The Langford Raes in the East

The connection between the Langford Raes in India and Burma and the Raes of Keel House in County Kerry is at once certain and obscure, owing to the fact that the records for both Ireland and the Raj during the mid 19^th are very patchy. A partial family tree for the Raes of Keel House, completed probably around 1925, exists on microfilm #: 596417 (not yet digitized) held by the Latter-Day Saints' FamilySearch organisation, but its purpose is to show the transfer of lands rather than bloodlines, and the putative marriages and children of family members who did not inherit land have been omitted. Some can be filled in from e.g. baptismal records, but only a small proportion of these have as yet been digitized; and except for a few areas, no census survives for Ireland prior to 1901. However, there is ample evidence to connect the two families, who are the only two Rae families in the world who routinely used "Langford" as a common first or middle name.

The Langford Raes in the East begin with a police officer who is variously called Francis Langford Rae, Francis Rae, Francis Ray and Langford Rae (all of whom seem to be the same man) born circa 1822. The records for this first Rae in India are confusing, because we see four Rae children, Mary, Langford, Frank and Denys, born between 1855 and 1865, but often with slightly different accounts of their father's name. However, internal evidence – of which more below – makes it virtually certain they were all siblings. At minimum there is absolutely no doubt that Mary and Denys and at least a Langford were the children of Francis Langford Rae and his wife Mary Christiana or Christina Swords.

Family memory says that Francis Langford Rae was born in Dublin but that his family were from Kerry, and this is supported (or at least the idea that this family tradition goes back a long way is supported) by the fact that a newspaper notice of the marriage of Frank Langford Rae, a son of the Langford Rae born in 1857, describes his father as "Langford Rae (of County Kerry)". In his application to join the police, Bertram Rae, the son of the Denis or Denys Rae who was definitely the son of Francis Langford Rae, gives his father's nationality as Irish. All the first generation children of Francis Langford Rae would be entitled to share his nationality, so the fact that his sons Langford and Denys were considered Irish, despite having been born in India, is firm evidence that Francis was from Ireland.

When we consider the family tree of the Raes of Keel House in County Kerry, there seem to be only two points at which the Langford Raes in the East could be connected. There were only two sets of Rae siblings in Ireland who used Langford as a first or middle name, and one of those sets all reportedly died unmarried and without issue. They included a Francis Drew Rae who was born in 1821 and whose mother was a Langford, but he died in Ireland in 1872, six years after "Francis Ray" died in India and three years after Mary Christiana Swords re-married and was described as a widow. Francis Langford Rae was clearly dead well before 1872, and cannot be Francis Drew Rae under another name.

Of the other set, the marriages and children of most of them are recorded and do not include a Francis. The only possibilities are Robert Langford Rae, born 1773ish, who died in or before 1809 – too early to be Francis Langford Rae's father, but conceivably could be his grandfather, and whose marital status is not recorded; and Robert's brother Langford Rae, born around 1775. Langford Rae is the most likely bet. Although his marital status is not recorded on the family tree, parish records show that he married an Ellen Long and had at least two children, Mary and John. We also know that he became a lawyer in Dublin, where family memory says that Francis Langford Rae was born.

Also, most of the descendants of Francis Langford Rae and Mary Christiana Swords were Catholics. Most of the Raes in Kerry were Protestants but either Langford or his wife Ellen were Catholic, since the two children whose birth we have a record of were baptised in a Catholic church. There was also a Catholic Dominic Langford Rae in the Keel area who may well have been Langford and Ellen's eldest son.

Family memory says that Francis was born in 1822, and the record of his marriage confirms that he was thirty in spring 1853, so must have been born in 1822 or 1823. Langford, the Dublin lawyer, was about forty-seven in 1822, so Francis could have been either his youngest son or his eldest grandson, assuming Dominic to have been Langford's eldest son. Or, of course, Dominic Langford Rae could have been related to the family in some other, unknown way, and have been the progenitor of the Langford Raes in the East – but the fact that Langford Rae the lawyer was in Dublin, as well as being a Catholic, makes him much the most likely candidate for an ancestor.

First generation in the East: Francis Langford Rae & Mary Christiana Swords

Francis Langford Rae, 28^th February 1822 (according to family information) to 15^th October 1866, was a police officer who was born in Dublin, according to family history, and later moved to County Kerry. This suggests that he was probably related to Langford Rae, who came from Kerry but became a lawyer in Dublin, to Langford Rae's known children Mary and John and to the child Guy Langford Rae who would die in Dublin in 1889, and that there were two distinct yet closely related groups of Langford Raes, one in Dublin and one in Kerry. At some point prior to April 1853 he moved to India: depending on when he moved he may have been a refugee from the Great Irish Famine of 1845–1852.

On 26^th April 1853 Francis Ray, aged thirty, Sergeant 2^nd ?I, parents not stated, married Mary Christina Swords, daughter of Dennis Swords, aged fourteen, in Secunderābād, India. [BL-BIND-005142007–00262, VOL 8 PG 69; FHL microfilm 530,011] Annoyingly, no father's name is given for Francis. [FamilySearch: "India Marriages, 1792–1948, Francis Ray and Mary Christina Swords, 26 Apr 1853; citing Secunderābād, India, reference VOL 8 PG 69; FHL microfilm 530,011]

In January 1866 in Palamcottah, Madras a Francis Langford Rae, "Pensioned Quarter Master Sergeant HM's 17^th Regiment M[adras] N[ative] I[nfantry] 2^nd Class Inspector Mofussil Police" made a will leaving his property to his wife, Mary Christiana Rae, and his unnamed children. [BL BIND L-AG-34-29-266_00153] So we know that Francis Ray who married Mary Christina Swords and Francis Langford Rae who was married to Mary Christiana Swords are the same person, that he was born in 1822 or 1823 and that he was in India by 1853. He is probably the Francis Ray who died in Calcutta on 15^th October 1866 and was buried the following day [Family Search: "India Deaths and Burials, 1719–1948," Francis Ray, 16 Oct 1866; citing ; FHL microfilm 499,024].

Mary Christiana Rae, widow, daughter of Denis Swords, remarried at St Thomas's Mount, Poonamallee (a district of Madras/Chennai) in April 1869 to a William Dargan, a Conductor in the Ordnance Department of the army. [BL BIND 005137629 00140] [She seems to have preferred older men: having lost the husband who had been seventeen years older than herself, she remarried to one who was twenty years older. Also we see on the form that she herself spelled her middle name "Christiana".] So we know that Francis Langford Rae had certainly died by 1869, and that Mary Swords/Rae later became Mary Dargan (and died in 1904). Francis and Mary appear to have had four surviving children, although again poor record-keeping makes the family structure a bit slippery.

