More Royal ancestry

Who do you think you are? has now completed eighteen series as British television’s predominant genealogy programmes. In that time, with an average of eight episodes per series, they have uncovered many celebrities with interesting lineage and some unexpected royal descendants, including Alexander Armstrong, Clare Balding, Danny Dyer, Frank Gardner and Sir Matthew Pinsent. Now…

The Sitwells

I have recently come across this photo, showing a similarity between Margaret Countess of Salisbury and her descendant, Dame Edith Sitwell, of the Renishaw literary family of baronets. The Sitwell’s ancestry is through the early Dukes of Beaufort – the family who are theoretically descended in the male line from Edward III, but not necessarily.…

People who escaped from the Tower of London.

This is an attempt to list all the people known to have escaped from the “impregnable” Tower of London. It may be that other names need to be added. The dates given are the dates of escape: Ralph de Flambard, 1101 Roger Mortimer, later Earl of March, 1322. Thomas Berkeley, 1320s. Note not listed in main…

The Shakespearean editor who was descended from Richard III’s sister …

… was Sir Edward Capell, son of the vicar of Stanton in Suffolk. He was, as you can see , a cousin of the Earls of Essex through Arthur Capell Baron Hadham, a descendant of Anne Duchess of Exeter.

Arthur Capell, Baron Hadham – the accidental traitor

Introduction The middle of the seventeenth century was a turbulent time and it would be very surprising were not some remnants of the House of York involved. Indeed, Ashby de la Zouch Castle, property of Ferdinando, Earl of Huntingdon, was slighted during this time as a result of his participation. Another Royalist partisan was Arthur…