a tale of downward social mobility
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This is second part of my housekeeping, where I am going through each generation of ancestors to see where there are ancestry dead ends, how much information we have about each ancestor, etc. You can read about Generation 1-3 here.
Continue reading “Generations 4 (paternal branches): Biographies,Obituaries, etc”
Andrew Sanders has very kindly sent me a photograph of this portrait of Muriel Harriet Fletcher, daughter of Colonel Henry Charles Fletcher and Lady Harriet Marsham. She married Captain Henry FitzHerbert Wright (see Wiki entry here). He was the son of my great great grandparents FitzHerbert Wright and Charlotte Rudolphine Louise von Beckman.
Muriel and Captain Henry lived in the Old Hall between 1903 & 1913 that as demolished in 1929 and stood on the site of what is now Hall Court in West Hallam. It’s close to where Andrew now lives and he is currently writing a book called ‘Ilkeston’s & surrounding area Subterranean Past – Truth or Legend’. The portrait was handed to the Head Gardener John Burrows when they left to live at Yeldersley Hall, where my grandmother was born. Would make nice wedding present for Princess Eugenie later this year, as she is descendent of Muriel but neither Andrew or I have been invited ;)
This post is a version of my Genealogical dead ends revisted post, but it’s about the photograps and illustrations I’ve found of my ancestors rather than just their names. I’ll do one about places sometime, and also about biographies, etc. I have set up a photostream on FlickR so you can see all the images in a slideshow, and I will link to the individual photos from the names of ancestors I have identified below. Continue reading “The digital portrait collection”
I’ve been reading the Macdonald Bards from Medieval Times by Keith Norman Macdonald, M.D. It was published in 1900 from papers by Dr Macdonald that had originally appeared in The Oban Times. It includes the following ‘sketch’ about my great great great grandfather Angus MacDonell, where he is referred to as “xxii of Keppoch” and having represented “the chieftainship from 1831 until the time of his death”: Continue reading “Aonghnas Mac Dhomhnuill – sketch”
Mel Goldman has just sent me some amazing miniatures of the Ramsay of Gogar ancestors. I’m not sure yet of the provenance of these, but the first is Peter Ramsay the stabler who ran the “White Horse” Inn, in St. Mary’s Wynd. According to Hamish Bain, the miniature is by Sir Henry Raeburn the inscription reads “The Tattersall of Scotland”, which is what his family have always understood he was referred to. It also says he was born in 1730 and died in 1794. From what I’ve found out he was actually born in 1727 and died in 1794. Cassell’s Old and new Edinburgh : its history, its people, and its places ([1881-83?]) by James Grant has the following to say about his fortunes and offspring:
Ramsay’s inn was chiefly famous for its stables, and in that establishment he realised a large fortune. … In 1776 he advertised that, exclusive of some part of his premises recently offered for sale, he possessed “a good house for entertainment, good stables for above one hundred horses, and sheds for above twenty carriages.” He retired from business in St. Mary’s Wynd in 1790, with above £10,000, according to one account, and his death is thus recorded in the “Scottish Register.” “Jan. 1. 1794. At his son’s house of Gogar, Co. Edinburgh, Peter Ramsay, Esq., formerly an eminent innkeeper at the Cowgate Port, in which station he acquired upwards of £30,000. He has left one son, William Ramsay, jun., Esq., banker in Edinburgh, and one daughter, the widow of Captain Mansfield, of the South Fencible Regiment, who lost his life at Leith in 1779, when attempting to quell a mutiny.”
The second portrait seems to be Peter Ramsay (banker in Edinburgh), the grandson of Peter Ramsay the stabler. He was the son of William Ramsay of Gogar and Hon. Bethia Hamilton, daughter of Robert Hamilton, 6th of Wishaw and Susan Balfour. Continue reading “Ramsay of Gogar Portraits”
I mentioned to Anne Harrington that my brother Hugo had a portrait of my ancestors Charlotte Rudolphine Louise (von) Beckmann and Ernest Fitzherbert Wright. It was given to him by our (great) Uncle Francis (Ernest Francis Fitzherbert Wright). He kindly took a picture of it and sent it over. Charlotte is also Sarah Margaret Fergusan’s (Duchess of York) great great grandmother and there’s more about her ancestry here.
John Wright, a Nottingham banker, Francis Beresford, the latter’s father in law and a rich attorney from a gentry family, and William Jessop, a well known civil engineer, partnered with the young surveyor and engineer Benjamin Outram who was the the initiator and sole active managing partner of the Butterley Iron Company from its foundation in 1791 until his untimely death in 1805. They had no part in the management and trusted Outram without suspecting the financial irregularities which he committed and which were revealed after his death. John Wright, who had supplied over one third of the capital remained a partner up to 1830. Continue reading “John Wright (1758-1840)”
After all that effort trying to locate Maitland Ancestor portraits it turns out that there’s over 30 paintings alone in the dining room at Thirlestane Castle. The castle administrator has kindly sent me a list of portraits there, but there must be more round the castle as the list does not mention the ones of Penelope Madan, Elizabeth Lauder and her father. It would be great to visit the castle at some point, but in the meantime I’d love to see some digital copies of the following: John 1st Earl of Lauderdale, Charles 3rd Earl of Lauderdale, Lady Margaret Cunningham (5th Countess, heiress of the Glencairn family), John 5th Earl of Lauderdale, Elizabeth Ogilvie 6th Countess and John Maitland 1st Lord Thirlestane.
I rarely watch television now, if at all, so after the kids have gone to bed I have a few hours to kill if I don’t have a good book to read. So lately I’ve been doing some more research for this blog prompted by a whole host of photos sent to me by my cousin Charles Daniel. I will at some point add a whole load of Birtwistle and Marwood photos from my mother’s collection but the task is a bit daunting as there’s albums of material. Think I have gone about as far back as I can with the Kirbys, but I will add a picture of my great great grandfather soon. There maybe some Wright and Fox relatives I could find and I’ll add these at some point. But right now I’m just going back up the various branches of my Scottish Ancestor tree to see what images I can find that I don’t already have. They are actually fewer and far between than I thought, but I did find a few last night including this one of James Ogilvy, First Earl Of Seafield. Continue reading “James Ogilvy, 4th Earl of Findlater”
Penelope Madan is my gt gt gt gt gt gt grandmother. She married Hon. Sir Alexander Maitland, 1st Bt., son of Charles Maitland, 6th Earl of Lauderdale and Lady Elizabeth Ogilvy. The Maitland Trust portrait of her above is in chalk by William Hoare of Bath, from Sauchieburn, and held by descent from Sir Alex Maitland Bt. Continue reading “Penelope Madan Portrait Mystery”
a tale of downward social mobility 