The Kendall Connection

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I'm not yet entirely certain of the chronology, but at some point during late 1954 or early 1955 a young woman newly-widowed, newly-impoverished and with a teenage son at boarding school to provide for, arrived back in England from Baghdad. She had been born and brought up in the Middle East, had spent most of her adult life out there (apart from the war years), and had few if any contacts back in the Home Country – apart from her kindly and supportive mother.

This young woman, Daphne Kendall, and her son Christopher, two of the most remarkable people it has been my own personal good fortune to have encountered in this Vale of Woe, were most extraordinarily interlinked with both my father's family and my future wife's family, and would have the most profoundly benevolent influence on my own haphazard teenage and twenty-something years, and indeed the irrepressible emeritus Professor Kendall into whom Christopher has metamorphosed is still, I am very glad to say, an iconic feature of our personal landscape.

But let's first get the genealogical background established. The tables that follow are based on three quite distinct resources (and some of the dates are still a little bit fuzzy):

• Google
• The ancestry.co.uk and mundia.com websites
• Family Trees compiled and supplied by CGStC himself
  • Kendall
  • Matthews, Shields and Prussia

And more recently, Himself has set up a tree in Ancestry.com (which is accessible (to Ancestry Worldwide subscribers) via the following link

• www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/78505180/family/familyview

The frequent recurrences of May Prussia in these interconnected lineages are highlighted in what might well be described as Prussian Blue!

Above: May Prussia, Mrs Shields, Mrs de Courcy, and Mrs Matthews

But May Prussia notwithstanding, by far the most interesting and colourful member of the family was her cousin Edward James Corbett, Jim Corbett, the renowned big-game hunter, of tigers and leopards in particular (though he only shot man-eaters). He was quite possibly the prototype of Beachcomber's Big White Carstairs and the solar-topee'd heroes of innumerable jungle adventure stories in Boys Own Paper and the like. But he was also a trail-blazing naturalist, conservationist, ecologist, author and thoroughly nice guy. Do follow the link to his Wikipedia profile.

The Kendall Lineage
#	Individual	Spouse / Partner	Family
‑3	Capt Thomas George Kendall (9 Feb 1835 – 1906), of Holyhead General Manager of Dublin Steam Packet Co, which carried Royal Mail to Ireland. in 1898 purchased Llynon Hall, Llanddeuant, Holyhead, Anglesey; subsequently sold in 1945 to Harold Owen, later Sheriff of Anglesey1 and 2	Fanny King (b 1844)	George William Kendall (Q4 1871 – Feb 1942) Charles Wye Kendall (ca 1878 – Sep 1938) barrister Joint portraits
	Joint portrait
	Family portrait
‑2	Dr George William Kendall (Q4 1871 – Feb 1942) naval surgeon, family doctor in Anglesey St John's Ambulance Brigade HRH Duchess of York	Phillis (sic) Arabella Crosse1,  2 (b ~1869)	Olwen Phillis (sic) Frances Kendall (15 Dec 1900 – 18 Dec 1989) William George St Clement Kendall (22 Mar 1905 – 8 Jul 1954) Joint portraits
	Wedding portrait
‑2	Olwen Phillis Frances Kendall OBE (15 Dec 1900 – 18 Dec 1989) Portrait Archaeologist and authority on Roman Libya, majored in Roman Studies and Roman Archaeology at University College London but learned excavation techniques in Britain under Mortimer Wheeler at Verulamium and Caerleon. C G St C reminiscences	Prof Sir Denis William Brogan1,  2 (11 Aug 1900 – 5 Jan 1974) Portrait	Denis Hugh Vercingetorix Brogan (20 Mar 1936 – 26 Jul 2019) Portrait Patrick William Kendall Brogan (17 May 1938 – 9 Sep 2018) Brian Joseph Brogan (5 Mar 1940 – 1999) Olwen (Topsy) Elizabeth Brogan (10 Jun 1942 – 2016)
		Wing Cdr Charles E J Hackett (m 1974 Q4)
‑1	William George St Clement Kendall (22 Mar 1905 – 8 Jul 1954) Portrait	Daphne Shields Matthews (28 Feb 1918 – Oct 2000) (m 6 Jan 1937) Portrait	Christopher George St Clement Kendall (b 22 Jan 1938) Portraits
	Wedding portrait
0	Prof Christopher George St Clement Kendall (b 22 Jan 1938) sedimentary geologist Portrait See also Dan Gill	Diane Lynn Bowman (b ~1953) (m 14 Jul 1973)	Alda Elizabeth Kendall Emma Sarah Kendall
	Joint portrait

