{54} Ruvigny Continuation: Issue of Louisa (née Buck) Kekewich (1811-1880)

Samuel Trehawke Kekewich
(1796-1873)

Louisa Buck, her husband Samuel Trehawke Kekewich, and their four children appear on p. 483 of Ruvigny's 1911 Mortimer-Percy volume. He clearly did not have contact with the family, as his account contains very little detail, and omits all but one of the six children of their son Sir George William Kekewich. William Fowler Carter (1856-1942) provides detailed evidence of the family's origins in his 1910 article 'The Kekewich Family' in volume 26 of The Genealogist. They derived their name from the Cheshire village of Kekwick, and their arms from those of the Wynnesbury family, with whom they married in the 15th-century, when they were settled in the Shropshire manor of Linley. Marriages to two consecutive heiresses in the early 16th-century brought them the manors of Catchfrench, in the parish of St Germans, Cornwall, and Bardfield Hall in Margaretting, Essex. The first of the family to be returned to Parliament was George Kekewich of Catchfrench (1530-1582), and he was also the first to marry into the Edward I bloodline, when he took to wife Katherine Courtenay, from the Cornish branch of that family seated at Wotton House, in the parish of Landrake. The senior line of the Kekewich family at Catchfrench died out at the end of the 17th-century, but a junior branch of the family, descended from Edward Kekewich of Trehawke (1561-1621), a younger son of George Kekewich the M.P. and Katherine Courtenay, flourished as merchants in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. Samuel Kekewich (1765-1822), a barrister from this branch of the family, bought Peamore House in the parish of Exminster, Devon, in 1810, and it was his son Samuel Trehawke Kekewich, who served in the House Commons 1826-30 and 1858-73.

Lewis William Buck (1784-1858)

After the death of his first wife in 1836, Kekewich was left a widower with seven young children, and  naturally he looked to marry again to help him raise his family. His second wife was the daughter of his fellow Devon M.P. in the Commons, Lewis William Buck. The Bucks were a mercantile family from Bideford who also were the lineal representatives of the Stucleys, a Devon family seated at Affeton Castle for centuries. After the death of Lewis William Buck in 1858, his eldest son George Stucley Buck assumed the surname of Stucley in lieu of Buck, and was created a baronet. The most comprehensive pedigree of the family is the 1887 'Kekewich of Catchfrench and Trehawke' one by John Lambert Vivian in his Visitations of Cornwall volume. Vivian names the four children of Samuel Trehawke Kekewich and Louisa Buck, but does not trace their descendants. The most recent account of the family is the 1969 'Kekewich formerly of Peamore' pedigree in the second volume of the 18th edition of Burke's Landed Gentry. It is much more helpful when it comes to the children of Samuel Trehawke Kekewich's second marriage and their descendants, but it also contains gaps. So my account below elaborates on and continues not only the account of the family by Ruvigny in 1911, but also that of BLG in 1969.

Moreton House, Bideford, Devon

LOUISA BUCK, b. 25 Feb. 1811 Moreton House, Bideford, Devon, bap. 14 Mar. 1811 St Mary Church, Bideford; d. 11 Apr. 1880 Park Lane, London, bur. 17 Apr. 1880 St Martin Church, Exminster, Devon, dau. of Lewis William Buck (1784-1858, descended from Edward IV) and Ann Robbins (1790-1879); m. 9 June 1840 St David Church, Exeter, Devon, as his 2nd wife, SAMUEL TREHAWKE KEKEWICH of Peamore House, b. 31 Oct. 1796 Bowden House, Ashprington, Devon; d. 1 June 1873 Peamore House, bur. 7 June 1873 St Martin Church, Exminster, son of Samuel Kekewich of Bowden House (1765-1822, descended from Edward I) and Salome Sweet (1773-1844, descended from Edward I), and had one son and three daughters.

Issue of Samuel Trehawke and Louisa (Buck) Kekewich:

1) Sir GEORGE WILLIAM KEKEWICH of St Albans House, Feltham, Middlesex, M.P. Exeter 1906-1910, education reformer, first honorary member of the National Union of Teachers, b. 1 Apr. 1841 Peamore House; d. 5 July 1921 Hove, Sussex; m. 1st 19 Nov. 1863, HANNAH LOVEGROVE, b. 1838 Oxford, Oxfordshire; d. 4 Mar. 1890 Notting Hill, dau. of George Lovegrove of Oxford, "college servant" (1809-1866) and Eliza Bryan (1805-1888), and had issue three sons and two daughters; m. 2nd 10 June 1890 St Mary Church, Reigate, Surrey, AGNES JANE SYMMONS, b. c.1860 Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales; d. 24 Aug. 1931 Hove, Sussex, dau. of William Symmons, and had further issue, one daughter.

Sir George William Kekewich (1841-1921)

Issue of Sir George William and Hannah (Lovegrove) Kekewich:

1A) GEORGE ORMOND KEKEWICH of St Margarets, Middlesex, civil engineer, b. 16 Dec. 1863 Reading, Berkshire, bap. 6 May 1864 St Giles Church, Reading; d. 6 Feb. 1909 St Margarets; married Jan. 1888, ALICE MARY ADAMES, b. 1856 Chichester, Sussex; d. 15 Dec. 1922 York, Yorkshire, dau. of James Adames of Lewes, Sussex, draper (1831-1908) and his 1st wife Maria Elizabeth Crosskey (1830-1864), and had issue, one son [*1].

