Kenneth
|
Kenneth James
Allardyce
 On our way to the view over the Bay
of Islands we came across a single grave. Kenneth James
Allardyce, born in Aberdeen. Knowing how easy it is to search Scotland’s
People I made a note to self to look him up and see what I could find out about
the man, why he was here and a bit about him and his family.
  The magnificent view is just over his
left shoulder, seen as the blue behind his
gravestone. He faces toward the coconut trees,
perhaps he owned a plantation here or this was his favourite
spot..............Mmmm.
 The power of the internet is
astounding as a couple of button presses and here is Kenneth’s birth entry. He
was born to James Allardyce, Colonel, Madras Staff, retired and Catherine
Allardyce nee Johnston. They had married on the 23rd of September 1869 in
Switzerland. It was his dad’s second marriage, his first wife Georgina Dickson
Abbott had died in 1866 aged thirty one. They had married on the 14th of
November 1857 in Bolarum, Andhra Pradesh, India and their children were Mary
Ross born 1858, William Lamond born 1861, Anne Hill born 1863 and Mabel Desburgh
in 1863. More of Mary and William later.
Kenneth joined Georgina Mary born
1872, Katherine Hadden born 1874, Arthur Johnston born 1876, John Graham
Buchanan born 1878, then came Kenneth in 1881, and finally Gavin Leith born
1886. More of Arthur, John and Gavin later on.
 James was clearly a wealthy man
judging by his 1881 Census entry.
 In more
detail. This Census was taken on the 3rd of April as Kenneth was born on
the 8th. [Sadly, in the 1891 Census he was listed as a visitor with his mum, so
not much information can be gleaned and he had left home by the next]. He was
born into a rather grand house - 3 Queens Terrace, Old Machar, Aberdeenshire,
Scotland – possessing sixteen rooms and several domestic servants. After his
home birth he would have been greeted by four sisters and one of his
brothers.
 Now the proud possessor of his own page on ancestry.com together with pictures of his
grave and the view we had gone to see.
 Listing some of
his many journeys............
   ....... including on the Manuka, the Niagara and the Aquitania.
 One of the longest Obituaries I’ve ever
seen was for Kenneth’s father James
Aberdeen Journal 7th of March 1910, page 4, which
begins:-
DEATH OF COL. ALLARDYCE OF CULQUOICH. Deep regret will felt
Aberdeen and the north by the intimation the death Colonel Allardyce Culquoich,
LL.D., which took place yesterday at his Aberdeen residence, Queen's Terrace.
Colonel Allardyce, Who was his 81st year, had been in indifferent health for a
considerable time, and the end was not altogether unexpected. A son of the late
William Allardyce, by his wife Mary, daughter Mr John Leith Ross of Arnage and
Bourtie, the deceased was born Aberdeen in 1829. Having received sound
education, joined the military service Honourable East India Company ensign in
1848, and was engaged a deal of important work in various parts of India,
remaining with the Company until the government of that country was handed over
the Crown. He was promoted through the various grades of the r ice, and retired
the Madras Staff Corps with the rank of colonel in 1877. At the time his
retirement was Judicial Commissioner the Province of Berar.
It continues:
A man of many activities, and with an ungrudging devotion to public service,
Colonel Allardyce, on his return to Aberdeen, speedily identified himself with a
number of the principle public boards, commercial enterprises, and philanthropic
institutions. For a number of years he was chairman of the board of the Royal
Infirmary, and to that institution he rendered invaluable and much appreciated
service. In particular Colonel Allardyce had much strenuous work in connection
with the extension of the buildings, a scheme inaugurated by Sir William
Henderson when Lord Provost of the city, in 1886, and towards which a sum of
upwards of £31,000
was subscribed. The surgical and pathological pavilions, constituting the first
part of the extension.
 The obituary then lists his service
achievements and how his brigade under his command was the best. His literary achievements including book dimensions and his
receiving the LL.D from the University of Aberdeen............
In politics, deceased was a
staunch Unionist and in 1891 he was elected president of the Aberdeen
Conservative Association when Mr J. Murray Garden resigned. This office Colonel
Allardyce held for some time. In 1889 he purchased Culquoich, Donside.
