Thomas Clifton Alban and Elizabeth Gore Tipper

My research led me to look further into the parents of Clifton F S Alban, William G Alban and Arthur D Alban to see whether there might have been other Alban descendants.

Thomas Clifton Alban and Elizabeth Gore Tipper
The parents of Clifton F S Alban and William G Alban were Thomas Clifton Alban (1826 St Pancras, London - 1864 Guernsey, Channel Islands) and Elizabeth Gore Tipper (1834 Whitebrook, Monmouthshire,Wales - 1900 East Hampstead, Berkshire, England).

Besides these two military sons, Thomas C Alban and Elizabeth G Tipper produced at least three more children that I have been able to locate: Elizabeth Annie Alban (1852-1853) who died in Karachi, East India a year after her birth; George Edward Alban (1856 Baroda, India - 1870 Easthampstead, England) and Arthur David Alban (1862 Guernsey, Channel Islands – 1927 Totnes, Devon).

The two oldest sons Clifton F S and George E Alban were sent back to England to live with their widowed maternal grandmother Elizabeth Tipper in South Stoneham, Hampshire (1861 census). The boys’ parents remained in India where Elizabeth G Tipper gave birth to their third son William G Alban in 1860, Uncle Tom’s father.

Two years later Elizabeth Tipper gave birth to a fourth son, Arthur D Alban in 1862 on Guernsey where her widowed mother-in-law (Anne Benbow) lived. The second son George E Alban died in 1870 at just 13 years of age in Easthampstead, Berkshire. Thirty years later George’s mother Elizabeth G Tipper died in the same district.

Thomas C Alban rose from being an ensign in the Bombay Infantry in 1844 to Deputy Judge Advocate General for the British Army in India by 1860. This position is the legal and judicial chief of the Army; Judge Advocate General officers advise the presiding officers of court-martials on military law, besides providing legal help to the military in all aspects.

After attaining this post Thomas C Alban died on Guernsey at just 38 years old, leaving Elizabeth as a young widow with four boys aged 2, 4, 8 and 10 years of age. Of their five children only Clifton F S, William G and Arthur D Alban reached adulthood. It cannot have been easy for Elizabeth. She had married Thomas C Alban when she was only 17 years old. By the time she was 24 she’d given birth to four children in India and one in Guernsey. Her only daughter died at 5 months of age in India and her second son in England, a little over five years after her husband’s death.

In 1871 Elizabeth G Tipper - with her three surviving boys - is recorded again in St Peter Port, Guernsey living with her mother-in-law Anne Benbow. She appears to have lived the rest of her life in England at the homes of her mother-in-law or her sister Lucy E Tipper.

Lucy E and Elizabeth G Tipper had both been governesses overseas. Presumably this is how they met their husbands to be. Their parents were Samuel Tipper and Elizabeth Gore whose five children were born across the British Isles – from Ireland to Wales to Southampton, England. Samuel Tipper's occupation is not known, but travel must have been part of it.

Perhaps her childhood experiences of travel prepared Elizabeth for living in the remote parts of the British Empire. After the premature death of Thomas C Alban, his widow Elizabeth G Tipper saw her older sons Clifton F S and William G Alban join the Bombay Native Infantry and soon became officers in India.

What happened to Arthur David Alban, their youngest child and third surviving son? He was the exception. He became a diplomat.