{103} James V Descent for Lady Emma Katharine (née Sneyd) Petre (1833-1916)

Lady Emma Katharine 'Kate' (née Sneyd) Petre
(1833-1916)

The Court Album: Twelve Portraits of the Female Aristocracy (1852) would today be considered a coffee-table book. It consisted of engravings (from drawings by artist John Hayter) of twelve ladies prominent at court, along with rather florid sketches of the genealogy of each lady. One of the featured portraits is that of 21-year-old Miss Kate Sneyd: "On the paternal side, this young lady is descended from the Sneyds of Keel, in the County of Stafford...and the beauty of the daughters of their race [a] matter of history." The engraving proves that Kate continued the tradition of Sneyd family beauties. Born Emma Katharine Julia Sneyd in late 1830, the tenth of the eleven children (six sons and five daughters) of Maj. Ralph Henry Sneyd, an officer in the Honorable East India Company Service. By the time Kate was born, her father had retired to Mattingley Lodge, a small farm in the parish of Heckfield, Hampshire, where he died when Kate was ten years old. Two of Kate's elder sisters had died at age twenty, and the other two had married gentlemen in the Indian Civil Service, so no doubt the widowed Mrs. Jane Robina Sneyd hoped that Kate's beauty and her presence at court, would lead to a prestigious match for her youngest daughter. About the time that The Court Album was published, Kate had a very distinguished suitor, the Prince Napoleon, President of France (soon to be Emperor Napoleon III). She claimed later in life to have rejected his proposal - perhaps the difference in their ages, with he being twenty-two years her senior was a factor in that - and in January 1853, Napoleon III wed Eugénie de Montijo. That same year, a thirty-year-old attaché, George Glynn Petre, was transferred to Paris by the Diplomatic Service, where he served for two years until his appointment to The Hague in 1855. From there he was transferred to Naples, and there proved his worth, ably assuming charge of the British legation from July to Oct. 1856, due to the ill health of the minister. In 1857, George Petre was temporarily attached to the embassy at Paris, and though it's not certain exactly when he and Kate Sneyd had met, it was during this second assignment in Paris that the couple wed.

La Madeleine, Paris

“A marriage took place on Saturday at the British Embassy, Paris, and at the Madeleine, the bride and bridegroom ... are known in certain circles both in London and Paris. Miss Sneyd, daughter of Major Ralph Henry Sneyd, was united to Mr. Petre, who was left in charge of the British Embassy at Naples after the death of Sir William Temple, and who is now attached to the Embassy at Paris. A large circle of friends of the bride and bridegroom met at the embassy to witness the ceremony [including Mrs. Jane Sneyd, the bride's mother]. The bridesmaids were Miss Hope Johnstone, the Misses Langford, Mdlle. Gudieu, Miss Duff, the Countess Valliera, Mdlle. de Rivas, the daughter of the Spanish Ambassador, and Miss Parnell. The Rev. J.H. Swale and the Abbé de Guerry officiated [Swale at the British Embassy, the Abbé at the Madeleine]; Lord and Lady Cowley attended, together with a large number of the fashionable world now in Paris. Mr. French, attached to the British Embassy, Paris, was Mr. Petre’s best man, and the bride was given away by Lord Ernest Bruce [later 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury]” [The Chelmsford Chronicle, Friday, April 16, 1858]. George Petre would go on to a brilliant career, one of the first Catholics in the Diplomatic Service to be appointed a Resident Minister and then an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, serving in Copenhagen, Berlin, Stuttgart, Buenos Aires and Paraguay. George V, King of Hanover, was godfather to George Petre's eldest son. The beautiful Kate, styled after 1890 (when her husband was made a Knight Commander of St Michael and St George), Lady Emma Katharine Petre, made an accomplished diplomat's wife, due in no small part to the time she spent at court before her marriage. Sir George Petre's final appointment was as British envoy at Lisbon, where he remained until his retirement in 1893. Lady Petre befriended the young French princess Amélie of Orleans, who married in 1886 at age 21 the heir to the Portuguese throne, and who became in 1889 when her husband succeeded as King Carlos I, the last Queen consort of that country. Kate also remained friends with the widowed, exiled French Empress Eugénie, and Marie Petre (1909-2005), one of Kate's granddaughters, recalled "as a child accompanying her grandmother to have tea with the Empress at Farnborough where she lived in her widowhood and exile" [Desmond Clarke, Footnotes: A Personal History, p. 11].