 By his first wife, who was the
daughter of the late Mr P.H. Abbot, and died in 1866, Colonel Allardyce had one
son and three daughters. This son Mr William Lamond Allardyce, C.M.G. entered
the colonial service, and went to Fiji as a cadet in 1879. He has done a good
deal of important work, and in 1904 he was promoted to the post of Colonial
Secretary and Receiver-General of Fiji to be Governor of the Falkland Islands,
which office he still holds. By his second wife, who was a daughter of the late
Mr Robert Johnston, Aberdeen, and who died in 1900, Colonel Allardyce had four
sons and two daughters. The eldest son Mr Arthur Johnston Allardyce, is a major
in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was promoted to his brevet majority in 1902, and
was at the time one of the youngest officers of that rank in the army. He served
in Soudan in 1898 under Lord Kitchener, was present at the Battle of Khartoum,
and holds the British and Khedive’s medals for the campaign. He also served in
Crete during the occupation of the island in 1898, and took part in the last
South African War, including the relief of Ladysmith. He figured in South
African dispatches for his excellent work at the front. The second son, John
Graham Buchanan Allardyce, is a captain in the Royal Horse Artillery; the third
Kenneth William Allardyce is in the Colonial Civil Service in Fiji and the
youngest, Gavin Leith Allardyce, is a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh. The
elder daughter by the first marriage is the wife of Rev. Alexander Fiddes,
minister of St Bernard’s, Edinburgh, who is the son of the late Mr Edward
Fiddes, of the North of Scotland Bank, Aberdeen. Colonel Johnston of Newton Dee
is a brother-in-law of the deceased.
Well, after that little Who’s Who, I
needed a cup of tea.
   Lord
Kitchener memorial statue front and side and the famous “Your Country
Needs You”
Lord Kitchener 1850-1916, mentioned
above, forever remembered for his recruitment posters, well, funny old and very
small world........ his statue by Sidney March, commissioned in 1912 stands
proudly near to Fort Amhurst in Chatham, Kent. I passed this statue most days on
the way to work and every time I ever went into town.
 WIlliam
Lamond Allardyce as 7th Govenor of Fiji and later as
Sir William.
Talking of Who’s Who, Sir William has
an entry in the New Zealand listing of 1908, listing all his positions and
titles, at the time he was living in Suva, Fiji.
In 1916 William was made Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and St. George by King George V. Shortly afterwards he became Knight Grand Cross in 1927. He married twice, first to Constance Greene of Melbourne, Australia in 1895. She died in 1918; he then in 1920 married Elsie Elizabeth Stewart, widow of A.C. Goodfellow. In 1923, Lady Elsie Elizabeth Allardyce helped start the Girl Guide movement in Newfoundland, and then in 1924 she established the official representative of the British Crown in Newfoundland and Labrador. He died at the age of sixty eight and his Index of Wills entry says:- Allardyce K.C.M.G. sir William Lamond of Wick Vale Finchhampstead Berkshire died 9 June 1930 Probate London 29 August to dame Elsie Elizabeth Allardyce widow. Effects £11094 0s 4d. 
  The
inscription. Mum, Dad, sister Mabel and Kenneth together.
Mabel. On her
Index of Wills entry it says:- Allardyce Mabel
Desborough of 74 Rubislaw Den Aberdeenshire died 25 January 1933 Confirmation of
Gavin Leith Allardyce writer to the signet and John Grahame Allardyce retired
brigadier-general H.M. army. Sealed London 23 March. Mabel never
married.
Died on a Lone Isle Strathdon Man’s Fate Former Official in Fiji News of the lonely death on a Fiji island of a former Colonial Service official has just reached London. Mr Kenneth James Allardyce [56], who retired some years ago from the post of Secretary of Native Affairs for the Fiji group to look after his plantation, lived all alone except for native servants in a beautiful house on the top of his hilly island of Nabavatu in the Lau group. Stricken with a sudden dangerous illness, he sent a boat to the nearest Government post for medical assistance, but died before the party returned. He left a note directing that he should be buried at the top of the hill. Major Arthur Allardyce, Cheltenham, a brother, said in an interview yesterday that his brother’s death was very sudden. Bachelor Life “He was an active man”, said Major Allardyce “and as yet I have no details of the manner of his death. My brother lived a bachelor life on his island, and had not been home to England in the last ten years.” Kenneth James Allardyce was the son of Col. James Allardyce of Culquoich, Strathdon, Aberdeenshire. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and Wellington College. Entering the Colonial branch of the Civil Service at the early age of seventeen, he spent all his life in the South Pacific. Growing Copra In Fiji he was a member of the Legislative Council and Secretary for Native Affairs in 1916. He retired in 1920, and was latterly engaged in copra growing on the island of Nabavatu, where he was the only white man. During the Great War he brought over a hundred Fijians, who served as labour corps, first on the Western Front and later in Italy. Mr Allardyce commanded the corps, first with the rank of lieutenant in 1917, and then as captain the following year. Arthur who gave the interview has an entry in the Index of
Wills it says:- Allardyce Arthur Johnston of Kilworth Cleevelands Drive Cheltenham died 30
December 1961 at Bayshill Nursing Home Cheltenham Probate London 16 March to
Winifred Katherine Allardyce spinster John Grahame Allardyce lieutenant-colonel
R.E. and James Bright Robertson solicitor. Effects £70919 5s 2d .........The nursing home is opposite
where Bear’s sister Cecily went to
school.
Lady
Elsie – William’s widow, is the very next
entry.
Interesting to see the various
promotions and just a glimpse into the Allardyce Clan.
We are very pleased to leave Ken with
his view
 ALL IN ALL AN INTERESTING
FIND
A SURPRISING FIND IN A STUNNING
LOCATION
|
