Notable Relatives of Sir Robert Belknap

Listed here is only a very small sampling of the many notable direct descendants of Sir Robert Belknap (about 1330-1401), shown according to descent from Sir Robert Belknap, some by generation and others by role in society.  By definition, as descendants of a common ancestor, all individuals below are also related to one another (as well as to themselves, in some cases, more than once).  (Sir Robert Belknap might also be a direct ancestor of Adaline Knight (1831-1919).)  Links are, in most cases, to Wikipedia biography pages.

Generation 1 (Self)

Generation 2 (Children)

  • Hamon Belknap, Treasurer of Normandy (about 1380-before 1429)

Generation 3 (Grandchildren)

  • Philip Belknap, Mayor of Canterbury; Sheriff of Kent (about 1426-1457)
  • Griselda Belknap (unknown-unknown), wife of John Hende, Lord Mayor of London (unknown-1418)
  • Thomas Stonor, Sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire; Member of Parliament (1394-1431)

Generation 4 (Great Grandchildren)

Generation 5 (Great Great Grandchildren)

Generation 6 (3rd Great Grandchildren)

Generation 7 (4th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 8 (5th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 9 (6th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 10 (7th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 11 (8th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 12 (9th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 13 (10th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 14 (11th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 15 (12th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 16 (13th Great Grandchildren)

Generation 17 (14th Great Grandchildren)

Royalty

British Prime Ministers; Spouses of Prime Ministers

Politicians, Diplomats

  • Charles Benedict Calvert (1808-1864), U.S. Congressman; Founder of University of Maryland
  • Robert Cecil (1864-1958), 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood; League of Nations architect; Nobel Peace Prize 1937
  • Elisabeth Raverat (1916-2014), wife of Edvard Hambro, 25th President of the United Nations General Assembly
  • Malcolm Wallop (1933-2011, U.S. Senator
  • Karel Schwarzenberg (1937-living), Czech Republic presidential candidate; Czech Minister

Roman Catholic Saints, Martyrs, Clergy

Reformation/Puritan Leaders

Authors, Poets, Playwrights

Scientists

Olympians, Sports Figures

Actors, Actresses, Models, TV Personalities

Musicians

  • Roffredo Caetani (1871-1961), 17th Duke of Sermoneta; 8th Prince of Teano; Italian Composer
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), ____
  • Oleg (Markevitch) Caetani (1956-living), Italian Conductor

Members of Parliament

  • [Too numerous to list]

Knights of the Order of the Garter

  • [ADD: many]

Knights of the Order of the Bath

  • [ADD: many]

R.M.S. Titanic Survivors

Other (yet to be sorted by generation(s) and/or category)