Sneyd of Keele coat of arms

Of Kate's ten siblings, only two were still living when she wed George Petre in 1858 - her brothers Nathaniel Robert Sneyd and John Thompson Sneyd. Nathaniel, the elder of the two, would die married but childless in 1867, and the younger John died unmarried in 1907, leaving Kate and her six surviving sons, along with the seven surviving sons of her eldest sister Harriet (née Sneyd) Beadon (1818-1855), the remaining descendants of Maj. Ralph Henry Sneyd. The Sneyds were a Staffordshire gentry family, retainers of the Barons Audley in the 15th-century, from whom they held the manor of Bradwell Hall. In the following century, the family made a fortune in trade, and the first of the family to marry into the Edward I bloodline was Elizabeth Sneyd (c.1530-1609), second daughter of the squire of Bradwell Hall, who became the wife of Henry, 10th Baron Audley. It was Elizabeth's brother Ralph Sneyd (c.1540-1620) who in about 1580 built the mansion of Keele Hall, and made it the family's chief seat. Both of his wives, Mary Chetwynd and Mary Newport, were of the Edward I bloodline, and it is from the first wife that all subsequent Sneyds descend. Lady Petre's father, Major Sneyd was the great-grandson of Rev Dr. Wetenhall Sneyd, archdeacon of Kilmore 1740-45 (1676-1745), founder of the Irish branch of the Sneyds, who was, in turn, the great-great-grandson of Ralph Sneyd, builder of Keele Hall, and his first wife Mary Chetwynd. But it is through her mother, a lady descended from the Durn branch of the Dunbar clan, that Lady Petre derives her descent from the Stewart kings of Scotland.

Sir George Glynn Petre, KCMG, CB
(1822-1905)

EMMA KATHARINE 'Kate' JULIA SNEYD, b. Dec. 1830 Mattingley Lodge, Heckfield, Hampshire, bap. 6 Mar. 1831 St Michael Church, Heckfield; d. 27 Dec. 1916 Hotel Rubens, Westminster, London, yst. dau. of Maj. Ralph Henry Sneyd of Mattingley Lodge (1784-1840, descended from Edward I) and Jane Robina Dunbar (1791-1878, descended from James V - see Generation 10 below); m. 10 Apr. 1858 British Embassy, Paris, France, Sir GEORGE GLYNN PETRE of Dunkenhalgh Hall, Lancashire, K.C.M.G., C.B., Minister Plenipotentiary Argentina 1881, Paraguay 1882, Portugal 1884-93, b. 4 Sept. 1822 Twickenham, bap. 30 Sept. 1822 St Mary Church, Twickenham; d. 17 May 1905 Hove, Sussex, bur. All Saints Churchyard, Odiham, Hampshire, yr son of Henry William Petre of Dunkenhalgh Hall (1791-1852, descended from Charles II) and his 1st wife Elizabeth Anne Glynn (1791-1828, descended from Edward III), and had issue, seven sons and one daughter.

Issue of Emma Katharine (Sneyd) and Sir George Glynn Petre:

1) FLORENCE KATHARINE PETRE, b. 16 July 1859 Westminster, London, bap. 3 Aug. 1859 St George Hanover Square, London; d. young 19 Mar. 1869 Berlin, Germany.

2) GEORGE ERNEST AUGUSTUS HENRY PETRE of Dunkenhalgh Hall, b. 5 Aug. 1860 Westminster, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, Soho, London; d. unm. 20 Jan. 1945 Poland House, Odiham, Hampshire.

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption & St Gregory,
Warwick Steet, London

3) Col. HENRY CECIL PETRE, C.M.G., O.B.E., of Hove, Sussex, commanded separately three battalions of the Rifle Brigade during his military career, b. 27 Oct. 1861 Westminster, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; d.s.p. 17 Sept. 1939 Imperial Nursing Home, Harrogate, Yorkshire; m. 10 Apr. 1899 Brompton Oratory, South Kensington, London, MARJORIE ELIZABETH HAMILTON SEYMOUR, b. 11 Mar. 1879 Hastings, Sussex; d.s.p. 11 Aug. 1928 Silton Lodge, Zeals, Wiltshire, est. dau. of Richard Arthur Hamilton Seymour (1843-1906, descended from Edward III) and Charlotte Elizabeth Baillie-Hamilton (1851-1931, descended from James V).

4) ALGERNON HENRY EDWARD PETRE, Honorary Attache and translator to British Legation at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, b. 4 June 1863 Westminster, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; d. unm. 21 May 1895 Rio de Janeiro ("after an illness of only three days" [The Graphic, June 1, 1895]).

