The Hissem-Montague Family

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This surname was introduced into England at the time of the Conquest and was derived from the village of "de Gobion" in Normandy. Over time the name has morfed into Gubbyn, Gubbin, Gibbon, Gibbin, Gubbins and even Gubby. A Thomas Gubin was recorded in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1279 while a Richard Gubbe is listed in Moore's "The History of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London" in 1319. There is also a Gubbins family of Kenmare Castle in Limerick, Ireland. They are a separate clan, descendents of those that went over with Cromwell.

The name Gubbins also has its whimsical side. As a word it means something whose name is either forgotten or not known. Synomyms are dohickey, gizmo, and thingamajig. So to refer to a Colonel Gubbins is similar to asking for Colonel Whozits. This might explain why, given the choice, this part of the family dropped Gubbins in favor of Mounsey-Heysham.

A carpenter of London. A John Gubbins was a juror at the Old Bailey in London on 24 October 1759 and 22 May 1765, though this may be the same John Gubbins, a cloth merchant, who was robbed in 1743.

A surveyor, of London and Epsom. He was born in 1745. He married Mary Watts, who was born on 18 April 1751. On 2 April 1788 James Gubbins, surveyor, was a witness at a trial for arson in the parish of St. James, Westminster. The trial was held at the Old Bailey, London. At the trial he claimed to be one of the surveyors of the "Sun-fire-office." Founded in 1710, the Sun Fire Office, located in Cornhill, was one of the first companies to insure the sugar refiners. James said it was "my duty to inspect losses, and to manage the firemen." He went on to say:

"I was sent for to this fire, suspicion having arisen from various reports in the neighbourhood; I am not present at every fire; when there is a necessity, I am called for; when I came there, it was about eleven in the forenoon; I enquired of the firemen, what loss the Sun-fire-office had sustained? they informed me, the prisoner was insured in the sum of 900l."

James died in June 1814, however he must have been very successful for in a letter of July 1814, it was said that "Mrs. Gubbins and her daughters continued for the present to live in their large house in Epsom, having been left well off." Epsom is in Surrey, a small county just south of London. Per her nephew, John Constable, Mary was in a poor state of health for some years before her death on 22 May 1827. During her final years she lived with her married daugther, Jane South, at No. 25 Surrey Street.

She was buried on 12 September 1771.

He was born on 21 June 1773 and presumably died young.

She was born on 12 June 1774 and was buried on 9 April 1781.

He was born on 26 September 1775 and was buried on 23 Februry 1777.

He was born on 26 September 1775 (David's twin) and was buried on 17 December 1775.

She was buried on 9 April 1777.

He was born on 16 March 1778. His cousin, John Constable, referred to him as "of Epsom. James joined the 60th Rifles as an Ensign in October 1804 and moved to the cavalry a year later, joining the 3rd Dragoons as a Lieutenant in November 1805. In February 1811 he was a Captain in the 13th Light Dragoons, meeting his men and fellow officers for the first time on 10th July 1811 at Malpartida. At left, James in the uniform of his former regiment. He kept a journal during his time in the Peninsula including an account of the Charging of the French Guns at Arroyo Molinos.

" The battle began by the gun from the enemy; hard rain and a fog. The cavalry formed in a column of half squadrons on the right of the village to cut off the enemy's retreat, and the 92nd Regiment drove them through it at the point of the bayonet. The two squadrons of the Germans (Kings German Legion) charged the enemy, and afterwards, a squadron of the 9th, who cut them up. General Hill came up and took our centre squadron with him to charge the enemy's guns. The General, in high spirits, showed us the direction of the French artillery. Charged obliquely; the right of the squadron first up with them; took the guns (2 guns and a howitzer, 6-pounders). General Howard's brigade cheered us in passing. Rode forward and pursued the fugitives. Sullivan only up with me; took four prisoners and the horse and baggage of the French Colonel of the 4th Regiment; sent them to the rear."

She was born on 6 February 1784 and died unmarried on 20 November 1852.

She married Lancelot Smith on 2 September 1817 and died on 28 March 1858. Robert Saunders wrote that say that this should be Lancelot South, not Smith.

Of Queen Anne Street, London, he was also noted to have a home in Belmont, Hants. He was born on 22 July 1781, the only surviving son of James and Mary Gubbins. /p>

A Colonel in the Army, C. B. [Campanion, Order of the Bath]. According to his cousin, Ann Constable, in a letter of February 1813 to her brother, the artist John Constable, Richard Gubbins "has been lucky in exchanging his Regiment, which prevents him from going to India - a most desireable event to himself and all his family . . . it is not unlikely but he may meet his brother James in Portugaul or Spain." Richard had exchanged the 24th, 2nd Warwickshire, Regiment of Foot, for the 85th Light Infantry.

