James Peter Pattle (abt. 1775 - 1845)

Born about 24 Dec 1775 in Burhampur, West Bengali, india

Ancestors

Husband of Adeline Maria (De L'Etang) Pattle — married 18 Feb 1811 in Bhagulpur, India

Descendants

Died 4 Sep 1845 at about age 69 in Chowringee Road, Calcutta, India

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Deborah Spooner [send private message]

Biography

James Peter Pattle was born December 24, 1775, in Bengal, India. This birthdate was verified by his father when James entered the military and there was no documentation available. He was the fourth son of Thomas Pattle and Sarah Haselby. His father married twice and had many children. Thomas Charles born in 1771, Richard William 1773, John 1774, Elizabeth Anne 1779, Sarah Susannah 1780, Henry John 1782, William 1783, Sophia 1786, Louisa 1787, Charlotte 1791, Thomas 1812, Susannah born 1814 and Maria Ruth born 1815.

The origins of the Pattle name is from England’s ancient Anglo Saxon. The Pattle’s can be found in the old parish of Pattishall in Northamptonshire that dates to 1086. Many members of the family would later leave England and expand into countries like North America, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

When James was four years old the family returned to England. By 1792 censes say James had returned to India where he eventually was employed by the East India Company. Multiple documents record the rise of James in his civil service career. He averaged a promotion every two years from 1791 to 1829. After over 53 years he became the longest serving civil servant at the time.

1803 proved to be devastating for the Pattle family. In February James would lose his brother Henry who died in a hurricane. By November brothers John and Richard would also die.

Records show James had a child out of wedlock in 1807. He named him Thomas. His son died unmarried in 1826 at the age of nineteen, and on August 3rd he was buried in Calcutta, Bengal, India at The South Park Street cemetery. There was a simple plaque bearing his name but my lovely friend Jane Richter recently visited his gravesite (2023) and you can no longer see his grave marker but there is a beautiful tree growing in its place. I was unable to locate any documentation regarding his mother and where Thomas was raised. We do know he was living in the same city as James and Adeline at the time of his death.

In 1810 James met Adeline De L’Etang and after a brief courtship they were married on February 18, 1811, in Bhagalpur, Bengal, India. Adeline was eighteen years old, and James was thirty-five.

*Their first child Adeline Maria was born on February 19, 1812, Murshidabad, West Bengal, India. Adeline would marry Lieutenant-General Colin Mackenzie.

*By the end of 1812, James was transferred to Calcutta. It was here on Feb 8, 1813, that they had their second child James Rocke Mitford who was baptized on April 29, 1813. Baby James would not survive the year. They lost him in October, and he was buried on the 14th of that month in Berhampore, Bengal, India.

*On April 3, 1814, Eliza Julia was born. She was baptized on May 8, 1814, in Calcutta, India.

*Their fourth child Julia Margaret was born June 11, 1815, baptized on August 29, 1815.

*Daughter Sarah Monkton was born August 16, 1816, baptized a month later on September 15th.

Despite the dangers of traveling abroad Adeline continued her trips to Europe with her children. On a voyage aboard the William Miles in 1818 the family lost their four-year-old daughter Eliza Julia.

*Five weeks later on that same voyage Adeline had their fifth child Maria Theodosia born on July 7th at sea near the Cornish coast.

*A few years later their daughter Louisa Colebrooke was born on October 5, 1821, she was baptized October 31, 1821.

By 1824 James and Adeline had seven children. They purchased a beautiful home at 5 Russell Street, Calcutta. Two years later he leased the home for eleven years to the East India Company as the Episcopal Residence. After Fourteen years of owning the property, he sold it. Documents show the difficulty selling the property in its current state of disrepair. An amount was finally agreed upon and James sold it at a loss. They purchased property in Chowringhee, West Bengal, and it was there they lived until the death of James.

*On January 14th, Virginia was born and baptized February 6, 1827.

*Their ninth child Harriot Trevor Charlotte was born March 3, 1828, baptized April 28, 1828, in Calcutta, India. Harriot would not survive beyond four months. She was buried on June 22nd in the South Park Street Cemetery in Calcutta, West Bengal, India.

*Their last child Sophia Ricketts was born on March 19, 1829.

We know that aside his civil career, James dabbled in other business ventures. He was one of the prominent residences to set up the first icehouse in Calcutta and was also appointed chairman of a major tea company. He was close to his father-in-law, Antoine, whom he helped financially for many years. He knew Antione’s expertise with horses and purchased several from him.

In 1841 Government Gazette records show James and Adeline traveled to the Cape of Good Hope aboard the ship the Robert Small and arrived on April 12th. Both were suffering ailments. James had been under the care of two doctors. These excerpts are on record from a hearing between James and the Bengal Civil Service Liberty Fund in 1842. James supplied certificates from his physicians regarding his health and why he was unable to attend the earlier hearing in January.

Cape town, September 6th, 1841

I do hereby certify that James Pattle, Esq., of the Hon’ble East India company’s Civil Service, has some- what improved in health since his arrival at the Cape in April last, but that with a view to its perfect re-establishment, and that he may have the benefit of another winter in this climate, a further residence of at least one year from this date is indispensably necessary. And I do further declare that by returning to India at an earlier period, he would incur the risk of relapse.

