Glenbuchat Heritage

33 Lady Caroline Coombes Forbes nee Battye

Caroline Combes Battye

Birth 25 Mar 1809 Kensington, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
Death 6 Sep 1877 Broom Wood, Clapham Common, Surrey, England

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Click to see the album of Treasures of Castle Newe

The photographs above show:

1 The top of a box with the initials CCB 22nd August 1828
This belonged to Caroline Coombes Battye, wife of Sir Charles Forbes 3rd Bart. and dated when she was 19, 2 years before her wedding, possibly an engagement present.

2 Sir Charles and family in 1865 at Broomwood their London home in Clapham. Note the large number of staff. Sir Charles is the gentleman on the left with the beard and what appears to be a tartan scarf around his neck.

3 Close up of family group at Broomwood, Perhaps Caroline is the elderly lady seated to the left of Sir Charles.

Caroline Combe Battye was the wife of Sir Charles Forbes the 3rd Baronet of Newe.
Charles was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India on 21 Sep 1803 had not expected to inherit the baronetcy. However his brother died just before inheriting the title, and his brother’s son the second Baronet died 2 years later.
Charles had started a life in the army and when he married on the 21st August 1830 Caroline Battye, he was a Lieutenant in the 17th Lancers.
Charles inherited the Baronetcy in 1852 and by then they had had three children, Charles, Caroline, and George.

Click to see the Sir Charles as a Lancer

Sir Charles Forbes, 3rd Baronet died on 2 Nov 1877 London, England just 2 months after Caroline died

It is unclear how Charles and Caroline met but there are a number of possibilities.

In London, the families lived 3 ½ miles apart in Central London and may have been part of the same social set.

There was an India connection before the marriage and this increased later on. Caroline’s Uncle had been a Collector of taxes and a Judge in the Bengal Civil Service. Later many of Carolines family (see below) served in the East India Company Army. Chrles Father the first Baronet was an MP and great advocate of Indian affairs.

Finally, the Army. Charles was for many years in the cavalry of the 17th Lancers latterly as a Captain. Full time between 1825 and 1835 and part time thereafter. As will be noted below Carolines’s family were extortionary in their involvement with the army.
In 1854 during the Crimean war, during a Russian attack on the British base at Balaklava, a misunderstood order led the Light Brigade to charge down the mile-long Valley of Death at a line of Russian cannons. The 17th Lancers rode in the front line.

Battye Family History.

Carolines uncle was John Battye and he worked in the Indian Civil Service
John Battye
Birth Abt 1774
Death 1819 at Bhagalpur, 20 October. 1819.
Battye, John — Collector of Bhagalpur, 1818-1819.
Judge in the Bengal Civil Service

Caroline’s father was George Battye who was a Justice of the Peace in Knightsbridge London.

George Battye
Birthdate: circa 1770
Birthplace: Kensington, Greater London, UK
Death: February 25, 1849 Mayfair, Greater London,
Son of John Battye and Elizabeth Battye
Husband of Georgina Wynyard
Children
Lt.-Col. George Wynyard Battye-Cumming;
Georgiana Lily Cecilia Malcolmson;
Maj. Montagu John Battye;
Col. George Wynyard Battye;
Caroline C Battye
Amelia C Battye;
Edward M Battye
Arthur F Battye
Half brother of Charles Battye, of The Gore

Carolines Mothers (Georgina Wynyard) family had a distinguished army' connections with her father being a Lt General, and two sons being a General and Major General. However, they did not serve in India.

Georgiana Charlotte Wynyard Battye
Birth 6 Sep 1786 Kensington, Royal Borough Of Kensington And Chelsea,
Death 8 Mar 1860 (Aged 73) Brighton, Brighton and Hove England
Parents
Lt Gen William Wynyard 1759–1819
Spouse
George Battye 1782–1849 (M. 1804)
Siblings
Gen Edward Buckley Wynyard 1778–1864
Cpt William Clinton Wynyard 1789–1814
Frederica Wynyard Hurd 1792–1824
Maj Gen Robert Henry Wynyard 1802–1864
Children
Col George Wynyard Battye 1805–1888
Caroline Battye Forbes 1809–1877
Sophia Harriet Battye Hancock 1814–1864
Louisa Frances Battye 1815–1837
Capt Edward Montague Battye 1817–1898
Frederica Elizabeth Battye Warner 1821–1886
William Forbes Battye 1828–1828

The impressive involvement of the Battye family in the army can be seen from the following summary from ‘The Fighting Battyes’ (https://wiki.fibis.org/w/The_Fighting_Battyes)
They include four Major Generals.

