From Russia with Love

Dear Maria: letters to Australia from Petersburg and London

Letters in an age without telephones and email were important - more so when the people involved lived far apart. Pen, ink and paper brought families together. Here are portions of letters from Maria's sisters and cousins and sons which fortunately have survived across the years. They have been transcribed by John R. Kane, who has managed the extremely difficult job of reading handwriting that is sometimes almost indecipherable. They report on events, advise of rites of passage and open a window on a world long gone. English equivalents of the family's Russian names are mostly used in these letters.

From Catherine Smirnov (London) to Samuel Cooper, Maria's son (Australia)
undated (probably 1853)


My sister(Elizabeth Smirnov) and self, dear Samuel, are most anxious to hear something about you all, for it seems as if you were all migrated to immense distances and foreign parts (Samuel and several of his brothers had already left India for New South Wales). I do not know whether before this is closed to send to you we shall have received any letters as we now and then do hear of Australian mails arriving, but nothing as yet comes for us, and we fear that perhaps some letters have been lost, as since your mother wrote to us she was upon the eve of her departure (Maria was soon to join her sons in Australia) there have been many rough storms and heavy weather during all last winter, and the great uncertainty as to whether your mother had really left India...

From Catherine Smirnov (London) to cousin Maria (Australia)
Autumn 1862

Your first note, dear, reached us in the middle of preparing for a time to change our neighbourhood, as my bedroom in Charles Street requires fresh papering and we have been much fatigued with packing. Ceilings in some rooms have to be white-washed and sundry jobs obliged us to break up our little household, except the cook, and bring our maid with us to these pretty little apartments...in Regents Park, not far from London and yet near enough to Primrose Hill and Hampstead to have a nice change of air. We are upon a terrace on a very cheerful road and the park opposite looks all along like a shrubbery...London is unusually crowded this year owing to the Exhibition...we are anxious to hear what you will say of dear Sarah Begbie who has indeed a share of troubles. I....received a letter from her and...she mentions the loss of her child, her husband's and her own illness, poor soul. (Sarah lost her son Alfred in 1862). Your penchant for wild names is inconceivable - now this is to be addressed to Wooolooomoooloooooo...(Maria was living at this time in Wooloomooloo, Sydney)

Helena to Maria Feb 20 1870

from Helena to Maria

From Leonard, Maria's son (Sydney) to Maria (Manning River)
February 22nd 1866

...it happened thus: John (Maria's son, later to own Woodside, where Maria is buried in a private cemetery) reached Taree...he then got a blackfellow to row him down the river towards the bar and after getting halfway he, the blackfellow, would not go any further. So John persuaded him to row to Mansell's and at their invite he remained there for a week...Throughout the voyage he escaped sea-sickness until nearing the heads where it was extremely rough...I hope he will enjoy himself during his stay in Sydney...

From Catherine Smirnov (London) to her cousin Maria (Australia)
August 26 1869

We have at length finished the box which I think will contain some useful articles of ladies apparel belonging to my late sister and one or two dresses of my own which I trust will be useful to yourself and Mrs Begbie...some information of your grand children George, Robert and Hugh Chalon (children of Maria's eldest daughter Maria Louisa). The elder one George is now 19 years of age, preparing himself for a military career at Sandhurst. The next Robert, about 17, is gone to Natal intending to be an agriculturalist or cattle dealer. The third and youngest, Hugh, about 13 years of age, is at school at Hereford...I have just received a letter from my cousin Waldemar, poor Stephen's son. His visit to this country now seems very doubtful. He writes to me in English for which I am very glad for I have forgotten my French...

From Baroness Helena Rosen (Russia) to her sister Maria (Australia)
February 2nd 1870

...you are, thank God, much improved in health and very busy about your sugar plantations (Maria must have written about experiments in sugar cane plantings at Norwood on the Upper Manning)...

You are perhaps aware, dearest Maria, that Waldemar Smirnov (son of Stefan Ivanovich Smirnov, whose children were Waldemar, Sophia, Boris and Olga. Stefan was Minister of Petitions, Member of the Privy Council.and Councillor of State in St Petersburg)) received, with the patent of nobility belonging to our late uncle Smirnov, a magnificent present from our cousin Catherine, consisting of a valuable diamond cross with a beautiful gold chain and three most superb diamond rings, given to our uncle by the Emperor Alexander I and some other members of our Imperial family. We are all enchanted at the reception of of those precious jewels and pray God send that she would favour him again with her kindness if ever they meet again...

From Catherine Smirnov (London) to her cousin Maria (Australia)
September 7, 1870

I was sorry to see, my dear Sarah (Sarah and Maria both lived at Norwood) by your letter that you have been in a very delicate state of health...I'm afraid this letter will reach you at not the most favourable time....I wish you were all at Sydney for I cannot but think that you would be more comfortable and much less liable to so much flooding, damp and wet as you describe...I have a very nice old friend, a Rear Admiral Garven, who kindly lends me his carriage to take a ride in Regents Park...everyone at this time are anxiously looking forward to what may be the result of this dreadful war, which has broken out between the French and the Prussians...since writing the above, a very unexpected event has taken place...the resignation of the Emperor of the French...France is at present declared a Republic...you see I am turned politician but it is impossible to be otherwise at this present time...

From Baroness Helena Rosen (Russia) to her sister Maria (Australia)
February 16th 1872

My dearest Maria

I do not presume that you ever doubted my constant desire to write to you oftener, but to my great disappointment, months pass and I am not aware of what I have been doing...our dear cousin Catherine Smirnov (Catherine Yakova Smirnova, daughter of Yakov Smirnov and cousin to Maria) died on 25th December, Christmas Day...she was gradually getting weaker as the symptoms of dropsy increased...she seems to have suffered no pain except at times the difficulty of breathing. She went to bed and at about 9 o'clock she sat up asking her night attendant for a little water; her breath became difficult and then ceased. She passed away without difficulty or warning.

...the deposition of the Will of dear benefactrice cousin Catherine...is quite simple and short, bequeathing the sum of £7000 to Waldemar Smirnov besides a box of plate, £2000 to me and £1000 to our sister Anette.

