Who is Muriel Evelyn Robb I hear you ask. Well, according to Wikipedia, Miriel Evelyn Robb was an English female tennis player who is best remembered for winning the ladies singles title at the 1902 Wimbledon Championships. She also won the Irish and Scottish singles titles in 1901 and the Welsh singles title in 1899. Sadly she died at a young age in 1907 in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne from, according to her death certificate, exhaustion and heart failure. Her singles match in 1902 set a record for the longest women’s final.
It is coming up to tennis season so I thought I would look into her background as, yes, we are related. What I discovered is that as well as Muriel Evelyn Robb there is also another strong woman…but more of that later.
We start with my 4th great aunt Anne Routledge who was born in Farlam, Brampton, Cumberland, England in February 1814. Her parents were Thomas Routledge and Eleanor Richardson. From what I have discovered I am descended from true Border Reivers! In 1839 at the age of 25 Anne married Thomas Clark who was from Thornton, near Crosby in Lancashire. According to the 1851 Census Thomas was a Farmer. They would go on to have eight children and it is their son George Clark who takes us on our very interesting journey. Admit it…aren’t all my journeys interesting!
George, who was born in 1839 in Farlam, would marry Mary Jones and their daughter Isabella Harriet Clark would start our journey to India with Emma Elizabeth Leicester. Emma was born in Calcutta, Bengal, India in December 1840 to Henry George Leicester and Jessie Maria Bartlett. The Leicester family had moved to India as part of the East India Company.
The East India Company was an English joint-stock company formed for the purpose of establishing trade with the East Indies (now known as the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia). It was granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600, and was initially known as the Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies.
The company was established during the era of European exploration and colonization, and its primary goal was to profit from the lucrative spice trade with Asia. Over time, the East India Company expanded its activities and became involved in various aspects of trade, including textiles, tea, opium, and other commodities.
The company played a significant role in the British Empire's expansion in Asia. It established trading posts and forts in various parts of the Indian subcontinent, including present-day India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. These trading posts eventually grew into larger territories and played a crucial role in shaping British control and influence in the region.
Back to Leicester’s! Emma’s brother James Everard Leicester who would marry Janet Melville Smith in St Andrews, Calcutta, Bengal, India in 1871. They would go on to have seven children. It is Janet’s mother Julia Hammond Leslie Melville that takes us onto the next part of our journey. Julia was born in India and her father was William Henry Leslie Melvile, who was born in 1788 in Spring Gardens, Middlesex, England. Julia’s mother is unknown but she is believed to be a local woman. Julia would marry Charles Richard Smith in 1836 at St Andrew’s Church in Calcutta, India. Charles’ family descended from John Charles Smith who was born in Scotland in 1766
William Leslie Melville’s father was Alexander Balgonie Leslie Melville who was born in 1749 in Edinburgh and died in 1820 in Melville House, Fife, Scotland. The fact that the family lives in Melville House got me interested and this is where the family tree starts to get even more interesting. Out of interest Alexander Balgonie Leslie Melville in the great grandfather of the wife of the great granduncle of the wife of my 4th cousin 1 time removed. Now who was he I hear you ask?
Alexander Leslie-Melville, 7th Earl of Leven (7 November 1749 – 22 February 1820) was a Scottish Whig politician and peer. As the eldest son of David Melville, 6th Earl of Leven, he succeeded his father as Earl of Leven and Earl of Melville on 9 June 1802. Between 1806 and 1807 he sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish representative peer. On 12 August 1784 he married Jane Thornton (11 February 1757 – 13 February 1818), daughter of John Thornton, and they had five sons and three daughters:
David Leslie-Melville, 8th Earl of Leven (22 June 1785 – 8 October 1860), married Elizabeth Anne Campbell, daughter of Sir Archibald Campbell, 2nd Baronet, of Succoth, and had issue
John Thornton Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven (18 December 1786 – 16 September 1876), married firstly his first cousin Harriet Thornton, daughter of Samuel Thornton, and had issue, and secondly his first cousin Sophia Thornton, daughter of Henry Thornton, and had further issue
The Hon. William Henry Leslie-Melville (1788 – 1856)
The Hon. and Rev. Robert Samuel Leslie-Melville (d. 24 October 1826)
The Hon. Alexander Leslie-Melville (18 June 1800 – 19 November 1881) of Branston Hall, married Charlotte Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith, and had issue
Lady Lucy Leslie-Melville (d. 23 December 1865), married Henry Smith, son of Samuel Smith, and had issue
Lady Jane Elizabeth Leslie-Melville (d. 25 April 1848), married Francis Pym, son of Francis Pym, and had issue
Lady Marianne Leslie-Melville (d. 22 March 1823), married Abel Smith, son of Samuel Smith, no issue.
