EDWARD ROYDS WAS THE THIRD of the twelve children of James Royds of Falinge, Rochdale (1758-1842) and his wife Mary, daughter of Charles Smith of Summer Castle, Rochdale. He was educated at Christ's College Cambridge where he graduated in 1820, at the age of 30, having being born on 23 August 1790. This would suggest that he went up to Cambridge late after deciding to be ordained. In 1819 he presented four silver candlesticks to his college, where he was a fellow commoner.

James Royds, his father, purchased the advowson of Brereton in 1811. The sale was advertised in the Courier of 14 October 1811 in the following terms:

The incumbent, Dr William Fell, died in 1819, and Edward was presented to the living. In the same year he married Mary Molyneux, daughter of Thomas Molyneux, Mayor of Liverpool, of Newsham House, which was later sold to the Liverpool Corporation. Queen Victoria stayed there on her visit to the City, and later it became the Judge's Residence.

Edward died on 11 April 1846 at the age of 45. His son Frank relates:

By holding the rectory of Brereton for his nephew, Charles Royds was in a way repaying his brother Edward who has held Haughton in plurality for him until he was of age. I have a handsome silver dish from my cousin Violet Royds, great-granddaughter of Charles inscribed: "The gift of Mary Royds, relict of Edward Royds, later Rector of Brereton, to CHARLES SMITH ROYDS, 17 March A.D. 1845, on resigning the Rectory of Brereton to her son Edward Royds".

A memorial tablet in Brereton church reads:

Mary Royds, Edward's wife, says Frank, "was of a very retiring disposition and did not mix much in society, though all about were very kind to her and to us". In 1845, when her son Edward succeeded to the Rectory, she moved to Everton, near Liverpool, and made a home for Henry and Charles, who were in offices there, and for the younger ones, and in 1855 after her children were grown up she "took a nice house about a mile from Denbigh and was very happy there, and it was a nice place where she could have her children and grandchildren to stay with her".

In 1858 she went to Elkington, Louth, where her daughter Emily was married to the Rector, to attend her in her confinement. A daughter was born, but Emily died, and died, and Mary also contracted a serious illness which ended fatally in a few days. Her body was brought to Brereton and laid in her husband's grave in the chancel of the church on 8 December 1859. She is commemorated by a window in the Church.

Edward (1) was educated at Rugby and Brasenose College Oxford. He rowed for Oxford in 1840 and 1841. As already mentioned, he took over the living of Brereton in 1845, and remained there for until his death on 29 July 1895 at the age of 74, having been rector and patron for fifty years. He married on 7 August 1845 at Walton on the Hill, Liverpool, his first cousin Anne Mary Littledale, daughter of Thomas Littledale of Highfield House, West Derby, and grand-daughter of Thomas Molyneux of Newsham House. She died on 13 January 1896 at Springfield, Bunbury, and was buried at Brereton. She has eight children:

Edward (i), born 14 November 1847, educated Eton and Trinity Hall Cambridge, was killed in a climbing accident and commemorated in a stained glass window in Brereton Church:

Amy (ii) died unmarried on 3 January 1921 and was buried at Brookwood Cemetery. Alfred (iii), educated Winchester and Trinity Hall, succeeded his father as Rector of Brereton in 1896, after being perpetual curate of Chelford. He married on 13 August 1885 Eleanor Georgina Dixon, daughter of John Dixon of Astle by his wife Sophia, daughter of Thomas Tatton of Withenshaw. He retired to Lindhurst in 1919, where he died without issue on 15 June 1929, the last Royds rector of Brereton.

Mary Emily (iv), born 15 February 1852, married on 8 May 1883 Willoughby Brudenell Rooke of Stevenage, grandson of Anthony Littledale of Bolton Hall, York, and her second cousin. She died without issue on 18 January 1898.

Ethel (vii), born 8 July 1859, lived at Liphook, and I remember her visiting my grandmother, her first cousin, at Beaumaris in the thirties. She was a most amusing little person with a fund of anecdotes. Se died unmarried on 9 January 1943.

Katherine (viii) married on 20 August 1902 William Alexander Forbes, son of Major-General Forbes of the Bengal Army. They settled in Entre Rios, South America, and later at Ottery St Mary. She died childless on 24 April 1941.

Of the eight children, only two had a family: Ella Wordsworth (v), born 21 April 1854, married on 9 July 1890 the Revd Charles James Bradshaw, who had been a curate at Brereton from 1889-1890, and who later became vicar of Bollington. Ella died on 27 July 1910, four years before her husband. The administration of Charles's will was granted to his daughter:

Edith was described as "one of the next of kin of the deceased", so may not have been the only child, but I currently have no further details.

Netty (vi) born 8 February 1857 married on 8 June 1882 John Loring of Lonstill, Chester, and died on 11 December 1952 in her 96th year at Rest Harrow, Liphook, leaving five daughters:

Katherine (1) married Brigadier Hubert Conway Rees, CMG, DSO of Kyrewood House, Tetbury, Worcestershire. According to Who Was Who, he had three daughters. He died on 3 January 1948. He left his estate to his wife but nominated his daughter Mary Katherine to be executrix of his Will. Anne (2) never married. Winifred (3) married Colonel Adam Block of Sunrise, Massel River, Hermanus, Cape Province, South Africa. Mildred (5) married Colonel Harold W Giblin of The White House, Kyneton, Thornbury near Bristol.

