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Sunday, May 3, 2009

He who can't be named!


14 April

William and Mary

 

clip_image002 William I was a Stadtholder (Dutch for Steward) It is comparable with the French title Lieutenant, England's fifteenth century Lord Lieutenant with the Italian title of Doge.

clip_image004Henrietta Maria was Princess of France and Queen Consort of EnglandScotland and Ireland through her marriage to Charles I. She was the mother of two kings, Charles II and James II, and was grandmother to Mary IIWilliam III, and Anne of Great Britain. She was also, through her daughter Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans, the ancestor of Louis XVLouis XVILouis XVIILouis XVIII &Charles X. Through the illegitimate children of Charles II, she is a direct ancestor of Princess Diana , Prince William and Prince Harry.

clip_image006William II was a Stadtholder of the the United Provinces of the Netherlands On May 2, 1641 William married Mary Henrietta Stuart, the Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England and Queen Henrietta Maria in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London.

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Mary, Princess Royal's ancestors were

Father: Charles I of England

Paternal Grandfather: James I of England

Paternal Great-grandfather: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Paternal Great-grandmother: Mary I of Scotland

Paternal Grandmother: Anne of Denmark

Paternal Great-grandfather: Frederick II of Denmark

Paternal Great-grandmother: Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

Mother: Henrietta Maria of France

Maternal Grandfather: Henry IV of France

Maternal Great-grandfather: Antoine de Bourbon

Maternal Great-grandmother: Jeanne III of Navarre

Maternal Grandmother: Marie de' Medici

Maternal Great-grandfather: Francesco I de' Medici

Maternal Great-grandmother: Johanna of Austria

William III of England and Mary II of England

Co-regents 1689-95

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Upon the death of Charles II in 1685, the Duke of York became King as James II in England and Ireland (and as James VII in Scotland). He had a controversial religious policy and the King James Bible;

On 30 June, the Immortal Seven secretly requested William—then in the Netherlands with Mary—to come to England with an army. At first, William was reluctant; he was jealous of his wife's position as the heiress to the English Crown and feared that she would become more powerful than he was. Mary, however, convinced her husband that she did not care for political power, telling him "she would be no more but his wife, and that she would do all that lay in her power to make him King for life". William agreed to invade and issued a declaration which referred to James' newborn son as the "pretended Prince of Wales". He also gave a list of grievances of the English people and stated that his proposed expedition was for the sole purpose of having "a free and lawful Parliament assembled". The Dutch army finally landed on 5 November, having been turned back by a storm in October. The disaffected English Army and Navy went over to William, and English people's confidence in James stood so low that they did not attempt to save their King. On 11 December, the defeated King attempted to flee, but was intercepted. A second attempt at flight, on 23 December, was successful: James escaped to France where he lived in exile until his death.

Mary was upset by the circumstances surrounding the deposition of her father, but William ordered her to appear cheerful on their triumphant arrival in London. As a result, she was criticised for appearing cold to her father's plight. James, too, wrote a diatribe against her criticising her disloyalty, an action which deeply affected the pious Mary.

The invasion marked the final defeat of England in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. However, the personal union, the common market and the merging of the English and Dutch navies shifted the dominance in world trade from the Netherlands to England (and then theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain). Although most in England accepted William as Sovereign, he faced considerable opposition in Scotland and Ireland. The Scottish Jacobites—those who believed that James VII was the legitimate monarch—won a stunning victory on 27 July 1689 at theBattle of Killiecrankie, but were nevertheless subdued within a month. William's reputation suffered following the Massacre of Glencoe (1692), in which 78 Highland Scots were murdered or died of exposure for not properly pledging their allegiance to the new King and Queen. Bowing to public opinion, William dismissed those responsible for the massacre, though they still remained in his favour; in the words of the historianJohn Dalberg-Acton, "one became a colonel, another a knight, a third a peer and a fourth an earl."

Whilst William was away fighting, his wife, Mary II, governed the realm, but acted on his advice. Each time he returned to England, Mary gave up her power to him without reservation, an arrangement that lasted for the rest of Mary's life. William endowed the College of William and Mary (in present day WilliamsburgVirginia) in 1693. Nassau, the capital of The Bahamas, is named after Fort Nassau, which was renamed in 1695 in his honor. Similarly Nassau County, New York a county on Long Island, is a namesake. Long Island itself was also known as Nassau during early Dutch rule. Though many alumni of Princeton University think that Princeton, N.J. (and hence the university) was named in his honor, this is probably untrue. Nassau Hall, at the university campus, is so named, however.

