Alice died in Forfar on 20 June 1957.

Henry Stobart (1824-1895) - Alice Stobart’s father

Henry Stobart was born in Chester-le-Street, Durham, on 26 April 1824.  He was the second son of William Stobart and his wife Barbara Stobart (Hayton). 

He entered Queen’s College, Oxford in 1842 and was awarded his BA in 1847 and an MA in 1848.  Whilst he was at Oxford, it appears from DNA evidence that he fathered a child, Charles Davis, with an unknown local girl. 

After leaving Oxford, he went into the church and was ordained as a Deacon on 23 September 1849, and in 1851 he was the curate at Harpham/Burton Agnes in Yorkshire. He was ordained as a Priest on 24 September 1852.  

But at the same time, from 1847, he was the tutor to Lord Henry Scott, who on account of his asthma, spend winters in warmer climates and during these trips, was accompanied by Henry.  These tours became longer and in 1852 Henry, acting as tutor and companion, accompanied Lord Henry Scott and his friend Lord Schomberg Kerr on a trip through France, the Holy Land, Egypt, South Africa< Australia, Hong-Kong, India, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka).  Copies of his diaries, letters and sketches are held in Australian archives.  He was a recognised Egyptologist and in his travels between 1854-56 in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle-East, he collected a number of important artifacts which he subsequently sold to collectors or museums in the UK.

Henry met Annie Mulholland whilst he was undertaking his fourth trip up the Nile, and Annie, with her father and sister, was also undertaking a tour of Egypt.

On his return he married Annie Mulholland in Lisburn Cathedral on 15 September 1857. 

By 1861, he was the curate at Salehurst/Etchingham in Sussex.  In 1865 he became rector of Warkton in Northampton, where he remained until his retirement in 1881. He then moved to Wykeham Rise, Totteridge in Hertfordshire.

He died on 30 December 1895 in Funchal, Madeira, where he had been advised on health grounds to go to avoid the UK winter, and was buried in the British Cemerery in Funchal.  He is remembered by a stained-glass window in St Andrew’s Church, Totteridge. 

When Henry was at Oxford University, it appears from DNA evidence that he had a son with an unknown mother:

Annie Mulholland (1832-1926) – Alice Stobart’s mother

Annie Mulholland was born in Belfast on 25 December 1831.  She was the second daughter of St Clair Kelburn Mulholland of Eglantine, Co Down (Northern) Ireland and his wife Margaret Mulholland (Wright).  

She married Henry Stobart in Lisburn Cathedral on 15 September 1857 and they lived together until Henry’s death in 1895. After her husband's death, Annie and her unmarried daughters went to live in Cholsey, Berkshire.

She died at Colwell in Herefordshire on 25 December 1926.

Henry Stobart and Annie Mulholland had 11 children:

William Stobart (1793-1830) Alice Stobart’s Grandfather

William Stobart was born in Fatfield, Co Durham, on 12 September 1793. He was the second son of William Stobart and his wife Catherine Stobart (Douglas).

He was a colliery owner. 

On 25 July 1820 he married Barbara Hayton at Bishopwearmouth, Co Durham. 

He died at Picktree on 18 July 1830 when his children were still very young.  He was only 36. Fortunately, whilst most of his wealth went to his eldest son William, he was also able to leave a significant sum for his wife and other surviving children.

Pictures of William and Barbara Stobart above
and below from Alistair Montgomery

Barbara Hayton (1801-1878) Alice Stobart’s Grandmother

Barbara Hayton was born at Bishopwearmouth on 9 April 1801.

She was the daughter of William Hayton and his wife Ann Hayton (Brewis) and appears to have been their only surviving child.  Her father was a coal-fitter and ship owner.

On the 25 July 1820, aged only 19, she married William Stobart and was widowed at the age of only 29.  Following a period as a widow bringing up her children, she married Thomas Chilton on 19 August 1846 at St Georges, Hanover Square, London.  He was a widower with a nearly grown up family.  Thomas died on 18 September 1859. 

Barbara died on 31 December 1878 at Oakleigh, Bromborough, Cheshire.

