Annie Dorothea Caroline EARNSHAW [1449]

  General Notes:

England BDM M 2nd Qtr 1877 Annie Dorothea C Knaresbrough YKS 9a 175

Annie Dorothea Caroline Earnshaw
Record Type: Baptism
Baptism Date: 27 Mar 1857
Baptism Place: South Lambeth St Barnabas, Lambeth, England
Father: Edward Earnshaw
Mother: Caroline Sophia Earnshaw
Register Type: Parish Registers

The Straits Times, 29 January 1927, Page 9
Death of Mrs G. P. Owen.
Well-known Figure In Singapore Society.
We deeply regret to announce the death of Mrs G. P. Owen, which occurred at her husband's beautiful residence, The Lake, yesterday afternoon. Mrs Owen who returned from Europe with Mr Owen some weeks ago, had been ill for some years, and the sad news was not unexpected by her friends, who knew the cheerfulness, courage and lively interest with which she met the trying conditions of illness and her inability to take the active part in local affairs which she had enjoyed for so many years.
Mrs Owen's memories of Singapore went back a very long time, and she was a popular and prominent leader of social life here in the days before Singapore had become the busy, modern port and city that it is today, and when the small European community lived much closer to town than they do now.
As Miss Earnshaw the deceased married Mr George Mildmay Dare, who was well known here for a long time, and whose experiences as a child show how real were the perils of navigation in local waters in the early days. When Mr Dare was a baby his parents embarked upon the vessel Viscount Melbourne bound for China but the vessel was wrecked on the the Laconia Shoal, and the unhappy parents, with two very young children, had to spend thirteen days in an open boat before they reached Singapore. During that time they were captured by Lanun pirates, but escaped by cutting the tow rope at night.
Mr Dare subsequently lived in a house at the corner of Beach Road and Bras Basah Road, on the site of the present Raffles Hotel. Some years after Mr Dare's death his widow married Mr G. P. Owen to whom the warm sympathies of very many friends in Singapore and throughout the country will be extended.
First Lady in Singapore.
Mrs Owen was one of the founders of the Ladies Lawn Tennis Club, which was started in 1884 when the club was still very much in the country, the museum and houses around Dhoby Ghaunt being non-existent, and the stream running along Orchard Road between natural banks.
All ways a leading figure in musical and amateur dramatic circles, and in the social life of Singapore generally, Mrs Owen is particularly remembered as the first lady to drive a motor car in Singapore, and she also taught the first Malay chauffeur who obtained a driving licence here. Her first car was a 12hp Star, but in the following year she bought out to Adams cars, and one of those cars received the first registration number in Singapore. It is a historic vehicle, and a wonderful testimony to the thoroughness of British manufacturing, for Mrs Owen's claimed to have covered 69,000 miles with it in Singapore, the Malay Peninsular, Java, England and Scotland.
The funeral takes place today at Bidadari Cemetery, at 4:30 p.m.
Ref: http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19270129.2.61.aspx

  Research Notes:

A full account of the loss of he Viscount Melbourne and survival of passengers and crew is to be found in a seris of articles headed a Perilous Voyage in the The Straits Times, starting 3 August 1950, Page 9 Also further articles in the Straits Times over the years.
http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article.aspx?articleid=straitstimes19500803-1.2.133&sessionid=988f4607e16a403f90e597cab29458df&keyword=George+Mildmay+dare&token=dare%2cmildmay%2cgeorge

Image Courtesy Richard Barclay Familky Tree - Ancestry
Note with image: Annie at the wheel of her car with her husband George Mildmay Dare shortly before he died. She was the 1st female to drive a car in Singapore. The Malays in the Federated Malay States used to call her car the "devil wind carriage"

Portrait of Mr. George Mildmay Dare and his wife, seated on one of Singapore's earliest cars, circa 1907
Description
This picture shows Secretary of the Singapore Cricket Club (1858), Mr. George Mildmay Dare and his wife, seated on one of Singapore's earliest cars (Adam) registered "S-1" in 1907. After his demise, she married Mr. G.P. Owen, also Secretary of the Club from 1887 to 1920. She herself was one of the founders of The Ladies' Lawn Tennis Club in 1884. Title devised by Library staff.
Source: Taken from book The Singapore Cricket Club, established 1852, page 25

"William Kennedy was the first registered owner of a car in Singapore his plate was S-1. Later he proved to be a gentleman, giving up the licence plate S-1 to a lady, Annie Dorothea Caroline Earnshaw (later Mrs George Mildmay Dare, then Mrs G. P. Owen; 1857- 1927), who had requested it for her own motor car, a 12-horsepower Star imported from Britain in 1905 for a cool $3,600.
She became the first woman in Singapore to drive a motor car. With her car, she taught a Malay man, Hassan Mohamed, to drive; he became Singapore's first licensed chauffeur, then called a syce in the tradition of gharries and horse carriages.
The Asians, astounded at seeing a woman operating a car, dubbed it the "Devil Wind Carriage"; the Europeans called it "Ichiban", Japanese for "Number One".
She eventually took S-1 home to England in 1908, but not until after it had logged 69,400 miles in Singapore, Malaya, Java, Scotland, and England.
Ref: Jalan Singapura: 700 Years of Movement in Singapore

Annie married George Mildmay DARE [1448] [MRIN: 459], son of George Julius DARE R.N. [1392] and Sarah Shrieve PARKE [1412], 2nd Qtr 1877 in Yorkshire. (George Mildmay DARE [1448] was born on 22 Mar 1840 in Peckham LND, baptised on 19 Jun 1840 in St Giles Camberwell LND and died on 15 Dec 1907 in The Lake Singapore.)

Annie next married G P OWEN [15527] [MRIN: 5513] before 1877.