Ethel (4) married Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Wilson, KCSI, CB, CBE, MC of Meadowhouse, Mains Hutton, Berwick-on-Tweed, an officer in the Army Medical Service. He died 17 July 1971, leaving two sons, of whom I have no further details at present:

Clement (2), born 8 April 1822, educated Kings College School, London, was drowned in the Mersey on 27 April 1842. He was working at the time with his twin brother Henry, my great-grandfather, in the offices of their uncles, Molyneux Taylor, merchants. He had joined a boat club, and one day he and his cousin Alfred Littledale with three others were taking a four across the river. It was a rough day and they were swamped. They turned the boat over, thinking they could cling better to it that way, but only the two holding on to the bow and stern were saved. Clement was last seen lying across the boat, but was washed off. His mother in a letter to her son Tom is Australia said:

He was buried at Walton church, the burial place of the Molyneux family, and there is a window in Brereton church "To the glory of God, and in memory of Clement Royds, died April 27th 1842 aged 20 years".

Charles James (6) born 26 August 1827 was educated at Worksop and entered the family business. He writes in 1845 "I came into Uncle Edmund's office last August . . . I like business pretty well, although I would rather be in the country." Two years later however he says "I am more and more determined every day to go out there myself, and to cut business altogether, as I do not at all like town life. I wish for (as a song I got the other day says) "A life in the woods for me"". He went out to Australia in 1851 and joined his brother Edmund at Juandah, Queensland, where they ran a sheep station for about forty years. Member for the Leichardt 1860-63 and 1868-71, he retired to England and died in Torquay in February 1918.

Edmund Molyneux (8) born 26 December 1830 writes in 1847 "I would like very much to go out to Australia, but it is a case of "Ask Mamma" who unfortunately does not approve of it. I should think it is the most delightful thing in the world. I also think that the business for which I am intended is not at all well suited for me, for a solicitor must give great application and perseverance in studies, and I am unhappily possessed of but a small portion of either, and I have also a great horror of town life." Educated at Liverpool Collegiate Institute, he went to Australia in 1849 and ran a sheep station with his brother as already mentioned. Member for the Leichardt 1864-67 and 1872-75, he retired to England and died at Stevenage on 15 July 1898.

Henry (4), Clement's twin brother, born 8 April 1822, was educated at Kings College School, London. "They used to start for their destination in the coach that passed Brereton in the middle of the night" wrote Frank "and I suppose would end their journey sometime the next evening." He then went with Clement into the family firm, and soon after was laid up for a long time with rheumatic fever, from the effects of which he suffered all his not very long life. "Saturday next is Henry's birthday," writes his mother on 6 April 1843, "and he is to dine at Mt Falinge and receive his £4,000." Evidently each of the children was given this sum by their uncle and guardian Clement, on their twenty-first birthday.

Henry's great interest was horses—"I glory in a horse" as he says in one of his letters. While recovering from rheumatic fever he had a kick in the leg: "I am under Mr Astonley, one of the most eminent surgeons in London. It is the remains of that rheumatic fever. You know I have a bad leg, caused by a kick from a horse, for two years now. It is very lucky it showed itself in that way, as if it had not come out in my leg, I should most likely have had some internal complaint. I'm thankful to say that it, that is to say the wound, is healing, though very slowly. My leg swells a good deal and I don't suppose it will aver be as small as the other. Mr Vrey says he never saw such a bad leg, except some poor man in the hospital. He said I might have been leading a most dissipated life, whereas I have been leading an extremely quiet life ever since I came here that I have not been able to go anywhere. A sort of eruption came out on my face and then scabs, so that my forehead and upper part of my face was one mass of scabs. They have all disappeared and there are very slight red marks now, but they are going fast. It was caused by the impurity of my blood."

He writes to Tom to congratulate him on his marriage, adding "I wish I was in the same way, but must wait a bit and see what turns up in the way of business. I could not afford to keep a wife comfortable here under £1,000.pr.an. so we are differently situated in that respect". In 1847 he writes to Tom about a trip in his cousin's yacht to the Isle of Man Regatta.

In 1848 he writes to announce his engagement:

Henry bought a house at Wavertree, became a JP, and raised a large family. His wife Margaret died on 7 February 1865 at the age of 38 shortly after giving birth to her ninth child. Henry was left with a family of eight children ranging from sixteen to two weeks. Understandably my grandmother used to say she never really knew her mother.

Henry married secondly on 9 June 1868 his second cousin, Ella Molyneux, the eldest daughter of Edmund Molyneux, British Consul for the state of Georgia, USA (see the Molyneux chapter below). Mary writes to Charles and Edmund in 1853:

Ella died on 10 April 1880 aged 44, and Henry on 16 December 1878, sixteen months before her, at the age of 56. Henry had ten children:

and by his second wife Ella

Clement (iv), born 14 March 1853, is described by his grandmother: "Henry's wife and family are quite well; the little boy born in March comes on very nicely and is called Clement." and again, "All the Wavertree family are staying with me, so that I have plenty of company, three noisy little girls and a baby boy, a very fine little fellow. Henry and Margaret went last night to a gay party given by the mayor at the Town Hall on finishing his Mayoralty. There was music, and works of art to look at, and, after supper, dancing. They left when dancing began as Margaret did not like to leave her little boy." Clement died on 21 June 1854 aged fifteen months. I have a bible belonging to his mother into which were stitched at the 90th psalm a lock of his auburn hair and a rose placed in his hand at his death—a touchingly pathetic example of Victorian sentimentality.

