RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Beeonthebay on Saturday 26 March 16 19:54 GMT (UK)
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Following on from another post of mine ;D have you found anybody famous in your family tree?
Me I have nobody except poor working class folk but I live in hope. ::)
Madonna? Michael Jackson? Adele? Princess Diana? The Duchess of Windsor? Winston Churchill? Horatio Nelson? Emmeline Pankhurst? John Lennon?
Anybody found anything?
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My father's second cousin was a very well known BBC commentator and broadcaster. My father always claimed they were related but I didn't believe him until I started FH and discovered that his grandmother was my father's grandmother's sister. I've since been in touch with his daughter and we've exchanged family photographs.
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John Constable RA ;D
His grandmother, Judith Garrad, is my 6th great-grandmother.
His paternal Aunt Ann Constable married my 5th great-grandfather, John Garrad. John was Judith's nephew.
And, of course, it must mean that I am related to Barbara Windsor?!
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My maternal gran was the 8th cousin to Ronnie and Reggie Kray.
Patsy Kensit's ancestor was the sister of my 7xgreat grandfather Samuel Sparkes.
I may be distantly related to Bernie Ecclestone, he has a Tiffin line from Halstead, and I have a Tiffin line from nearby Wethersfield, also it is not a very common name in Essex.
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My wife is Jeremy Bentham's second cousin, a few times removed. Another of her Bentham ancestors sailed in Cook's fleet as a purser.
My 3x great grandmother's brother, was William Youatt, the vet.
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I would be Charlie Chaplin's third cousin, three times removed... if it wasn't for a bit of intervening illegitimacy ::)
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My husband's great-great uncle was Major-General Charles Brand. At least he is well-documented! http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brand-charles-henry-5338
Unlike his Irish mother's family. ::)
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My 1st cousin 14 times removed, (alternatively the nephew of my 13 x g.grandfather) was Dean John Colet. There is loads of stuff about him on line including the people he was friends with, Erasmus, who received an annuity from John Colet and Sir Thomas More to name just two. He was Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral from 1502, then Dean of St Paul's Cathedral from 1505 and founded St Paul's School, London.
Interestingly, his father who was Mayor of London twice and his mother had 23 children and Dean John Colet was one of only two to survive to adulthood. If you believe in God, you could say he was saved to become Dean of St Paul's ::)
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Iris Murdoch.
It is likely a little known fact that her Grandparents Married in New Zealand.
My Grandmothers Sister Louisa Shaw married Wills John Hughes Murdoch 1888 in NZ (I have the M/C)
Iris's Father was born in NZ also;
Hugh Murdoch;
Birth 26 April 1890 • Thames, New Zealand
Trish :)
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I have a couple!
Ann (Dawn) Paulson, an Artist in Mansfield in Victorian times, and later in her career went to Australia. She had paintings exhibited in The Great Exhibition London, in Paris and in Melbourne. She was the niece of my paternal great grandmother. She was also a teacher of art when living in England, and some of her pupils when on to become well noted! When reading a book about her, I discovered that my great grandmother, the little woman on my avatar, had left home, and eloped to marry my great grandfather! Hence the signature line on the avatar - My Runaway Bride!
Bill & Boyd, - A popular 1960's duo in New Zealand, who later also went on to become successful in Australia. Friends from College days, their cover versions of hits of the Everly Brothers made them very popular. Then later composed their own, always topping the charts. Both their real names were William, one Bill Robertson and one Bill Cate. Bill Robertson used the name Boyd, obviously they couldn't be Bill and Bill! The name Boyd that he chose, was the ancestral name of our maternal great great grandmother - our ancestor in common, Elizabeth Boyd. We lived in the same area, and the families were all friends.
James Alexander Jamieson, Engineer of Canada, responsible for designing the Wheat Grain Elevators in Montreal, Canada, and other engineering feats. He was my paternal great aunt's Husband.
A few other marry'ins who have been quite prominent in the Anglican Church in Ireland and Australia - and just today found another, who is living in Wales.
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My great grandmother's first cousin was the New Zealand photographer Robert Dick Hutchins (otherwise known as Tom Hutchins). Mind you he was younger than her daughter because of the 22 year gap between their father's respective births. ;D
My 12x Great Grandmother was the aunt of Sir Edward Coke, the Law Chief Justice under James IV and I, who presided over, among others, the trials of Walter Raleigh and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. While his descendants went on to be aristocracy, my line ended up in the East End of London. ::) They weren't aristocracy in those days, minor gentry at most. ;D One of her sons actually left one of Sir Edward's sons some land around Holkham in Norfolk (rather than leaving it to his siblings) which may well make up part of the current estate of Holkham Hall. ::) Probably didn't help that her daughter, my ancestor, ended up with a shotgun wedding to the local butcher a few months before their son was born. My 12x Great Grandfather refused to name his son in law in his Will or for that matter his daughter's married name. I suspect it caused a bit of a scandal in local circles. ;D She did, though, get left a property to reside in for life under her brother's Will and some money under her father's.
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8th cousin is sometimes seem as "very well removed" but not necessarily. 30th cousin is but if you share ancestors from the late 1700s then that is quite recent compared to how long we have been around as humans. Nan was 8th cousin to the Kray Twins, they share 2 ancestors born in the 1750s.
