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Early Borthwicks in India / Births, Deaths & Marriages / Directories / The British Army in India / Borthwick Writers on India / Other Professions / Census Returns / Commonwealth War Graves / Rootsweb Databases / Lost Borthwicks
While searching for my own family I have found, or been given, a good deal of information about other Borthwicks, not connected to mine. As well I have collected a great deal of data in the course of my research. This has led to a world-wide One Name Study of BORTHWICKs. One specific aim of my research is to help Borthwick researchers around the world. The information on these pages is both from my own research and from a number of very generous genealogists on the Rootsweb Mailing Lists 2000-2001. I am especially indebted to Ray Osborn for sharing his research on Borthwicks in India. Some of the information on this page has not been finally formatted. I am posting it "as is" in order to quickly make it available to researchers and will improve the formatting etc when time permits. And finally, there are also pages on this site for Borthwicks in Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa and the USA. I will add more as I gather information. If you would like to see more about my own Borthwick family, descendants of John Borthwick & Elizabeth Dinwoodie, the best place to begin is here. John Borthwick, 1779. Halsey Borthwick refers to a John Borthwick, Lieutenant in the 73rd Regiment, 1st Battalion, Highlanders, McLeods, 1st Colonel John Lord McLeod. He went to India in January 1779. According to Halsey this John Borthwick had changed to the 71st Regiment in 1786. Was he the very first Borthwick to arrive in India? John BORTHWICK, 1819. Ray Osborn's ancestor John BORTHWICK (1801-1864) joined the Indian Army in Edinburgh in 1819 and Ray has his ancestry (from the Dalkeith area of Midlothian) plus virtually all his descendants down to about 1890 or so - in India. John Borthwick was a Sgt 66th NI Barrackpore 1833; Conductor of Ordnance, Fort William 1845; Asst Commissary & Barrack Master, Lucknow 1863. He married Mary Helen Southgate JAMES (nee SOUTHGATE, step-daughter of Henry JAMES (Station Clerk, Barrackpore) 1833. Later John EMERY(1830-1864+) Sergeant 66th NI 1858, Garrison QMS Fort William 1864-1868+, married Mary Ellen BORTHWICK (daughter of John) c1854. Ray would love to hear from anyone with connections to his family. Ray's family tree is posted on these pages. Please email me if you think you have a connection and I will arrange contact with Ray. Ray doesn't believe there were any Borthwicks in India before "his" John went from Edinburgh in 1819. Ray found no entries in the Bengal BDM indexes before John's marriage - but hasn't checked the Bombay or Madras indexes in this way. If Ray's guess is correct then the John Borthwick of the 71st Regiment must have left India without descendants. Searching for Vanessa King! Vanessa King's great-great-grandfather can be found on Ray Osborn's family tree. However Vanessa is no longer at her old email address and we have been unable to tell her about this connection. Vanessa's ancestor was John Henry Borthwick who married Charlotte Farrell. According to Vanessa he lived in Bengal in India during the latter half of the nineteenth century, however another descendant believes that John Henry lived in Bangalore. He worked as a Custom House Officer in India. He had three children, Samuel, Edith Emma, and another girl, Edith Emma Borthwick - recorded on Ray Osborn's family tree as Emma Alice Bridget Borthwick - was Vanessa's great-grandmother. If Vanessa or anyone who knows her reads this please get in touch with me as we have found other members of this family in four different countries! Another John Borthwick went from Edinburgh to Bengal with the Army in 1850, on the same ship as John Emery (above) who later married the daughter of John Borthwick, 1819. Were these two John Borthwicks related? Borthwicks of Bombay. Nick Borthwick in New Zealand comes from a line of Borthwicks, about five generations long, from Bombay, India. Nick's family history is very hazy as to its origins. The story heard most often is that his great-great-great grandfather was a Scotsman who arrived