(signed) James Abercrombie, M.D.

Cape Town, November 9th, 1842.

With reference to the printed correspondence published for the information of the Subscribers to the Civil Service Annuity Fund, by order of the Committee of Managers to that Fund, and to my certificate of the 6th September, 1841, regarding the state of health of James Pattle, Esq of the Bengal Civil Service, which certificate it appears, has not been correctly understood, I do hereby declare that at the date mentioned above Mr. Pattle was suffering so severely from Chronic Rheumatism, Palpitation and irregular action of the heart, and general debility induced by the residence of nearly fifty years In the East Indies, that I deemed it incumbent upon me, as his Medical Attendant, recommend him earnestly not to return to India, as he would thereby not only incur the risk of a relapse but in all probability endanger his life.

I am also of opinion that had Mr. Pattle proceeded at that time to India, and from thence immediately to England as was his intention, the change of climate would have been too sudden, and would probably have been attended by dangerous consequences: and I considered the only prospect he has of regaining his health was by a prolonged residence in this climate.

Furthermore in corroboration of the soundness of the opinion expressed in my certificate of the 6th September, 1841, I would add that Mr. Pattle has subsequently suffered from repeated attacks of Palpitation of the heart accompanied with acute pain in the chest, great irregularity of the pulse, difficult respiration and edematous swelling of the lower extremities, and that, under these alarming symptoms, he has been attended at different time during the last six months by another professional gentleman conjointly with myself, whose opinion has always and in every respect coincided with my own.

(signed) James Abercrombie, M.D.

Cape Town, 11th November 1842.

I hereby certify that I have professionally attended J. Pattle, Esq. of the Bengal Civil Service, in conjunction with Dr. Abercrombie, for the repeated attacks of sickness during his residence at the Cape of Good Hope; the ostensible symptoms of which were Palpitations of the heart, irregular and intermitting pulse, acute pain in the precordial region, with difficult respiration and other symptoms of an unfavourable nature, and as I am of opinion that these ailments are attributable to a long residence in India, and that Mr. Pattle’s constitution and general health have thereby been very much impaired, I concur most fully in the recommendation of Dr. Abercombie, that a prolonged stay in this climate was indispensably necessary, not only for the re-establishment of health but for the preservation of Mr. Pattle’s life, and were it consistent with the regulations of the Service to which Mr. Pattle belongs, I would now recommend him for a further extension of leave of absence from India in consequence of a renewed attack (at this date) of the above distressing complaints.

(signed) John Forrest, M.D.

Staff Surgeon, H. M.’s Forces.

It must also be noted that their daughter, Maria, suffered for years with rheumatic arthritics that was so severe she could not return to India and maintain good health.

James Peter Pattle died at home on September 4, 1845, just a few months before his 70th birthday.

The obituary was published in The Bengal Catholic Herald September 13, 1845 and The Bengal Obituary in 1851.

According to his Will he gave daughters Julia and Sarah a 100 pounds, “not from any want of affection but sole from the recollection that they and their eldest sister Adeline Maria Mackenzie deceased were respectively provided for by the Will of my late brother Thomas Charles Pattle.”

Though James and Adeline were not buried at St. John’s their daughters erected a tablet in the Calcutta church.

Sacred to the memory of

JAMES PATTLE

of the Bengal Civil Service,

Obiit. 4th SEPT. A.D. 1845, AETAT 69.

“O be thou help in trouble, for vain is the help of man.” 60 Psalm. II verse.

Also to

ADELINE, his wife,

who died at Sea on the 11th Nov. A.D. 1845,

AGED 52.

“And all wept and bewailed her: but Jesus said, weep not,

she is not dead, but sleepeth.” – Luke 8 C. 52 V.

In token of the love of their sorrowing children.

Contrary to the folklore out there James Pattle’s Will dated May 26, 1845, witnessed by his executors and trustees Henry Vincent Bayley, Charles Hay Cameron, and Henry Thoby Prinsep, there is no stipulation that if Adeline did not see him buried in England that she would lose her inheritance. In fact, the only stipulation that would change the Will is if Adeline remarried. It is also interesting within his Will that he authorized monies for a “very plain funeral”. James must have expressed his wishes to Adeline that he be buried in England because we can verify by church records that James was buried March 16, 1846, in England.

James Pattle had a long-distinguished career spanning over 53 years with the Civil Bengal Services and I could find no transgressions on record regarding his job performance. He married the daughter of an aristocrat, he was the father of 11 children, he was a self-made wealthy man and supported his family financially in a upper class manner, he was married to Adeline for thirty-four years until his death, he supported his mother and father-in-law for years and was named executor of Antoine’s Will, he was ill for years with ailments unrelated to alcohol and his physicians recommended he leave India’s “unhealthy climate”, and he is buried in England. He was sixty-nine years old when he passed away. ~Deborah Spooner 2022

Sources

• Bloomsbury Heritage by Elizabeth French Boyd

• From Life by Victoria Olsen

• Storms and Sunshine of a Soldier's Life by Helen Mackenzie

• John Beaumont

• Sir Hugh Orange

• A monument to James and his wife Adeline in St. John's Church. (See Cotton, Calcutta Old and New, pp. 509-510).

• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/89711464/person/262109058263