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My grandmother was Margaret Waller who was related through many generations to Edmund Waller who in turn through many generations was related to Alured de Valer [Valer later became Waller] who came over from France for the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Edmund Waller was a member of Parliament at the age of 17 and was also a Poet Laureate. During the English Civil War [1642-1651] he betrayed his colleagues and his 'Wallers Plot', a plan to seize London for the King, was unmasked. Oliver Cromwell had him sent to the Tower of London but he was eventually released after he paid a fine of £10,000, several £millions in todays money. He was then banished to France for 7 years and then made his peace with Oliver Cromwell. He was restored to favour after the Reformation and eventually served two more terms as an MP in Parliament.
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I guess it is a rather remote connection (from the early 1600's), but I can claim kinship with Alfred Nobel, most famous for the invention of dynamite and for bequeathing his fortune for the Nobel Prize.
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I'm still trying to locate documentation to verify that I was first child in NZ to receive a Vitamin K Injection. I was haemorrhaging at birth, had blood transfusions from my Dad, but the drug was still under research at that time, and not yet passed for general use.
Vitamin K is now given to most, if not all new born babies in NZ.
My Mum told me that the Dr needed Parliamentary approval signature from an MP, and fortunately my grandparents were good friends with the local member. So apparently he got cracking and authorised it.
I just recently put this out on the NZ Board, and have a few references to work with now.
So I just might be a wee bit famous myself 🤔🤔🤔
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My daughter's 6th grt grandfather's obituary claims he was the second cousin of Thomas Carlyle. They share s surname and we're baptised in the same village but as yet I've been unable to prove or disprove a connection.
Another of her so many grt grandfather's is quoted in a book from the 1800s claiming to habe been the Plough boy who was with Rabbie Burns when he overturned the mouse nest that inspired To a Mouse. He was from the right area, was of the right age based on his later career could well have been a plough boy. I'm really confident he made the claims himself but will never know how true they were I have my doubts. However it gives insight to how well known Burns was known locally in the years immediately after his death.
My grt grandfather's first cousin ( my first cousin twice removed) managed McVitie's biscuits, was involved in establishing the National Library of Scotland and the McVitie's prize for literature. His Grt grt grandson is in Made in Chelsea :-[.
One of my 3x grt uncles was Lt Gov of Bengal.
I have other ancestors who are labourers, miners and die in slums or the Poor House.
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Indeed Pharma, as do a lot of us! They certainly have a claim, as each one of them in our individual families has it's moments of glory, and I am so proud of my miners and their very hardworking wives,
Lived on a pittance, worked in dangerous places, went hungry, had loads of children, lost loads of babies, and yet a lot more than a few survived it all, and some prospered.
I think that hard working ethics must also pass down through generations - but I guess also, that there are always one or two in every generation who would "go off the rails"! Our black sheep! I'm equally sure we have probably all found one of more of those!
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my claim to fame is that one of my laird ancestors born on th shetland islandscalled george the farmer, was third cousin to william of orange, but seeing this person being portrayed in sharp, I think I want to keep this quiet because silly billy ensured that the french won a battle by making sure all his soldiers were in the wrong place at the wrong time so they were slaughtered.
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On a lighter note, my mother was the Sunday School teacher of Darth Vader (Dave Prowse)
Steve
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On a lighter note, my mother was the Sunday School teacher of Darth Vader (Dave Prowse)
Steve
Following that, I taught George Michael's cousin. ;D.
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Bartholomew Smith, the well known Gypsy Evangalist married my First Cousin (4xremoved) Sarah Lee and one of their children was the well know evangalist Gypsy Simon Smith.
http://canadianbritishhomechildren.weebly.com/-gipsy-simon-smith.html
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On a lighter note, my mother was the Sunday School teacher of Darth Vader (Dave Prowse)
Steve
Poor Dave Prowse wasn't told that his voice had been dubbed over with that of James Earl Jones. He didn't find out until he watched the film.
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Darth Vader with a Bristol accent just wouldn't have worked ;D
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Can you not see Darth Vader saying "Alright my babber?" ;D ;D ;D
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My uncle married Dorothy Squires' sister Dorothy married Roger Moore so I'm related (by marriage) to James Bond.
Rishile
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Jane Asher (the actress and cake maker) is my 9th cousin once removed on my Guest side. She's a descendant of Josiah John Guest, who's my 5th cousin 5x removed. His family has been fun to research, not only because it's easy, as there are so many sources, but because he was ennobled, and, as in the British nobility's way, his descendants married into other noble families, including the Spencer-Churchills, that I've found some of them at Blenheim Palace ...
Sticking with Winstons ;), closer to home my 4th cousin 4x removed is Winston Grime aka Winston Graham, the author of the Poldark novels.
Naturally none of my direct line have done anything famous or noteworthy...
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I am not related to anyone truly famous, but I did have a 5x great uncle whom fought at the Battle of Trafalgar 1805 and my half uncle's wife is a descendant of Dinah Riddiford, the oldest woman to be hung in British history
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I just thought another one, my Dad had a really bad accident in the early1950's, and one leg was badly crushed from the knee down. Thanks to the talent of a young bone surgeon, he just missed out on having his leg amputated. This Surgeon performed bone grafts on his leg, and did an amazing job. It was a very long recovery, and he had a huge plaster with "Windows" in it, so the nurses could get in to check and dress the wound. He was in hospital for about 6 months before he was allowed home. It was pioneering stuff by this young man, and in later years was knighted for his research and his services as an orthopaedic surgeon!