In 1813 the 85th Regiment embarked for the Peninsula where they fought Napoleon's armies in the siege and capture of St. Sebastian, the battles of the Pyrenees, and at Nive and Bayonne in the fall and winter of 1813. Afterwards they were sent on to America to try to end the War of 1812. They were at the battle of Bladensberg in August 1814 and the capture and burning of Washington, and the battle of New Orleans in January 1815. Richard was at the capture of the Washington, D.C. and had been left to command his Regiment through the loss of so many other officers.

At the Battle of New Orleans the 85th was part of a joint force under the command of Lieutenant and was considered to be the flanking brigade. Their job entailed being ferried across to the west bank of the Mississippi to flank and break the American line on that side of the river. This would do two things, keep the American batteries there from firing enfilade against the British advance on the east side of the river and provide the British with a line of fire into the American rear. After being ferried across, though critically delayed, Colonel Thornton attacked with the minimum of preparation and forced the Americans to fall back. He quickly mounted another all-out bayonet charge to great success, "thanks to a decisive "left hook" by the 85th Regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel [Major in other sources] Gubbins." However, though they had captured the American line the collapse of the British attack on the eastern shore made the victory nugatory and Thornton was ordered to spike the American batteries and withdraw." The Battle of New Orleans ended in a significant American victory. Richard Gubbins, "their Colonel," was wounded in the action.

After returning from America Richard was sent out to take over the command of the light companies [light infantry] in Paris in the aftermath of Waterloo and Napolean's final capitulation. He remained in this post for about a year. It is unclear where he was posted from 1816 to 1824.

A Brian Bouchard writes,

"Hi Steve,

I'm interested in the Gubbins as a resident in Surrey, UK, living near their old family home - Hylands House, Epsom.

Various snippets of information are available, for example one obituary has Richard withdrawing from active sevice as early as 1824. The brothers are commemorated in St Martin of Tours' Churchyard but Richard was actually interred at Kensal Green.

For 8 months 1818/9 Richard had been governor of the enclave of Parga in Greece probably because the 75th had been on service in the Mediterranean. He married at Marylebone 16/10/1819 Mary, third daughter of late Peter Breton, of Southampton who seems to have had connections with Jamaica. His second wife was the only daughter of the late Charles Shard of Lovell Hill, Berks.

Good hunting, Brian"

About this time the Gubbins family began to live at Southampton. It was said about this time that Richard had fallen in love with a 19-year old beauty of large fortune. Whatever the case, he married (1) a Miss Bretton in 1819 and (2) Sarah Shard in 1825. Sarah was born in 1792 and died in 1867.

Richard was given command of the 67th South Hampshire Regiment of Foot in 1824. This conflicts with other histories of the Regiment and may indicate that Richard was actually a deputy commander. The 67th was in India from 1805 to 1826 and had an uneventful time until 1818 when an uprising of tribal chief's intent on revenge for British domination started the Third Mahratta War. The 67th marched across the entire width of India, from Bengal to Bombay. Along the way they subdued riots, invested fortresses, engaged in hill and jungle fighting, and survived through monsoons, and disease. From 1824 to 1826 the Regiment was stationed at Poona, southeast of Bombay in the Maratha. In 1826 the Regiment returned to England for Home service. On its return they were rewarded by King George IV with permission to add the Royal Bengal Tiger, the word "India" and the figures 21 to their Colours and Badges. This was when a new nickname, "tigers," started to appear. From 1832 to 1833 the Regiment was in Gibralter, and from 1833 to 1840 in the West Indies.

The Colonel died on 2 January 1836. He would have been 55 years old and conceivably still with the Regiment. If so his death may have been due to the fevers endemic to the region. In November 1834 the letters of the Constables' began to refer to hopes that "Richard may mend." Note that all of his children were born during the period of the 67th Regiment's Home Service in England.

She was born on 26 November 1827. She married Captain Henry Byng, Royal Navy, J.P., of Quendon Hall, Essex on 9 June 1857. It was his second marriage. Henry was quite a bit older than Mary, in fact he had been made a Post Captain in 1814, 13 yeas before her birth. They had two children. Mary died on 6 October 1895.

He was born on 19 December 1828. A Lieutenant General, C.B. He married Charlotte Emily Cosby on 22 August 1866. She was born circa 1839 in Stradbally Hall, Queens county, Ireland. They had a single daughter, Emily Mabel Gubbins, who married her first cousin, Dudley Sydney Ashworth Cosby. James died on 11 March 1894.

She was born on 14 April 1830. She died unmarried on 29 November 1901.

She was born on 25 September 1831. She married (1) James John Stopford and (2) Rever Luard, dsp.

The son and heir of Colonel Gubbins, he was born on 1 December 1826 in Marylebone. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge on 24 April 1846. He received his B.A. in 1850 and his M.A. in 1853. He was ordained a deacon (Winchester) in 1852 and as a Priest in 1853. C. of Crawley with Hunton, Hants., 1852. C. of Brightwell, Berks., 1858-9. C. of Upham, Hants., 1860-73. Rector of Upham, 1873-84.

