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| The Old Bailey - before Ardeshir Kapadia's time |
That one my 2xgreat grandfathers was an immigrant to Britain from India, I had known for many years. He was of a Parsee family from Bombay, now Mumbai. I knew as well the surname, Kapadia. Thus, as soon as I could search the census books, Kapadia was high on my list. Kapadia is a fairly common Parsee name, but in late Victorian England there were extremely few of them, and his family is easy to trace. Ardeshir Kapadia is a common research interest of Duncan Bray and myself, and some of what I present here comes from several email exchanges, dating back to before Christmas. So many thanks, Duncan, for getting me started, and I direct the reader to his site dedicated to this ancestor of mine. Some of the record below overlaps with this site.
The census data covers three of the decennial censuses. The 1901 data was particularly hard to find on ancestry, having been transcribed as Rapadia, but here they are in chronological order. First, the 1891 England Census at 120 St Donatt's Road, Deptford.
Ardeshir Kapadia Head M 26 Barrister at Law India
Zoe Kapadia Wife M 28 Clapham, London
Kenneth P Son 4 Kent, Goudhurst
Douglas S Son 1 Kent, Lenham
And a 14-year-old female domestic servant.
Next, the 1901 England Census at 18 St Donatt's Road, Deptford.
Ardeshir Kapadia Head M 34 Barrister-at-law Bombay, India (British subject)
Zoe Kapadia Wife M 37 London, Clapham
Keneth [sic] P Son 14 Kent, Goudhurst
Douglas S Son 11 Kent, Lenham
Eric R Son 7 London, New Cross
Hugh Son 6 London, New Cross
And finally, the 1911 England Census at The Aldborough Grange, Aldborough Hatch, Ilford, Essex.
Adeshir Kapadia Head 47 Married Barrister-at-law Bombay, India (British subject)
Zoe Kapadia Wife 47 Married County of London, Clapham
Douglas Stuart Son 21 Single Shipbroker's Clerk Kent, Lenham
Dorothy Phyllis Daughter 19 Single Kent, New Cross
Eric Roy Son 17 Single Printer's Apprentice Kent, New Cross
Hugh Son 15 Single Kent, Brockley
And two male servants who are listed as farm laborers.
Dorothy Phyllis should also be somewhere for the 1901 census. She is likely lost in "poor-transcription land", and some day we will find where she was on census night 1901.
Here are some BMD Index data, and other documentation for the children:
Kenneth Peston Kapadia
I followed Kenneth Kapadia's records to Canada and the United States of America in the post On The Trail back in November.
BMD Birth Index Mar1887 Cranbrook, 2a 761
(as Kenneth ?eston Kapadia)
BMD Marriage Index Mar1915 Lambeth 1d 547
(Kenneth P Kapadia and Hattie M Maxfield)
I have this certificate for the marriage solemnized by license at Lambeth Register Office 28 January 1915, which has the following data:
Groom's name: Kenneth Peston Kapadia
Groom's age and condition: 28 Bachelor
Groom's occupation: Colour Sergeant, 5th Western Cavalry Regiment
(Canadian Contingent)
Groom's residence: Union Jack Club, Waterloo Road
Groom's father/occupation: Ardeshir Kapadia Barrister at law
Bride's name: Hattie Mary Maxfield
Bride's age and condition: 26 Spinster
Bride's residence: Aldborough Hatch, Ilford, Essex
Bride's father/occupation: Joseph Maxfield, Non commision[ed] Officer
United States Army (retired)
Signed: Kenneth P Kapadia/Hattie Mary Maxfield
Witnesses: Henry E Bowie/W R Moore
Some notes on this are in order. It is not true that Hattie was a spinster in 1915. In fact she was divorced from Oscar Wichert. This may explain why the couple have a second civil marriage registration in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1922, on which Hattie correctly gives her name as Hattie M Wichert.
It is not surprising that Kenneth was staying at the Union Jack Club, which offered inexpensive accommodation for servicemen in London. I am surprised, however, that Hattie gives an Aldborough Hatch address, which is where the Kapadias were living in 1911. The family appears to have had little knowledge of what became of Kenneth, and if they were in on the wedding, I would have expected Ardeshir or one of the siblings to have witnessed the marriage. I suspect some estrangement between Kenneth and his family. Was Hattie in Aldborough Hatch to try to smooth things over? Or did she give a spurious address? Or is the address a coincidence?