This last summer I had the pleasure to see all my children except Stephen...but in autumn he will pass to Petersburg. My second Alexander and my eldest Ferderic (Frederic Rosen, professor at Kazan) are in Kazan together and thank God they are well settled...the youngest, Nicholas (Nikolai Rosen) got a good place at Saratow...I hope you are in good health and my dear Sarah (Sarah Matilda Cooper, daughter of Maria and married to Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie) is getting better...

From Anette Brelewich (in St Petersburg) to her sister Maria (in Australia)
January 22nd 1874. Written by a helper, as Ann's hands by this time trembled too much for letter writing.

My dear and beloved sister:

Your letter reached us in the spring of 1872 and caused us great joy. I am very happy to hear that you live content and surrounded by your family. It is very painful for me to inform you that it has pleased God to call to a better world the year before last our nephew Nicholas (Nikolai Pruth, son of Louisa Pruth nee Smirnov, sister of Maria, by her first marriage. Louisa later married Colonel Alexandrov) and lately also our beloved sister Helen (Helena Rosen nee Smirnov, Baroness, sister of Maria, died 20 Oct 1873) You will have passed your Christmas surrounded by the flowers of summer and enjoying all the advantages of your happy climate, while we are buried in snow and ice...I am not able to go out at all, being unwell all this year...it is a great consolation for me to have you, dear sister, because, even though the ocean separates us, still we love each other can can always think of one another and be united in spirit. I am very ill and cannot even move without the aid of a servant, but the doctor gives me hope...pray write to me, it will be my only consolation...I am very poor but the children of my sister help me...I must be economical, especially as everything gets dearer and dearer...my nephew Alexander (Helena's children were Frederick, Alexander, Maria, Stefan and another Nikolai) is now in Petersburg for two years with his wife and child. It is he who passed his examination at the Military Academy. He lives very far from me and is very poor as the income of an officer is but little. I am sorry I cannot help him. They are expecting another child. Our sister-in-law lives in Petersburg and the daughters also, the sons are in Smolensk...I must add still that our sister died on October 20th and she is buried near our mother...

I beg you to give my love to your children, and I kiss them all from my heart.

Your ever affectionate sister Ann Brelewich

You know by the gazette about the wedding of our Grand-Duchess. My letter would have been written a long time ago but the lady who had undertaken to write it fell ill and afterwards he mother was ill...

From Ann Brelewich (in St Petersburg) to her sister Maria (in Australia)
August 20th 1874

My dear and beloved sister: your letter has caused me great joy and I am very thankful to you also for your dear portrait as well as for your offer to send me some money. Ten pounds makes seventy roubles...my health is still very bad...my fits of trembling are dreadful, my weakness very great and I have become quite thin...As for the means of forwarding me the money, please give it to a banker in Sydney and he will enter into communication with a banker in Petersburg - perhaps not in a direct way but through London or Hamburg...

The Orthodox Connection

Yakov Smirnov was the brother of Ivan Smirnov. As we have seen, both were born Linitsky, in the Ukraine, sons of an Orthodox priest. Yakov, with a name change, was ordained into the Russian Orthodox church and was for sixty years in charge of the chapel attached to the Imperial Russian Embassy, in London. Born on 16th October 1755, he died on April 28th 1840.

From all accounts, he was quite a character, and his duties at the Embassy included from time to time covert intelligence gathering, lobbying on behalf of the Russian Government (and his Empress, Catherine the Great) and investigations into British agriculture. He became a legendary Yakov-of-all-trades.

18 July 2012 

Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko lays a wreath at the grave of Yakov Smirnov, Kensal Green, London 

(see speech below, The Glorious 1812)

Count Evgraf Fedotovich Komarovsky (1769-1843), then acting as a diplomatic courier, had high praise. "Out of all the officials attached to our mission in London" he enthused, "there was only one remarkable man: he was the priest of our church, Yakov Ivanovich Smirnov, who was used in the diplomatic sector." A few years later, Russian journalist and author Petr Ivanovich Makarov (1765-1804) called on Smirnov. "I was led into a room which was very well furnished" he reported, "and some minutes later there appeared a man who was fairly young, fairly handsome, tall, well-built, erect, impressive in bearing and dressed with the greatest care but without the least hint of unbecoming foppishness: in a word, a young, well-educated Lord - and this Lord was Mr S-v, the Russian priest at the Embassy." Aleksandr Ivanovich Turgenev (1784-1845), the second of the famed quartet of brothers, was escorted, on his visit to Parliament early in 1826, by "the respected Smirnov, whose appearance was in accord with his calling and good reputation." Fedor Ivanovich Iordan (1800-1883), Rector of the Academy of Arts, left us an evocative portrait of Yakov, very similar to Makarov's. "Yakov Ivanovich pleased me greatly, dressed like a lord of an earlier age: in a long frock coat with tails which reached down almost to his heels, with buckles on his shoes, in gaiters (shtiblety), with a low, wide-brimmed hat and carrying a large sturdy stick with a silver knob. His whole appearance inspired sincere respect. He walked along quietly, describing circles with his stick, and with respectable appearance, and his hair in a plait, heavily powdered and brushed back at the temples, he seemed to me a living portrait of the seventeenth-century Dutch school."

A last glimpse of Yakov Smirnov, a year before his death, is a poignant portrait of an emigree surrounded by memories of homeland and heritage. "It seemed to me" Nikolay Ivanovich Grech (1787-1867) wrote, "that I had visited a pious hermit living on a lonely island amidst stormy waves of a foreign ocean. Russian icons, the portrait of Russian tsars, Russian books and a Russian heart - that is all he had saved from the shipwreck. Sufficient for this world - and the next." Upon his death, his effects were inherited by various family members.

Yakov lived for much of the time in an Embassy residence, No 36 Harley Street. He had three daughters, Sophia, Elizabeth and Catherine and two sons, Constantine and John. His daughters are all buried with their father in Grave 2491 at Kensal Green Cemetery, London. Catherine Smirnov wrote many letters to her cousin Maria out in Australia and also received mail from Maria's sisters still living in Russia.