A Mary Rae, daughter of Francis Rae, a Sergeant Major in the 17^th Regiment N[ative] I[nfantry], and of his wife Mary was born in Kamptee on 13^th June 1855 and baptised on 24^th July [British Library India Office Records N-2–35 folio 102]. She must be the same as the Maria Rae, daughter of Francis Rae and aged seventeen, who married Claude Augustus Wheldon (sometimes given as "Claudius"), son of Henry Wheldon, an Uncovenanted Civil Servant aged at least twentyone, in Rangoon on 24^th February 1873 [British Library India Office Records N-1–143 folio 98]. Since it's unlikely that there were two Francis Raes with wives named Mary in the same regiment at the same time, we can say with confidence that Mary Rae/Wheldon was the daughter of Francis Langford Rae and Mary Christiana Swords. She is listed as Minnie Maria on the birth notice of one of her children but in this case "Minnie" seems just to be a pet name for Mary, as there's no sign on her own birth details of her ever being called Wilhelmina or Minerva. She and Claude had three daughters and one son.

A Langford Rae was born on 30^th May 1857 in the Peravallur area of Madras/Chennai, son of Frances Rae, a Sergeant Major in the 17^th Regiment N[ative] I[nfantry], and of his wife Mary and christened 28^th June 1857 in Madras. [British Library India Office Records N-2–38 folio 156] This is probably the same person as the Langford Rae, an engineer aged twenty-five who married seventeen-year-old Ellen Robinson, the daughter of John Robinson, in Rangoon in April 1883**. [British Library India Office Records N-1–263 folio 327 entry 52] Almost certainly the same as Langford Rae, born 1858, died 29^th January 1904, buried the same day in Bangalore: approximate birth-years are calculated by subtracting the subject's age from their year of death, and since Langford Rae died before his birthday that year, that would indeed result in his calculated birth-year being given as 1858 rather than 1857. [FamilySearch] He himself was probably really called Langford Francis Rae, although Langford Rae was his usually style: there are four children (see below) listed as born to a couple called Langford Rae and Ellen Rae, and one born to Langferd Francis Rae and Ellen Rae.

Then there is a Frank St Alban Rae for whom there seems to be no surviving birth record, but we know from his death record that he was born in about 1862 and died 30^th June 1909, buried in Calcutta on 2^nd July. [FamilySearch] India Office records show that Frank St Alban Rae, aged twenty-six, an assistant at Bulloch Bros., son of Langford Rae, married twenty-year-old Esther Robinson, the daughter of John Robinson – probably the sister of the Ellen Robinson who married Langford Rae – in February 1887 (probably: the date seems to have started as 1886, then been changed to 1888, then 1887) by Catholic rites in Rangoon. Langford and Ellen Rae (presumably his brother and sister-in-law, and his wife's sister and brother-in-law) were witnesses. [British Library India Office Records N-1–263 folio 373A entry 8] Probably the Frank St Albans Rae who (according to the baptism records of the Catholic church in Shwebo) married an Esther and had a daughter Amelia Irene Rae in 1892, and the Francis Rae married to Esther Maria who had a daughter Mildred Mary in 1888 [BL BIND 005137593 00296], and the Francis Rae who married an Esther and had a daughter Doris Kathleen in 1890 [BL BIND 005137593 00299] an a son called Langford Francis Denis Rae in 1895. [FamilySearch]

Then there is Denys Wilmot Rae, married twice and was aged thirty-seven when he married Mah Gyan/Ma Kyin (later Daw Kyin, Ma being an honorific for a young woman and Daw for an older one, like Miss and Madam), born circa 1879, in Bhamo in Burma/Myanmar on 4^th January 1903. Mah Gyan was described as the daughter of Lo Sit Pyun (father) and Denis as the son of Francis Langford Rae [British Library India Office Records N-1–625 folio 157]. He joined the police in Burma, and his Statement of Services says that he was born on 12^th March 1865, nineteen months before his father died. Denis had a daghter by his first wife/partner (whose name is not known), and four sons and two daughters by Mah Gyan.

**Langford and Frank seem to have married sisters, two daughters of John Robinson. The problem is that this Langford Rae who married in 1883 gave the name of his father as Langford Rae, not Francis Rae or Francis Langford Rae. This raises the possibility that he could be a nephew of Francis Langford Rae, rather than his son. However, not only is he the same age as Francis's son Langford, but the witnesses at his marriage included "M.C. Dargan" – Francis's widow. It seems more likely she would have travelled to Rangoon for the wedding of her eldest son rather than a mere nephew. We also know from the birth details of his children that this Langford who married Ellen had the middle name Francis. Perhaps Langford, who had been nine when his father died, remembered him only as "Dad" and actually didn't know his personal name – he might have been told "You were named after your father" and thought his father had been called Langford Francis Rae like himself, rather than Francis Langford Rae. Frank St Alban Rae's father is again named as Langford Rae on his marriage lines, which might support the idea that he and his presumed brother Langford were the nephews, not the sons of Francis Langford Rae. However, his witnesses are Langford and Ellen Rae, his presumed brother and double sister-in-law, and it is Langford – whose handwriting is distinctive – who has filled in their father's name on the form. So we still only have Langford saying that their father's name was also Langford, rather than Francis Langford, and he could have been wrong. Frank would only have been four or five when their father died, so again, he might just have known him as "Dad".

There's a certain amount of guesswork involved here, but we know Mary was the daughter of Francis Rae, a Sergeant Major in the 17^th Regiment Native Infantry, and of his wife Mary; that a Langford was the son of Frances Rae, a Sergeant Major in the 17^th Regiment Native Infantry, and of his wife Mary; that Denys or Denis Wilmot Rae was the son of Francis Langford Rae (and family history is clear that Denys's mother's name was Mary); and that Francis Langford Rae, Pensioned Quarter Master Sergeant HM's 17^th Regiment Madras Native Infantry, was married to Mary Christiana Swords: so we know for certain that Mary, a Langford and Denis were all children of Francis Langford Rae and Mary Christiana Swords.

Given the anomaly in their father's name as stated on their marriage lines, the identification of Langford the son of Francis and Mary with the Langford who married Ellen Robinson, and the assumption that Frank St Alban Rae was another son of Francis and Mary, is more conjectural but their dates of birth – 1855, 1857, 1862, 1865 – suggest the smooth growth of a family of brothers and (one) sister, and if they weren't siblings, if they were the scions of two different sets of parents, there ought to be more of them – especially as the Langford Raes in the East all seem to have been Catholics, and thus probably had large families.

Also, Francis St Alban Rae's son Langford Francis Denis Rae became a tea-planter in Assam, and my father Rory Langford-Rae, who was Denis Wilmot Rae's adoptive grandson, went out to Assam to work in the tea trade. This tends to reinforce the idea that they were related (first cousins once removed, if I'm right about how they all connect).

Second generation: the children of Francis Langford Rae & Mary Christina Swords

Mary Rae, sometimes called Minnie Maria, daughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 13^th June 1855, married Claudius or Claude Augustus Wheldon, an Uncovenanted Civil Servant (a junior rank) in Rangoon in February 1873. Claudius or Claud appears in a family page which gives his birth as 25^th October 1847, making him eight years older than Mary, and says he died at sea on 15^th June 1901. The Register of Deceased Passengers, 1899–1901, says he was an Assistant Collector of Customs, resident in Rangoon, and died of congestion of the liver on a ship called the Arracan. They had four children (who were first cousins to my father's adoptive father, Bertram Langford Denis Rae):

Edith Maude Rae Wheldon, born 17^th October 1874 in Moulmein, Myanmar. [REf. ID v150 p45, FHL Film Number 499231] She evidently didn't marry since her surname remained Wheldon until death.