Eventually after a few years of physio, Dad could walk again, had a built up shoe, and only a slight limp. But if anyone was walking beside him, they'd have to run to keep up.. He couldn't go fast enough - think he was trying to catch up the 2 or years he was more or less confined to his armchair!
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Not my direct line but…….
Sir George Lunn 1861 – 1939 (my 1st cousin x 4 removes) was 3 times Lord Mayor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father John Ramsay Lunn & my 3 x g g/father Frederick Lunn were brothers.
James Lunn 1859 – 1941 (my 1st cousin x 4 removes) was Sheriff of Newcastle-upon-Tyne & a Director of Newcastle Football Club. His father John Ramsay Lunn & my 3 x g g/father Frederick Lunn were brothers.
Sir George & James being brothers.
Annie
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My first cousin 4 times removed is the American hymn composer and preacher George Bennard. He is best known for composing the hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross".
and not really famous but he appears to have been in the papers a lot, My great granduncle David Wilson Smart Brown was the Chief Constable of Roxburgh Police and was awarded an MBE although I am yet to discover why.
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My first cousin 4 times removed is the American hymn composer and preacher George Bennard. He is best known for composing the hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross".
The song is what's famous in this case ;D
Beautiful hymn & I'm sure it is known even by the generation of today?
Annie
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I love that hymn.
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I sooo love that hymn! Always makes me cry, as it reminds me of my grandmother, who was always singing or humming hymns around the house, and I think The Old Rugged Cross must have been one of her favourites too!
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Likewise Jayb........a favourite of my late father's too.
Annie
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My first cousin twice removed Edwin William Barratt Vincent performed on stage as Edwin Beverley from the early 1900's till his death in 1940. Apparently he was quite successful.
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Jane Asher (the actress and cake maker) is my 9th cousin once removed on my Guest side. She's a descendant of Josiah John Guest, who's my 5th cousin 5x removed. His family has been fun to research, not only because it's easy, as there are so many sources, but because he was ennobled, and, as in the British nobility's way, his descendants married into other noble families, including the Spencer-Churchills, that I've found some of them at Blenheim Palace ...
Sticking with Winstons ;), closer to home my 4th cousin 4x removed is Winston Grime aka Winston Graham, the author of the Poldark novels.any relation to the guests who originally owned canfor school on magna road near where I livemnr wimborne and on the way to kinson nr bmth.
Naturally none of my direct line have done anything famous or noteworthy...
Likewise Jayb........a favourite of my late father's too.
Annie
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mine is an ancestor george the farmer laird, is the third cousin of william of orange, hes called silly billy in sharp?! perhaps he is also an ancetor of heath whose well known saying is I've been a silly billy and gone and spent it all, wheras william of orange klled of a lot of his own troops in his rush to get away from the battle. and they werre not allowed to call him a coward.!
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My great great grand aunt and her husband were immensely popular and successful in the music scene in Melbourne during the 1880's, known as Madame Carlotta Tasca and Alfred Plumpton.
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Reading these medical posts reminds me of two more.
Family lore had it that we were related to a doctor who was the king's physician. The truth was this. My 2x great grandmother's brother married a Mary Knight. Mary's sister Jane was the mother of Sir Frederick Treves, of the Elephant Man fame, who also did the emergency appendectomy on King Edward VII before his coronation. Not really an ancestor, but it is interesting to see how stories start.
The other family story is that one of our ancestors helped invent a common medicine we use today. The truth? A collateral ancestor was a chemist who worked for what became the Burroughs Wellcome Pharmaceutical Company. And what common medicine? Pseudoephedrine, commonly used in cold and flu tablets.
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My first cousin, 5 times removed was William Henry Crump - better known as Harry Champion, the performer who made famous the songs 'Any Old Iron' and 'I'm Henery the Eighth I am' amongst some other lesser known songs like 'A Little Bit of Cucumber'.
I know he's not famous but I would also like to put into the mix my 13x Great Grandfather, William Page, - who was murdered by his wife in 1590. Many people who research Shakespeare's plays believe that William Shakespeare based his play, 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' on his murder! :o
If he wasn't the base of the play - the story has been preserved in local folk-law which is still a little claim to fame. I have written up the story of his murder up here: http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hcx/ (http://www.rootschat.com/links/01hcx/)
Edit: Just to add Edward Samuel Shire, one of the inventors of the proximity fuse, is a distant cousin.
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I am still trying to establish the exact connection but Adam Sprackling in the story on this page http://oldramsgate.blogspot.co.uk/2006/05/ellington-park.html (scroll down about 1/3 of the page) is either the brother or cousin of my direct ancestor Robert Sprackling. It's strange to discover that one of my ancestors is a ghost and still haunts Ramsgate :o
Rishile
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I've only found one relative who's worthy of a Wikipedia entry - Archibald Howard Cullen, bishop of Grahamstown, South Africa. He was my great-grandmother's cousin.
I'm probably related to Brian Cant in some way (we share a surname), but I've not managed to prove it yet...
Probably also related to Barbara Windsor in some way - her WDYTYA episode took her back to Bures Hamlet in Essex where a lot of my ancestors are from. Again, haven't been able to prove it, but I like to think of her as "Cousin Babs" ;D
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Probably also related to Barbara Windsor in some way - her WDYTYA episode took her back to Bures Hamlet in Essex where a lot of my ancestors are from. Again, haven't been able to prove it, but I like to think of her as "Cousin Babs" ;D
My family also emanate from Bures St Mary!
The WDYTYA episode linked Barbara to John Constable - who is also in my tree (as I said at the beginning of this thread).
