Famous Relatives (or infamous!) - just for fun

[mumnosbest]

Researching my family tree, I was surprised to find I'm related to Florence Nightingale and Brian Blessed. Who'd have put those to in the same tree? Any of you discovered any little surprises?

Really impressed with Feargal Sharkey - Teenage Kicks one of the best songs EVER (imo). Also adore Deanna...

Moshie - a friend of mine is also related to Deanna Durbin. Are you a north London person like him?

My family only came to this planet recently so can't claim any humans yet.

Sir John Lawrence, past Viceroy of India was married to my great grand aunt.

Monty Don - after watching him on Who Do You Think You Are recently. We are both great-great-great grandchildren of the lady who invented marmalade Janet Keiller.

theboob think we might be related too, as my grandad says we are part of the Lyle's of Tate and Lyle fame.

Op im also related to florence nightingale! Ooo. Who are you then!

Ooh an old resurrected one! I notice that I previously posted on my family connection to Nancy Astor...which means I am therefore related by marriage to SamCam and our mate Dave!

My mum's side of the family are very very distantly related to Princess Di and Prince Charles (we all share a common ancestor who died in 1509).

Supposedly we are also related to the Spanish Royal Family (via the Spanish Armada) but I've not found the evidence to back it up so far.

The Norweigan Royal Family

Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn and that lot through the Howard family and through them half the nobility in Britain and what's left in Europe. Very easy to trace those to distant connections though.

A witch who was burnt sometime in the 1600s

Someone who went on the Mayflower

The lemonade Whites

Beatrix Potter

Through an unconfirmed illegitimate connection apparently the Borgias

....and Chuck Norris

I would love to do more research into this as most if those are relatively close relations in the direct line on one side. With the exception of Chuck Norris who is about 10 generations up and across since the and we only know be use my grandfather found someone doing genealogical research with a common ancestor who was more closely related.

I don't have any and God knows my super snobbish grandma did her best to find someone!

Hehe I bet you do but it's not people she wanted to be associated with.

I think my grandfather didn't poke into the juicy bits

ha ha, good theory Frakkinup. She probably destroyed all the documents.

wonderstuff who was your great great grandfather? I live not far from Devil's Bridge. The only person I can think of is George Borrow?

I'm not related to anyone real who is/was famous, however I am related to the Leivers family of Greasley, who DH Lawrence based some of his characters on.

David Livingstone (the "Dr Livingstone, I presume" one)

The man who introduced the monkey puzzle tree into the UK. This may be pushing the limits of the definition of "famous" a little too far. Apparently, he was known in Hawaii for many decades after as the "red-faced man who cut off the limbs of men and gathered grass." Hopefully because he was a surgeon, not because he ran amok with a saw while gathering specimens.

Julian Cope Not that it was exactly a surprise, he is a v close relation. Embarrassing when I was a teenager and he was on Top of the Pops climbing up his weird green microphone stand, though.

AuldAlliance, that monkey puzzle man story is so cool!

I did my PhD research on an 18th century traveller who achieved quite a lot; he travelled with a man who was famous only for having introduced the kohl rabi to Britain!

Sethstarkaddersmum, that's funny, I did mine on 17th & 18th century travel writing, but the imaginary kind.

Glad you liked the story.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

not famous in the grand scheme of things but my greatgrandad ran the first cinema's in Manchester and his sons used to ride round on bicycles taking the rolls of films from cinema to cinema.
He was also at the inaugural dinner of 20th century fox

Sir John Arundell Admiral of the West to Henry the eighth.

Built Trerice House in Cornwall and lost the lot when he refused to convert to the church of england faith.

Marie Stopes
Barnes Wallis (of bouncing bomb creation)
A. V. Roe (of Avro early aviation fame)

My dad's family owned a quarry in what became Cape Town & there is a very posh suburb now named after them on teh quarry site. None of us can afford to live there anymore.

The man on the Quaker Oats box.

Oliver North is a second cousin (the shredder virtuoso in the US in the '80's)

Sarah Jennings (apparently) 1st duchess of Marlborough

an itinerant preacher called Charles Raspberry according to my late df

Thomas Percy, one of the Gunpowder Plotters. Several generations of Earls and Dukes of Northumberland, and William the Conqueror is my 27x great grandfather. I've traced a direct line to Alfred the Great and beyond.
All through a lucky break. My 4x great grandma was illegitimate but named her father on her marriage certificate. Landed gentry gets peasant chick up the duff shocker!