i : Introduction
i) THE ANGLO-CHILEAN COMMUNITY
When the genealogist observes the family origins of those persons who would today be mutually recognised as belonging to the Anglo-Chilean Community", his first impression is that the label is as vague as that of “the Holy Roman Empire" (as a colony of which, the country of Chile came into being). For he has to treat of those most mobile of all human beings: men & women who left their home countries to seek their fortune in other lands. And mobility is one of the hazards of genealogy: it complicates research , as it confuses group definition. Yet "Anglo-Chilean Community" is no meaningless term. So far as a definition can be offered, it would run thus: the body of men and women, of British descent or tradition, who have in common an affiliation with Chile through past or continuing family residence there.
If the origin by blood is British, the point of departure for the original voyage to Chile is usually, though not always, in the British Isles. There are several Anglo-Chilean families whose progenitors emigrated from, for instance, Australia & Canada; and some long-settled families of North American origin are closely linked with the Community. The male-line origin by blood is not necessarily British, as a glance through the List of Members of The Anglo-Chilean Society shows: for many families, "Anglo" by tradition and association, and usually by blood in the female line, bear names of European origin. The family may have other South American associations earlier than those with Chile: & many families arrived in Chile after a stay,varying from years to generations, in for instance Peru or Argentina.
Bilingual fluency is not a common factor: for the Community ranges from persons of non-British surname who would be "taken for" British, to persons with completely British surnames whose great-grandfathers forgot how to speak English. Nor is continuing residence in Chile a common factor: for whilst, in some families, the babies now being born are of the sixth & seventh generation from the original settler, in other families the original settler's descendants have either returned to the ancestral homeland or have moved to a third country. And throughout, the prefix "Anglo-" implies "origin", not literalIy only in England, but anywhere in the British Isles (and this whether the origin be by blood, marriage or association).
These preliminary comments serve to emphasise the varied and mobile origins of the community here treated.
ii) THE LIMITATIONS OF THIS PAPER
From the very abbreviated account of the extent & variety of British associations with Chile that is given in this paper, it will be evident that, as suggested in Chapter II (ii), the total number of persons potentially involved in a complete review of the Anglo-Chilean Community is probably to be counted in tens of thousands. It would be a task beyond the powers of any one man to trace them all and to compile a comprehensive index. So far as I am aware, no book has hitherto been published, devoted to Anglo-Chilean genealogy: and it would appear that only one book ("The English in South America", by Michael MULHALL , c1880) has so far been published, devoted to biographies of British settlers in South America generally,
This paper, that I venture to offer, suffers from the inherent limitations of my Genealogical Collection, from which the Family Notices in Chapter IV have been summarised. I should therefore explain what those limitations are and, as it were, present my credentials. I have been collecting genealogical information about the AngloChilean Community since I first went to Chile in 1949: but, as genealogy is my pastime but not my profession, the time available to me for research has been limited and my Collection has been built up in concentric circles of connection , starting from my wife's family (IV.28 1. Where there was "genealogical continuity", where any connection of a connection appeared, I have sought out information recorded it. As a result, my Collection
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probably contains some 5000 names of persons,
living & deceased, of this Community.
But I am
very aware that there is much ground into which this "personalised" line of research has not yet led me, particularly with regard to families of early settlement, in less close touch with families of
relatively recent settlement like my wife's. Nevertheless, I offer the paper as it is hoping that, with the cooperation of old families, the omissions may be remedied, and that this paper may one day servea nucleus for a more comprehensive work.
ii: The Chilean People
Before attempting to identify those persons who have comprised the Anglo-Chilean Community, it is desirable first to give a brief picture of the Chilean people amongst whom that Community has grown.
A) HISTORICAL & ETHNOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS
i)
The country known to us today as the Republic of Chile extends along the western coast of South America from Cape Horn (so named by Jacob LEMAIRE, native of Horne, in Holland, who rounded it in 1616) northwards for 2661 miles to latitude 17' South, yet with never a greater breadth than 250 miles between the Andes cordillera and the Pacific seaboard.
It is said that the first European to set foot in the country was the discoverer Ferdinand MAGELLAN (Fernao de MAGALHAES: c1480-1521), in December 1520, after he had passed through the Strait that bears his name, in the course of his (the First) Circumnavigation.
But the settlement & Colonisation of Chile, where by it came to be one of that family of South American republics where the Latin culture has been transmuted in an Amerindian environment, dates back to 1535/36 when don Diego de ALMAGRO (c1470 - 1538) led the first abortive expedition into the northern Chilean deserts. The Marshal ALMAGRO, 'conquistador', had been with Francisco PIZARRO (c1471-1541) one of the original contractors for the Conquest of Peru. The Conquest of Chile was an offshoot from the Peruvian Conquest, ALMAGRO having been granted by the Emperor CHARLES V the territory for 200 leagues south of Cuzco, to be named New Toledo. The first Chilean expedition of 1535/36 proved to be purely exploratory: but a second expedition in 1541, under the command of don Pedro de VALDIVIA (1500-1544) founded the capital city of Santiago (1541) & the port of Valparaiso (1544) and laid the foundations of the Spanish colonisation of this area. Not more than 150 Europeans took part in this expedition (see "Young" pages 21/22 and miscegenation followed naturally.
The indigenous inhabitants with whom their conquerors intermarried were the Araucanian Indians, a valiant race unlike any other South Amerindians, who were only finally defeated by the Chileans at a pitched battle in 1882. The name 'Chile' is perhaps derived from 'tchili', the word for 'snow' in the language of the Quechua Indians of Peru (E.B.). There are today somewhat less than 100,000 pure-bred Araucanians living, mainly concentrated in the two southern provinces of Malleco & Cautin: but the majority of Chilean families who have been settled for more than four
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or five generations have in them some strain of Araucanian blood, and are proud of it. Many aristocratic Chilean families can trace a descent from one of the companions of VALDIVIA, a German mercenary named Bartholomew BLUMEN, who married Elvira daughter of the Cacique of Talagante (see "Young" pages 21/22).
The Captaincy-General & Presidency of Chile remained subordinated to the Viceroyalty of Peru until the Declaration of Independence in 1810. Colonisation during nearly three centuries of Spanish Imperial rule was slow. Some years ago, don Francisco de BESE, of the Chilean Central Office of Statistics, estimated that the population of the country was about 80,000 in 1700, and about 500,000 when Independence was declared in 1810. This half - million "included 300,000 'mestizos' (mixed bloods), half as many 'criollos' ('Creoles', i.e. natives of European descent), some 20,000 peninsulares' (recently arrived Spaniards , among whom Basque immigrants from northern Spain formed an energetic commercial element), and a smattering of negroes and recently emancipated Indians"(E. B.) Maria GRAHAM (see vi), visiting Valparaiso in 1822, likens it to an English fishing village by comparison with which Sidmouth would be an important town.
ii)
The Declaration of Independence on 18th September 1810 (commemorated annually as the 'Diez-y-ocho' , the Chilean national day ) was provoked by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, which threw the parts of the former Empire each on its own resources . Chile was the first of the Spanish possessions in South America to proclaim its independence, and its revolt was at the time directed against continued government from Lima by the Viceroy of Peru. The autonomists were split amongst themselves and in 1814 were defeated in battle at Rancagua by the royalists, who resumed control of the country for another two and a half years. In 1817 fighting acain broke out, the patriots being led by the Argentinian liberator, General Jose de SAN MARTIN (1778-1850); and with the decisive victory at Maipu, April 1818, independence was effective. However, fighting still continued against the last Spanish royalist garrisons in the south of Chile: and it was not until 1826 that they were finally expelled from Ancud, on the island of Chiloe.
With the opening of the ports and of commerce to European trade, Chile grew and prospered. "By 1850 England, France & Germany had largely crowded Spain out of Chilean trade" (E.B.1.) The 1907 Census recorded a population of 3,249,279 and the 1930 Census recorded 4,287,445 of whom 105,463 were 'foreign-born' (one quarter of them Spaniards). About one quarter of the total population live in the central Province of Santiago.
'Whilst German, Slav & Italian immigrants predominate after Spaniards, the body of British settlers is of significant size within the nation, and about 1900 it was estimated that 20,000 residents in Chile were of British descent.
