NOTES ON THE KELSALL FAMILY
[Chester Reference Library Acc Nr. 92 KEL 67316 of 19/3/1959] The Kelsalls are a Cheshire family and for generations there have been Kelsalls living at Tarvin, Wilmslow, Cheadle and other places on the edge of Delamere Forest, Cheshire. There is a village named Kelsall, three miles NE of Tarvin, 8 miles from Chester. The Manor there formerly belonged to the Kelsalls (see Lyson's "Magna Britannia". Vol.II.pp.366 & 747). The elder branch of the family was that of the Kelsalls of Bradshaw and Heathside near Cheadle. (see Earwake's [sic] "East Cheshire" I.193.) In the time of Charles I, John Kelsall, the then head of the family, was a Royalist, imprisoned by Cromwell at Chester Castle and his estate (then reckoned as worth about #1500 a year) was sequestrated. After the Civil War was over he had to buy his liberty by surrendering half his estate to the Commonwealth. Another Kelsall in the same period was Sir Robert Kelsall, a Welsh judge, and it was from him that Charles Kelsall was descend- ed. Sir Robert had a son (also an eminent lawyer) Thomas Kelsall. This Thomas Kelsall, described as "of Trafford near Chester" married Christiania, a daughter of John Brerewood of Chester. This Thomas Kelsall was buried in Plumstead [Plymonstall] Church near Trafford. The wife was buried in the family vault of the Brerewoods at St.Mary's Church, Chester. They had eight children, of whom five came to maturity, the fifth son being John Kelsall, born in 1702. He was in the East India Company's service and always called "Captain John Kelsall", probably from commanding one of the E.I.Co's trading vessels. He was married at Calcutta in 1728, his bride being Alice, daughter of Nevill Maskelyne of Purton, Wilts. (Alice Maskelyne's brother Edmund was the father of Margaret Maskelyne, the wife of "Clive of India"). This John Kelsall died at Greenwich in 1787. John and Alice Kelsall had several children born to them in Madras and Calcutta, but most of them died in infancy. Among them was one daughter Jane who married (1) Capt. Lathom and (2) Sir Henry Strach- ey, Bt (first baronet) and in the Library there is a crayon portrait of "Mrs. Dawkins, aunt of C. Kelsall Esq" who may have been a daughter of John and Alice Kelsall. There was only one son who survived infancy, namely Thomas Kelsall. It is his portrait by F. Wheatley R.A. that is over the mantelpiece in the Library. It was done in 1791 when the sitter was 55, 6 years before his death. Thomas Kelsall was born "in Eng- land" in 1736 and baptised in St. Lawrence Jewry in the City of London. In 1754 he was appointed "Writer" on the Madras Establishment of the E.I.Co, his "securities" being his father John Kelsall "of St. Catherine's" and John Pope "of Lombard Street". He reached India in 1755 and served as Under-secretary to Government. Later he was stationed at Masulipatam, and in 1767 was, at the request of Lord Clive (Lady Clive being Kelsall's cousin) transferred to Bengal. He was one of the four Madras civilians for whose services Lord Clive specially asked (see pedigree at the end of Arbuthnot's "Life of Lord Clive" and Prinsep's "Record of Service of Madras Civilians"). He served in Council until 1772 and on the re-organisa- tion of the Government was transferred to Dacca. "In 1769 Mr Kelsall was appointed First Superior of the Revenue at Dacca. Quietly the servants of the Company stepped into the places of the Mogul Administrators. Mr Kelsall had only four English assistants at the outset and the wonder is that they were able to do what they did. They make a striking picture, these five Englishmen set in the midst of so vast and alien a province, struggling through heat, discomfort and intrigue to bring order out of chaosand to lay the foundations of an administration of honesty. They played their part in the foundations of an Empire, writing their epitaphs in deeds not words. (see H.Bradley Birt: " Romance of an Eastern Capital" 1906.) It is not known when Thomas Kelsall left India but there is a note that he spent 18 years of his life out there. He was married at St.George's, Hanover Square, London to Sarah Phipps, daughter of Thomas Phipps (see Burke's Landed Gentry.IV.510) It is said that they had 3 children, namely 1. Thomas, born 1784, died at Greenwich 1794 2. Sarah, who took the name of "Peckham Phipps" and died unmarried. 3. Charles, born 1790, died 1857. But these dates appear to be incorrect as Charles left Cambridge in 1803. This son Charles wrote that his father had made a fortune in India. At Pondicherry he was a friend of Law of Lauriston, to whom he lent considerable sums of money (apparently all repaid). He returned to England with Lord Clive via the Continent of Europe and bought a house "at the foot of Maize Hill" Greenwich near the Park where he lived for about 20 years before dying there in July 1796. (see Gentleman's Magazine", 1796) leaving Charles, then aged 6 and the daughter Sarah. It is possible that the birth-date of Charles should be 1780. As he was born at Greenwich and baptis- ed, the exact year of birth would perhaps be ascertainable from the St. Alphege Baptismal Register in Greenwich. Charles Kelsall (the donor of the Library) was an orphan at 6 years old and in his "Equisse" he says that his uncle on the maternal side (presumably a Phipps) sent him to Eton and then to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he did not distinguish himself especially. He left Cambridge in 1803 and became an ensign in a Wiltshire Militia Regiment which went to the Isle of Wight and then to Weymouth where it was incorporated into the Regular Army in 1806. Charles Kelsall decided against the Army as a profession, also rejected marriage and the Law, and in 1806 was in Russia visiting St.Petersburg and Moscow. He was again in St Petersburg in 1807 with Robert Ker Porter (later Sir R.K.P.) who was destined to have a distinguished career in the Diplomatic Service and write some useful travel books. He was a lifelong friend of Charles Kelsall. In 1808 Charles Kelsall appears to have left England with a [line missing] -ing to India via Russia, the Caucasus and Persia. It was in 1807 that C.K. bought a copy of Anacreon in Greek and Russian in Moscow and this book is now in the Library with a note written inside the cover stating that it was "bought in Moscow when I was there with Viscount Royston. Moscow and Royston now no more, 1812". Viscount Royston was heir to the Earl of Hardwicke and 1812 was the year in which Napoleon found Moscow in flames. Again in his "Equisse" he reports this visit to Moscow in 1807, noting "Moscow, destined to be destroyed". He was back in England in 1809, and in 1814 in Paris, in 1816 in N. Italy. In 1818 he published his "Constantine and Eugenie : an Evening on Mount Vernon" at Brussells, hiding his name under the pseudonym of "Junius Secundus". In one copy he wrote the note "This political dialogue I composed, wrote and printed at Brussells, 1817", In another copy he wrote "Written at Brussels 1817 when I was bitten by a Virginia Rattlesnake". In 1819 he was in Rome and in 1820 published his "Classical Excursion from Rome to Arpino". He travelled a great deal, was a voluminous author, using several pseudonyms and in a book writen in French and published in 1830 :"Esquisse de mes Travaux etc." he gave a short autobiography of his life and opinions. He never married and, according to the College Minutes, died at Nice in January 1857. By his Will he left his books and #2000 to build a Library at Morden College to house them in. He was a member of the Dilettanti Society and the Bibliophile Society. [see also: Charles Kelsall and his Library.Kelsall and the Society of Genealogists.