1B) TREHAWKE GEORGE WALTER KEKEWICH of Toronto, Canada, storekeeper, b. 19 Sept. 1870 Notting Hill, bap. 31 Dec. 1872 St John Church, Notting Hill; d. unm. 5 Jan. 1928 Toronto, cremated 9 Jan. 1928 Buffalo, New York.

1C) LOUISA KEKEWICH, b. 23 Dec. 1871 Notting Hill, bap. 9 Jan. 1872 St John Church, Notting Hill; d. young, before 1881 [*2].

1D) Rev. PENDARVES GEORGE KEKEWICH, Rector of Evesbatch, Worcestershire 1910-1933, b. 29 Sept. 1874 Notting Hill, bap. 20 Jan. 1875 St John Church, Notting Hill; d. unm. 22 Dec. 1933 Worcester, Worcestershire.

1E) WINIFRED JOAN KEKEWICH, b. 29 Sept. 1877 Notting Hill, bap. 24 Jan. 1878 St John Church, Notting Hill; d. 31 Dec. 1963 Mendip Lodge, Axbridge, Somersetshire; m. 1st 1 June 1901 St Marylebone Parish Church, London, as his 2nd wife, Rev. RICHARD VALPY FRENCH of Llanmartin, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, bap. 2 Apr. 1839 Holy Trinity Church, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire; d.s.p. 23 Feb. 1907 Mendip Lodge, son of Rev. Peter French of Reading (1799-1878) and Penelope Arabella Valpy (1798-1869); m. 2nd June 1913 Somersetshire, WILLIAM DAVID COLERIDGE SMITH, b. 17 Sept. 1883 Pitcombe, Somersetshire; d. 8 May 1963 Mendip Lodge, son of Rev. Sidney Coleridge Smith of Rodney Stoke (1839-1926, descended from Edward III) and Alice Stroud Barber (1846-1930), and by him had issue, one son and two daughters.

Issue of Sir George William and Agnes Jane (Symmons) Kekewich:

1F) AGNES VIOLET KEKEWICH, b. (before her parents' marriage) 13 May 1882 Marylebone, London; d. unm. 23 Oct. 1961 Hove, Sussex.

Kekewich Coat of Arms
[Argent, two lions passant in bend Sable,
between two cottises Gules]

2) EMMA KEKEWICH, b. 5 Dec. 1843 Peamore House; d. unm. 4 May 1904 Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland.

3) LOUISA KEKEWICH, b. 3 Mar. 1846 Peamore House; d. 12 Oct. 1921 Seaton Burn, Sidmouth, Devon, bur. St Michael & All Angels Church, Appleby Magna, Leicestershire; m. 6 Oct. 1874 St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge, London, GEORGE JOHN MOORE of Appleby Hall, b. 19 Dec. 1842 Aston Hall, Aston-upon-Trent, Derbyshire, bap. 7 Feb. 1843 St Michael & All Angels Church, Appleby Magna; d. 1 Oct. 1916 Appleby Hall, bur. 4 Oct. 1916 St Michael & All Angels Church, Appleby Magna, elder son of George Moore of Appleby Hall (1811-1871, descended from Henry VII) and his 2nd wife Isabel Clara Holden (1810-1867, descended from Henry IV), and had issue three sons and one daughter.

4) ANNE MAUDE KEKEWICH, b. 12 Aug. 1852 Peamore House; d. unm. 21 Dec. 1911 Sidmouth, Devon.

[*1] The only child of George Ormond Kekewich was Stanley Buck Kekewich of Deal, Kent, "inspector of taxes", b. 2 Oct. 1889 Bundeberg, Queensland, Australia, d. 8 Sept. 1964 Deal; m. 2 Sept. 1924 York, Amy Irene Lewis (1898-1990), dau. of Martin William Lewis of York, architect (1857-1945) and Amy Chapman (1867-1939), and had an only child, Fay Maureen Kekewich, b. 6 Mar. 1930 Lancashire, m. 1978 York, as his 2nd wife, Maurice Gordon Eagle (1925-2006), son of Cuthbert Gordon Eagle (1887-1970) and Eileen Miller. Fay Eagle, still living at age 85, is the last surviving descendant of Louisa (née Buck) Kekewich, to have been born a Kekewich.

[*2] Louisa is not included in the 1969 BLG Kekewich pedigree. She is not listed with the children of George William and Hannah Kekewich in the 1881 Census, so presumably had died by then, though I cannot locate an entry for her in the England Deaths Index 1837-1915.

Peamore House, Exminster, Devon

Peamore House was inherited by the eldest son (by his first wife) of Samuel Trehawke Kekewich, and remained the seat of his descendants until it was sold in 1948. It was interesting to trace these descendants of his second marriage, as they clearly can be considered of the upper middle class, rather than the gentry. After the passing of Fay (née Kekewich) Eagle (see footnote *1 above), the only living descendants of Louisa (née Buck) Kekewich, will be those of her granddaughter Winifred (née Kekewich) Coleridge Smith and those of her grandson Capt. (Lancelot) Geoffrey Moore.

Before I leave the Kekewiches and return to the Moores of Appleby Hall, I will cover the Edward III descents for Winifred Kekewich's second husband William David Coleridge Smith in my next post.

Cheers,                            --------Brad