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| edward_i_butler_morres_and_lodge_families [2023/11/10 14:48] – judith | edward_i_butler_morres_and_lodge_families [2025/01/18 20:47] (current) – judith |
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| ===== 1. Royalty ===== | ===== 1. Royalty ===== |
| For the Murray-Priors of the late 19th and early 20th century, their chief 'castle in the air' was their royal ‘blood line’. Robert M-P, Thomas Bertram M-P and TLM-P's grandson Robert Hickson each demonstrated that the family could be traced back to various royalty including [[wp>Cerdic_of_Wessex|King Cerdic]] (d. 534), Emperor [[wp>Charlemagne|Charlemagne]] and [[wp>Edward_I_of_England|King Edward I]].((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, ms written 1901-05 NLA Nq929.2M984;Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d.; R.R.B. Hickson, //The Historic Family Tree of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior//, Sydney: R. Hickson, 1980.)) That TLM-P was a 'direct descendant of Edward I' was considered important enough to figure in his entry in //The Australian Encyclopaedia//.((Sydney: The Grolier Society, date?, Vol. VI, pp.205-06.)) Even the Royal Geographical Society of Australia joined in, with the 1953 publication in their //Queensland Geographical Journal// of Isobel Hannah’s ‘The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster General of Queensland’.((Vol. LV, no 41.)) The following chart is from that article, headed 'Royal Descent' and highlighting the Jardines as well as Murray-Priors, is a good example how selective a line of descent could be.\\ | For the Murray-Priors of the late 19th and early 20th century, their chief 'castle in the air' was their royal ‘blood line’. Robert M-P, Thomas Bertram M-P and TLM-P's grandson Robert Hickson each demonstrated that the family could be traced back to various royalty including [[wp>Cerdic_of_Wessex|King Cerdic]] (d. 534), Emperor [[wp>Charlemagne|Charlemagne]] and [[wp>Edward_I_of_England|King Edward I]].((Robert M-P, The Blood Royal of the Murray-Priors, ms written 1901-05 NLA Nq929.2M984; Thomas Bertram M-P, Some Australasian Families Descended from Royalty, ms, n.d.; R.R.B. Hickson, //The Historic Family Tree of Thomas Lodge Murray-Prior//, Sydney: R. Hickson, 1980.)) It is very difficult to obtain irrefutable evidence of descent going back so many generations and at least one authority considered that Rowan Hickson's family tree was flawed as 'many of the pedigrees which he has compiled are inaccurate and follow secondary sources and 19th century errors.'((The MacCarthy Mór, Prince of Desmond, letter to Her Majesty Queen Susan of the Albanians, 22 August 1988, courtesy Fiona & Emma Cullen-Ward)). In the past, that TLM-P was a 'direct descendant of Edward I' was considered important enough to figure in his entry in //The Australian Encyclopaedia//.((Sydney: The Grolier Society, date?, Vol. VI, pp.205-06.)) Even the Royal Geographical Society of Australia joined in, with the 1953 publication in their //Queensland Geographical Journal// of Isobel Hannah’s ‘The Royal Descent of the First Postmaster General of Queensland’.((Vol. LV, no 41, pp.11-17.)) The following chart from that article is titled 'Royal Descent' and highlights the Jardines as well as Murray-Priors. It is a good example how selective a line of descent could be.\\ |
| {{:qld_geo_j_royal_descent_chart.jpg?500|}} | {{:qld_geo_j_royal_descent_chart.jpg?500|}} |
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| Typically of many family legends, there is another version of the story. Jemima M-P told her step-brother TLM-P that their father, when he was 17 years old and in the army, was quartered over a stable belonging to the Marquis of Ormond. As the Marquis considered Thomas a kinsman, he arranged for him to stay in the Castle with the family, which included Lady Eva Butler. It ended with Thomas being sent away and 'Lady Eva being locked up ... [and she later] married, ran away from her husband, was divorced and ended her life in a show cottage W. Llangollen in Wales, living with a sister.'((TLM-P, Diary, 4 June 1882)) It is a fascinating mishmash as it links the family to the famous story of two women (Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby) who rejected and/or were rejected by, all male suitors and made several attempts to run away together. They eventually succeeded and lived happily sharing a four-poster bed in their cottage in Llangollen, Wales, gaining a reputation as delightful eccentrics. Alas for a good story, there is no evidence that young Thomas (or any man) ever seduced Eleanor/Eva.((Elizabeth Mavor, //The Ladies of Llangollen// (Penguin Classic Biography), 2002.))\\ | Typically of many family legends, there is another version of the story. Jemima M-P told her step-brother TLM-P that their father, when he was 17 years old and in the army, was quartered over a stable belonging to the Marquis of Ormond. As the Marquis considered Thomas a kinsman, he arranged for him to stay in the Castle with the family, which included Lady Eva Butler. It ended with Thomas being sent away and 'Lady Eva being locked up ... [and she later] married, ran away from her husband, was divorced and ended her life in a show cottage W. Llangollen in Wales, living with a sister.'((TLM-P, Diary, 4 June 1882)) It is a fascinating mishmash as it links the family to the famous story of two women (Lady Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby) who rejected and/or were rejected by, all male suitors and made several attempts to run away together. They eventually succeeded and lived happily sharing a four-poster bed in their cottage in Llangollen, Wales, gaining a reputation as delightful eccentrics. Alas for a good story, there is no evidence that young Thomas (or any man) ever seduced Eleanor/Eva.((Elizabeth Mavor, //The Ladies of Llangollen// (Penguin Classic Biography), 2002.))\\ |
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| | There is yet another Butler story (though no suggestion of ex-nuptial birth) cited on [[https://janeaustensworld.com/tag/gretna-green/|Jane Austen's world]] from //The Court Journal: Gazette of the Fashionable World//, 319, Windsor, 5 June 1835, p.357: "**Another Elopement**–A considerable sensation has been created in Dublin by the disappearance of the lovely daughter of Sir Thomas Butler, of county Carlow, with Captain Gosset, son of the Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant. An attachment had existed between the parties for some time, but the friends of both were averse to the marriage, in consequence, it is said, of “almighty love” being their only patrimony. The lady is one of ten children." It is possible a garbled version of this story fed into the rumours around a Butler-Murray-Prior baby.\\ |
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| The verdict? Most likely, Elizabeth Marks had nothing to do with the Murray-Priors or Butlers, though possibly an affair between Andrew R. M-P and Lady Sarah Butler that resulted in a baby did occur.\\ | The verdict? Most likely, Elizabeth Marks had nothing to do with the Murray-Priors or Butlers, though possibly an affair between Andrew R. M-P and Lady Sarah Butler that resulted in a baby did occur.\\ |