So, I must be related to her, somehow?
And, of course, my surname is commemorated in Bures St Mary in the "Garrad Room" - the extension to the Village Hall. ;D
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Probably also related to Barbara Windsor in some way - her WDYTYA episode took her back to Bures Hamlet in Essex where a lot of my ancestors are from. Again, haven't been able to prove it, but I like to think of her as "Cousin Babs" ;D
My family also emanate from Bures St Mary!
The WDYTYA episode linked Barbara to John Constable - who is also in my tree (as I said at the beginning of this thread).
So, I must be related to her, somehow?
And, of course, my surname is commemorated in Bures St Mary in the "Garrad Room" - the extension to the Village Hall. ;D
Oooh, you could be a "cousin" too!
My ancestors from that area are Godden, Bell, Woolman, Good, Butcher and Ward. I've not found evidence of any of those surnames marrying a Deeks (Barbara's ancestor), or a Garrad. But there's a good chance our three families are intertwined...
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Deeks is a very very common name in Suffolk, we have three separate families, so far unconnected, in the west of the county. The closest to Bures being in Glemsford but whether there is any connection to any of the Bures Deeks I don't know since we've not followed them that far forward, stuck in the 1700s. Picked up the Deeks line tracing direct ancestors backwards, just not come far enough forward yet on sidelines as there are so many in the surrounding parishes. ;D
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Barbara Windsor (ms Deeks) 3rd Great Grandfather was Golding Deeks, b 1806 in Bures.
His parents were William Deeks and Elizabeth Golding, who marries at Bures St Mary on 21st August 1798.
I have 4 people in my tree with a forename of Golding!
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I have 4 people in my tree with a forename of Golding!
Using maiden surnames as first or middle names on subsequent generations is also a common theme in Suffolk and parts of Essex from my experience. I've quite a number of examples.
Going back to the Deeks of Glemsford, most of our research stops in the early 1700s. Waiting for the PRs to eventually end up online to try and pull them further forward. Too many of them about unfortunately so difficult without access to all PRs for the surrounding area. Chances are they aren't related to the Deeks of Bures, have also come across Deeks in parts of north Essex. As I said, its rather a common name in Suffolk. ;D
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As I am related to the Kray Twins, some people joke they should not mess with me lol. Dont worry, I am not a violent street fighter and gangster. I still feel good to be related to the 2 East End gangsters, as I always showed an interest in them, then years later I found we share some DNA. There is no Jewish or Irish ancestors in the Kray twins tree, just Huguenot which is where I share my Huguenot ancestry with, which may explain their dark hair. I think of them as cousin Reggie and Ronnie, or Roggie, a couple combo for the duo.
I have a Golding line in my tree, I think in north Essex. I need to recheck my tree to see what line, easy how you can sometimes forget what research you have done.
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I have 4 people in my tree with a forename of Golding!
Using maiden surnames as first or middle names on subsequent generations is also a common theme in Suffolk and parts of Essex from my experience. I've quite a number of examples.
Going back to the Deeks of Glemsford, most of our research stops in the early 1700s. Waiting for the PRs to eventually end up online to try and pull them further forward. Too many of them about unfortunately so difficult without access to all PRs for the surrounding area. Chances are they aren't related to the Deeks of Bures, have also come across Deeks in parts of north Essex. As I said, its rather a common name in Suffolk. ;D
and scotland nd ireland
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I have 4 people in my tree with a forename of Golding!
Using maiden surnames as first or middle names on subsequent generations is also a common theme in Suffolk and parts of Essex from my experience. I've quite a number of examples.
Going back to the Deeks of Glemsford, most of our research stops in the early 1700s. Waiting for the PRs to eventually end up online to try and pull them further forward. Too many of them about unfortunately so difficult without access to all PRs for the surrounding area. Chances are they aren't related to the Deeks of Bures, have also come across Deeks in parts of north Essex. As I said, its rather a common name in Suffolk. ;D
And Cheshire too.
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As I am related to the Kray Twins, some people joke they should not mess with me lol. Dont worry, I am not a violent street fighter and gangster. I still feel good to be related to the 2 East End gangsters, as I always showed an interest in them, then years later I found we share some DNA. There is no Jewish or Irish ancestors in the Kray twins tree, just Huguenot which is where I share my Huguenot ancestry with, which may explain their dark hair. I think of them as cousin Reggie and Ronnie, or Roggie, a couple combo for the duo.
I have a Golding line in my tree, I think in north Essex. I need to recheck my tree to see what line, easy how you can sometimes forget what research you have done.
Do you know the origin of the Kray surname? It doesn't sound very "British" - is the Huguenot ancestry on their dad's or mum's line?
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[quote author=Beeonthebay link=topic=744847.msg5922936#msg5922936 date=1459363790
Do you know the origin of the Kray surname? It doesn't sound very "British" - is the Huguenot ancestry on their dad's or mum's line?
[/quote]
Online but not much nor a true answer...
https://timedetectives.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/the-family-history-of-the-kray-twins-part-1-origins-of-the-name/
Annie
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Do you know the origin of the Kray surname? It doesn't sound very "British" - is the Huguenot ancestry on their dad's or mum's line?
I'll stand corrected, but doesn't really sound very French either. It could well just be a corrupted spelling of another surname.
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Using maiden surnames as first or middle names on subsequent generations is also a common theme in Suffolk and parts of Essex from my experience. I've quite a number of examples.
And Cheshire too.
