MAJOR GENERAL OF THE WEST
by H. B. Disbrowe, 1971
As could be expected, the Disbrowe family was hardly the object of royal favour after the restoration. The Major-General and later his descendants, while confortably situated, lived in relative obscurity for many years. It was not until several generations later that a member of the family again attained a position of prominence.
In 1803 the rupture of the treaty of Amiens plunged England into war with France under Napoleon. The Staffordshire regiment of militia under its commander Colonel Edward Disbrowe (1754-1818) was called out to assume royal guard duties at Windsor Castle. The Colonel became acquainted with the royal family and shortly thereafter gave up his command to become Vice-Chancellor to Queen Charlotte the wife of the ruling monarch, George III. In this position he enjoyed an intimate relationship with the royal family for many years. In addition to his post in the royal household. Colonel Disbrowe also represented the borough of Windsor in parliament.
Colonel Disbrowe's grandfather Samuel Disbrowe, was the grandson of Major General John Disbrowe. He married Marget Louisa Taylor and their son George Disbrowe (1773) and his wife Margaret Vaughan of Trederwyn, were the Colonel's parents.
In 1789 Colonel Disbrowe married Lady Charlotte Robard, daughtar of the Third Earl of Buckinghamshire. They had three sons and three daughters. The oldest son Edward, became a distinguished diplomat. He rose to ministerial rank and rspresented his majesty's government at the royal courts of St. Petersburg, Stockholm and the Hague. He was knighted by William IV in 1831 in recognition of his services. Another son George, was a Colonel in the Grenadier Guards and fought at Waterloo. The youngest son Henry, was a clergyman and became rector of Welbourn-on-the-cliff; he was the author's great grandfather. Of the Colonel's daughters: Harriet died in early middle life; Albinia became the wife of Sir Herbert Taylor, secretary to King George III. The remaining daughter Louisa, who was unmarried, was for many years a member of the royal household; she died at Kensington Place in 1887.
Sir Edward Cromwell Disbrowe (1790-1851), married Anne, daughter of Hon. Robert Kennedy, son of the eleventh Earl of Cassilis. They had two sons and three daughters. The eldest son Edward, a captain of the Coldstream Guards, was killed at Inkerman in 1854. The other son Herbert, a captain of the 17th regiment and A.D.C. to Lt. Gen. Sir Wm. Eyre, commander of the forces in Canada, died at Montreal in 1858. Neither of Sir Edward's sons was married. Walton Hall, the Disbrowe estate in Derbyshire, was inherited by his oldest daughter Charlotte Albinia, who never married. On her death in 1918 it was passed to Henry Edward Disbrowe-Wise, the son of Jane Harriet, his youngest daughter.
The Rev. Henry John Disbrowe of Welbourn-on-the-Cliff, in Lincolnshire, the youngest son of Colonel Edward and brother to Sir Edward Cromwell Disbrowe, married Elizabeth Sharp. They had two daughters: Louisa and Harriet, neither of whom married; and three sons: John, Henry Sharp, and Herbert Frederick.
The oldest son John, was a naval Lieutenant; he was unmarried and died at an early age.
Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, the youngest son, rose to the rank of Major General in the Infian Army. He married Charlotte Henrietta Ballard-Lasenor, and had three sons: Herbert Edward, who died young; Frederick Jares Gillan Harcourt Disbrowe, who married Ethel Jane Hodge; Ernest Duncan who died without issue; and daughters, Charlotte Harriet, Violet, and Clare Edith Albinia, none of whom married. There are no living male descendants of Herbert Frederick Disbrowe but a granddaughter, Charlotte Cathrop Disbrowe (Mrs. N. C. Moody), resides in Cambridge, England.
The middle son was Rev. Henry Sharp Disbrowe (1822-1911) Rector of Benington in Lincolnshire, and Canon of Lincoln. He married Julis Ann Prescott who died at an early age leaving four sons and one daughter. By his second marriage to Caroline Couper, he had five sons and one daughter.
Julia the daughter of his first marriage died while still a young woman; she was unmarried. Her four brothers were all sent to make their way in Canada. Two of them, Edward and Henry died in early middle age; they have no known descendants.
Frederick A. the oldest, entered the service of the Hudson Bay Co. and was for many years a Factor at Beren's Rv. Manitoba. His descendants can be found in various parts of western Canada. The youngest son, George Arthur (1855-1932), was the author's father. He came to Canada in 1873 when he was eighteen years old and farmed in the London - St. Thomas area of Ontario for many years. He married Melissa Ann Monteith (1859-1945) of Delaware township and had five sons and two daughters: Mabel (Mrs. Wm. Kilmer) St. Thomas, Ont. born 1879; Arthur Bertram, Hespeler, Ont. born 1882; Henry John Guy (deceased) 1884-1918); George Eric, St. Thomas, Ont. born 1879; Lionel Edmund (deceased) 1892-1928); Stella Melissa Mrs. C.H. Kipp) (deceased) 1894-1951); Harold Boyne, London, Ontario, born 1901. There are numerous grand children and great-grand children.
The children of Rev. Henry Sharp Disbrowe's second marriage all lived out their lives in England. Of the sons: one, the Rev. Charles Disbrowe of Spilsby in Lincolnshire, was a clergyman; another, Sidney, was headmaster of a boys school at Salisbury. There were three others of whom little is known except their names: Ernest, Hugh and Ned. The only daughter of this marriage, Edith, never married. She lived at Boston in Lincolnshire until her death in or about 1947.
Only one of this family, the Rev. Charles Disbrowe had sons. Of his three boys: one died in boyhood; the oldest, Henry died without issue in early manhood of injuries sustained as an army officer, in World War I; the other, Commander Edward Disbrowe, a career naval officer, perished in the North Atlantic during World War II. The latter is known to have had a son who, it is believed, is living somewhere in New Zealand.
While descendants of Major General Disbrowe the Cromwellian, are fairly numerous, it is rather sad that so few bear his name; both in England and Canada the number of male Disbrowes is precariously small.