Appendix E: Biographies

Law1

Reverend Doctor Edward Law (7 August 1790 – Barnes, Surrey 10 November 1868; see Image 253) was the son of Ewan (d. 24 April 1829) and Henrietta Sarah (Markham) Law (30 May 1764 –15 August 1844). He matriculated at Christ Church College of Oxford University on 27 May 1808, aged seventeen, and was a student from 1808–1816, receiving his BA in 1812 and his MA in 1815. He was ordained as deacon at St. James’ Church in Piccadilly on 6 March 1814. He was licensed as curate at Longton on 25 March 1814. He resigned as perpetual curate at Holy Trinity Church in Preston on 15 October 1820, having delivered his farewell sermon on Sunday, 2 April 1820. On 8 April 1820, his appointment at St. Petersburg was announced. Before leaving to take up this appointment he attended on 11 May 1820 the first levee held by George IV, where he was presented to the King by the Lord Bishop of Chester, George Henry Law, his uncle, to whom he was chaplain. Reverend Edward Law was chaplain of the English Church in St. Petersburg (see Images 110–111) from 1820 to 1864.

He was also the nephew of Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough (Great Salkeld, Cumberland 16 November 1750 – London 13 December 1818), and cousin to Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough (8 September 1790 – 22 December 1871), who was four times president of the Board of Control of the East India Company and also governor-general of India (1842–1844).2

While still a university student, he accidentally discharged a fowling-piece during a sporting expedition on 29 March 1816 and mortally wounded a twelve-year-old boy, William Hawarden Gillibrand (1804 – 30 March 1816), the eldest son of Thomas Gillibrand (1780–1820) and Marscella Catharina (Goold) Gillibrand (1781–1857), of Gillibrand Hall, Lancashire. The boy died the next day. The newspapers carrying the notice of his death did not identify the perpetrator. It was not until 1875 that Law (then deceased) was openly named in a Fazakerley obituary as having accidentally shot William Hawarden Gillibrand.3 It would seem that every effort was made to keep unsullied the life of a young man just starting out on his career.

Reverend Edward Law married on 2 May 1816 at Rolleston, Staffordshire, Mary Elizabeth Mosley (bap. Rolleston, Staffordshire 12 September 1792 – Edinburgh 11 May 1877), the daughter of Rev. John Peploe and Sarah Maria (Paget) Mosley. Their children were: Harriette Maria (b. 13 July 1817; bap. Preston, Lancashire 13 July 1817; d. St. Petersburg 14/26 April 1821), Edward Peploe (b. 27 April 1818; bap. Preston 28 April 1818; d. Chatham, Kent 24 March 1837), Josephine Anne (bap. Preston 23 July 1819 – Ickham, Kent 15 April 1849), Mary Eliza (St. Petersburg 9/21 March 1821 – St. Petersburg 22 February / 6 March 1859; see Image 254), Henrietta Maria (St. Petersburg 25 October / 6 November 1822 – Edinburgh 18 November 1892), Caroline Frances (St. Petersburg 7/19 August 1824 – Kensington 24 November 1897), Emily Mosley (St. Petersburg 7/19 November 1827 – St. Petersburg 2/14 February 1880), Isabella Sarah (St. Petersburg 30 March / 11 April 1830 – Riga 1/13 February 1866), and Alfred Markham (St. Petersburg 7/19 November 1832 – Weston-super-Mare, Somerset 9 November 1870).

