The Ancestors of the Duchess of Cambridge

[fawbert]

A thread to discuss the maternal and paternal ancestors of Catherine Middleton now the Duchess of Cambridge



From the Daily Telegraph 17 November 2010:

MIDDLETON
Peter Francis died peacefully at home on 2nd November after a short illness, aged 90 years. Devoted husband of the late Valerie, father of
four, grandfather of five, aviator, transatlantic sailor and long-time resident of Vernham Dean. Will be greatly missed by his family and
many friends. The Funeral Service has already taken place. For any further enquiries: Camp Hopson Funeral Directors, 01635 522210


Kate's grandfather. I am told this event delayed the announcement of the engagement.        :( :(

[HRHLondon]

Very sad. Amazing that this stayed out of the news for so long.

[Alixxx]

On the bright side, he lived a long and seemingly very happy life.

Who knows? Maybe he was informed of his grand daughter one day being Queen before he passed. That must have been a resounding full-stop to end what must have been an eventful life. :flower:

[mousie_kins]

William and Kate were apparently at his funeral on Friday

[HRHLondon]

The fact that there are no photos of them there really show how the new press rules are working, and also how good they have been at staying out of the limelight...good for them.

[JekkaBee]

Wasn't William in Afghanistan the day before for Remembrance Day?

[pinkpearls]

The funeral was on Friday.   PW was in Afghanistan on Sunday, the 14th.

[Hale]

My deepest sympathies to the Middletons.  :( At least he had a good innings.  I too have since read that this is what delayed the engagement announcement.

[Countess of Highgrove]

My goodness,what an emotional time for Kate and her family.

[Jenee]

May he rest in peace :hug:

[EmpressofIndia]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1384740/Royal-Family-Kate-s-grandad-doodlebug-nudger-Newlywed-royal-pays-tribute-pilot-knocked-V1-missiles-course-planes-wing.html

[Jennifer]

Previously unseen footage has emerged showing the Duchess of Cambridge and her younger sister Pippa Middleton as bridesmaids at the wedding of their uncle, Gary Goldsmith. The then nine-year-old future royal and her siblings all played key roles at the 1991 nuptials, with a very little James Middleton also appearing as a page boy.

The sweet home video shows the two sisters dressed in matching pastel pink bridesmaid dresses and floral headdresses as they celebrate the big family occasion. Kate, who is referred to as 'Katie' in the footage, can be seen waving and smiling to the camera, and is clearly in her element as she poses next to bride Miranda Foote outside St Peter's Church in Burnham, Buckinghamshire.

Pippa, seven at the time, appears to be slightly less enthusiastic. At one point in the footage, she can be seen pulling her floral headdress of her head – getting her hair caught up in the process. James, meanwhile, is on film chewing on his top hat while the family pose for photos with the newlyweds.

Read more:
Kate Middleton and sister Pippa on video at uncle?s wedding

[PrincessOfPeace]

Francis Martineau Lupton (1848-1921) Businessman and Housing Reformer. A brief biography of Catherine?s great-great grandfather.

There are still streets and buildings around Leeds named after the Lupton family, and many reminders of their contribution over the years to the life and improvement of the city: in industry and commerce, in public service, in education, in housing.

Francis (Frank) Martineau Lupton made his mark in the transforming work of slum clearance, helping to lift the city out of Victorian darkness and squalor. But alongside his public and professional work, he had to endure, like so many others, the unsparing personal tragedies of the First World War.

Born into a wealthy family, he had a comfortable, favoured childhood: first at Potternewton Hall, a handsome Queen Anne house, and then at ?Beechwood?, an impressive mansion set in parkland in Elmete Lane, Roundhay. His father Francis was a partner in the family wool business, while his mother Fanny was active in various social causes, particularly women?s education; her aunt was the writer Harriet Martineau, and this family connection gave Frank his second name. He had three younger brothers, all destined to play a part in the city?s life. After study at Leeds Grammar School, he went on to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Frank joined the family business, William Lupton & Sons, at Whitehall Mills, and in his spare time served in the volunteer Leeds Rifles. In 1880, when he was 32, he married Harriet Davis, daughter of the vicar of St John?s Church, Roundhay, near his home. Five children followed, three sons and two daughters, and they moved to a new, handsome house, ?Rockland?, at the top of St Mary?s Road, Newton Park, Chapeltown, built on part of the Lupton estate. But tragedy struck in 1892 when Harriet, just after the birth of their second daughter, caught influenza and died. Frank never remarried. A fearsome housekeeper looked after the house and his five children until his daughters could take over.