  • William Cecil (1520-1598), 1st Baron Burghley; chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I; Secretary of State; Lord High Treasurer; persuaded Queen Elizabeth I to order the execution of the Roman Catholic Mary Queen of Scots after she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth
  • Margaret Audley (1536-1572), married as second husband Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, second cousin to Queen Elizabeth I, commissioned Thomas Tallis to compose Spem in alium (considered by some to be greatest piece of English early music)
  • Henry Wotton (1568-1639), English Author; Diplomat; Member of Parliament; known for quote: “An ambassador is an honest gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country”
  • Thomas Cotton (1594-1662), 2nd Baronet of Conington; Cottonian Library heir
  • Algernon Sidney (1623-1683), English Politician; Member of the Long Parliament; opposed execution of King Charles I; most famous work, Discourses Concerning Government, has been called the “textbook of the American Revolution; its ideas of limited government, voluntary consent of the people, and the right of citizens to alter or abolish a corrupt government, ultimately culminated in the founding of the United States of America
  • Charles Stewart (1639-1672), 3rd Duke of Richmond; 6th Duke of Lennox; third wife Frances Teresa Stewart served as model for the archetypal image of “Britannia”
  • Thomas Bruce (1656-1741), 2nd Earl of Ailesbury; 3rd Earl of Elgin; accused of having conspired to plan the restoration of King James II to the throne
  • Charles Seymour (1662-1748), 6th Duke of Somerset; the “Proud Duke”
  • Charles Townshend (1674-1738), 2nd Viscount Townshend; English Statesman; inventor of four-crop rotation method; “Turnip Townshend”
  • Ann Arundell (____-____), wife of ___; namesake of Anne Arundel County, Maryland
  • John Spencer (1734-1783), 1st Earl Spencer
  • Thomas Stonor, 3rd Baron Camoys (1797-1881)
  • George Reginald Oliver Molyneux Herbert (1956-living), 8th Earl of Carnavon, current holder of “Downton Abbey” **
  • Robert MacCarthy, Viscount Muskerry; Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (1698-1769)
  • John Montagu (1718-1792), 4th Earl of Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty; Postmaster General; eponymous inventor of the “sandwich”; Sandwich Islands (later Hawaiian Islands) named by Captain James Cook in his honor
  • John Murray (1730-1809), 4th Earl of Dunmore; Governor of the Province of New York, 1770-1771; Last Governor of the Colony of Virginia, 1771-1775; Governor of the Bahama Islands, 1787-1796; directed a series of campaigns against the trans-Appalachian Indians, known as Lord Dunmore’s War; issued “Dunmore’s Proclamation” in 1775, offering freedom to any slave who fought for the British Crown against the American Revolution patriots in Virginia
    Dunmore County, Virginia (later changed to Shenandoah County during the American Revolution) named in his honor
  • John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe; Bibliophile (1740-1804)
  • Augustus d’Este (1794-1848), grandson of King George III; earliest recorded person for whom a definite diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can be made
  • Mary Randolph Custis (1808-1873), wife of Robert E. Lee, Confederate States of America General; step great granddaughter of George Washington
  • Lewis Harcourt (1863-1922), 1st Viscount Harcourt; Secretary of State for the Colonies; Privy Council Member; Knight of Malta; Namesake of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
  • Francis Pelham-Clinton-Hope (1866-1941), 8th Duke of Newcastle; last private owner of the Hope Diamond (now on display at the Smithsonian Institution); married American actress May Yohe
  • Victor Cavendish (1868-1938), 9th Duke of Devonshire; Governor General of Canada
  • Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (1872-1970)
  • Evelyn Cecil, 1st Baron Rockley; Member of Parliament; Private Secretary to Prime Minister (1865-1941) **
  • Herbrand Arthur Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford (1858-1940) **
  • Thomas Wentworth Russell (1879-1954)
  • Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet; Negotiator of “Sykes-Picot Agreement” portioning Ottoman Empire; Designer of “Arab Revolt” Flag (1879-1919)
  • Thomas Wentworth-FitzWilliam (1904-1979), owner of Wentworth Woodhouse, largest private residence in the United Kingdom
  • William Hare (1906-1997), 5th Earl of Listowel; Last Governor-General of Ghana; Last Secretary of State for India; Secretary of State for Burma; Postmaster General of the United Kingdom
  • Victor Hervey (1915-1985), 6th Marquess of Bristol; Member of House of Lords; Chancellor of International Monarchist League; Ringleader of Mayfair Playboys” said to be the “Pink Panther” of his day
  • William Cavendish (1917-1944), Marquess of Hartington; husband of Kathleen Agnes Kennedy, sister of future U.S. President John F. Kennedy
  • Peter Carington (1919-2018), 6th Baron Carington; 6th Secretary General of NATO; Knight of the Order of the Garter; Chancellor of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George; Privy Council Member
  • Plum Sykes, Fashion Journalist and Socialite (1969-living)
  • Hugh Grosvenor
  • Daisy Greville
  • Patsy Cornwallis-West
  • Lord Baltimore
  • Colonial Governors
  • Falstaff
  • Diana Spencer (other)
  • Rockefeller, Kennedy connections

** = Multiple lines of descent from Sir Robert Belknap

Notable British Properties Currently or Fomerly owned by descendants of Sir Robert Belknap

  • [TO COME]
  • Highclere Castle (“Downton Abbey”)
  • Howard Castle
  • Wentworth Woodhouse

Notable Relatives of Gilbert Belnap, Adaline Knight, and Henrietta McBride

 

Last update:  26 Jul 2023