Hi John,
Well, there is a lot to tell you. I will send you a guest invite to the family tree so you can explore related folks at your leisure. Let me see if I can give you the executive summary:
Firstly, I don’t know where Amanda ended up but I do know she left Singapore in 1926 arriving in London on the Haruna Maru 29 Jun of that year. At about the same time but on a different ship, the Hector, her daughter Marie, husband Daniel Augustus (Gus) Frederick Caldwell (my great uncle) and their 5 children immigrated to England where they remained and had three more children. I have been in touch with the wife of a descendent of Daniel and Marie. Her ancestry tag is Dixon1201 and she is an avid genealogist with much knowledge of the Caldwell family. She may know more about Amanda. It seems likely to me that Amanda joined Daniel and Marie in England. Her John died 17 years earlier. So I expect the departure of her daughter and family might have been too much to bear, so she joined them.
Marie was Daniel’s 3rd wife. He had a son Bernard (1901-1971) by his second wife Emma. Marie and Gus appear to have married about 1918. Marie was 23 and Gus was 40. The impression I get of Gus is not particularly complementary and it’s highly speculative. He was a handsome man in his youth and I suspect a ladies man with little sense of responsibility. As well, I suspect he had a drinking problem. See letters to his sister (my grandmother) in his ancestry gallery on my tree. Anyway, he seems to have settled down by the time he met Marie and there is every reason to believe they had a good life together.
The Caldwell family of that era is an interesting one. Briefly, it begins on the Island of St Helena deep in the South Atlantic. Since the mid 1600s, the island had been a possession of the East India Company. The first Daniel Caldwell I am aware of (my 3X great grandfather) was born there in the late 1700s, as was my 2X great grandfather, also Daniel (Richard) Caldwell in 1816. That Daniel with his siblings was raised in Singapore where the family arrived about 1828, following the death of the senior Daniel in Penang. Daniel Jr was something of a wild card whom his mother tossed out when he was 18. He had a hugely colourful life in Hong Kong following a few years as a smuggler running opium into Canton against the Chinese prohibition. In Hong Kong he held a number of posts in the civil service, starting as interpreter to the low and high courts, then multiple other positions. He married a Chinese woman Ayow Chan with whom he had 12 children. They adopted 20 more. Their first born was yes, Daniel Caldwell. That Daniel Caldwell had three children including my grandmother Rose Mary and Daniel Augustus. Gus’s father was a lawyer who hated his work and one day in 1890, disappeared forever along with the trust funds of his practice. The family appear to have gone to England or more likely were already there and stayed.
Gus, it seems, was a poor letter writer. I remember as a small boy hearing about the man who disappeared without a trace somewhere in the Far East. For six or so years the family heard nothing. Then his sister Rose Mary received a letter in which he advised he was married to Marie and had five kids.
Daniel Richard Caldwell had a brother Henry who remained in Singapore for much of his career. He was the Court Clerk to the High Court — a much liked and respected figure in Singapore. Henry decided to build a house, a big house. You likely know of it. It is in downtown Singapore — Caldwell House, better known as CHIJMES (Church of the Holy Infant Jesus). The costs apparently got out of hand and got Henry into debt. In those days, debts unpaid landed one in prison. One night in 1856 Henry and his family disappeared from Singapore. Remarkably, they reappeared in Hong Kong, then when they heard the heat was catching up to them (you see, not only did Henry disappear, he took the court’s trust funds with him. It seems to be a family trait) they disappeared again and reappeared in Macao. Anyway, some deal was reached, Henry became a successful lawyer in Hong Kong, paid back the monies stolen and he and his wife retired in style to England.
In sum, the Caldwell’s were a colourful lot. I don’t believe Gus was any exception.
I will send along the invite to the tree John. Again, I am very pleased to have made your acquaintance. Let’s ‘talk’ again. Cheers, Peter
Thank you Peter.
I have just returned home (Singapore) from a short holiday in Perth.
PS I live in Victoria, Canada