William James Blazey (28) (bap. 13 Sep 1863 in Witney, Oxfordshire), Batchelor, Mechanic, younger son of Francis Robert Blazey and Maria Emily Andrews, married Emma Greaves Marshall (17) (b. 9 Jul 1874, bap. 15 Sep 1874 in Vepery, Madras (Chennai), India), Spinster, daughter of Robert Greaves Marshall and Jessie Charlotte Twigg, on 15 Jul 1891 at St Bartholemew's Church (now St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral), Barrackpore, Bengal, India. (Barrackpore Trip Guide – A walk down the forgotten history of the Oldest Cantonment). Both parties gave their address as Ishapore (later site of the Rifle Factory Ishapore). Ishapore was located near Barrackpore, outside of Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. The first Arms Manufacturing facility on the site was a gunpowder factory, which makes complete sense to locate them both there as at the time of Emma's baptism, her father's occupation was described as 'Supervisor Gun Powder Manufactory'.
The couple had one son:
- Frank Kenneth Blazey b. 27 Oct 1907, bap. 9 Dec 1907 at the Sibpur College Chapel (Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST, Shibpur), Shibpur. The university was founded as the Civil Engineering College in 1856. The baptism record lists his father's position as Foreman Instructor, C. E. College Sibpur.
Unusual for a first child to be born after 16 years of marriage, but after extensive searches, there is no evidence of any other children.
However,
William James Blazey, Foreman Instructor, Civil Engineering College, Sibpur, died on 13 Jan 1908 at
Howrah General Hospital from an
aortic aneurysm. He was buried at the
General Episcopal Cemetery, Calcutta (
Kolkata) on 14 Jan 1908. The records list his widow and child, and inform us that both his parents were dead and that he had one brother and three sisters in England. The brother will have been his younger half-brother, Harry Robert Blazey; the half-sisters being:
Alice Maud Stanley Blazey from his father's second marriage and Constance Ellen Blazey from his father's third marriage; the third sister must have been Maud Millers, his father's step-daughter.
Not unsurprisingly,
Emma Greaves Blazey (34) Widow, then remarried to
William Altmore Christian Hughes (26) (reportedly b. 1884 in Wales), Batchelor, Assistant Foreign Office, said to be son of William Le Maistre Hughes, at
St. Stephen’s Church,
Kidderpore on
7 Feb 1910.
But only 18 months later,
William Altmore Christian Hughes, Clerk, Government of India, Foreign Department, died, aged 28, on 21 Sep 1912 from gangrene and consequent septicemia and was buried on 22 Sep 1912 at
Simla, West Bengal. The record states that his mother was still alive and that he had a wife and one child (which will have been his step-child).
There is evidence to suggest that young Frank, then going by his step-father's surname as Frank Kenneth Hughes, was still in India, as the
The Civil and Military Gazette of 4 Feb 1922 lists him among the school exam results (he would then have been 15) at
Bishop Cotton School,
Shimla.
A report in the
Derby Daily Telegraph of 17 Apr 1930, concerning a man being knocked down by a motor-cycle names, "
Frank Kenneth Hughes, aged 22, electrical engineer, of Codnor, the cyclist, escaped with slight injuries, but suffered from shock." Subsequent records persuade me this is 'our man' and suggests he therefore came to England between 1922 and 1930.
Initially, I hadn't found further records, but knowing that Blazey has been mis-spelled so many ways, I searched the 1939 register for 'Frank' with no surname and just his date of birth and found him as Frank K Hughes (b. 27 Oct 1907) Electrical Engineer, Sound Engineer & Cine Engineer, Married; Ida Hughes (b. 18 Aug 1912) [Frank K Hughes had married Ida Channon in Oxford, in 1936] and Frank's mother, Emma G Hughes (b. 9 Jul 1874) Government Clerk (Retired), Widow, at
15 Mayfair Road, Oxford.
Emma Greaves Hughes of
24 Lime Grove, Shepherds Bush, London, died, at 74, on 27 Nov 1948 (1948 D Quarter in HAMMERSMITH Volume 05C Page 805). Probate was granted to Frank Kenneth Hughes, electrical engineer. Emma left effects valued at £1250 8s 10d (almost £60K today).
