George Alexander Reynolds of Lincoln, SV/PROG

Arrived 1806 in South Africa from Grantham, Lincolnshire, England (I am not so sure that this is correct, as Louisa seems to have been born in India).

• George Alexander Reynolds, who was baptized in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in 1757. He arrived in Cape Town in 1806 and had with him his 4 year old daughter Louisa Elizabeth. The South African records indicate that his first wife was a Ms Bonnefoi (no firstname).
• Louisa Elizabeth was born in Madras in 1802 and that her mother was called 'Eliza'. Through the kind help of the staff of the British India Records Section of the British Library I have found out that George was a shopkeeper in Madras and was listed as living there already in 1786.
• Shortly after his arrival in Cape Town (about a year later) he married a Carolina von Bratt and had three children with her. He was quite a well-to-do citizen of the Cape and owned many farms and businesses. He died in 1819.
• Not much is known about G.A.R before he came to the Cape and of his work in India - there actually seems to be a deliberate attempt to obsure his parentage. Records and letters show that he was merchant in Madras, India from 1791, of the firm Hope, Griffiths & Co, left India in 1804 for England and came to the Cape in 1806. At around he same time his brother John is first mentioned in correspondence as having left the firm of Davis & Card, of 14, Devonshire Street London.
• There seems to have been an unbridgeable estrangement between the GAR1 and his brother John. GAR1's children knew of and accepted the existence of John. Only in 1835-6 was it found after enquiries were made that John Reynolds had two illegitimate children - a son and a daughter living in London - and that the daughter was then married. This brother, John Reynolds was for many years, prior and up to about 1836, carrying on business as an Ironmaster and Banker at Wellington and. Coalbrookdale in Shropshire under the firm of Reynolds Charlton (?) & Co. John is alleged to have died at Clifton in Notts, sometime between 1845 and 1855.
• So too, are we left with questions about the parentage of GAR1 -whether he was perhaps an illegitimate, or if the parents were of questionable origin themselves. So while the evidence suggests that our G.A.R is linked to the Ironmaster Reynolds of Shropshire only John can be found on any associated family trees.
• Louisa Elizabeth Reynolds born on 10 NOV 1802 at Fort St George, Madras, Tamil Nadu, India to parents George R and Eliza. Given the above, she must have been around two years old when her mom died en route to England from India and around 4 years old when she came to the Cape with her dad.

IGI on GAR2's children in India the other day. Just posting it here for the benefit of others. George Alexander Reynolds II married Maria Josina Petersen on 23rd March 1839 at the Cape and they had the following children:

• 1. George Alexander Reynolds III b. 13 Oct 1841 in Madras, India
• 2. Frederick Jacob b. 19 Oct 1843 in Mysore District, Madras m1. Isabella
• 3. Charles Eaton b. 28 Jun 1846 in Madras, India m. Aimce Maud Lamoung
• 4. Caroline Harriet c. 8 Aug 1854 in Bangalore, Madras, India m. Louis Clerk
• 5. James George Wellington c. 13 Apr 1858 in Madras m. Jane Atkinson
• 6. Margaret Mary b. 10 Jul 1860 in Bangalore, Madras, India
• 7. Andrew von Bratt Reynolds d. 4 Sep 1854 in Madras
• 8. Maria Wilhelmina b. 1838

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