in India with the East India Company, was supposedly in the British Army Band, and stayed in India the rest of his life. Nothing unfortunately is known of his name or any other details. The only other Borthwicks Nick's family has heard of in India, live in a town called Kanpur, near the capital new Delhi. Captain Borthwick, 1829. Ratlam is one of the important Districts of Madhya Pradesh, situated in the North West part of the State, "The MALWA" Region. The New Town of Ratlam was founded by Captain Borthwick in 1829 with regular and broadened streets and well built houses. Ratlam was once one of the first Commercial Towns in Central India being the centre of an extensive trade in opium, tobacco and salt. It was also famous in Malwa for its bargains called Sattas. Before the opening of the Railway Line to Kahndwa in 1872, there was no better mart than Ratlam. For more information about Ratlam please follow the link... Who was Captain Borthwick? Was he a member of one of the families mentioned on this page? Emma Caroline Ellen Borthwick, born India about 1840. Her father was William and her mother Nancy (nee Rossenrode). Emma married Alfred Maiden after his family were all killed in a cyclone in Masulipatnam in about 1864. They had 8 children and migrated to Australia in 1880. She was 20 yrs younger than he. Descendant Julie Evans would love to hear from anyone who knows of Emma Maiden, nee Borthwick. Please email me and I will put you in touch with Julie. Borthwick Births, Deaths and Marriages in India The following data from Bengal records has been very generously contributed by Ray Osborn whose Borthwick family is mentioned above. Ray advises that he would be happy to communicate with anyone who is connected to any of these Borthwicks in India.
And one of Ray's messages
to the India List provides some excellent advice about genealogical
research in that country:
From the LDS site a couple of other possible Borthwicks in India can be gleaned (noting however that this information may not be reliable at all and should be carefully checked. For example one entry is for Edith Emma Borthwick, mentioned above, whose true name was apparently Emma Alice Bridget.)
Directories
This page is part of the Family History in India website which is designed to help people trace their British, European and Anglo-Indian family history in colonial India. This particular page is a transcription of the medal roll for the Indian Mutiny 1857-1859. It lists all men who served in the British Forces in India during this period, whose surname begins with Bi - Br. This list was kindly compiled by Kevin Asplin who personally transcribed the details from the original medal rolls. If you would like details of the casualty status of any individual (e.g. Wounded, Dead) or clasps for the medal for individuals, then please email Kevin and ask for details. Kevin is also able to undertake extended research on your British military ancestors for a reasonable fee. If you would like to purchase the complete list of the Indian Mutiny Medal Roll, with all 50,700 names, there are further details at the Family History in India Bookstore. Indian Mutiny Medal. The following Borthwicks were awarded the Indian Mutiny Medal - British Forces: Borthwick Angus Private 42nd Foot (Royal
Highland) The Militia List for Eskdale includes Cpl John Borthwick, 78th Foot (2nd Bn Seaforth Highlanders). Dangerously wounded at Lucknow. Died of wounds 26 Sep 1857 (Indian Mutiny Casualty Roll) Officers of the 9th Madras N.I. from the East-India Register, 1850. Information organised as follows - 1. Date of appointment to Army 2. Name 3. Date commissioned to current rank in regiment 4. Ditto to rank in the Army (where applicable) ------------------------ Ninth Regiment Native Infantry. Stationed at Kamptee. Arrived March 1846 1798 Colonel John WOULFE ; 2 June 1831 ; Maj.