. A letter of his, reprinted from The Bookseller, is in- serted. The pamphlet is full of details of the social life of the time of Caxton, and I should like to be sure as to its authorship.

W. ROBERTS.