{72} Some Edward III Descents for Admiral Mark Milbanke (1724-1805)

Milbanke Coat of Arms
[Gules, a bend ermine; on a canton, Or,
a lion's head erased, of the first]

This blogpost is a continuation of genealogical research into the family and descent of Admiral Mark Milbanke, ambassador to Morocco in 1760 and governor of Newfoundland from 1789 to 1792. The Admiral has an entry in ODNB, as well as one in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Neither one has much in the way of genealogical details, and the ODNB even confuses the Admiral's son with his namesake first cousin. Hopefully the account below will be helpful in future studies of the Milbanke family.

Obscurity surrounds the wife of Admiral Milbanke. Robert Surtees (1779-1834), the celebrated English historian from Durham, and contemporary of the Admiral, published a pedigree of the Milbanke family in 1816, in the first volume of his The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham. Surtees identifies the Admiral's wife as "Mary, dau. of ……. Webber, of Gibraltar.” This was a mere eleven years after the death of the Admiral, and less than four years after the death of his widow, the lady herself. Mary's maiden name of Webber matches to the entry of her marriage in the Chester-le-Street parish register. No doubt if Surtees had been able to further identify Mary's Webber family he would have. The marriage was certainly a love match, for it would appear Mary Webber was the mistress of Captain (later Admiral) Milbanke before she was his wife. Ralph, son of Mark Milbanke, was baptized at Chester-le-Street in 1761, and Harriet, daughter of Mark Milbanke and Mary, was baptized there in 1765. All good, but in July 1768 is an entry in the same parish register for the marriage of Mark Milbanke and Mary Webber, followed six months later by the baptism of their son Mark in January 1769.

Royal Navy frigate, 18th-century

Mark Milbanke returned from his diplomatic mission to Morocco in 1860, apparently with Mary Webber, who was probably the daughter of a fellow officer in the Royal Navy stationed at Gibraltar. As Mary bore a daughter in 1777, almost nine years after the birth of their last recorded child at Chester-le-Street (so quite possibly a change of life baby), she could not have been born earlier than about 1735, and so was a dozen or so years younger than the Admiral. In 1760, the head of the Milbanke family was Mark's eldest brother Sir Ralph, the fifth baronet. He installed Mark in Chester Deanery, the estate in county Durham that had come to him from his wife, the heiress Elizabeth Hedworth. Mark Milbanke, in addition to bringing Mary Webber on his return to England in 1760, had also brought with him horses from the Mediterranean. He took up racehorse breeding at Chester Deanery in the 1760s, in addition to his duties as commander on the fifty-gun Guernsey. Sir Ralph and Lady Elizabeth Milbanke had every reason to be sympathetic to their worldly naval officer brother just returned from far-off lands, with a teenaged mistress in tow. Thirteen years previous, the marriage of Ralph Milbanke, then the 25-year-old heir to the baronetcy, to the 16-year-old Elizabeth Hedworth, was recorded in the register of Chester-le-Street on 4 July 1747, followed 24 days later by the baptism of their firstborn child Ralph (the future sixth baronet), on 28 July 1747. Elizabeth was an orphan, her mother had died 8 months after her birth, while her 63-year-old father John Hedworth, the county M.P., had died at the end of May 1747, just two months prior to her necessary marriage. His death occurred suddenly in his carriage on his return trip home from London, leaving his teenaged daughter the heiress of Chester Deanery. No doubt the task of smoothing over the melodramatic circumstances of that summer of 1747, fell to the local prelate, Rev. William Lambe (1706-1769), who owed his preferment as rector of Chester-le-Street to the patronage of Squire Hedworth. Whatever obstacles Ralph Milbanke and Elizabeth Hedworth had faced with their marriage, they clearly had the loyalty of her rector. This loyalty and discretion was called upon once again by the family in regard to the situation of Mary Webber, and it would have been Rev. Lambe who officiated at Mary's 1768 marriage to the Admiral. That the promising naval officer and diplomat had an enduring love for Mary, strong enough to eventually marry her and defy social conventions, is reflected four decades later in his 1805 will, in which he refers to her as his "Dearly beloved wife Mary Milbanke."

Chester Deanery, co. Durham

Drama and tragedy haunted the family of Admiral Milbanke into the next generation. His younger son Mark died an infant, while his elder son Ralph followed his father into the Royal Navy, and "was lost at sea, 1790," per Surtees. The original Dictionary of National Biography confused the Admiral's son Ralph Milbanke with the Admiral's nephew Capt. Ralph Milbanke (1751-1823), also in the Royal Navy, and the error has been continued in the ODNB. Harriet Tilghman, the Admiral's elder daughter, had eloped at age 20 with an American-born officer of the British Navy. After his death on a Maryland farm that he leased from his family, Harriet, now a 32-year-old widow, with very limited financial means and five young children, returned to England and the home of the Admiral. William Huskisson, the brilliant politician who married the Admiral's younger daughter Eliza Emily Milbanke, would go on to become the world's first widely reported railway casualty in 1830 at age 60. And, finally, the Admiral himself died a violent death at age 81, when he fell over the staircase balcony in his London home.

