William HOBKIRK was the son of Adam & Mary HOBKIRK
William was born 18 October 1785 and baptised 26 November 1785 at St. George, Bloomsbury, Middlesex, London
1803 he was a Cadet, Bengal Presidency
1804, October 25, he was a Lieutenant in the Bengal Army cadet of infantry
1805-6 Applied for cadetship, East India Company
1808, resigned position in India
1808 Cornet, 23rd Regiment, UK (Edinburgh Gazette)
1810 Cornet by purchase, 23rd Regiment; Lieutenant 22nd by purchase
1810, May 7, departed Madras, India on the "William Pitt" for England with his brother Adam HOBKIRK(Madras Almanac 1811)
1811 February 25, former Cornet, 23rd Dragoons, to be lieutenant, 22nd Regiment, UK (London Gazette)
On 12 October 1811 William HOBKIRK married Jane Grace DAY, a minor,
Marylebone, London. Consent by mother Mary DAY and witnessed by brother Hamilton
DAY.
Jane Grace DAY was born 5 October 1792 and her brother Hamilton DAY was born
24 January 1788 to John & Mary DAY.
William HOBKIRK & Jane Grace DAY had the following children:
William Hamilton HOBKIRK,
born 28 December 1811
(from the General chronicle and literary
magazine: Volume 4 - Page 444 we find the following record:
1811 December 28, "a son, the lady
of William HOBKIRK, esq, Speen-Hill, Berks.")
Jane Mary HOBKIRK, baptised on 4 March 1813, at Shropshire, UK
Frank Samuel HOBKIRK, born 21 May 1814 at Charlton Kings, England Baptised 12 June 1814
Mary Amicia HOBKIRK, baptised 21 April 1816 at Charlton
Kings, Gloucester, UK.
Mary Amicia is undoubtedly the 9 year
old dayghter referred to in the drowning deaths of 1825.
1825 William Hobkirk, his wife Jane Grace Day HOBKIRK, and 9 year old daughter were drowning
From a very long, comprehensive article in "Caledonian Mercury, dated 3 October 1825 we find the following information about a family being swept over- board from the "Wellington" on 11 August 1825. Summarized: There were 5 cabin passengers:
1. William Holkirk, esq., formerly an officer of dragoons who had served in India and Spain, a gentleman of the most benevolent disposition, considerable talent, and of manners remarkably courteous and bland;
2. his wife, a very lovely, interesting woman, frank and sincere, of lively and piquant conversation, and of gay and fashionable, yet correct and gentlewomanly appearance and deportment;
3. their only daughter, an animated, playful, brisk girl of 9 or 10 years of age.
Her father, I believe, was about 38 and her mother 32. In all, 23 souls on board. On the deck, was a roundhouse, with 2 small bedrooms, in 1 of which Mrs. Holkirk slept, and her daughter in the other, with a sitting room in which were 2 sofas converted into beds every night and occupied by Mr. Holkirk and Captain Peasly. [Caledonian Mercury 3.10.1825]
After William's drowning death in 1825, his 1819 will was proven in London on 8 July 1826. William names his four children, William Hobkirk, Jane(Mary) Hobkirk, Frank (Samuel) Hobkirk and Mary Amicia Hobkirk, his mother "Mrs. Mary HOBKIRK" his brothers Major Adam HOBKIRK and Captain Samual W. HOBKIRK. Also mentioned in the administration of the Will is John Peter HOBKIRK. The Will also mentions that Adam has lived in Nantes in the Kingdom of France, but late of the Island of Jamaica and Samaur(France) and the West Indies.
The mentioning of John Peter HOBKIRK in the administration of William HOBKIRK's Will means they are mostly likely related. If William's father Adam is the son of Thomas HOBKIRK and Elizabeth PARRY, then John Peter Hobkirk would be a half-brother of William's father Adam. It is possible John Peter HOBKIRK was the only family member of majority living in the area, and he was called upon to represent brothers Adam and Samuel HOBKIRK, assuming mother Mary HOBKIRK had passed away by 1825.
Memo: Jane Mary HOBKIRK must have died between 1819, the drafting of her father's will, and 1825 the time of the drowning of her parents and sister.
This page last updated 17 May 2011