charles john mallandain + elizabeth lepage
Charles was born in Ireland about 1861 when his father’s regiment was posted there but his birth record has not been found. In 1881, he was living with his parents, Charles and Mary, in Newington, London and working as a Clerk but like his father, Charles enlisted in the army and was initially posted to Milton in Kent as an Army Clerk.
While in Milton, he met and married Elizabeth Susan Eva Lepage on 9 January 1890. Elizabeth was born in St Martin’s, Guernsey in 1865, the daughter of James Lepage and his wife Mary Ann. At the time of their marriage, Charles was living in the Milton Barracks and employed as an Army Clerk while Elizabeth was living at 33 Parrock Street in Milton.
In 1891, Charles and Elizabeth were living at the Milton Barracks and Charles’ occupation was listed as Lance Corporal in the Army Service Corps but later that year, Charles was transferred to the 92nd Highlander Regiment garrisoned at Fort George, Guernsey.
Their first child, Charles Harold, was born in England on 8 September 1891, just before his mother was due to travel to Guernsey to join her husband. As a result, there was no time to register his birth in England so he was officially registered at Fort George in Guernsey. Their daughter, Eileen Mary, was born on 7 December 1898 at St Peter Port.
Charles was forced to retire from the Army due to ill health but the family remained in Guernsey. In 1901, they were living on the High Street in St Peter Port and Charles was working as a Caretaker at the Old Bank Ltd. By 1911, they had moved to Trafalgar House at 14 Le Bouet in St Peter Port where they occupied four rooms. Charles was employed as a Builder’s Clerk, his son Charles was working as an Apprentice Cabinet Maker and his daughter Eileen was still at school. Strangely, Charles gave his place of birth as Ardersier Inverness NB but this contradicts previous census returns that list his birthplace as Ireland. Ardersier is a small village in the Scottish Highlands near Inverness and the British Army base at Fort George. It is possible that his father was stationed there but his birth certificate has not been located to confirm this.
Charles’ health deteriorated to such an extent that he was confined to bed and unable to work and the responsibility of supporting the family fell to his son, Charles Harold. Charles died in St Peter Port on 22 August 1925 aged 64 years. Three years later, his son Charles married Eunice Giles and they had two sons.
Elizabeth Lepage died in Moorfield, Yorkshire on 31 January 1945 and was buried in the local cemetery. There is no information to confirm why Elizabeth was in Yorkshire but she was likely evacuated from Guernsey before the German invasion and occupation of the island in June 1940. A memorial plaque in St Peter Port commemorates the evacuation: ‘This plaque commemorates the evacuation of children and adults ahead of the Occupation of the Island by German forces in June 1940. Four fifths of the children and altogether almost half the population of Guernsey were transported to England so scarcely a family was undivided. À la perchoine.’ Elizabeth died in England only three months before the islands were liberated. Two years after her death, Elizabeth’s daughter obtained permission to exhume her body and return it to Guernsey so she could be buried next to her husband.
Eileen never married but she worked as a school teacher for many years and later became the Head Mistress of an Infant’s School on the island. She died on 12 March 1979 and her brother, Charles Harold, died on 26 December 1983.
The James branch of the family consistently maintained the original spelling of the family name, Mallandain. The Mallandaine spelling variation is found among the descendants of John West Mallandaine from the John branch but this is the only family from the James branch that adopted the spelling with the final ‘e’.