Minnie Christina Wheldon, born 30^th April 1876 in Moulmein, Myanmar. Christina or Christiana was of course the name of her grandmother, Mary Christiana Swords, and her mother's name is given as Minnie Maria. [FHL Film Number 510851] On 3^rd September 1895 she married Cedric Richard Kauntze, aged twenty-eight, in Rangoon. [India, Select Marriages, 1792–1948 FHL Film Number 512356] Minnie and Cedric had one son, also Cedric, who died at Ypres in 2015.

Henry Ellis Rae Wheldon, born 5^th November 1878 and baptised in Moulmein on 27^th January 1879. [India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 Reference ID Vol 290 FHL Film Number 527498]

Martha Janie Gladys Wheldon, a.k.a. Gladys Martha Jeannie Wheldon, born 17^th October 1884 and baptised in Moulmein on 25^th February 1885. [India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 Reference ID Vol 290 FHL Film Number 527498] Married Paul Tempest Lambert Thompson on 24^th June 1914 in Rangoon. [India, Select Marriages, 1792–1948 FHL Film Number 527905]

Langford (Francis) Rae, son of Francis Langford Rae, born 30^th May 1857, became a businessman and Managing Director of the Arbuthnot banking group (as reported in a newspaper clipping about the death of his son Frank). Arbuthnot's was a very famous bank in India at the time.

Langford (Francis) Rae of India married Ellen and went on to have the following children I know about (again first cousins to Bertram):

Ellen Constantia Rae born 8^th January 1884 the daughter of Langford Rae and Ellen, christened 2^nd February 1884 in Rangoon. [FamilySearch] Presumably the same as Helen Constance Rae, born 1884 the daughter of Langford Rae, married Claude Hampton Chubb born 1878 the son of Charles John Chubb, on 15^th January 1904 in Madras. [FamilySearch]

Langford Frank Allan Rae born 13^th August 1885 the son of Langford Rae and Ellen, christened 19^th December 1885 in Calcutta. [FamilySearch] He appears to be the same person as Frank Langford Rae, born 1885, later the Chief Inspector of Police in Calcutta. Family history says that Frank Langford Rae's father was a Langford Rae, possibly one with a middle name, and FamilySearch says the same although it has wrongly transcribed his surname as Roe. He married Beatrice Eileen Constance Campbell, born 1890 the daughter of Charles Gascoyne Campbell of Dunstaffnage, on 30^th March 1910 in Calcutta. [FamilySearch] We know this really is Frank Langford Rae, not Roe, because Beatrice Eileen Constance Campbell definitely married into the Langford Raes. A newspaper cutting about the marriage (see below) also states that Frank Langford Rae's father Langford Rae was dead by the time of his marriage in 1910, which fits with the death of Langford (Francis) Rae in Bangalore in 1904. Frank Langford Rae himself died aged fifty-nine, on the 13^th of November 1944 at the PG Hospital, Calcutta, "after a long and painful illness, patiently borne" according to a newspaper notice of his death. Possibly he died of exhaustion, since he had eight sons and a daughter.

We know that the Frank Langford Roe listed on FamilySearch is really Frank Langford Rae, because he married Beatrice Campbell in Calcutta and we know from family history that Frank Langford Rae married Beatrice Campbell. His father's name is given as Langford Roe, which should clearly be Langford Rae. He was said to be twenty-five when he married in March 1910, so he was born in 1884 or 1885. Family history records that his father was called Langford Something Rae and his daughter was Mavis Something Rae, known as Queenie.

FamilySearch also says that a Frank Langford Allen Rae had a daughter Mavis Laura Rae who lived in Calcutta. For this not to be the same man as Frank Langford Rae the father of Queenie, there would have had to be two men in Calcutta at the same time, one called Frank Langford Rae and one called Frank Langford Allen Rae and both with a daughter called Mavis: not impossible but very unlikely. We can say with a high degree of confidence that Frank Langford Rae and Frank Langford Allen Rae are the same man, and therefore that Frank Langford Allen Rae was the son of Langford Rae.

FamilySearch records that a Langford Frank Allan Rae was born in Calcutta on 13^th August 1885 the son of Langford Rae and Ellen. That actually makes him a few months too young to be the Frank Langford Rae who was twenty-five in March 1910, if that was accurate. However, both were sons of Langford Rae in Calcutta, and although not impossible it seems unlikely that he would have had two sons born very close together, the first called Frank Langford Allen Rae and the second Langford Frank Allen Rae. It seems much more likely that they are the same man and that the age given at his marriage was out by a few months.

The only thing against this Frank Langford Rae being the son of the same Langford (Francis) Rae who was the son of Francis Langford Rae, is that a transcript of a newspaper notice of his marriage gives his father as "Langford Rae (of County Kerry)". Langford (Francis) Rae was christened in Madras – but he was a month old and might possibly have been born in Kerry, and he certainly came from a Kerry family. Frank Langford Rae cannot be the son of the Langford Rae who lived in Kerry and was born in 1816 (and who was probably but not definitely the Langford Rae who owned land in Kerry in the 1870s), for that Langford Rae died in 1882, too soon to have conceived a son born in 1885. Furthermore a newspaper cutting relating to the death of Frank the father of Queenie refers to him as Frank Langford Allen Rae of County Kerry, although he was certainly not born in Kerry. So I think we can safely say that Frank Langford Rae is indeed the boy christened Langford Frank Allen Rae, and he just rearranged the order of his names a bit.

Esther Minnie Rae born 11^th December 1886 the daughter of Langford Rae and Ellen, christened 10^th July 1887 in Rangoon. [FamilySearch]

Debora Charlotte Rae, born 7^th February 1892 to Langferd Francis Rae and Ellen, christened 7^th May 1892 in Burma. [FamilySearch]. Presumably the same as Deborah Charlotte Chubb, divorcée, born 1892 the daughter of Langford Rae, married John Finlay, born 1894 the son of John Finlay, on 14^th November 1928 in Lahore. [FamilySearch]

Rita Kathleen Rae, daughter of Langford Rae, married Noel Peter Nelson, a widower, son of Hans Nelson, on 7^th February 1915 in Bombay: year of birth not given. [FamilySearch] She was later widowed and re-married to Geoffrey Donald Fraser, the son of Harry Lacey Fraser, in Bombay on 11^th June 1921. [FamilySearch] A Rita K Fraser, date of birth around 1894, died in the first quarter of 1950, death being registered at Hammersmith, London.