The population of Chile today has passed the 7 million mark; and it would not be very rash to hazard the guess that about one percent of the Chilean nation has some strain of British blood. Indeed, there is probably no other country in the world, that never was a part of the British Empire or Commonwealth, where British associations and sympathies are so strong.
B) SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS
The Chileans, in common with other South Americans, are intensely aware of family relationships end kinships to a degree that would seem unusual to most of the inhabitants of modern urbanised Britain. This is undoubtedly due to the Latin sense of family having been transported to a remote part of the world, to continue there throughout centuries in relatively isolated & small communities. Until the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914, Chile was one of the countries most distant by trade route from Britain; and the sea voyage by sailing ship could last months. Nevertheless those families that could afford to do so sent their sons to Europe for education, throughout the XIXth Century, often involving parent-child separations of up to 7 years: and it may be this custom as much as any other factor that accounts for the dual allegiance of some of the old Anglo-Chilean families.
Vocabulary is the prime clue to the strength of family feeling. The English words father, mother, son & daughter are translated. into Spanish by 'padre', 'madre', 'hijo' & 'hija'. The grandparent-grandchild relationships are more specifically rendered abuelo', abuela', nieto' & 'nieta' The cumbersome great-great prefixes of English are replaced by the more manageable labels 'bisabuelo' 'tatarabuelo', or bisnieto' etcetera: (a necessary verbal economy in a country where girls marry young and live to great ages , where by great-relationships are commonplace). For the untidy '-in-law' series , there is a set of specific words: 'suegro', 'suegra', 'yerno' & 'nuera' meaning respectively father-, mother, son- & daughter-in-law. The 'step-' relationships are identified by the suffix '-astro' : thus 'padrastro' and 'hijastra' mean respectively step-father & step-daughter. Brothers-in-law are recognised in two degrees: the 'cuñado' is the sister's husband or the wife's brother, and the 'concuñado' is the wife's sister's husband.
There are also words for human relationships, for which there are no exact translations Consuegro' defines the connection into English. between the respective fathers of the bride and bridegroom. Compadre' defines the association between the godfather and the father of the baptised child. And the colloquial term 'tio politico' (literally "political uncle" usually indicates a very remote connection through marriage, mutually recognised for mutual benefit.
Against such a background, the British immigrant, exposed to the dual influences of remoteness
from the home-country and assimilation by a hospitable host-nation, has tended to absorb and acquire this highly developed sense of family. Generalising, the "Chileno" (& the Anglo-Chilean) knows to an extensive degree who his cousins are, and who are related to persons who married his cousins. Fifty years ago, so it is said, it was a dinner-party game for those present to "relate" themselves to one another. If two Chileans are introduced for the first time, the instinctive reaction is for them to catechise one another in the hope of identifying some common link (which they usually succeed in doing). In small, remote and intermarried communities, a different way of life rules , in which it is not possible for the least member to remain anonymous.
Anglo-Chilean genealogy thus tends to become a vast exercise in what one might call "sidewaysgenealogy'' (of which examples can be found in the diagrammatic chart in Anthony SAMPSON's book "Anatomy of Britain" 1962, and in Tables 111 & IV of Sir Anthony WAGNER'S "English Genealogy" 1960). The pre-Chilean origins of the Community are as diverse as life itself: but the immigrant family, once settled, usually becomes connected through its first local marriages with the Community that it has joined. The Geneagraph annexed to this paper gives some indication of the connections through intermarriage that characterise the AngloChilean Community,
C)
NAMES & SURNAMES
The Chilean is required to use, by the law of his country, two surnames; the paternal followed by the maternal, without any conjunction. This is very confusing for foreigners who are unfamiliar with the practice. If the name of a prominent Chilean is mentioned in the British Press, it is usually wrongly cited, as if one were to refer to the great wartime Premier as Sir Winston JEROME. Even recognised works of family reference, when recording cadet branches settled in Chile, have not avoided this pitfall; and the reader unacquainted with the family would often be misled as to the identity of the surname (in an English sense).
To avoid any possibility of confusion in this paper, I have followed the practice that I observe in my Collection, namely to place the maternal surname in brackets: but I must emphasise that this is purely a personal practice. Thus (in para. IV.8.d.i), Luis son of James LYON by his wife Gertrude PEREZ was known in Chile as Luis LYON PEREZ , though he may have written his name as "Luis LYON P.". Hyphenated surnames are not unknown in Chile, well-known examples being GOMEZ-LOBO and GARCIA-HUIDOBRO, to which would be added in each individual case the other parental surname. It is a practice that greatly assists the tracing of relationships; but which produces some odd results when a British immigrant has already been baptised with his mother's maiden surname (- as in the case of Ralph ROGERS (RALPH), see IV.20.b).
A married woman is formally styled by suffixing 'de' & her husband's paternal surname to her own maiden name: thus, continuing the foregoing illustration, James LYON's wife was known as Gertrude PEREZ de LYON. Whenwidowed, the 'de' becomes 'viuda de' (abbreviated in writing to 'vda.de'). In practice, women
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are frequently referred to by their maiden names only, though they may have been married for years and have had children: and this occurs not only in conversation (a habit of some confusion for newly arrived foreigners), but also in their official documents (identity cards & passports) which sometimes may never be altered to record their married names. The range of given names in Chile is not as restricted as it is in Argentina, where it is illegal to name a child other than after one of the saints But a certain conservatism (by in the calendar. British standards) in naming habits is more than compensated by a multiplicity of diminutives and nicknames, which are invariably used in conversation to identify the person referred to.
D) NATIONALITY
The first Constitution of Chile was promulgated in October 1822. The aspect of a written Constitution that particularly interests the genealogist is that which refers to Citizenship & Nationality. Chapter II of Part I of that Constitution defined as
Chileans: 1) those born in the country; 2 ) those of Chilean parents living abroad; 3) foreigners married to Chileans, after three years of residence: 4) foreigners who invest in Chile a capital of not less than 2000 pesos, & after five years of residence. At that time, the peso (originally the Spanish piece o f eight), had parity with the American dollar. Under the second definition, Chilean nationality can, in fact, be claimed for a child born outside Chile, even when the mother only is Chilean. To understand the philosophy behind those definitions, one must remember that the population was then probably little more than 500,000 (see para.A.i above), and appreciate the anxiety of a new independent State to increase the number of its citizens.
The Anglo-Chilean who travels abroad may, though does not always, claim his second nationality: for Chile (unlike some other South American Republics) is tolerant towards the human problem of dual nationality. But the Anglo-Chilean, born & resident in Chile, is first & foremost a Chilean national.
iii: British Associations with Chile
E)
THE ROYAL LINKS
Sir Anthony WAGNER refers in his book "English Genealogy" (p.199) to "the magic of royalty and royal descent". The line of descent of the British Monarchs is, as it were, the "Greenwich meridian" of the great chart of British genealogy. The chart of Anglo-Chilean genealogy has a regal point of original reference in the marriage on 25th July 1554, only 19 years afterALMAGRO's first expedition into Chile, of MARY TUDOR, Queen of England and PHILIP of HABSBURG, KING OF CHILE. PHILIP did not become King PHILIP II of Spain until 18 months later, 16th January 1556, when his father the Emperor CHARLES V resigned the crown of Spain to him. In order that PHILIP might not be of lesser rank than his bride, his father created him King of his most recently acquired & distant dominion. None other has held the title "King of Chile" since PHILIP. "There is an old painting now hanging at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Santiago, perhaps the only one in existence, of Bloody Mary in her robes as Queen of Chile. Over the picture an inscription reads MARIA TUDOR: REGINA CHILAE" (see Young p.12).
For members of the Anglo-Chilean Community who can trace a descent from EDWARD I, King of England, and his first wife, special interest lies in the fact that Queen Consort Eleanor was daughter of ST. FERDINAND III (d.1252), King of Castile & Leon. ISABELLA the Catholic, Queen of Castile & Leon (reigned 1474-1504), whose belief in Christopher COLUMBUS (c1446 - 1506) enabled him to sail on his Voyage of Discovery of the New World 1492, was a great-granddaughter of JOHN of GAUNT, Duke of Lancaster (by his 2nd wife, She married CONSTANCE of Castile). FERDINAND (11, King of Aragon, later) V, King of Spain (reigned 1479-1516), in whose name Vasco Nuñez de BALBOA (c1475 - 1517) took possession of the " Great South Sea" 1511 (re-
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named Pacific Ocean 1520 by MAGELLAN) . At that time, 1511, the King of England was HENRY VIII, son-in-law of FERDINAND.