William and Barbara had five children:

St Clair Kelburn Mulholland (1797-1872) Alice Stobart’s Grandfather

St Clair Kelburn Mulholland was born in 1798 in Belfast, (Northern) Ireland. He was the 5^th son of Thomas Mulholland and Ann Doe.

It is believed that he derived his distinctive name from the noted minister of the Third Presbyterian Congregation, the Rev Sinclair Kelburn, who was imprisoned for 'seditious practices' before the 1798 rising.

When he attained adulthood, he joined the family cotton spinning business with his 4 brothers Thomas, Andrew, John and William.  On the death of his father, Thomas senior in 1820, the business was left to his two elder sons, Thomas and Andrew.  It is not certain whether St Clair remained involved in the business after his father’s death, but it seems likely that he did, since he was involved in trying unsuccessfully to save their mill when it burnt down in 1828.  They immediately decided to rebuild, equipping their new and 

larger mill at York Street with more modern machinery.  They also switched to spinning flax for linen, rather than cotton.

St Clair was evidently impressed by the success of this new spinning mill and decided to build his own mill in partnership with John Hind.  This mill was located in Durham Street and the firm traded as S.K. Mulholland and Hind.

On 2 March 1829 he married Margaret Wright.

Initially they lived at Mount Collyer in Belfast, but 1841, he moved to Eglantine House, Hillsborough, Co Down, a rather beautiful house noted particularly for its fine curved staircase.

He retired from his partnership in 1850 when he drew out £30,000 and retired from trade to his beautiful residence Elgantine.

In his retirement, he was a generous donor to what became the Royal Victoria Hospital, giving money to construct a new 30 bed ward in memory of his son. He held the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for County Down and was High Sheriff of County Louth in 1865-6. He was also awarded the Order of Leopold of Belgium, but we don’t know what this was for.

He died on 27 January 1872.

After his death, his widow Margaret and his surviving children funded the building of a new church close to their house at Eglantine in memory of St Clair, his son (also St Clair) and two daughters Margaret and Jane.  All Saints’ Parish Church was consecrated on 15 July 1875 and its first Rector was the Rev Stephen Campbell, who was the husband of Amelia (Emily) Mulholland, St Clair’s third daughter.

The Mulholland and Stobart families at Eglantine House, Belfast in 1868.  Left to Right looking at the picture are St Clair K Mulholland with his grandson, St Clair Kelburn Mulholland Stobart in front of him. Standing at the back is Land Steward Barnes, with St Clair’s wife Margaret Mulholland (Wright) seated next to St Clair. Anne Stobart (Mulholland), St Clair’s second daughter, is seated, with her sister Jane Mulholland, St Clair’s youngest daughter, sitting on the ground with two children, Emiline Stobart (left) and Alice Stobart (right).  Standing at the back in the centre is the Rev Henry Stobart, with his daughter Mary (Kathleen) Stobart in front of him. Standing at the back is Miss Jane Wright, St Clair Mulholland’s sister-in-law, with Annie Stobart standing in front of her.  Seated in the front middle is Mary F Mulholland, St Clair Mulholland’s eldest daughter, with Margaret Stobart sitting next to her. On the right of the picture is Amelia (Emily) Mulholland, St Clair Mulholland’s third daughter, with Henry J S Stobart sitting on her lap.

Margaret Wright (abt 1800-1887) Alice Stobart’s Grandmother 

Margaret Wright was born in about 1800.  She was the eldest daughter of the Reverend Joseph Wright, Rector of the parishes of Killincoole and Henystown in Co. Leith, Ireland.

She married St Clair Kelburn Mulholland at Killincoole on 2 March 1829.

She died on 13 July 1887 at Eglantine House.

St Clair and Margaret had seven children:

Original Photo from Lisa Parkinson

Alice Stobart’s Great Grandparents

Tracing the history of this generation with precision is difficult.  They were born in the late 18^th century when records are sparse.  Names are not unique and the records that do exist often make it difficult to verify whether the record relates to our ancestor, or to another person with the same name. I have tried in this history to err on the side of caution and not to report anything I cannot document and which I believe at least very probably refers to our ancestor.

