Jane Elizabeth PARKE (1834-1905)

Her date of birth given in various trees, including that of Ian van Lidth de Jeude, is 19 Apr 1837. The day and month are correct, but Jane Elizabeth Park[e] was born in Ceylon in 1834, not 1837 as she told her family, and the census officer. The 1901 census shows a Jane E Walker, listed as 64 years old, born in Ceylon living as the head of household at 14 St James Square, Bath, with two servants and her daughter Jane S Walker, aged 35, born in Allahabad, India. The latter makes a very specific match to Janie Spicer Walker born on 19 Feb 1866 in Allahabad, India and identifies her mother as having been born in Ceylon. Further evidence of her birth may be found in the Ceylon Government Gazette, Jan-Dec 1834, in this entry: Wed 23 Apr: Births: On the 19th instant, the Lady of Captain G T Parke, HM's 61st Regiment, of a daughter (British Library, OGC 140; also listed in the Asiatic Journal & Monthly Miscellany vol 15).

Her death certificate gives her age as 68 years. The informant was her son Lt. Col. H. S. Walker (who was present at her death) and this age is compatible with a birth year of 1837. She might have carried her secret to the grave if it were not for her birth registration (indexed in GRO Army Returns - Births - 1796-1880, Ceylon, 1834, page 199) which gives her date of birth as 19 Apr 1834, baptized 23 May 1834 in Colombo by Rev. Benjamin Bailey, parents George Thomas and Jane Hickes Park. That this is not an error in the birth registry can be shown by reference to her brother's birth date of 9 October 1837 (George Fortescue Parke). Her father's rank was Captain in His Majesty's 61st Regiment (deduced from the reference on the birth certificate to the fact that Rev. Benjamin Bailey was officiating chaplain at Colombo for that regiment). Jane's father Captain Parke later married Joanna Kennedy, and is descended from the Parkes of Dunally , Co. Sligo. The missing 'e' in the surname on Jane's birth certificate is probably not significant. IGI lists her father's name as George Thomas Parke at the time of his marriage to Jane Hickes Spicer in 1828. Confirmation of these relationships may be found in papers in Sligo library, which include the following description (T2966/M/9): "Correspondence and papers of George Thomas Parke and his wife Joanna [nee Kennedy] . . . the provision to be made for Parke's children by his previous marriage to Jane Hicks Spicer, particularly his daughter Miss Jane Elizabeth Parke."