The Conquest of Peru in 1524 by PIZARRO & ALMAGRO, & its sequel, that of Chile 1525, both took place in the reign end service of the Emperor CHARLES V, grandson maternally of FERDINAND & ISABELLA, & first-cousin of his daughter-in-law MARY TUDOR, Queen of England 0 Chile. Of the Families noticed in Chapter IV, those of GIBBS (see 91, PRICE (see 13) and WODEHOUSE (see 32) have descents from King EDWARD IEI (see Ruvigny's Plantagenet Roll):
that of BLAIR (see 29) has a descent from King ROBERT III of Scotland: & the WHITE family (see 11) has its confused tradition of Hanoverian origin: but genealogical precedence must be allowed to the family of LYON (see 8) with its uninterrupted male descent from Sir John LYON of Glamis by his wife Joan daughter of King ROBERT II of Scotland. They were ancestors also or H.k. Queen ELIZABETH The Queen Mother: which connection renews today the four-hundred year old link between Chile & the BRITISH Crown.
F) THE COLONIAL PERIOD. 1535-1810
British associations with Chile during the first two centuries of its history are, as one would expect, exclusively maritime and consist of contacts with the Chilean coastline & islands on the part of the great English navigators. To the genealogist there is something about this period reminiscent of the period of Viking raids along the English coast, prior to permanent Norse settlement. There must have been some mingling of British with Araucanian and mestizo blood, but quite beyond the ken of any genealogist to trace.
i)
Sir Francis DRAKE
(1545-1596), in the course of his glorious Circumnavigation
on the"Golden Hind", was off the coast of Chile during the year 1578, plundering & pillaging. "He then continued his voyage along the coast of Chile & Peru, taking all opportunities of seizing Spanish ships, and attacking them on shore , till his men were satiated with plunder" (E.6.).
ii) Thomas CAVENDISH (?1555-1592), the second English circumnavigator, behaved in similar fashion and, on the "Desire" (140 tons), touched at Quintero & Arica in 1586. (see "Galdames").
iii) Alexander SELKIRK (1676-1721), prototype of "Robinson Crusoe", was sailing master on the "Cinque Porte" galley, one of the two vessels commanded by William DAMPIER (1652-1715), buccaneer & hydrographer, on an expedition to the In September 1704 this ship put in South Seas. at Juan Fernandez Islands and SELKIRK was left behind, as other English seamen had been marooned there before him. He was taken off in February 1709 by Captain Woodes ROGERS (circumnavigator of f708/11), commdnder of the "Duke" privateer (DAMPIER being the pilot) (E.B The Juan Fernandez Islands (so named after the Spanish pilot who discovered them in 1563) lie s o m e 400 to 500 miles off Valparaiso, and are Chilean territory.
iv) Commodore George ANSON (1697-1762), later Baron Anson, also called at Juan Fernandez in his flagship "Centurion", in June 1741, during his expedition to attack the Spanish possessions: and later that year he captured the town of Paita , in the north of Peru (E.B.).
VI Admiral the Hon. John BYRON (1723-1786) ~
("Foul-Weather Jack". grandfather of the poet had been a midshipman in ANSON'S expedition, on the "Wager" wrecked near Cape Horn. He commanded a circumnavigation 1764/66 (see his "Narrative" published 17781, in which Philip CARTERET (1733-17961, later Rear-Admiral, commanded the "Dolphin". CARTERET subsequently commanded the "Swallow" in Wallis' expedition of 1766/69, during which he called at Juan Fernandez and discovered Pitcairn Island, 1767 (see his "Journal" in Hawkesworth's "Voyages"
1773).
Whilst it may be stretching genealogical connections almost as far as those seamen stretched maritime routes, it is possible to include DRAKE's name in the annexed Geneagraph and to show connections between ANSON & the PRICE family, & between BYROND the families of WODEHOUSE & RAIKES (IV.28.c).
Towards the end of the XVIIIth Century, British contacts of another sort begin to be made Two prominentthat lead to family settlement. instances also serve to illustrate what must have been the comparable careers of scores of unrecorded men who did not attain to eminence.
vi) Ambrose O'HIGGINS was born in 1720 at Ballinary, Co. Sligo (according to "Galdames" or at Summershill, Co.Meath (according to P.H.) The son of a peasant farmer on the estate of the Countess of Bective (sic P.H.), he was educated at Cadiz by an uncle who was a chaplain at the Court at Madrid. He went to Peru in commerce, and arrived in Chile in 1761 as a Captain-General of Chile in 1788, was promoted Field-Marshal 1789, and pacified the Indians. In
1796 he was appointed Viceroy at Lima, where he he died 18.3.1801. By Isabel RIQUELME , left a natural son, Bernardo (see para. G.iii) ("Galdames" & P. H .). Rosa, sister of Bernardo is mentioned as living 1822 ("Graham").
vii) Juan MACKENNA, born in 1771 at Drogheda Co. Louth, was a nephew of Alexander 0'REILLY (1722-1794), who settled in Spain, was created a Count, commanded Spanish forces in Louisiana 1769 & in Algeria 1774, was disgraced & died at Chinchilla, Murcia ("Galdames") MACKENNA went to Peru & served under Viceroy O'HIGGINS (i.e. in or before 1800), and was appointed Governor of Valparaiso in 1811, He was killed at Buenos Aires in 1814 in a duel with Luis CARRERA (see para. G.ii) ("Galdames"). His grandson Benjamin VICUNA (MACKENNA) (1831-1886) was a distinguished Chilean historian. The MACKENNA family is represented in Chile today in both maleb female lines: and is thus one of the Chilean families able to trace the earliest known descents from an original progenitor born in the British Isles.
viii) Besides those men from the British Isles who arrived in Chile through the Spanish service, as soldiers & civil servants, there were the seamen who in divers circumstances stayed or were left behind. There must have been similar instances throughout the XVIIIth Century, but nc specifically named cases have come to my notice earlier than the XIXth Century. In 1802, Dr. George EDWARDS, surgeon on the whaler "Backhouse", settled at Coquimbo & founded what has become a prominent Chilean family in public life (IV.2). In 1804, a ship bound for Australia mutinied off the Chilean coast & some 100 of the passengers landeda: Conzepcion, including Dr. Henry FAULKNER who later became Governor of Quillota (P.H.). The sur name FAULKNER continues in Chile today, probably in descent from him. William KENNEDY, mate of the "Scorpion" in 1808, when her captain & some of her crew were murdered, stayed in Chile, became a merchant & was resident in Valparaiso, 1823 (P.H.).
ix) in 1805, Amasa DELANO (whose brother Paul founded a prolific family in Chile: see IV.4 native of Boston, who traded on the Chilean coast, captured off Coronel the mutineered slaver "Prueba" (see his "Narrative" published 1817).
x)
An early example of an English trader in Chile was John MIERS, coppersmith, who settled at Concon in 1808, married there & had issue, and published his " Travels in Chile" 1826.
xi) With the exceptions of MACKENNA, EDWARDS, DELANO (collaterally) and possibly FAULKNER, none of the other names mentioned in this paragraph (F) are indicated as having been the progenitor of a family subsequently resident in Chile: and it might be objected that the mention of those other names would be more Appropriate in a historical account rather than in a genealogical paper. But the reader has been warned in the Introductory Chapter of the limitations of this paper. And, in any case, the interest of the other names to the genealogist (whose role is to chart the streams of blood, noble & common, open & hidden) is that, in a period of incomplete and virtually unresearched records , they illustrate the various ways in which the first wave of British blood must
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have seeped into Chile in the years prior to the more formal & recorded travel of the XIXth Century. The descendants of the unnamed seamen and soldiers-of-fortune, who set out from the British Isles before the end of the XVIIIth Century, hispanicized their surnames and adopted Chile as their home, and their families today must be as completely Chilean as their neighbours. Yet they must also have preserved, for a generation or two, some tradition of their British origin: and so, through their cushioning presence, and undoubted hospitality towards subsequent arrivals from Britain, they would have facilitated the acclimatization of the XIXth Century settlers, amongst whom we find the progenitors of the extant & recognisable Anglo-Chilean Community. The present day descendents of the "first wave" of British blood can rarely be said to form part of the Anglo-Chilean Community: but the presence of their forebears made the existence of that Community possible.