The 5th (Western Cavalry) Battalion CEF was heavily engaged on the Western Front, during the Great War, serving as infantry in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. The soldiers came from western provinces in Canada, and this is consistent with the Kenneth Kapadiah, Laborer, of the 1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, being our Kenneth.
As to Hattie's father, I found records of a Joseph Maxfield born in Canada who had served with the 10th Vermont Infantry during the Civil War. After 1898 he was in and out of homes for disabled veterans. The records show he served as a Private (so not an NCO). His next of kin is wife Minnie, living in St Paul, Minnesota, where he had been discharged after the war. He died in 1917.
I think I can follow Hattie's family though census returns to find that Hattie had been born in Canada, and came to the US when she was three years old. But note that I have found US census returns quite inconsistent with respect to places of birth - much more so than English returns. In the US, respondents quite often downplay their foreign heritage. Hattie's Canadian origin explains why she would have had to naturalize as well as Kenneth, after they came to the US in the 1920s. Which they did under the names Kap and Hattie Kenneth. Kap died in Los Angeles, 25 September 1960. I have no record that the couple had children, beyond Hattie's son from her previous marriage, Hartland John (Wichert) Kenneth, who came to live with them.
Douglas Stuart Kapadia - my great grandfather
I have also posted about Douglas Stuart Kapadia in Remembering Those Lost in March. It is his change of name that is the Stuart in my last name.
BMD Birth Index Sep1889 Hollingbourne 2a 742
For some reason the ancestry.com index cannot see this one, whereas the freebmd.org.uk has no trouble.
BMD Marriage Index Sep1913 W Ham 4a 201 Douglas S Kapadia and Emily Strong
Which I have already reported.
BMD Death Index Mar1965 Romford 5a 505 Age:75
National Probate Calendar 9 March 1965 (death date: 4 January 1965)
He had worked for Reardon Smith Shipping Line, and, I am told, in his youth had raced at the Brooklands Motor Racing circuit. Unfortunately, there is no record of him in the archive there, but he may have belonged to one of the outside motor clubs that rented the circuit. I would love to see a picture of one of his trophies.
The children of Douglas Stuart Kapadia and Emily Strong are:
Douglas Strong Kapadia became Stuart after 1922 (my grandfather)
BMD Birth Index Sep1916 Epping 4a 920
(which ancestry.com can find, but freebmd.org.uk cannot)
Keith Kapadia became Stuart after 1922
BMD Birth Index Mar1918 Epping 4a 667
Bryan R Kapadia became Stuart after 1922
BMD Birth Index Dec1919 Epping 4a 1011
Dorothy Phyllis Kapadia
BMD Birth Index Sep1891 Greenwich 1d 1058
Baptised at St Alphege, Greenwich 30 August 1891
(date of birth 15 June 1891)
BMD Marriage Index Sep1917 Romford 4a 925
(Dorothy P Kapadia and William Stewart)
BMD Death Index Feb1989 Bullingdon 20 2440
(as Dorothy Phyllis Steward, date of birth 15 June 1891)
I can find one son: Colin F Stewart BMD Birth Index Sep1922 Hastings 2b 42
Eric Roy Kapadia
BMD Birth Index Sep1893 Greenwich 1d 1090
Baptised at St Alphege, Greenwich 2 September 1893
(date of birth 22 July 1893)
BMD Marriage Index Sep1923 Romford 4a 1168
(Eric R Kapadia and Mabel P Manch)
BMD Death Index Mar1962 Westminster 5c 525 Age:68
National Probate Calendar 15 June 1962
(date of death 15 March 1962)
I find no children.
Hugh Kapadia
BMD Birth Index Mar1895 Lewisham 1d 1232
Baptised St Mary Lewisham, 25 March 1895
(date of birth 16 January 1895)
BMD Marriage Index Jun1925 Fulham 1a
(Hugh Kapadia and Rita E Emmett)
BMD Death Index Mar1982 Canterbury 16 0212
(date of birth 16 January 1895)
I find no children.
 |
| Aldborough Grange, Ilford where they lived |
Back to the barrister, Ardeshir Kapadia. I have already cited (Witnesses to a Wedding) his and Zoe DH Young Hanrott's marriage certificate, which I will not repeat here; and the Lincoln's Inn Admission Register, which I will repeat, with his date of admission:
14 January 1885 Adeshir Rustomji Pestonji Kapadia, of Uny. of Bombay (20),
o.s. [only son of] Rustomji Pestonjee K., of Bombay, general broker.
