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Edward III Descent for Sir Brian May

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Brad Verity

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Dec 31, 2022, 1:11:45 AM12/31/22
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It was announced today that British rock musician Brian May, guitarist for the band Queen, has made the New Year Honours List, receiving a knighthood. I saw Queen live a few years ago in Vancouver, when May and Roger Taylor re-formed the band with Adam Lambert. Have to say it was the best rock concert I’ve ever attended.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/new-year-honours-list-2023-stephen-graham-brian-may-b2253649.html

Back in September of last year, Leslie Mahler made a post that outlined the descent of Brian May, from the Daubeney family of Misterton. Within the post Leslie pointed out that there were royal descents behind Mary (Penne) Daubeney (d. 1742), including a line from Edward III.
https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/spPWcLBQWC8/m/26MLAWM2AAAJ

The post was within the thread ‘Robert Hill/Stourton ancestor to Percival Lowle’, so the line could easily be overlooked. I’m particularly grateful to Leslie for researching this line and sharing it here on SocGenMed, and I’ve finally finished adding it to my database. I was able to provide a few details to what Leslie posted. I thought I’d make a specific post on this, so that the line can be more easily found in a Google search.

The line is an interesting one, going from the 15th-century peerage to 16th and 17th-century West Country gentry to 18th-19th century Somerset & Dorset yeoman freeholders to 19th-20th century manorial estate servants to 20th-century London middle class to 21st-century rock stardom.

Edward III had a son:
1) Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341-1402), who had
2) Constance of York, Countess of Gloucester (c.1375-1416) = Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (1382-1408, descended from Edward I), who had
3) Eleanor Holland, illegit. (b. c.1406) m. James Tuchet, 4th Lord Audley (c.1398-1459), and had
4) Sir Humphrey Audley of Middleton (c.1435-1471) m. Elizabeth Courtenay (c.1435-1493, descended from Edward I), and had
5) Elizabeth Audley (d. by 1530) m. John Sydenham of Brimpton (c.1468-1542), and had
6) Sir John Sydenham of Brimpton (by 1493-1557) m. Ursula Brydges (d. 1576), and had
7) Anne Sydenham m. Alexander Sydenham of Luxborough (d. 1584), and had
8) Elizabeth Sydenham (1562-1595) m. Sir John Poyntz of Iron Acton (c.1560-1633, descended from Edward I), and had
9) DOROTHY POYNTZ, b. c.1583; living Jan. 1655; m. 1st 14 Apr. 1600 St James Church, Iron Acton, Gloucestershire, JOHN PENNE of East Coker (b. c.1563; d. 22 Feb. 1613, bur. St Mary Church, Beaminster, Dorset), son of Giles Penne of East Coker (c.1537-1595) and Dorothy Strode (d. 1612), and had

The most thorough account of the Penne family is the 1907 article ‘Penne of East Coker, Somerset, and Toller Whelme, Dorset’ by Frank Penny:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Notes_Queries_for_Somerset_and_Dorset/M0cJAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Penne+of+East+Coker,+Somerset,+and+Toller+Whelme,+Dorset&pg=RA1-PA12&printsec=frontcover

Dorothy (Poyntz) Penne m. 2nd 1613, John Giffard of White Ladies Priory, Brewood, Staffordshire (1578-by 1647), and survived him until at least June 1655, when as his widow she petitioned regarding the sequestration of her estates of White Ladies Priory and Boscobel House. Dorothy Giffard is thought to have participated in hiding Charles II in an oak tree at White Ladies in 1651. Through her daughter Frances (Giffard) Cotton (b. 1614), Dorothy is ancestress to the 19th-21st century Barons Stafford.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Collections_for_a_History_of_Staffordshi/dyjQAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Dorothy+Poyntz+Giffard+of+White+Ladies&pg=PA170&printsec=frontcover

10) GEORGE PENNE of Chedington, Dorset, b. c.1606; d. 14 May 1695, bur. St Mary Church, Corscombe, Dorset; m. by 1628, JANE PERKINS (d. 18 Sept. 1686, bur. St Mary Church, Corscombe), dau. of Edmund Perkins of Upton and Anne Plowden (descended from Edward I), and had
11) ANTHONY PENNE of Westminster, London, merchant, b. c.1630 m. 1st DOROTHY LONE, and had

The above two generations need more research. Perhaps a genealogist who has better expertise in 17th-century London records than I have, can unearth more details about the life and wives of merchant Anthony Penne.

