{14} James V Descent for Brigadier Edward 'Ted' Williams (1892-1977)

Continuing on with the ancestry of the spouses of the Howards of Corby Castle in the Norfolk article of Burke’s Peerage 107th Edition (2003), we come to Edward Bruce Williams (b. 12 June 1946), husband of Catherine Mary Howard[*1], great-granddaughter of Sir Henry Howard (1843-1921) and Cecilia Dowdall Riggs (1844-1907), his American-born wife, whose 18-generation line of descent from Edward III was covered in my post to SocGenMed on March 6th.

Edward’s father, Edward ‘Ted’ Stephen Bruce Williams, was a distinguished British Army officer who served in both World Wars, and rose to the rank of Honorary Brigadier. He was also a first-class cricketer. He was born 2 November 1892 at Pinhoe, Devon, and died 20 January 1977 at Winchester, Hampshire. He has a Wikipedia entry.

Brigadier Ted Williams has a 14-generation illegitimate line of descent from James V of Scotland, through that monarch’s son the Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland.

James V = Margaret Erskine (d. 1572), and had

1st Earl of Moray -
see Generation 1

1) James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, illegit. (1531-1570) m. Lady Agnes Keith (c.1544-1588, descended from James I of Scotland), and had
2) Elizabeth Stewart, 2nd Countess of Moray (1565-1591) m. James Stewart, 2nd Lord Doune, Earl of Moray (1565-1592, descended from Edward III), and had
3) James Stewart, 3rd Earl of Moray (c.1581-1638) m. Lady Anne Gordon (b. c.1591, descended from James IV), and had
4) James Stewart, 4th Earl of Moray (d. 1653) m. Lady Margaret Home (d. 1683, descended from Edward III), and had
5) Lady Mary Stewart (c.1630-1668) m. Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll (1629-1685, descended from James I), and had
6) Lady Jean Campbell (c.1665-1712) m. William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian (1661-1722, descended from James II), and had
7) Lady Anne Kerr (c.1687-1727) m. Alexander, 7th Earl of Home (c.1680-1720, descended from James I), and had
8) Rev. Alexander, 9th Earl of Home (c.1715-1786) m. 1) Hon. Primrose Elphinstone (1725-1759, descended from James IV), and had
9) Lady Eleanor Elizabeth Home (1759-1837) m. Maj.-Gen. Thomas Dundas of Fingask
(1750-1794, descended from James IV), and had

Monument to Maj-Gen. Thomas Dundas (see Generation 9)
in St Paul's Cathedral, London

10) Clementina Dundas (1785-1861) m. Thomas Bruce of Arnot Tower (1777-1852), and had
11) Thomas Bruce of Arnot Tower (1808-1892) m. 1) Henrietta Dorin (1806-1859)[*2], and had
12) Charlotte Clementina Bruce (1829-1872) m. Sir Edward Charles Sparshott Williams of Kensington (1831-1907)[*3], and had
13) Sir Hugh Bruce Williams of Crowborough (1865-1942) m. Mabel Augusta Heward (1867-1945)[*4], and had
14) Edward Stephen Bruce Williams of Bramdean (1892-1977)

[*1] Edward Bruce Williams, his wife Catherine Howard and their three sons are given on p. 2908 in the Norfolk article in Burke's Peerage. Since 2003, the couple have become grandparents.

[*2] The most thorough account of the Bruces of Arnot Tower, in Kinross-shire, are the notes made by this Thomas Bruce between 1860 and 1869, and included in the memoir of his son Sir Charles Bruce, Milestones on My Long Journey: Memories of a Colonial Governor (1917). Thomas Bruce’s account of the parentage of his first wife Henrietta Dorin is more thorough than that given in the ODNB bio of her brother Joseph Alexander Dorin (1802-1872).

Arnot Tower, the seat of the Bruce family in the 19th century

[*3] Sir Edward Williams has an entry in both Who Was Who: Volume I 1897-1915, 7th Edition (2014), p. 683, and Who Was Who in British India. Sir Edward was the son of a Royal Navy surgeon, John Williams of Southsea, Hampshire (born about 1786, died 8 November 1856 at Southsea), and his first wife, whom I cannot further identify. Sir Edward was born at the Royal Navy base at Devonport, Plymouth, but the registers are not yet available online. Dr. Williams’s second wife, married 27 January 1846 at Sherborne, Dorset, was Emily Elizabeth Ashford, and per their marriage certificate, Dr. Williams’s father was “William Williams, yeoman”.

[*4] I was excited to finally come across a Canadian in my research. Though Mabel Heward does not appear to have any descents from Edward I, her ancestry does take her back to a family in Burke’s Peerage. Her paternal grandmother, Mary Robinson, was the elder sister of Sir John Robinson, 1st Baronet of Toronto, and their ancestry can be traced in the article for that title in the 2003 BP. Her paternal grandfather, Major Stephen Heward of the Grenadier Guards, was a United Empire Loyalist who settled in Toronto and served as Auditor-General of Upper Canada. Their son (Mabel’s father), Stephen Heward Junior (1826-1881), a Toronto stockbroker, married Catherine Crookshank (1829-1917), daughter of George Crookshank (1773-1859), who has an entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

Brigadier Ted Williams’s 12 other lines of descent from James IV of Scotland, through three of that monarch’s illegitimate daughters, will be laid out in my next post.