Family History

  


 

Family History

Douglas Dashwood-Howard has carried out considerable research into Winifred Fortescue's family history. His findings to date are published below and are extremely interesting.

Beech Family Tree

© Designed and drawn by Douglas Dashwood-Howard with pictures belonging to:
Janet Pitt, Canada (William Philip Beech)
Kathi Pointen, Canada (Catherine Henrietta Beech)
Nieces of Lady Fortescue (all other pictures).

 

Winifred's Immediate Family

Father
Rev. Howard Beech MA Oxon, b.15.5.1855 Blackheath Park, Blackheath - d.31.3.1926 Kitchen Court, Petworth, Sussex.

Mother
Henrietta Mildred Godden, b.29.9.1857 d.18.9.1929 Hove, Sussex.

Brothers
Mervyn Worcester Howard Beech MA Oxon, b.11.4.1881 Sandown, Isle of Wight - d.24.1.1923 Lamu, East Africa.

Rev. Guy Beech MA Oxon, b.13.9.1886 Gt. Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk - d.26.11.1958 Kitchen Court, Petworth, Sussex.

Sisters
Mildred Alice Beech, b.16.6.1882 Gt. Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk - d.27.1.1886 Gt. Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Marjory Beech, b.3.10.1891 Gt. Bealings, Woodbridge, Suffolk - d.13.9.1975.

 


Winfred's Great-Great-Grandfather
Thomas Beech Senior

Born c.1734, place unknown. He was a shipwright living at Horseferry, Rotherhithe, Surrey.

Married - Sarah Anne née ? Sarah Anne was born c.1735, place unknown. She died at Church Street, Rotherhithe and was buried at St Mary's 6 September 1807. They had 3 sons (one of whom is Thomas jun. below) and 4 daughters.

Thomas sen. was buried 7 January 1787 at St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe.

 

Winifred's Great-Grandfather
Thomas Beech Junior

Baptised 2 September 1762 at St Mary's, Rotherhithe. He was a shipwright, later ship breaker of Rotherhithe Street, Rotherhithe. Surrey.

Married firstly Mary, née ? She was born c.1756 and was buried 17 December 1805 at St Mary's. They had two sons, one daughter, and one stillborn child. Married secondly Eleanor Denselow 12 October 1806 at St Ann's Church, Limehouse.

She died one month after the birth of their only child, a daughter. Eleanor was buried 31 December 1807 at St Mary's.

Married thirdly Betsey Bennett 3 December 1809 at St Giles, Camberwell, Surrey. She was born c.1787 and was buried 30 September 1837 at St Mary's, Rotherhithe. They had 6 sons (one of whom is William Philip below) and 2 daughters.

Thomas jun. was buried 22 June 1844 at St Mary's.

 

Winifred's Grandfather
William Philip Beech

Born 16 May 1815 at Rotherhithe and baptised at St Mary's 15 June 1815. He was a ship breaker at Rotherhithe and owned Lower Globe Dock, Pageants Yard, and Horseferry Dock. He was also in partnership with Henry Castle at Surrey Canal Wharf. They broke up 26 warships including the "Queen" which was the largest ship to ever come so far up river and made a fortune. He later became a ship owner and ship broker and JP for Essex. He and his family lived latterly (from c.1863) at Stifford Lodge in Essex, and at Whitethorns, Sandown, Isle-of-Wight.

He married firstly Mary Bensted. She died 24 January 1851 and is buried at Hartley, Kent, whence her people came. They had 1 son and 3 daughters.

He married secondly Eliza Catherine Prince Howard, daughter of Peter Howard by his wife Jane Hayston Prince, 14 July 1852 at Beckenham, Kent. They had 2 sons (one of whom was Howard Beech, Winifred's father) and one daughter.

Eliza was born 20 August 1829 at West Derby, Lancashire, and baptised at St Mary's Church, Edge Hill, Liverpool 3 October 1829. She died 27 August 1896 at Peak Hydro, Buxton, Derby, and was buried 1 September at Sandown, IoW, in the grave of her husband.

William died at Sandown, IoW 21 November 1885 and was buried there 26 November.

*(As he died in 1885 Winifred would not have met him, but her elder brother Mervyn, who was born in 1881 at his grandparents' house in the IoW, would have. Winifred and her brothers and sister would however have known their grandmother Eliza as she did not die until 1896.)

 

Family Information supplied
by Douglas Dashwood-Howard

The pedigree of Henrietta Mildred Godden's family is to found in "Visitation of England and Wales", Vol. 3 (1895), edited by Joseph Jackson Howard and Frederick Arthur Crisp. Joseph Jackson Howard was my gt.-grandfather and the brother of Eliza Catherine Prince Howard who married William Philip Beech, Lady Fortescue's paternal grandfather). After J. J. Howard's death in 1902 the work was continued by the original co-editor, F. A. Crisp,and ultimately consisted of 21 volumes and 14 volumes of notes. It is available in most UK reference libraries and has also been reprinted in the USA.

The pedigree of Emma Whitbread Juliana's branch of the Battye family is in Vol. 2 (1894) of the same work. The "Fighting Battye's" branch, to which her branch is indeed connected, is in Vol. 5 (1897) of the same work and includes Major Wigram Battye who featured as a real character in the historical novel/love story "The Far Pavilions" by M. M. Kaye, as did Lt.Walter Richard Pollock Hamilton, who was awarded the V.C., and attended, as I did many years later, Felsted School in Essex. The School Historian wrote that Hamilton was "a name Felsted must never be allowed to forget". "The Far Pavilions" story was not only a book but featured on t.v. many years back and is available as a double VHS video, if not new, then certainly used in eBay.

 

Home Up Next