I presented five lines from Edward III to the Admiral in a January 2007 post to SocGenMed, all thru his father Sir Ralph Milbanke, the fourth baronet. One of those (the one thru George Neville, Archbishop of York) turned out to be invalid. A few weeks later, John Higgins posted ten more lines, all thru the Admiral's mother Anne Delaval. The lines below are additional lines from Edward III to Admiral Milbanke, not included in those earlier posts.

Admiral MARK MILBANKE of Marylebone, Governor of Newfoundland 1789-1792, b. Halnaby Hall, Croft-on-Tees, Yorkshire, bap. 12 Apr. 1724 St Peter Church, Croft-on-Tees; d. 10 June 1805 Upper Wimpole Street, Marylebone, London, bur. 17 June 1805 St Etheldreda Church, Bishops Hatfield, Hertfordshire, 3rd son of Sir Ralph Milbanke, 4th Baronet of Halnaby (1688-1748, descended from Edward III - see Generation A15 below) and his 2nd wife Anne Delaval (1702-1765, descended from Edward IV - see Generation B16 below); m. 16 July 1768 St Mary & St Cuthbert Church, Chester-le-Street, co Durham, MARY WEBBER, b. c.1740; d. Dec. 1812 Upper Wimpole Street, dau. of "--- Webber of Gibraltar," and had issue, two sons and two daughters.

Issue of Adm. Mark and Mary (Webber) Milbanke:

1) RALPH MILBANKE, Royal Navy, bap. 29 July 1761 St Mary & St Cuthbert Church, Chester-le-Street; d. unm. "lost at sea, 1790."

2) HARRIET MILBANKE, b. Chester Deanery, co. Durham, bap. 30 Sept. 1765 St Mary & St Cuthbert Church, Chester-le-Street; d. 4 Apr. 1835 Marylebone, London, bur. 11 Apr. 1735 St Etheldreda Church, Bishops Hatfield; m. (eloped) 1785, Lt. PHILEMON TILGHMAN of Golden Square Plantation, Queen Anne's County, Maryland, b. 29 Nov. 1760 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; d. 11 Jan. 1797 Golden Square Plantation, yr son of James Tilghman of Philadelphia (1716-1793, descended from Edward III) and Anne Francis (1726-1771), and had issue, one son and four daughters.

William Huskisson, M.P.
(1770-1830)

3) MARK MILBANKE, b. 9 Dec. 1768 Chester Deanery, bap. 10 Jan. 1769 St Mary & St Cuthbert Church, Chester-le-Street; bur. there 6 June 1769.

4) ELIZA EMILY MILBANKE, b. 13 June 1777 Portsmouth, Hampshire; d.s.p. 7 Apr. 1856 Eartham House, Sussex, bur. 15 Apr. 1856 St Margaret Church, Eartham; m. 6 Apr. 1799 St Marylebone, London, WILLIAM HUSKISSON of Eartham House, M.P., b. 11 Mar. 1770 Birtsmorton Court, Malvern, Worcestershire; d. 15 Sept. 1830 Eccles, Lancashire, bur. 24 Sept. 1830 St James Cemetery, Liverpool, Lancashire, son of William Huskisson of Oxley (1743-1790) and his 1st wife Elizabeth Rotton (c.1743-1774).

Edward III had two sons A1 & C1 (see below)
A1) Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence (1338-1368) m. 1) Lady Elizabeth de Burgh (1332-1363, descended from Edward I), and had
A2) Lady Philippa Plantagenet of Clarence (1355-1377) m. Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1352-1381), and had

Sir Martin at See -
see Generation A6

A3) Lady Elizabeth Mortimer (1371-1417) m. 1) Sir Henry 'Hotspur' Percy (1364-1403), and had a dau A4 & a son B4 (see below)
A4) Lady Elizabeth Percy (c.1395-1437) m. 1) John, 7th Lord Clifford (1388-1422, descended from Edward I), and had
A5) Mary Clifford (c.1420-by1458) m. Sir Philip Wentworth of Nettlestead (1424-1464), and had
A6) Elizabeth Wentworth (c.1457-by 1479) m. Sir Martin at See of Barmston Hall (c.1420-1494), and had
A7) Joan at See (d. 1527) m. Peter Hildyard of Winestead (d. 1502, descended from Edward I), and had
A8) Isabel Hildyard m. Ralph Legard of Anlaby Hall, and had
A9) Richard Legard of Rysome (d. 1594) m. Margaret Marshall, and had
A10) Faith Legard (d. 1639) m. Sir Thomas Dawnay of Sessay (c.1563-1642, descended from Edward III), and had
A11) Elizabeth Dawnay (b. c.1590) m. Sir William Acclom of Moreby Hall (1582-1639, descended from Edward III), and had