Henry (v), born 18 March 1855 and educated at Eton, was a consumptive, and emigrated to Australia for health reasons, where he had a farm at Isisford, Queensland. My grandmother had a number of his sporting trophies, and he was a great favourite of my Aunt Agnes. He died in hospital at Isisford on 25 October 1895 aged 40.

Annie (vii), born 12 November 1858, was a keen horsewoman. Her other interest included family history, brass beating and rug making. She lived with her half-sister Winifred, first at Pontefract and later at Richmond, Yorkshire, where was used to visit them during the Christmas holidays in the thirties. They lived in considerable state for two maiden ladies, maintaining a staff of cook, parlour maid, housemaid, kitchen maid, a chauffeur and three gardeners.

I always remember the continuous round of entertainment they arranged for us children, with a second Christmas dinner on New Year's Day, and it was there that I first drank sherry. Arriving in long trousers at the age of thirteen, I was told "If you are old enough to wear trousers, you are old enough to drink sherry." Annie died on 19 May 1937.

Charley (viii) was born on 3 November 1861. Educated at Rossall and Pembroke College Cambridge, he was a keen oarsman and I have two of his rowing trophies. He lived at Chester, and his dying unmarried on 23 November 1929 he left the contents of his house to his sister Annie, who passed them on to my father. I still remember the arrival from Chester of two Browns' furniture vans at our house in Felsted, and the undreamed of comfort of the Heals beds.

Winifred (x), the daughter of Henry's second marriage, born 15 April 1873, was only seven when her mother died, and the heiress to a considerable fortune from her. It was constantly impressed on her that men would try to marry her for her money, and this put her so much on her guard that she never did marry. She was brought up by the Littledales and the Allingtons, and in World War I she served as a VAD in Salonica with her niece Hester. She set up house with her sister Annie, she providing the money and Annie running the house, which she did most efficiently, being up at 6.30 each morning to ensure that their servants were about their business.

With her full lips and tightly curled hair it was believed by the family that Winifred had inherited some African blood from her American antecedents. She was a most well-read and interesting person, and used to travel regularly on the continent or cruise with the Hellenic Travellers' Club.

On her sister Annie's death, deciding that Terrace House was too big for her (it is now a hotel) she moved to Westfield, Minchimhampton. She told me that she chose the area because it was nearer to London for her continental trips, and at the same time the Cotswolds reminded her of Yorkshire, but she subsequently regretted it as the war broke out soon after she moved, and cut off by petrol rationing she lived a rather lonely life there. Being unaccustomed to running a household, she was very much under the thumb of her servants, now reduced to a cook and a maid apart from her faithful chauffeur Hugill for whom she built a cottage. I used to visit her after the war, and she always made me thoroughly at home. She died on 17 April 1950, and left her house and its splendid contents to my father.

As none of Henry's sons married and had children, his married daughters, with whom we now deal, were all heraldic heiresses and so their descendants are entitled to quarter the Royds coat of arms with their own.

Mary Petrena (i), whose second name came from her grandfather Peter Bourne, was born on 26 April 1849 at Elm House, Wavertree, and married on 25 April 1867 at Childwall, Lancashire, Thomas Brocklebank of The Roscote, Heswall, second son of Ralph Brocklebank of Childwall Hall, JP DL. Tom, High Sheriff of Cheshire 1901, JP, Chairman of the Neston Bench, was a banker by profession. Chairman of the North and South Wales Bank, he was also Director of the Exchange Company of Liverpool and a Senior Trustee of the Liverpool Savings Bank. A keen sportsman, he was a member of Ranelagh, a regular huntsman and a member of the Burlington Fine Arts Club. He had a fine private art gallery containing nine Turners, three Canalettos and pictures by Botticelli, Carpaccio and Holman Hunt, among others, while his hobbies included ornamental turning, drawing and photography.

Tom had a second house in Florence, the Villa San Leonardo, on the South Bank of the Arno between San Miniato and Bellosguardo, and latterly lived at Wateringbury Place, Kent, where he died on 18 February 1919.

Petrena visited the villa annually after her husband's death, and used it as a rest home for anglo-catholic clergy, being herself a staunch anglo-catholic. Geoffrey Carlisle told me that he and his wife had lunch there once, and that he did not think that she really approved of married clergy! She was always accompanied by her lady's maid Edmonds, and when she visited her sister Margaret, my grandmother, at Beaumaris, she would stay not with us but at the Bulkeley Arms Hotel. She would invite us children to lunch there, and give us the then princely sum of five shillings each as we left. She was a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an adviser on the King's Picture Gallery. She died on 15 May 1937, when the Villa San Leonardo was sold to Caruso's widow. She had seven children:

Wilfred (2) educated Eton and Christ Church Oxford, was vicar of Longbridge Deverell, Wiltshire. He was my brother's godfather, but sadly died the year after Harry was born. My mother remembered seeing in his vicarage the Canalettos which he inherited from his father. He purchased the vicarage house from the church, and after his death it went to his nephew Denys. Winifred died unmarried on 13 November 1926—no doubt his mother approved of his bachelor status.

