The Sea is the topic for this #52 Ancestors in 52 weeks blog. I have chosen yet another Tait brother’s tale to tell. What a wealth of stories this family are!
William Tait was the second youngest son of Joshua Tait. (Joshua Tait of Langrigg) He was born in Langrigg in around 1778, he was baptised 23 March 1778 at the local church in Whitsome and Hilton.
I have found no record of William again till he attended the University of Edinburgh and studied medicine.
After graduation he joined the Navy and we next find him in 1808 working as a medical officer with the Royal Navy.
On 15 August 1818 at the age of 40 he gets married in Bath, to Maria Bertha Edgar the widow of Robert CAMPBELL who was a captain in the Royal Navy alongside Admiral NELSON! Robert died in 1815 leaving Maria with 3 children. Both William and Robert worked for the Navy, so they might have met then?
Maria was the only child of Rear Admiral Alexander EDGAR (1736 – 1817), for more about Alexander’s fascinating life – see https://morethannelson.com/officer/alexander-edgar/.
By 1841 William is retired and on half pay, and 22 September 1854 he dies in France, where he is living with his wife.
He is buried in Boulogne, he had no children of his own and left his estate to one of Maria’s children!
Dr William Tait (& his brother George Tait) wrote a series of letters on his brother Peter’s behalf, who was trying to set up as a farmer in the Cape, South Africa. (Disaster: Peter Tait, early Cape settler #52 Ancestors in 52 weeks)
William seemed to move around the country quite a lot, I imagine he went to a sea at some point, perhaps he served alongside Captain Robert Campbell and knew Lord Nelson!
Born Langrigg Scotland March 1778
University Edinburgh Scotland 1795
Married in Clifton, St Andrew, Bristol, England August 1818.
Wrote letter from Somerset Coffee House, Strand January 1819.
Wrote letter from Southampton February 1819 to April 1819.
Died and was buried in Boulogne France 1854.
Maria died in 1856 two years later and was also buried in Boulogne France. Sadly she outlived all except one of her children.
not just any family 