Within the walls of the ruins old Killearn Kirk sits a
stone commemorating
four generations of the Bontein Family.
The stone is pegged against the south wall, the
inscription listing only male members of the family.
The inscription reads:
In memory of Lieutenant-Colonel
Sir JAMES
BONTEIN, Younger of Balglass
Born 1749, died 1819
And of his sons
EDWARD BONTEIN, Captain 92nd Highlanders
Born 1785, died 1819
And JOHN PITT
BONTEIN, Captain 1st Life Guards
Born 1788, died 1859
And of his grandsons
JOHN BONTEIN, Colonel H.M. Bengal Army
Born 1809, died 1878
And JAMES
BONTEIN, Gentleman Usher to Queen Victoria
Born 1821, died 1884
And of his son
JAMES SHELLEY
BONTEIN
Sometime of Glencruitten, Argyll
Born
11th November 1859, died 31st October 1921
Whose
ashes are interred below
Rather than start ‘at the beginning’, this time, this
story will start at the last person listed
on the inscription and work
backwards in time as much as possible.
The last name to be inscribed on the gravestone is
that of James Shelly Bontein
Sometime of Glencruitten, Argyll
Born 11th November 1859, Died 31st
October 1921
James was born on November 16th 1859,
eldest child and only son of James Bontein,
Gentleman Usher and Clerk of the Robes to Queen
Victoria and Katherine Cecelia Shelley
He had one sister, Eva Louisa Bontein, born 1861
His birth was registered in Chelsea
(Date of birth on the gravestone as 11th
November 1859)
The family can be found living at 97 Onslow Square
Borough of Chelsea , London on the 1871 Census
with their Great-Grandmother Frances
Details as follows:
Frances Shelley, Head, Widow, age 83, Dowager Lady
Shelley, Landowner,
born Preston, Lancashire
James Bontein, Grand-Daughter’s Husband, age 50,
Retired from the War Office, born Norfolk
Katherine Bontein, Grand-Daughter, age 30, born Ramsgate , Kent
James S. Bontein, Great Grandson, age 11, Scholar,
born Chelsea
Eva L. Bontein, Great Grand-Daughter, age 10, Scholar,
born Chelsea
Eva Louise Bontein married Col. Hon. John Schomberg
Trefusis on July 19th 1883.
(She died August 20th 1949)
James married widow Emilie Josephine Stanley, nee
Edwards in London
The couple were to have no children.
The Electoral Registers list some places of residence
as follows:
1921 – 5 Chesham
Mansions
In one online article, he has the letters F.S.A., after his
name, indicating that he was a
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
(A Society
pursuing the study of antiquities and history of Scotland
He was educated to Marlborough
College , Wiltshire , England
Commanded his Regiment (WW1) 1915-16
Adjutant Haddingtonshire Vol. Corps 1917-18
Served on the Staff of the General Officer, Forth
Garrison 1918-1919
Was a Member of the Royal Company of Archers (King’s
Body Guard for Scotland
Justice of the Peace for Argyllshire
Major James Shelley Bontein of
Glencruitten in the uniform of the Royal Company of Archers
Glencruitten Golf Course formed part of the estate
owned by James Shelley Bontein
and during WW1 was on the brink of being
returned to agricultural land was retained as a rest
and recuperation facility
for service personnel based in nearby Oban,
the Club House having been
commissioned in 1907.
Glencruitten Club House
James was a Director of The
Straits Mortgage and Trust Company Limited (formed in 1909)
from 1909 until his
death in 1921. His name appears frequently in their online publication
‘A
History of Scottish Mortgage, A Centenary Retrospective’, see:
James Shelley Bontein’s Death Certificate verifies his
date of death, that he was 61 years old
and was a retired Major of the Lothian
& Border Horse Yeomanry.
He was the son of James Bontein, Gentleman Usher to
the late Queen Victoria
and Catherine (or Katherine Cecelia) Shelley.
There is no mention of a wife on the certificate, so
the informant, Butler Allan McGill may not have
known that his employer was
married.
‘If’ this house is ‘the’ Gatehouse in
which James died,
then it’s value at the beginning of 2013
was ‘offers over’ £1.1 million pounds.
The whereabouts of wife Emilie Josephine is unknown.
Quoting from James Shelley Bontein’s Will, he says:
“I direct my
Trustees to have my remains cremated and in order to prevent the possibility of
any mistake arising as to whether I am dead or not, I direct my Trustees before
my body is
placed in the coffin, to employ a competent surgeon to sever one of
my vital organs and to obtain
a certificate from him to the effect that he has done so and that it is an absolute impossibility that
I could be in life: I
also express the wish, while leaving the question of my place of burial open,
that my name should be added to the family Memorial Stone which stands against
the wall
inside the old ruined Church at Killearn, Stirlingshire, under the
name of my Father, James Bontein:
And I request my Trustees to arrange
accordingly if practible and I suggest the following inscription:
“And of the Latter’s only son,
James Shelley Bontein of Glencruitten,
Argyllshire, born 1859 Died …”
James left around forty thousand pounds.
A Death Notice appears in an English Newspaper in 1945
and reports that Emilie Josephine Bontein,
widow of Major Shelley Bontein died
at Folkstone on 1st November 1945 aged 97.
The parents of James Shelley Bontein were:
James Bontein, born 22nd March 1822, Dorset
or Norfolk
Gentleman Usher and Clerk of the Robes to Queen Victoria
Son of John Pitt Bontein of Balglass and Loiusa
Phillipa Ball*
Died 16th October 1884 (age 63) at St
James’ Palace, Westminster , London
and
Katherine Cecelia Shelley, born c1837, died 1902
Daughter of Adolphus Edward Shelley and Amelia
Hinchcliffe
(Katherine subsequently married Major General Francis
Edward Drewe in 1885)
James Bontein Senior was appointed Groom of the Privy
Chamber on 8th January 1874
(Source: Household of Queen Victoria
*As well as son James born in 1822, John Pitt Bontein
and Louisa Phillipa Ball
had an
additional 3 (known) children:
John Pitt Bontein, born 27th September
1817, Christened 9th October 1817, London
John Pitt Bontein, born 10 November 1818, Christened
27th March 1819, London
Mary Trant Bontein, born 9th December 1826,
Christened 21st November 1827, London
The remaining ancestors inscribed on the stone are a
challenge for another day as many
births/baptisms/marriages and death dates do not
seem to correspond with dates listed
on searcheable databases.
Below is a miniature portrait of Lady Bontein, wife of
Sir James Bontein of Balglass,
thought to be c1800.
Whatever the connection, or if there is indeed a
direct connection with the Kirk or the village
of
www.memento-mori.co.uk