On July 29, 1815, Yakov wrote to Count Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode, (1780-1862) a Russian statesman who entered diplomatic service under Czar Alexander I, became state secretary in 1814, and attended the Congress of Vienna (1814-15). In 1816, he became Russian Foreign Minister, guiding Russian policy for 40 years. Nesselrode was a leading conservative statesman and his efforts to expand Russian influence in the Eastern Mediterranean at the expense of the Ottoman Empire and his miscalculations of British and French tolerance of this policy contributed decisively to the outbreak of the Crimean War (in which, incidentally, Yakov's nephew and Maria's younger brother John - Ivan Ivanovich Smirnov - died in 1855). Nesselrode also served as Chancellor from 1845 to 1856. Nesselrode was, therefore, perfectly placed to help Ivan's widow and children:

The Nesselrode letter

His Excellency K.V. Nesselrode

London July 29/August 10 1815

Your Excellency

Dear Sir!

Karl Vasilyevich


From the report delivered, as I heard, from Rotterdam, to Your Excellency, there are no doubts that all the details on the circumstances relating to the unfortunate demise of my brother, former Consul General in Amsterdam, are better known to you rather than myself, for I have only been informed by his widow that my brother being in Rotterdam on a business trip was attacked without any reason by violent murderous hand of a certain Russian officer with the rank of Major, that after having sustained multiple deep wounds on the head and arms and after terribly suffering for about three weeks he finally died, survived by wife and six little children who mourn his death and their misfortune. His elder daughter has not reached the age of nine and his youngest son is, I understand, not even five months old, and there is not a single kopek to support this unfortunate family. And there is fear that there are many debts.

It is known to Your Excellency that since my brother left this position together with the minister G. Akopeus till by proposal of Your Excellency, Tsar the Emperor was pleased to appoint him as Consul General in Holland where he took over his position only in the beginning of this year, the political situation in Europe was such that he, just as a ship in stormy weather was pushed around from one place to another, having problems and incurring losses with his big family, while he was always zealously and diligently performing his duties, especially in Holland (where he was appointed as Charge d'Affaires after Duke Dolgorukov left), and because of the then person who shattered European's peace and quiet, he had to extensively travel and did not have an opportunity to come back to the Fatherland, and all these circumstances led to exhaustion and ruin of my brother's domestic position.

I am fortunate to rely on experience indicating both kindness of your heart and your favourable and protective attitude to my unfortunate late brother, and that is why I dare to approach Your Excellency with this humble request to kindly take the trouble to bring to the attention to our most kind Tsar the Emperor the most grievous state of this family bereft of their natural protector by cruel fate, and ask His Majesty the Tsar to cast a kind and favourable glance on this family and to instruct kindly to make arrangements to sufficiently finance both bringing up of the unfortunate orphans and meals for the widow and orphans since they do not have any hope to get financial support from anywhere. For such your paternal protection of orphans, Your Excellency, you will be blessed by God and you will receive eternal gratitude from the family as well as myself, while I remain, with deep and utmost loyalty to Your Excellency,

Your most obedient and humble servant

Priest Yakov Smirnov

The Glorious 1812 

18.07.2012

Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko’s address at wreath laying ceremony

at the grave of Revd. Iakov (James) Smirnov

Dear friends,

Today, as we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Russia-UK peace treaty which sealed our alliance against Napoleon, we have gathered to pay tribute to an outstanding personality - Iakov (or James) Smirnov, who was posted to London in 1780 and spent almost 60 years here acting not only as a spiritual father for the Russian compatriots and all other Orthodox Christians in Britain, but also as a diplomat. Twice during the turbulent times of the Napoleonic wars he was left in charge of the Embassy, maintained link with Russia and cared about the Russian community.

Reverend James Smirnov will be remembered as a polymath who took deep interest in all spheres of knowledge, from entomology to astronomy, from literature to geography and agriculture. He was a friend of great men from all walks of life, and not only British – for example, he rendered help more than once to the Venezuelan national hero Francisco de Miranda. In the epoch when diplomats mostly conveyed messages from their sovereigns or followed court intrigues, Smirnov practiced public diplomacy in the very modern sense – he met British travellers to Russia, translated and published books about our country and was the key man in the successful newspaper and pamphlet campaign initiated by Ambassador Count Vorontsov in 1791 to prevent war between London and St. Petersburg.

One could base more than one adventure novel on the life of Iakov Smirnov – a priest, a diplomat, a polymath, a sincere friend of the British people and, above all, a devoted patriot of Russia. I am proud to be one of his successors. Before I pass the floor to Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh, the successor of Father Iakov in the spiritual way,  I would like to thank all those who have studied his life, kept his memory alive and contributed to the restoration of his grave here. I am also glad to announce that we have received a message from his direct descendants who now live in Russia. It will be posted on the official website of the Embassy.

 Voice of Russia report on the Yakov Smirnov Memorial

Yakov's Will

Note: English spellings are used for family names throughout this Will - Yakov himself listed as James Smirnove

In the name of the Father, Lord and the Holy Ghost.

This is the last will of me, James Smirnove, of Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, Chaplain to His Imperial Russian Embassy by the blessing of the Almighty, enjoying yet perfect state of sound mind but considering the uncertainty of human life, my advanced years and many infirmities attending upon it and remembering also my peculiar situation in which it pleased providence to place me …that of having had the honor to fill the office of Chaplain to the Imperial Russian Embassy since the year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty inhabiting the house provided by His Majesty’s Government which circumstance after my death might cause some misunderstanding and trouble to my family in as far as regards books, prints, pictures and other domestic effects, wines, goods chattels and furniture of every kind which is my own property purchased either with my own money or presented to me by my friends; all Church vessels and vestments as also all that are called church books used in performing divine service of course belong to His Imperial Majesty’s Embassador’s Chapel of which a proper list well be made out.

