I'm relatively new to this list and this is my first posting. I have, however, been reading Mr Nimkhedkar's sundry postings with great interest. His knowledge is positively encyclopedic! I would like to bounce the following off him. Please note I'm sharing it with the HONG-Kong list. My step-father's grandfather was Benjamin Wilson HALLIFAX, born in Islington, London and he became a tea planter in Dha Jea, Bengal. He married Mary Anne Cox, a young Devon girl, in West Bengal in 1860. We have yet to find out how she got there! Anyway, they had nine children and all were born in Darjeeling. They were all sent back to Devon to be educated and the boys went to Blundells. Five of the boys went on to Balliol College, Oxford. The youngest, Benjamin William HALLIFAX, went to London University and then returned to India, where he married Jessie McCrae and it is believed went into tea planting in Assam. Charles Joseph HALLIFAX went back to India after Balliol and joined the Indian Civil Service (ICS) in 1888. He retired as Financial Advisor to the Kaihairpur State, Bombay. Arthur George HALLIFAX went back to India after Balliol and joined the ICS in Bengal in 1890. He married Eleanor Jenkins and later retired as a District Magistrate. Henry Francis HALLIFAX joined ICS Central Provinces in 1893 after Balliol and eventually became a Judge of the Chief Court. He married Grace Doyle. Herbert Witten HALLIFAX left Balliol and became a mining engineer,working at a manganese mine at Ramlik, Central Province. He then joined the Province Water Department, and became Executive Engineer at Kamtree. The fifth ex-Balliol boy was my step-father's father, Edwin Richard HALLIFAX. He bucked the trend by going to Hong Kong, where he joined the Civil Service as Colonial Cadet in 1897. He became Transvaal-Chinese Emigration Agent in Chinwongtao in 1905; District Officer North Territory in 1907; Secretary for Chinese Affairs from 1912; Private Secretary to the Governor; and acted as Colonial Secretary on many occasions. Those of us familiar with the county of Derbyshire will know Peveril as a mini-mountain in the Peak District. There's a castle there which goes back to William the Conquerer's time and named for William Peveril, William's illegitimate son. Sir Walter Scott's novel "Peveril of the Peak" takes place during Cromwell's time. It would be interesting to know the connection between Peveril Peak, Hong Kong and Peveril Peak, Derbyshire. Chris Duff in a very cold Canada. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar" <bosham@gmail.com> To: <india-british-raj@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 4:19 AM Subject: Re: [INDIA-BRITISH-RAJ] Revisiting memorials of 1857-58 > First, to bring this on line. P G Wodehouse had had a strong family > connexion with India, as some of you might recall. His father was a > British-Raj civil servant/judge and was posted to Hong Kong in late > 1870s. PG's elder brother Peveril (named after a peak in HK) became > a big-shot in Hong Kong police force. PG's other elder brother Armine > was a lecturer in Bombay, Poona, and Benares between 1911 and 1925. > He was actively associated with Annie Besant. PG's wife Ethel was in > India with her first husband L Rowley, from 1905 to 1909. Rowley died > near Kolar GF, and the young widow then went back to England and > subsequently remarried PGW. Finally, PG's second cousin twice-removed > was Sir Philip Wodehouse - he served as Governor, not only of the Bombay > Presidency, but also of the Malay Federated States. > ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar > Nagpur, India

----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Duff" My step-father's grandfather was Benjamin Wilson HALLIFAX, .... had nine children and all were born in Darjeeling. .... Five of the boys went on to Balliol College, Oxford. ---- Henry Francis HALLIFAX joined ICS Central Provinces in 1893 and eventually became a Judge of the Chief Court. ---- Herbert Witten HALLIFAX left Balliol and became a mining engineer, working at a manganese mine at Ramlik, Central Province. He then joined the Province Water Department, and became Executive Engineer at Kamtree. =============================================== Well, the two places where Herbert Witten was stationed are not far from the city where I live, Nagpur (or Nagpore, as it was spelt then), which was the capital of the erstwhile Central Provinces. ''Kamptee'' is now actually a suburb of Nagpur, just 10 miles to the north, having a large army set up. At one time, it was a very important cantonment; but after 1857, the focus shifted elsewhere. The other place is RAMTEK - a small town, some 20 miles up north from Kamptee on the Jabalpur (Jubbalpore) highway. Lots of coal, manganese, and mica mines in the vicinity. There is an old book online at archive.org, reporting details of the construction of a water reservoir at Ramtek by the PWD. Do you know exactly when HWH was there? Re. Henry Francis, since the only Chief Court in the Central Provinces at that time was in Nagpur, he might have been a resident of this city. Do you know? ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India

----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Duff" Those of us familiar with the county of Derbyshire will know Peveril as a mini-mountain in the Peak District. It would be interesting to know the connection between Peveril Peak, Hong Kong and Peveril Peak, Derbyshire. ======================================== Two things. First, a correction. That ''(named after a peak in HK)'' in my mail was a typo - I didn't realise I'd added the << in HK >> part, till I saw your message. It should have been just << named after a peak >>, with a full stop at the end. Thanks for pointing it out. [Philip Peveril John was the eldest brother of PGW and the "Peveril" part was due to his being the first white child born on the Peak in HK, which reminded his mother Elearnor of Scott's "Peveril of the Peak".] Secondly, arising out of this, I wonder if some expert can tell me about the salary-pension structure of those in the Colonial Service in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. PGW's father Henry Ernest Wodehouse was a colonial magistrate cum civil servant in Hong Kong. But the government paid his salary in Indian Rupees. When he retired and went back to England, they paid him his monthly pension - also in Indian Rupees. And since the Rupee-Pound exchange rate was highly unstable even at that time, the actual amount he used to get (after converting his Rupee-penison to GBPs), varied from month to month. My question is, what was the rationale? Why did they pay the HK civil servants in Rupees? Was the practice confined only to the eastern part of the Empire? And how long did it last? Till 1947? 1997? Just curious! ----- Harshawardhan_Bosham Nimkhedkar Nagpur, India