12) MARY PENNE, b. c.1665; bur. 16 Feb. 1741/2 St Leonard Church, Misterton, Somersetshire; m. 1689, HENRY DAUBENEY of Misterton (bap. there 14 June 1655; bur. there 24 May 1699), son of Giles Daubeney of Misterton (1629-1689) and Magdalene Wicks (d. by 1709), and had

The Daubeneys are covered in Burke’s Landed Gentry as recently as the 1969 18th edition. The article doesn’t mention the marriage or trace the issue of Henry Daubeney of Misterton. The 1905 article ‘Dorset Freeholders: Daubeny of Powerstock’ by Edmund Nevill traces the descendants of Giles Daubeny (1698-1735), the younger son of Henry and Mary (Penne) Daubeney:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Notes_Queries_for_Somerset_and_Dorset/JsUxAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Dorset+Freeholders:+Daubeny+of+Powerstock&pg=PA255&printsec=frontcover

13) GEORGE DAUBENEY of Misterton, yeoman freeholder, b. c.1693; bur. 5 Dec. 1758 St Leonard Church, Misterton; m. ANNE PALMER (bur. 23 May 1775 St Leonard Church, Misterton), dau. of – Palmer of Misterton & Elizabeth – (d. 1730), and had

I was unable to locate a baptism entry for George Daubeney in the Misterton parish register. There is one for his younger brother Giles in 1698.

The wills of Henry Daubeney (1699), Magdalene (Wicks) Daubeney (1703), Elizabeth Palmer (1730), and George Daubeney (1758), were abstracted in 1889:
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Abstracts_of_Somersetshire_Wills_Etc/C0tFAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=magdalene+daubeney+of+misterton&pg=PA61&printsec=frontcover

14) GEORGE DAUBENEY of Misterton, b. 14 Mar. 1724/5, bap. 25 Apr. 1724/5 St Leonard Church, Misterton; bur. 22 May 1778 Bishops Caundle, Dorset; m. 23 Aug. 1748 St Andrew Church, Whitestaunton, Somersetshire, ELIZABETH STUCKEY “of Cheddington”, Dorset (bur. 23 Mar. 1772 Bishops Caundle, Dorset), and had

I could not locate burial entries in the Misterton parish register for either George Daubeney or his wife Elizabeth. They were likely the couple of the same name buried in Bishops Caundle in 1772 and 1778. Bishops Caundle lies within twenty miles of both Misterton and Chedington.

15) GILES DAUBENEY of Misterton, bap. 26 Aug. 1749 St Leonard Church, Misterton; d. 17 June 1794; m. 1 Apr. 1777 St Leonard Church, Misterton, SARAH GILLINGHAM, and had

In his post last year, Leslie pointed out that an entry in the Somerset Monumental Inscriptions database on Findmypast, shows there was a headstone in St Leonard Church Misterton “In memory of Giles DAWBNEY who died June 17th. 1794, aged 48 years”. I could not locate burial entries for Giles or Sarah Daubeney in the Misterton parish register available thru Ancestry.

There are two marriage entries for Giles Daubeney and Sarah Gillingham in the Misterton register. One on 28 Oct. 1770 (with banns on 14 Oct. 1770), and the other on 1 Apr. 1777 (with banns on 9 Mar. and 11 Mar. 1777). Whether there were two separate brides and/or grooms named Giles Daubeney and Sarah Gillingham, or, more likely, the couple had to re-do their marriage six-and-a-half years later, remains uncertain.

In both the 1770 and 1777 marriage banns, the residence of Sarah Gillingham is given as Misterton. There is no baptism entry for a Sarah Gillingham in the Misterton parish register, but Sarah, daughter of James Gillingham, was baptized 8 Jan. 1755 in the Crewkerne parish register. Misterton is one mile southeast of Crewkerne, so this was likely the Sarah Gillingham who married Giles Daubeney. If so, it might explain the two marriage entries: in 1770, Sarah was a minor aged 15, and in 1777 she was of full age at 21.

