BORN: 18 September 1806.
MARRIAGE: 22 October 1823 Ghazipur, India.
India Office Libraryref. N/1/12/536 Alexander Carnegy was married to Isabella Don by license on 22 October 1823 at Ghazeepore, the ceremony being performed by the chaplain, William Palmer. He was a bachelor and a Lieutenant in the 11th Native Infantry Regiment H. C. She was described as a spinster, now of this station.
Both Alexander Carnegy and his wife, Isabella Don, originally came from
the same small community in Forfarshire, Scotland. Their families belonged
to the same church and knew each other well. But Isabella was only a child
of nine when Alexander first fought in India in 1815.
Two years later Isabella's father died, leaving her mother with four young children in what appears to have been a somewhat less than comfortable financial condition (due to general economic difficulties following the Napoleonic Wars). This might explain why Isabella went out to India to marry at the rather early age of just 17 years. Their marriage took place in 1823 at the Ghazipur station while Alexander was a Lieutenant in the 11th Native Infantry Regiment.
Isabella remained in India for the rest of her short life, giving birth to five children in the ten years between 1825 and 1835. Her death at age 28 followed the birth of her fifth child by 17 days and it seems safe to assume the she died of complications of childbirth.
What manner of life was led by the memsahibs in Bengal in the 1820's and 30's has not been researched but with a terrible climate of high humidity and heat, plus the amount of military actions taking place it was probably an uncomfortable and somewhat anxious life.
DEATH: 20 June 1835 Cawnpore, India. India Office Library
.
BURIAL: 20 June 1835 Cawnpore, India India Office Library
ref. N/1/43/60 buried by Edward White, Chaplain.
MONUMENT INSCRIPTION: Cawnpore, India. India Office Library "Sacred to the memory of Isabella the beloved wife of Major Alexander Carnegy 15th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry. Born 18 September 1806 and departed this life 20th June 1835. This Monument is erected as a last tribute of affection by her much afflicted husband."
MONUMENT INSCRIPTION : Dean Cemetery, St. Cuthberts Parish, Edinburgh.
Dean Cemetery Monumental Inscriptions. entry # 1918 @ Scot. Gen. Soc.,
Edinburgh. Stone reads: "In memory of / Major General/ Alexander Carnegy,....
/ and of / Isabella Don / his wife / born 18th Sep. 1806 / died at Cawnpore
20th June 1835".