Dear Tom Lay
Thanks for sharing this information.
'My' Cannings do - at least according to some versions, originate in
Warwickshire, England, though I've not spent sufficient time with primary
sources to offer a firm view as to whether that is correct. The bits
concerning which I am relatively confident takes them no further back than
the northern part of Ireland (which was extensively ... settled from England
and Scotland especially in the seventeenth century), and I put some relevant
genealogical data on a webpage at
http://www.kittybrewster.com/ancestry/canning.htm .
IF this appears to dovetail anywhere with genealogical notes entered in that
bible, I'd love to know more. I'd even - if you had the time for it - be
prepared to travel to Warwickshire or London to compare notes.
However, I have to add a slight health warning, given that some of the
Cannings on this webpage were well known establishment figures, and the one
who was prime minister, briefly in 1827, will have assisted some of his
kinsfolk in obtaining public office. As a citizen of US (I venture a guess
that you are one such) I guess you will know all about how this works,
whether (not wishing myself to appear partisan) we discuss Clan Bush or Clan
Kennedy! What this means for the Canning genealogy is that at some point -
as was common especially in the second half of the nineteenth century -
there probably have been instances where a 'maybe' concerning kinship with
prime minister Canning got passed down as a 'probably' to the next
generation and a 'definitely' by the third generation. You will have a
better feel than I can have for the authenticity of genealogical information
showing in that bible, but I feel obliged to enter that little health
warning, perforce leaving you to determine the extent to which it may be
relevant in this instance.
Anyhow, if you think we have a possible match, and if you're prepared to
make the time, I'd love to discuss this further, but it might be equally
efficient a use of time, for you simply to put me on the distribution list
for those generously offered scans, like ... any pages listing family
details of birth, marriage and death dates and who begat (or married) whom.
If you're really willing to share a copy of your draft paper on the book - I
take it you mean the 1613 bible ... yes please to that too. Your call.
In terms of quid pro quo, I'm not sure I have a whole lot more to offer than
appears (including the bit on sources at the foot) summarised on that web
page. But that just might point serendipitously you in some hitherto
unconsidered but nonetheless helpful direction. Depends, rather, on where
you're headed.
You would not (I hope) expect a list dedicated to Canning genealogy
obsessives (and similar) necessarily to contain large numbers of folks
willing to wax lyrical about the sixteenth century communications
revolution, and your associated Shakespeare researches: but I do very much
enjoy the way your enthusiasm for your subject shines through what you
write. It is good when one can find such a rewarding project. For my
part, of course, I am intrigued by the hint, be it pretended or actual, of
family connections between the Cannings and the Shakespeares: I wonder how
those overtly (?) forged signatures would have been motivated. Prime
minister George Canning's mother was herself an actress. The family string
puller (famously, if you've ever looked to it) did not approve, though since
the family string puller of the time, Stratford Canning ?1703 - 1775 ended
up disinheriting two of his three sons, it is by no means easy to determine
which were the good guys in this little domestic ... difference of opinions.
Best wishes
Charles Hillman
----- Original Message -----
From: <tlay(a)sas.upenn.edu>
To: <CANNING-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 5:39 PM
Subject: [CANNING:] Cannings of Stratford-upon-Avon
Hello,
I'm not actually a Canning, but I'm studying English at the University of
Pennsylvania with a particular interest in the history of the book and
print
culture. I recently did some research on a 1613 Canning family Bible
that
contains some very interesting forged signatures of various members of
Shakespeare's fmaily. The book was once owned by the bibliographer G.R.
Redgrave (whose interesting note from the fly-leaf I reproduce below) and
prior
to that, was apparently the family bible of the Canning family of
Stratford.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to find much information on the
Cannings
of
Stratford and was wondering whether anyone here knew anything about
the
family. I am in London through August 12th and was contemplating coming
up to
Stratford and Warrwick early next week to do some digging at the
record
offices
there, so if there are any members of this list who are from that
family,
I'd
love to meet and learn what I can about the family's and the
bible's
history.
I'd also be hapy to share by email with anyone who'se
interested the
preliminary paper I wrote on the book, as well as a number of interesting
scans
of the relavent pages.
Many thanks,
Tom Lay
Redgrave's note on the flyleaf of the Canning Bible:
Sum ex libris.
Gilbert R. Redgrave
London.
March 1886.
Note
This bible was presented to me by Mr. Charles
Canning of Stratford on Avon. In the accompanying
letter he tells me that it has been handed down
in his family for many generations and that it is
known to have belonged to John Shakespeare the
brother of the poet whose name it bears. With this
valuable book, Mr. Canning gave me the Worcester
China transfer-printed Mug, which was indeed used
by David Garrick to pledge the memory of Shakespeare
at the Jubilee at Stratford banquet in 1769. Also
some relics of Garrick.
G.R.R.
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