Irene Evelina "Irenie" Cranstoun of Antigua
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Irene died in Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 16, 1954. She married Walter Frederick Malone of St. Kitts who ran the Malone family grocery and dry goods store on Princes St in Basseterre, St. Kitts, S. D. Malone Ltd, named after his father Solomon David Malone. Due to the decline in the sugar industry and competition, as you will see, the company eventually went bankrupt. Walter developed mental problems as he aged, it was a form of dementia and he was so big and strong the only place that could handle him was the physiciactric ward at the asylum on Antigua. Walter loved Irenie very much, his grand daughter, Avril, told me when Irene died Walter would sit for hours thinking of her, because he missed her so much. “Irenie” was the backbone of the family when her father and brother passed away. As I did more and more research and uncovered more facts, things started to come together and this part of our family heritage began an interesting story and ties the islands of Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat together for our family. I thought I had it down until July 2015 when I posted some of the family pictures on Facebook and I received numerous requests for information but, Che Davison, stepdaughter of Langford Arthur Edwin Cranstoun, son of Irene’s brother Arthur Herbert Cranstoun volunteered information I was lacking in my history. Thus began another rewrite of my book, at least I was getting my family history correct. The Malone family begins with a sailor who arrived in Antigua about 1794 and was believed to have been a crew member for Lord Horatio Nelson. I had read somewhere but I did not equate at the time, so I did not keep the reference as proof, that his name was George. It is kind of important now as I find a George Malone was on the “Committee Of Correspondence” with David and George Cranstoun. When I began researching Irene and Walter, I mistakenly thought Irene’s Walter was the politician from St. Kitts, Sir Walter Clement Malone. However, it turned out they were cousins (Irene’s Walter was cousin to Sir Walter). Irene and Walter had four children, Cecil, Doreen, Muriel Aileen and Mildred, at first, not much was known about them until I met my father’s cousin, Edward Langford “Ted” Mercer. “Ted” didn’t think he knew very much about the Cranstoun family, his mother was my grandfather’s sister Alice Anne Louise Cranstoun, however, with a few probing questions he began to remember and recall stories and was able to fill in some of the missing pieces for Irene’s family. When I visited St. Kitts it all began to come together and when Hans Mallalieu sent me some old pictures, Irene’s and the Malone family history became very clear to me. I received pictures of the graves of Irene and her children Cecil, Doreen and Mildred from “Ted” I had come into contact with Hans Mallalieu who had a post on ancestry.com about the Malone’s, he seemed to know quite a bit about the family and sent me the pictures of the Malone sisters and the picture of Cecil. I did not know at the time and was later to understand that the Mallalieu’s were also a part of our family. As Hans and I corresponded it turned out his father Colin Mallalieu was the one who took the pictures of the graves.
Let’s begin our journey into the Malone family with George Malone who had one son that I can find named David Mortimer Malone born about 1815 and he married Sarah Eliza Symes in 1835 in the Parish of St. Peter in Antigua. Since we have a marriage date we can trace the family to David and Elizabeth Cranstoun through the Symes line, from the History of the Island of Antigua. This was quite interesting to have found this type of lineage for the family. David Mortimer Malone and Sarah Eliza Symes had four sons: Cyril Malone, Stephen Malone, Solomon David Malone and Walter Wittingham Malone. David Cranstoun married Elizabeth Symes who died in 1831 and I was able to put a family pedigree together from Sarah Eliza Symes through to Irene Cranstoun and Walter Frederick Malone. This shows our family is related through marriage to the Harman and Llyod families as well. Solomon David Malone Father of Walter Frederick Malone In 1911 Solomon David Malone was made an unofficial member of the Legislative Council of Nevis. Solomon David Malone of Nevis was married to Susan Elizabeth Grieve Dyett they are buried on Nevis and they had four daughters and five sons. Solomon David Malone was an entrepreneur who started S. D. Malone Ltd, a dry goods and grocery store and as business got better he expanded to other islands until he had several stores. Although his family was not as famous as his brothers family, they certainly achieved great status in life. Walter Frederick Malone was his eldest son and he took over the management of S. D. Malone Ltd. Unfortunately the heydays of the sugar industry were in the past and slowly Walter had to start selling and closing down the stores, eventually he went bankrupt and had to close the final store in St. Kitts. I think it is safe to say Walter looked after the family business so his brother’s and sister’s could move on in life and from what I uncovered, it appears like they left him holding the bag. Reverend William Mortimer Malone attended the Antigua Grammar School, Class of 1901 and became a reverend at St. Patrick’s Church in Christ Church, Barbados from 1926 - 1928 and married Inez Oldham and they had three children a daughter, name unknown, a son, name unknown and a son named William. Cyril Hampstead Malone went to the Antigua Grammar School, Class of 1905, and went on to become an attorney, the same class as my grandfather Langford Duer Cranstoun, his brother Arthur Herbert Cranstoun and their cousin James Watkins Harper who became a surgeon. Cyril Hampstead Malone married Lilian Agatha Eliza Blake the daughter of D. S. Blake owner of multiple plantations on St. Kitts. Lilian inherited several sugar estates on St. Kitts from her father, Pogson’s, Parson’s, Caine’s and Willet’s estates and two great houses in the countryside, one in Dieppe Bay, one known as “Fairview” and a house in Basseterre. (Notice the estate called Parson’s, it was the homestead of the Margetson’s & Palmer’s - family we will learn more of later) The Handbook of the Leeward Islands shows C. H. Malone as the registered owner of the 219 acre Therould’s Estate, he put it up for sale in 1924. After Cyril died Lilian adopted a girl, Sonia, she was a spoiled child never wanting for anything and eventually married and moved to Australia where she died in a motorcycle accident. Lilian remarried, sold all her assets and moved to the Isle Of Man where she died. These historical facts were verified in the book by John Clement Malone where he describes receiving a book from his Aunt Lilian at her country home called “Fairview”. Alan Edmund Malone the youngest son attended the Antigua Grammar School in 1910 and married Daphane, the daughter of Burchell Marshall, the owner of the S. L. Horsford Company. Edmund Alan Malone worked with Frederick in the family business until he married Daphne Marshall, the daughter of Burchell Marshall the owner of S. L. Horsford, their competitor and he left the family business to work with the more successful S. L. Horsford And Company Limited. I found this kind of ironic as it was the article by Simon Horsford which lead me to St. Kitts and it was his families business. The 2014 Chairman of S. L. Horsford And Company Limited is William Anthony Kelsick and the Executive director is Donald L Kelsick. I will have more to say on Burchell Marshall and the S. L. Horsford And Company shortly. Walter Frederick Malone the eldest son born in 1885 and was in the class of 1899 of the Antigua Grammar School. Frederick took over the family business S.D. Malone Limited. He married Irene Evelina “Irenie” Cranstoun and they had three daughters and a son. Ethel Louise Malone, the eldest daughter, born in 1880 married her cousin Sir Walter Clement Malone and they had three sons. Frances Ida Malone was born in 1885 and was a civil servant. She married and divorced William de Grasse who was a descendant of François Joseph Paul de Grasse (Comete de Grasse). He was the Admiral of the French fleet at the Battle Of The Saints, April 9, 1782 – April 12, 1782 in which James 8th Lord Cranstoun gained notoriety. I find it to be very strange that her brother, Walter, married a descendant of James 8th Lord Cranstoun. Mary Alicia Malone was born in 1887 and her occupation was a teacher. Florence “Florrie” E Malone left St. Kitts and moved to Antigua to help with the family store, S. D. Malone Ltd., in Antigua, she was later joined by her mother and her aunt. Doreen Malone born 1923 in Basseterre, St. Kitts married William McIntyre who was a government official. Mildred Irene Malone died unmarried in 2002 at 84 years old. Cecil Langford Malone born in 1920 in Basseterre, St. Kitts and died in 2001. His travel documents list his occupation as a civil servant and he married Mabel Isabel “Maisie” Dickinson. They had two children Stephen Malone, unmarried and Avril Malone who married Robert Tyrrell and they had a daughter Alexandra. Murial Aileen Malone born November 16, 1916 married Dudley Henry “Jack” Semper a Supreme Court Judge in Jamaica and they moved to England and had a daughter Margaret H. I. Semper born in 1957.
She had contacted me through this web site and wrote me, “I am the daughter of Dudley Henry "Jack" Semper. My name was Margaret Helen Irenie Semper. I am married to the Reverend John Talbot Hayward we have a daughter:- Kathryn, Jill Hayward she was born 23 November 1993.” I was overjoyed as it had been a very difficult road to uncover the family of my grandfather’s eldest sister and to be contacted by Margaret seemed like the icing on the cake. I wrote her back telling her quickly how happy I was to hear from her and I sent a quick synopsis of what I could remember of her family background. She wrote back, “I would be more than happy to provide any information you require, but my father Dudley Henry Semper (Jack) for some strange reason would not talk about the families. I can remember as a teenager trying to find out from him details, I did not get very far. Mum, Aileen Malone did not say much either.” I wrote her back with a little more detail on her family and hopefully she will be able to get a copy of my book by Christmas.
Find out more about the Malone family of St. Kitts. or the family profile of Irene Cranstoun. .
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Irene
Evelina "Irenie" Cranstoun was the eldest daughter
of 
In
an interesting twist of fate, in December 2015 as I was putting
the final touches on my book when I was contacted by my second
cousin Margaret Haward, the granddaughter of Irene Evelina
“Irenie” Cranstoun and Walter Frederick Malone.