5) ALFRED WILLIAM RALPH GEORGE PETRE, horse dealer (per his daughter's 1893 birth certificate) b. 13 June 1866 Westminster, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; d. 1959 South America; m. 25 Apr. 1892, GERTRUDE BRIGGS, b. 14 July 1870 Tooting, Surrey; d. 1934 South America, dau. of Frederick James Briggs of Wandsworth, Surrey, farm labourer (c.1840-1876) and Elizabeth Ann Burke, charwoman, and had issue, four sons and four daughters[*1].

6) HERBERT ARTHUR PETRE of Poland House, Odiham, b. 17 Mar. 1868 Westminster, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; d. unm. 23 Jan. 1937 Poland House.

7) Capt. CHARLES BERNARD PETRE of Dunkenhalgh Hall, 60th King's Royal Rifle Corps, b. 3 Jan. 1870 Westminster, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; d. 20 Feb. 1949 Poland House; m. 2 Feb. 1903 Register Office, Portsmouth, Hampshire, MURIEL ROSALIND ANDERSON, b. 20 Dec. 1882 Streatham, Surrey, bap. 28 Mar. 1883 St Leonard Church, Streatham; d. 5 July 1961 St George's Hospital, Westminster, dau. of William Danson Anderson of Paddington, captain merchant marines (c.1830-1887) and Rosalind Susan Searle (1856-1936), and had issue, one son and three daughters.

RAdm. Walter Petre, DSO
(1873-1942)

8) RAdm. WALTER REGINALD GLYNN PETRE, D.S.O., of Pinecroft, Weybridge, Surrey, b. 14 Dec. 1873 Westminster, London, bap. Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street; d. 26 Dec. 1942 Weybridge, bur. 29 Dec. 1942 Weybridge Cemetery; m. 22 Jan. 1906 St Peter Catholic Church, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales, AGNES MARIE CADIC, b. 1880; d. 21 Sept. 1963 Chichester, Sussex, bur. Weybridge Cemetery, dau. of Capt. Eugene A. Cadic of Rennes (1838-1908) and Marie Amélie Garnier-Duplessix (c.1840-1905), and had issue, four sons and three daughters.

[*1] The 1959 date of death for Alfred Petre, as well as his 1892 marriage date and the 1934 date of death for his wife Gertrude are all from Burke's Peerage. As a young man Alfred fell out with his father, most likely over his romance with Gertrude Briggs, who was a "fancy" saleswoman living with her elder sister and her family in Clapham in the 1891 Census, and as the daughter of a farm labourer, far lower down the social scale in Victorian London. When the couple married (probably outside of Britain, as there is no entry in the England & Wales Marriages Index for the period), Alfred requested the presence of only one member of his family, his youngest brother Walter Petre. Alfred's firstborn child was a daughter, whom he named after his deceased only sister. She was adopted by her grandmother, Lady Emma Katharine Petre, and made a good marriage: Florence Gertrude Petre, b. 20 Feb. 1893 Clapham, Surrey; d. 17 Aug. 1981 Charlestown, St Austell, Cornwall; m. 30 Apr. 1918 Westminster, London, Sir John Frederick Ellenborough Crowder, M.P. Finchley 1935-59 (1890-1961), and had issue. Meanwhile, Alfred accepted a lump sum in lieu of his possible inheritance of Dunkenhalgh Hall, was removed from the entail of that estate, and with his wife emigrated to South America (his elder brother Algernon Petre was a diplomat in Rio de Janeiro until his untimely death in March 1895), where their other seven children were born and lived. South American vital records haven't yet been downloaded into the three major genealogy databases (Ancestry, Find My Past and Family Search), but once they are, hopefully the fascinating story behind Alfred Petre and his descendants can be continued.

Lady Emma (née Sneyd) Petre is an eleven-generation descendant of James V of Scotland, through his illegitimate son the Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland.

