Appendix E: Biographies

Morgan and Parland

Edward John Morgan (Cheltenham 1812 – Kensington, Middlesex 14 May 1876) was “for some time … the senior partner” in the firm of Egerton Hubbard and Company in St. Petersburg.1 He had been an officer in the Madras Artillery in India.2 He married on 12/24 November 18373 Mary Anne Parland (b. Denmark c. 1813; bap. London 20 January 1814; d. South Kensington, Middlesex 8 January 1882). His wife was the sister of Alexander Parland, who had been tutor to Grand Duke Aleksandr Pavlovich, the future Alexander I.4 Mary Anne Parland’s sister Frances Percy Parland (10 January 1811 – 6 December 1887) married on 17 May 1852, as his second wife, Charles John Baird (3 July 1829 – 29 November 1866), the grandson of Charles Baird (20 December 1766 – 10 December 1843; see Image 274), of the Baird Iron Works.5

The Morgans had one son, Edward Delmar (Stratford, Essex 19 April 1840 – London 18 May 1909), and two daughters, Maria Frances (Arkhangelsk 15/27 September 1838 – Totteridge, Hertfordshire 24 September 1907) and Fanny Elizabeth (St. Petersburg 9/21 July 1841 – Delgaty Castle, Turiff, Aberdeenshire 17 March 1933).6 The Morgans lived at 31 Galernaia Street, in the building belonging to Kensovskii in the First Admiralty District, Fourth Ward.7 They had in their employ in 1845 Jane Morris, nurse, and Fanny Alcock, governess.8 In 1849, Edward John Morgan was seriously wounded in a hunting accident in which a “bear charged and knocked him down, clawing his face and seriously injuring his sight.”9 At his death, he left effects under £4,000 in England and extensive effects in Russia.10 At her death, Mary Anne (Parland) Morgan left effects amounting to about £6500.11

Edward Delmar was educated at Eton and became a linguist and traveler.12 He traveled in Persia and Central Asia, beginning in 1872. In 1876, he translated from Russian the accounts of the Russian geographer, Nikolai Przhevalsky (1839–1888), entitled Mongolia, the Tangut Country, and the Solitudes of North Tibet,13 and in 1879, with Sir Thomas Douglas Forsyth, Przhevalsky’s From Kulja Across the Tian-Shan to Lobnor.14 He also made expeditions to Little Russia and later “to the lower part of the Congo (1883).” He “was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for forty years,” and “honorary secretary of the Hakluyt Society (1886–1892).” He married on 25 September 1873 Bertha Jardine Thomas (Hollingbourne, Kent March Qtr. 1845 – South Kensington, Middlesex 16 July 1932), daughter of Louisa (de Visme) and Richard Thomas. They had four sons and three daughters:15 Edward Louis (1875–1900), Bertha Woodbyne (1876–1960), John Godfrey Yule (1878–1948), Ella Mary (1879–1948), Vera Caroline (1880–1970), Gerald Stewart (1883–1946), and Stephen Basil (1886–1939). At his death, Edward Delmar Morgan left an estate of some £87,000.16

Maria Frances Morgan married on 10 April 1866 in London Thomas William Snagge (later Sir T.M. Snagge, KCMG) (Merrion, Dublin c. 1837 – 1 February 1914), barrister-at-law.17 They had three sons and five daughters: Dorothy Mary (1871–1934), Harold Edward (1872–1949), Leonard William (1874–1901), Eleanor Nina (1875–1947), Ethel Fanny (1877–1928), Arthur Lionel (1878–1955), Evelyn Louisa (1880–1914), and Violet Monica (1882–1953).18

Fanny Elizabeth Morgan married on 5/17 December 1863 in St. Petersburg Ainslie Grant Duff (6–9 July 1838 – Delgaty Castle, Turiff, Aberdeenshire 15 December 1929).19 He later changed his name to Ainslie Douglas Ainslie, on succeeding to the property of his maternal granduncle’s estate.20 He was a barrister-at-law and had also served in the diplomatic service from 1859 to 1866. 21 They had four sons and one daughter: Douglas (1865–1948), Percival (1867–1894), Julian (1870–1937), Edward (1876–1879), and Rachel Edith Fanny (1871–1934).22

Anna Whistler (see Images 1–5) records visits to the Morgans: James (see Images 24–29) and Willie (see Images 27, 30) went to an OS Christmas party in 1846 and 1847, and Major Whistler (see Images 7–8, 21) and Debo (see Images 17–19, 21) went to an OS New Year’s Eve party in 1847 at their home. On the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1848, Mary Ann (Parland) Morgan and her daughter Fanny visited Anna Whistler, James, and Willie. They exchanged accounts from their husbands’ letters about the cholera, and Mrs. Morgan related the gossip from St. Petersburg.

When contacted by the Pennells for information for their biography of James Whistler, Edward Delmar Morgan and his sisters were unable to contribute any recollections of young James.23

Notes