The Shields Lineage
#	Individual	Spouse / Partner	Family
‑4			2 sisters Harry James Shields (ca 1859 – 29 Nov 1909) brother
‑3	Harry James Shields (ca 1859 – 29 Nov 1909)	Emma Mary (May) Prussia (4 Jan 1862 – 1943) (m 9 Oct 1880)	Alice Shields Marie Shields Edith Shields (b 17 Jan 1889, Simla)
‑2	Alice Shields	X Wallace-Cox	Ian Wallace-Cox Derek Wallace-Cox
‑2	Marie Shields	X Bartelette
‑2	Edith Shields (b 17 Jan 1889) "Granny Matthews"	John Marcus Matthews (27 Jan 1888 – 1962) (m 16 Dec 1911)	John Keith Matthews (d 17 Nov 1942, KIA) Dudley Shields Matthews (2 Dec 1914 – Sep 1970) Daphne Shields Matthews (28 Feb 1918 – Oct 2000)
‑1	John Keith Matthews1,  2 (d 17 Nov 1942, KIA)	Margery Constance Burroughs (7 Dec 1906 – 2001)	Carol Matthews
‑1	Dudley Shields Matthews (2 Dec 1914 – Sep 1970)	Margery Constance Burroughs (7 Dec 1906 – 2001) (m 2 Feb 1946)	Michael Matthews
‑1	Daphne Shields Matthews (28 Feb 1918 – Oct 2000)	William George St Clement Kendall (22 Mar 1905 – 8 Jul 1954) (m 6 Jan 1937)	Christopher George St Clement Kendall (b 22 Jan 1938)
0	Prof Christopher George St Clement Kendall (b 22 Jan 1938) sedimentary geologist Portrait See also Dan Gill	Diane Lynn Bowman (b ~1953) (m 14 Jul 1973)	Alda Elizabeth Kendall Emma Sarah Kendall

Above: Edith Matthews (née Shields) with her children Daphne, Keith and Dudley

The Matthews Lineage
#	Individual	Spouse / Partner	Family
‑4	John Marcus Matthews (b 1814)	Eliza Janet Thompson (m 13 May 1845, Fort William, Bengal)	Henry Edward Matthews (24 Oct 1849 – 1901)
‑3	Henry Edward Matthews (24 Oct 1849 – 1901)	May Farmer (1859 – 1938) (m 21 Jan 1878)	Frank Matthews (11 Mar 1879 – 1953) Theophilus J Matthews (1880 – 22 Jul 1884) Harry Matthews (23 Feb 1882 – 1 Jun 1949) Arthur Matthews (1883 – 1944) Grace Magdelen (Lassie) Matthews (15 Jun 1885 – 1942) John Marcus Matthews (27 Feb 1888 – 1962)
‑2	Harry Matthews MBE (23 Feb 1882 – 1 Jun 1949)	Margaret Kate Underwood (1895 – 1960) (m 5 Mar 1916)	Russell Henry Matthews (1922 – 2010)
‑2	Arthur Matthews (1883 – 1944)	May Prussia / Shields / de Courcy (m 2 Dec 1911)	None
‑2	Grace Magdelen (Lassie) Matthews (15 Jun 1885 – 1942)	Charles Gordon Barltrop (b 1886) (m 29 Mar 1910)
‑2	John Marcus Matthews (27 Jan 1888 – 1962) (Civil Servant, High Commission of India)	Edith Shields (b 17 Jan 1889) (m 16 Dec 1911) "Granny Matthews"	John Keith Matthews (d 17 Nov 1942, KIA) Dudley Shields Matthews (2 Dec 1914 – Sep 1970) Daphne Shields Matthews (28 Feb 1918 – Oct 2000)
‑1	Maj Russell Henry Matthews MC (1922 – 2010)	Jill Mary Beith (19 Jan 1928 – 14 May 2008) (m 5 Dec 1947)	Celia Matthews
‑1	John Keith Matthews1,  2 (d 17 Nov 1942, KIA)	Margery Constance Burroughs (7 Dec 1906 – 2001)	Carol Matthews
‑1	Dudley Shields Matthews (2 Dec 1914 – Sep 1970)	Margery Constance Burroughs (7 Dec 1906 – 2001) (m 2 Feb 1946)	Michael Matthews
‑1	Daphne Shields Matthews (28 Feb 1918 – Oct 2000)	William George St Clement Kendall (22 Mar 1905 – 8 Jul 1954, Amman) (m 6 Jan 1937)	Christopher George St Clement Kendall (b 22 Jan 1938, Delhi)
0	Prof Christopher George St Clement Kendall (b 22 Jan 1938, Delhi) sedimentary geologist Portrait	Diane Lynn Bowman (b ~1953) (m 14 Jul 1973)	Alda Elizabeth Kendall Emma Sarah Kendall

