Genealogy Chat

I've just discovered a distant rellie who was the illigitimate son of a very famous classical composer. The word has been handed down mouth to mouth for three generations and I doubt very much if it could be proved so now I am wondering whether I should disclose my findings.

Dave Im sure The News of The World would pay a fair some LOL

Hi Martin, My great granddad was Thomas (Tom) Blades. He drove the Flying Scotsman on it's first non-stop run from London to Edinburgh on the 1st of May 1928. I've put this advert on in the hope that other Blades relatives might see it and get in touch. Paul Blades

My X6 Grandfather was, according to the newspapers of the time the heaviest man in England, and nearly 7 feet tall. 2000 people attended his funeral, this was after they had knocked the wall out under the bedroom window and lowered his body to the ground! My late father in law was chef to King George VI, and my children (through their father's side) are GG grand daughters of Charles Stewart Parnell and Kittie O'Shea!

My 4th great granduncle is John Peel Of "D'Ye Ken John Peel" fame, his sister Lettice Peel is my 4th great grandmother. Any more rellies out there?

My gt grandfather Oscar played football for Manchester United (pre WWI) and according to my nan he also threw the javelin in the London Olympics - although I'm having difficulty proving that. His wife Olive was from a theatrical family. Her grandparents Charles and Kate were a comedian/actor and an actress and their fathers in turn were a comedian and a singer. Olive's Aunt Nellie married a Charles Macdona who ran the Macdona Players (aka Geroge Bernard Shaw Rep). I'm currently trying to track down a book of letters that Shaw wrote to him (its in 4 volumes and I cant find out which volume his letters are in). I'm also trying to find Kate's birth to see if her parent match those of the actress Henrietta Hodson - who discovered Lilly Langtree.

My step-great grandfather was supposed to have been the brother of Billy Chandler who founded Walthamstow Dog Stadium. They did not speak to each other as there was a family rift. I have yet to prove this connection though.

MY Great Grandfather had a spectacular life, if i'm to believe the stories! He was supposed to have worked on the 'Buffalo Bill show'. He also worked with 'Lord George Sanger'. There are many more fantastic stories. I have not been able to prove any of this yet!!! Pat

my dads brother mark jones played for man utd he was killed in the munich air crash but haven't found any more famous rellies

My great-great-grandmother's older brother WILLIAM MEALING murdered his fiancee in 1862 in Rendcomb by cutting her throat. He had been complaining of pains in his head and feared he was going mad. He was acquitted on the grounds of insanity and sent first to the London Lunatic Asylum (Bethlem) and then to Broadmoor where he was in 1901. The police constable to whom he reported the crime was his godfather and also the village blacksmith, Mr Tarrant. The Tarrants obviously kept the job in the family because in 1912 or thereabouts, my grandfather (grandson of Ann Williams nee Mealing, William's sister) was apprenticed to Mr Tarrant, the village blacksmith.

Sir Jack Hobbs (the cricketer) is my great grandmothers great nephew. Viv.

I'm desperate to prove that I am NOT related to Alexis de Tocqueville (french sociologist I think is an accurate description.)All I can find on the web is HIM.Apart from a GG uncle who was a fireman on the Titanic, my lot were a despicable bunch of fly by nights!

My Mums uncle Dave by marriage joined a Variety troupe, Fred Carnos, Caseys Court with another young lad,Charles they both learned their craft and each became very funny in thier own right. The two comedians were so different that they could never have formed a duo.It was time for the two comics to move on and say goodbye to Fred Carno.Dave stayed in Liverpool and Charles went to America and became better known as Charlie Chaplin. this info comes from the book, A seat in the Circle, by Bill Montgomery,Bill now deceased and my late Mum were first cousins. My grandmas cousin was Cardinal William Godfrey, Archbisop of Liverpool then Westminster. Also trying to find out why my gggrandfather was in Portland nick in 1881, Kathleen

Gosh Kathleen, what colourful relations! I have no-one remotely famous or infamous in my family tree! (I did go to school with Harry Secombe's daughter though, does that count!) LOL Sue

I have about 3 of what I would call famous relatives. First I think is my Great Great Grandfather, he was called Charles Nathaniel Palmer. Charles joined the Royal Navy and became an Engineer Officer. He devised a new and improved system of ventilating the cabins and lower deck of lots of Royal Navy ships, which had been highly approved by the Admiralty. Sadly he died aged 37 of a mysterious illness in 1881 in Hong Kong Harbour. He was in the process of some elaborate designs for more effective steering of large vessels during rough weather. I suppose you could call him famous in some way. His son Charles John Restarick Palmer is slightly famous in the way he went to school with Robert Falcon Scott, later to become world famous as Scott of the Antarctic, whom he recalled in later years as a naughty little boy whom he used to wallop. I do find that very amusing in a way. And last is my Great Grandfather, also the son of Charles Nathaniel Palmer. He was called Frederick William Dawe Palmer. He was a civil servant and at one time was Private Secretary to Isaac Foot, (father of the MP Michael Foot) then Minister of Mines in the last Liberal Government. I'm not sure if they're famous, but they are to me. All this came from my research and my great uncle's research. Steve

Reputedly Sir William de Tracy, one of the knights who murdered Thomas a Beckett at Canterbury Cathedral.

Pat, One of my gg uncles was given money for an overcoat, blew it instead on a passage to America, joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show under the soubriquet of Texas Jim, then came back to Devon to drive the carrier's van. 'My ancestor, the admiral' turned out to be 'my ancestor, the lieutenant' but the stories of money lost in chancery turned out to be true (I've met the descendant who copped the lot) and I have the dubious distinction of being descended from Walter Raleigh's Aunty Joan.

Mainly boring old Ag Labs in mine with the occasional Mason, Blacksmith and Gunpowder Factory Labourer. Through the (and I suppose this qualifies as wicked) Stepmother my brothers and sisters had a second great granduncle who had the distinction of being the oldest man Hanged in England. And that was for stabbing to death the man who caught him scrumping!!!

Oh yes, Just remembered one I found earlier this week that my 7th great grand uncle was the Steward over William Penn's house Pennsbury from 1701 to 1710 and were friends of the Founder of Pennsylvania.

Mine all worked on the railways or the women were lacemakers. I only have one ag lab. I have found one grand-uncle who was a vaudeville star in Melbourne, birth name George Washington Gilmour! - Haven't found out his stage name but the mind boggles if he can beat his birth name for quirky. Have photos of him doing his stage act. My husbands claim to fame is the actor Bill Kerr who was in the early goon shows. Unfortunately haven't found any rich rellies that may have left me money to carry out more research! judy