-Gen. 28 June 1838 ; On furlough ... Captains 1826 William BORTHWICK ; 31 Mar 1845 ; 13 Oct 1842 Madras Military Fund - Personal Information on Fund Applicants. LDS Microfilm No. 1866806 http://users.synflux.com.au/~sylcec/MMF400.PDF 394 BORTHWICK William d 24 Jan 1874 Cumberland WINFIELD Lucy Lt. Col. Madras Army m, b x 1 58 BORTHWICK William d 26 Jul 1867 Longholkm MAXWELL Maria A Colonel m IOR Ref: L/AG/23/10/11: Index of Personal Records, India Office (Microfiche No.6031227 - 6031240) includes BORTHWICK, Lt. Alexander. Was this Alexander Hay Borthwick? OTHER "Crossing the Bar"- Summary Tributes and Obituaries of Fleet Air Arm Personnel includes an entry for Commander Jason BORTHWICK RVNR Fighter Direction Officer on wartime aircraft carriers). Joined RNAS Yeovilton 1941, then pioneered Naval Fighter Direction, on HMNS Victorious in Operation Pedestal. Served on Admiral Ramsay's staff for the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944. Then organise fighter direction in Indian Ocean operations, including the invasion of Rangoon in May 1945. Source: The Daily Telegraph, 14 February 1998 Index to Cadet Papers 1787~1859 held at the O.I.O.C Borthwick Alexander IOR/L/MIL/9/108/514 1951682 Index to personel records, India, at O.I.O.C BORTHWICK, Lt. Alexander A Brief History of Classical Dance from South India The following is excerpted from Jon Borthwick Higgins' Ph.D. thesis THE MUSIC OF BHARATA NATYAM VOLUME I, 1973, 3-9 pp. Soul by Manuela Dunn-Mascetti, Arunima Borthwick. ... Kerala by Maya Kaimal; Curried Favors : Family Recipes from South India by Maya Kaimal MacMillan; A Taste Travels in India by Ramona Borthwick. I spent 5 weeks in India during winter '99... it was to be a wonderful trip. First, I journeyed to the incredibly colourful and hospitable desert state of Rajasthan, then to the palm fringed beaches of warm and languid Goa. I finally set base on home turf - Bombay, Maharashtra. http://www.leitmotif.com/india99/ Dr Meredith Borthwick, who was Acting Assistant Secretary of the East Asia Analytical Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade authored Changing Role of Women in Bengal 1849-1905 (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1984). John Borthwick Gilchrist:
and on another site by Katharine Smith Diehl of Texas, USA:
In a publication on Plant molecular biology in India � The beginnings there is a paper on Plant physiology and molecular biology at Delhi Studies at the Department of Botany, Delhi University (1960s�1980s). This notes that because of early contacts with H. Borthwick and S. Hendricks, work was also undertaken on isolation of phytochrome in wheat and red-light-induced calcium influx in wheat protoplasts 32 . Was H Borthwick a scientist in India? A Mr Borthwick taught at Loyola College, Madras, India in the 1970s.
The Commonwealth War Graves, Debt of Honour site lists many Borthwicks from around the world. However, there are no Borthwicks with India as their nationality listed on the Commonwealth War Graves, Debt of Honour. HAROLD MALCOLM BORTHWICK Corporal 7535789 Royal Army Medical Corps who died on Sunday 24 December 1944 . Age 37 . Additional Information: Son of Matelda Borthwick; husband of Gladys Elizabeth Borthwick, of Pudupet, Madras, India. There is much on Rootsweb of great interest to Borthwick researchers. I've begun to extract and summarise some of this but have a long way to go. I will post as I manage to to this. First, on an In Memoriam page for Anglo-Indian family members who have passed away since India's Independence (1947) there is an entry for Sennen Hickman from Hubli. Born: Quilon, July 30, 1912 Died: Toronto, July 25, 2001. His wife was Maude (nee Borthwick). He was a telegraph operator with the British-Indian Railways in Hubli; a talented singer and church choirmaster; moved his family to England in 1960; and finally settled in Toronto, Canada in 1971. Family of Agnes Rice Borthwick, born on 28.10.20 in the Govan area of Glasgow. Her mother was Elizabeth Rice married to Robert Borthwick. In about 1928 her parents left Scotland to live in India , leaving Agnes with her grandmother. Agnes died in Invernein Scotland in 1996 and her daughter is searching for information about members of the family. Please email me if you are able to help. John Bryant, a member of the India Mailing List, is trying to track down a number of people with associations with Bangalore, and one of those is a Connie Borthwick. Mary Anne Gourley is searching for anyone in India with the name Bell Borthwick. This family would have been in Calcutta in the region of 1870 to 1880.
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