Ralph (3), born 13 November 1870, educated at Eton, served as a Major in the Royal Liverpool Rifles in World War I. He married on 23 April 1896 his mother's first cousin Constance Alington Royds (Connie), daughter of Revd Nat Royds, and lived at Haughton Hall, Bunbury, where a tablet in the church commemorates him as a benefactor. He died on 13 February 1921 having like his father had seven children:

Ralph, educated Eton, died of wounds in France on 16 May 1917. Denys, educated Eton, Commander RN, served in both wars. He married on 10 September 1924 Kathleen Lindsay, daughter of Colonel Walter Charles Lindsay MVO by his wife Lady Kathleen Butler, only daughter of the 6th Earl of Carrick, and died on 22 February 1947 leaving four children:

Ralph (2), the present Head of the Family, was educated at Lakefield, Ontario, during the war and at Trinity College Cambridge. He married on 8 February 1954 Beryl Seabury of Wollaston, Syourbridge, and has one son:

Ralph has also four adopted children:

Eve (1) married Anthony Victor Haye on 30 December 1952 and has six children:

Anne (3) married on 16 February 1962 John Ronald Linsay Antrobus, son of Lt. Col. Ronald Henry Antrobus MC, RA, by his wife Muriel Kathleen, granddaughter of Sir Swinnerton Halliday Dyer, tenth baronet, and had two children:

The marriage was dissolved in 1960 and Anne married secondly on 1 April 1961 Maurice Stanley Gooding.

Una (4) married on 27 August 1960 Christopher John Lewers, and has three children:

Richard Philip (iv), FRIBA, educated Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, married on 9 June 1926 Mary Margaret MacNabb, daughter of the Revd James Frederick ManNabb, and died on 23 December 1951, leaving two children:

John Philip (1), chartered accountant,. married on 28 March 1958 Ann, daughter of Harold Barningham, and has three children:

Gillian (2) married on 23 August 1958 John Richard La Touche Corrie, late of Burmah Shell, son of Sir Owen Cecil Kirkpatrick Corrie MC, and had three children:

Giles (v), educated Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, served in the Royal Artillery from 1935 to 1954 (MC 1943, DSO 1945). He retired with the honorary rank of Lt Colonel and took orders, serving as vicar of Lacock from 1959 to 1971. A very keen family historian, he produced in 1952 a revised edition of the Royds Family Pedigree. He married on 9 June 1938 Kathleen Enid, daughter of Major Jack Becke, CBE, Chief Constable of Cheshire, and died in 1978 leaving four children:

Peter (1) educated Eton, a chartered accountant, married Sarah Penelope Scarlett-Streatfield and has two children:

Diana (2) married Dr Micheal Wheatley Price and has two children:

Michael (3) educated Eton is a solicitor. Bridget (4) is married to Gordon Richard Donaldson and has a daughter:

Christpher (vii) married Evelyn Doris Pavitt and has three children:

Henry Cecil (sic?) Royds (4), Captain RN, CBE (1919) DL and JP Wilts, JP Dorset, served in World War I in 6th and 10th cruiser squadrons, and as naval attaché the Hague, Chevalier Legion d'Honneur, educated HMS Britannia, married 22 February 1900 Honoria Caroline, daughter of Captain William Henry Lewin RN, and died 30 June 1957 leaving:

Angie (iv) is a keen gardener and lives in Midhurst. Thomas Anthony (i), educated Eton and Trinity College Cambridge was a master at Eton 1934-61 (house master 1946-59) and a member of the 1933 Mount Everest expedition. He married Avril Cecil (Jane) daughter of Cecil G Alder, and has issue:

Thomas Daniel (1), educated Eton, married Barbara Irene Mumby. Caroline Jane married Revd Bernard Rex Davis of New South Wales and has two children:

Sarah (3) married 1963 Dr Robert Hugh Craig Catty, son of Brigadier Thomas Claude Catty, CMG, DSO.

Margaret Petrena (ii) married 5 August 1926 Lt Gen. Sir Euan Miller KCB, KBE, DSO, MC, late of KRRC and had issue:

Susan (1) married 5 September 1952 John Clay and has issue:

Philippa (v) married 29 June 1935 Wade Toby Caulfield, son of Vice-Admiral Francis Wade Caulfield, CBE, descendant of 1st Viscount Charlemont. They have two children:

Richard Hugh Royds, DSO (1919) DL, JP Warks, educated Eton and Magdalen College Oxford, served in 9th Queen's Royal Lancers in South Africa and in World War I (mentioned in despatches) retired 1921, married 14 September 1910 Charlotte Carissia, daughter of General Sir Bindon Blood GCB, GCVO, and had three children:

John (ii) educated Eton and Magdalen College Oxford was killed in action in Italy on 8 November 1943 while serving as a Lieutenant Grenadier Guards. Ursula (iii) married 1 December 1934 John Strutt, 5th Baron Rayleigh.

Sir Clement Edmund Royds (7) educated Eton and Magdalen College Oxford, was MP for East Nottingham 1924-29 and for Fairfield Division of Liverpool 1921(sic?)-45, was PPS to various under secretaries and ministers, KB 1937. He married on 15 March 1927 (Lucy) Grace, daughter of Arthur John Wise, and died on 24 August 1949 leaving issue:

Margaret, Henry's second child, was educated at Chaillot in Paris. She married my grandfather Sydney Henry Armitstead on 7 October 1875 at Holy Trinity, Wavertree, and details of their family have been given in chapter 1. A very active person, an indefatigable sportswoman and sightseer, she swam the Menai Straits after her husband's retirement to Anglesey, and used to ride her tricycle until she was eighty. She was a wonderful old lady, devoted to her grandchildren, and Beaumaris was our second home in the twenties and thirties—she moved there from Glyn Garth after her husband's death, and lived at Chauntry House, which was big enough for her to be able to entertain her grandchildren and their parents.

One of her greatest pleasures was to go out in her rowing boat which she had brought from Cheshire. It was more suitable for the river Dee than the tidal waters of the Straits, and needed a coxwain on the rudder, but we had many an enjoyable outing in it. She died on 21 March 1937 having suffered two strokes, the first in 1930 from which she largely recovered by sheer determination.