Ah well my direct ancestors, apart from one line from Gateshead and Scotland (and the Scots line didn't follow the trend of using surnames for first names), don't come from so far north. ;D They just populate virtually all central and southern England counties. One of the joys of having four grandparents all born in London. ;)
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I am related to the Krays through their mother. Violet Lee, mother Mary Ann Houghton, who was the daughter of Thomas Pitt Houghton, Thomas' mother was Mary Diggins, and her mother was Mary Obey, sister of my ancestor John, who were Huguenots. I think the Kray line can be traced in London at least back to the late 1700s.
I have found surnames used as first names in my Suffolk ancestry. Also mothers maiden surnames used as middle names of children. In Foulness my ancestor John Webb wed a Mary Newman Smith in 1780.
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My grand-dad had the middle name of Elson which had been passed down through about 4 or 5 generations and turns out to be the maiden surname of one of his ancestors. I don't know why he didn't use it on any of his 4 sons though.....
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My grand-dad had the middle name of Elson which had been passed down through about 4 or 5 generations and turns out to be the maiden surname of one of his ancestors. I don't know why he didn't use it on any of his 4 sons though.....
Don't you? I remember a kid I knew from primary school and Sea Scouts who was always known as "Elson" for no real reason. He was quite happy with this until it was pointed out to him that it was the brand name of a contemporary (1950's and 60's) portable chemical toilet. ;D ;D ;D
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It's long been mentioned in my family that we are related to Grace Darling ( lighthouse keepers daughter, famed in early 1800's for rescuing many from a stricken ship near to Lonstone lighthouse). I haven't been going long enough with my family research to uncover the connection if there is one at all.
I was very impressed to see that my 2nd Great Uncle went on to become Mayor of Durham, elected to the post twice. His son, my 1st cousin twice removed was also elected Mayor of Durham. I was pretty impressed with this coming from a long line of agricultural labourers and miners.
Shame my descendants won't make such interesting discoveries about me ;D
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My grand-dad had the middle name of Elson which had been passed down through about 4 or 5 generations and turns out to be the maiden surname of one of his ancestors. I don't know why he didn't use it on any of his 4 sons though.....
Don't you? I remember a kid I knew from primary school and Sea Scouts who was always known as "Elson" for no real reason. He was quite happy with this until it was pointed out to him that it was the brand name of a contemporary (1950's and 60's) portable chemical toilet. ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D
Yes that could be it, 1920's for his kids....
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It's long been mentioned in my family that we are related to Grace Darling ( lighthouse keepers daughter, famed in early 1800's for rescuing many from a stricken ship near to Lonstone lighthouse). I haven't been going long enough with my family research to uncover the connection if there is one at all.
That's strange. I was always told that my family was also related to Grace Darling. Like you, I've found no connection yet.
(She is one of two famous figures from history that I was supposedly related to. The other turned out to be nonsense, so I'm not holding out much hope for Grace.)
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I have a Northumberland Hall connection like you , on my paternal side and my grandfathers middle name was Hall after his grandmothers maiden name, so maybe that's where the Darling link is.
However it was always my mother who mentioned the Grace darling connection and my father doesn't really know much about his family so I suspect if anything it must be along my maternal side.
I'm going to have to have another rummage around the ancestors in that area again.
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My grand-dad had the middle name of Elson which had been passed down through about 4 or 5 generations and turns out to be the maiden surname of one of his ancestors. I don't know why he didn't use it on any of his 4 sons though.....
Don't you? I remember a kid I knew from primary school and Sea Scouts who was always known as "Elson" for no real reason. He was quite happy with this until it was pointed out to him that it was the brand name of a contemporary (1950's and 60's) portable chemical toilet. ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D
Elsan with an 'a' - Oh Lordy I remember them well. Commonly known as 'bucket lavs' goodness only knows where dad used to empty the thing.
And...Elsan still make them today for caravans etc.
I don't have any claims to fame that I know of. Although my husbands cousin was at a party where she danced with and was asked out on a date by one of the Kray twins. I believe she politely declined his offer.
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I may be related to Bernie Ecclestone. He has a Tiffin line from Halstead in Essex. I have a Sarah Tiffin in my tree who married in nearby Wethersfield to Andrew Page in 1759.
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My grand-dad had the middle name of Elson which had been passed down through about 4 or 5 generations and turns out to be the maiden surname of one of his ancestors. I don't know why he didn't use it on any of his 4 sons though.....
Don't you? I remember a kid I knew from primary school and Sea Scouts who was always known as "Elson" for no real reason. He was quite happy with this until it was pointed out to him that it was the brand name of a contemporary (1950's and 60's) portable chemical toilet. ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D
Elsan with an 'a' - Oh Lordy I remember them well. Commonly known as 'bucket lavs' goodness only knows where dad used to empty the thing.
And...Elsan still make them today for caravans etc.
I don't have any claims to fame that I know of. Although my husbands cousin was at a party where she danced with and was asked out on a date by one of the Kray twins. I believe she politely declined his offer.
And she lived to tell the tale!! :o
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My grand-dad had the middle name of Elson which had been passed down through about 4 or 5 generations and turns out to be the maiden surname of one of his ancestors. I don't know why he didn't use it on any of his 4 sons though.....
Don't you? I remember a kid I knew from primary school and Sea Scouts who was always known as "Elson" for no real reason. He was quite happy with this until it was pointed out to him that it was the brand name of a contemporary (1950's and 60's) portable chemical toilet. ;D ;D ;D
;D ;D ;D
Elsan with an 'a' - Oh Lordy I remember them well. Commonly known as 'bucket lavs' goodness only knows where dad used to empty the thing.
