Frank Debenham was born in New South Wales, Australia in 1883, the second of five
children of John Willmott Debenham and Edith Cleveland, his father having emigrated
to Australia from Suffolk some time before 1880. He travelled with Scott to the
Antarctic as the expedition's geologist. Later he founded the Scott Polar Research
Institute at Cambridge as a memorial to Scott, and was its Director from its
foundation in 1920 until 1946.
He was appointed Professor of Geography at Cambridge University, and on his
retirement researched the family history to great effect. He wrote numerous books,
mostly on geographic matters, but is best known to genealogists for the privately
printed "Seven Centuries of Debenhams", published in 1957. He died at Cambridge
in 1965. [Photograph by Herbert Ponting (1870—1935)]
John Debenham was born at Bolton Castle, Yorkshire, in 1772, the eldest son of
John Debenham and Lydia Fearon. His brother Samuel Fearon Debenham was the ancestor
of the photographers described in Photography and the Debenhams.
He joined the Navy in 1789, reputedly by being press ganged, and rose rapidly to the rank of
Commander, then to Captain. He repeatedly distinguished himself in the Napoleonic
wars, and retired from the Navy to Chelsea in London where he lived until his death
in 1847. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, where his monument is engraved with
the following legend:-
"In memory of Captain John Debenham R.N. Born November 12, 1772, at Bolton Castle,
Yorks. Died June 15, 1847, A good Christian friend and Father. He entered the
Royal Navy in 1789. He was actively engaged in all the naval and military
operations of that time to 1814. Particularly on 29th May - 5th June 1794 with
Lord Howe; Lord Bridport's rencontre off Lorient; the capture of Trinidad; the
Channel fleet; Corunna; Walcharen. Lastly at the Passage of the Bar of Bayonne,
where he succeeded first in passing the Bar then in landing the troops.
In this service he saved many lives for which he received the personal thanks of
the Duke of Wellington and all the Military Commanders there assembled and was
honourably gazetted for his bravery and exertions at that place."
William Debenham (1794—1863), of the Bradfield line, joined with a Thomas Clark
in 1813 to manage a draper's shop at 44 Wigmore Street, London. It was later
extended to the other side of Wigmore Street, one establishment being called Clark
and Debenham, the other Debenham and Clark. William had married Caroline Freebody,
and later his son, another William (1824—1896) established the well-known
partnership of Debenham and Freebody with Caroline's brother, Clement. This
partnership took over the business when Thomas Clark retired, and in 1851 the
business became known as Debenham son and Freebody. When the elder William died
in 1863 the name became Debenham and Freebody, and remained so until the mid–20th
Century when it was changed to Debenhams Limited.
The full history of the Debenhams business is told in the book "Fine Silks and Oak
Counters" by Maurice Corina, published by Hutchinson Benham in 1978.
Cicely
Alice Debenham was a notable comedy
actress who was prominent on the British stage from about 1912 to 1927, taking
part in at least 28 major productions. The picture shows her as she appeared on
postcards in 1915 at the age of 24, featured as "One of Britain's Beauties".
With her sister Dorothy, also an actress, she played in many musicals with and
written by Ivor Novello.
The following is extracted from her obituary in the London "Times" newspaper dated
8th November 1955:-
"MISS CICELY DEBENHAM — Mrs. Guy Ridley, who died in London yesterday at the age
of 64 years, was as Cicely Debenham, a favourite musical comedy actress in the 1920's.
She was born in Aylesbury in 1891, and made her first appearance on the stage at
the Apollo Theatre as one of the Oysters in a revival of "Alice in Wonderland" -
she was 16 years of age. Two years later she played in the chorus of the famous
musical "The Arcadians", and in "Caprice". Soon she was being given leading parts
and she sang and danced in a long series of musical comedies in London. In 1923
she appeared for the first time on the American Broadway stage in Hammerstein's
"Nine O'Clock Review". Next year she was back in London playing at the Criterion in
"Cartoons"; "Patricia" and "Clo-Clo" followed. In the latter she had the title
role, and always amusing on the stage, she daringly, and successfully, made a funny
part out of the heroine of a musical comedy.
She was married in 1928 to Guy Ridley, a lawyer, who died in 1947."
Colin Debenham (1912—1983) was a grandson
of the photographer, William Elliott Debenham. An aeronautical engineer by
profession, he earned a distinguished record as a pilot in the RAF during the
second world war, and after the war emigrated to Canada and later the USA to
pursue his aeronautical interests. He took American citizenship so as to qualify
to participate in NASA's aerospace programmes, and while employed by a major NASA
contractor was project manager for the biology module of the Viking lander which
successfully landed on Mars in 1976.
He later told the story of the difficulties the development team had experienced
while designing the soil distribution mechanism that would send measured samples
of Martian soil to the various parts of the module for analysis. A major problem
was that stones would always cause the mechanism to jam. Then one day when sweeping
up debris from the floor at home following some DIY activity he experienced a
'Eureka' moment. He noticed that a brush would deal with lumpy debris with ease.
This prompted him to try out brushes as a vital part of the soil distribution
mechanism, and it worked! So the Viking lander's biology module became operational
and the rest is history, as it is said.
Colin gained a number of NASA awards for his work on this programme. They were
undoubtedly well earned and richly deserved. [Photograph © Copyright M J Debenham]