He married Ellen Etherington Rolls on 21 November 1865. She was the daughter of John Etherington Welch Rolls, Esq. (1807-1870), of The Hendre, Monmouthshire, South Wales. The Rolls were the hereditary Barons Llangattock. John E. W. Rolls was succeeded by his son, John Allan Rolls, as Baron in August 1892. One of the younger sons of John Allan Rolls was Charles Stewart Rolls, who, with his friend Royce, founded the great automobile and engine company of Rolls-Royce. The Hendre is Welsh for Winter Dwelling or main house.

Richard died on 23 October 1884, at The Cedars, Herne Hill, London, S.E. Ellen continued to live in the Kensington district of London with her daughter, Ellen Bertha Gubbins.

He was born at Upham, Hants. in February 1870, the second son of Richard Shard Gubbins. He attended Winchester College and then entered Christ Church College, Oxford in October 1889. He was living with his Uncle James, a retired General, in 1891.

He was born on 2 June 1871, the 3rd son of the Richard Shard Gubbins. At the age of 9 he was already being boarded out as a "scholar" in Christchurch, Bournemouth. He attended Dulwich College. He was admitted at Selwyn College, Cambridge on 1 October 1894. Matric. Michs. 1894; B.A. 1897; M.A. 1902. Ordained a Deacon (Winchester) 1897; Priest, 1898; C. of St M., Cowes, Isle of Wight, 1897-9. C. of Tarporley, Cheshire, 1899-1902. Rector of Peasemore, Berks., 1902-11. He died on 16 August 1911 at Eastbourne. He was buried at Peasemore.

He was born at Upham in Droxford, Hampshire in England 6 January 1877. He attended Haileybury College, then matriculated to Clare College, Cambridge Michs. 1896; B.A. 1899; M.A. 1932. Called to the Bar, Middle Temple, Nov. 17, 1902.

He emigrated to South Africa in 1902 and rose to social prominence in Johannesburg. Advocate of the Supreme Court, Transvaal. J.P., Farmer and landowner. Of Malmani Oog, Ottoshoop, Transvaal, in 1922. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of the Africana Museum and Library of Africana. He challenged the systems of thought from which he came and, ultimately, articulated a new ideology, which he called three-dimensional-thought. He wrote the book "Three-Dimensional Thinking." He died in 1935.

Richard R. Gubbins was born in Upham, Hampshire in 1869, the first son of Richard Shard Gubbins, the Primate of Upham. In the 1871 census, aged 2, he was living in "The Rectory." In the 1881 census he was a 12 year old "scholar" boarding at the house of Charles J. Marshall, Warren Park, Bengeo, Hertfordshire. This may be the Duncombe school.

Richard was referred to as an "Old Haileyburian," meaning he attended Haileybury College in Hertfordshire. He was at the College in the early 1880's, entering, I think, in 1882. A caricature of one of the teachers at the school, drawn by Richard in 1885, is in the school archives. Famous Haileyburians include the recent Lord Mayor of London, Sir Clive Martin, Clement Attlee, Rudyard Kipling, Lord Allenby, Stirling Moss, Alan Ayckbourn, Simon MacCorkindale, Lord Sainsbury and John McCarthy.

Richard was not in the census of 1891 or 1901, perhaps because he was already an officer in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, Second Battalion. He may have gotten this assignment because this was the old 85th Light Infantry, now combined with the 53rd Regiment of Foot, in which his grandfather had served during the Penisula campaign and in America during the War of 1812. They may have thought of him as a "legacy."

Richard saw extensive service with the Regiment in the Boer War, serving in South Africa from 1899 to 1902. He was wounded at the siege of Paardeberg. He apparently married Agnes upon his return to England. He retired from the Army in 1908, but was recalled in 1914.

During World War I Lieutenant Colonel Gubbins was on the Assistant Adjutant and Quarter-master General (A.A.Q.M.G.) staff with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). He was "mentioned in dispatches," earned the Queen's medal with 3 Clasps, and the King's medal with 2 Clasps. The Queen's medal, that is of Victoria, was awarded to the best shot in the British Army and was probably awarded during his first commission. The King's medal was a similar award, but of George V. At some point Ricard was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). Recipients usually received this medal for combat against the enemy.

Richard was lost at sea due to enemy action on 25 January 1918. I assume this was aboard a troop transport. Noted to be the "Husband of Mrs. R. R. Gubbins, of The Old Hall, Rockcliffe, Cumberland. Cemetery: Ste. Marie cemetary, Le Havre Seine-Maritime, France Grave or Reference Panel Number: "Normandy" Memorial Haileybury Register 1862-1983 Colvin 1882.2"

A modern-day English painter and descendent of this branch of the Gubbins family.

Steve Hissem
San Diego, California