Above: May Matthews with her children Arthur, Frank, Lassie and John

Above: John and Edith Matthews with their children Dudley, Keith and Daphne

The Prussia Lineage Great credit is due to www.mundia.com and www.ancestry.com for the data in this table. I've never read Trollope or Tolstoy, but I rather suspect the Prussia family narrative was also, in its way, a dramatic generational epic, though enacted against the vast backdrop of Imperial India in all its riotous colour, heat and confusion rather than prim Victorian England or frozen Czarist Russia. India to this family was their native land, not England or Ireland. In a very real sense they, and all the other families with whom they intermarried, were Indians, of just a particular caste, creed and colour.
#	Individual	Spouse / Partner	Family
‑5	John Prussia (1804 – 16 Sep 1844)	Mary Oliver (m 28 Jul 1835)	Mary Jane Prussia (12 Mar 1837 – 16 May 1924) John Prussia (2 Jun 1838 – Apr 1845) George Duncan Prussia (31 May 1840 – 27 Sep 1912, Mussouri)
‑4	Mary Jane Prussia (12 Mar 1837 – 16 May 1924)	Charles James Doyle (23 Dec 1829 – 8 Dec 1858 KIA) (m 1851) His children were brought up with the Corbett family	Dr Charles William Doyle (Aug 1852 – 2 May 1903) Eugene Mary Doyle Evangeline Doyle George Doyle
		Christopher William Corbett (11 Sep 1822 – 21 Apr 1881) (m 13 Oct 1859) Previously married to Ann Morrow, with one son & one daughter	Thomas Bartholomew Corbett (b 18 Sep 1860) Harriet May Corbett (b 23 Jul 1862) Christopher Edward Corbett (b 28 Dec 1864) John Quinton Corbett (b 1866) Maurice Corbett Edith Corbett Margaret (Maggie) Winnifred (sic) Corbett (b 21 Jan 1874) Edward James (Jim) Corbett (25 Jul 1875 – 19 Apr 1955) Archobald (sic) D'Arcy Corbett (b 1879)
‑4	George Duncan Prussia (31 May 1840 – 27 Sep 1912, Mussouri)	Emma Lavinia/ Louisa/ Louise Bates (22 Aug 1842 – 31 Oct 1887, Simla)	Emma Mary (May) Prussia (4 Jan 1862, Agra – 1943) Alfred Bates Prussia (1863 – 27 Feb 1930) George Bates Prussia (b 1868) Maud(e) Eleanor Prussia (b 11 Sep 1869) Daisy Prussia (no documented dates, but evidently b 1870) Ethel Bates Prussia (b 1871) Harry Bates Prussia (13 Nov 1872 – 26 Dec 1951) Hugh Prussia (24 Jun 1876 – 11 Apr 1895) Clare Hill Prussia (1877 – 24 Sep 1952)
‑3	Emma Mary (May) Prussia (4 Jan 1862 – 1943)	Harry James Shields (ca 1859 – 29 Nov 1909) (m 8 Oct 1880)	Alice Shields Marie Shields Edith Shields (b ~1889)
		William Blennerhassett de Courcy (b 1850) (m 2 Mar 1891, Madhopur)	Frederica Stuart de Courcy (4 Mar 1892 – 2 Jan 1975)
		Arthur Matthew(s) (1883 – 1944) (m 2 Dec 1911, Simla) son of Henry Edward Mathew(s)	None
‑3	Alfred Bates Prussia (1863 – 27 Feb 1930)	Nina Mary Colman (m 10 Nov 1888)	None
‑3	George Bates Prussia (b 1868)	Mary E E Walker (m 1893)	None
‑3	Daisy Prussia (b 1870)	Mr Law	May Law Gladys Law Charles Law Maud Law
‑3	Ethel Bates Prussia (b 1871)	Mr Hill	None
‑3	Harry Bates Prussia (13 Nov 1872 – 26 Dec 1951)	Dorothea Angelo (16 Sep 1872 – 11 Jan 1908)	Harold Duncan Prussia (Dec 1903 – 23 Mar 1906)
		Sarah Adelaide McIntosh (31 May 1887 – 5 Mar 1955)	Geoffrey Bates McIntosh (26 May 1914 – 13 Oct 1985) Denis John McIntosh (26 May 1914 – 3 Dec 1996) Naomi Catherine McIntosh (?17 Dec 1918? – 11 Nov 1985)
‑3	Clare Hill Prussia (1877 – 24 Sep 1952)	Edwin Godfrey Rivett (1869 – 1940) (m 1895)	Norah Muriel Rivett (24 Jan 1896 – 1975) Dorothy Clare Rivett (b 4 Oct 1898) Bernard Henry Duncan Rivett (10 Jun 1904 – Jun 1979) Lewis Godfrey Rivett (22 Oct 1910 – Jan 1986)
‑2	Gladys Law	Mr Molesworth	Bobby Molesworth Marianne Molesworth
‑2	Geoffrey Bates McIntosh (26 May 1914 – 13 Oct 1985)	May (Mamie) Harvey Price (2 Nov 1910 – 3 Jul 2009)	Two sons
‑2	Denis John McIntosh (26 May 1914 – 3 Dec 1996)	Private	One daughter One son
‑2	Naomi Catherine McIntosh (?17 Dec 1918? – 11 Nov 1985)	Leslie Bernard Chappell (12 Mar 1912 – Feb 1995)	Three daughters Ian Bernard Chapell (sic) (11 Aug 1944 – Jul 1987) Jennifer Sarah Chapell (sic), (28 Dec 1945 – Sep 1987)
‑2	Nora(h) Muriel Rivett (24 Jan 1896 – 1975)	Col Douglas Howard Gwyn McCririck (1893 –1947) (m 1917)	Claire Marian McCririck (1919 –1987) Lt Patrick Rerick Howard McCririck (1924 – 21 Aug 1944) Josephine McCririck
‑1	Cla(i)re Marian McCririck aka Lady Rendlesham (1919 –1987) Vogue fashion editor in the 1960's	Charles Anthony Hugh Thelluson 8th Lord Rendlesham (15 Mar 1915 – 1999) (m 1947)	Charles William Brooke Thelluson Sarah Ann Thelluson Antonia Thelluson Jaqumine Thelluson (b 21 Aug 1960)