G) THE INDEPENDENCE PERIOD. 1810 - 1826: NAVAL & MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS
i) During the period of a decade & a half that intervenes between the Declaration of Independence and its complete unchallenged exercise, there is a considerable influx of British names into Chile: and, in this "second wave", the names of transient soldiers- & sailors-of-fortune overlap with those of eventual settlers. The focal point for the soldiers was the "English Brigade" (recruited mainly from officers who had served in the Peninsular War, 1808/14), which formed part of 0’HlGGlNS' Patriot Forces in SAN MARTIN’S Army of Liberation, that crossed the Andes in January 1817 and defeated the Spanish royalist forces at Chacabuco, 12.2.1817. The focal point for the sailors was service under Admiral Lord COCHRANE (see para.iv below).
ii) The first Independence movement of 1810 (sea Chapter Il.ii) was originally a 'junta' (committee) movement, from which the dominant figure to emerge was Jose Miguel CARRERA (brother of Luis, see para.F.vii). He was born in 1785 at Santiago, served in the Spanish Army against NAPOLEON, & returned to Chile in 1811. Styled the “Liberator of Chile", he was Dictator from 1812 until deposed by the royalists in 1814, being subsequently counted as the 1st President of the Republic. He was shot at Mendoza, Argentina, in 1821 ("Galdames”). His niece Magdalena married a brother of Carmen SANTA MARIA, the wife of George LYON (IV.8) (see "Young" p.60).
iii) The leader of the second & effective Independence movement (see Chapter II.ii) was Bernard0 O'HIGGINS (RIQUELME), the great national hero. Born at Chillan, Chile, in 1776 & educated in England, he returned to Chile in 1802 and commanded the Patriot Forces in 1813, in supersession of CARRERA. During the period of royalist restoration, he was in Argentina, helping SAN MARTIN to organise the Army of Liberation: and, after the battle of Chacabuco (see para. i above), he was appointed by SAN MARTIN Director-General of Government. 0' HIGGINS is counted as the 2nd President of the Republic. ,He ruled until 1823, when he resigned & retired to Peru where he died peacefully in 1842 ("Galdames" & E.B.). He left no descendants. It was at his
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invitation that COCHRANE entered the Chilean service.
iv) Thomas COCHRANE, (Admiral Lord COCHRANE) (1775-1860) accepted in 1817 the invitation to command the Chilean naval squadron, which he carried out with complete success 1818/ 23 in a series of actions fought along Chile's extensive coast, & has since been revered as a national hero. His signal exploit was the cutting out of the Spanish frigate "Esmeralda” under the fortifications of Callao harbour, Peru, 5.11.1820. In 1823 he transferred his services to Brazil and was created Marquess of Maranhao by the Emperor Dom PEDRO I. He succeeded his father as 10th Earl of Dundonald in 1821 ("Galdames" & Burke's Peerage). His descendants maintain close links with Chile and with the Anglo-Chilean Society (see para. M.v)..
v) Prior to COCHRANE's arrival, there is record in 1817 (P.H.) of Captain MACKAY, a former seaman on a whaler, leader of a party of 6 unemployed English sailors (Sam BRAIN, Dan FUREY, George JENKINS, Tom MARTIN, Aleck MORRlS & Bill SHAE) who set out from Valparaiso in a launch & captured the "Minerva" in Africa. They subsequently captured a Spanish brig bearing despatches from the Viceroy of Peru to the Spanish royalist authorities in Chile, which news MACKAY passed to the Patriots in VaIparaiso, who then legalized his privateer.
vi) On 22nd April 1822, H.M.S. frigate"Doris" put into Valparaiso, aboard being Maria GRAHAM, widow of the late commander Capt. Thomas GRAHAM, R.N., who had died off Cape Horn & who was buried at Valparaiso. Maria daughter of George DUNDAS, Vice-Admiral of the Blue, was born 1785 near Cockermouth & died 1842 at Kensington. She had married Capt. GRAHAM in 1809; and in 1827 married, as her 2nd husband, Augustus Wall CALCOTT (1777-1844, knighted 1837, F.R.A. 1813, one of whose best-known paintings is "Milton dictating his poem to his daughterst”. Maria GRAHAM travelled widely & published a number of books; but E.B. omits to mention (in the reference to her, sub A. W. CALCOTT) her “Journal of a Residence in Chile 1822", published 1824, and recognised in that country as an authoritative description of the early days of the Republic. Capt. GRAHAM had been a colleague of COCHRANE, who presented the widow to Chilean society, amongst whom she lived for the following 9 months.
vii) In her Journal, she mentions the names of 12 naval officers who were at Valparaiso in 1822, apparently serving under COCHRANE. Four of them are also mentioned in “Mulhall” or P.H.: Mr CANDLER, of the “Doris". Capt. COBBETT, nephew of William COBBETT (1763-1835: the Radical). He was drowned 1826 off Cape Horn, when COCHRANE's former flagship “OIHiggins” (that had been the Spanish frigate "Maria Isabel" before she was captured) was wrecked on her voyage to Argentina (which country had bought the ship) (P.H.).
Dr. CRAIG, surgeon on the “OVHiggins”: apparently temporarily resident in Santiago. Capt. CROSBIE, commander of the flagship "0' Higgins": an Irishman. According to "Mulhall" , he married COCHRANE's daughter: but there is
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no mention of such a marriage in Burke's Peerage. Mr DANCE, of the “Doris”.
P. 0. GRENFELL, Lieutenant in the Chilean Navy. commander of the "Mercedes".
Mr JACKSON, of the “Moctezuma”.
Capt. MORGELL, of the Chilean brig "Aranzazu”.
Capt. the Hon. Frederick SPENCER, commander of the frigate ''Alacrity".
Capt. Vernon, of the "Doris".
Capt. WILKlNSON (also named in “Mulhall”).
Capt. WINTER, of the "Moctezuma". He was later in command of the "Independence" when that ship was sold to Argentina, but she was broken up at Talcahuano, 1826 (P.H. ).
Only one military name is mentioned in the Journal: that of Major O'CARROL, who attended General SAN MARTIN when he passed through Valparaiso on his return to Argentina from Lima. And only one merchant captain is named: Capt. WHITE, of the "Medway”, in Valparaiso harbour at the time of the earthquake of November 1822.
viii) Other naval names survive from other sources. In 1818, Capt. TURNER of the "Santa Rosa" was put ashore at Valparaiso by mutineers ( P . H ) . In the same year, BYNON (IV.5) engaged as COCHRANE's signal midshipman. In 1819, the American, Paul DELANO, arrived to deliver the corvette “Curiacio" to the Patriots & stayed to join them: his son Paul Hinckley engaged as a midshipman under COCKRANE, & later founded a numerous family (IV.4). In 1821, Robert W. SIMPSON entered the Chilean Navy, & later settled (IV.25.d.iii): and in 1822, Humphrey BUNSTER settled in unique style, being lassooed (IV.5).
Also in 1822, John ROBERTSON, a sailor on the British brig-of-war “Hecate” (which ship had been Capt. GRAHAM'S first command in 1810), joined the Patriot Navy & was given command of a brig. He settled on La Mocha Island, off Talcahuano & married a Chilean. He was captured by the royalists, escaped & resumed Patriot service, turned privateer & was killed by the Spaniards (P.H.). In 1826, Capt. YOUNG commanded the Peruvian brig-of-war "Congresso” (“Mulhalll”): and in t h e same year Lieutenant OXLEY, of the brig “Galvarina" (formerly the "Hecate”), was present at the capture of Chiloe ("Mulhall") .
ix) John WILLIAMS entered the Chilean Navy before 1826. He was born in South Wales, naturalized a Chilean, & hispanicized his name to Juan GUILLERMOS. Later Captain, he formally bok possession of the Strait of Magellan in the name of Chile, 21st September 1843. His son Admiral WILLIAMS (REBOLLEDO) (b, 1826 at Curacavi) later served in the Pacific War 1879 ("Mulhall” & P.H.).
x) Another settler prior to 1826, LYNCH, from Ireland (IV.10.a.i), was also probably a naval man. ''Mulhall” also mentions Capt. BLAIR, commander of a pirate vessel off the Equadorian coast, who was captured in 1821 by COCHRANE and subsequently released. A rare military reference is to Col. TUPPER (b. 1800 in Guernsey, C.I.), who arrived in Chile in 1821, & m. 1826 at Valparaiso a grand-daughter of Count ZEEGERS & had issue: he defeated the Spanish at Chiloe in 1826, was appointed Governor of Coquimbo 1829,
& was murdered 1830 after the battle of Maule by rebellious Indians (“Mulhall'').