Langford (Francis) Rae died 29^th January 1904 and was buried the same day in Bangalore. [FamilySearch]

Francis or Frank St Alban Rae, son of Francis Langford Rae, born 1862, listed at the time of his marriage in 1887 as "Asstt Bulloch Bros.", and in the records of the Catholic church in Shwebo in 1892 as "Accountant R.M.C." and as resident in Kyapin, married Esther Maria Robinson. Frank and Esther had the following children:

Amelia Irene Rae, born 12^th January 1892, christened 28^th April 1892 in Shwebo. [Baptismal records of the Catholic church in Shwebo]

Langford Francis Denis Rae, born 29^th May 1895, christened 22^nd October 1895 in Rangoon. [FamilySearch] Married Elizabeth Anne Maud Kirkpatrick, and had a daughter, Phoebe, in 1930.

Kyapin is supposed to be near Kyauktan which is just south of Rangoon/Yangon, four hundred miles from Shwebo, so it is probable that the place-name listed in the baptismal register at Shwebo church is an error for Kyatpyin, a small town about five miles west of Mogok and fifty miles north-east of Shwebo.

Frank died on 30^th June 1909 and was buried in Calcutta on 2^nd July. [FamilySearch]

Denis Wilmot Rae, son of Francis Langford Rae, born 1865, was a senior police officer and an anthropologist, based in the Kachin Hills. He joined the police force in 1884 and became both a District Superintendent and a senior administrator, very well respected by the people of the Kachin Hills. Detailed information on Denis and his second wife Ma Kyin can be found on his own page.

According to family history Denis married first to a Chinese wife whose name is not recalled, by whom he had a daughter:

Beatrice Eunice Rae, born 2^nd February 1892 according to her death certificate, who married Eric Alfred Henry, born 1889 the son of Thomas Henry, on 24^th September 1913 at Mague Myingyan (then described as being in Bengal, India but actually in what is now Burma/Myanmar). [FamilySearch] Beatrice and Eric had two children, Iris and Peter: Eric died in 1918, and Beatrice moved to South London in 1932.

He married again to a Shan woman variously named in the records as Ma Kyin, May Kym or Machin. The couple (my great-grandfather and great-grandmother) had the following children:

Robert R Rae, son of Denys Wilmot Rae and Ma Kyin, born 2^nd February 1900 and christened on 4^th January 1903 at Bhamo. [FamilySearch]

Virginia Rae, daughter of Denys Wilmot Rae and Ma Kyin, born 3^rd March 1902 and christened on 4^th January 1903 at Bhamo. [FamilySearch] Probably the same as Jeannie Monica Rae, born 1902, daughter of Dennis Wilmot Rae, married David Sassoon Soloman (born 1897) the son of Sassoon Ezekial Soloman, on 29^th January 1923 in Rangoon. [FamilySearch] Jeannie had one son, David.

Bertram Langford Denis Rae (my grandfather), son of Denis Rae and Machin, born 28^th September 1903, christened 14^th February 1909 in Maymyo (again, then described as being in Bengal, India but actually in what is now Burma/Myanmar). [FamilySearch] Known to be the same as Bertram Longford Rae, born 1903 the son of Denis Rae, who married Ethel Maud Shirran, born 10^th January 1904 the daughter of George Shirran, in Mandalay on 23^rd December 1924 (and previously in Edinburgh on 31^st May 1923). [British Library India Office Records N-1–481 folio 86 entry 131] [FamilySearch; GROS Statutory Marriages 1923 685/04 0464] After his divorce from Ethel Maud he married again on 8^th July 1941 to Herta Helene Josephine Margarethe Schmidt, born 17^th July 1913. Bertram and Ethel/Elise had one son, my father Rory, who was almost certainly adopted; Bertram and Herta had six sons, although one sadly died at birth.

Harry Paul Rae, son of Denis Rae and Machin, born 2^nd December 1905, christened 14^th February 1909 in Maymyo, India. [FamilySearch] Harry married Marie and had one son, Patrick.

Mary Agnes Rae, born 23^rd October 1910, and sadly died aged five of malaria.

Denis Louis Joseph Rae, a.ka. Denis Wilmot Rae Jr., born 19^th September 1912. [BL-BIND 005138451 00039] He was at the Government High School in Maymyo with a boy called Sam Newland (who would later be his commanding officer). Sam was at the school from 1914/15 to 1920/21 and Denis started at the school some time after Sam and probably not later than 1918. Sam, who was the same age as Robert, remembered Denis as being about half his own age at secondary school, but Sam probably left school at the start of 1920, aged nineteen, when Denis was only seven. Decades later, Denis would be Sam's 2inC during WW2. Married Daw Khin Kyaing and had four sons and two daughters.

Denis Wilmot Rae the elder died of cancer in 1921, but his widow Mah Gyan survived him by at least thirty years.

Third generation: the children of Mary or Minnie Maria Rae and Claude Augustus Wheldon

Edith Maude Rae Wheldon, daughter of Mary Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 17^th October 1874 in Moulmein, Myanmar. [REf. ID v150 p45, FHL Film NUmber 499231] On 29^th March 1937, aged 63, we see her arrive from Valparaiso to Liverpool on a ship called the Reina Del Pacifico, heading for 21 Upper Teddington Road, Hampton Wick. She is listed as resident in England, and evidently didn't marry since her surname is still Wheldon.

Minnie Christina Wheldon, daughter of Mary Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 30^th April 1876 in Moulmein, Myanmar. [FHL Film Number 510851] On 3^rd September 1895 she married Cedric Richard Kauntze, aged twenty-eight, in Rangoon. [India, Select Marriages, 1792–1948 FHL Film Number 512356]

Minnie Wheldon and Cedric Kauntze had one son, Cedric Ernest Wheldon Kauntze, born 25^th June 1896 in Madras. [India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 FHL Film Number 527457] The 1911 census shows him at Tonbridge School, a top boarding school in Tunbridge, Kent (the school's own records show he started there in 1910 and was in School House). 2^nd Lieutenant Cedric EW Kauntze of the 3^rd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was awarded the 1914/15 Star medal, and was killed in action at Ypres on 1^st or 2^nd October 1915. [British War Medal and Victory Medal Officers (Various Regiments) Piece 2216: Worcestershire Regiment Officers] [UK, Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901–1929 1915 ALL 12159–13253]

Cedric Sr. died on 25^th April 1937 at 30 Porchester Square, Hyde Park, London. [England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995, 1937 Habgood–Kyte] The Electoral Register shows that in 1939, Minnie was living on a private income in Worthing, West Sussex, England, and in 1948/49 she was living at 36 Marine Parade, Worthing. She died in Worthing in the January quarter of 1963. [Registration Quarter Jan–Mar; Registration District Working; Vol. 5h; p. 1260]

Henry Ellis Rae Wheldon, son of Mary Rae, grandson of Francis Langford Rae, born 5^th November 1878 and baptised in Moulmein on 27^th January 1879. [India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 Reference ID Vol 290 FHL Film Number 527498] There seems to be no mention of Henry anywhere after his birth, which suggests that either he changed his name drastically, or he died young.

