Alice Mary Wynne / Hodges (1855–1907)
Alice’s birth
Kurrachee (Karachi), Bombay, Poonah and Belgaum are highlighted in yellow (you can enlarge this map)
Alice Mary Wynne was born on 24 August 1855 in Karachi (Kurrachee), Sindh, India. At the time, Karachi was part of colonial ‘British India’, but is now the largest city in Pakistan. Alice was baptised a Roman Catholic a few months after her birth, on 4 October 1855 in Karachi.
Alice’s father was Laurence Wynne (c. 1824–1869), a grocer who left Athy, Ireland, in 1845 to work for the East India Company’s private army in northern India. Initially he was a gunner, then he became an officer in the Ordnance Department.
Alice’s mother was Sarah Maria Cartwright (1831–1861), from Swynnerton, Staffordshire, who went to India in 1851 to work as a house servant in Belgaum. She lived there with William Hart, an East India Company civil servant, his wife Frances and two young sons.
Presumably Laurence and Sarah met each other somewhere in India, and by the end of the same year, on 30 December 1851, they were married ‘by dispensation’ in Camp Poonah, near Bombay.
Shortly after Alice’s birth in 1855, her father, Laurence, left the East India Company, and the family returned to the UK (the exact date is unknown).
Alice’s family in England
By April 1861, 5-year-old Alice and her parents were living at the Crown Inn, High Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire where her father Laurence was the innkeeper.
However, a few months later (23 July 1861), Alice’s mother Sarah died, aged 30. She was buried at the London Road Cemetery in Salisbury.
Laurence continued to live and work at the Crown Inn, and on 11 January 1865, he married local woman Alice Matilda Klemm (1839–1896). They subsequently had:
- a son — Robert Emmett Laurence Wynne — born in 1867 (Alice’s half-brother)
- a daughter — Fanny Agnes Wynne — born in early 1870 (Alice’s half-sister).
Unfortunately, several months before Fanny was born, Laurence died (on 2 August 1869 — when Alice was nearly 14). According to his death certificate, he had laryngitis, heart disease and exhaustion. Like Alice’s mother, Laurence was buried at the London Road Cemetery in Salisbury.
Fairly soon after this, Alice moved about 60 km northwest to Bath, Somerset, to become a dressmaker’s assistant. In April 1871, aged 15, she was living at 7 George Street with Catherine Dubois, a dressmaker, born in Brussels, who had 11 dressmaker’s assistants working for her. 7 George Street is now part of the grade-II-listed historic Edgar Building (built in 1761), which currently hosts several businesses such as a cocktail bar, a private dental clinic, and a book shop.
After training as a dressmaker, Alice moved from Bath to London, and in April 1881 was staying as a visitor at 6 Brunswick Villas, Newington, with Charles and Fanny Chandler.
Alice marries Henry Hodges
On Christmas Day, 1881, Alice (aged 26) married Henry George Hodges (a 39-year-old packer) at St. Mary’s Church, Marylebone in London. In those days, 25 and 26 December were the only guaranteed days off for many working people, and churches in large cities, such as London, offered free (or ‘penny’) group weddings.
Henry had been born in Lambeth, London, but his family originally came from Shepton Mallet in Somerset. He was previously a Royal Navy seaman, and had also worked as a porter.
He was also a widower who already had two sons: Henry Hector George Hodges (born 1869) and Benjamin Gwynne Hodges (born 1870). Henry’s first wife was Caroline Elizabeth Ann Gwynne who died in 1876.
Alice and Henry went on to have two more sons together:
- Cecil Wynne Hodges (1882–1969) – usually called ‘Joseph’ or ‘Joe’
- Lawrence Augustine (later known as Alfred George) Hodges (1888–1969).
During their married lives, Alice and Henry moved around in London quite a lot, presumably renting different accommodation as they did so:
- when they married in December 1881, Alice gave her address as 14 Molyneux Street, and Henry was at 3 Croydon Road
- when their second son Lawrence Augustine (Alfred George) was born in July 1888, they were living at 15 Earl Street, Marylebone
- in April 1891, all four of the family were at 14 St. Ervans Road, Kensington
- in March 1901, Henry and their two sons were at 57 Southam Street, Kensington.
Alice’s later life and death
In March 1901, Alice was not living with the rest of her family, but was a patient at the London County Asylum, Dartford, Kent, where she died on 28 March 1907. She was buried at Plumstead Cemetery, Greenwich on 3 April 1907 (grave no. B602).
Alice’s family
Alice’s husband, Henry George Hodges, died nearly nine years later, on 15 October 1916.
Alice’s oldest son, Cecil Wynne ‘Joseph’ Hodges, became a journalist, press telegraphist and union leader. He participated in WWI in France.
Alice’s youngest son, Lawrence Augustine Hodges, changed his name to Alfred George Hodges and migrated to New Zealand in 1910. He worked as a labourer and participated in WWI in France. He lost touch with his English family, but married and had five children in NZ.
Family tree for Alice Mary Wynne
Image sources (top of page)
Left: Map of India 1857. J. G. Bartholomew and Sons. Edinburgh, GFDL <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html>, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IGI1908India1857b.jpg (image modified)
Middle top: City of London Mental Hospital, Stone. Postcard image. The records from Stone Asylum for Joseph Fleming – transcription, posted by George Hutchinson, Bulletin website, 26 January 2009, https://forum.casebook.org/forum/ripper-discussions/suspects/fleming-joseph/2244-the-records-from-stone-asylum-for-joseph-fleming-transcription (image cropped)
Middle bottom: Microsoft Publisher online picture
Right: St Marylebone Parish Church and Its Literary Associations
Jacqueline Banerjee, Associate Editor, the Victorian Web. 2019. https://victorianweb.org/art/architecture/hardwick/1e.jpg
Plumstead Cemetery, Greenwich, © Marathon cc-by=sa/2.0::.0:: Geograph Britain and Ireland, geograph.org.uk/photo/6455586
Image sources (rest of page)
India in 1860, Blackie and Company, Edinburgh. Blackie, Walter Graham, 1860, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: India_Map _1860.png (cropped, with place names highlighted)
7 George Street, Bath, Somerset. Google Street Map, image capture Nov 2021 ©2022 Google New Zealand https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/7+George+St,+Bath+BA1+2EH,+UK/@51.3849359,-2.3618322,3a,75y,343.81h,102.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sngidiimrV17BlN3xjS5Ivw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x487181149a266a59:0xadf55d40290af8af!8m2!3d51.3851168!4d-2.3619308?hl=en
St Mary Bryanston Square. Photo by Andrew (2013?). London Churches in Photographs website. https://londonchurchbuildings.com/2013/01/27/st-mary-bryanston-square/
Plumstead cemetery © Marathon cc-by=sa/2.0:: Geograph Britain and Ireland, geograph.org.uk/photo/6455586
Further details and sources of information
For a more detailed timeline for Alice Mary Hodges, with source citations for the above information, click here.
© New Zealand Family History Search
January 2022 (last edited October 2022)
New Zealand Family History Search 
