Mitchell / PRICHARD engagement

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 7 September 2018: Mr D.J. Mitchell and Miss L.H. Prichard - The engagement is announced between David, son of Mr and Mrs David Mitchell, of Dumbarton, and Lucy, daughter of Colonel and Mrs Rupert Prichard, of Herefordshire.

Lucy Hermione (b 1989 reg Hampshire) d of Col Rupert R P PRICHARD (b 1955 reg Oxfordshire) and Catherine A (b 1955) d of Group Capt John Arthur Guinness SLESSOR CVO DL RAF (1925-2008, scion of the GUINNESS Irish gentry family) and Ann Dorothea GIBSON.

[G. Willis]

Some details of the Prichard family:

Rupert Rowland Playfair Prichard 2nd s. of Francis Hesketh Prichard (1925-2014), educ. Brasenose Coll., Oxon., Latin and history master (and housemaster), St Edward's Sch., Oxford, formerly at Summer Fields, by his wife (m. 1951), Patricia E. (née Morgan), widow of Douglas E. Cran.

Francis Hesketh Prichard s. of Henry Montague Prichard (1887-1965), M.A. (Brasenose Coll., Oxon.), of The Gate House, Lower Ufford, Woodbridge, Suffolk, formerly of the Indian Civil Service (res. Assam), who m. 1919, Agnes, dau. of Harry Playfair, of Sonapur tea estate, Kamrup, Assam- possibly a link to the (Lyon) Playfair family?

H. M. Prichard eldest s. of Rev. Charles Collwyn Prichard (1847-1918), M.A. (Brasenose Coll., Oxon.), rector of Alresford, Essex, and his wife (m. 1883), Margaret Jane, dau. of William McConnel.

Rev. C. C. Prichard 2nd s. of Charles Edward Prichard (1815-1899), of Stourport, Worcs., solicitor, and his wife (m. 1845), Anne, dau. of Henry Brodrick, of Dublin. She was allegedly a descendant of the 1st Viscount Brodrick, but I have not yet had the opportunity to confirm this. Charles Edward and Anne Prichard's third son, Hesketh Brodrick Prichard (1851-1876) was, by his wife, Kate O'Brien, dau. of Maj.-Gen. Browne William Ryall, father of Hesketh Vernon Prichard (1876-1922), later Hesketh-Prichard, Maj. Third Army Sch. of Instruction, founder of First Army Sch. of Sniping at Linghem, Pas-de-Calais, an explorer, big-game hunter, and first-class cricketer (see Wikipedia for fuller biography). He married, in 1908, Lady Elizabeth, dau. of James Grimston, 3rd Earl of Verulam, and had issue two sons and a daughter, details of whose issue can be found here: http://www.william1.co.uk/hamon4.htm. A granddaughter- daughter of his elder son, Michael- married David Richard Lascelles, s. of Henry Wilfred Lascelles (1911-1994), of Meadle Cottage, Meadle, Aylesbury, Bucks., of the Barbados family from which came the Earls Harewood.

Charles Edward Prichard is stated in census records to have been born in India or the East Indies; there is however an 1815 baptismal record at Margate, Kent that gives Charles Edward Prichard as son of James and Sarah; there is an 1812 marriage at Margate of James Prichard and Sarah Pay. This may be the same C. E. Prichard. If not, the name 'Montague' may provide a hint: a Montague Prichard, of the 2nd Madras European Regiment, died at sea in 1847, and was said to be youngest son of William Prichard, of Barnwood Court, Gloucestershire; more research is required, but this William may be another candidate for father of Charles Edward Prichard.

A biography of Hesketh (Hesketh-)Prichard, the hunter, states that the Prichards were 'a family most of whom settled in Worcestershire and the neighbouring counties. They traced their descent from a Glamorganshire stock which had numbered among them Wardens of the Marches under Edward I' (this being the source also of the claim that Rev. C. C. Prichard's mother, Anne, was a grand-daughter of the 1st Viscount Midleton); I suspect a link to the Prichards of Pwllywrach [n.b. this being at Cowbridge, Glamorgan] (BLG 1972 etc), but looking at the 1952 edition- although leaving a number of options in the form of several sons not accounted for in several generations- yielded no confirmation.