It is the last child Lady Marianne Leslie-Melville and her husband Abel Smith that accompanies us on the next part of the journey. Mariaane and Abel married in 1822 in Monimail, Fife, Scotland.
Abel Smith (17 July 1788 – 23 February 1859) was a longtime British Member of Parliament.
He was the eighth child but eldest son of Samuel Smith, also a Member of Parliament, and Elizabeth Frances (née Turnor). He was the nephew of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington. The family had grown wealthy through banking in Nottingham. Abel Smith entered Parliament in 1810 as a member for Malmesbury, and subsequently also represented Wendover and Midhurst, both pocket boroughs controlled by his uncle Lord Carrington, sitting in the Commons for 20 of the last 22 years before the Great Reform Act. He and his father were Wendover's last MPs, as they sat together as its members for the last two years before the borough's abolition. Three years after the Reform Act, he was elected for Hertfordshire, and served another twelve years as its MP. He was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1849. His wife Marianne died in 1823 and he married Frances Anne Calvert, the daughter of General Sir Harry Calvert, in 1826 in London, England. Their son Abel Smith also became MP for Hertfordshire.
Abel’s son Robert, from his second marriage, married Isabel Adeane in 1857 at Linton, Cambridgeshire, England. Now if you think the Leslie Melville’s were interesting then the journey that Isabel’s daughter takes us on is bonkers. Isabel’s mother was Matilda Abigail Stanley or should I say The Honourable Matilda Abigail Stanley. The Honourable because her father is John Thomas Stanley 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley and MP for Wootton Bassett…it would be wouldn't it! Her great-grandfather was James Whorwood Adeane (1740 - 1802) . James Whorwood Adeane (1740 – 15 April 1802), of Babraham, Cambridgeshire and Chalgrove, Oxfordshire, to give him his proper title, was an English Tory politician.
He was the only son of Simon Adeane of Chalgrove and Mary Brydges, niece of James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos. He entered the British Army in 1755, rising to the rank of colonel of the 45th Foot in 1788, Lieut-General in 1796 and full General in 1801.[1]
He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of Great Britain for Cambridge 1780 to May 1789 and for Cambridgeshire 19 May 1789 – 15 April 1802. He was appointed a Groom of the Bedchamber to King George III from 1784 to his death.
He died in 1802. He had married Anne, daughter and heiress of Robert Jones, with whom he had a son Robert Jones Adeane of Babraham, Cambridgeshire (who fathered MP Henry John Adeane) and three daughters.
Let’s talk about some members of the Stanley family:-
Edward Lyulph Stanley 1839 - 1925 married Mary Katherine Bell. They would have eight children. Mary’s father was Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell 1816 - 1904; but more about the Bell family shortly. Two of their children were as follows.
Oliver Hugh Stanley was the son of Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield and Mary Katherine Bell. ]He was born on the 23rd of October 1879 in Marylebone, London, England. He married the Lady Alice Kathleen Violet Thynne, daughter of Violet Caroline Mordaunt and Thomas Henry Thynne, 5th Marquess of Bath on the 8th of July 1919 in St George Hanover Square, London, Middlesex, England.[3]He died on the 13th of February 1952 at the age of 72. The 1911 Census shows that he was a Captain in the Royal Horse Artillery.
Edward John Stanley was born in 1878 and would die in 1908 in Sokoto, Nigeria during the Boer War.
Henrietta Blanche Stanley who was born in 1830 at Brook Street, Hanover Square, London and would die in 6 York Terrace, Regent’s Park, London. She would marry Lord David Graham Drummond Ogilvy,5th Earl of Airlie in 1851 in Macclesfield , Cheshire, England. They would have six children and their eldest son was…wait for it…Lt Colonel David Stanley William Ogilvy 6th Earl of Airlie, 6th Lord Ogily of Alith and Lintrathen and 14th Lord Ogilvy of Airlie. Now that’s a mouthful! He was born in 1856 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy and died in 1900 in Diamond Hill, Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa during the Boer War. He married Mabell Frances Elizabeth Gore in 1886 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London. Their daughter Kitty Edith Blanche Ogilvy is who we look at next.