I do hereby give and bequeath

all my said household effects of every description equally between my three good daughters Elizabeth, Sophia and Catherine at their full disposal and as after my decease they will be soon obliged to quit the Government house in which we now reside I advise them if they think proper to select what furniture they may wish to preserve for furnishing their future habitation and to have all the rest sold by public auction. With respect to my library which is of considerable value particularly in the Greek Church Fathers and both Latin and Greek Classics, I recommend all the Latin and Greek Books to be sold by public auction for the benefit of my said three daughters; of the English, French and Russian Books, my two sons and daughters may select for their own use what they may consider proper and the remaining both French and English also be sold by public auction for the benefit of my daughters but the remaining Russian books I bequeath to my two Nephews Stephen and John, sons of my late brother John Smirnove (Ivan Smirnov) now at Saint Petesburg. All stock monies or cash belonging to me in the English Funds as also what ready cash may be due to me in the hands of my old worthy friends and Bankers Messieurs Barman and Company of Old Broad Street and all other my personal estate in England after paying my lawful debts I also leave to my said three daughters to be divided in equal portions among them but I recommend to them not to sell out the principal but to try to lie upon the interest of it which small as it is will go much further if enjoyed by them together than if separated. I give and bequeath all the capital and stock belonging to me in the Russian Funds and whatever other money or property besides there may be due to me in Russia at my death whether in the hands of my worthy friends and Agents Messieurs Auberson and Moberly of St Petersburgh or elsewhere to my two sons Constantine and John Smirnove to be equally divided between them for their own use and benefit. My eldest son Constantine being a great invalid and unable to take an active part in the execution of this my will I appoint and constitute my younger son John Smirnove, my oldest daughter Elizabeth Smirnove and his Excellencey General Count Michel Woronzow Executors of this my will hereby revoking all other wills by me at any time heretofore made and declaring this only to be my last Will.

In witness whereof I the said James Smirnove to this my last Will have set my hand and seal this 2/14 day of November in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty One — James Smirnove Signed sealed published and declared by the said Testator as and for his last Will in presence of us who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto set and subscribed our names as witnesses Edmd. Barlow R N. Henset

This is a Codicil to my will.

I appoint my Friend William Moberly of 28 Great Winchester Street Esquire an Executor of this my Will jointly with my son John Smirnove, my daughter Elizabeth and his Excellency Count Woronzow In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 27 day of December 1831 — James Smirnove — Witness P. B. Robinson Essex Street.

This is a second Codicil to my will

of the Second of November 1831 whereas by my said Will I have given my household furniture and effects equally between my three daughters now I do hereby recommend my said daughters in the first place to offer the said furniture and effects to the Russian Embassy in London at a fair valuation in case the said Embassy should think proper to purchase the same and whereas by my said will I have bequeathed all my Russian stock money and other property hich I may leave in Russia at the time of my death to my two sons Constantine and John Now I do hereby revoke the said bequest and in lieu thereof I do hereby give the whole of the said stock and money to my son Constantine for his own use during his life but no longer and on his death I give the same to my son John for his use for ever and in case my said son John shall die in the lifetime of his brother leaving a widow then his widow shall have that interest and dividend of the said stock and money for her life and on her death the principal of the said stock and money to be divided equally amongst the children of my said son John in case he shall leave any child or children and in case he shall not have any child then the principal of the said stock and money to be equally divided among my three daughters or such of the them as shall be then living share and share alike. In all other respects I do confirm my said will as witness my hand this twentieth day of November 1839 — James Smirnove — Signed by the said testator James Smirnove and declared by him to be a codicil to his will in the presence of us who had signed our names hereto in the presence of each other, William MacIntyre London M. D. - I B Robinson, Essex St Strand.

I do hereby nominate and appoint Sir James Leighton Knight o be one of the executors of this my will jointly with the other executors already named dated this twenty first day of November Eighteen hundred and thirty nine. - James Smirnove

Harold Begbie talking to Bramwell Booth, son of the Salvationist founder, at the 1914 World Congress

Harold Begbie

Harold Begbie (born in 1871) was one of the sons of Mars Hamilton Begbie - brother of Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie and therefore my grandfather Herbert Smirnoff Begbie's cousin. Born and raised in England, Harold became a journalist, author, poet and playwright. His books included political satire, comedy, fiction, science fiction, and studies of the Christian religion. He wrote using his own name and at least three pseudonyms. In the early 1920s, Harold attended meetings of what was later to become the Oxford Group - and began correspondence with the founder Frank Buchman. This led (in 1922) to him personally witnessing the work Buchman was performing with undergraduates at several universities in England. As a result, Begbie authored the book Life Changers, which details lives turned around thanks to Buchman's teachings.

Another of Harold's books, Twice Born Men, is set in the gutters and slums of London. It is a chronicle of the despair caused by poverty, the birth of the Salvation Army and the difference this new movement made to the lives of men and women. One story in the book titled The Puncher tells of a slum youth who idolized prize-fighters and whose life became a drunken mess. Ultimately he was thrown into jail, dead drunk. One Sunday, Harold writes "he was in his cell...mad with the rage of a caged beast...when he heard the sound of the Salvation Army's brass band coming though his cell window." He was released that afternoon, still drunk, but went to the hall where the Salvation Army conducted their services. With tears of remorse, his life began to change.

Harold Begbie hated socialists, divorce, jazz, the rich, current fiction, and women who smoked. He was a harsh critic of high society and of politicians, and thought that the moral tone of both groups was "pitiably low." He wrote for the Daily Chronicle towards the start of the war in 1914. This newspaper was a popular tabloid of the time. Sent to America as a correspondent for the Chronicle, he campaigned while there for America's support during the conflict. But he didn't make his name as a writer until after the war, when he contributed articles to The Pall Mall Magazine under the pseudonym A Gentleman with a Duster who had "come to wipe away the dust and mists that concealed the truth about post-war England." He collected these articles into books.

The Angel of Mons was one of the great myths of the First World War and Begbie wrote about it in a work titled On The Side of the Angels. He recounted the testimony of an officer who described to him, in detail, a sighting of the angel in August 1914 when British forces were fighting a hopeless rearguard action against the Germans. The lieutenant reports watching the angel - or rather angels, because there were three of them ranked together - for over 45 minutes. It was around eight o'clock at night. There was a tall central figure flanked closely by two smaller figures on either side, high above the city of Mons

Begbie's war poetry, some of which can be found in Fighting Lines and Various Reinforcements (Constable: London, 1914) contained a poem that was initially popular but was to become one of the most despised poems of World War I. Martin Stephen (in The Price of Pity) calls it "one of the most revolting poems to have been written during the war" and goes on to say "the poem illustrates the negative pressure applied to those who did not enlist, the fear of being mocked and humiliated."

