Hi Rupert, Che kindly arranged for a friend to drop by the Wesleyan Church in Colaba and take photos of the outside and interior for my family records. He took a picture of the Honour Board of past ministers and the Rev. Charles Ryder Smith was the 4th minister for the church since its foundation - so that's proof enough of his being the incumbent minister at the time of the wedding of Staff Sergeant James J. Stroud to Sarah Gatley from Stockport. The fact that Charles' wife Ella was one of the witnesses to the marriage may indicate Charles was also a chaplain for the Military - and a friend of Stroud's. Cheers Ainslie.

Dear Ainslie I might declare an interest. My grandfather left a British line regiment as a 1st class sergeant instructor to join the Allahabad Light Horse in 1903 and stayed with his "Weekend soldiers" until his death from cholera in 1911. I would say that your forbear and mine were part of a really significant slice of the Empire; they ran the depot Indian Army in the same way as our Anglo-Indians famously ran the Empire's railways. They would first prove themselves in their British regiments (my Sgt Dunne played a marginal part in the Punjab and Tirah campaigns of 1897-8, I bet your Staff Stroud did ten years or so in a fighting unit) before being offered "cushy billets" in the Indian Army. These men did not rest in their new posts - my widowed grandmother eventually married another of these stalwarts when he retired with the rank of major and an MBE - but they could reasonably expect no longer to be shot at ! My grandfather also married a Lady's Companion. Her employers stood as witnesses to the marriage in Allahabad in 1905 - I am sorry that, with the minister's wife standing in, perhaps your bride's employers looked less kindly upon the union. This is likely if (with the bride "belonging" in Bombay and Staff Stroud "belonging" in Delhi) there was a whirlwind romance in the hothouse social environment of Simla. Still, you might hope to discover that J W Burbridge was a senior merchant or administrator in Bombay. I have been plodding through the London Gazette in search of J W B, hoping to find him joining the lists of commissioned "Conductors" as they were called in the commissary world. I have run out of steam, but only after finding 5487 RQMS J W Burbridge of 1st Bn Ox and Bucks Light infantry being awarded the DCM (LG of 23 Oct 1919 page 12981). I note, From Mr Mills' www.regiments.org that this battalion was in India from 1903 to 1914, initially at Subathu wherever that is/was. I also note that the 2nd Bn was in India (and took part in the Tirah campaign) from 1886 and was probably deliberately sent home when the 1st Bn came out. One possibility for you. Rupert -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Ainslie Pyne Sent: 20 August 2010 06:41 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] Looking for connections of Ryder Smith andBurbridge +/- 1906 Hi Rupert, Che kindly arranged for a friend to drop by the Wesleyan Church in Colaba and take photos of the outside and interior for my family records. He took a picture of the Honour Board of past ministers and the Rev. Charles Ryder Smith was the 4th minister for the church since its foundation - so that's proof enough of his being the incumbent minister at the time of the wedding of Staff Sergeant James J. Stroud to Sarah Gatley from Stockport. The fact that Charles' wife Ella was one of the witnesses to the marriage may indicate Charles was also a chaplain for the Military - and a friend of Stroud's. Cheers Ainslie. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi again Rupert, I tried to get onto the regiment site but it is temporarily unavailable. I will try again later. Cheers for now Ainslie.