And...Elsan still make them today for caravans etc.
I don't have any claims to fame that I know of. Although my husbands cousin was at a party where she danced with and was asked out on a date by one of the Kray twins. I believe she politely declined his offer.
And she lived to tell the tale!! :o
Yes she did ;D Married soon after and moved out to Romford. ;D
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I used to work with a man who grew up in their neck of the woods, in their heyday. He told me that as violent thugs as they were, they also looked after the local people. Come Christmas, they used to go round to the single parent families, or those out of work, and give food and presents for the children. Probably why no-one would snitch on them.
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Being a distant cousin of Patsy Kensit, I am related to her through her dad James, an associate of the Kray twins, so a distant cousin an associate of 2 twin distant cousins.
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These people aren't really famous but my great-great-great grandparents had a coach building business which at the turn of the century modernised into a bicycle repair and motor vehicle business. They were the first in the district to sell the Model T Ford.
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Nobody famous yet - but would love to know John Craven's lineage (Cravens from Yorkshire in my line) and Robson Green's (Robsons also in my line, attached to Cravens, from Northumberland). I know people will question RG, but I understand his family take the maiden name from the mother for the first born son's Christian name. You never know! Maybe one of them will appear on WDYTYA sometime soon!
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Robson Green was named after his father also named Robson Green, he was a miner. His mother Anne a cleaner and a shopkeeper. He was named in the Northeast tradition of naming first son after family surnames: Robson was his paternal grandmother's maiden surname, while his middle name Golightly is the surname of his maternal grandmother, Cissie Golightly, daughter of William Golightly, a miner and famous trade union leader in the 1920s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robson_Green
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Samuel Cousins - Metzotint engraver 1801-1887 was my 4th great uncle.
Does he count?
Spark
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Half Second Cousin 8 times removed - 18th/early 19th century Painter William Redmore Bigg, an acquaintence of John Constable. His maternal grandfather was my 8xGreat Grandmother's half brother.
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davidft: Yes, sorry, you are right...I never read my post before I pressed 'Post'!! My family follow the other northern/Scottish standard: first born son after the paternal grandfather (Christian name) and first born daughter after the maternal grandmother's Christian name. Except it all came unstuck when one of the first-born sons never married and had children!
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Gertie Gitana born Gertrude Mary Astbury in 1887 is part of my tree - reputedly as famous as Robbie Williams in her day!!
I managed to find a biography which put some "flesh on the bones" - it was good to see that her wider family benefitted from her fame and fortune although my line was a bit more distant.
Jean
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I may be related to the Kray twins again through another line, not just their maternal gran Mary. Their maternal grandad was Jimmy Cannonball Lee, Mary's husband, whose mother was Ellen Sarah Collins, her father Charles William Collins born 1823 came from Surrey, and Charles' dad Charles was born in 1787 to William Collins and Elizabeth Boniface in Guildford. Elizabeth Collins left a will in 1801 mentioning her relative John Boniface of Sussex and her sons Charles, Cicely and Harriet Collins. Charles William had a sister Cicely Collins in 1824. The name Boniface springs to mind as I have a Mary Ann Boniface born 1821 in Sussex. Need to do more digging on this.
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Nobody mess with Coombs right? :o :o :o
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I suppose I should not be too thrilled to be distantly related to 2 vicious East End gangsters who were ruthless lol. :o
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I started this genealogy thing because of a family story told to my mum that she was a descendant of George Marsh, burned at the stake under Queen Mary, and who became St. George the Martyr. Good story, but no evidence to support it other than being in the right parish a couple of hundred years later.
I do have a distant cousin who moved from Lancashire to Co. Durham, and whose sister married miners' leader Peter Lee, who had a town named after him.
Another cousin joined the circus and had an act riding horses. His unusual surname was used to pretend that he had foreign birth, whereas he was born in Sheffield and brought up in Manchester.
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My husband is a cousin to the Roosevelts of US Presidential fame and descended from John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, who came over on the Mayflower.
Meanwhile, I have found no one on my tree more famous than some local politicians and a basically unknown actor who was convicted of a sexual assault.
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I just spoke to a elderly neighbour today who told me he was a cousin to the mother of the late American actress Diana Hyland who was the first wife of John Travolta. :o
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I think it is false that all people with the surname Stewart descend from the Clan Stewart but if all people with a Stewart line or with the surname are distantly related then that would make those of us related to Rod Stewart etc.
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It has to be remembered that Scottish Clan names were originally applied to Kith (supporters, adherents, gang members, depending on how you look at it :o ) as well as Kin (the family of the Clan chief).
alanmack (Sassenach ;) )
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My great Grandma was a serial killer and the last woman to be sentenced to death in Durham, if she hadn't have got a reprieve she would have been hanged after Ruth Ellis
:0
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It has to be remembered that Scottish Clan names were originally applied to Kith (supporters, adherents, gang members, depending on how you look at it :o ) as well as Kin (the family of the Clan chief).
alanmack (Sassenach ;) )
also names such as smith, were known to be attached to several septs. as each sept had threir own set of smiths whose job it was to make arms for their clan chief and followers , make things out of gold silver puter etc.
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My grandmother gave me a list of names of 'celebrities' to be found in our tree. Gypsy Rose Lee, W G Grace, a Bishop of Southwark who arrived with William I, Captain Oates and finally Abraham Lincoln!!