The jingoistic Fall In was soon to be set to music and played throughout the nation:

FALL IN

What will you lack, sonny, what will you lack,
When the girls line up the street
Shouting their love to the lads to come back
From the foe they rushed to beat?
Will you send a strangled cheer to the sky
And grin till your cheeks are red?
But what will you lack when your mate goes by
With a girl who cuts you dead?

Where will you look, sonny, where will you look,
When your children yet to be
Clamour to learn of the part you took
In the War that kept men free?
Will you say it was naught to you if France
Stood up to her foe or bunked?
But where will you look when they give the glance
That tells you they know you funked?

How will you fare, sonny, how will you fare
In the far-off winter night,
When you sit by the fire in an old man's chair
And your neighbours talk of the fight?
Will you slink away, as it were from a blow,
Your old head shamed and bent?
Or say - I was not with the first to go,
But I went, thank God, I went?

Why do they call, sonny, why do they call
For men who are brave and strong?
Is it naught to you if your country fall,
And Right is smashed by Wrong?
Is it football still and the picture show,
The pub and the betting odds,
When your brothers stand to the tyrant's blow,
And England's call is God's!

Supposedly, by the end of the war, Begbie came to regret his "patriotic" advocacy of war, a change of heart that led to a poem of bitter irony - the antithesis of his earlier poem.

WAR EXALTS

War exalts and cleanses: it lifts man from the mud!

Ask God what He thinks of a bayonet dripping blood.

By War the brave are tested, and cowards are disgraced!

Show God His own image shrapnel'd into paste.

Fight till tyrants perish, slay till brutes are mild!

Then go wash the blood off and try to face your child.

Katie Miller

Katie and Callie

Katie Miller, my great-aunt and sister to Emily Augusta Begbie and Charys Begbie, my aunt, were characters who could have been invented by Truman Capote or Tennessee Williams. Both were one-time missionaries in an Africa that has disappeared forever.

Katie's whitewashed mud house in Berega

Katie's diaries are now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney

Katie, born in Sydney in 1879, sailed for East Africa under the auspices of the English Church Missionary Society in 1905. She worked in Tanganyika, then a part of German East Africa, until the advent of World War I, when she and her fellow missionaries were interned. During the time in confinement (in Tabora) she and the others surreptitiously collected bits of coloured fabric, to make a flag.

"Rev David Deekes found a piece of white calico in the bottom of his trunk. Mrs Doulton... contributed a small red turkey-twill table cover, while Miss Elizabeth Forsyth discovered an African child's blue overall. While others kept guard, the Archdeacon measured out with careful precision the lines of the flag, after which, still in guarded secrecy, the ladies of the party sewed together, with tiny stitches, the thirty two small pieces of material. The Union Jack was ready! Carefully it was hidden away from their German captors until on 19th September 1916, the Belgian army marched into the district and the prisoners were free. The missionaries' first act that morning, when they awakened to find their captors had fled during the night, was to fly their flag..."

Katie and fellow missionaries display their Union Jack, now preserved in Sydney

Katie was to remain in Tanganyika, mostly at Berega (which I visited years later, to peek inside her whitewashed mud hut) until the 1940s, when she reluctantly returned to retirement. She was a memorable character - tiny, chirpy and bossy, recalling incidents (the cobra curled up in her slippers beside her bed), writing to her "boys" in Swahili, dreaming of her beloved Africa, until death took her gently away.

Charys Begbie, Nairobi, June 7th, 1929

Charys, or Callie as she was called, was born in Sydney in 1898. I remember her as reed slim, with large dark eyes and a strong nose, a quiet, somewhat hesitant manner and a passion for working out the exact date of the Second Coming. She went to Africa, too, but in the 1920s, and not to the hinterland like Katie but to a children's hospital in Nairobi. This slender, fragile spinster rode around Nairobi's dusty streets on a powerful Harley Davidson and her efforts, though this was the last thing she wanted, were rewarded in true Colonial style - with an MBE, presented to her by the visiting Prince of Wales, just a year or two before he met Wallis Simpson.

Poor health brought Charys back to Australia, but not before an incident which she was to speak of with awe for the rest of her life. One evening, in Nairobi, after her hospital rounds, she'd retired for the night. She lived alone. Halfway through the night, she awoke to find an intruder in the house, an aggressive native armed with a panga. Friends, passing by, heard a commotion, and the intruder was held fast. But he didn't resist, in fact was quite quiet. When asked later why he hadn't attempted to harm Callie, which had been his intention, he said, "I didn't because of the man standing beside her..."

The Fighting Begbies

The Begbie military tradition in our family line starts with Peter Begbie's son Peter James (1804-1864). He lived the greater part of his life in India. After completing his training at the military academy at Addiscombe, he arrived in India in 1823, at the age of 19, as a lieutenant in the Madras Artilery. Three years later he married Charlotte Morphett. He rose quickly through the ranks, becoming a captain in 1833 and a major in 1846. He was employed with the Jaulnah light field force in the southern Mahratta country during the siege of Kittor (1824-25) and was a participant in the East India Company's wars against Burma in 1824-26 and against Naning, in Malaya, in 1831-32. Peter's handwritten journal describes a sea voyage from the Malacca Straits to Madras - "A succession of squalls from 4pm with much rain till 8pm; passed Malacca between 7 & 8pm..." He was stationed in the Malay Peninsula from 1836-8, but spent his remaining years in India.

The Major General.......putting down uprisings seems to have been a family occupation

Peter used his pen to write about several military campaigns and his sketchbook to capture scenes in India and Malaya. His book, The Malayan Peninsula, contains, among other things, an account of the Dutch administration in Malacca, a general view of the British rights to Naning (and their war against that district, in which he took part) and the story of the foundation of Singapore - as well as a broad survey of the history and customs of the Malays. This scholarly work, printed in 1834, reflects the attitudes of early British writers on colonial subjects and it was reprinted by Oxford University Press in 1967.


He was multi-lingual and was sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew to be able to read the Old Testament in the original. He received the Burma Medal. He died suddenly at the age of 60, leaving a large family, including several sons who served in India, Burma, Abyssinia and elsewhere with great distinction. He is buried in the UK.