Martha Janie Gladys Wheldon, daughter of Mary Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 17^th October 1884 and baptised in Moulmein on 25^th February 1885. [India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786–1947 Refeence ID Vol 290 FHL Film Number 527498] Followed the family tradition of re-assorting her names. As Gladys Martha Jeannie Wheldon, she married Paul Tempest Lambert Thompson, son of Edward Neave Thompson, aged twenty-eight, on 24^th June 1914 in Rangoon. [India, Select Marriages, 1792–1948 FHL Film Number 527905] Paul, who was born on 15^th October 1885, served as a Captain in the Indian Army during WWI (image on Fold3.com) and died in the January quarter of 1936. [GRO Death Index, January quarter 1936, Battle 2b 83] Gladys/Martha outlived him by forty years, dying in the July quarter of 1976, in Sutton Ÿ which was also where her first cousin Beatrice Eunice Rae, the daughter of her uncle Denis Wilmot Rae, would be living at the time of her death in 1985. [GRO Death Index, July quarter 1976, Sutton 15 0504]

Third generation: the children of Langford (Francis) Rae and Ellen Robinson

[N.B. some information on dates of birth etc. for the Calcutta Raes comes from a family tree for Barry George Sullivan on Rootsweb, although as at time of writing this the person who drew up the tree has got their Raes a bit mixed up and has confused fathers and sons in at least two places.]

Ellen Constantia Rae, daughter of Langford F Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 8^th June 1884, a.k.a. Helen Constance Rae, married Claude Hampton Chubb born 1878 the son of Charles John Chubb, on 15^th January 1904 in Madras. [FamilySearch]. No other information.

Frank Langford Rae, son of Langford F Rae, grandson of Francis Langford Rae, born 13^th August 1885, a.k.a. Langford Frank Allen Rae or Frank Langford Allen Rae, known in the family as Papa Rae, became a Captain in the army and an Inspector of Police in Calcutta, but he evidently wasn't considered a Class One Officer as his name does not appear in the Combined Civil List for India. He was known in the family to be strongly psychic, and had suffered traumatically as a prisoner of war of the Turks during World War One.

He married twenty-year-old Beatrice Eileen Constance Campbell, a relative of the Dukes of Argyll born 18^th March 1890. A transcript of a notice from the "Births, Marriages and Deaths" colum of The Statesman and Friend of India of 3^rd April 1910 states: "RAE-CAMPBELL- At the old Mission Church, Calcutta, on Wednesday,

Beatrice's family had connections with Dunstaffnage Castle at Dunbeg in Argyll & Bute. Built in the 13^th century on a high point overlooking the sea, to replace a 7^th century fortress at the same site, and originally belonging to the MacDougalls, the castle has been a Clan Campbell property since the 15^th century. Flora Macdonald was held there in 1746, and there is a hereditary office of Captain of Dunstaffnage which Beatrice's family seem to have held.

An elder son Langford Charles Rae, born in 1910, a dealer in posh cars who had something of a reputation as a ladies' man. He married Alma Beryl [surname not known but believed to have been from Burma] and had a son and a daughter with her: at the time of the birth of their first child he was a partner in a firm called Frank Rae & Co. During the war (in which he is believed to have served in North Africa) he split from Alma and he came home from the war in uniform, in a Rolls Royce, accompanied by a young Polish girl called Diana, very glamorous with long blond hair but remembered in the family as a nice person and good with children. Langford doesn't seem to have married Diana: some time later he married the daughter of a British Raj family, and had a son and a daughter by her too.

The children Langford Charles Rae had with Alma were a son Frank Langford Charles Rae (known as Dinky), born in Calcutta on 12^th February 1937 and baptised at St Theresa's RC church in Calcutta on 3^rd April 1937, and a daughter born in the early 1940s and probably called Patricia Rae. Dinky married in Calcutta, moved to Melbourne, Australia at some point, and had two children and one grandchild. Dinky's sister Patricia went to England and she and her children live near London.

After parting from Diana, Langford Charles Rae and his second wife moved to Melbourne to join Dinky. Langford's brother Havelock's family had moved to Australia in 1948, the year India became independent, but Langford didn't follow until some time afterwards. At least one of Langford's children by the second wife has also married and had children in Australia.

Marriage of Frank Ronald Campbell Rae and Gertrude Ann Penny, supplied by Kelvin Garrett-Meade

Another son Ernest Percival Havelock Rae married Merlyn Mabel Glewis, a Senior Ward Sister at the Presidency General Hospital Calcutta, on 3^rd December 1938. Ernest and Merlyn had a daughter Jean (now Jean Liddelow), born in the Eden Hospital, Calcutta in September 1939, and a son, Hugh Ernest Rae, born in 1946 in Calcutta. In 1948 the family moved to Australia. Jean is a geneaology researcher herself and is the source of most of the family history I have for the Calcutta Raes: you can read Jean's interesting account of her life as a child at Government House, Calcutta in the early to mid 1940s. Jean married ?? Liddelow and had a son Paul born in the 1960s.

Marriage of Frank Ronald Campbell Rae and Muriel Maud Smart, supplied by Jean Liddelow

A son Frank Ronald Campbell Rae, born 1913, who married Gertrude Ann Penny, known as "Toots", born 1911 the daughter of Charles Friend Penny, on 4^th August 1933 in Calcutta, at which point he was described as an engineer. [FamilySearch; British Library India Office Records N/1/551 f.197] Gertrude's nephew Kelvin Garrett-Meade, the son of her younger sister, is the source of some of the family photographs used here. Frank was later divorced from Gertrude and married again in Darjeeling on 24^th October 1944 to Muriel Maud Smart, 28, at which point he was Garage Superintendent at Government House, Calcutta [British Library India Office Records N-1–625 folio 157 entry 2].

Frank Ronald Campbell Rae, on right, with colleague and official car, supplied by Kelvin Garrett-Meade

Frank later became the personal driver first for Lord Richard Casey, who was the Governor of Bengal from January 1944 to February 1946, and then for Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was the last Viceroy of the British Indian Empire in 1947, and the first Governor-General of independent India 1947–48. Frank Campbell Rae and Muriel lived in a very grand apartment at Government House, and had a daughter, Jennifer Rae, who was born in the mid 1940s. Despite his rather gangsterish pose in some of these photographs, Frank is remembered as a kind and loving man, a wonderful brother and a godfather to his neice Heather.

Frank eventually died from typhoid fever.

Marriage of Frank Ronald Campbell Rae and Muriel Maud Smart, with Lord Casey seated to the right (their left) of the couple, supplied by Jean Liddelow

Baptism of Frank and Muriel's daughter Jennifer, supplied by Jean Liddelow who herself was once the little girl with the white bow in her hair

Frank Ronald Campbell Rae on left, Gertrude ??, Queenie plus unknown boy, supplied by Kelvin Garrett-Meade

Queenie & Clive at Dunstaffnage, supplied by Jean Liddelow

Queenie when slightly older, supplied by Jean Liddelow

Just one girl Mavis Laura Rae, born 4^th August 1914 the daughter of Frank Langford Allen Rae and nicknamed "Queenie", who married Victor Edward James Rainford Hannah, born 24^th May 1909 the son of Walter Richardson Hannah, on 14^th March 1935 in Calcutta. [FamilySearch] Mavis and Victor had a son, Clive Hannah, born in 1942 and a daughter Rosalie who was probably born in 1944.