Many British subjects (particularly Scots & Irish) were similarly engaged during this period elsewhere in South America: and amongst them, General Nicholas BUTLER, in Argentina, was ancestor of several families later settled in Chile (IV.3).
It is probably due to the British seamen of this period that all British immigrants and visitors to Chile have been and are known by the generic term 'gringos'. The derivation of the word 'gringo' is obscure, but is said to allude to the refrain "Green grow the rushes O!" chanted by the seamen as they heaved at the capstan.
H) THE INDEPENDENCE PERIOD. 1810-1826 TRADING & CIVIL ASSOCIATIONS
i) Whilst the fighting for Independence continued,the foreign mercantile and civil community was already beginning to take shape; and marly of the first British merchants to trade with South America were those who already had trading connections with the Peninsula, particularly the Cadiz merchants Indeed, it could be argued that NAPOLEON'S attempt to conquer Europe was the catalyst through which the Anglo-Chilean Community originated, Unemployment after the campaign sent the ex-combatants to South America. Blockade during that campaign sent the merchants there. And both these movements of individuals were in consonance with British Government policy, epigrammatically defined on 12th December 1826 by George CANNING (1770-18271, then Foreign Secretary, when he declaimed: "1 called the New World into existence to redress thebalance of the Old'? Oiie might style him the "political godfather" of emancipated South America. He can be remotely connected with families now residence in Chile (see Burke's Peerage, art. 'IBaron Garvagh"
ii) Perhaps one of the earliest references to a British merchant in South America, whose trading activities gave rise to a family later settled in Chile, is to John Parish ROBERTSON (1792-1843) e He was born at Kelso, Scotland, son of the Asst. Secretary of the Bank of Scotland, by his wife Julia PARISH, dau of a Hamburg merchant. He went to South America in 1807, was the first merchant to trade with Paraguay 1811, founded the Scots colony of Monte Grade on the River Plate 1825, G retired to Scotland 1830, where he died. His you n g e r brother William Parish ROBERTSON(1795-1861 )settled in South America in 1814, died at Valparaiso, B was the father ofWilliam ROBERTSON (IV.15.c). Another early South American settler, who left descendants in Chile, was Thomas PATRICKSON (1V.ll.b) who d, 1819 at Buenos Aires.
iii) Andrew BLEST, merchant, of Co. Sligo, Connaught, arrived in Chile in 1813 on the ship "Emily", with his 2 brothers, & settled (S.P.M.1. Joshua WADDINGTON (b.1792 at York, d.1876) went to Buenos Aires in 1812, fr thence to Valparaiso in 1817. He financed the copper mines at Copiapo fr Coquimbo, and irrigation at Limache, trading a s 'Waddington, Templeman 6 C 0.1 ("Mulhall") . In or soon after 1822, WADDINGTON was joined by Edmund EASTMAN, founder of a family resident in Chile (IV.6).
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iv) It is evident from Maria GRAHAM'S Journal (see para. G.vi above) that by 1822 there was alr-eady an "English" colony resident in Valparaiso. But she is a disappointing authority for a genealogist tr often only identifies her contacts with blanks or initial letters. She tells us, for instance, that "five English" died in the earthquake of November 19th: and she mentions meeting an Englishman, manager of a soap B candle factory near Melipilla, who had been a sailor on a whaler wrecked near Juan Fernandez: but she does not give any of their names. The non-Spanish residents named in her Journal were:
Mr BENETT, from Co. Lincs. He had been Governor of Esmeralda in the early part of the War of Independence, and later became COCHRANEfs secretary B manager of his estate at Quintero. Mr BERNARD, of Santiago; known as 'don Diego' settled with a family. Mr CAMPBELL, Scots merchant, who had m. a sister of Mariano de ENCALADA. Mr CLARKE (no details). Mr CRUIKSHANK, of Quintero Viejo. Mr DAVIDSON (no details). Mr FAWKNER, "born in >England", Lt-Governor of Quillota (w ho must be identical w it h Dr FAULKNER, see para. F.viii). Mr GOLDSEGG, who had come from Woolwich, with his family, to make rockets to fire against Callao. Mr HOGAN, the American Consul at Valparaiso, his wife b daughter. Mr HOSEASON (no details). Mr MIERS k his family (see para., F.x). Mr OLVER, shipwright. M. PHAROUX, proprietor of the "Hotel Frances" at Valparaiso. . Mr PREVOST, the American-Consul General k a Chilean judge, whose father, a Swiss from Geneva, had settled in Chile. Mr THOMPSON, phi!anthropist b founder of schools, who seems to have been a transierrt and to have left Valparaiso for Lima in June 1822. v) British Consular representation apparentl
v) British Consular representation apparently commenced the following year, 1823, with the appointment a s Vice - Consul o f William Henry ROUSE. In 1827 he went to Concepcion asConsul, B later returned to Valparaiso in that office. H e married c1838 Adela daeghter of Auguste BARDEL, the French Vice-Consul at Concepcion. ROUSE is said to have been Ita son of King GEORGE 1V k anoriental lady" (P. H .) . The first British Consul-General at Valparaiso (after t h e Act of 1825 regulating the appointment of consuls) was Christopher Richard NUGENT, who held office until 1828 (P.H.1. Rev. Thomas KENDALL (bapt.1778), who went to New South Wales in 1813, was a missionary in New Zealand 1814/25 tr was ordained 1820 in the U . K., was resident in Valparaiso 1825/27. There was a "Burying Ground for Foreigners" at Valparaiso from an early date: and Capt. Peter DILLON subscribed to its upkeep in 1827, on his way to discover the fate of LA PEROUSSE's Expedition. But British churches fr schools (at least those that survive in today's community) are of l&er foundation.
vi) One of the first British merchant houses to establish itself in Chile, and still today one of th
164
leading houses, was that of 'Antony Gibbs b Sons', founded in London in 1808 with Peainsula con- 1 nections. In South America, the house first traded in Peru, under the successive styles of 'Gibbs Ci-awley Mo en s b Co.' f1822/24) b 'Gibbs Crawley k Co .I (1824/47 1 . The latter firm opened its first office in Chile in 1826: and from 1847 onwards Gibbs have continuously traded in Chile under the successive styles of 'William Gibbs D Co.1 (1847/79), *Gibbs b C0.I (1880/1948) and 'Gibbs y Cia. S.A.C.' (since 1948). Theirstory is told in "The History of Antony ti Dorothea Gibbs" by J.A.GIBBS, published privately 1922,. and in "Antony Gibbs B Sons, Limited, Merchants b Bankers, 1808-1958", compiled 1958 by W. MAUDE. The first English employees of the firm mentioned as resident in South America were George Thomas DAVY (d.18741, who went to Peru in 1823 k stayed in South America until 1846, being subsequently a partner (1848/74) ; and John HAYNE (d.18641, who went to Pemr In 1825 k stayed in South America until 1846. HAYNE, who was a partner (1848/59), was uncleof James Charles HAYNE (partner 1880/56: d.18991, who resided in South America 1849/79 0 was t h e father of Caroline who m. 1887 Archibald WILLIAMSON (later 1st Baron Forres) (see para.K.ii 0 IV.16). From 1828 onwards, some members of the GIBBS family have occasionally resided in Chile (IV.9).
vii) In 1826, the year in which the Spanish were finally driven from their let stmnghold, George LYON (1803-1866) settled in Chile. He had been "sick 0 ailing" and was sent to Chile for his health his family possibly havicg been influenced by the publication of Maria GRAHAM'S Journal, 1824 , in which she described the country mttan earthy paradise b beneficial to the lungstt (see "Young", p.61). He settled and founded a large family, whose descendants are widely connected by marriage with other Anglo-Chilean families 0 with Chilean families. (1V.8).
