General Chat

I have to share this with you all I am so excited. Just discoverd that my husband is related to Charles Darwin, and with that also to Josiah Wedgwood the potter, and Ralph Vaughan Williams the musician. Seems that his GGGGG Grandfather had several children, one of which was his GGGG grandfather, Joshua Ryle, Macclesfield, 1785, but another, Jane Harriet Ryle married Francis Sacheverell Darwin, and became Lady Darwin after Francis was knighted. Francis was the son of Erasumus Darwin and his second wife Elizabeth Collier but with his first wife Mary Howard he became grandfather to Charles Darwin, and Grandfather-in-law to Josiah Wedgwood, and GG grandfather to Ralph Vaughan Williams. I know it is a bit "round the houses" but it seems quite certain that my hubby is related to this clan.

I am happy with my research of the Macclesfield connection, so do you think it is wise to rely on those who have researched Charles Darwen, Josiah Wedgwood and Ralph Vaughan Williams? I can't imagine anything wrong with such research as it surely verifiable from many sources (I have already checked a few out, and it all ties up).

Gee, my hubby is related to Charles Darwin!!!!!

Margaret

Wow! Margaret. How exciting.

I would treat it like all research. Do your own, it may bring up things that have not yet been discovered. Get your own certificates as you will need proof in a tangible form.

Use what has been already found as a guide and question everything. Your research must be just that....Your own, verified and only then will you know the truth of the research.

how exciting, have you seen pictures of them and does your husband look like any of them

How thrilling.....is he interested in biology too? At least you will be able to find photos easily!!

What great news Margaret.......with famous people like that in the tree there ought to be tons of information on what they were like in life.......how lucky is that......

......have any of these traits shown up in family members down the generations.........I am so excited for you, it was like when Barbara Windsor found she had John Constable in her tree.......only yours is a more direct line......

Congratulations........x sally

Hi friends

Thanks for sharing my excitement. Sadly the connection is long before civil registration, but I take your point about checking out for myself.

Sue, perhaps we are related too. Yes, it was the Hearts of Oak site I initially found the connection from - I wasn't even looking for one, I was looking for the Hon Lady Cecilia Penelope Noel whom my daughter's fiance's gg grandfather worked for - and the Ryle surname jumped out at me. But I have found Jane Harriet Ryle and her marriage to Sir Francis Sacherevel Darwin on other sites - including the infamous Wikipedia!

Seems Erasmus Darwin was a "bit of a lad" with children born to the maids, a neighbour's daughter and his second wife was pregnant with our Frank when her first husband died.

Actually, the Ryle family of Macclesfield were famous in their own right, as silk manufacturers, but I haven't been able to trace a connection yet. I have also discovered that a cousin of hubby's gggg grandmother, John Charles Ryle, was the first Anglican Bishop of Liverpool Cathedral in 1880.

I will update the tree with the main people.

Agatha, my husband doesn't look like any of the pics I've seen so far - I really need to find photos of the children of Jane Harriet and Francis Sacherevel Darwin.

Am off to see if there is room in the grave in Westminster Abbey with Charley, when hubby pops his clogs.

Margaret