16) MARY DAUBENEY, bap. 2 Mar. 1788 St Leonard Church, Misterton; bur. 17 June 1878 St Wolfrida Church, Horton, Dorset; m. 6 Feb. 1809 St James Church, Chedington, Dorset, EDWARD GOLLOP of Woodlands, Horton, Dorset, dairyman farmer (bap. 18 Jan. 1789 St John the Baptist Church, Symondsbury, Dorset; bur. 19 Mar. 1863 St Wolfrida Church, Horton), son of John Gollop of Symondsbury (c.1754-1834) & Elizabeth England (b. 1754), and had

17) HENRY GOLLOP of Woodlands, dairyman, b. Oct. 1829 Honeybrook Farm, Hinton Parva, Dorset, bap. 1 Nov. 1829 St Kenelm Church, Hinton Parva; living in Horton 1865, d. by 1880; m. 30 Jan. 1851 Wimborne Minster, Dorset, ANN JANE WAREHAM (bap. 21 May 1835 Wimborne Minster; d. 17 Feb. 1923 Winton, Hampshire), dau. of William Wareham of Wimborne, farmer (d. 1867) & Sarah Hart, and had

In the 1861 England Census, Henry and Ann Jane Gollop are in Woodlands, Dorset with children Mary, Elizabeth, Edward and Anna. On 21 Dec. 1865, Elizabeth Clara (b. 1854), Anna Laura (b. 1859), Henry Joseph (b. 1861), Bessie Jane (b. 1863), and James John Charles (b. 1865) – all children of dairyman Henry Gallop and his wife Ann Jane – were baptized in Horton parish, Dorset. “Henry Gollop, dairyman” is found in Horton parish in the 1865 Harrod’s Directory of Dorset and Wiltshire. After that, Henry Gollop completely disappears from record. No burial entry in Horton parish.

By the 1871 England Census, Ann Jane Gollop is living in Bournemouth, Hampshire, with children Mary, Anna, Henry J, Bessy and James J, and her mother Sarah (Hart) Wareham. Her mother is listed as widowed, but Ann Jane is listed as married, though there is no sign of her husband Henry Gollop. Ann Jane (Wareham) Gollop married her second husband, John Hayes of Winton, Hampshire, a china, glass and ironmonger, in 1880, and in the 1881 England Census she is found in the parish of Holdenhurst, Hampshire with husband Hayes, and her Gollop children Elizabeth, Bessie and James.

It is unclear what happened to dairyman Henry Gollop between 1865 and 1871. Are the baptisms of five of his seven children, all on the same December day in 1865, an indication that something had happened to the family farm? Did Henry Gollop abandon his wife and children? Did his wife abandon him with her widowed mother and the children? Did he leave England altogether? Presumably he was dead by 1880, when Ann Jane Gollop remarried John Hayes.

18) HENRY JOSEPH [GOLLOP] MAY of Highgate Hill, Middlesex, coachman/chauffeur, b. 18 June 1861 Woodlands, Horton, Dorset, bap. 21 Dec. 1865 St Wolfrida Church, Horton; d. 24 Nov. 1941 St Mary Hospital, Islington, Middlesex; m. 1st 29 Mar. 1894 Holy Trinity Church, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, CHARLOTTE KATE HIRST (bap. 8 Nov. 1868 St Stephen Church, Acomb, Yorkshire; d. 11 Jan. 1923 Westminster Hospital, London, bur. 15 Jan. 1923 Hanwell Cemetery, Ealing, Middlesex), dau. of Henry Hirst of Westhorpe, Southwell, gardener (1833-1896) & Charlotte Elizabeth Freeman (c.1843-1873), and had

“Notice is hereby given, that HENRY JOSEPH MAY, of 40, Davies Mews, Brook-street, Mayfair, in the county of London, has by deed poll dated 11th January, 1924, enrolled in the Central Office of the Supreme Court of Judicature on the 15th January, 1924, assumed the name of Henry Joseph May, in lieu of Henry Joseph Gollop.” [The London Gazette, 18 January, 1924]

The reason for the surname change from GOLLOP to MAY is not evident. It’s interesting the deed poll was entered exactly one year to the day after the death of Henry Joseph May’s first wife. The 1895 birth of their elder son Harold was registered under the name Harold May Gollop, as was his baptism. By the 1901 England Census, Henry Joseph, his wife, and their children were all using the surname MAY only. Henry Joseph’s elder brother Edward William Gollop (1857-1927) retained the surname Gollop for the remainder of his life. Their younger brother James John Charles Gollop apparently also changed his surname from Gollop to May.