In the same year, 1826, Mathew BEGS (d. 1853) b his wife went to Lima, Peru, and raised a family that subsequently (1842) settled in Chile.Between the descendants of DELANO (1819), LYON (1826) 0 BlGGS (18261, the genealogist can trace close connections with a large proportion of the families that today comprise the Anglo-Chilean Community.
J) THE EARLY TRADING PERIOD 1826-1850
i) In the 1830s Chile was exclusively (as it still continues largeIy today) an agriculturai 0 mining country, and the export of mined produds has always accounted for the great part of Chile's foreign trade. Thus the trading pattern of the country, which from this period onwards provides the occupational background of the mqjority of the British immigrants, is one familiar throughout the World during the XlXth Century, namely the export of national raw materials and the import of European finished goods and technical knowledge.
At the beginning of this period, the principal export was 'guano' for use as fertiliser. The droppings of milliards of seabirds over centuries of time had formed rich deposits along the coast that required no more than to be cut out and shipped In the words of the clerihew quoted to me in 1949
by the Hon. Antony Gibbs.
Gibbs
first made their dibs
out of the turds
of foreign birds.
Some of the larger of the early merchant houses owned their own fleets of sailing vessels, such those of CANCIANI Sobrinos (an Italian family settled ~1830, with many Anglo -Chilean descendants: see N.101 B the Cornish family of ROGERS 8 Co., of whom Ralph ROGERS m. e granddaughter of James FRAZER (b.1794, d. 1847 et 'Valparaiso) . The 'Pacific Steam Navig- &ion Company' (P.S.N.C.) was founded in 1840 D established itself as the traditional shipping line on "the West Coast", a generic term in common local usage embracing Chile, Peru 8 Bolivia, and whereby many old-timers refer to themselves as "West-Coasters".
Traders large B small went to Chile themselves, cr sent partners, and later their contracted managers, clerks B overseers as their needs dictated. Other British subjects, sometimes professional men, went to Chile independently to testtheir luck: and some who went as employees stwed to set up business on their own account. And through the whole story of British immigration there runs an intriguing thread of men whom one can only describe as "cliance settlers": men who were apparently "en route" for some other country or to nowhere in particular, and who fell in love wit&-chils B stayed to settle there. The motives of the mobile would in themselves %e afascinating study.
Some who went to Chile moved on or returned; others brought their wives with them: but many, original settlers or their children, married in the country, F9 so the Community with its network of connections through intermarriage took shape. It will be noticed that only a minority of the names so far mentioned carry references to "Chapter IV", whereas the mqjority of the names subsequent to this point are so cross-referenced: and the reader
is again reminded of the limitations of this paper, explained in the Introduction.
ii) Another great English name connected with Chile at this time was that of Charles Robert DARWIN (1809-1882), the naturalist B scientist,He took part in the surveying expedition of the '!Beagle1' 1831/36, which cruised up the Chilean coast 1832, in the course of her circumnavigation. It was the observations that he made on this voyage that inspired him to begin his work, 1837, on the tlTransmutation of Species"; and he mentions the island of Chiloe more than once in his works. Again, a remote connections with the Community can be traced, through the marriage of his son Sir Francis (1848-1925) to Amy RUCK, whose sister Mary was mother of the 1st Baron ATKIN of Abcrdovey (IV.23).
iii) Dr. William BLEST (1800-18841, born at Sligo, County Sligo, physician a n d surgeon, settled in Chile 1827, D became deputy D senator. He m. --- GANA & had issue 3 sons born in Chile:
1') Guillermo (1829-19051, b. at Santiago, plawright 8 poet, became Chilean Minister Plenipotentiary to Argentina & Brazil. About 1880 be
was Intendente of San Felipe. He m. an Englishwoman.
2') AIberto (1831-19201, novelist, deputy, 8 Intendente of Colchagua. He left Chile in 1886 to be Envoy Extraordinary to Paris & London.
3") Joaquin (b.18321, lawyer, & editor of daily newspaper 1ICorreof1, was Minister of Information 1866/71 D President of the Hbuse of Deputies c1880. ("Galdames" & "Mulhall").
iv) The following are some names that occur during the period 1830-1850, most of whom left descendants, members o f t h e Anglo - Chilean Community today, as noticed in Chapter IV:
McLAUGHLIN, Thomas Morris (1800-1882) : was settled at Tacna, Peru before 1830. He m. Maria MAZU E LOS (1802-1886 1 B his great-grandchildren were surnamed ALLARDICE B BIRRELL.
PORTER, James: b. in London c 1800. He m. before 1830, Narcissus daughter o f Ferneudo MARTELL, of Valparaiso (P.H.).
FLINDT, Adolph Ferdinand (1813-18511, from Larenfeld, Denmark. He settled at Valparaiso c 1832/33 B m. a niece of Antonio CANCIANI, whose partner he became (lV.10).
WHITE, ---, whosefamily was settled at Valparaiso before 1837m when his son-in-law Thomas PATRICKSON d. there (N.11)
MacKAY, Dr. John (1819-1901), b. at Inverness.He qualified as a doctor et Glasgow, 1838; sailed 1839 for New South Wales, D was sent thence to Chile for supplies, 1840, where h e arrived et Talcahuano where he settled B died (P.H.).
BRAUN, Elias: b. in Poland. He settled 4840 at Punta Arenas, in the extreme south of Chile F9 set up sheepfarming, which developed into the 1 Sociedad Expiotadora de Tierra del Fuego' (s E .T . F. ) , the principal sheep-farming and wool - producing undertaking in Chile (IV. 12).
YRIBERRY, Pedro: a Basque from Pamplona or Santander, Spain. He settled in Peru before 1842, When his son Simon was b. there (lV.14).
RlED, Dr. Chinas (18iO-18691, military surgeon, from Bavaria. He settled at Velparaiso 1842, when returning to England after a tour of duty inAustralia, B m. a niece of Antonio CANCIANI (IV.10).
BUDGE, Forbes: from Scotland. He settled in Chile before 1843, when his daughter Isabel (d. 19351 was b.there. She m. Carlos BARROILHET (1835-18761, son of a French immigrant, B their son Carlos. (1866-1954) m. Teresa CANNON, ~ sister of Mrs Federico YRIBERRY (IV.14).
PLUMMER, Anthony (1817-1864) : was settled in Chile before 1844, when he was already m. to Ana daughter of Paul Hinckley DELANO (IV.4).
OXLEY, Samuel Potter (1804-18721. He had settled at Valparaiso before 1844, when his infant daughter Isabel was buried there (IV.13).
TRUMBULL, Rev. David (1819-18891, b. at Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.A. He settled in Chile 1845, and founded & was the first minister of the Union Church, at Valparaiso, where he d i ed. H is granddaughter Mary m. George COMPTON (1V.ll.c).
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SOTHERS, Joseph (1815-1892), b. at Graves end, London. Hesded et Tacna, Peru, before . 1645 when he m. Carmen PIVIDAL, a granddaughter of General BUTLER (1V.3).
SALKELD, Frederick; from London, He settled at Tacna, Peru, before 4846, when his daughterElisa was b. there (1V.14).
MACQUEEN, William Lennie (1832-18791, b. at Drymen, Co. Stirling. He settled in Chile 1849, became Manager of the Banco Nacional de Chile, t m. a great-niece of Antonio CANCIANI (IV.10).
ARMSTRONG, Rev. William: during this period, was the first formally appointed Consular Chaplain at Valparaiso. We was succeeded before 1852 by Rev. Benjamin HILL (P.H.).
K) THE PERIOD OF COMMERCIAL EXPANSION. 1850-1883
i) From the middle of the XIXth Century, there was construction t operation of railway lines, and the building. C expansion of port works. The Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway, climbing from sealevel to the plateau at 12,500', was a fine feat of railway engineering, T h e activities brought a further influx of British subjects, both as managers t artisans. Sometimes they arrived in parties, as for example the gang of men recruited in theshops of Dubbs t Co., locomotive engineers, of Glasgow, in 1862. Dubbs were manufacturing locomotives for the Chilean State Railways, and the men were contracted to help set up the operation. They were led out by John KING (1833- 1921) (IV.19.b).