Dora, always referred to by my grandmother as "Dearest D", was married, in a joint wedding with her, to Charles Assheton Whately Pownall, son of the Ven, Assheton Pownall, Archdeacon of Leicester. He was an engineer and built the Japanese Railways. Aunt Dora was very Victorian in her outlook, and once scolded my Aunt Hester as a brazen hussey for having a hand mirror on her dressing table. Dora died on 3 February 1929 leaving two children:

Assheton (1), born 3 October 1877, educated Rugby, was Conservative MP for East Lewisham from 1918 until 1945. In 1943 he appeared in a series of caricatures of MPs in Punch with the clerihew:

An OBE, he was knighted for political services in 1926. He married in Lichfield Cathedral Florence Hester Cowell, a delightful Irish girl, and had a daughter Margery who married . . . . Jackson. Assheton died on 29 October 1953. His obituary appeared in The Times on 31 October 1953:

The Revd FC Royds married Cornelia Frances Blomfield, a member of the Massie family which has been covered in that section of this site. Described by her grandson Philip Gribble as a delightful and petite daughter of a branch of the Blomfield family, Cornelia died on 12 December 1919 aged 90 and was buried at Penmaenmawr. She ans Francis had ten children, whose descendants are my cousins twice over:

Frances (2) and Ellen (3) died unmarried. Frank (4) born 14 November 1856 was educated at Rossall and joined the Royal Navy in 1870. He served in HMS Agingcourt, HMS Achillies, and was in HMS Bacchante on her first voyage round the world. He then joined HMS Carysfort and took part in the Suez Canal operations in 1882, serving with the Naval Brigade of the British Expedition from Trinkiat, and was killed at El Teb. The following memorials were erected to him:

In Coddington Church, a brass tablet inscribed:

In the same church, a window dedicated:

In Rossall School Chapel:

In the Anglican Church, Alexandria, a brass tablet inscribed:

Edmund (7), born 6 July 1860, educated Haileybury, was a solicitor and MP, and his career is summed up in the following obituary from The Times of 1 April 1946:

There were two children:

Alice (1) born 6 January 1853 at Parkgate, married the Revd John Aneurin Howell, vicar of Penmaenmawr, on 3 October 1883 at Coddington. Son of the Revd David Howell, vicar of Wrexham, John was incumbent of Penmaenmawr 1881-1895, and of St Bede, Toxteth Park, Liverpool from 1895 until his death in 1909. There were three children:

Edith (5) was born at Coddington on 1 January 1858 and married on 3 June 1880 Archibald Peyton Skipwith, grandson of the eighth baronet, by whom she had two children:

Frank (i), a Major Royal Scots Fusiliers, married 9 November 1909 the Hon. Bridget Vera Byng, daughter of the 8th Viscount Torrington, and was killed in action in September 1915 leaving two children:

Nanette (1) born 5 August 1910 married on 17 March 1854 Lt Colonel John Brett, Royal Garwhal Rifles and Colonial Administration Service. Cynthia (2) born 30 July 1912, married on 15 June 1933 Desmond Louis Shaw Smith of Dublin and has issue.

Nora (ii) married on 12 July 1912 Commander the Lord George Seymour, fourth son of the sixth Marquess of Hertford, and died 21 September 1959 having had four children:

Paul (1) born 16 May 1911, Squadron-Leader RAF, was killed in action in November 1942. He married on 16 October 1937 Hilda Mary Crickmay and left one son:

George (2) born 5 August 1912, Lt Colonel Royal Scots Fusiliers, married on 3 August Hilda Elizabeth Philips. Her grandfather, the first baronet, Sir Lionel Philips, was associated with the Transvaal gold-mining industry and closely identified with the political development of South Africa. IN 1896 he was arrested on a charge of high treason and sentenced to death, but later released. He returned to England, became High Sheriff for Hampshire in 1908, and was created baronet in 1912. George, MC, died on 12 July 1953, and his son

Patricia (3) married on 23 November 1933 the Revd Emmanuel Theodore Casdagli , and had one son:

Frank (4), born 5 December 1925, a Lieutenant RN in the 1939-45 war, was killed in action in July 1944, unmarried.

Archibald Skipwith died on 28 December 1883 in Melbourne, Australia, and Edith married secondly on 21 January 1888 Major Reginald Curtis Toogood, Royal Scots Fusiliers, who served in the Sudan 1884-85 (medal with clasp and bronze star) and the Burmese expedition 1886-87 (mention in despatches). He died 3 June 1939, and Edith on 20 January 1943.

Norah (6), born 5 April 1859, married on 27 July 1881 George James Gribble, of Hans Place, London. She had six children:

Phyllis (i) married Wolverly Fordham and died childless, and Norah le Grand died unmarried.

Julian (vi), born in 1897, was educated at Eton "where he was a good all-rounder with endless friends, left there in 1916 and joined the 10th battalion Warwickshire Regiment. In March 1918 he showed exceptional gallantry in covering the withdrawal of his own brigade, and also the garrison of Harnes and three batteries of Field Artillery from the Beaumetz to Harmies Ridge. He was left for dead, apparently shot through the head, and was awarded what was thought to be a posthumous Victoria Cross."

