General John Mackelcan

  General Notes:

Herbert Alexander Johns wrote - Hannah Lightfoot married a certain “Isaac Axford” at Keep’s Chapel, Curzon Street, where, until the Marriage Act of the same year, marriage could be performed by virtue of a license on a crown stamp to a guinea certificate. Soon after the marriage, Hannah disappeared and her husband re-married in 1759. On 17th April 1759 young Prince George married Hannah in secret, but documents relating to the marriage have been impounded since 1866. They are now in the Royal Archives at Windsor. She was the daughter of a Wapping Shoemaker and is said to have borne him three children. Anxiety over this rumour in England evidently hurried on the match forced on the king with the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg on 8th September, 1761, who on the news of Hannah’s death many years later, insisted on going through the marriage ceremony with the King again. In 1866 two papers were produced, each pronounced a genuine document by leading handwriting experts, which startled the court mightily. They were two certificates signed by Rev. James Wilmot, and witnessed by Lord Chatham and I. Dunning, afterward Lord Ashburton, and Solicitor General, declaring that the Rev. Wilmot had married George III and Hannah Lightfoot - the dates given were 1st April 1759. Other documents supporting these were signed by George P. The Pitt family accepted the genuineness of the story of the marriage. George III forced through the Royal Marriages Bill in 1772 to guard the Royal family against its own imprudences. Queen Caroline, wife of George IV, believed in the marriage of Hannah and George and did not consider George IV legitimate heir to the throne. The three children of the marriage of George III and Hannah Lightfoot (Hannah, John and Anne) were adopted by John and Sarah Makkelcan of Surrey. The Makkelcan story. G.G.Father Makkelcan (John?) as I have said, was a General, almost a Field-Marshall in the English Army, though he had never been in action. The only English General who could claim that dubious distinction. The reason was not far to seek, for we have every reason to believe he was the son of George III and Hannah Lightfoot, who were married in Mayfair, Mr William Pitt being chief witness. He, with the clergyman who married them, and another man, signed a statement stating that the marriage was perfectly legal. Indeed, the fact of the marriage was all too evident to English folk, so a counter story was put out by the Queen Mother to the effect that Hannah, the beautiful Quakeress, was already married to a grocer (Isaac Axford). The General had told his own children that the proof of his identity, including proof of the marriage of his parents, would be found in a certain box, and the story was written in cypher, the key of which he taught his sons. He had an adopted son, a boy named John Young, son of a soldier who had been killed and whom he had had educated with his own children. When his sons grew up, that had to go to Canada, evidently under some pressure from above. The adopted son was the only one besides G.G.mother present when the General died, and when in due course G.G.Mother thought of the box of deeds they had gone. So was John Young. Later, though he had never distinguished himself in any way, and had been dull at school, he was created a Baronet, and was appointed to some post in a far away part of the world. Needless to say the papers had reached the Royal stove, the vital ones, at any rate. The Royal family were never easy about this romance as is evidenced by the account of George’s wife who, on hearing of Hannah’s death had the king go through the marriage ceremony again, although she was the mother of several children by then. Hannah never claimed anything from the royal family. She lived in retirement on one of the Channel Islands, where George used to visit her. I do not know if there were any children after G.G.Father - later yes there were. He, as a boy, was taken to the Blue Coat school, entered as the son of a grocer, but was sponsored by two peers, who when his education was finished, collected him. He went to a military academy, and was ultimately attached to the Court. The name Makkelcan means in high Dutch “Son of the White Horse” (White Horse of Hanover. George Johns was a pharmaceutical chemist. In those days, these gentlemen had to pass as Doctors in order to practice as same, as well as keep a shop - a sort of apothecary. He had a business in the West End, where as a young man he practised and where he met and married Rebecca Louisa Makkelcan, daughter of General Makkelcan, who would have been Field Marshall had he lived, but four months before that he died. Her mother was a Miss Wood before marriage, relative of Sir Evelyn Wood, and her mother was a Miss Broad of Broads of musical instrument fame, and connected with the poet Pope family. As for General’s genealogy, that is set down further on. John Lyndsay, the historian, seems to have something to say about it in “The Lovely Quaker”, but it seems quite reasonable to expect that if the British Israel theory of the genealogy of the Guelphs is correct, we can throw back to David, son of Jesse. Rebecca Louisa is remembered as being a short, plump, jolly woman. Of her home environment before marriage, it is only known that she played as a child with titled little folk, lived in high society, and had carriage, good footman, etc, and gave up much to wed the young chemist George Johns. She dressed very quietly, and one day going into a fashionable milliners asked to be shown some bonnets. A haughty attendant told her that their bonnets were only for the gentry. Rebecca produced her card, whereupon the girl wilted sufficiently to carry the purchases herself to the waiting carriage. Rebecca recalled at one time her father taking a house down in Cornwall. It was said to be a haunted house, and before the door lay an ever fresh stain of red. Her father would have it removed only to find it reappearing - all the earmarks of a grim and ghastly tragedy. The General however, suspected fresh applications nightly, for how could honest smugglers feel safe at the residence of a military gentleman in their midst? After her marriage, Rebecca was one time sent for by one of the Dowager Princesses - presumably George III’s 3rd sister. It meant a new outfit of clothing and the young chemist was not affluent. However, she swallowed hard, bought it and visited the Palace. The old lady fussed over her and talked much to her of her father, the General - what a handsome man he was, and what a beautiful dancer. Another Princess, being told of the visit, later sent for her. She had to buy another outfit, and this old Princess died before the visit could be made. Rebecca seems to have been the dominant figure in the home life, a very strong personality, and much the better business-man of the two. To help out the household funds she painted pictures. She was a very good artist and did beautiful fancy work. In the shop part of the Doctor’s profession, cardboard boxes were required for drugs, etc. On an annual visit to France to purchase these, Rebecca found out how they were made, and at her instigation, the two of them bought cardboard and cut out their own, then she taught some of the young girls to do the work. Before long, they were supplying boxes to others, and so was laid the foundation of the fancy box factory of Johns, Son and Watts in London, the first box factory in England. Rebecca designed fancy covers for the boxes, and one set - for a bride’s bedroom table, made of wood and covered with white satin embroidered in chenille, the stems and leaves painted in oil colours, set the vogue for a new branch of fancy work, and incidentally led to the “Incident of the Royal Waistcoat”. This set of boxes was bought by a lady who presented them to a stall in a bazaar in Kensington which was opened by the very young Queen Victoria. The stallholder having to leave the stall for a while, appointed a deputy, who with a forecast of modern business methods, gave out that they had been worked by the Queen - so securing a handsome price for them. The stallholder had to break the news of the liberty taken to her Majesty, who graciously overlooked the enormity and asked to see the work which she had been credited with. She was so impressed with it that she asked if the artist would execute a piece of work for her, and obtaining Rebecca’s address, she wrote to her asking if she would work a waistcoat for the Prince Consort from some widths of her wedding dress, to be worn at the christening of the Prince of Wales. The court tailors worked out the size of the pockets etc and sent the watered silk to Rebecca. The work was done and another precious autographed missive came from the Queen, thanking her for the work and enclosing a cheque for 10 pounds, for it is a rule that any work done for Royalty must be paid for at a price put upon it themselves. After this, Rebecca invented satin cravats ornamented in the same way, which sold like hot cakes, so that she had to engage and teach girls to do the work for her. All this sewing was done in addition to running her household, bearing and rearing her children ( at least 8 or 9), entertaining business friends of her husband, teaching the younger children, and on the occasion of dinner parties she would go down herself and cook some of the dishes, for they kept only two servants. She was an excellent French scholar, and “Grandfather” (James?) remembers a time when she was reading aloud the “Swiss Family Robinson” to himself and his sister Edith. A maid announced a visitor and so the book was discarded in a swirl of crinoline. The children were excited, and picked up the book to read, and found they could not - it was in French! As to Great Grandmother’s family, a sister of hers married a Mr Neville, a direct descendant of the Earl of Warwick, but