Vagabonds, the aristocracy and ordinary people like us

Rachel always knew of some distant upper middle class ancestors.  It was when her Aunt Diana died that we discovered a little more.

I only met Aunt Diana once at her home in Melbourne, near Cambridge.  That was back in 1995 and we asked if she’d like to come along to our wedding once we had set a date.  She explained she would definitely have a prior engagement that day and it was quite impossible.  It seems Aunt Diana’s first and only impression of me was not very favourable.

Subsequently I only caught a glimpse of her when she attended Rachel’s father’s funeral in the following year and I never saw her again.

Our visit was for afternoon tea and where I was introduced to Rachel’s “affectionate aunt”.  I say “affectionate aunt” as that is how she would always sign her Christmas cards to Rachel but in reality she kept a very British stiff upper lip stance towards everyone.  The afternoon tea itself was a grand affair with delicate crockery, a choice of appropriate teas offered with coloured sugar crystals or a slice of lemon. Everything was just right and had to be.

Aunt Diana was a product of a bygone era, probably sometime in the 1950s and a rather posh society where one is always polite and courteous as one mixes with ones pals.  These little communities still exist although we have the feeling they have retracted over the years.

Always a spinster, born when her parents were being entrepreneurial in India and she always had high standards.  She travelled and earned a living in various roles around the Commonwealth and I recall her house was crammed with all kinds of mementos, nice furniture and art.

Aunt Diana was Rachel’s father’s sister; their surname was Daniell.  Like many names, the spelling had changed over the years and can be traced back to Anyers (a small French town) and had become D’Anyers as a step towards Daniell.  The Daniell family were a middle class family who made and lost fortunes over the years; Rachel has many stories to tell on this.

Despite being in slightly reduced circumstances, Rachel’s grandparents lived well.  Her father was privately educated upon their return from business in Canada and the family home was the Warren House in Royston, Hertfordshire.  They still managed to employ a small team of servants and we have visited the house, bringing back some memories for Rachel when she would go there as a young child.

The Daniell family tree was made easy for us through old editions of Who’s Who and the Cheshire County Record Office.  While we were there we visited Tabley Hall which has a Daniell connection (through the Leycester family) and this was further confirmed by a painting which bore an uncanny resemblance to Rachel in one of the public rooms.  Rachel did express her disappointment at having TO PAY to visit such a place which she felt ought to have been hers, or perhaps one of its 36,000 acres.

Other highlights of the Daniell tree are stories of various enterprises in different parts of the Commonwealth, a duel and various scurrilous goings on.

When Aunt Diana died a few years back, she left her estate to some of her friends.  They knew of Rachel and offered her the opportunity of collecting a number of old photographs and papers.  Amongst these we were surprised to find a huge family tree.

This is not the Daniell line but instead the Gordon-Moore’s and the Besley family, which is her grandmother’s line.   Now these well healed families used to mingle and marry amongst themselves in those days, often preserving money and titles, so they were generally on a par which each other.

While Rachel isn’t on the family tree, we can see how she fits in with it.  You don’t have to go back very far before you see Lord Cecil James Gordon-Moore and a Besley who was the Lord Mayor of London and we have some of the artefacts which went along with this office.  Go a little further and you can see no end of Earls, Barons, Viscounts, Kings and Queens.  Henry the second is about as far back as it reliably goes, although there is a smattering of European nobility.

The family tree does have an air of vanity to it.  It has been drawn up to show how removed the subject is from the present monarch and various other notable people.  There are some little anecdotes such as someone being beheaded and someone else who came to a sticky end at the Battle of St Albans.

The above painting is of Eliza Daniell (a great aunt) and it hangs in the study at my mother-in-law’s house.  The painting itself is unfortunately a copy.  I look at it and see a resemblance to Rachel there, perhaps in her late twenties.

Now while this is all very interesting and entertaining, we need don’t need much reminding of how we are ordinary people.  With the family trees we had it presented to us on a plate and yet seeing how tenuous the connections to royalty and the aristocracy really are, the chances are many, many more people can claim such a heritage, if only they knew.

Families, relations and how we relate and connect to each other are often complicated.  For some they can be the source of disputes, falling out with each other.  And yet there is such value in knowing our families, our neighbours and our friends better as there is so much to learn – not just the stories of old but how we can grow and learn from each other.

Footnote – if you have found this post through researching the Daniell family, please get in touch via the contact screen, we would love to hear from you.