Edward Garnet Man, son of Henry Stoe Man

Born at Halstead Hall, Kent, Feb 8th 1837. Educated at the Royal Naval School, went to India in the employ of Messrs Grindlay & Co Bankers. The sailing ship, in which he was, lost 14 men over- board in a gale in the bay, E.G.M. & other passengers had to work the ship to Colombo, Madras & Calcutta. They went round the Cape.

He left Grindlays & went into the Uncovenanted Service a served as Deputy Magistrate, during the Mutiny he served as Intelligence Officer with the 3rd Sikh Cavalry.

He was small & light & rode in the Calcutta Derby in 1858 (7st. & 13lbs). He came home on leave and read for the Bar, was called, returned to India and got a years leave, went to Rangoon where he practised as a Barrister and was very successful; left the Uncovenanted Service. Before leaving he was in the Indigo riots in Bengal & received the thanks of Government; he was sent down in the Sonthal rebellion to help pacify the disturbed district of Bakour, where he shot tigers; he was invalided home & then passed for the bar. He practised in Burma. He returned to England in 1878 after being Government advocate in Burma. He took a keen interest in politics & Church Defence & did a good deal of lecturing. He practised at the English Bar for ten years as he had made a small fortune in Burma and wanted to become an M.P. But he lost all his money in the Jabez Balfour frauds & returned to Burma for 6 years, made money & retired to England, Walton-on-Thames & then to Sandgate, Kent, became Master of the Butchers Company was appointed a lay reader by the Archbishop of Canterbury, became a J.P. and chairman of the local bench, Elham Valley.

He was mentally and physically very active, a good boxer, horseman and whip, he rode some 300 races in different parts of India & Burma, was the author of one or two books, Sonthalia & the Sonthals, Papal Aims & Papal Claims etc.

The following story gives some idea of his enterprise & agility. An Italian warship lay in the Rangoon River; she gave a large luncheon party. Someone bet EGM that he would not climb up the main mast & touch the truck. He took the bet; removed his coat & in his best clothes & boots accomplished the feat, the last 40 feet or so up a bare pole with only a small rope hanging beside it rove through a block in the truck; & this after a heavy lunch & under the tropical sun. I know the story is true as my mother his wife watched him do it E.G.M. was a first class raconteur & after dinner speaker. He was very popular because he genuinely loved his fellow men & was always doing someone a good turn.

He married Catherine Jane youngest daughter of James H. Matthews senior partner of Messrs Grindlay & Co, Agents & Bankers. She was probably one of the most lovable & saintly women that ever lived. I think that she was nearly as perfect as a woman could be. As a girl she was very nice looking with dark hair & blue eyes. Her rule of Life was self-discipline, she always sat in an upright chair; she never lounged. When elderly she had a fall from a carriage and hurt her hip and became lame with a good deal of pain, but she was always cheerful & never  complained. She was entirely selfless & placid; faith & maternal love radiated from her, her very presence was a benediction. I once asked her why she was so certain that Christianity was true. She replied, “I just know that it is true. If proof were needed the daily and immediate answers to one’s prayers would provide it”.