19) HAROLD MAY of Davies Mews, London, trooper 1st Life Guards, b. 23 Mar. 1895 Broome Park, Betchworth, Surrey, bap. 22 Sep. 1895 St Mary Church, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire; d. 24 Mar. 1921 Colindale Hospital, Hendon, Middlesex, bur. 31 Mar. 1921 Hanwell Cemetery, Middlesex; m. 15 Jan. 1918 St George Hanover Square, London, LOUISA EMMA BARRETT (b. 6 June 1888 Chelsea, London, bap. 23 July 1890 St John Worlds End, Chelsea; d. 8 Oct. 1945 Feltham, Middlesex, bur. 11 Oct. 1945 Hanwell Cemetery), dau. of John Henry Barrett of Chelsea, wharf foreman (1856-1938) & Hannah Schofield Howie (c.1856-1925), and had

A nice blogpost about the life of Harold May, written by his grandson Graham Martin (first cousin of Brian May), is here:
http://martinhughesfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2012/01/letter-to-my-grandchildren.html

20) HAROLD MAY of Feltham, Middlesex, b. 7 Apr. 1921 Westminster; d. 2 June 1987 Feltham; m. 23 Mar. 1946 West Church, Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland, RUTH IRVING FLETCHER (b. 2 Oct. 1921 Scotland; d. 18 Feb. 1997 Surrey), dau. of Charles Fletcher of Pitlochry (1892-1932) & Lily Blanche Patterson (1892-1954), and had

21) Sir BRIAN HAROLD MAY, CBE, of Windlesham, Surrey, rock musician & astrophysicist, guitarist & co-founder of the band Queen, knighted 30 Dec 2022; b. 19 July 1947 Hampton Hill, Middlesex; m. twice, and has issue, one son and two daughters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_May

There remain some generations above which could benefit from further research, but the line of descent from a Plantagenet King to a member of Queen seems solid, and once again thanks are due to Leslie Mahler for sharing it with the newsgroup.

Wishing all the participants of SocGenMed a Happy New Year.

Cheers, ----Brad

Leslie Mahler

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Jan 1, 2023, 4:43:21 PM1/1/23
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Brad,

Many thanks for reviewing this lineage. A few additional items can be added.
Generations 10 and 11, George and Anthony Penne, are recorded in the
1677 Visitation of Dorset:
https://books.google.com/books?id=jI8engEACAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=jane+perkins

Also, generations 11 and 12 are connected by this lawsuit:
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5280901

Leslie



Will Johnson

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Jan 4, 2023, 8:52:20 PM1/4/23
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Thanks I had not previously been able to identify this Edward Giffard, known to have married Joan Leveson widow of William Skeffington of Whiteladies in Tong Shropshire

Joan herself is a Cecil 5, her son John Skeffington having married Alice Cave
This makes Edward Giffard a new Cecil 6, first one this year

Edward is called the "second son" of Thomas /Giffard/ of Chillington, co Staff; Sheriff of Staffordshire; Knt < 1557 d 1560
So I suppose he must be by Thomas' first wife Dorothy Montgomery
Which then gives Edward a closest royal descent from Wales
specifically Llewellyn, Ruler of North /Wales/ 1194-1240

Will Johnson

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Jan 4, 2023, 10:13:12 PM1/4/23
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I have to correct my above as it seems

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Memorials_of_Old_Staffordshire/x6vRAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=edward%20giffard%20joan%20leveson&pg=PA198&printsec=frontcover

http://books.google.com/books?id=jwAVAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA319

that Edward was younger than his first wife Joan Leveson, perhaps by as many as twenty years
it being said that Thomas Giffard of Chillington d 1560 by his first wife had "an only daughter"
so Edward must be a son by the second wife Ursula Throckmorton and therefore not born before 1533

Leslie Mahler

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Jan 16, 2023, 3:22:53 AM1/16/23
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Here is some additional information on Generations 15 and 16.

Ann Dawbeney of Misterton was married to Benjamin Studley,
2 Feb. 1800, at Chedington, Dorset:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJD4-2DT3

Sarah Dawbeney of Misterton was married to John Studley
18 Feb. 1805, at Chedington, Dorset:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJD4-2DTC

When compared with the parish registers of Misterton, it is
evident that Ann & Sarah are the mother and sister of Edward Gollop's wife.

Leslie
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