Victor died in Bromley, South London, in 1971. Queenie outlived him by many years and died in Anerley, Bromley on 1^st August 1984: I was living only about a mile away from her at the time, but didn't know it. As at 2011 Clive has died but Rosalie is alive, married to a Somebody-Sullivan, has children of her own and is herself researching the history of the Campbell/Dunstaffnage side of the family.

A son Denis Langford Rae who was born circa 1916 and died very young.

A son Rochfort Gascoyne Rae, known as "Bunny", born 4^th April 1918, married to Cynthia, moved to Carlisle with her and died in 1998. Bunny and Cynthia had a daughter Heather, who lived in East Croydon. Heather moved to Michigan and married Somebody-Alexander (not necessarily in that order) and in turn has at least two daughters the eldest of whom is Joanne Alexander, born circa 1970 and also now married, while the other is about two years younger.

Another son Lancelot William Patrick Rae, known as Patrick, born circa 1920 and according to the India Office Records he married Shirley Irene Mary Rylands, born 1921, at St Thomas's RC church in Calcutta on 18^th February 1940. His wife's sister Vilma married Lancelot's brother Keith. At the time of his marriage he was a mechanic with Air France, but his niece Jean recalls him as having subsequently ended up in the Calcutta police. Information on Ancestry.com says that he moved to London in 1948. Patrick and Shirley had a daughter and two sons, one of whom was called Michael Rae (Micky), born circa 1942. Another son started a firm called Langford Rae Real Estate in London, which was the progenitor of the modern firms Langford Rae O'Neill, Langford Rae Van Bergen and Langford Rae Property Agents. Patrick died in October 2000, and Shirley in February 2007.

Allen Hamilton Rae, his sister Queenie (in check jacket) and wife Teresa (in fawn mac), outside Charing Cross Station, supplied by Jean Liddelow

A son Allen or Allan Hamilton Rae, born in or around 1921, married to Teresa and became a Commercial Artist in London. Allen and Teresa had a daughter Evelyn Rae, born circa 1950.

A youngest son Keith Fergus Rae, born 6^th February 1930 in Calcutta, baptised 1^st August 1930. He married Vilma Reynolds, the sister of the Shirley Irene Mary Reynolds who was married to Keith's elder brother Lancelot.

In later life Frank Langford Rae separated from his wife (possibly she was worn out by too many pregnancies!) and he went to live with his children, spending time with Frank Ronald Campbell Rae and with Rochford Gasgoyne Rae.

Esther Minnie Rae, daughter of Langford F Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 11^th December 1886 – no information about her later life. It's possible she either died young, or never married.

Debora or Deborah Charlotte Rae, daughter of Langford F Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 7^th February 1892, married twice. I have no information about her first marriage except that by 1928 her surname was Chubb and she was a divorcee. She married again to John Finlay, born 1894 the son of John Finlay, on 14^th November 1928 in Lahore. [FamilySearch] It may or may not be coincidence that her elder sister Ellen or Helen married a Chubb in 1904: perhaps two sisters married two brothers.

Rita Kathleen Rae (daughter of Langford F Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, date and year of birth unknown) married Noel Peter Nelson, a widower, son of Hans Nelson, on 7^th February 1915 in Bombay. [FamilySearch] She was later widowed and re-married to Geoffrey Donald Fraser, the son of Harry Lacey Fraser, in Bombay on 11^th June 1921. [FamilySearch]

Third generation: the children of Francis St Alban Rae and Esther Maria Robinson

Mildred Mary Rae, daughter of Francis Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 13^th November 1888.

Doris Kathleen Rae, daughter of Francis Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 26^th June 1890.

Amelia Irene Rae, daughter of Francis Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 12^th January 1892.

Langford Francis Denis Rae, son of Francis Rae, grandson of Francis Langford Rae, born 29^th May 1896, married Anne Maud Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, known as Betty. This is according to my mother's research at India House, where she also found evidence that he was born in Rangoon and was a tea-planter. The London Gazette of 18^th March 1919 records retroactively that on 18^th September 1918 Langford Frank Dennis Rae was admitted to the Indian Army Reserve of Officers as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Infantry. Langford and Betty had at least one child:

A daughter Phoebe Denise Olive Louise Rae, born 9^th September 1930 in Cachaw (probably Cachor or Cachar province in Assam, since that was where her father was in 1947).

This must be the Langford Frank Denis Rae who died in Worthing, June quarter 1970, with a date of birth given as 29^th May 1896 [GRO June quarter 1970, Worthing 5h 2085]. My mother investigated him in the 1980s and found that he had died on 21^st March 1970, and his address at death was 45 Hillside Avenue, Worthing, Sussex (his first cousin Minnie Christina Kauntze, daughter of his aunt Mary Wheldon, died in Worthing in 1963). His will was made on 10^th March 1947 at Cachor province Assam (which fits with his being a tea-planter), signed in Calcutta and executed in Brighton, and his executors were Ian Morriss & David. His entire fortune of £13,266 was left to his wife Betty Rae and daughter Phoebe Rae.

Third generation: the children of Denis Wilmot Rae...

... with his first wife

Beatrice Eunice Rae, daughter of Denis Wilmot Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born – according to her death certificate – 2^nd February 1892, married Eric Alfred Henry, born 1889 the son of Thomas Henry, on 24^th September 1913 at Myingyan in Burma/Myanmar. [British Library India Office Records N-1–393 folio 96 entry 4] [FamilySearch] Her father was one of the witnesses to her marriage. This is probably the same Eric Alfred Henry whose birth is recorded in Surrey in the September quarter of 1889, and who was baptised on 19^th October 1889 at Hampton Hill, St James, England the son of Thomas Alfred Henry and Donna Maria Henry [Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages for England and Wales: births in September quarter 1889, Surrey Vol. ?? Page ???] (the mother is listed in a family tree on ancestry.co.uk as Donna Maria Tibbits).

The couple did not get to spend much time together. About eighteen months after their marriage Eric took a trip to the UK, as we see him returning by the Bibby Line ship the Leicestershire from England to Burma, departing Liverpool on 19^th March 1915, when he is listd as a Civil Servant, then again sailing from Calcutta to Dundee, arriving on 14^th December 1915, listed as an Inspector of Police. Perhaps all this to-ing and fro-ing had something to do with WWI. The England & Wales National Probate Calendar for 1919 records that "Henry Eric Alfred of Bhamo Upper Burma died 27 December 1918 Administration (limited) London to Violet Maude Henry spinster attorney of Beatrice Eunice Henry. Effects £1000."