The Fighting Battyes

The Battye family was notable for the number of members who served with great distinction in the army in British India.

1st Generation

George Wynyard Battye (1806-1888), (Carolines brother) Bengal Civil Service, was the father of ten remarkable brothers. (Carolines nephews). On 6th December 1836, George Wynyard Battye was posted as Joint Magistrate and Deputy Collector, Maldah with his headquarters at Englishbazar.

Major-General George Money Battye (1829-1912) served in the 2nd Burma War where he was present at the Capture of Pegu June 1852 and was commander at Murree during the Indian Mutiny.

Lieutenant Quintin Henry Battye (1832-1857) was second in command of the Corps of Guides in their march from Mardan to Delhi. He was killed on the day of their arrival. There is a memorial tablet in St Pauls Cathedral crypt.

Major-General Henry Doveton Battye (1833-1915) served in the Indian Mutiny in the Rohilcund Campaign and the Oude Campaign.

Major Wynyard Battye (1835-1882) commissioned in the 65th Bengal Native Infantry served at the Second Lucknow Relief and in the 2nd China War.

Lieutenant-Colonel Montagu McPherson Battye (1836-1929) served in the 10th Lincolnshire Regiment during the Indian Mutiny at Dinapore, Arrah, Atrowlee, Chanda and Lucknow.

Captain Charles Forbes Battye (1838-1918) served in the 33rd Bengal Native Infantry

Major-General Arthur Battye CB (1839-1909) was an ensign in the 19th Bengal Native Infantry and later in the 2nd Gurkha Rifles. He took part the Lushai Expedition and the 2nd Afghan War.

Major Wigram Battye (1842-1879) served in the Corps of Guides in the 2nd China War, the Ambela Campaign and the Jowaki Expedition. In the 2nd Afghan War at the Battle of Futtehabad he was killed leading the Guides in a cavalry charge. There is a memorial tablet in St Pauls Cathedral crypt.

Major Legh Richmond Battye (1845-1888) first of the 35th Royal Sussex Regiment later of the 5th Gurkha Regiment served throughout the Jowaki Expedition. He was killed during the 3rd Black Mountain Expedition. There is a memorial stone in St Luke's Church in Abbottabad.

Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Drummond Battye (1847-1895) served in the Corps of Guides Infantry in the Jowaki Expedition 1877, the 2nd Afghan War when he was severely wounded at the Battle of Asmai Heights, the Hazara 1891 and the Chitral Campaign 1895 when he was killed leading a battalion on a punitive expedition. His grave is in Mardan where there is a tablet in St Alban's Church.

2nd Generation
Montagu McPherson Battye had a third son who served in the British Army

Lt-Col Clinton Wynyard Battye DSO (1874-1917) of 85th King's Light Infantry served in the North West Frontier and the 1st World War in France.
Legh Richmond Battye had five sons who served in the army in India.

Lieutenant Richmond Moffat Battye (1869-1897) of the 6th Bengal Cavalry who served on the North West frontier and was killed in action in the Kurmana Dara. He is buried in Parachinar, Kurram Valley.

Lieutenant Arthur Baldwyn Battye (1872-?), Indian Staff Corps formerly 30th East Lancashire Regiment, served in the Chitral Campaign.

Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Rothney Battye DSO (1874-1943), Indian Medical Service, served with 10th Bengal Lancers, 12th Bengal Cavalry, 14th Sikhs to China in 1900, Boxer Rebellion. Later a political officer in India; British Vice-Consul at Meshed; acting Consul-General in Khorassan; Residency Surgeon, Udaipur State; OC 108th Indian Field Ambulance, 1914; Director Civil Medical Services, Mesopotamia.

Brigadier Ivan Urmston Battye CB (1875-1953) of the Queen's Own Corps of Guides of which he was Commandant. Served in the North West Frontier and in Mesopotamia.

Colonel Basil Condon Battye (1882-1932) DSO Royal Engineers.

3rd Generation
Walter Rothney Battye had a son who served in the Indian Army.
Major-General Stuart Hedley Molesworth Battye CB (1907-1987) commissioned in the Royal Engineers and served with the Bengal Sappers and Miners in the North West Frontier and in the 2nd World War.

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