His son Francis Richard, for example, had a military record straight out of the Boys Own Annual, filled with tales of derring-do - the Jowaki Flying Expedition 1877; Jowaki Expedition 1877-78 (India Medal with Jowaki Clasp); Afghan War 1878-79 - Capture of Ali Musjid; Afghan Medal with Clasp; Mahsud-Waziri Expedition 1881; twice Mentioned in Despatches; Lushai Expedition 1888-89 - Clasp, Chin-Lushai Expedition 1889-90 - Mentioned in Despatches; Chitral Relief Force - Movable Column 1895; and Tirah Expeditionary Force 1897-98;
1895 India Medal with three Clasps.

His son Elphinstone's military record was similarly impressive. He was awarded a DSO and also made Commander of the Bath. He was also an inventor, experimenting with a fixed-mirror system which saw the first operational use of sun-flash signal communication on a military expedition in 1874 (he obtained a US patent on this equipment). Elphinstone was, moreover, a diligent letter-writer. From India, in 1899, to his brother Alfred in Australia, he talks of life and the cost of living: "You get off wonderfully with 17 shillings a week for wages. Our servants come to 10 pounds and 10 shillings exactly a month, although we do not keep a trap. It is a fallacy to suppose that India is cheap. The climate in the hills is delightful and we live comfortably, but not economically. The rates and taxes in Ootacamund come to 18% of the annual rental." Oootacamund was a hill station near Madras, and was known as "Snooty Ooty" during the Raj. Elphinstone was directly responsible for much of the family history contained on these pages. The Begbie family around the world is much in his debt.

Elphinstone Begbie CB D.S.O.

Peter James had several brothers - one, Alfred William Begbie, became a High Court judge and another, Mars Hamilton Begbie entered the Church. Mars' son Harold became controversially involved in World War I thanks to a poem glorifying war.

Peter James' son (and my great-grandfather) Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie was not a military man. As a young man, he was in the merchant marine, ultimately journeying to the new colony of New South Wales, leaving the Raj and life on the high seas behind him. Here he married and settled on the Manning River in northern NSW (see Maria's story).

The Farming Begbies

The Begbie family name means "small field or place" (baig=small, by/bie=field)and is thought to be from the 10th century Norse settlement in the foothills of the Lammermuirs in Scotland. The original family might have been Norse, intermarrying with local families. What we do know is that "the lands of Begbie" were granted to the Mother House of the Nunnery of St Mary, Haddington, near Edinburgh, by Countess Ada of Northumberland. Ada was the wife of Prince Henry, heir to King David 1st of Scotland, who had given her the town of Haddington as a wedding present. She died in 1178. Throughout history the name appeared in a variety of forms, including Baikbe, Baikbie and Baigbie; Johnne and Williame Baikbe, we know, were summoned to appear before the Privy Council of Mary, Queen of Scots, to answer to charges of treason, most likely for having taken part in an unsuccessful rebellion against Mary (known as the Chaseabout Raid), during 1565.

Begbie Village, close to Bolton, lower left of map

Whether the Begbies had other land is not known; few official records exist of them being land owners after this. We do know of a Begbie family in Haddington who built a house called Tynepark in the 18th century and who had previously taken the road tolls for entrance into the town. Most Begbies, however, appear to have been tenant famers in family records which date from the sixteenth century.

Begbie Farmhouse, south view, as it is today

Begbie farm buildings, courtesy photographer Richard Webb

In my Family Tree I see, first, James Baigbie (1584-1621) who married Barbara Martine in 1608. Their 5th son, John (1617-1657) married Isobel Bell; their 4th son George (1656-1698) - by now the spelling of the name had been changed - married Jennet Cunninghame. Their 3rd son Alexander (1690-1735) married Margaret Walker. Their 5th son Alexander (1725-1783) was the first to break away from the farm, moving to Thames Street, London where he was a merchant. His 5th son Peter was a Broad Street, London, businessman. Bankrupted, he afterwards worked at the Stamp Office in Somerset Street, where he must have made a good impression, for he was granted a coat of arms.

The Bolton hearse carried many Begbies to the graveyard

Tenant farmers in those days had a hard but reasonably self-supporting life. The Border Country Begbies farmed Westfield Farm, Nether Bolton Farm, Houston Hall Farm, Phantasie Farm and Prestonkirk Farm - all of which were clustered around what is now Begbie Farm, near Haddington. The Begbie Farm Account Book 1729-70, which is kept in the National Library of Scotland, makes fascinating reading. Wages for example were around 11 Scots Pounds (18/4 Sterling) per half year and crops were wheat, oats and pease. The book deals largely with crops and wages; the Laird to whom rent was paid seems to have been Sir James Suttie of Balgone. 50 bolls of oats were paid as part-rent in 1729 and in the following year Sir James received 202 Scots Pounds and 49 bolls of oats. In 1763, two thraves of wheat straw thatch were delivered to the Laird. The Farm Book contains items as diverse as a note that, in 1770, 1 shilling was paid for a seat in the kirk in the fore-pew, a purchase of a gown for "Pegie" and a remedy for "Deafnes with headack & buzzing in the head. Peell a clove of garlick dip in hony and put into your ear at night with a little black wooll..."

Matthew Baillie Begbie

Matthew (1819-1892) was descended from Alexander Begbie (1690-1735) tenant farmer of Houston Mill Farm and Phantassie Farm, near Begbie Farmhouse. He was the son of Thomas Stirling Begbie (1782-1872) who served under Wellington during the Peninsula Wars. He attended Guernsey College and then Cambridge, where he received his BA and MA. He was a commanding man - 6 1/2 feet tall.

Matthew was born on May 9 1819, probably on board a British ship at the Cape of Good Hope. Until the age of 7 the family lived on the island of Mauritius, where his father's regiment was stationed. The family then returned to Great Britain and in 1830 moved to Guernsey, where young Matthew was enrolled in Elizabeth College.

At the age of 39, Matthew was offered a judgeship, at 800 Pounds per annum, in faraway British Columbia, Canada. He accepted and arrived there in 1858. British Columbia at that time was a pretty lawless place, much like the "wild west" in the U.S. Begbie soon became the embodiment of law and order; between his arrival from England in 1858 and B.C.'s entrance into Confederation in 1871, he conducted 52 murder trials, handing down a death sentence to 27 of those convicted. He probably didn't deserve it, but he soon became known as "the hanging judge". He was most certainly "the terror of the rowdies" - and in those faraway goldrush days, there were rowdies a'plenty here. Matthew was a firm believer in the swift, but fair, execution of justice and would sometimes hear cases dressed in his robes while astride a horse. In camp, en route to some mining town, he baked bread and chopped wood and on Sundays would lead hymn singing by the campfire. Hymns, perhaps, and a tot or two besides--one of his first registrars recorded this note after a night spent with Matthew en route to another case. "Glorious fun - drunk, drunk, drunk."