Frank entered local politics and was elected a Councillor and then Alderman. He had a particular interest in the housing and welfare of the poor, and as a follower of the social reformer Octavia Hill believed ardently in the need to improve and regenerate inner city areas of working class housing. For 10 years from 1896 he chaired the Council?s Unhealthy Areas Committee, set up with new powers to tackle the ?evil legacy? of the Leeds slums, breeding grounds for disease and death.

Its first major scheme was to clear the notorious York Street and Quarry Hill areas, with their crumbling, dank yards. Inspections had to be made, prices agreed, tenants moved out, the rotting buildings demolished, rehousing organised ? almost four thousand buildings were cleared. Frank led the action, and promoted other more modest schemes, involving selective demolition to create light, air and open spaces, and the regeneration of existing still usable housing. He opposed the Council?s proposal to build flats (?tenements?) for rehousing and this disagreement triggered his resignation as chairman, but he continued as a member, and later chaired the Council?s Improvement and Finance committees ? a long record of dedicated public service.

In 1914 his daughter Olive married a Leeds solicitor, Richard Middleton ? a union which has famously linked the family story to the ancestry of the present Duchess of Cambridge. But this happy event was overshadowed by the outbreak of war. All three of Frank?s sons went to the Front. One by one they were killed in action: Maurice, his middle son, in the trenches of Lille in 1915; Lionel, his youngest son, at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, having returned to the Front after being wounded; and Francis, his eldest son, in early 1917, after an agonising wait when he had been declared missing. All three are buried in France.

Frank, a quiet and unassuming man, was said to have borne his losses stoically, but the light had gone out of his life. After the war he let his house ?Rockland? at a nominal rent for use as a home for the children of soldiers and sailors lost in the war and moved with his daughter to a smaller house. He died soon after, in 1921, and was buried at St John?s Church, Roundhay.

It was said at his funeral that he had ?brought sunshine to the fetid slums of Leeds?, but his own life lay in shadow.

[Princess Cassandra]

Thank you for posting this informative piece. I enjoyed reading it and was struck by how altruistic this man was...it make sense to the expression about one's deeds living on. His live on in a very inspirational way.

[PrincessOfPeace]

Francis Lupton?s mother was quite the woman:

The Duchess of Cambridge's great-great-great grandmother was a champion of girls and women?s health issues and education

Frances Greenhow was the honorary secretary and driving force behind the Yorkshire Ladies' Council of Education from 1871 to 1885.

She also chaired committee meetings of the Leeds Ladies' Educational Association that promoted the taking of university local examinations by young women and in 1875 chaired a meeting of both organisations to form the committee that raised funds to start Leeds Girls' High School which opened a year later. She was the school council's vice-president until 1891.

The Ladies Council provided lectures for women on health and nursing and she was instrumental in establishing a school of cookery in 1874 which became the Yorkshire Training School of Cookery.

[PrincessOfPeace]

The Duchess of Cambridges great-great-grandfather John William Middleton Esq. President of the Leeds Law Society

Pic: Twitter

[PrincessOfPeace]

^^^

Catherines great-grandfather Richard Noel Middleton, great-great grandfather John William Middleton, Esq and great-great-great grandfather William Middleton were solicitors. The family law firm which William Middleton established in 1834 existed for over 150 years, closing in 1985. 

[LouisFerdinand]

Catherine's maternal great-great-grandfather was Durham coal miner John Harrison (1874-1956).

[PrincessOfPeace]

The Duchess of Cambridges great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Michael Greenhow MD MRCS FRCS (5 July 1792 - 25 October 1881) was an English surgeon and epidemiologist and a founding fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England

Pic: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Dr_Thomas_Michael_Greenhow%2C_epidemiologist_and_surgeon_%281792-_1881%29.jpg

[wannable]

Those men at that time were at the top (founder or president) of working society, the gentlemen (aristos) then would only work with the top, not today, there's more opportunities for meritocracy. In the 18th and 19th century a lawyer or doctor had prestige and were sought after, when being at the top of the pyramid.   