Josephine Anne Law married on 10 September 1838, at East Horsted, Sussex, as his second wife, Rev. John Adolphus Wright (b. Mapperley, Nottinghamshire c. 1804; bap. Basford, Nottinghamshire 24 May 1804; d. Tickhill, Yorkshire 16 June 1881). Mary Eliza Law married on 9/21 October 1840 in St. Petersburg James Richard Cattley (b. York 4 January 1806; bap. York 7 January 1806; d. Barnes, Surrey 22 January 1867; buried All Souls’ Cemetery, Kensal Green, London; see Image 255). Henrietta Maria Law married Francis Anderson (Inchyra, Perthshire 19 August 1804 – Edinburgh 18 December 1855). Their wedding took place on 17 October 1848 at St. John’s Episcopal Chapel in Edinburgh, where Henrietta, before marriage, was a “resident of the parish of South Leith,” and again on 24 October 1848, presumably in St. George’s Church in Edinburgh, where Francis was a resident of the parish of St. George. The Rev. E.B. Ramsay, minister of St. John’s Episcopal Chapel from 1830 to 1872, was the officiating minister at both services. Caroline Frances married in St. Petersburg on 5/17 August 1846 Richard Miller (South Leith, Scotland 27 July 1818 – Leith, Scotland 12 January 1860). Emily Mosley Law married on 8/20 August 1851 in St. Petersburg Axel Daniel Gisiko (c. 1814 – St. Petersburg 9/21 May 1890), who took the surname Law-Gisiko. His family was from Sweden. Isabella Sarah Law married in St. Petersburg on 15/27 April 1852 Henry Robinson (London 16 July 1823 – Merano, Italy 14 January 1902). Alfred Markham seems to have had a daughter, Emily Maud Law, who was baptized on 15 April 1866 in Hammersmith, Middlesex, England. The mother’s name is not clearly written in the register, and the name of the father has been crossed out and replaced with Alfred’s name.4

In April 1844, Law requested from the Russia Company a leave of absence for up to three months. Between 23 May and 5 August 1844, he was replaced by Rev. George Williams, while he took his Doctor of Divinity degree at Christ Church College of the University of Oxford, by request of the British Factory, which presented him with £100 for his expenses. He received his Bachelor of Divinity and his Doctor of Divinity degrees on 21 June 1844.5

On retiring in 1864, Law returned to England with his wife. He died on 10 November 1868 in Barnes, Surrey, where his address was Lonsdale Road. He was buried in All Souls’ Cemetery, Kensal Green, London.

Edward Law kept a journal, the whereabouts of which are unknown to me.6

An interesting assessment of Rev. Law’s preaching, as well as an informative one of the schedule of services in the English Church, was made in 1833 by William Hooper Ropes to his uncle Hardy Ropes in Boston, Massachusetts, when the members of the future British and American Congregational Church in St. Petersburg did not yet have their own church:

Several weeks since, Mr Swan was unable to preach all day at our chapel on a/c of illness. & we all went to the English Church to hear Mr Law; he preached an unusually good sermon that afternoon & some tho’t, that, seeing so many of our people there, when he went out to change his robes, he changed his sermon also. – We were all quite surprised and pleased to hear so good & faithful a sermon & father [William Ropes] said we had better go often, as it might have some good effect. – The afternoon service at the English Chapel commences at 4 oclock & ends at 5.30 P.M. & ours does not begin until 6:30 P.M – so that we have abundant time to attend both, – & since that Sunday, Joseph [Joseph Samuel Ropes] and I have attended there quite often. – We heard 5 or 6 sermons, which were mere moral lectures, – but the two last Sundays, Mr Law has given very good discourses. – When Mr Law first began his labors here, he is said to have been very close & faithful in his preaching – but he soon found that this did not suit the majority of his hearers & accordingly threw up his oars, & floated down with the current. – His hearers are mostly – English Merchants, who have their Sunday dinner parties & fox hunts – & very rarely attend Church more than once on Sunday & many only a few times a year; – & this class think Mr L is often too severe, – & I believe he sometimes comes out very boldly on their manner of spending the Sabbath. – The Eng. Chapel is a very handsome building & contains an organ – not very remarkable for size or power, but very good. – The Organist plays and Mr Law sings – & you can scarcely distinguish any other voice – so that in point of Singing – we are far ahead of them, at our Chapel. – 7

Notes