The citation to the VC in the London Gazette of 28 June 1918 runs:

"Subsequently", Philip continues, "it was discovered that his wound was a scalp wound which had only stunned him, and afterwards he was a prisoner of war in Mainz, and, to my mother’s everlasting grief, he died there on Armistice Day, a victim of Spanish Influenza then sweeping Europe. Many millions died, and their deaths far exceeded the total casualties of the whole war. My mother was broken hearted. She went into a spiritual decline and never recovered a balanced view of life. The early death of my sister Lesley after a few years of marriage had much affected my mother. She believed that Lesley’s death was due to carelessness and she brooded over this loss. Julian’s death, again, as she thought, due to neglect, seemed to break down her final defences. She was the victim of regret and mourning throughout the remainder of her not very long life.

Before her own death in 1923 Norah produced The Book of Julian, a biography of her VC son, including all the letters he wrote to her, from his prep school days up to the time when he was a prisoner of war.

Philip Gribble (v), born 6 May 1891, tells us quite a lot about his home and his mother in the early part of his Off the Cuff:

In fact, of course, Norah’s father Frank was a son of the Brereton family, but the royal descents came through the Massies. His father, Philip goes on to say,

Philip was educated privately owing to ill-health. In the first war he served in the flying corps. A brilliant financier, in the twenties he founded the Rhodesian Tobacco Company. He relates in his book how, a year before his father’s death,

Philip was also a successful horse breeder, and in the second war he published the Diary of a Staff Officer which deals with his experiences with the BEF in France before Dunkirk. He then served as a war correspondent with the News Chronicle. He married first Morwenna McNeil, daughter of Robert McNeil, MP for Canterbury, Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office under Curzon, and later first Lord Cushendun. She died without issue on 17 September 1924, and he married secondly in June 1925 Joyce Lyall. They had three children:

David (3) was born on 4 October 1932. His father relates:

David in fact succeeded me at Repton when I left there to come to Dartmouth, and it was three years later that he went to Dartington. He married first Jenny Davies, by whom he had two children, Emma and Nathaniel, and secondly Lynette Lewis, mother of his other two children Sam and Toby, all four children being educated at Dartington.

Jane (2) married David Gault and has five children, Annabel, Katie, married to Tony Bateman, Charles, William and Richard.

Philip subsequently eloped with and married Anthea . . . . , the marriage ending in divorce. He married fourthly Jean MacFarlane and had a second son Aylmer, who is married with two children.

Leslie Gribble (iii) married in 1904 Hugh Exton Seebohm, of the well-known Quaker family, son of the lawyer and author Frederic Seebohm by his wife Mary Ann Exton. She died on 20 September 1913 leaving four children:

Derrick (1), born 14 January 1907, educated Rugby and Trinity College Cambridge, served in World War II at the Ministry of Economic Warfare, married 18 July 1933 Patricia Mary Peel, JP, and has three children:

Fidelity (i) born 4 June 1934, married on 30 June 1957 Davis Russell Brooks and has issue:

Jennifer (ii) born 6 May 1936 married on 14 February 1958 John Reynolds Davies and had five children:

Alison (iii) born 5 May 1939 married first Frank Vladimir Svitanovich of Canada (marriage dissolved by divorce), and secondly Ray Austin an has two children:

Frederick (2), born 19 January 1909, educated Leighton Park and Trinity College Cambridge, entered Barclay’s Bank in 1929. He was Lt Colonel RA in World War II (mentioned in despatches), Assistant Chief of Operations, Air Defence Division, SHAEF 1944-45, Bronze Star USA, TD, JP, Hon LLD Nottingham, High Sheriff of Hertfordshire 1970, Knight Bachelor 1970, Life Peer 1972. He married on 9 April 1932 Evangeline Hurst, daughter of Judge Sir Gerald Berkeley Hurst. The following obituary appeared in The Times following his death in 1990:

Frederick’s wife also died in 1990, leaving three children:

Richard (i), born 5 July 1933, educated Winchester, Magdelane College Cambridge and Magdelan College Oxford, D.Phil 1964, Principal HM Treasury, married 14 April 1966 Margaret Evelyne Hok, and has four children:

Victoria (ii), born 23 April 1937 is a distinguished writer and journalist (insert here details from Who’s Who) . She married first on 6 September 1958 Professor Oliver Nigel Valentine Glendinning of Dublin (married dissolved by divorce) and has four children:

Caroline (iii) married first Roger John Smith (marriage dissolved by divorce 1967) and secondly in 1974 Walyet H Lippincott of Ithaca, New York.

George (3), Frederick’s twin brother, educated Leighton Park married on 20 September 1946 (marriage dissolved by divorce 1966) Lavender Jane Strickland, daughter of General Sir Peter Strickland KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO, and his wife Dame Barbara Ffolkes. There were four children:

Fidelity (4), born in 1912, JP, married on 26 July 1932 John David Gathorne-Hardy, 4th Earl of Cranbrook (who was previously married to Bridget D’Oyly Carte) and had five children:

Gathorne (i), 5th Earl of Cranbrook, FLS, FZS, MBOU, PhD was born 20 June 1933, educated Eton and Corpus Christi College Cambridge is an eminent zoologist (insert here details from Who’s Who). He married on 9 May 1967 Caroline Jarvis, daughter of Col Ralph George Edward Jarvis of Doddington Hall, Lincoln, and has three children:

Hugh (ii), born 30 December 1941 educated Eton and Corpus Christi College Cambridge, married in 1971 Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of William Nigel Ritchie, and has four children:

Juliet (iii), born 12 December 1934, married on 30 August 1958 Charles Colin Simpson TD (marriage dissolved by divorce 1970) and has four children:

Sophia (iv), born 11 March 1936, married on 13 July 1957 Simon Robert Jasper Meade, and has five children:

Christina (v), born 1 May 1940, educated Homerton Teacher’s Training College, Cambridge, married on 11 June 1967 Stanley Edward Letanka MRCS, LRCP, of Pepsall End, Pepperstock, Luton and has three children:

Barbara Gribble (iv) married Eustace Hill. Rather sketchy details of their descendants are shown in the table. Vivien Massie Gribble (v) married Douglas Doyle-Jones and had a daughter Cressida.