Acclom of Moreby Coat of Arms

A12) John Acclom of Moreby Hall (1619-1644) m. Elizabeth[?] Wormeley (b. 1616), and had
A13) ELIZABETH ACCLOM, b. Jan. 1641 Moreby Hall, bap. 3 Feb. 1641 St Helen Church, Stillingfleet; bur. 23 Mar. 1671 St Peter Church, Croft-on-Tees, Yorkshire; m. 6 Sept. 1660 St Helen Church, Stillingfleet, as his 1st wife, Sir MARK MILBANKE, 1st Baronet of Halnaby, b. June 1638 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, bap. 1 July 1638 All Saints Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; d. June 1680, bur. 2 July 1680 St Peter Church, Croft-on-Tees, and had
A14) Sir MARK MILBANKE, 2nd Baronet of Halnaby, b. Moreby Hall, bap. 11 Dec. 1661 St Helen Church, Stillingfleet; bur. 13 May 1698 St Peter Church, Croft-on-Tees; m. 3 Feb. 1680 St Michael Church, Houghton-le-Spring, co. Durham, JANE CARR, bap. 20 Oct. 1663 St Nicholas Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; bur. 14 May 1704 St Andrew Holborn, London, dau. of Sir Ralph Carr of Cocken Hall (1634-1710) and his 1st wife Jane Anderson (d. 1667), and had
A15) Sir RALPH MILBANKE, 4th Baronet of Halnaby, b. 6 Oct. 1688 Halnaby Hall, Croft-on-Tees, bap. 30 Oct. 1688 St Peter Church, Croft-on-Tees; d. 9 May 1748 St James Square, London, bur. 28 May 1748 St Peter Church, Croft-on-Tees; m. 2nd (contract 11 Sept.) 1721, ANNE DELAVAL (see B16 below), and had

A16) Admiral MARK MILBANKE (1724-1805-see details above)

B4) Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland (1394-1455) m. Lady Eleanor Neville (1403-1472, descended from Edward III), and had
B5) Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland (1421-1461) m. Eleanor Poynings (1428-1484, descended from Edward I), and had
B6) Lady Margaret Percy (b. c.1447) m. Sir William Gascoigne of Gawthorpe Hall (c.1450-1487, descended from Edward III), and had
B7) Margaret Gascoigne (b. c.1470) m. Ralph, 3rd Lord Ogle (1468-1513, descended from Edward I), and had
B8) Dorothy Ogle (c.1498-bef.1570) m. 1) Sir Thomas Forster of Adderstone (d. 1527), and had
B9) Margaret Forster (b. c.1516) m. 1) William Heron, Heir of Ford Castle (d. c.1533, descended from Edward I), and had

Carr of Ford Castle Coat of Arms

B10) Elizabeth Heron (1532-1554) m. Thomas Carr of Ford Castle (d. 1558), and had
B11) William Carr of Ford Castle (1551-1589) m. Ursula Brandling, and had
B12) Thomas Carr of Ford Castle (1577-1641) m. Isabel Selby (d. c.1608), and had
B13) William Carr of Ford Castle (1605-1644) m. Susan Hodgson (d. aft.1686), and had
B14) Elizabeth Carr (1640-by 1713) m. Sir Francis Blake of Ford Castle (1638-1718, descended from Edward I), and had
B15) Mary Blake (1664-1711) m. 2) Edward Delaval of Dissington Hall (see C11 below), and had
B16) ANNE DELAVAL, b. Dissington Hall, Newburn, Northumberland, bap. 8 Sept. 1702 St Michael Church, Newburn; d. 21 Mar. 1765 Marylebone, London, bur. 28 Mar. 1765 St Marylebone Parish Church; m. (contract 11 Sept.) 1721, Sir RALPH MILBANKE, 4th Baronet of Halnaby (see A15 above)

C1) John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399) m. 3) Katherine Roet (c.1350-1403), and had
C2) Lady Joan Beaufort (c.1377-1440) m. 2) Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1364-1425), and had
C3) Richard Neville, 1st Earl of Salisbury (c.1398-1460) m. Alice Montagu 
(1406-1462, descended from Edward I), and had

1st Earl of Salisbury -
see Generation C3

C4) Lady Alice Neville (c.1434-aft.1503) m. Henry, 5th Lord Fitzhugh (1429-1472), and had
C5) Elizabeth Fitzhugh (1462-bef.1507) m. 2) Nicholas, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden (c.1460-1523, descended from Edward I), and had
C6) Anne Vaux (b. 1494) m. Sir Thomas L'Estrange of Hunstanton Hall (c.1490-1545), and had
C7) Roger L'Estrange of Wiveton Hall m. ----, and had
C8) Katherine L'Estrange m. Sir Edward Gray of Morpeth Castle (d. 1631, descended from Edward III), and had
C9) Edward Gray of Bitchfield (d. 1658) m. Margaret Widdrington (d. 1661, descended from Edward III), and had
C10) Margaret Gray (c.1642-1709) m. George Delaval of Dissington Hall (d. 1695, descended from Edward IV), and had
C11) Edward Delaval of Dissington Hall (1664-1744) m. Mary Blake (see B15 above)

The next blogpost will look at the Admiral's elder daughter Harriet Milbanke, her children and grandchildren, and the Edward III descents for her American husband Philemon Tilghman.

Cheers,                               -----Brad