Knighted for his legal work as Chief Justice in this wild frontier, Matthew Baillie Begbie wrote in his will (in 1894) "I desire no other monument than a wooden cross be erected on my grave..." But desire it or not, a monument exists, and a big one too - snow-capped Mt Begbie, which overlooks the town of Revelstoke, B.C.

Bronze statue of Sir Matthew in Vancouver BC and (below) Mt Begbie

Maria Ivanovna Smirnova

Fly, O fly, dear nightingale,
Over hundred countries fly,
Over the blue sea so far...
Russian Folk Song

We now take up Maria's story after the family's return to St Petersburg - to an uncertain future. A letter exists from Yakov Smirnov, brother to the slain envoy and chaplain to the Russian Embassy in London, to Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode, a government official, dated July 29th 1815, pleading for assistance as "there is not a single kopek to support this unfortunate family." Thanks to the generosity of Tsar Alexander I, however, the family was well looked after.

Tsar Alexander I; St Catherine's School, later the Smolyni Institute; skating and dance lessons at the school

Maria was not yet 9 years old. Soon she was enrolled in the Smolyni Institute, in what was known then as St Catherine's School For Noble Girls. A school certificate, presented to her when she was 16, dated February 27th 1823, commends her good conduct and diligence.

Maria's School Certificate reads: The Council of St Catherine's School hereby witnesses that their pupil, the young lady Maria Ivanovna Smirnova, by good conduct, attention and diligence in the study of sciences, languages and handwork appropriate to her sex, has made good progress; and has thereby made proper use of the care applied to her education during her sojourn at the school, for which she has been granted a public award...in witness of this she is awarded this certificate over the personal signature of the Principal of the School and members of the Council and the seal of the School. St Petersburg 27 February 1823.

Maria's school report

As a child, Maria was betrothed to her 1st cousin, Leonard Cooper, who was born and raised in England. Like his father, he trained in law, and like his father, he decided to pursue his profession in India, now in the early days of the Raj. Thus, at age 21, Maria was put on a ship bound for India and the young couple were married in St George's Cathedral, Madras, on September 18th 1828.

Maria (above, at the time of her marriage) and Leonard presumably accepted this invitation to a Ball at Government House in Madras to celebrate the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne. She was photographed later, probably in India before her arrival in Australia

Invitation to the the dance

Rajiji Hall (above) as it is today

Leonard Cooper prospered in his profession, becoming, ultimately, Chief Magistrate of Madras. The couple had 12 children, 8 of whom survived - 7 boys and 1 girl, Sarah. One of Sarah's playmates in Madras was a young boy, Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie, son of a British military man in charge of the local garrison.

In 1852, Leonard Cooper died suddenly and Maria decided to join her sons, who had gone to the new colony of New South Wales to make their fortunes. So the entire family (with the exception of Samuel, who stayed in India) packed their cabin trunks and set sail for Australia. Apart from a trip back to India in 1861, she was to remain here, at a property she bought called Ravenswood, in the Upper Manning at Mt George, New South Wales, for the rest of her life, relying on infrequent letters for news from home.

Maria at the time of her departure for New South Wales

In 1855, young Sarah and Alfred Begbie, who was with the merchant marine, were married in Sydney. Maria put up the security, the "surety" as it was called then, for the couple to purchase the property next door to her, which they called Norwood.

Maria's notes: "I parted with my beloved mother & family in 1826"
"My sister Ellen married Baron Theodore de Rosen in 1833 at St Petersburg"

Letter from Maria to my grandfather: "My dearest Herbert: Times passes since I have seen you last and in all probability did I meet you by chance I would scarcely know my good little grandson. From all accounts you are getting to be a clever boy..." Dated April 5th, 1881, two years before her death

My grandfather, Herbert Smirnoff Begbie, son of Alfred and Sarah, was born here in 1871. He was 12 years old when Maria Ivanovna Smirnova Cooper died, in 1883. She was buried in a private cemetery close by.

Private burial ground at Woodside, Mt George, Upper Manning, New South Wales; Maria is buried here, along with many family members - although Begbies are buried elsewhere.

Ivan Smirnov

My great-great-great grandfather (on my father's side) was known to our family as Chevalier Jean de Smirnoff (French being the language used in Diplomatic circles in Petersburg and elsewhere). He was born in 1767, in the Ukraine, as Ivan Linitsky, the son of a village priest of the same name. He had three brothers: Yakov, the eldest, who became Chaplain to the Imperial Russian Embassy in London; Ioann, who also became a priest and who was later granted patents of nobility in Kharkov; and Stepan, who received his patents at Voronezh in 1788 and was attached to the Caucasian Fiscal Board. Both Yakov and Ivan changed their surnames to Smirnov, upon advice that certain officials in the Russian Civil Service were prejudiced against Ukrainians. Ivan joined his brother at the embassy in London as a translator and later, after rising through the Civil Service ranks, was appointed Russian Envoy to the Court of Holland. This was an important position: he was in charge of "victuals" and other logistical supplies to be used by the Russian army after it had pursued Napoleon across the winter snow and out of the country.

Smirnov took his family with him - his wife Maria (born Maria Mason, daughter of Robert Mason, of Cirencester Place, St Marylebone, Middlesex), his eldest daughter Maria, Stephen, John, Helena, Louisa and Anette. The family hadn't long been in the Netherlands when tragedy struck. According to the police report, dated July 14th 1815, "yesterday, the thirteenth of the month, at the hotel called The Bathhouse, at approximately half past six in the evening (the Director of Police) found the Consul-General of Russia, Mr Smirnoff, residing at Amsterdam, and who, owing to a heavy loss of blood and through inflicted wounds, was not in a state to give any information as to the causes...