Mary Royds, born 2 August 1861, married on 1 February 1882 Charles Stewart Carlisle. She died on 7 November 1945, having had seven children:

George (i), born 28 November 1882, was Vicar of Holmes Chapel from 1922-29, the patron being his cousin John Armitstead. Subsequently he was Rector of Spenley and Hon Canon of St Albans. He married Joan Burden and had three children:

Penelope (1) is retired after spending thirty years as a missionary in Uganda. Judy (2) trained as a nurse at Barts and married Dr Micheal Montagnon, a medical practitioner in Newport. They have four children:

Mary (i) started as a teacher, and then married Andrew Allen, a chemical engineer in Reading. They have two children:

Ruth (ii) after graduating worked in a bank and is married to Stephen Jones, an electrical engineer, and lives near Buckingham. They have two children:

Sarah qualified as a doctor at St George’s Hosptital in 1980 and married a doctor, David Marshall. They live in London working in hospitals.

Elizabeth (3) married David Booth who works at the Institute of Education. They have two children:

Thomas Roger Massie Carlisle (ii), born 10 October 1883, married Maud Cowan. A Major in the Royal Field Artillery, DSO, he took part in the siege of Kut. He died without issue on 14 April 1962.

Evelyn Rose (iii), born 27 March 1885, married Ralph Barbour and had four children:

Hugh (1), born 3 March 1915, died unmarried 27 October 1941. Lynette (2), born 11 May 1916, is unmarried. David (3), born 30 September 1919, married Eileen Mary May on 5 June 1943 and has four children:

Ann (i), born 24 March 1944, married Philip Douglas Crockalt on 8 April 1972 and has four children:

Andrew (ii), born 11 November 1947, married Penelope Rose Love on 15 September 1969 and has two children:

Lynette Mary (iii), born 15 December 1950 is unmarried and Robert (iv), born 11 May 1954 married Elaine Jean Seagar on 22 December 1979.

Frank Royds Carlisle (iv), born 21 December 1886, lived for fifty years in Montevideo working in Carlisle and Co. He married Renee Bankier and died on 4 August 1958 having had four children:

Gerald (1), born on 11 February 1914 died on 10 April 1964. Ronald (2), born 22 July 1915 was married and had a child, is now deceased. I have no further details. Yvonne (3), born 10 February 1917, married Jack Ledenburg and had three children:

Adelaide (4), born 27 September 1921, married . . . . . Cabelleros.

Charles Valentine Carlisle (v), born 21 February 1888, married Meriquita . . . . . He was a partner in Royds Rawstorne and Co, solicitors. He died on 19 January 1958 having had three children:

Philip Edmund Carlisle (vi), born 12 October 1889, worked in Carlisle and Co. He married Mary Gamon and died on 12 November 1980 having had four children:

Sylvia (1), born 28 November 1919, married John Knowles and has a daughter:

Edmund (2), born 8 July 1922, is a farmer and MP. He made some controversial remarks at the time of the Falklands crisis. He married Rosemary Thursby-Pelham and has three children:

Rachel (3), born 26 October 1923 married Berry Crewe Sloane and has three children:

Mark (4), now Lord Carlisle of . . . . . . etc (insert details from Who’s Who), educated Radley and Manchester University, Minister of Education in the Thatcher Government, married Sandra Joyce Des Voeux and has a daughter:

Geoffrey Townshend Carlisle (vii), born 7 July 1899, was vicar of Buxton and then Master of St Cross, Winchester. He married Ethel Menzies and has two children:

Evelyn, 9th child of Frank and Cornelia Royds, was born on 14 September 1863 and married on 3 April 1888 Hugh Aldersey of Aldersey and Spurstow Hall. He was her first cousin, and details of her family are given in the Massie chapter above.

Agatha, the youngest of Frank’s ten children, married on 16 January 1890 James Steuart. She died on 27 September 1938 leaving a daughter.

Ann Mary, born 16 May 1829, married at Walton on 10 November 1852 the Revd Canon John Herbert Jones, fellow of Jesus College Cambridge. John Jones was vicar of St Augustine's, Liverpool from 1847 to 1865, and subsequently of St John's, Waterloo near Liverpool. He was the author of a semon entitled "God's voice in the cholera", and lived to the age of 85, having retired to Southport. In April 1861 the census shows the couple living at 58 Everton Road, together with two housemiads, a cook, a nurse and baby son Oswald, as yet unnamed, and captured at a moment in his tragically short life. Their other children were staying with Annie Molyneux, their great uncle Edmund's widow at Childwall Hall, a substantial Nash House near Wavertree. One can imagine that they were sent off to stay near their cousins, Henry Royds' children, in order to give their mother some rest. In addition to two stillborn boys and two stillborn girls, Ann and John's children were:

Edward (1), born 12 December 1853, educated Malvern College, won a scholarship to Jesus College, Cambridge, and graduated as 35th Wranagler (his father had been 18th). He was ordained, and after serving as curate at St Mary Magdelene, Richmond, Surrey (1879-83) and St Saviour's, Denmark Park (1884-84) he was appointed vicar of Rolveden in Kent, where he stayed until 1892. He was then vicar of St Philip's, Batersea before finally becoming vicar of Hollingbourne in Kent in 1908, a position he held until his death in 1930.

