The Boddington-Ingram Family History

Alfred George INGRAM

• Born: 26 Apr 1879, Rochford, Sub-District Of Prittlewell, Essex England ^{4 5}
• Marriage (1): Ellen Millicent BULLOCK on 21 Jul 1903 in St John's Church, Bangalore, Karnataka, India ^{1 2 3}
• Died: 1 Apr 1940, Madras, (Chennai) Tamil Nadu, India aged 60 ⁶
• Buried: 2 Apr 1940, Pallavaram, Madras, (Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India ⁷

Notes:

Alfred George INGRAM was born in June 1879 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. His father is shown as Edward John Ingram and his mother as Mary Ann Ingram formerly Ward. The family was living at Cromwell Place, Southend at the time. He first appears in the census returns for 1881 at the age of 1 year living with his parents and siblings at 6 Alexander Terrace, Prittlewell and again at the same address in 1891, aged 11 years.

Alfred was descended from a long line of Thames "Bargemen" or "Watermen" working out of Southend-on-Sea, Essex and would have been expected to follow in the footsteps of his fathers before him. However, like many youngsters of his day, he chose to 'join the Army and see the world'. So at the age of 17 or 18 he left the family home and enlisted in the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment. The Essex Regiment had recently, (1881) been formed from the amalgation of 44th and 56th Regiments of Foot. (See Footnote [1] below). In 1899/1900, both battalions of the regiment were deployed to South Africa where Alfred George saw his first action in the Second Boer War. After the war ended, the 1st Battalion was redeployed directly for service in India and left Natal for Madras aboard the SS. Ionian  in August 1902. The battalion was billetted at Bangalore where it remained on garrison duties under command of the Madras Presidency for the next five or six years. It was here that Corporal Alfred George Ingram met and married Ellen Millicent Bullock in 1903.

In 1907, his battalion transferred to command of the Bengal Presidency and was despatched to Fort Sandeman, Baluchistan for frontier service with the 4th (Quetta) Division. He was subsequently joined by his wife and first two children who were quartered in Quetta cantonment. He is known to have been a Sergeant when his daughter Dorothy May was born in Quetta (1910). It was also while serving here that he was awarded the Durbar Gold Medal for best Man-at-Arms (Dismounted) in India. The medal was presented to him by Her Majesty Queen Mary at the Delhi Durbar of 1911. It was subsequently bequeathed to the family of his eldest son Leyland, where it remains much prized, to this day.

He is known to have transferred to the India Unattached List, (IUL) around about 1913 and was seconded to the Indian Army Service Corps as Sub-Conductor, (WO II) and Conductor (WO I). So far very few details of this service, but it is known to have been mostly in the central provinces and south of India. (He was RQMS of an IASC depot in Jabalpur, present day Andhra Pradesh when his son Leslie was born). He was commissioned Lieutenant in about 1920 and appointed Quartermaster to the 40th Simla Rifles, (AFI) in the Punjab in 1924. He and his family lived in Simla, (present day Himachal Pradesh) until his retirement from the Army in about 1929. The family eventually moved back to Tamil Nadu in 1930, or shortly after. The family home in the south was first at "Maggie Lodge", Fern Hill in Ootacamund, his adopted 'hometown'. They subsequently moved to "Melrose" in Madras, (Chennai). It is not yet known how he was employed, if at all, after he left the service.

His children were all educated at the Lawrence Memorial Royal Military School, Lovedale near Ootacamund in the Nilgiri Hills.

After a prolonged illness, he died on 1st April 1940 at the age of 61 years at "Melrose" in Madras and lies buried in St. Stephen's Church cemetery in Palavaram.

Footnote ^[1]. The 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot first arrived in India in 1822, where it remained for the next 20 years. In 1841 during the First Afghan War, the entire column moving from Kabul to Jellalabad was massacred in the deep snow at Gundamak. There were just eight survivors. The regiment then spent the next six years re-recruiting and re-forming in Britain. After recovering sufficiently to see action in the Crimean War, the regiment returned to India to take part in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, (1st War of Independance) in 1857. It also fought in the Second China War, (1857-1860). After finally returning to England in 1881, the regiment was amalgamated with the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to form The Essex Regiment. With acknowledgements to The Essex Regiment Museum.

Events:

1. He appeared on the UK Census 1881 in Rochford, Sub-District Of Prittlewell, Essex England. ⁸

2. He appeared on the UK Census 1891 in Rochford, Sub-District Of Prittlewell, Essex England. ⁹

3. He enlisted in the 1st Battalion Essex Regiment in about 1897 at Rochford, Essex, England.

4. He saw action in the Second Boer War and was present at the battles of Kimberley and Paardeberg, South Africa, 1900-02.

5. He served in the 1st Bn Essex Regt in India from 1902 to 1913.

5. He was awarded the Gold Medal for Best Man at Arms in Jan 1911 in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. ¹⁰

6. He transferred to the India Unattached List (IUL) and was seconded to the Indian Army Service Corps in about 1913 at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India.

7. He was commissioned Lieutenant RIASC in 1920 and appointed QM of 4th Simla Rifles, (AFI), Simla, Himachal Pradesh, India in about 1924.

8. He retired from the Army with the rank of Captain in about 1928.

Alfred married Ellen Millicent BULLOCK, daughter of James BULLOCK and Mary Ann LEYLAND, on 21 Jul 1903 in St John's Church, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.^{1 2 3} (Ellen Millicent BULLOCK was born on 4 Feb 1884 in Tiruchchirappalli, (Trichinopoly) Tamil Nadu, India, christened on 14 Mar 1884 in St John's Church, Tiruchchirappalli (Trichinopoly) Tamil Nadu, India ¹¹ and died on 4 Dec 1967 in Bromley, Kent, England ^{12 13}.)