Sheep-farming 0 the wool export business brought out m&y Scotsmen and Northcountrymen to work on t h e sheep-stations, again both as managers t shepherds. Other shipping lines operated on the West Coast, such as the Nautilus Steam ShiFping Campany ( 'Gulf Line' 1 of Gteenock (cf. IV.28) 5 the McAULIFFE Line (IV.271, who, like the P.S.N.C., brought out or engaged locally their shore staff. Most of the vessels on the 'West Coast' at the beginning of this period were sailing ships or paddlewheel steamers. The first steamer on this coast installed with electric lighting was R.M.S."Mendoza"(then 'Queen of the Pacific' ), commanded in 1880 by Capt. Elias John JOSTE (IV.28.b).
British subjects have been employed in the nitrate, copper, iron t coal mining companies; though ownership C direction of the last three activities has tended to lie rather with American interests. Copper-mining has always been of the first importance in Chilean economy, and in 1876 Chile produced 38% of the world supply of copper. .William Gibson DELANO (1810-1877) (IV.4) was one of the pioneers in developing coal-mining. The important Schwager Coal Mines (today operated by 'Cia. Carbonifera y Industrial de Lotat ) were first developed by Frederick William SCHWAGER (1789-18611, b. at Zerbst (in Anhalt, Germany), d. at Valparaiso, whose daughter Marion (d. 1912) m. Robert Adolph CLAUDE (d.1891) t had 2 children (IV.13.c).
ii) The second, in order of age, of the leading Brfiish merchant houses is that of 1 Williamson, Balfour t Co.'. The firm was established in
166
. Liverpool in 1851 undsr the style of ' S, Williamson . t (20.8, to act as Forwarding Agents, Merchants t Shipowners; and the Chilean office we opened in the following year by Stephen WILLIAMSON (1827-1903) , the first of several members of his family to reside occasionally in Chile (IV.16). The story of this merchant house is toId in "Balfour Williamson 0 Co., 5 Allied F i r m s: memoirs of a merchant house", published privately 1929, and in "Heirs of Great Adventure" by Wallis HUNT, 1951. The style was changed in 1856 to 1 Balfour Williamson t2 Co ,I; and again to 'Williamson Balfour t2 Co.' in 1863, in which year David DUNCAN (1831-18863 left the partnership.
David DUNCAN had been one of the three original partners in 1 S . Williamson & Co. ' t in 1855 became WILLIAMSON 's brother-in-law (IV. ,161. In 1863, he founded, based upon an earlier firm of Ravenscroft Brothers, the third traditional British house, 'Duncan Fox ti Co.'
The third original partner in IS. Williamson & Co.' was Alexander BALFOUR (1824-1886), who also resided sometime in Chile (IV.21). Both WILLIAMSON & BALFOUR were active philanthropists, and the Anglo-Chilean Community in Valparaiso owes much to their efforts. They were sponsors & benefactors of the Union Church (see para. J.iv. under TRUMBULL), & BALFOUR was one of the founders of the Y.M.C.A. in Chile. BALFOUR also founded the Artisans' School in Valparaiso in 1857, and chose Peter MACKAY, of Edinburgh, as the first headmaster. SOMERSCALES, the marine painter, was a master at this Schooi iintii 1877, when MACKAY resigned. The school, since known as MacKayIs School, still teaches the community's sons.
iii) T h e period of Chile's greatest prosperity came with the development and exploitation of the sodium nitrate deposits in the north of the country. These 'nitrate pampas' are rich fi extensive, and in an ordinary year some 40,000 Chilean work - men were employed in the 'nitrate oficinas'(E.BJ. Some of the richestdeposits were interritory that then belonged to Peru t Bolivia, and many were worked by Chilean companies under agreements and concessions. This situation, and the sources of disagreement that it provoked, was the cause of the "War of the Pacific" 1879/83, during which the Chileans occupied Lima in 1881. By this War, Chile won its two northernmost provinces, Tarapaca the iurthest north) ceded by Peru in 1883, andAntofagasta ceded by Bolivia in 1884. Most of the nitrate ports, such as Iquique, are today mere shadows of their former selves: but during the late XIXth 5 early XXth Centuries many British subjects lived t worked there, and the English genealogist should remember that, as with so many European countries, South American frontiers have also changed. A man may have left Ensland to settle in Peru or Bolivia, and have died in Chile, yet always havelived in the same South American town. The houses of Gibbs, Williamson, 5 W.R. Grace 0 Co. were specially interested in the nitrate trade.
iv) Some of the British settler family firms that date from t h i s period, besides those already mentioned, were: Altardice 0 Co: founded 1876 by David ALLARDICE (d. 1912), formerly a partner in Williamson Balfour.
Balfour'Lyon @ Co. Beausire c/ Co: before 1870 in Peru (IV.25). Buchanan Jones b Co: (IV.22) : since succeeded by Jorje Jones y Cia. (IV.17.b.iii). Cooper 0 Co: before 1869, closed 1899 (IV.26). Heatley Evans c/ Co: before 1853, liquidated 1865 (lV.10.a.iii). Jackson b Co: about 1854, closed before 1916(lV.3.e). Morrison @ Co: about 1860, family interest sold 1963 (IV.20). Rose-lnnes & Co: about 1860, now closed (IV. 3.e.v). Wallace 0 Co: still trading. Other firms, with British connections, but which do not appear to have been named after settlerfounders are Wessel Duval (still trading) and Graham Rowe (in Peru before 1886, now succeeded by Agencias Graham in Chile:. cf. IV.25. C).
V) During this period, members of the liberal professions still settle in Chile and set up practice and, after the XlXth Century, it is unusual for a doctor or lawyer, already qualified elsewhere, to settle. Such professions may only be practiced today by persons who have qualified in Chile: and amongst them is a representative number of descendants of British settlers.
L) MODERN TIMES,
1883-1964
i) For about 50 years following the ''War of the Pacific", times were prosperous for Chile; though a national economy that depends to so great an extent on the export of mined products is subject to many vicissitudes. By 1906, Chilean copper production represented only 4% of the world supply. But in 1910, Chile supplied 64% of the world's nitrogen requirements: though only 25% in 1926 (E. B . ) . In terms of Anglo-Chilean genealogy, this prosperity meant a continued influx of contracted employees to start their own businesses. And prosperity also brought another category of immigrant, the domestic servant. For the rich (and some were very rich) built large houses and set up establishments in the grand Victorian manner. Tutors & Governesses, butlers & ladies' maids, cooks & gardeners, went from Britain at this period to work in Chilean & Anglo-Chilean homes: and a quota of these married b settled in the country.
ii) British Banks made a slow start in Chile, due to the fact that transactions were usually carried out through the merchant houses. In 1888, largely on the initiative of Colonel NORTH (who went to Chile for a Yorkshire firm of boilermakers, & acquired substantial interests in the nitrate industry), the 'Bank of Tarapaca and London' was founded, with its first office at Pisagua, a nitrate port in the northern province that had formerly belonged to Peru. The Bank later opened offices i n Antofagasta, Santiago, Valparaiso a n d Concepcion; an d it pioneered banking in the far south, where its office at PuntaArenas, on the Strait of Magellan, was the first bank in that locality, From that area, the Bank extended its activities into Argentina, and in 1900 amalgamated w it h the 1 Anglo-Argentine Bank' (established in Buenos Aires and in Montevideo, Uruguay), taking the name of 'Bank of Tarapaca and Argentina'. In 1907, the name was again changed to Anglo-South American Bank' ; and
throughout Latin America and in Spain, acquiring various other banks of British origin. (See"Bank of London b South America Ltd., Quarterly Review, Centenary number, October 1962").
iii) More family firms of British origin date from this period, including; Casa MacKenzie; Hardy b Co (IV.30) in 1903; Kenrick & Co (IV. 36); McKAY & Co., biscuit manufacturers; Robinson & Co; Sutton & Co. (successor to Huth & Co. founded 1901); and Weir Scott b Co; all still trading. Other, & most divers, reasons have brought British & American subjects to settle in Chile: the GARVINs (Americans: IV.35) went there in 1884 as medical missionaries; professors have gone to teach at Chilean universities; hospital matrons, schoolteachers & football referees have been contracted by Chilean B Anglo-Chilean organizations.