Beatrice and Eric managed to have two children, despite their marriage being cut so tragically short. The 1921 census shows Violet Maude Henry as single (so she got her surname from her parents, and must have been Eric's sister), aged thirty-eight, the Principal of Benhilton College, a private school for girls in Burnell Road, Sutton, Surrey, with her niece and nephew, Beatrice and Eric's children, living with her at that point. The census says that they were born in Burma, a.k.a. "Farther India", but with British-born nationality, their father is dead and they are now resident in the U.K. and in full-time education. They are:

A daughter, Iris Eunice Henry, described in the census as aged six years eight months as at 28^th April 1921 so born circa August 1914, but the India Office has a baptismal record for her which says she was born on the 19^th of October 1914 and baptised 15^th November 1914, so the census is out by two months. [India Office BL-BIND-005138458–00145] Iris married first to Lambert Charles Shepherd in 1939. Following Lambert's death (probably killed in the war), she married in 1944 Lieutenant-Commander John "Jock" Cameron, already a renowned Scottish lawyer and King's Counsel, who was the widower of Iris's late friend Eileen. After the war Jock went on to be Sheriff of Inverness, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Senator of the College of Justice, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Knight of the Order of the Thistle and chairman of an important commission investigating the start of the Irish Troubles.

A son, Peter Henry, described in the census as aged three years eight months as at 28^th April 1921 so born circa August 1917, married Gwyneth Enid Margery Howgate and had two children.

I do not know where Beatrice lived in the thirteen years after her husband's death, other than "in Burma", but she sailed to the UK via Colombo on the SS Balranald in January 1932 (alone), and her target address in the UK was at Benhilton, so she was heading to her sister-in-law's place, where her children were probably still based. Burma is listed as her country of last permanent residence, so this is the point at which she moved to the UK. In 1939 the England and Wales register lists her as a widow of independent means born on 12^th February 1894, living at 21 Garway Road, near Paddington and in 1947 the electoral roll shows her at 20 Hereford Road, Paddington, one street west of Garway Road. This is very near Porchester Gardens where her half-brother Bertram had stayed in 1921, so perhaps they had connections there, or it was a popular area for Indian ex-pats. By this point, she was the mother-in-law of the future Lord Jock Cameron, although he didn't become a Lord until 1955.

Later Bea went to live in council flats in Brixton, London, where her half-nephew Francis met her several times and recalls her as "a real darling of a woman". Family memory is that Iris visited her mother Bea only rarely, and would turn up in a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce. That she didn't visit more often is not surprising given that Bea lived in Brixton and Iris presumably at least in Edinburgh and possibly much farther north: her husband Jock died in Edinburgh in 1996, but he is buried in Ullapool in the Highlands.

Bea's death certificate says that she died on 15^th May 1985 in Tooting Bec Hospital of generalised cardiovascular degeneration and senile dementia, and that her late husband Eric had been a Superintendent of Police. It was Peter who informed the register of his mother's death. When she died she was resident at 69 Banstead Road South, less than two miles south of Benhilton but about seven miles sou' sou' west of Brixton, so it may well be that Sutton was still where Peter was based, and she ws living with him.

... with his second wife, Mah Gyan

All of the sons of Denis Wilmot and Mah Gyan boarded at the Government High School for Europeans in Maymyo, one of the top five high schools in Burma, where they were friends with a half-Chin boy named Samuel Newland whose father, Surgeon Major Arthur GE Newland, was both a medical man and a linguist who studied the Chin language. Sam and the Rae boys shared a common interest in hunting (unfortunately): other friends included Jack Girsham, Peter Bennie, George Fuller, Oscar Piggott, Arthur "Bill" Parry and Fred Lawson. Sam recalls them thus:

In my box-room I had about six boys, including R.R.Rae (Bobbie) who was the first to befriend me and show me the "ropes" in the school. We became fast friends as we discovered we had lead the same sort of out-back life and were mad on shooting. He managed to get another boy to change beds with me so that our beds were side by side and many were the stories we exchanged in bed after lights-out at 9 pm. Bobbie was about my age but one standard ahead of me. He had two other brothers in the school, Harry and Bertie and later a third brother, Denis, joined the school. After Bobbie joined up in 1917 and was sent to India for training, I took Bertie under my wing as he was keen on shooting too and we became life long friends afterwards. Harry was a lady killer and I never had much use for him. Denis was about half my age and I can hardly remember him in school ...

According to Vivian Rodrigues the Government High School in Maymyo taught to a very high standard, with compulsory subjects including two units of maths, one of science, one of either Latin or Greek plus sport and debate, among others. Students took the Cambridge Certificate and went on to universities in Britain or India, or into government service. It was not exclusively for Europeans and nor was it strictly a High School as we now understand it. Students could be as young as five or well into their twenties and were graded according to educational level rather than age, especially as some children had been living in the backwoods where they had had little prior access to education. Its academic year coincided with the calendar year, from January to December, rather than running from September to August as it does at British schools.

We know from Sam's memoirs that Bertie left Maymyo High School after passing his 7^th standard exams and also that the boat from Burma to Britain took a month. We know from Bertie's later application to join the Indian Police that he left the school in Maymyo in February 1920 and then attended a tutor in Bedford for several months in summer and autumn 1920, around the time he turned seventeen. Bertie must have sat his 7^th standard in December 1919. Sam, three years older than Bertie, took his 7^th standard in 1917 so Bertie was a year ahead of Sam and equal with Bobbie as regards the relationship between his academic year and his age. Sam considered himself to be well behind the normal age for schooling for city-raised children, so Bertie and Bobbie may also have been slightly behind.

Robert "Bobby" R Rae, son of Denis Wilmot Rae, grandson of Francis Langford Rae, born 2^nd February 1900, is covered in more detail on his own page. He was brave, reckless and sometimes aggressive and as such I suspect possibly a drunk: he volunteered for war at sixteen by lying about his age and made sergeant while still probably too young to even be there, but probably never saw action until the 1940s; he became a magistrate who was sacked after beating up a recalcitrant witness and killing a local man (albeit the latter was by accident and in justifiable self-defence); earned his living as a big game hunter and a slaughterer of tigers for money; was convicted of murder, judged temporarily insane due to malaria and confined to an asylum for seven years after killing, in undoubted self-defence, a friend whom he had cuckolded and who was trying to beat his brains out with an elephant bone at the time; was accused – almost certainly falsely – of rape; was reputed to have escaped from the asylum ahead of the advancing Japanese; fled the Japanese army the length of Burma and was so traumatised that he developed full-blown PTSD; became a respected captain of the Kachin levies; and was seconded to the U.S. special ops force called O.S.S. 101 where he taught jungle survival skills to the forerunners of the C.I.A., and became a decorated war hero.

David Soloman, born in 1925. An informative email from David Jr.'s widow Nicola made it clear that he led just as colourful and picaresque a life as the other children and grandchildren of Denis Wilmot Rae, at least in his youth. I had heard from other family members that he used the family surname Rae, but I learned from Nicola that he actually went by Denis Raye, having apparently changed his name to make himself harder to find, after "running away from school in Darjeeling, St Pauls, for the second time ... He joined the army in Quetta and worked as a Morse code operator at Quetta airport, Pakistan, before partition, no doubt also lying about his age". David/Denis died in 2012, and was apparently a Catholic despite also being technically a Jew, since he was presumably born after his mother converted.