The modern day Orange Institution is named after William III, and makes a point of celebrating his victory at the Boyne. New York City was briefly renamed New Orange for him in 1673 after the Dutch recaptured the city, which had been renamed New York by the British in 1665. His name was applied to the fort and administrative center for the city on two separate occasions reflecting his different sovereign status—first as Fort Willem Hendrick in 1673, and then as Fort William in 1691 when the English evicted Colonists who had seized the fort and city.

William and Mary (the Adam and Eve of Virginia)

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William Randolph (1650– 1711) was a colonist and land owner who played an important role in the history and government of theCommonwealth of Virginia. He moved to Virginia sometime between 1669 and 1673, and married Mary Isham (1652–December 29*, 1735) a few years later. His descendants included several prominent political figures, including Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall. Genealogists have taken an interest in him for his progeny's many marital alliances, referring to him and Mary Isham as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia".

*The same day Mary II supposable died in 1694 at the age of 32.

The Randolphs were established gentry, in England, meaning that they had property and a family tradition of knightly military service signified by a coat of arms. Although the family can be directly traced back only as far as 1500, the name appears in the Doomsday Book and there is a distinguished Scottish family with which they may have been connected. There is better evidence that they were descended from Surety Barons of Magna Carta through a female line. The historian David Hackett Fisher shows a chart illustrating gentry intermarriages in which the Randolphs and Ishams figure. Although there is no record of William's attending a university, his half-uncle Thomas Randolph was an Oxford don and noted poet.

After his arrival in Virginia, Randolph began working as an "undertaker" (building contractor), before turning to tobacco farming. Even after he had acquired property, a tax roll refers to him as "William Randolph, Merchant". At some point he owned a ship which travelled between Bristol, England and his dock at Turkey Island. Randolph held multiple official appointments. At the local level, he became clerk of Henrico County Court in 1673 and held the position until he was asked to serve as a justice of the peace in 1683. He also served as sheriff and coroner.

In addition, Randolph represented Henrico County in every assembly of the House of Burgesses from 1684 to 1698, was the Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1698, and was the Clerk of the House from 1699 to 1702. He fell ill in August of 1702 and his son, William, took his place. Randolph resigned the clerkship completely in March of 1703.

Randolph was also one of the founders and first trustees of the College of William and Mary. His son, John Randolph, was awarded a knighthood on a trip to London to secure a royal charter for the College.

Randolph was a friend of William Byrd and served as an advisor to Byrd’s sons during their political careers. He is mentioned in one of Byrd's diaries without the supercilious tone Byrd employed with most of his contemporaries, no small character reference. Byrd also describes a visit to Tuckahoe Plantation around 1733.

He built a mansion on the Turkey Island plantation on high ground overlooking the island and the river. It featured a ribbed dome and was known as the "Bird's Cage

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Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 into a family closely related to some of the most prominent individuals in Virginia, the third of eight children. His mother was Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph, a ship's captain and sometime planter, first cousin to Peyton Randolph, and granddaughter of wealthy English gentry. Jefferson's father was Peter Jefferson, a planter and surveyor in Albemarle County(Shadwell, then Edge HillVirginia.) He was of Welsh descent. When Colonel William Randolph, an old friend of Peter Jefferson, died in 1745, Peter assumed executorship and personal charge of William Randolph's estate in Tuckahoe as well as his infant son, Thomas Mann Randolph

13 April

He who can't be named!

Witch one is the Head Master?

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Thomas Jefferson               -          Thomas Malthus         or        the Viscount Melbourne

(April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) (13 February 1766 – 23 Dec 1834) ( 5 March 1779 – 24 Nov 1848)

Thomas Jefferson was a political philosopher, a man of the Enlightenment and knew many intellectual leaders in Britain and France. Jefferson served as the wartime Governor of Virginia (1779–1781), first United States Secretary of State(1789–1793) and second Vice President (1797–1801) before becoming the 3rd President .