iv) During the world economic crisis of 1929/32, the Chilean nitrate industry [already badly hurt by the competition of synthetic nitrates) collapsed , with very prejudicial effects on the Chilean economy, on the merchant houses most involved in the nitrate trade, and on many individual careers, The assets of the closely involved 'Anglo-South American Bank ' were frozen in 1932, and taken over in 1936 by the I Bank of London b South America Limited'. This Bank, "a fusion of several banking enterprises established in different parts" of South America (of which the two earliest were begun in 1862, respectively in Buenos Aires b in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), is “today the only British bank with branches in Latin America” (see the same authority as for para.ii above).
v) These Banks in turn brought out many British subjects in their employ, and at this stage there is a fresh genealogical aspect, for the banking organization is one of the big international employers, whose practice it is to transfer their careers. Comparable employers, from a genealogical viewpoint, with branches or subsidiary companies in Chile, are the Western Telegraph Co., the Shell Petroleum organization ( Shell Chile Ltd .), Imperial Chemical Industries (Cia, Chilena de Explosivos) , the British American Tobacco Corporation (Cia. Chilena de Tabacos) , b the firms of auditors, Deloitte Plender Griffiths and Price Waterhouse Peat. Amongst the partners b executives of such organizations, the genealogist finds many personswith family connections by marriage in more than o n e South American country, t h u s extending throughout the Continent the network of "Anglo'# family connections B associations. The British insurance companies have sometimes sent their own employees to Chile: but in general their interests, which date back to the 1830s, tend to have been cared for (as in the cases of British manufacturers 8 exporters 1 by firms or individuals acting as agents.
vi) Since the economic crisis of 1929/32, Chile has encouraged a gradual industrial development, in the course of which the British merchant houses (all now trading under Chilean styles ) have diversified their activities; and in consequence their more recently engaged contract employees have includedtechnicians in various branches of industry. In 1960, the Bank of London b South America Ltd, acquired the whole of the share capital of Balfour Williamson; and in the Centenary number of its
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Review (quoted in para.ii above), the latter firm's trading activities are summarised in the following words: %i more than a century of existence there is hardly any form of economic activity in which Balfour Williamson and its associated companies have not at some time participated ; .. . . flour-milling, cement manufacture, mining, fruit-farming, sheep-farming (on Easter Island in the Pacific), shipping, banking and insurance, besides its normal trading activities”. The description is typical for the other big houses: Duncan Fox, for instance, controls more than one large textile mill on the West Coast.
M)
THE COMMUNITY TODAY
i) During the period of a century b a half in which the varied British interests, influences and associations reviewed briefly above, ' have shaped the Community with a flow of immigrants, the body of the Community has been building in the persons of the descendants of those who stayed and settled. There has, of course, always been a constant reverse movement: the merchant retiring, the contract employee opting to return, the children, or descendants of a settler re-emigrating to the original homeland or to a third country. And some of these descendants who returned to Britain have since become prominent in public life of theUnited Kingdom: there are a number of people named in "Who’s Who" who have Anglo-Chilean backgrounds. Yet such is the attraction 'that Chile exerts on those who have lived there, that a number of former residents continue to lend their support to Community organizations.
ii) In its widest sense, & as was observed in Chapter I, the Community (if understood to include all descendants of British settlers) is heterogeneous. For it ranges, with every intermediate graduation, between the extremes from the most recently arrived 'gringo' struggling with his first Spanish lessons, to the seventh-generation descendant whose only relic of British heritage is his surname. In that widest sense, British descendants are to be found in all walks of life. In some families, where the emphasis naturally lies rather on the 'Chilean' actuality than on the “Anglo-” origin, membershave been prominent in public life, as deputy, senator, Minister or Ambassador. Such families would probably include those of MACKENNA, EDWARDS, ROSS 0 LYON. Col. Marmaduke GROVE (b.1878 at Copiapo) was the socialist candidate for election as President of the Republic in 1932: and his brother Eduardo, Chilean Ambassador to Canada, married Ines, sister of Salvador ALLENDE, who was defeated in the latest Presidential election, 1964 (IV.24.b). In other families with British surnames, where t h e use of the English language in the home lapsed long ago, the descendants are indistinguishable from their Chilean neighbours: they might be officers in the Chilean Army, businessmen, shopkeepers, clerks, artisans, or labourers.
iii) In a more restricted sense, the word Community can be understood to signify only British-born residents and those Anglo-Chilean descendants who actively keep their British associations b connections dive. Some such would be partners in their family businesses. The daughters tend become bilingual secretaries in business houses or with United Nations representations, international
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airline hostesses, or teachers in British & American schools. The sons often enter the empIoy of the old merchant houses or of the local branches of the international firms. Many (including a few whobarely spoke English) went “home" to serve in the Forces in the Second World War (1939/45) as members of the British Latin-American Volunteers (B.L.A.V.): and those who served in the R.A.F. may now be pilots in the national airline Linea Aerea National' ( L. A. N .I. Others enter the Chilean Navy (which has inherited a strong British tradition from the days of Lord COCHRANE), or become officers in the Chile- CUI merchant navy ('Cia. Chilena de Navegacion Interoceanica', and 'Cia. Sud-Ameri-ana de Vapores' ). Others again practice the liberal professions and have qualified in Chile as doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects D accountants. Some are stockbrokers B exchange brokers. A few have been ordained both Protestant b Roman Catholic., Some have settled in the countryside & become farmers: but the rnajority live an urban life. The large prosperous communities in the northern nitrate ports have mostly dispersed; and the great majority of the Community live today in & around Santiago, ad Valparaiso (with its residential suburb, Viña del Mar), with smaller nuclei in the south at Concepcion and Punta Arenas.
iv) Again in this restricted sense, the Community possesses, within the corporate body of the Chilean nation, an undoubted sense of group personality, that finds expression in its Community organizations, some of which have already been mentioned. The old "Burying Ground for Foreigners" at Valparaiso(see para. H.v) has now become the 'Cementerio de Disidentes" (and shared about equally by British & German dead). Besides the Union Church (see para. K.ii) , there are three main Anglican Churches: St. Paul's, at Valparaiso; St Peter's, at Viña; and St Andrew's at Santiago, The former British-American Hospital at Valparaíso was closed about 20 years ago, and its place taken by the 'Clinica Miraflores' , a British nursing home near Viña del Mar. Of schools: at Valparaiso, besides (for boys) MacKay 1s (see para. K.ii) there is St. Margaret's (for girls); and at Santiago, The Grange School (see IV.3. e.ii) was founded 1929 for boys, b there is Colegio Dunalastair (see IV. 34) for Girls. The Chambers of Commerce are traditional. The Sociedad Chilena de Cultura Inglesa provides a focal point for the artistic and dramatic interests of Anglo-Chileans , besides its principal function of teaching the English language to the public generally. The "South Pacific Mail", an English language weekly paper, was first published in Valparaiso in November 1909, and is still in circulation (published since 1950 in Santiago, and since then tending to reflect American rather than British interests!.
v) Two other Community bodies serve to coordinate and localise communal interests. In 1910, the Canning Club (named after George CANNING: see para. H.i) was founded in London, and has its premises at 1, Hamilton Place, W.l. next door to the Chilean Embassy. Whilst it is notexclusively "Chilean" , being described "social (South American) b non-political", its members include Anglo-Chileans and British businessmen with interests in Chile. In 1944, The Anglo-Chilean Society was founded in London, under the
Presidency of the Chilean Ambassador, with the British Ambassador in Chile as 'President in Chile', Thomas COCHRANE, 13th Earl of Dundonald (d. 1958: great-grandson of Lord COCHRANE, see para. G.iv), was Chairman of the Executive Committee; which chair is now occupied by his nephew, Ian Douglas COCHRANE, 14th Earl of Dundonald, who visited Chile recently. The Society had 905 individual and 90 commercial members in 1959. Of the four objects of the Society, the fourth reads: "To preserve the traditions of the close historical, family & economic connections between Chile & Great Britain during the past 150 years."