As an author based in Ahmedabad, I am currently investigating the life and times of a British army officer who lived in India from 1809 to 1835. A very colorful person called Maj Thomas Darcy Morris, he arrived as a lieutenant and died a major.
A social person, he was fond of horse, racing (often entering his own horse the Golden Goblin), as well as clubbing, hunting, writing poetry and contributing to magazines of those times, 1822 -1833, especially the Oriental Sporting Magazine.
Since the Parsis of those days were close to the British, socially as well as professionally, there may perhaps be some reference to him in Parsi circles. He was apparently close to the Lowjee Wadia family, Nowrosjee Jamshetjee Wadia and Ardeshir Cursetjee Wadia who were both into shipbuilding. He was also great friends with the Crawfords in Mazgaon who were in the shipping trade, including exporting opium to China.
We believe he had an Indian wife whom we are trying to trace. There is no record of who she was or from where. There are records of the birth of their daughter in 1826 when he was posted in Ahmedabad and later of the child’s baptism. The daughter, Mary May Morris eventually married William Henry Stanley Morris who was a very well-known photographer in Bombay, before he went into the family trade of shipping.
We would welcome any information or memoirs of those times that may have delved into the social goings-on and may have mentioned an Indian girl marrying a dashing British officer.
KUSUM CHOPPRA
Ahmedabad
skusumchoppra@yahoo.com