Some Alabasters

      My interest in the Alabaster family became focussed with the organisation by Laraine Hake, Adrian Alabaster and myself of the first Alabaster Gathering at Hadleigh, Suffolk in 1990 and the establishment of the Alabaster Society and its Alabaster Chronicle first published in 1993 and now available on the Alabaster Society website, www.alabaster.org.uk

     Of the 14 Notes or Articles written for The Chronicle, only part of the one dealing with my great uncle Edwin Alabaster and his son, William will be republished here.  In addition to these, there are several booklets about Alabasters produced in relatively small prints for the Alabaster Society dealing with more remote ancestors which will be included because they are already out of print or nearly so’

    The people dealt with in this section are: William Alabaster 1568-1640), James Chaloner Alabaster (1806-1840) and his sons, Henry Alabaster (of Siam) (1836-84) and Sir Chaloner Alabaster (of China) (1838-1898); and Edwin Alabaster (1858?-1898).

Dr. William Alabaster (1568-1640)

The volume published in 2003 was updated in 2005 in the light of 1). the discovery of a letter thought to be written by William and 2). the publication in 2005 of Hadleigh and the Alabaster Family by Sue Andrews and Tony Springall.  I has been updated again in 2013 taking account of two more references to his sonnets, one identifying allusion to alchemy and the printing process and the other casting doubt on their sincerity.

James Chaloner Alabaster (1806-1840)

This, An Alabaster Quest, has not yet added but his papers have been deposited at the Westminster Archives, Accession No. 2396 

Henry Alabaster (1836-1884)

Some of Henry’s correspondence and an article were published in Occasional Monograph No. 3 of the Alabaster Society. The article is added here but not the letters because they are in included in Monograph No. 2 which is added; the originals have been deposited at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, Reference No. MS 380824. 

Sir Chaloner Alabaster (1838-1898)

This has not yet ben added but his papers have been deposited at the School of African and Oriental Studied, London, Reference No. MS380823.

Edwin Alabaster (1857?-1898)

This was originally published in the Alabaster Chronicle but has been updated in the light of new information about the defeat of the British at Islandhwana.