KIRBY Family Tree

with Links to British India

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info submitted by rick.desmier@bigpond.com

Joseph Samuel KIRBY (b. 17 July 1876 d. August 1943 Jallunder,India) married.on  29 Jan 1900 Hyderabad, Sind Mable Maud DESMIER ( b. 22 April 1876 Kotri, Sind d. 1948 Bombay)   Mable looked after Joe von Ruhland after his mother and father had died. Joe  remembers Mable as intelligent, lively, imaginative, educated, refined, very  brave and utterly self reliant. She was a true pioneering type who was more happy out in the bush than in an urban environment, she preferred a hurricane lamp to electric lights. At one place they lived in in the North Deccan she  was the only white person when husband Joseph was away at work. She kept a gun  and used to shoot at hawks that attacked her chickens so that the word would get around to the local dacoits that she was a lady who knew how to use a gun.  During the First World War when her husband was stationed in Africa she always  slept with a revolver under her pillow. When they lived in Ahmednagar there  was a German internment camp close by the home. One night she ws writing a   letter, it was late and dark outside and she heard a rustle. She called out  "Kaun hai?" (who is it?) and the reply was "sshhh!" So knowing that no Indian  would say sshhh she said "Come in to the light where I can see you". It was a  German internee who had escaped and wanted to visit his daughter who, he had  heard, was very ill in a women's camp some distance away. He was after money  and food for the journey and as he had seen her from the camp with her children he knew that she would understand. The next morning when the soldiers  said that someone had escaped she said nothing. She heard later that he had  been caught as they knew where he was headed. Mable's hobbies were cooking and gardening, she used to make all the pickles  and chutneys for the family.  Joe remembers that Mable had three other daughters: one knicknamed Chucha died  of meningitis shortly after her 1st birthday, the other two were either  stillborn or died shortly after birth.  Sponsors for Mable were Edwin  and Lisa Desmier. children:

  1. Vera Beryl Kirby b. 1 Apr 1901     

  2. Mary Hilda Kirby b. 1 Mar 1905 Agra d. 3 Jun 1982          

  3. Marjorie Ellen Kirby b. abt 1908 d. abt 1927 Jhansi   Marjorie drowned while swimming in the Bara Tawa river.             

  4. Joseph Allen Kirby b. 6 Jul 1912 India d. 9 Mar 1986 Auckland New Zealand     

Next Generation

Vera Beryl Kirby b. 1 Apr 1901  married Count Grassi de Frangipani 

Vera Beryl Kirby b. 1 Apr 1901  married (2nd marriage) Karl von Ruhland   Vera gained her M.D. in Bombay and then went to Vienna to do a Post-graduate course in Obstetrics. Terry (#6) remembers that Vera once sent his father some garlic bulbs as seed stock to grow on his plantation from Italy when she was married to her first husband the count. children:

  1. Joseph von Ruhland   m. Anne ?   Went to school  at St Vincent's, Poona; Bombay Cathedral High school and St Aloysius Jubbulpore. Four children and one grandson details unknown as yet.                 

  2. Jane von Ruhland   

Mary Hilda Kirby b. 1 Mar 1905 Agra d. 3 Jun 1982   married Walter LARGE on 21 May 1928 Jubbulpore, India. Mary's nickname was Loo. She was the one in the family who was always getting in to trouble. One tale was of her dressed up in her Sunday best before church when she decided to cool off under the tap while waiting for her mother who found her dripping wet. Another time she was locked in the larder room where she quietly had her fill of chillies and hot pickles before she called out "Can I come out now?"  When older Loo was taken to Italy for two years by her mother to train her  voice for opera singing. Joe von Ruhland remembers Loo singing the High Mass at the church in Ahmednagar as it had never been sung before.               

  1. Mabelle Ellen Marjorie Large b. 27 Mar 1930 Ahmednagar, India   m. Albert Edward Ramage b. 19 Feb 1918 Scotstown, Scotland  Mabelle's family lived in Kirkee for a while but had moved to Poona when she started school. Her family now live in Auckland New Zealand. * Christina Ramage b. 14 Mar 1956 Birmingham, England  * Richard Ramage b. 16 July 1994 Auckland New Zealand   * Edward George Ramage b. 20 Sep 1957 Birmingham, England   * Carol Ann Ramage b. 7 Oct 1965 Birmingham, England              

  2. ?  Large           

Mary Hilda Kirby b. 1 Mar 1905 Agra d. 3 Jun 1982   married John George POTTS  

Joseph Allen Kirby b. 6 Jul 1912 India d. 9 Mar 1986 Auckland New Zealand  married Dorothea  Beatrice PAUL on 12 Sep 1938, b. 21 Aug 1915 Bangalore d. 1 Jan 1996 Auckland New Zealand , children              

  1. Darryl Kirby               

  2. Michael Kirby      

Information on pages contained in this website have been supplied by family members/researchers for the enjoyment and mutual benefit of all concerned. The Administrator does not vouch for their accuracy.

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