This grave tucked away near the south entrance of St Clement’s Church, Powderham, shows just how geographically mobile families could be in previous generations. Ella Louise Fiddian was born in 1859 at Collingwood, Victoria, Australia, the second daughter of Thomas Vasey and Elizabeth Brinsden. Registered at birth as Ellen Louisa, she appears in later records as Ella Louise, the name she used throughout her life. On 28 August 1884 she married James Paull Fiddian at Hawthorn, Victoria, and the newlyweds spent just over five weeks touring North America on honeymoon. Ella kept a lively journal of these happy weeks—later reproduced by Paul Fiddian as “Granny Pink’s Journey” in his 2016 book Our Family Saga—her pink moniker bestowed by grandchildren who also had a Granny White.
The couple’s first child, Hilda Grace (1885–1984), was born in Cambridge in June 1885, but James’s Indian Civil Service career soon shaped family life. Between 1886 and 1894 six more children arrived in India: Ella Margery (1886–87), James Victor (1887–1965), Guy Vasey (1887–1959), William Moulton (1889–1966), Eric Alfred SGM MBE (1893–1968), and John Paull (1894–94). Two died in infancy, and in March 1896, while Ella and the surviving children were in England, James succumbed to dysentery at Berhampore, Madras, aged only 42. He was buried at Bejipur Cemetery beside their baby son John. Widowed at 37, Ella returned to England with her daughter and four sons, eventually settling in Devon, where she died at Teignmouth on 18 July 1931, aged 72.
James’s own story began in North Shields, Northumberland, where he was born on 7 June 1853, son of the itinerant Wesleyan Methodist minister Rev. Samuel Fiddian. Educated at Kingswood School, Birmingham, and Woodhouse Grove, Yorkshire, he matriculated with honours in 1869 and went up to Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1872. Passing the demanding Indian Civil Service examination in 1873, he postponed his degrees—taking his BA in 1885 and MA in 1892—while serving in India from 1875. Advancement followed: he became a full Magistrate and Collector in 1892, returned briefly to England soon after, and in January 1894 was appointed a District and Sessions Judge. His judicial tenure lasted just over two years before illness cut it short in 1896; probate was subsequently conducted in England and Australia.
Their memorial in the churchyard of St Clement’s adds a quiet note to the story of this parish. The church itself is mostly 15th century, with later Victorian work, and has long been linked with the Courtenay family of Powderham Castle. Alongside its medieval effigies and stained glass, the Fiddians’ stone reminds us that even in a small Devon village, lives could span continents. Ella’s path from Melbourne to Teignmouth, and James’s service from Cambridge to India, now come together here in Powderham, their names still visible on a grave in the shadow of St Clement’s.
Image and some of the information courtesy of Family Tree of Ella (Vasey) Fiddian