Above: George Duncan Prussia with his wife Emma (née Bates) and their family. May is on the extreme left, and CGStCK identifies the seated figure next to her as Harry Shields – which enables the four sons to be confidently identified by their evident relative ages from L to R: Harry, Hugh, George & Alfred. Not quite so unequivocally, I'd say the four daughters are from L to R: Ethel, Clare, Maud & Daisy.

Please click here for a much better copy, photoshopped by The Prof himself, with identifiers incorporated. These differ in two respects from my earlier attributions, in that both George & Alfred and Maud & Daisy are interchanged (ie Alfred is to the LHS of George, and Daisy is to the LHS of Maud).

These reversals are supported by revised DOB's and the apparel of those involved.

And considerably less than a century later, a very different concept of style

Lady Rendlesham with her daughter Antonia walking Tess D'Erlanger's dachshund,
at London's Serpentine, Vogue May 1959,
photographed by Norman Parkinson.

The Blennerhassett de Courcy Lineage Great credit is due to pages 4 and 5 of www.blennerhassettfamilytree.com/pages/BH56_MISC_BH_middle_name_BMN.pdf for the wealth of data in this table. The descendants of Francis Henry Douglas de Courcy were established via ancestry.co.uk
#	Individual	Spouse / Partner	Family
‑4	Robert Stuart de Courcy (1804 – 20 Dec 1857, suicide)	Sarah	Frederika Blanche de Courcy (b 15 Dec 1847) William Blennerhassett de Courcy (b 1850) Sarah Matilda de Courcy (1853 – 7 Jul 1895) Robert Stuart de Courcy (16 Mar 1854 – 7 Sep 1861) Annie Rachel de Courcy (b 1858)
‑3	Frederika Blanche de Courcy (b 15 Dec 1847)	George Edwin Lambert (b 11 May 1823) (m 6 Jul 1863)	Frederick de Courcy Lambert (b 22 Aug 1864)
‑3	William Blennerhassett de Courcy (b 1850) Clerk of the Small Cause Court at Lahore 1869 District Judge 1891 Punjab Commission 1895 Deputy Commissioner of Gujranwala Province 1898 Deputy Commissioner for Punjab 1899		Mary de Courcy (b 1866)
		Catherine Frances Conlan (18 Jul 1850 – 1891) (m 8 Sep 1869)	William Blennerhassett de Courcy (b 27 Jun 1870) * Francis Henry Douglas de Courcy (6 Aug 1872 – 3 Oct 1939) Robert Stuart de Courcy (b 28 Nov 1874) Katheline Violet de Courcy (b 3 Mar 1876) Annie de Courcy
		Emma Mary (May) Prussia (b 4 Jan 1862) (m 2 Mar 1891)	Frederica Stuart de Courcy (4 Mar 1892 – 2 Jan 1975)
‑3	Sarah Matilda de Courcy (1853 – 7 Jul 1895)	Nathaniel Haig Penhearow (b 17 Jan 1839) (m 28 Dec 1869)	William Haig Penhearow (1871 – 27 Dec 1873) Minnie Rachel Penhearow (b 29 Dec 1879) Florence Harriot Penhearow (b 13 Aug 1883) Norah Ethel O'Hague Penhearow (26 Dec 1886 – 22 Oct 1940) who produced a good many descendants in Australia and England (see reference)
‑3	Annie Rachel de Courcy (b 1858)	Charles Samuel Faddy (b 1850)
‑2	Francis Henry Douglas de Courcy (6 Aug 1872 – 3 Oct 1939)	Victoria (1876-1969) (m 1905)	Michael Conrad de Courcy (1909 – 2 Jul 1961) Silvia Blennerhasset de Courcy (1910-1991) Gerald Lisle de Courcy (1917-1981) William Blennerhasset de Courcy (twin) (11 Feb 1917 – 2001)
‑2	Frederica Stuart de Courcy (4 Mar 1892 – 2 Jan 1975)	Charles Percival (Percy) Dudley Beatty (23 Nov 1885 – 8 Apr 1940) (m 6 Oct 1915)	Esme May de Courcy Beat(t)y (24 Aug 1917 – 14 Apr 1981) Rosemary de Courcy Beat(t)y (8 Jul 1926 – 22 Feb 2003)