Given that Hesketh Brodrick Prichard, born in 1851, represents the first appearance of the name 'Hesketh' in the Prichard family, a potential link to the baronets of that name would of course date to before that year; the main reason I have to suspect such a link exists is the fact that the name has been used so much in successive generations, which is often indicative.

[G. Willis]

The Slessor family:

John Arthur Guinness Slessor was s. of John Cotesworth Slessor (1897-1979), G.C.B., D.S.O., M.C., Chief of the Air Staff 1950-2, commandant of the Imperial Defence Coll. 1948-9, Sheriff of Somerset 1965, and D.L. (Somerset) 1969 by his first wife (m. 1923), Hermione Grace (1898-1970), dau. of Gerald Seymour Guinness, of Dorton House, Thame, Oxfordshire, J.P., D.L. (s. of Richard Seymour Guinness, of Dublin) by his wife Eleanor Grace de Capell, dau. of Capt. Arthur Watson de Capell Brooke, of Loddington Hall, Kettering, Northants., J.P., late 4th Hussars, s. of Sir William de Capell Brooke, 3rd Baronet.

John Cotesworth Slessor was s. of Arthur Kerr Slessor (1864-1931), of Holly Grove, Newick, Sussex, Maj., Notts. and Derbys. Regiment (Sherwood Foresters), by his wife (m. 1896), Adelaide Constance (1869-1925), dau. of William Cotesworth (1828-1905), of Clapham, 'landowner' in the census [n.b.- only one William Cotesworth born c. 1828 appears in U.K. death records; his probate record states him to be 'of Chaddleworth House, Wantage, Berkshire']

A. K. Slessor was 2nd s. of John Henry Slessor (1821-1912), of Headbourne Worthy, Hants., M.A. (Univ. Coll. Oxon. [Fellow 1847-62]), rector of Headbourne Worthy, by his wife Charlotte Matilda, dau. of Robert Fennessy [n.b.- an autobiography containing family history written by Priscilla Hayter Napier (grand-daughter of John Henry Slessor) states that Robert Fennessy was the illegitimate son of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry]. J. H. and Charlotte Slessor's daughter, Alethea (1867-1951) m. Sir William Goodenough Hayter (1869-1924), a judge in the Anglo-Egyptian Service and legal adviser to the Egyptian Government (a Khedivial Councillor from 1912). Their daughter, Priscilla (1908-1998; author of the autobiography mentioned above) married Cdr Trevylyan Michael Napier (1901-1940), D.S.C., R.N., s. of Vice-Adm. Trevylyan Dacres Willes Napier (1867-1920), K.C.B., M.V.O., by his wife Mary Elizabeth, dau. of Adm. Sir Michael Culme-Seymour, 3rd Baronet. The Napiers are treated in BLG 1952, 'of Pennant House'. 

Cdr T. M. Napier and Priscilla (née Hayter) had a son, Trevylyan Miles Wentworth (1934-), and two daughters: the elder, Lavinia Elizabeth (1938-), m. 1961, (Francis) Alastair Lavie Robinson (1937-), group vice-chairman, Barclays Bank 1992-6, s. of Stephen Francis Thomas Lavie Robinson (1909-1991), of Newnham, Cambs., solicitor; this family, 'Robinson of Hinxton', appears in BLG 1969. The younger daughter, Anne Catherine Napier (1940-) m. 1968, Archibald Gavin Hamilton, cr. Baron Hamilton of Epsom (l.p.) in 2005, K.B., P.C., M.P. for Epsom and Ewell 1978-2001, Minister of State for the Armed Forces 1988-93. His father was John d'Henin Hamilton, 3rd Baron Hamilton of Dalzell.

John Henry Slessor (1821-1912) was son of another John Henry Slessor, of Tidmouth, Devons., by his wife Charlotte Ann.