I discovered my great uncle was a relatively successful boxer in Surrey. He began his career boxing at the boxing booths held regularly on Thornton Heath in Surrey. These were run by Gypsys which is the only 'connection' to the infamous exotic dancer that I have found so far. A gt gt grandfather was a gardener at Crystal Palace and possibly a groundsman when W G Grace was Chairman, Secretary AND Captain of the cricket team there. I have not found any connection to the Bishop or Captain Oates, however, I did recently discover my gt gt grandmother's maiden name was Lincoln and she was born in Norfolk. I suspect the surname is the only connection to the US President.
It has been so much fun disproving any genealogical links to these celebrities though and I have definately learned to go with my instincts when researching.
:)
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I have a few tenuous links to well known people, but my favourite is a second cousin 5 times removed, or is it a fifth cousin twice removed? No matter. Her name was Agnes Spencer Whitfield and she married Thomas Spencer, founder of M&S, and became Agnes Spencer Spencer. :)
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My great Grandma was a serial killer and the last woman to be sentenced to death in Durham, if she hadn't have got a reprieve she would have been hanged after Ruth Ellis
:0
Wow! that is very interesting xx
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"On a lighter note, my mother was the Sunday School teacher of Darth Vader (Dave Prowse)"
I have a cousin once removed who was [probably] Ronald Reagan's high school math teacher - at least she taught math in his small town high school during his years there. But it would be unfair to hold her responsible for his ghastly, mathematically unsound "voodoo economics."
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A gt gt grandfather was a gardener at Crystal Palace and possibly a groundsman when W G Grace was Chairman, Secretary AND Captain of the cricket team there.
If it helps, W G Grace was a member of the London County Cricket Club from 1899 until that club folded in 1908.
London County played at Crystal Palace Park.
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I have found a new Deeks line, from Stanstead, Suffolk, and Barbara Windsor has Deeks from Bures, a few miles away but it seems her Deeks line cannot be traced in Bures before 1726. I may try and find out msyelf to clarify but someone has them coming from Glemsford, next to Stanstead. Mine was Susannah Deeks born c1708.
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My 6x Gt Aunt Sarah Luce married a Scotsman called William Traill.
His uncle Robert Traill married an American woman called Mary Whipple.
Her brother was General William Whipple who signed the Declaration of Independence .
A small link , but it all adds colour :)
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My husband's 3xgreat grandfather was Major Robert Renny/ie after whom Mount Rennie was apparently named. His wife was Caroline Franklin Stuart, sister of John McDouall Stuart the explorer, and after whom the town of Stuart in Australia was named (now Alice Springs).
(Incidentally, I also have ancestors who lived in Bures St Mary - Edward Kemp (1798-1867) was my 4xgreat grandfather.)
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My father lived in same house as John Lennon 1938-39
John was 8 living with his aunt Mimi Smith
My dad was a lodger there when studying for 2 years
I bet he influenced John's music taste as he liked folky protest songs and played harmonica
But he didn't know that little John became famous .probably never heard his surname
Researchers for a book found lists of all the students who.d lodged there !
There is now a ledger in Mendips house where they lived with the students names though my father's surname is spelt wrong
Thought you.d like that as you mentioned John Lennon in your post to begin .
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My father lived in same house as John Lennon 1938-39
John was 8 living with his aunt Mimi Smith
My dad was a lodger there when studying for 2 years
I bet he influenced John's music taste as he liked folky protest songs and played harmonica
But he didn't know that little John became famous .probably never heard his surname
Researchers for a book found lists of all the students who.d lodged there !
There is now a ledger in Mendips house where they lived with the students names though my father's surname is spelt wrong
Thought you.d like that as you mentioned John Lennon in your post to begin .
Now that *is* a good one :D
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Thanks I see John Lennon's music in a whole new light now and read biographies about him .
Book researchers traced all the student lodgers but my father had already passed away his second wife did give my mother's contact details as those were the years my parents courted 1948-9
But no one contacted my mum for more anecdote
She doesn't remember him mentioning the nephew but Mimi Smith his aunt was quite a character !
My father came from a working class background and was a bit overwhelmed by some of his fellow uni students .it was great to be able to visit the house he lived in with its 60's deco restored .got a sense of his life as well as Lennon s upbringing
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My husband's 3xgreat grandfather was Major Robert Renny/ie after whom Mount Rennie was apparently named. His wife was Caroline Franklin Stuart, sister of John McDouall Stuart the explorer, and after whom the town of Stuart in Australia was named (now Alice Springs).
(Incidentally, I also have ancestors who lived in Bures St Mary - Edward Kemp (1798-1867) was my 4xgreat grandfather.)
Wow! That is impressive. I have always liked how Stuart set out with little fanfare, and came back from his explorations. Compare that to the hoo-ha of Burke and Wills. And we know how that ended. ;)
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I have several :)
First a vague one. My 3rd great-grandmother was a Copley. The Copley family was rather important in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. They married into lots of noble families and families of estate owners. The eldest known member of the Copley family came to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror.
Then there is my 4th great-grandmother. She was Mary Ann Gibson. Her brother, Stuart Gibson, had two sons (well, he had more, but only two matter here). The first was William Gibson. He was in the navy and fought in the battle of Zhenjiang in 1842. After some years catching pirates in Borneo, he volunteered to participate in the ill-fated North Pole expedition of John Franklin. He never returned...