He was born in 1743 into a family closely related to some of the most prominent individuals in Virginia, the third of eight children. His mother was Jane Randolph, daughter of Isham Randolph (a ship's captain who owned a ship which travelled between Bristol, England and his dock at Turkey Island), first cousin to Peyton Randolph, and granddaughter of wealthy English gentry. She came from a leading Tidewater family, and had a noble bloodline ranging back to various locations in England and Scotland. Family lore held her as descended from various European royalty ranging as far back as Charlemagne. The first record of Jane's presence in Virginia is her marriage to Peter Jefferson on October 3, 1739.

Peter Jefferson, a self-educated jack of all trades, was of Welsh descent. When Colonel William Randolph, an old friend of Peter Jefferson, died in 1745, Peter assumed executorship and personal charge of William Randolph's estate in Tuckahoe as well as his infant son, Thomas Mann Randolph.

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                  William Randolph  and  Mary Isham Randolph

In 1752, Jefferson began attending a local school run by William Douglas, a Scottish minister. At the age of nine, Jefferson began studyingLatinGreek, and French. In 1757, when he was 14 years old, his father died. Jefferson inherited about 5,000 acres (20 km²) of land and dozens of slaves. He built his home there, which eventually became known as Monticello

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In 1772, at age 29 Jefferson married the 23-year-old widow Martha Wayles Skelton. They had six children: Martha Jefferson Randolph (1772–1836), Jane Randolph (1774–1775), a stillborn or unnamed son (1777), Mary Jefferson Eppes (1778–1804), Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781), and Elizabeth (1782–1785). Martha died on September 6, 1782. Although Jefferson was only 39 at her death, he never remarried.

Jefferson is believed to have taken an enslaved woman as a companion, as other wealthy widowers had done. He had a nearly four decades-long relationship with Sally Hemings, a young quadroon believed to have been a half-sister to his late wife. (They were both the children of John Wayles, and Sally's mother Betty Hemings was mixed-race. Wayles had started a relationship with Betty Hemings after becoming a widower.) DNA testing has supported the weight of historical evidence pointing to the relationship, and the conclusion that Jefferson was the father of Sally's six mixed-race children (who were of seven-eighths white ancestry). Four of the children survived: Beverly, Harriet, Madisonand Eston, and Jefferson freed all of them at about age 21.

During Jefferson's term as governor of Virginia, it was invaded twice by the British. He, along with Patrick Henry and other leaders, were but ten minutes away from being captured by Banastre Tarleton, a British colonel leading a cavalry column that was raiding the area in June 1781. Public disapproval of his performance delayed his future political prospects, and he was never again elected to office in Virginia.

In 1784, Thomas Jefferson took up residence in Paris (as the American envoy) when the French Revolution was being hatched and despite being friends with the ruling and social elite, he sided with the revolutionaries when the killing began. He returned to become the USA’s first Secretary of State in 1789 with his eldest daughter Martha, looking just like her dead mother Martha, by his side.

clip_image010 Martha Jefferson (not sure which one)

Jefferson achieved distinction as, among other things, a horticulturist, statesman, architect, archaeologist, inventor, and founder of theUniversity of Virginia which is still one of the most exclusive educational institutes in the world. Conceived in 1800 and established by 1819, it is the only university in the United States to be designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, an honour it shares with nearby Monticello. Although Jefferson undertook all planning of the University, the land underneath it was once a farm belonging to Monroe. His farmhouse was located on Monroe Hill, which today is the site of one of three undergraduate residential colleges.

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Elevation of The Rotunda drawn by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 and fire in 1885

Meanwhile across the Atlantic

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Thomas Robert Malthus

Born 13th Feb 1766;

was beginning his public life by signing up for an arts degree at Cambridge, majoring in Mathematics and specializing in Latin, Greek and French, about the same time as Thomas Jefferson was beginning his sojourn in Europe. By the time he had Mastered it, produced his famous treatise, An Essay on the Principle of Population, Jefferson was being elected to the White house. For a man who had just presided over and closely witnessed the deaths of Millions of New Virginians, Brits and French, Malthusian theory must have come as a breath of fresh air.

