Author: Monkland, George
Biography:
MONKLAND, George (1784-1870: findmypast.com)
He was baptised George Thomas Berdmore Monkland at Guildford, Surrey, on 2 May 1784, the son of Mary (Fermer) and George Monkland, who had married at St. Bride’s, London, in 1773. The family moved to Bath, Somerset, and George was educated at Bath Grammar School, where Francis Skurray (q.v.) was an older schoolmate; in dedicating his only known publication to Skurray as a more experienced “local poet,” he also thanks him for having protected him against bullying when they were children. Monkland went into the army (Lt. 1802, Captain 1803) but he had independent means as a landowner and perhaps did not stay long in the 15th Regiment of Foot; certainly he did not rise above the rank of captain. (His son George, born in 1815, also became an army officer and retired in 1854.) On 14 Sept. 1813, giving Bath as his place of residence, he married Catherine (or Catharine) Myers at her home parish of Childwall, Lancashire; they had three children, baptised in three different counties. She died in Berkshire in 1819 and on 6 Nov. 1824 he married a widow, Anne (or Ann) Catherine (Ferrand) Surtees at Bathwick, Bath, Somerset, by licence. They went on to have one son, Henry, in 1826, but he died at two weeks old. The Invitation (1833) is a locodescriptive poem presented as an invitation to the author’s brother-in-law to pay him a visit at his home at Donhead Lodge, Dorset, to enjoy country life and join him in excursions in the area. By the time of the 1841 Census Monkland, with his family and several servants, were settled in a fine freehold house at 11 Marlborough Buildings, Walcot, Bath. Anne Catherine died there and was buried at St. Swithin, Walcot, on 30 July 1869; George died a year later and was buried at the same church on 15 Aug. 1870. His estate was assessed as under £8000. (findmypast.com 28 June 2023; ancestry.com 28 June 2023; John Burke, Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain [1838] 4: 701) HJ
Other Names:
- G. M.