Colonel [Delmé(-)] Radcliffe's Honeyguide ssp. (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Here's a short question ...

Does anyone know the exact Birth year (preferably also an exact date, and a location) of the British Officer Emilius Charles Delmé-Radcliffe, also known as ditto (unhyphenated) Delmé Radcliffe (who apparently died in 1907) ... ?

This question is due to the fact that there are different claims in various sources!? Some has his Birth year as "1832", while others have it as "1833" (or even later ... !?)

Either way, he's commemorated in ...

radcliffii as in:
• the (Yellow-rumped) Honeyguide ssp. Indicator xanthonotus radcliffii HUME 1870 (here), as "Indicator radcliffii":

During the last two years Colonel Delmé-Radcliffe has procured two or three specimens (one of which he has kindly presented to me) in Huzara, of an Indicator, which ... differs ... [...]. If distinct, I would name it, after the accomplished Falconer, who first brought it to notice, I. RADCLIFFII.

Today's Key explain it (and other similar Eponyms) as:

radcliffei / radcliffii
● Lt.-Col. Henry Delmé-Radcliffe (1866-1947) British Army in Burma 1909 (Actinodura, syn. Heterophasia melanoleuca).
● Lt.-Col. Emilius Charles Delmé-Radcliffe (1833-1907) British Army in India, falconer (subsp. Indicator xanthonotus).
● Brig.-Gen. Sir Denis John Charles Delmé-Radcliffe (1864-1937) British Army in India 1884-1890, and Uganda 1898-1904, Military Attaché at Rome 1906-1911 (subsp. Tricholaema lacrymosa).

But ... this post on Geneanet claim the (exact) Birth of Emilius Charles Delmé-Radcliffe as [my blue and bolds]:

Born 2 September 1832 - Holwell, Bedfordshire, England

Contrary to this Wikimedia file/entry (incl. a Photo, and some pretty serious references) where he's:

Lt. Col. Emilius Charles Delmé Radcliffe (1833–1907), 88th Connaught Rangers.

Son of Rev. Charles Delme Radcliffe (1806-1865) and Elizabeth daughter of John Delmé. Emilius Charles Delme Radcliffe (1838-1907) born in Hitchin Priory, Hertfordshire. Married Louisa Baddicott, daughter of James John Holroyd.

Hrrmm ...

I assume the other Guys listed in the Key ought to be related to him. Probably, possibly Sons?

Anyone who have seen an official (Birth) Record of the Senior guy?

And, simply trusting Hume (i.e the OD itself) it seems like he'd already, as early as in 1870, had reached the rank of (full) Colonel ...

Björn

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Also note that Pittie (2023*) has him as:

Delmé-Radcliffe, Lieutenant-Colonel Emilius Charles (1832–1907; England)

Falconer. Army officer in 88th Regiment of Foot. Father of Henry, and Denis.

/B

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*Pittie, A., 2023. An author bibliography of South Asian ornithology 1713–2022. Second edition. (Published on 10 February 2023): pp. 1–1649 (here).

 

[PScofield]

He was christened on 2 September 1832 in Holwell, Bedfordshire, England. He was born 3 Aug 1832 (here). He was indeed in the 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) serving (1854-1870) mainly in India. He commanded an assault on Lucknow in 1858 (where he was mentioned in dispatches). He left the regiment as Lieutenant-Colonel in 1870 as part of the Cardwell Reforms (the reorganisation of the British Army to make it less Monty Pythonesque). This was following his regiment leaving India and before it's deployment to South Africa. He spent the rest of his life in Germany and he died there in 1907. I did some digging suspecting some sort of scandal for his departure to Germany but it seems he simply felt betrayed by English society for his forced retirement. Despite his ambiguous Huguenot surname he was an English aristocrat - a descendant of Henry III - through his daughter Anne Dutchess of Exeter and a grandson of Lady Elizabeth Howard and thus a cousin to almost all the Kings and Queens of Europe and of course Winston Churchill and Lady Diana Spencer. Whilst in Darmstadt he kept the falcons of Princes and nobels. Delmé-Radcliffe's daughter Pollie was a close childhood friend of Alexandra Feodorovna born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, last Empress of Russia.