2 MY LIFE [Chap. 



till I was of age — ever speak on the subject. The little I 

 have gleaned was from my sister Fanny and from a recent 

 examination of tombstones and parish registers, and especially 

 from an old Prayer-book (1723) which belonged to my grand- 

 father Wallace, who had registered in it the dates of the births 

 and baptisms of his two sons, while my father had continued 

 the register to include his own family of nine children, of whom 

 I am the only survivor. 



My paternal grandfather was married at Hanworth, 

 Middlesex, in 1765, and the parish register describes him as 

 William Wallace, of Hanworth, bachelor, and his wife as 

 Elizabeth Dilke, of Laleham, widow. Both are buried in 

 Laleham churchyard, where I presume the former Mrs. Dilke 

 had some family burial rights, as my grandfather's brother, 

 George Wallace, is also buried there. The register at Han- 

 worth contains no record of my father's birth, but the church 

 itself shows that quite a small colony of Wallaces lived at 

 Hanworth. On a long stone in the floor of the chancel is 

 the name of James Wallace, Esq., who died February 7, 

 1778, aged 87 years. He was therefore thirty-five years older 

 than my grandfather, and may have been his uncle. Then 

 follows Admiral Sir James Wallace, who died on March 

 6, 1803, aged 69 years; and Frances Sleigh, daughter of 

 the above James Wallace, Esq., who died December 12, 

 1820, aged 69 years. 



Also, on a small stone in the floor of the nave, just outside 

 the chancel, we find MARY WALLACE, who died December 

 5, 18 12, aged 39 years. She may, therefore, not improbably 

 have been a daughter, or perhaps niece, of the admiral. 



Here, then, we have four Wallaces buried in the same 

 church as that in which my grandfather was married, and of 

 which place he was a resident at the time. As Hanworth is 

 a very small place, the total population of the parish being 

 only 750 in 1840, it is hardly probable that my grandfather 

 and the others met there accidentally. I conclude, therefore, 

 that James Wallace was probably an uncle or cousin, and 

 that all were in some way related. As there is no record ofj 



