updated November 2020
Members of the Shedden family that I have been researching, lived in Trivandrum, on the south west tip of India between at least the mid 1800's and early 1900's.
The family of Christina Shedden believed that Christina was Scottish, I have seen good documentry proof that Christina's maternal grandfather, William Graham, came from Falkirk in Scotland.
Alexander Hall Shedden's Great Granddaughter has had her DNA analysed by ancestry.co.uk, this has been matched to a descendant of Agnes Shedden, born c. 1819 in Ayrshire, Scotland and to another Shedden family also from Ayrshire.
So far I have not been able to find any documentation to prove the connection to these two Ayrshire families but the DNA matches certainly support the family theory that Alexanders Hall Shedden had Scottish roots.
Alexander's marriage record gives his father's name as William.
Other researchers believe that, Alexander's parents were William Shedden and Elizabeth Simpson from Kilmarnock, Scotland, I
cannot find anything in the Scottish Registry Office records to support this.
I have found birth records for four children of William Shedden and Elizabeth Simpson but none of these children was named William.
I have found the marriage of a William and Elizabeth Shedden (scotlandspeople.gov.uk OPR indexes) and a statutory death certificate for a William Shedden in Lochwinnoch who's parents were John Shedden and Mary Law.
Recent DNA matches on ancestry.co.uk suggest that William or his ancestors may have originated in Ayrshire, Scotland.
Alexander's age on his marriage record is 24, and from that I have calculated his year of birth as 1823.
So far, I have not found been able to discover the birth place of Alexander, his occupation of
Revenue Surveyor was typically that of an "Anglo Indian" so my current thoughts are that Alexander was
probably the son of an expatriate Scot and his Indian or Anglo Indian wife. Alexander was probably born in southern India.
Alexander Hall Shedden married Margaret Graham in Calicut on 7 June 1847.
I have found birth records for 11 children of Alexander Hall and Margaret Shedden and burial records of both Alexander and Margaret. All of the births took place in either the Tellicherry / Calicut or Trivandrum areas.
In the Bombay Times, there are notices of the birth and death of Jessie Shedden, daughter of A.H. Shedden. There is then a baptism record for another daughter called Jessie born 18 months after the death of the first one.
According to another researcher that I have had contact with, Alexander and Margaret also had a daughter called Marguerite born in 1860 in Paris, France. I consider this unlikely.
Alexander and Margaret both died in Trivandrum in 1878, Margaret in August and Alexander on Boxing day.
Alexander was a Revenue Surveyor, initially with the PWD and then with the Rajah of Travencore.
In 1845 when Alexander was aged around 22, there is a report in the Madras Despatches of his promotion
while he was employed with the PWD, this is the occupation stated on his Marriage certificate and on the first Jessie's birth notice dated
10 Aug 1850.
In the second Jessie's Baptism record, dated 25 Jan 1853, Alexander's employer is given as "H.H. the Rajah
of Travencore". It would appear that Alexander changed employers between 1850 and 1853.
Margaret was the first daughter of William Graham, a soldier from Scotland, and his wife Jane Farrell who he married in 1827. Margaret was baptised in September 1828 and I have taken this also to be her year of birth.
Margaret married Alexander Hall Shedden in Calicut in 1847 when she was 19 years old.
Key documents which prove that the Margaret Graham who married Alexander Hall Shedden was the daughter of William and Jane Graham, are the record of Margaret's marriage to Alexander Hall Shedden and the baptism records of Margaret's half brother, John Thomas, and half sister Jessy Elizabeth. These events all occurred in Calicut on the 6th and 7th June 1847 and were witnessed by the same people.
Margaret died in Trivandrum in 1878.
SHEDDEN Margaret died 30 Aug 1878 Dropsy age 50 yrs. Wife of Pensioned sub assistant Engineer DPW Alexander Hall Shedden. Buried by R.Scott, Chaplain.
SHEDDEN Alexander Hall died 26 Dec 1878 age 57 years Drowned. Occupation as above.
I have seen two mentions of Shedden in the Madras Dispatches at the British Library, these are transcribed below:
Madras Dispatches E/4/964 - 69 dated June - Dec 1845| 12 | Sub-Assistant Revenue Surveyor Shedden promoted to the rank of Assistant Surveyor of the "GHIRD CLAFS" ?? (could this be third class) |
| 17 | 15 Oct 1856 Owing to an unaccountable mistake of Mr. Shedden, the assistant surveyor who made the first estimate and who is no longer in your service, a supplementary estimate amounting to Rs 7,386 had to be added to the original calculation of Rs 8,998. |
| 18 | Mr. Shedden's mistake did not however, occasion any outlay beyond what would in
any case have been necessary for the execution of the work, which will not be deemed
expensive if really have the anticipated effect of completing an internal water communication
of 220 miles in length from Badagherry on the north to Quilon on the south besides the
secondary advantage of draining extensive tracts of cultivable marsh land. |
| 19 & 20 | Sanction obtained from the supreme government for the formation of a canal between the Ponany and Velliangode and Chowghah rivers in Malabar at an estimated expense of Rs 16,381. |
The BACSA burial register for Christ Church, includes both Alexander and Margaret Shedden, their son Duncan Maxwell Shedden, Prince Family members and David Staig.