Her family tree is very interesting.

[TLLK]

Yes her paternal side was often overlooked in favor of her maternal line when the couple were dating so it's interesting to find out more about Michael's family.

[PrincessOfPeace]

Frances Elizabeth Lupton (20 July 1821 - 9 March 1892) was an Englishwoman of the Victorian era who worked to open up educational opportunities for women. Frances was a pioneer for education for women.

She was honorary secretary of the Yorkshire Ladies Council for Education for fourteen years and was a powerful drivng force of the organisation.

She was also active in the Leeds Ladies Educational Association with both organisations facilitating the taking of university examinations by girls. When entrenched local charitable interests would not support girls' educaton she was part of the committee which founded Leeds Girls' High School in 1876

She also helped establish a school of cookery to teach local women the value of nutrition which expanded and led to the formation of the Yorkshire School of Cookery which later became part of a teacher training college.

Frances Lupton is the great-great-great-grandmother of the Duchess of Cambridge.

[Curryong]

Doctors, that is prominent physicians, bankers, barristers and the more exclusive solicitors were considered upper middle class in the later 19th century, along with the leading architects and academics. Surgeons still had the old 'Sawbones' reputation associated with them and weren't considered quite so exclusive as physicians. The middle classes were filled with people in the professions as well as wealthier shipowners, retailers etc.

These families sent their sons to public schools if they could afford them or the best grammar schools and lived in nice residences. However, they weren't aristocrats or country gentry. If you sent in bills for your services in any way, that was not the mark of 'a gentleman'. The professions ie the middle classes were quite different to those who held land and/or peerages and the two classes rarely socialised.

Aristocrats didn't usually send their sons into the professions. The Army, the Royal Navy, the Church, the Diplomatic Service, yes. Medicine no. Becoming a barrister, yes, a solicitor no. A solicitor sent in a bill for services, barristers did not, their clerks did. The differences were subtle but they were there and everybody knew them.

[PrincessOfPeace]

Thomas Davis (15 February 1804 - 11 November 1887) was a Church of England clergyman, author and hymn writer.

The son of the Rev Richard Francis Davis DD (ca. 1766?1844), Thomas Davis was educated at Queens College, Oxford, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1832. He proceeded to Master of Arts. In 1833 Davis was ordained a priest and became his fathers curate at Worcester, and in 1840 was appointed Vicar of Roundhay, Leeds in Yorkshire.

His publications include:

Devotional Verse for a Month, &c. (1855)

Songs for the Suffering (1859)

Endless Sufferings not the Doctrine of Scripture (1866)

Annus Sanctus; or, Aids to Holiness in Verse (1877)

Davis notable hymns include Sing, ye seraphs in the sky and O Paradise eternal! There are 23 of his hymns in Sodens Universal Hymn Book, 1885.

Rev Thomas Davis is the Duchess of Cambridges great-great-great grandfather

[PrincessOfPeace]

Catherines paternal ancestors, The Martineau family is an intellectual, business and political dynasty associated first with Norwich and later also London and Birmingham, England.

Her great-great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Martineau (1764 - 1826), a manufacturer of textiles, married Elizabeth Rankin (8 October 1772 - 26 August 1848), who had her portrait painted a year before her death by Hillary Bonham-Carter, the great-great aunt of actress Helena Bonham-Carter.

Catherines and Helenas families were very close, very wealthy and belonged to the same Unitarian Church.

Both families would later produce Prime Ministers. Helena Bonham Carters great grandfather was Prime Minister Lord Asquith. Catherines blood cousin, Birmingham Mayor Sir Thomas Martineau, was the uncle of World War II Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who had been Lord Mayor of Birmingham in 1915.

Thomas and Elizabeth Martineaus eldest child was a daughter, Elizabeth (1794 - 1850), who married Dr Thomas Greenhow (See Dr Thomas Greenhow in a previous post)

She is the grandmother of politician Francis Martineau Lupton, who in turn was the great-great grandfather of Catherine.

The National Portrait Gallery, of which The Duchess of Cambridge is royal patron, contains nearly 20 portraits of Elizabeth Martineaus siblings, Dr James Martineau, who Prime Minister Gladstone described as *beyond question the greatest of living thinkers*, and Harriet Martineau, the noted writer, who was invited to Queen Victorias coronation.