Edith was born in 1887 in Kensington, London and died in 1969 in Wynberg, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. She would firstly marry Brig-Gen Sir Berkeley Vincent KBE CB CMG in 1906 at Cortachy Castle, Angus, Scotland; and secondly Lt-Col Ralph Gerald Ritson in 1926 at St Martin-in-the-Field, London. Ralph Ritson is of interest to us and he was the son of Annie Ridley and Annie was born in 1842 in Hexham, Northumberland, England and died in 1919 in Newcastle upon Tyne. She would marry Utrick Alexander Ritson, a mine owner, in 1867 in Hexham. Annie’s father was a Mason and her mother made gloves.
So where do we go now…how about a little amble into the family of Mary Katherine Bell, who married Edward Lyulph Stanley.. The Bell family may not be part of the peerage but they are an important family in the north east of England. It all began with Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell. Isaac was born in Washington Hall in 1816 to Thomas Bell and Catherine Lowthian. He married Margaret Pattinson in 1842 in Newcastle upon Tyne. They had five children, one of which was Mary Katherine.
Isaac was a Victorian Ironmaster who was described as being “as famous as Isambard Kingdom Brunel”. He was the son of Thomas Bell, one of the founders of the iron and alkali company Losh, Wilson and Bell, and his wife Katherine Lowthian. He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and educated at Dr Bruce's academy in Percy Street, Newcastle, followed by studying physical science at Edinburgh University and the Sorbonne University, Paris. He gained experience in manufacturing alkalis at Marseilles before returning to Newcastle in 1836 to work in his father's Walker iron and chemical works. For 30 years from 1850, Bell was active on the town council of Newcastle upon Tyne. He became sheriff of the town in 1851, mayor in 1854 and alderman in 1859. Once again he was elected mayor for Newcastle in 1862
Bell was elected as the Member of Parliament for North Durham from February to June 1874, and for The Hartlepools from 1875 to 1880. He lost his seat in North Durham in 1874 on the grounds that his agents were guilty of intimidation.
Isaac Bell’s father-in-law was Hugh Lee Pattinson who was born in 1796 in Alston, Cumberland, and died in Gateshead in 1858. Pattinson was an English industrial chemist. He was also an entrepreneur, sharing the risk of major industrial developments with famous ironmaster Isaac Lowthian Bell and cable manufacturer Robert Stirling Newall.
Although known in his time for his 1833 patent "An improved method for separating silver from lead", a process that bears his name, he is best remembered today for his daguerreotype photographs taken in 1840. Among these is the earliest known photograph of the Niagara Falls.
Their children were Sir Thomas Hugh Bell, 2nd Baronet, known as Hugh, who was father of the explorer and diplomat Gertrude Bell, Florence, Mary Katherine, known as Maisie, who in 1873 married Edward Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley,[36] Ada, Charles, and Ellen (who died in infancy). He had about 60 grandchildren.[16]
The eldest son Thomas Hugh Lowthian Bell who was born in 1844 in Longbenton, Northumberland, England and died in 1931 in 95 Sloane Street, London. Now that is a big jump in addresses. Thomas would marry Mary Shield in 1867 in Washington Hall. Following her death in 1871, Thomas would marry Florence Eveline Eleanor Oliffe in 1876 in Kensington London. Thomas would have five children, two with Mary and three with Florence. He was an English industrialist, landowner, Justice of the Peace, and administrator. A Deputy Lieutenant of County Durham, he was High Sheriff of Durham in 1895 and Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire from 1906 to 1931.[1] He joined his family firm, Bell Brothers, and became director of its steelworks at Middlesbrough.
So where does Muriel Evelyn Robb come into our story I hear you ask. Well we need to go back to Annie Ridley following our little detour into the Bell family.
Annie Ridley’s great aunt is Elizabeth Ridley who was born in 1816 in Cawfields, Northumberland, England and died in 1889 in Hexham, Northumberland. She married William Robb in 1847 in Newcastle upon Tyne. They had four sons and it is their second eldest son , William David Robb who was born in 1851, is Muriel Evelyn Robb’s father. Her mother was Ellen Mary Ritson who was born in 1856 in Bridgewater, Somerset and died in Worthing, Sussex in 1944. Following her birth, according to the 1881 Census, the Robb’s lived in Victoria Villa, Newcastl. According to the 1911 after Muriel’s death her parents lived in Grosvenor Villas, Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne.