...it has come to light that in the afternoon of yesterday a certain Basily Mironnof called, describing himself as a Major in the Eighth Class, in Russian Service, serving with the Administration of Foodstuffs sent from St. Petersburg to Rotterdam; that the above mentioned Consul-General, found him there writing, and complained to him that others assumed a hand in affairs which were in his charge; that... he got into a rage and drawing his sword, gave him a slash over the head, and that, whilst the said Consul-General attempted to get away from his attack, he followed him again and punished him by the infliction of several wounds until he fell down powerless."

The assailant was put under arrest and imprisoned in Rotterdam. He was transported to the Russian Headquarters on the 29th August 1815, where a court martial sentenced him to be shot. This judgment was executed near Melun, France.

In our family records, obtained from the archives of the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow, are other interesting documents, not the least of which are reports from eye-witnesses, including one deposition taken from George Law, a 28 year old visitor from the United States.

Deposition, George Law, Baltimore

One of the reports obtained recently from Moscow.This one gives an eye-witness account from Baltimore lawyer George Law, who was passing by, looked in the window and saw a murder taking place

The story ends with this report in the Rotterdamsche Courante of Saturday 5th August, l815.

ROTTERDAM AUG 4 The remains of Chevalier Jean de Smirnoff, Consul-General of His Majesty the Czar of all the Russians...were buried here to-day...The funeral was one of the most impressive and striking that can be remembered as ever having been seen in this town. All those who followed the body were touched by the sad fate which had torn such a worthy man and so faithful a servant of his Emperor and Fatherland untimely from his honourable career, and from the arms of his tender loving spouse and six young children, and from the midst of his admiring friends.

The order of procession was as follows:

The drums and band of the Musketeers and the two flanking companies of the 1st Battalion.

Four Mutes.

The Arms-bearers, bearing the Coat of Arms of the deceased.

Six Russian soldiers with wax candles, who chanted in turn with the Armenian Priest, clad entirely in black, and another carrying in front of him, a picture of St. Nicholas.

Several Russian Officers, three of whom bore the insignia of his Order of Chivalry on a black cushion, together with his sword.

The hearse was drawn by four black horses, draped with Coats of Arms, and led by four liveried servants; six Russian Officers acted as Pall bearers.

Surrounding these, were non-commissioned officers of the Musketeers and of the Russian Troops stationed here, carrying Russian flags....

Thus, having arrived at The Groote Kerk (Great or St Lawrence Church) the body was borne by Officers to the graveside in the choir, and, after some religious ceremonies, lowered into the tomb to the sound of three volleys from the Musketeers standing outside the Church...The church bells tolled for several hours.

Alison Begbie

Alison Begbie, the object of poet Robert Burns' affection, was born in 1759 and lived in the same small hamlet near Haddington, Scotland, as the Burns family; Burns' mother and sister lie in Bolton churchyard as do many neighbouring tenant-farming Begbies. Burns proposed to Alison in 1781, when both were 22 years of age, after writing her a series of very proper love letters. But Alison, it seems, had other ideas and politely rejected his proposal. Burns wrote a poem for her, which is now a well loved Scottish song:

Mary Morison Mary at thy window be,
It is the wish'd, the trysted hour,
Those smiles and glances let me see
That make the misers' treasure poor,
How blythely was I bid the stoure
A weary slave fare sun to sun
Could I the rich reward secure,
The lovely Mary Morison.

Yestreen when to the trembling string
The dance gaed thro' the lighted ha',
To thee my fancy took its' wing, I sat,
but neither heard nor saw:
Tho' this was fair and that was braw,
And yon the toast of a' the town,
I sigh'd and said 'among them a'-
Ye are no Mary Morison'.

O Mary Canst thou wreck his peace
Wha for thy sake wad gladly die?
Or canst thou break that heart of his
Whose only faut is loving thee?
If love for love thou wilt not gie,
At least be pity to me shown:
A thought ungentle canna be
The thought o' Mary Morison.

No portrait of Alison has survived. It seems likely that she was the daughter of Alexander Begbie (1825-1783) of Begbie Village.

A rewarding experience

Tree climbing - family tree climbing - can be a rewarding experience. There, waiting for you - in an old churchyard, in parish records, in grandfather's oral history or in that bunch of letters you found up in the attic - is a genetic inheritance that goes back, generation upon generation, into the mists of time. Each one of us is the sum of many parts. And how can we truly know ourselves if we know not from whence we came?

I have long been fascinated by these unseen influences, these gifts from the past. And I am fortunate; a lot of digging into family history was done before I was born. Musty documents in cardboard boxes dot my childhood landscape, along with fading photographs and the occasionally embroidered remembrance by aged aunts. Exploring the past is an occupation I highly recommend; climbing the family tree can offer an enthralling view when you reach the upper branches.

Here are a few of the more interesting folk whose genes I have inherited and who have, without ever knowing it, helped shape my life. It's a way, perhaps, of saluting them from a great distance, creating a memorial for them that would have been beyond their wildest imaginings. This listing is of particular interest to the Australian branch of the Begbie family, as it concentrates on our branch of the family line. But if you think you're a part, however distant, of my extended family, I'd be delighted to hear from you and pass on all the information I have.
I must here acknowledge information and assistance from the following: Oxford Slavonic Papers 1975 and an article by Professor A.G. Cross, Yakov Smirnov, A Russian Priest of Many Parts; John Kane, of Queensland for Smirnov and Cooper information; Ms. Signe Hoffos of The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, London, for Yakov Smirnov updates; the late Jan Hicks, of Wamberal, NSW; and Bud Lindsey, of Big Bear Lake, California, whose late wife Patricia was the great-great-granddaughter of  George James Firth Begbie, son of Peter James Begbie and brother of Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie. And I mustn't forget Anne, who is descended from Emily Maria Begbie and who has inherited a beautiful brooch, featured in this website, from Emily's grandmother Maria Smirnova Cooper. For specific genealogy information, relating to this Australian branch of the Begbie family, in direct descent through the male line since 1584 to the present day (thirteen generations - each generation is numbered)
go here.

Further information about the Begbie family is available from two archives, one in Australia and one in Switzerland:

meischke_rogermarion@bigpond.com

r.s.begbie@swissonline.ch

Please note also that links to the families associated with Campbell Begbie's wife Betty are also listed for the benefit of that family. The links include these names: Deck, Holt and Young