In a letter to his daughter who remained in england, Stuart Gibson wrote about his youngest son Alfred that he didn't know what to do with him and that Alf was too lazy and weak to find a decent job. Probably to proove himself to his dad, he enlisted in an expedition with Ernest Giles to cross the Western Australian desert. He never returned, and the part of the desert where he was lost is now called "Gibson desert".
Must have been hard for Stuart, having two sons disappear on opposite sides of the world...
Lastly there is the uncle of my 4th great-aunt (who was at the same time brother-in-law to the sister of the aforementioned Mary Ann Gibson), Andrew Pattison Carlisle.
He served as a Lieutenant in the 54th Regiment of Foot during the Battle of Waterloo. If I read the history of that regiment correctly, they were stationed in a town at about 15km from Waterloo. When they arrived at the site, the battle was over.
He later became Captain at the 91st regiment of Foot, the Argyll Highlanders.
His death is quite awfull too. Suffering from rheumatism, he commited suicide in 1834. According to the news paper he had slit his own throat with a razor blade, and when he didn't die fast enough, he severed his artery with a pen. Several people in the medical domain have confirmed that this is highly unlikely. His son was found outside with a bottle of liquor. He claimed to be on his way to his father, but chances are that he was actually just leaving the house after murdering him...
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Aw...that's really sad Tom! I'm sure I've heard of the Gibson Desert!
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The 2nd husband of 1st cousin 8x removed was Joseph Peyton, Captain RN in HMS Defence, and in the Battle of the Nile, August 1798 ... so sailed in battle with Nelson.
Her first husband John Williams, an ordinary wealthy bloke from Exeter, got divorced from her, Elizabeth Melhuish my 1st cousin 8x removed, through the House of Lords ... Williams's Divorce Bill ... February 1783, Mrs Williams accused of adultery with Captain Peyton in Exeter ... and of course she was much vilified in the press in the days and months after. :-[ :'( much airing of dirty linen by the servants was done, in the House of Lords, to achieve the desired outcome.
The marriage record in the parish register (1774 Withycombe Raleigh, Devon) is noted "divorced" on the left in another hand.
And Elizabeth and Joseph married promptly a few months later and lived ?happily? ever after at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, now a National Trust house and Kew's garden in Sussex. 8) :D
Salute,
Janelle
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Desert
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The 2nd husband of 1st cousin 8x removed was Joseph Peyton, Captain RN in HMS Defence, and in the Battle of the Nile, August 1798 ... so sailed in battle with Nelson.
Her first husband John Williams, an ordinary wealthy bloke from Exeter, got divorced from her, Elizabeth Melhuish my 1st cousin 8x removed, through the House of Lords ... Williams's Divorce Bill ... February 1783, Mrs Williams accused of adultery with Captain Peyton in Exeter ... and of course she was much vilified in the press in the days and months after. :-[ :'( much airing of dirty linen by the servants was done, in the House of Lords, to achieve the desired outcome.
The marriage record in the parish register (1774 Withycombe Raleigh, Devon) is noted "divorced" on the left in another hand.
And Elizabeth and Joseph married promptly a few months later and lived ?happily? ever after at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, now a National Trust house and Kew's garden in Sussex. 8) :D
Salute,
Janelle
A happy ending we hope :)
I've read some divorce papers recently and boy do they make interesting reading!! The maid saw this and that and tells the master and it's always the adulterous woman of course and the husband seems to keep the children, well they do on those I've read so far.
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I've read some divorce papers recently and boy do they make interesting reading!! The maid saw this and that and tells the master and it's always the adulterous woman of course and the husband seems to keep the children, well they do on those I've read so far.
Until The Matrimonial Clauses Act (1937) a woman could not use adultery as a grounds for divorce (in England/Wales)!
Women required additional offences to adultery such as cruelty, incest or sodomy.
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It was certainly a man's world, wasn't it?
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It was certainly a man's world, wasn't it?
Still is to a greater extent
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I'll say ;D
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MrQ is a big Manchester United fan, and told me that Jesse Lingard, one of their players, is from Warrington, where I was born. I have one of my distant relatives, surname North, marrying a Lingard, and wondered if there was a connection. Guess what? On Jesse's Mum's birth record, her mother's maiden name is given as North! Not verified this yet, but if correct, my Great grandad is Jesse's GG grandad!
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MrQ is a big Manchester United fan, and told me that Jesse Lingard, one of their players, is from Warrington, where I was born. I have one of my distant relatives, surname North, marrying a Lingard, and wondered if there was a connection. Guess what? On Jesse's Mum's birth record, her mother's maiden name is given as North! Not verified this yet, but if correct, my Great grandad is Jesse's GG grandad!
I'll bet Mr Q is happy about that.
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MrQ is well impressed! ;D ;D ;D
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Sir James Barrie, author of Peter Pan.
Not blood related, but he was godfather to a relative of mine that they named after him in 1905. Long before he was famous.
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My G-G-Grandparents Peter Richardson and Elizabeth Owen were married in 1841 at Daresbury Parish Church in Cheshire. When I received a copy of their marriage certificate I immediately noticed that the service was conducted by perpetual curate Charles Dodgson. Now as many of you will know, Charles Dodgson was the real name of Lewis Carroll who wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other books and poems. A little research soon showed that it was in fact his father, also Charles Dodgson, who was the local vicar and so my G-G-Grandparents were married by Lewis Carroll's father!
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That's a great claim to fame Latchfordian :)