James Ramsay Macdonald and William Channing Heron

[forsyth12]

I wonder if anyone could help me solve a difficult one.  Any suggestions on how to deal with it would be appreciated.
 
My great Uncle was William Channing Heron born in Sydney 1866, son of William Heron born Antrim Ireland and Dora Murphy born Roscommon Ireland.
 
He married Caroline May Gladstone in Kande Ceylon, I don't have the date of the marriage or any other information about his bride.
 
Caroline was known as May.  The family and Mum still to this day say thay she was the sister of James Ramsay Macdonald who was a prime minister of England.  I have a photo from back in the approx 1940's of May and in Mum's writing on the back of the photo it is stated that she is the sister of Ramsay Macdonald.
 
Just to add to it, and makes one think that there could be something in it.  I have a photo of William who was known as Channing on the steps of 'Checkers' the country residence of the Prime Minister in England, with Ramsay Macdonald and a couple of other people in 1935, and a letter written by him about his visit there in 1933 and all the beautiful furniture and treasures.  Also a letter written and signed by Ramsay Macdonald in 1933 to Channing in Sydney.   Channing was a retired banker not a politician, so unlikely he would be visiting the prime minister of England at his country retreat unless their was a personal relationship.
 
I have tried tracking May to see if she died in Sydney so I could get a death certificate, but no luck and haven't had any luck on Ancestry.com to find her being born or died in England.
 
Also have tried to see what I could find out about James Ramsay Macdonald.    I found that he was born to an unmarried house maid.  Haven't tracked any other family.I found someone on GenesReunited who had a match but he said he had never head of May, at that time I did not know her maiden name.  I've written to him again but no reply from him.
 
So any suggestions on where to go to from here?

[Lady Di]

Hi Forsyth12,

Welcome to RootsChat.

Have you seen this link:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:n1Kpg_cGlRYJ:www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRmacdonald.htm+%22ramsay+macdonald%22&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=2

It has interesting info about Ramsay Macdonald (which you may have already known).

The interesting item was that he married Margaret GLADSTONE. She was the daughter of John Hall Gladstone. Is it possible that May was Margaret's sister?

Margaret and Ramsay were married in 1897, which means she was born c. 1875. Check the 1881/1891 census for the brothers/sisters of Margaret.

Good Luck

Di

[Lady Di]

Hi,

Ohhh this is a very interesting family. You are now dealing with the "top brass" in UK 

OK - you have a winner!!!

Caroline May Gladstone was the daughter of John Hall Gladstone. He had at least 4 daughters. Another one was Margaret Ethel Gladstone who married James Ramsay Macdonald (the PM!!)

Caroline May was born in Kensington Dec qtr 1863 (ref 1a - 90)
Margaret Ethel was almost 10 years younger than Caroline.

John Hall Gladstone was a Scientific Chemist and a lot of info has been written about him.
He was the son of John Gladstone and Alison Hall. He was born 7 March 1827 in London. He married twice. First marriage to Jane May TILT (M: 1852 in Bath)
Second Marriage to Margaret King (M: July 1869 Edinburgh)

As Caroline was born in 1863, it is assumed that Jane May Tilt was her mother (particularly with a second name of MAY)


I haven't followed her any further than the 1881 census when they were all living in Pembridge Square Kensington (with Butlers/servants etc)

I hope all this has been a help.

If anyone else can add to this I'm sure Forsyth12 would be grateful - particularly seeing this is a "first post"

Happy hunting and good luck with your research

Di

[forsyth12]

Thank you Lady Di you are wonderful.  I really appreciate your help. 
If anyone else has any other information it would also be much appreciated.

[Jackie6]

I am related to Dora Murphy, mother of William Channing Heron.  Her parents were James and Margaret Murphy from Roscommon.  Would you have any further information on the Murphy family. James was a widow when he immigrated to Australia in 1853 with his children Sarah 17, Clara 15, Margaret 12, Andrew 10 and Dorah 8.

[sarah]

Hi Jackie,

Welcome to RootsChat

Forsyth is having problems with their emails right now but have managed to send the a message regarding your reply. Hope to see them soon.

Regards

Sarah

[forsyth12]

Hi Jackie,

Welcome to RootsChat

Forsyth is having problems with their emails right now but have managed to send the a message regarding your reply. Hope to see them soon.

Regards

Sarah

Thank you Sarah for your detective work in finding me!  I have made contact with Jackie
Kind regards
Susan