Do you have any notorious/famous branches in your family tree?

[VeIouria]

I'll start -

My many times great uncle on my mother's side was Robert Coates, an infamous actor who was well known for being so bad he was good. Lord Byron was a fan and wrote about him in letters to friends and he was a bit of a celeb.

Anyone interesting in your tree?

A distant ancestor on my maternal grandmother's side of the family had a child with a minor relative of the Royal family ( allegedly) the child was illegitimate so was never publicly acknowledged.

These are absolutely fascinating!

Isn't it mad to consider that all of you whose ancestors signed Charles' death warrant are (however tenuously!) connected. You should have a reunion!

We’re dependents of Robert the Bruce. Don’t know anything about him other than the fact I believe he was horrifically violent? So not something I normally share 😆 we come from an aristocratic background

Hahaha descendants not dependents

Sort-of similar here (no Burke's peerage though as far as I know!).

My mother's parents lived on a council estate in the South Wales valleys and were as poor as church mice, but my grandad (who died long before I was born) always used to say his own parents were very well off, lived in a massive house in Chelsea, etc. Everyone thought he was a bit of a fantasist. When I came to do out family tree it turned out that his parents had moved to a modest house in Cardiff from a fairly fancy one in Chelsea at the beginning of the 1900s. The house they had before that however was a huge house on Cadogan Gardens in Chelsea, where the family lived for a couple of generations. A couple of generations before again, they lived on Hanover Square and some are buried in the crypt of St Martin in the Fields. Clearly there was some serious money there - I would love to know what happened to it and why they had to move to Wales. What a come down - from a massive mansion around the corner from Oscar Wilde to a dingy terrace in Cardiff!

I'm a descendant of (not massively well known) Captain Hardy who captained Nelson's ship HMS Victory in the Battle of Waterloo (the one you can visit at Portsmouth dockyard). Nelson's last words were famously 'Kiss me, Hardy' or Kissmet, no body can agree 😁

No I'm spartacus the descendant of the signer of Charles l's death warrant.

Apparently, I am very distantly related to the Bonham-Carters and a Victorian Chancellor of the Exchequer (a baron, no less). One of my ancestors gambled away the er, stately home at the gaming tables. I am bog-standard working class.

Both me and my husband are descended from Robert The Bruce.

I have a straight line going back to William the Conqueror.

"Regicides Reunited"!

Never been able to find out if this is rubbish or not, but the family legend is one of our ancestors is the expert swordsman Henry the eight bought over from France to give Anne boleyn a quick death. Family surname is French, if that means anything.

My daughter's paternal third cousin was Australian prime minister from 1975 to 1983.

Robert the Bruce apparently, according to my great uncle who did our family tree. No idea how accurate this is.

I have a direct ancestor who was on the Elizabeth Fry 5 pound note - not Elizabeth Fry but he was in the picture. He was her brother in law, an MP and an abolitionist. I was quite sad when they changed it!

I also have an ancestor who won a gold medal at the Olympics and one who was an eminent zoologist.

@HerbErtlinger Wow that’s a good one!

I'm sitting here waiting for someone to come on and mention one of my ancestors because I'm too chicken to do it myself

@Clarinet1 and @tedgran you are sisters! Your claim to fame is awesome.

Not me but a friend is related to Roald Dahl.

On the maternal line, one of my ancestors was married to Shackleton's brother. I thought that was pretty cool.

My dad was a famous pianist in the ‘60’s, he later became a very well known conductor. His grandma was a famous violinist, her father was an author and explorer. Lots of famous people in my fathers side of the family.

There’s a very famous painting of my great grandmother but it would be a bit outing to say who painted it!

Edward Oxford is in my family tree. He was the first person to attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria

Captain Cook. Half of my living family have emigrated to NZ interestingly, including my Nan who spent many many years researching our tree back to Cook days.

An illegitimate child of Sir John Maxwell who owned the Pollock Estate in Glasgow - allegedly.

Just how many signatories did Charles First's death warrant have ?