Clement (2), born 22 October 1855, became a doctor and married Ellen Atkins on 24 June 1896 at Banbury. He appears to have changed his name from Jones to Royds-Jones, as the latter surname has been used by all his descendants. He died in Bournmouth on 17 January 1952, aged 96, and Ellen died on 31 December 1956, the day after her 99th birthday. They had two sons:

Herbert (i), born 7 November 1897, was educated at London University and became a doctor. He died unmarried on 2 August 1961.

Edward Melville (ii), born 13 January 1899, was educated at London University and ordained. He also appears to have had a career as a Civil Engineer. He married on 16 August 1944 Mary Oxtoby of Beverley, Yorkshire. He died a week short of his 95th birthday on 6 January 1995 leaving three children:

Paul (1), born 14 July 1946, was educated at London University and is a Civil Engineer. He married Sarah Coward of Rottingdean and has two children:

Jonathan (2), born 4 September 1949 at Manor Cottage, Fareham, was educated at London Univeristy and, like his grandfather and uncle, entered the medical profession. He is now a General Practitioner in Three Bridges, near Crawley. He married firstly, on 20 July 1974, Maureen Elizabeth Betts, a nurse and midwife. They have three children:

He married secondly, on 5 May 1989 Allison Turple.

Gundreda (2), born 4 June 1951 was adopted. She married Timothy Whately of New Milton and had two children:

Emily, born 6 February 1834 married at Brereton on 14 April 1858 the Revd James Grenville Smyth, vicar of South Elkington, Lincolnshire, and died on 23 November the following year, presumably in childbirth as she left only one child. There is a window in Brereton church "Emily Smyth, died Nov 23, 1859, aged 25 years." James Smyth died nearly 50 years later, on 15 March 1907. In his will he left all his property to his daughter Emily Mary Stanford, presumably Emily Royds’s daughter.

Nathanael, the youngest child of Edward and Mary Royds, was born 23 March 1836 and educated at Rugby and Trinity College Cambridge. He was vicar of Moggerhanger 1863-64, and rector of Little Barford for 42 years, from 1864 until his retirement in 1906. He died on 23 February 1921 in his 87th year.

Nat was married twice. His first wife was Emily Alington, grand-daughter of Sir Thomas Plumer, Master of the Rolls. She married him on 13 January 1863, and died under three years later, on 3 October 1865, having produced one son and one daughter, neither of whom lived more than a year. His second wife was Hester Frances Alington, daughter of the Revd John Alington rector of Candlesby, Lincolnshire, by whom they had eleven children:

Margaret (1) born 5 January 1869 married on 18 January 1893 Captain Henry Preedy RN who served in the Zulu War in 1879. She had one child who died young, and herself died on 18 July 1949. Mary (2), born 15 April 1870, married on 30 July 1904 the Revd Charles Stuart Gmelin, for many years headmaster of Summerfields preparatory school, Oxford. She died without issue at Oxford on 22 April 1951. Nattie (3), born 2 August 1870 died unmarried on 10 March 1962. Mabel, born 3 April 1874, married Stephen Lumsden RSA at Old St Paul's, Edinburgh, and died on 22 October 1941 leaving issue of whom I have no details.

Edward (6), born 18 October 1875, educated Rossall, AMICE, worked in the National Irrigation Department. He married on 1 January 1913 Elizabeth Armstrong, and was killed in car crash on 25 July 1915 having had two children:

Nat (1) was born 24 October 1913 in Graaff Reinet, Cape Province, South Africa, but was educated in England at Shrewsbury and Trinity College Cambridge. He then returned to South Africa, and married Elizabeth Cleaver Armstrong in Durban on 6 December 1941. She was the first cousin of her husband's mother Anne Armstrong. They have three children:

Edward (2) was also educated in England, at Radley and Trinity College Cambridge. He served as a major in Hodson's Horse, retiring to Ireland, in 1947. He married Nora Charlotte Formby. He had three children:

Charlotte (ii) married . . . . . Fitzherbert, and has two children:

Dorothy (7), born 28 August 1877, married John Morgan Parker on 27 August 1921 and died without issues. Bridget (8), born 28 May 1879, married John Austen Hubback KCSI. She was awarded the Kaiser-i-Hind Medal in 1939, and died without issue in Winchester on 31 March 1964.

John Alington (9), born 7 January 1881, educated Haileybury, AMICE, served as Major in World War I (MC 1917, mentioned in despatches). He was headmaster of Holmwood School, Formby, 1924-48. He married Anne Elizabeth, the widow of his brother Edward (6 above) on 3 July 1922, and retired to South Africa.

Phyllis Alington, born 26 October 1882, served with the VAD in World War I, and was Assistant County Commissioner Red Cross 1944-48. She lived in Cheyne Walk when I knew her, and subsequently moved to Cambridge where she died.

Thomas Alington (11), born 23 October 1884, educated Haileybury and HMS Conway, was killed in action on 20 April 1918 as a 2nd Lieut. RAF, and was buried in the military cemetery at Toutincourt, France.

My grandmother had nine brothers and sisters, 34 first cousins on the Royds side and 16 in the Bourne side, a total of 59, and she kept in touch with a large number of them. Today the Royds of Brereton lines survives in the male line in Australia, South Africa and Ireland, while the Bournes have no male line descendants.