Clara Hallet, Bermuda genealogist, gives her middle name as "Christiana." Newfoundland Historical Society notes give middle name as "Christine." "Christianna" from St. John's (Newfoundland) Patriot, 11/3/1835, pg. 3.
The following is an excerpt from a letter by family researcher Henry M. West Winter to Bermudian genealogist William Zuill dated March 23, 1936. The full text can be read at the profile of John Dunscombe (1777-1847). This section relates to Sarah:
"The sixth child was named Sarah Christianna, born at St. John's, December 12, 1814, died at Dawlish, co. Devonshire, January 9, 1883. She married the Venerable Thomas Finch Hobday Bridge, Archdeacon of Labrador and Newfoundland, by whom she had nine children, of whom the second, Admiral Sir Cyprian Arthur George Bridge, K.C.B., was director of Naval Intelligence of the Admiralty, President of the North Sea Russian Outrage Commission, and a member of the Mesopotamia Commission, a Knight of St. Danilo of Montenegro, Knight Grand Cross of the Bath, Knight Grand Cross of the Rising Sun of Japan. His brother was Major-General Thomas Field Dunscomb Bridge, who was aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Their youngest brother, was General Sir Charles Henry Bridge. "
Notes from the book "Some recollections" by Cyprian Bridge: "...and my aunt Caroline, Mrs Crowdy, wife of Mr James Crowdy, sometime administrator or Acting Governor of Newfoundland. Like my mother, both Mrs Vallance and Mrs Crowdy were beautiful women. I last saw the later at Southsea, some years after I entered the Navy, when she was in delicate health, not long before her death. Even then, her beauty was striking. Besides being at school in Paris, my mother was also at school in Clifton, in a house still standing. In her schooldays it was in a pleasant residential neighborhood. The Lawrence family lived in the same row of houses, and there the celebrated Sir Henry Lawrence and his brother, Lord Lawrence, were born. A miniature of my mother which we have shows how great was her share of good looks. These were the least of her merits. There never could have been a more perfect parent. She was left a widow, with only a moderate income, and a young and very large family - nine children, of whom seven were dependent on her. The position and welfare of those still living, as well as of those whom we have lost, bear convincing testimony to the admirable manner in which she brought up her children.
It is my sincere belief that she was one of the most accomplished women of her day. She had an exceedingly sweet and engaging manner, which was especially attractive to children. She had very unusual powers of conversation, and was as good a listener as a talker. She had a marked talent for drawing, and some of her water-colours of human figures were admirable. She was quite up to the average as a performer on the piano; and I remember her voluntarily giving some lessons on the harp to a young friend of hers who had been presented with one. She spoke French fluently.
She had complete mastery of all branches of domestic economy; could tell cooks how to do their work; could prescribe for and treat children's ailments; and could also direct their games and amusements. In my early days, many things, now bought in shops, were produced at home - jams, jellies, sauces, butter, cream-cheeses, and bottled fruits. My mother was a skilled superintendent of the manufacture of all such articles. Her hands were rarely idle, as they usually plied sewing, crochet, or knitting needles.
It is difficult, even now, to understand how she found time to read; for she was a great reader. I remember being allowed to look at the illustrations of an English translation of Theirs' "History of the French Revolution" which she was reading. I can also remember the name of Macaulay's "History of England," which was being read by my father and mother as a new book. Fiction was by no means excluded, and I think that I can see now the paper covers and the drawings in the successive monthly parts of Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" and Dickens' "Dombey & Son." I believe that I inherited from both my parents my strong liking for reading.
My mother, who was for some time at school in Paris, which she left in June 1830, only a few days before the "Revolution of Three Days," was twice visited by the celebrated Lafayette, then an old man. She told me that after the revolution just mentioned, she frequently met refugee French nobles at her father's house in England. As I am recording some of her recollections, I may mention that she remembered having been taken to see Charles X. at dinner, it having been an old custom of the kings of France to dine occasionally in public.
During the latter years of my mother's life, she suffered much from rheumatism and visited many spas to undergo the "cure." She lived long enough to see me reach the rank of captain in the Navy." (pages 19-24).
Note the phoenix with two towers emblem motif on her memorial plaque matches that on the grave marker for Ann Mary (Seon) Dunscombe (1812-1851) and that on a seal in my possession (EAD)