It is for this reason that this is the first generation of Alice Stobart’s antecedents that I document in this history.  There is sometimes a good indication of who their parents or even earlier generations were, but apart from names, we know so little about them that further documenting them in this history seems futile. That information is however available for any reader who is interested in various family trees on the web, for example on ancestry.com.

William Stobart (Abt 1760-1829)

William Stobart was a leading citizen of Fatfield in the late 1700s as is evidenced by his subscription to a group of such citizens who offered rewards for the successful prosecution of “thieves and other felons”.  In 1800 he was advertising for “Sinkers, Drifters and coal-waggon drivers”, so was certainly by that time a colliery owner.  He appears to have lived at Lumley Park where there are also references to him being engaged in the coal business.  He is also sometimes referred to as William Stobart of Picktree and that is the location where his wife died.  

And finally, William Stobart of Pelaw, another location very close to these others, died on 12 April 1829 aged 69. Since all these locations are within a mile or two of each other, it seems very likely these are all the same person, our ancestor William, though we cannot be completely certain of this.

Catherine Douglas (Abt 1760-1815)

Her birth year is not known with any certainty, but we suppose it was around 1760.  We know nothing about her life other than that she married William Stobart on 7 February 1784 and that she died at Picktree, Co Durham on 10 August 1815.

William and Catherine had 5 children.

William Hayton (Abt 1775 to unknown)

We don’t know when he was born, but he may be the William Hayton baptised at Greatham, Co Durham on 6 December 1778?

On 28 April 1800 she married Ann Brewis at St Michael & All Angels, Bishopwearmouth.

He is described in his daughter’s marriage documents in 1820 as a coal-fitter and ship owner.  In his daughter’s second marriage in 1846, he is described as a Merchant.

In the early 1820s there is extensive reporting in the press of the bankruptcy of William Hayton & Co, coal fitters and this may well have been him?

After this he largely disappears, which is perhaps consistent with a bankruptcy? We do not know when he died.

Ann Brewis (Abt 1775-1803)

We don’t know when she was born, but likely about 1775?

On 28 April 1800 she married William Hayton at St Michael & All Angels, Bishopwearmouth.

She died 3 January 1804.

William and Ann had two children, but one died in infancy, so Barbara was their only child to survive to adulthood.

Thomas Mulholland (about 1756-1820)

Thomas Mulholland was born in about 1756.

In about 1784 he married Anne Doe. 

In 1803, when buying 2 houses in Belfast he described himself as a dealer and signed the contract with an “X” indicating that he probably had come from quite a modest background.  As a dealer he appears to have been buying yarn on the open market, supplying it to cottage weavers and then buying their finished goods for onward sale.  He was evidently very successful in his business, being able to buy not only the two houses mentioned above, but when a mill in Winetavern Street came up for sale in 1815, he bought it and established a very successful cotton spinning business.

Thomas died on 4 December 1820 and his business was inherited by his two eldest sons, Thomas and Andrew. This inheritance by two sons seems rather unusual and one wonders whether Thomas senior foresaw, perhaps on the grounds of health, his eldest son Thomas’ comparatively early demise and lack of issue?

Whatever, Thomas junior died on 5 May 1830 without issue, and the business by then spinning linen at a new mill at York Street, continued and prospered under Andrew’s proprietorship.  In 1946 he passed on the business to his son John and retired to Ballywalter Park.  John was a very successful businessman and was also ambitious politically.  He became a Conservative MP and in 1892 was created Baron Dunleith of Ballywalter.

Anne Doe (about 1766 to 1858)

Anne Doe was born in about 1766. 

In about 1784 she married Thomas Mulholland. 

She died on 13 January 1858.

Apart from these scant details, we know nothing about her.

Thomas and Anne had 7 children:

Joseph Wright (Abt 1773 to 1848)

Joseph Wright was born in about 1773. 

He clearly went into the church, since by 1826, which is the earliest date we have a record for him, he was the Reverend Joseph Wright, Rector of the parishes of Killincoole and Henystown in Co. Leith, Ireland a post he held until his death on 10 January 1848.

Mary Filgate (unknown - 1852)

We don’t know when Mary was born but it is likely to have been in around 1775. 

Nor do we know when she married Joseph Wright. 

She died at Eglantine on 11 September 1852.

Joseph and Mary had six children: