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Right is Charles Edward and below is his brother James Henry Brett Walch (1828 -1897); their sister was Jane Smart. Charles, James and Jane were the children of James William Henry Walch whose sister, Catherine, married Peter Bruels. Catherine was known as 'Aunt Peter'. In 1830 Aunt Peter embarked with Sarah Nash (the daughter of her brother's wife's sister) on board the East Indiaman ship the 'Lady Holland' and sailed from Portsmouth. In February, the 22 passengers and the crew were shipwrecked on Dassen Island near Cape Town in South Africa. All survived the disaster. Aunt Peter wrote two letters describing her experience. One, addressed to her brother, concentrates on the death of Sarah Nash on board ship from TB. The other was addressed to her son Henry Garnet Man and is a vivid description of the shipwreck.
A genealogy of the Walch family can viewed on request. See also Jane Smart (Walch) Man's 'History of the Walch Family' (in PDF only) as well as the Australian Dictionary of National Biography entries for Charles Edward Walch and his brother Garnet Walch. An interesting summary of some of the Walch family's activities in Tasmania can be found here. (<--- another web site)
The pictures below are of the Walch family in Tasmania, however there are no indications on the originals as to who or what each one is.
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Three of the descendants of
Also on board the Lady Holland was a Ms. Molesworth who shared Sarah Nash's cabin. In spite of their close quartering, Ms. Molesworth was healthy enough not to become infected;
indeed she wrote her parents a long account of the shipwreck ordeal, although
only a very brief account of Sarah's death. This letter was
published in 1947 in Blackwood's Magazine under the title '