English language reports appear to use the "ji" and "jee" suffixes interchangeably. The Law List of 1904 has three Kapadias:
Kapadia, Ardesheer Byramjee M. 18 Nov. 1872, Bombay.
Kapadia, Ardeshir Rustomjee Pestonjee L. 25 Apr. 1888, 23, old-sq., W.C., Ind. appeals, privy council.
Kapadia, Shaporji Aspaniarji, M.D., L.R.C.P., I. 17 Nov. 1893, 6, crown-office-row, E.C., Indian appeals, privy council.
The M., L. and I. referring to the Inns of Court to which they belonged, Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn and Inner Temple respectively. The dates are when they were called to the bar, the addresses presumably their chambers.
Shaporji Aspaniarji Kapadia is interesting in being both a barrister and a medical doctor. He also wrote about the Parsee religion of Zoroastrianism. You can find out more from Duncan's webpage. In the preface to The Teachings of Zoroaster and the Philosophy of the Parsi Religion, Shaporji Aspaniarji Kapadia extends thanks to his "friend Mr. A. Kapadia, of Lincoln's Inn, for his kind assistance."
Admissions data for Ardesheer Byramjee Kapadia state that he was born about 1851, the eldest son of Byramjee Pestonjee Kapadia, merchant of Bombay. Among Parsees, a middle name is customarily the same as the father's first name. Were that custom observed in the families of Ardeshir RP Kapadia and Ardesheer B Kapadia, then their grandfathers would both be Pestonjee Kapadias, and just possibly these two (Ardeshir and Ardesheer) were cousins! Speculation, of course, but worth keeping in mind if we can ever trace the family's Parsee heritage in India.
The Straits Times, Singapore, 27 April 1927, page 10 has this announcement of Ardeshir Kapadia's death (BMD Death Index Ardeshir Kapadia Jun1927 Romford 4a 398 Age:61 - should be 63 from other sources).
ECHO OF BABY FARMING CASE
London, April 6 :- The death has occurred in Ilford of Mr. Ardeshir Kapadia,
the barrister who defended, at the Old Bailey, Mrs. Dyer, the notorious baby
farmer in 1896. Mr. Kapadia was the son of a Bombay Parsee and married an
Englishwoman, who died at Hastings in 1925, since when he has visited her
grave every week-end.
In fact, Zoe had died in 1923 (BMD Death Index Zoe DH Kapadia Sep1923). Ardeshir's weekly visits to her grave are touching, the baby farming case, less so.
Mrs. Dyer, the baby farmer, stood accused killing an infant she had taken in for adoption. This was a specimen murder charge, since she was suspected of killing many children. It appears she received payment as expenses for adopting out infants, and then killed them for the money. The Old Bailey transcript makes for harrowing reading.
The facts of the case were not in dispute, and, defending, Ardeshir Kapadia attempted a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, based on her prior hospitalizations. Given the forensic evidence, this was probably his best strategy. However, under the M'Naghten rules, he would have to prove that Mrs. Dyer was insane at the time of the alleged murder, and unable to distinguish right from wrong. Expert witnesses for the defense had examined her during prior hospitalizations and declared her insane. The prosecution expert witnesses had examined Mrs. Dyer after her arrest, and could testify that she was not obviously insane. The jury retired for just a few minutes and returned a guily verdict. Mrs. Dyer was hanged at Newgate 10 June 1896.
And finally, a possible lead on Ardeshir RP Kapadia's father, Rustomji/jee Pestonji/jee Kapadia. One of the chapters in New Frontiers: Imperialism's New Communities in East Asia 1842-1953 edited by Robert Bickers and Christian Henriot contains a footnote with the name Rustomjee Pestonjee Kapadia, a Parsee merchant who did business in Shanghai. The chapter, by Claude Markovitz, investigates the Indian merchant community in China. And the footnote refers to a series of probate documents of Parsee merchants in Shanghai. Many of them traded in opium, a somewhat dubious occupation.
Unfortunately the exact reference in the footnote is incorrect, but I found the correct one by searching the National Archive website: FO917/766. It is filed under Rustomjee Pestonjee Kapadin, but I'll assume that Markovitz has read it and has the correct transcription. The document is from 1897, presumably the year that this gentleman died, and is not available online, although the original is stored at Kew. How unique the name is, I don't know, but so far, this is the only lead we have into someone who may be Ardeshir Kapadia's father.
Thank you for reading this far. I am quite interested to hear from live readers in the comments below. While I am sure I have much Russian referrer spam among the visits to these pages, I'm curious to know who are my the flesh and readers.
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