1st Earl of Moray - see
Generation 1

James V = Margaret Erskine (d. 1572), and had
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) Lady Grizel Stewart (b. c.1590) m. Sir Robert Innes, 1st Baronet of that Ilk (1584-1658, descended from James IV), and had
4) ELIZABETH INNES, b. c.1613; d. 12 Aug. 1640; m. 2nd 28 Oct. 1635 Innes, Morayshire, Scotland, ALEXANDER BRODIE, 15th Laird of Brodie, b. 25 July 1617; d. 17 Apr. 1680, son of David, 14th Laird of Brodie (1586-1632) and Katherine Dunbar (d. aft.1664), and had
5) GRIZEL BRODIE, b. 28 Aug. 1636 Brodie Castle, Dyke, Morayshire, Scotland, bap. 2 Sept. 1636 Dyke Parish Church; d. unknown; m. 7 Sept. 1654, Sir ROBERT DUNBAR, 3rd Laird of Grangehill House, Elginshire, Scotland, b. c.1625; d. (21 Sept. 1689?), son of Ninian Dunbar, 2nd Laird of Grangehill House (c.1585-aft.1647) and his 1st wife Marion Ogilvy of Dunlugas House (c.1595-by 1629, descended from James I of Scotland), and had

Jean (née Miller) Dunbar -
see Generation 8

6) FLORENCE/FINNELLA DUNBAR, b. c.1656; d. unknown; m. 19 Nov. 1674 Dyke Parish Church, Rev. THOMAS URQUHART, 9th Laird of Burdsyards (later Sanquhar) House, Forres, Elginshire, Minister of Dallas, Elginshire 1688-99, b. c.1650; d. c.1706, son and heir of John Urquhart, 8th Laird of Burdsyards House (d. by 1675, descended from Edward III) and Marjorie Dunbar (d. 1684), and had
7) MARY URQUHART, bap. 30 Sept. 1678 Dyke Parish Church; living 8 Oct. 1707 (mentioned in her husband's will); d. unknown[*2]; m. by 1695, JOHN DUNBAR, 2nd of Kirkhill House, Dunbar, East Lothian, b. c.1645; d. 30 June 1710, est son of David Dunbar, 1st of Kirkhill House (c.1622-1691, descended from James I of Scotland) and Margery Seton (descended from James I of Scotland), and had

8) Rev. ROBERT DUNBAR of Ballinspink, Banffshire, Minister of Dyke 1727-83, bap. 17 May 1696 Dyke Parish Church; d. by 22 Apr. 1783 (when will was proved); m. JEAN MILLER, d. 26 Oct. 1788, dau. of Rev. William Miller, Minister of Greyfriars, Edinburgh 1721-32 (c.1674-1732), and had

Maj. Ralph Henry Sneyd
- see Generation 10

9) WILLIAM DUNBAR of Pentonville, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, notary public, bap. 13 Nov. 1740 Dyke Parish Church; d. 10 Mar. 1800 Pentonville, bur. 15 Mar. 1800 Bunhill Fields, Finsbury, Middlesex; m. 12 July 1784 Rhindmuir House, Swinton, Glasgow, Scotland, JANE MORTHLAND, b. 6 Mar. 1747; d. 26 Sept. 1815 Pentonville, bur. 3 Oct. 1815 Bunhill Fields, Finsbury, dau. of Matthew Morthland of Rhindmuir House (1714-1787) and Anna Simpson (1720-1802), and had
10) JANE ROBINA DUNBAR, b. 22 July 1791 London, bap. 16 Aug. 1691 Scots Church London Wall; d. 15 Dec. 1878 Eaton Square, London; m. 29 May 1817 St George Hanover Square, London, Maj. RALPH HENRY SNEYD of Mattingley Lodge, Heckfield, Hampshire, bap. 11 Dec. 1784 Bray, co. Wicklow, Ireland; d. 16 Dec. 1840 Mattingley Lodge, bur. 23 Dec. 1840 St Michael Church, Heckfield, son of Rev. Wetenhall Sneyd, vicar of Newchurch 1816-40 (c.1752-1840, descended from Edward I) and Margaret Cullen (d. 1797), and had

Urquhart of Burdsyards coat of arms

11) EMMA KATHARINE JULIA SNEYD (1833-1916-see details above), wife of Sir George Glynn Petre

[*2] Mary (née Urquhart) Dunbar and her mother Florence (aka Finnella) (née Dunbar) Urquhart are the two generations in this line of descent which require further research. Mary Dunbar's eldest brother Capt. Robert Urquhart, 10th Laird of Burdsyards House (d. 1741), was M.P. Elginshire 1708-10, but the Burdsyards Urquharts have not been studied beyond the chapter on them in Henrietta Tayler's 1946 work History of the Family of Urquhart, which erroneously omits Mary from the issue of Rev. Thomas Urquhart and Finnella Dunbar.

The next blogpost in the series on the ancestry of guest blogger Desmond Clarke, will examine the Edward III descents of his father, Major-General Desmond Clarke.

Cheers,                                -------Brad