Famous ancestors

[Sue from Southend]

I'm doing my daughter in law's tree and have just added the Bronte sisters! Her 4x gt grandmother Charlotte Branwell was their aunt and I think it quite likely that Charlotte Bronte was named after her.

I have lots of famous names in my tree but sadly they're not the people that are famous:d but it has got me wondering how many of us are distantly related to someone of repute?

[Phoenix]

Mine are largely village Hampdens, guiltless of their country's blood.
Sorting through a mountain of paper cuttings, there are so many obituaries of people who meant something to my deceased friend, while I have heard of very few.
With a few exceptions, my ancestors were artisans and ag labs, only getting into the papers for misdemeanours. I have to go back to the Tudor period to find anyone remotely famous: would you count Sir Walter Raleigh's Aunty Joan?:)

[JBee]

No-one even remotely famous in any of my trees.

[Sue from Southend]

I have a Henry Moore who was a shoemaker, not a sculptor. A Diana Spencer who definitely wasn't the Princess of Wales 200 years ago. And whilst not famous in real life I have an Elizabeth Bennett and a Wickham who is sadly not George but William. I'm still waiting for Darcy....!

[Phoenix]

Okay, so I have a William Brown who was never introduced to a school cap.:d

[Mary from Italy]

Related by marriage to one of Shakespeare's daughters, and on another line related to George Eliot.

[Olde Crone]

Mary Fitton (Shakespeare's Dark Lady?) was the sister of my 15 x great grandfather William Fitton. I think.

OC

[Merry]

I have Edward Jenner in my tree, but only because his great-niece (?) married one of my relatives.

For those who remember Horniman's Tea, my 4xg-aunt married the founder who became, by far, the richest person on my tree.

As for the people I was told I was related to - John James Sainsbury, Cyrus Clark (shoes) and Bombardier Billy Wells (J Arthur Rank) - nope, none of those!!

[Olde Crone]

Well, Jane Seymour (Mrs Henry 8th) fell off my tree when I discovered my father was named after a Manchester grocer rather than Jane. And Alexander Graham Bell fell off it too, when I hit a brick wall with my illegitimate Thomas Bell.

My ancestors seem often to have been friends with someone famous in their lifetime but immediately forgotten once they were dead. My grandfather was at school with and in the trenches with a man who came home from WW1 and committed a motiveless murder. Infamous for a few months but completely forgotten now, so thoroughly that I can't remember his name and have to look it up.

OC

[ElizabethHerts]

The only famous ancestor I have so far is the Reverend John Williams, who, after the Glorious Revolution, became personal chaplain to William and Mary. He was a Boyle lecturer and his sermons were published. In 1696 he was appointed Bishop of Chichester, which position he held until his death in 1709.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/1981/images/47596_83024005549_1441-00432?pId=109291

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/62208/images/62208_1-7087_2419?pId=2239

John William is my 8x-great-grandfather.

[Katarzyna]

I have a 1st Cousin 4R - Stephen Henry Molyneux Killik who was knighted in 1923 and was elected Lord Mayor of the City of London in 1934.

https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/55990/

https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/41640/

Other than that I've only vicars, oyster fishermen, various tradesmen, nurses and ag labs and a sprinkling of felons and transportees. (One called Horatio!)

[Katarzyna]

I have a spurious link to Paul McCartney through marriage but so far unable to find the connection but my aunt was from Liverpool :)

[crawfie]

Not my tree, but that of a cousin's husband. Among the people in his extended tree are Oscar Wilde, Joseph Turner, Fergie (Duchess of York), Cecil Rhodes and the woman who tried to murder Mussolini.

[Merry]

Oh, I forgot about Michael Caine! I am supposed to be linked to his mother's family, as her maiden name is the same as my father's surname, though spelled differently and from a completely different part of the country. If there's a link I've never found it.

[ElizabethHerts]

The one I cited is a direct ancestor but I have compiled large trees for OH and me, which do feature famous or important people.

OH is related to Dr Barnardo by marriage.
I have a second cousin twice removed, William Rickatson Dykes, who was a world authority on irises.
My first cousin twice removed was married to a Belgian count, Hugues De Borchgrave d'Altena. They lived within driving distance from us and my sister and I spent many happy visits with them.

[kiterunner]

There are a few in my tree but I won't bore you with all the details of all of them. My grandfather's cousin was married to Dimitri de Grunwald, a famous film producer.

[Mary from Italy]

Another distant connection of mine is Jane Goodall, the chimpanzee expert.

[Jill]

Great aunt Beatrice's sister in law married David Lloyd George's brother.

We supposedly have a connection to Sir Roger Bannister as we are both descended from the Bannisters of Park Hill in Barrowford (now the Pendle Heritage Centre) who lived there up to 1450-1752. I've never worked out the connection though.

Nobody of note in my direct line.

[Olde Crone]

Oh, Jill's post above jogged a memory of a family story that my uncle was great friends with Roger Bannister. This story didn't come from my uncle and I was never interested enough to ask. However, I looked last night and RB and my uncle were born days apart in Hendon, so it is possible their paths did cross - my uncle was a keen runner in his youth.

OC

[JessBow]

my mother was related to Elton John

[Anstey Nomad]

From the beginning of his career, the story was current in my father's family that we were related to Bill Owen the actor (Compo for British viewers). Sadly, my DNA results show this to be an impossibility and in fact the men in that line look much more like Grandad's putative father than dear old Bill.

As for ancestors, ag labs on one side and FWKs on the other more or less.

[Kit]

I have several Elizabeth Taylor's but none of the famous variety.

I thought I was related to Lemmy but that isn't right either.

I was related to actor Bill Nighy, by defacto relationship to actress Diana IForgetHerSurname, who I am actually related to.

My OH is supposedly somehow, very distantly, related to Kate Middleton but I haven't proved it, I got bored lol. I do believe whatever told me of the relationship was reputable but I don't totally believe things until I prove it myself.

ooh, ooh, ooh. I am related to someone who is married to a lady who is very good friends with Kate and they were among the guests to the private part of the wedding, not just the 2000 at the Abbey. Not naming names and that is rather a stretch to famous people. lol

[Phoenix]

ooh, ooh, ooh. I am related to someone who is married to a lady who is very good friends with Kate and they were among the guests to the private part of the wedding, not just the 2000 at the Abbey. Not naming names and that is rather a stretch to famous people. lol

I danced with a man, who danced with a girl, who danced with the Prince of Wales?

[Olde Crone]

Lol Phoenix!

OC

[Kit]

I danced with a man, who danced with a girl, who danced with the Prince of Wales?

lol, yes.

The woman will come up on a google search, so I don't want to name her here.

[kiterunner]

I have finally managed to trace one of my 2xg-grandfather's ancestral lines back to royalty, but unfortunately his ancestor was King John! (Also that 2xg-grandfather is definitely not my bio ancestor although he was my g-grandmother's father according to all documentation.)

[HarrysMum]

I know I’m related to Pierce Brosnan, and much further away to Hugh Grant.

I am related to quite a few of what we call Australian royalty. I suppose the Batman family being the most well known. They are my direct line.

Ancestry has me related to the mother of John Brown of Queen Victoria fame but that is rubbish. They also have me related to some Scottish king or something, also I believe, a load of rubbish.