Quote:

"The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in comparison with the second." T.R. Malthus

On a personal note while Jefferson was living in the white house with his 20 to 30 year old daughters, Malthus was marrying his young cousin Harriet and procuring two or three of his own and his Cambridge study buddy, the Viscount Melbourne, was marrying the infamous Lady Caroline (Ponsonby) Lamb.

Note: If that lot ever got together for a party you wouldn’t know witch one was witch.

clip_image017 clip_image018The Jeffersons

clip_image020clip_image021 clip_image023The Malthusians

clip_image024clip_image004[1]clip_image026 and The Lambs

And if the future King William turned up with his main squeeze Dorothy, I wouldn’t want to be allocating bedrooms.

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Especially if Byron and Mary Shelly turned up;

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Anyway, Pops Malthus went on to become Professor of History and Political Economy, at

The East India Company College (now known as Haileybury) in Hertfordshire.

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It was then and is now one of the most influential educational institutes in Briton.

By the time Jefferson had started and won America’s first external war (First Barbary War

(1801-1805), established the United States Military Academy at West Point and established

Virginia’s University in 1818, Malthus had become a Fellow of the Royal Society.

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As for William Lamb He first came to general notice for reasons he would rather have avoided: his wife had a public affair with Lord Byron — she coined the famous characterization of him as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". The resulting scandal was the talk of Britain in 1812. Eventually the two reconciled and though they separated in 1825, her death (1828) affected him considerably.

Lamb's hallmark was finding the middle ground. Though a Whig, he accepted the post of Irish Secretary (1827) in the moderate Tory governments of George Canning and Lord Goderich. Upon the death of his father in 1828 and his becoming Viscount Melbourne, he moved to the House of Lords, but when the Whigs came to power under Lord Grey in November 1830 he became Home Secretary in the new government. One of his first acts was to insist on harsh punishments for the impoverished agricultural labourers involved in the machine-breaking Swing Riots. Sentences of hanging, transportation and imprisonment followed all that before becoming Prime Minister.


King William IV
's opposition to the Whigs' reforming ways led him to dismiss Melbourne in November. He then gave the Tories under Robert Peel an opportunity to form a government. Peel's failure to win a House of Commons majority in the resulting general election (January 1835) made it impossible for him to govern, and the Whigs returned to power under Melbourne in April 1835. This was the last time a British monarch attempted to dismiss a prime minister.

The next year, Melbourne was once again involved in a sex scandal. This time he was the victim of attempted blackmail from the husband of a close friend, society beauty and author Caroline Norton. The husband demanded £1400, and when he was turned down he accused Melbourne of having an affair with his wife. In the early 19th century even one sexual scandal (like the one two decades earlier involving Lord Byron) would be enough to finish off the career of most men, so it is a measure of the respect contemporaries had for his integrity that Melbourne's government did not fall. After Mr. Norton was unable to produce any evidence of an affair, the scandal died away.

Nonetheless, as a recent historian records, "it is irrefutable that Melbourne's personal life was problematic": Spanking sessions with aristocratic ladies were harmless, not so the whippings administered to orphan girls taken into his household as objects of charity.

Melbourne was Prime Minister when Queen Victoria came to the throne (June 1837). Barely eighteen, she was only just breaking free from the domineering influence of her mother, the Duchess of Kent, and her mother's advisor, John Conroy. Over the next four years Melbourne trained her in the art of politics and the two became friends: Victoria was quoted as saying she considered him like a father (her own had died when she was only eight months old), and Melbourne's daughter had died at a young age. Melbourne was given a private apartment at Windsor Castle, and unfounded rumours circulated for a time that Victoria would marry Melbourne, forty years her senior.

In May 1839 the Bedchamber Crisis occurred when Melbourne tried to resign and Victoria rejected the request of prospective Tory Prime Minister Robert Peel that she dismiss some of the wives and daughters of Whig MP's who made up her personal entourage. As Monarch she was expected to avoid any hint of favouritism to a party out of power, so her action (which was supported by the Whigs) led to Peel's refusal to form a new government. Melbourne was eventually persuaded to stay on as Prime Minister. On 25 February 1841, he was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The capital city of MelbourneAustralia, was named in his honour in March 1837, but that’s another story.

clip_image037clip_image039 Mad Jack.

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