‑1	A tremendous amount of detail about subsequent generations down to the present day (including, for example, the internationally-renowned classical trumpeter Crispian Steele-Perkins) can be seen on the Mundia website - simply enter the names and dates of Francis Henry Douglas de Courcy and view his family tree.

* Educated at King William's College (aka King Bill's), Isle of Man, (who made claims against his father for unpaid school fees in 1888, 1894 and 1895!)

Meanderings

The meanderings of our hero, the distinguished Professor C G St C Kendall, would probably require an entire website to do them justice, so let us simply record what we know of his parents' and grandparents' peregrinations, in an era where one went everywhere by steamship, when lengthy voyages could still take weeks (including stop-overs) rather than a few hours, or a day at most, by the intercontinental jets of the 1960's and 70's onwards.

It's evident that a good many journeys, both eastwards and westwards, are missing from these tables, but it's clear that the John Marcus Matthew and William George St C Kendall family units lived intensely peripatetic lives.

The Rude Forefathers¹

In 1608, in the small colonial settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, which was beset by starvation and disease, struggling for its very survival, one of its most prominent members became the first person in North America to be officially executed (Francis Drake's execution of Thomas Doughty on 2 Jul 1578 was in Patagonia, South America, and was legitimised by Drake's authority as captain of a sea-going vessel), in circumstances which have been disputed ever since.

The protagonist in this curious drama of long ago was Captain George Kendall (~1570 – 1608) and his principal antagonist was Captain John Smith (~Jan 1580 – 21 Jun 1631).

The Wikipedia article on Kendall is quite bizarrely lacking in any context or explanation for the paranoid accusations that were levelled against him, and we must dig deeper, but it can be said right away that he was quite possibly more sinned against than sinning.

A priori, his true misdemeanours might have been any of the following

• He was a common-or-garden mutineer
• He was in the pay of Spain to betray the colony
• He was a patriot attempting to defuse John Smith's dictatorial ambitions

The first and second of these propositions are examined in

Captain George Kendall: Mutineer or Intelligencer?, Philip L Barbour, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol 70, No 3 (Jul 1962), pp 297 – 313, published by the Virginia Historical Society

Captain John Smith

The scorpion in the carpet slipper was undoubtedly John Smith, and his track record prior to the Jamestown imbroglio must first be exposed to the light of day. The congratulatory verse referring to his "fowle-overthrowes of salvages" needs a bit of analysis, for example; to us it might sound rather like fly-tipping, a thoroughly anti-social activity. In Jacobean English the word "salvage" evidently meant "savage" as in native or aboriginal. And to a sailor, the word "fowle" simply meant contrary, or unfavourable, as per a current or wind. So "fowle-overthrowes of salvages" actually meant supplanting the local inhabitants by force majeure, a thoroughly deplorable course of action to modern eyes.

By a quite extraordinary coincidence, on the very day I am writing this, a newspaper report has described gruesome fresh evidence of the plight in which the Jamestown settlers found themselves during the winter of 1608/9 – no longer a problem for the unfortunate George Kendall, though.