with a bar sinister. (illegitimate) The Earl, however, saw that his son was duly educated and started off in life. A son of theirs was Rev. Hastings Neville, a Cambridge graduate, afterwards, chaplain to the Marchioness of Waterford. Then there was Dr John Makkelcan, who went to Canada, travelling by the ship “Great Eastern” which was the ship Jules Verne wrote about. He settled in Toronto where probably his descendants still live. Joseph Makkelcan was a civil engineer. He devised the first floating dock. He tried to get the British Admiralty interested in it, but apparently could not get through the “circumlocution office”, so in disgust, sold to a well established engineering firm the plans. They built the first floating dock, that one at Bermuda - which had only recently been discarded for one large enough for present day vessels, and indeed Grand Uncle Joe may be said to be the progenitor of the great Singapore Floating Dock which was towed in sections from England some years ago. I think Grand Uncle Joe got 300 pounds for his plans. The firm got 30,000 pounds for their first contract. Grand Uncle Frederick Makkelcan was an engineer and surveyor. If you have read “Martin Chuzzlewit” and Dickens description of the town of Eden, you will appreciate Great Grand Uncle Fred’s little contribution to family reminiscences. A company in Canada bought up a tract of land, and got G.G. Uncle to survey it, and plan a township, which took upon itself goodly proportions and imposing ones - on paper. The idea was to sell lots in the area in the hope of the paper talk materialising into bricks and mortar. When G.G.Uncle presented his account for surveying and planning, the company was just about in liquidation. They could not pay him, but offered him an allotment of land right in the middle of the paper city. With a touch of humour, G.G.Uncle decided to accept same, but on condition that he be allowed to “give the poor darlin a name”. They agreed, and he dubbed it “Quelph” (Herbert Alexander in his original writing wrote this many times - I only recently discovered it is really Guelph). This is now an important city. I believe pianos are made there. The origin of its name from a Makkelcan was an added touch of humour. Grandfather’s brothers and sisters were Edward, the eldest, who succeeded to the business. Frederick, who also went into the business. Thomas, afterwards father of Raymond, Emily, Lucy, Mary and Edith. Edward had 9 sons and 1 daughter. Fred had two daughters and one son. Emily had a large family, Lucy a smaller one. She married John Carter, furniture maker (see London journals for ad. of same.) One of Lucy’s sons was Nat. who was Secretary to the Rotarians in London. Mary, who married Mr Wildy, was the mother of Ethel who writes to me. Edith was the authoress, she never married, was always delicate. Grandfather’s favourite sister - she wrote The History of England, and was writing a companion book, The History of English Literature when she died in the late twenties. Thomas was a decorative architect. His work took him much into RC Cathedrals and churches. He joined an Anglican brotherhood and was with his fellows, absorbed into the RC religion. He became a priest - a Dominican, and was sent over to America. He was an artist and designed great churches, and on his death acquired a full front page in a San Francisco daily which spoke gloriously of the great work he had done for his church. Grandfather saw him ordained, and saw his mother’s sealskin coat subjected to drips from the candle of an ardent worshipper in the seat behind, because she wouldn’t kneel in the appropriate places. There is more information that appears to confirm the story - and of all that has been found - General Sir John MacKelcan is apparently the only confirmed child of the union of Hannah and George. Upon completion of his schooling he began service in His Majesty's Drawing Room in the Office of Ordnance at the Tower. He was later a member of the Royal Engineers and served in Newfoundland and the West Indies, becoming Commander of the Royal Engineers at Fort George on Guernsey, Channel Islands in 1803. He gave 58 years of service to the Army, and although twice courtmarshialled for a trifling deviation from an existing regulation, rose to the rank of General just before his death in 1838. (Source: Public Record Office, Kew, Richmond,Surrey; British Biographical Archive, LDS Library; National Army Museum; Royal Engineers Museum, Chatham, Kent, etc..)

  Noted events in his life were:

• Baptism, 12 Apr 1759, St. Savior, Southwark, Surrey.

• Education: Christ's Hospital from 1769-1773, sponsored by Lord Romney.

General married Rebecca Broad, daughter of William Broad and Unknown, on 28 Nov 1803 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands. (Rebecca Broad was born in 1773 and died circa Dec 1846 in Truro, Somerset ¹⁵².)

  Marriage Notes:

Source: Marriage record copied from St. Peter Port Town Church register