In later life acording to family memory Jeannie became variously an actress, an alcoholic and a nun at a convent in Finchley. Sam says that Jeannie and her brother Harry both became "variety entertainers" in Paris: it is possible therefore that she got stuck in Occupied France during the war and that her later drink problem was the result of some traumatic wartime experience.

Rory Langford-Rae

Roderick "Rory" Denis Edward Langford-Rae, 28^th January 1927 – 25^th March 1965. Rory, a senior civil servant in the East and later a professional administrator and negotiator in the tea industry, did not marry but he had an affair with Kathleen Veronica Jordan (born 27^th December 1926) and produced an illegitimate daughter, me, Claire Margaret Jordan born in London (South Kensington) on 8^th March 1959. He is covered in detail in his own section.

After his divorce from Ethel Maud in 1940, Bertram married again to an Austrian glove-maker named Herta Helene Josephine Margarethe Schmidt, born 17^th July 1913, by whom he had five sons (plus one stillborn boy who was half of a pair of twins with Francis):

Peter Bertram Rae, born 5^th July 1942 in Darjeeling, a businessman and charity-manager resident in London.

Richard Wilmot Rae, born 28^th October 1944 in Darjeeling, lived in Austria with his father for a while and became first a banker in London, then a financial journalist and then a chef, and is now resident in Wales. His wife Georgina Griffin, born 2^nd July 1947 in Essex, is a banker and accountant. Richard and Georgina have two children. Their daughter Gaby Rae, is a journalist born 29^th July 1970 in Leytonstone, London, married Ralf Pinkner and now lives in Cologne. Their son Roger Rae, Gaby's brother, a systems accountant born 21^st October 1974 in Wanstead, Essex, is married to Jane Williams (born 16^th March 1969) and lives in Cheddington, Buckinghamshire. Roger and Jane have children of their own, and Roger is the source of much of my family information.

Francis Charles Rae, born 5^th October 1946 in Insein, a carpenter now resident in Daylesford, Australia. He married Kris Staddon, born 20^th July 1950. Francis and Kris had three children: Jade Rae, 11^th December 1979; Nicola Rae, 5^th July 1982 and Emerson Rae, 3^rd October 1986. He then divorced Kris and had a relationship (not a marriage afaik) with Elisabeth Denk, born in Wels, Austria, by whom he had a son Fabian Rae. All four children were born in Australia. Wels is the nearest major town to where Francis's parents ended up living from 1950 onwards, and Francis himself had lived there as a boy.

Timothy Ernest Rae, born 14^th May 1949 in Kalaw, now a procurement officer for IBM, living in Vienna. He married Anja Härkönen born 11^th August 1950. Timothy and Anja had two children, both born in Vienna: Tanja Rae, a radiographer born 28^th August 1975, who married Wolfgang Neurberger and has two children; and Robin Rae, a Sociologist born 3^rd April 1979.

Michael Bernard Rae, born 22^nd December 1950 in Thalheim bei Wels, is now a jewellery retailer, married to Isabelle Scheiber born 29^th September 1949, no children, resident in Austria.

After the collapse of his career with the Burmese police Bertram moved to Thalheim bei Wels, Austria, close to Herta's family in Wels, and became a salesman for a building-materials firm. He died of a blood-clot on 18^th March 1972. He is covered in much more detail on his own page.

Patrick Dennis Joseph Rae, born 25^th 1931 in Beckenham (according to US naturalization records) in the London Borough of Bromley, who moved to Olympia, Washington in the USA, became a US citizen on 3^rd November 1976 and was killed in a plane crash in the U.S. in July 1982. He married somebody possibly named Marie, and was survived by their two children, a son born circa 1969 and a daughter whom seems (from a tree posted on ancestry.co.uk) to be called Lynn, born 13^th October 1971 in Iowa.

According to the same informant Harry died on 5^th May 1996 in Raymond, Washington, USA.

Mary Agnes Rae, daughter of Denis Wilmot Rae, granddaughter of Francis Langford Rae, born 23^th October 1910: tragically died of malaria on 22^nd April 1916, at just five years old.

Denis Louis Joseph Rae, a.k.a. Denis Wilmot Rae Jr., son of Denis Wilmot Rae, grandson of Francis Langford Rae, born 19^th September 1912, is covered in more detail on his own page. He worked for the Forestry department and then during World War Two he became Sam Newland's second in command in the Z-Force Johnnies, the creme de la creme of secret reconnaissance units, as a result of which he was both mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross.

Denis stayed on in Myanmar after it became independant, married Daw Khin Kyaing and had six children:

Susan Rae, an accountant born in Rangoon in 1948 who remembers her grandmother Ma Kyin well. She married George Tin Win. Susan and George had two children: a daughter Chaw Su (Eve) Win, a.k.a. Su Banyar, born in 1973 and married to Banyar Tin Oo by whom she has two daughters, born in 2009 and 2012; and a son Zaw Htut (Leo) Win, born in 1975. George Tin Win and his son Leo both died in 1999. Susan, Su/Eve and Banyar Tin Oo run a family laundry and real estate services business.

Timothy Rae, an engineer born in Prome in Central Burma in 1950, who married Khin Than Oo. Timothy and Khin Than Oo had two daughters, Khin Thet Htar Maw, born circa 1975, and Khin Nway Nway Maw, born circa 1977, and a son Thwin Htoo Zin, born circa 1979. The family has a textile and cosmetics shop.

Christopher Rae, born in Rangoon in 1952 and nicknamed U Ni, married Tin Tin Wint. children of Christopher Rae & Tin Tin Wint">Christopher and Tin Tin Wint have a daughter Wint Wai Wai Han (Honey), born circa 1977, and a son Sat Wint Paing (Nino), born circa 1979.

Mary Rae, a shopkeeper and part-time teacher born in Rangoon in 1954 and died in 1997, married to John Thwin Aye Maung, a university lecturer on Russian who died in 2000/ Mary and John had a daughter Aye Mya Phoo born circa 1988, also known as Binkey Maung, a programmer who now lives in Sydney.

David Rae, born in Rangoon in 1956 and married to Mi Mi, who died in 2006. David and Mi Mi remained in Rangoon and had a son Kaung Myat Han, born in 1990, and a younger son Chan Myae Kyaw, born in 1993 and married to Htoo.

Denis Rae, officially called Maung Maung Rae in Burmese but nicknamed Maung Nge. Denis married Thandar and had a son Htoo Lu Rae, also known as Bingo, born circa 1985. Denis/Maung Maung Rae died circa 2006.

Denis Rae the younger, the father of Susan, Timothy, Christopher, Mary, David and Denis, died in 1999 and his wife Daw Khin Kyaing died in 2007.

The family thicket: