{"id":375,"date":"2015-08-31T08:32:40","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T07:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/?page_id=375"},"modified":"2020-03-11T17:52:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T17:52:34","slug":"francis-topping-atcherley","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/pictures\/pictures-people\/francis-topping-atcherley\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Topping Atcherley and family"},"content":{"rendered":"

< Back to People – Album 1<\/a>\u00a0\/ Pictures home page<\/a><\/p>\n

Updated 11 March 2020<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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This photo,\u00a0taken in Montreal, Canada by William Notman, forms part of the McCord Museum\u2019s collection of images and is used here\u00a0under a Creative Commons licence (Original image<\/a><\/em>). It depicts \u201cLt. Col. and Mrs. Atcherly, 30th Regiment\u201d and was taken in 1863, not long after the couple\u2019s marriage on June 4th of that year. Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Topping Atcherley\u00a0 [<\/a>]\u00a0was a Crimean War veteran serving in Canada with the 30th Regiment of Foot.<\/p>\n

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The photo above shows Francis wearing his medals: the British Crimean War Medal with clasps for Alma and Sebastopol (right), the Turkish Crimean Medal (left), the Legion of Honour (bottom), and the Turkish Order of the Medjidie (top). The original photo is in an album belonging to Mary Alma Una Downing, a descendant of the Dickin family; this image of the photo is adapted from one taken by Mary’s great niece Penny Thorn and was kindly supplied by David Edge (who also provided me with details of the medals).<\/p>\n

Francis married Emma Arabella, second daughter of Francis Harris Heward and his wife Eliza (n\u00e9e Paul) of Toronto, in St George\u2019s church in that city. After retiring from the Army by the sale of his Commission on 21 Mar 1865, Francis remained in Canada with his family and joined the Militia, becoming Deputy Adjutant-General of Military District 4. In that role, he helped to defend Canada from the Fenian raids of 1866 and 1870.<\/p>\n

The following was written in celebration of the union of Francis and Emma (transcribed from a copy held at Shropshire Archives, Class: BA 86 v.f.).<\/p>\n

A SONG,
\nWRITTEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE
\nMARRIAGE OF LIEUT.-COL. ATCHERLEY,
\n30TH REGIMENT,
\nBY WILLIAM ROBERTS.<\/p>\n

Oh! remember the time in the Crimean War,
\nWhen the battle of Alma was fought ;
\nWhen the vain Russian General so vainly did boast,
\nAnd his boasting was soon brought to nought.
\nHis position, he said, for three weeks he\u2019d maintain,
\nIn the face of the brave Allied Powers ;
\nBut they made it too hot to hold him and his men,
\nIn a less space of time than three hours.
\nOh! remember the time when on Inkerman\u2019s height,
\nThe dense masses of Muscovites pour\u2019d ;
\nWhen the brave British boys in that deadliest fight,
\nDefeated the great Russian Horde.
\nWhen Atcherley, with his brave handful of men,
\nDid gallantly keep them at bay ;
\nAnd held them in check until succours arrived,
\nThat drove the proud foemen away.
\nThe war it went on amid battle and strife,
\nTill the town of Sebastopol fell ;
\nWhen the Czar \u2018gan to think it was time to have peace,
\nFor he saw his mistake very well.
\nSo the war was then ended, and peace was restored,
\nAnd the Allies their forces withdrew ;
\nBut not till they\u2019d made the proud Russian Bear,
\nSuccumb to the Red, White and Blue.
\nThe Yankees next promis\u2019d to give us some work,
\nAnd warm work they said it would be ;
\nFor their forces could easily Canada take,
\nAnd beat us by land and by sea.
\nBut Russell and Palmerston soon took the hint,
\nAnd our soldiers to Canada sent ;
\nDetermin\u2019d to see what the Yankees would do,
\nAnd repel them if they should attempt.
\nThese great preparations the boasters did daunt,
\nAnd they gave up their plans in affright ;
\nFor the Yankees, I think, are that sort of dogs,
\nWho are more apt to bark than to bite.
\nBut our Colonel went over to conquer, and he
\nIn his purpose was not to be baulk\u2019d ;
\nHe went to be victor, and victor he\u2019d be,
\nThough the Yankees so loudly they talk\u2019d.
\nWith a heart warm and free as a bold British Tar,
\nHe determin\u2019d at once to them prove,
\nThat a brave British Soldier so gallant in War,
\nCould also be gallant in Love.
\nA \u201cMinistering Angel in human form,\u201d
\nVery soon, with delight, he espies ;
\nThe \u201cFair Maid of Canada,\u201d is woo\u2019d, and is won,
\nAnd he bears her away as his prize.
\nHe consider\u2019d, as most likely I should do,
\nAnd ev\u2019ry one else, I suppose,
\nFor he thought (and a very good thought it was too)
\nThat \u2018tis better to win friends than foes.
\nThen wish them, with me, every blessing and say,
\n\u201cMay happiness long them betide ;
\nLong life, health, and wealth, unto brave Atcherley,
\nAnd his Bonnie Canadian Bride.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cMrs. Col. Atcherly\u201d photographed in 1867 by\u00a0William Notman (another image from\u00a0the McCord Museum\u2019s collection, used under a Creative Commons licence). Although known as Emma Arabella Heward at the time of her marriage, the register of Christ Church, Montreal shows that she was baptised (on 3 May 1841) as Arabella Emma. Within four years of this picture being taken, Emma had died, aged just 29. Original image<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Atcherley,<\/p>\n

This beautiful photograph of “Emma Atcherly and child” appears by kind permission of Archives of Ontario<\/a> (image number I0042638). I have no information as to exactly where and when the picture was taken (it would have been somewhere in Canada in the 1860s), so the identity of Emma’s child is therefore a mystery. Was it the little chap in the next photo?<\/p>\n

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This final picture by William Notman (again from the McCord Museum\u2019s collection and used\u00a0under a Creative Commons licence) also dates from 1867. Although it is apparently of \u201cMaster H. Atcherly\u201d the little boy shown must actually be Francis and Emma\u2019s first child, Francis Robinson Hartland Atcherley. Born on 8 Jan 1865 in Toronto, Frank would have been 2 years old when this photograph was taken. Following the death of his mother in 1871, Frank and his three surviving siblings left Canada with their father and came to England, before moving to the coast of north Wales. Original image<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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I suspect that it was in a north Wales photographic studio that the above photograph of Francis and the late Emma Arabella Atcherley’s children was taken. From left to right we see Richard Topping Beverley Atcherley, Llewellyn William Atcherley, an older Francis Robinson Hartland Atcherley, and Catherine Emma Grace Atcherley. My thanks again to Penny Thorn and David Edge for the original image which I have adapted for use here, and for the next picture too.<\/p>\n

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It was perhaps also in a photographic studio in north Wales that the above photograph was taken. It shows Jane Louisa Atcherley n\u00e9e Dickin, the second wife of Francis Topping Atcherley. The couple were married at Loppington in Shropshire on 21 November 1872, when Jane became the stepmother of Francis’s children. I suspect the photo here shows Jane in mourning, after the death of Francis on 16 June 1875 at Llandrindod, Wales, at the age of 47. Jane lived to the grand old age of 92, and died in London on 5 August 1924.<\/p>\n

View Francis Topping Atcherley’s page in the Atcherley Family Tree<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

< Back to People – Album 1\u00a0\/ Pictures home page Updated 11 March 2020. This photo,\u00a0taken in Montreal, Canada by William Notman, forms part of the McCord Museum\u2019s collection of images and is used here\u00a0under a Creative Commons licence (Original image). It depicts \u201cLt. Col. and Mrs. Atcherly, 30th Regiment\u201d and was taken in 1863, not long after the couple\u2019s… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":371,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"page_tag":[],"class_list":["post-375","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/375"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3378,"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/375\/revisions\/3378"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"page_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.atcherley.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page_tag?post=375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}