Greetings from Canada! I will post a message here that I previously posted
on the Needham and Derbysgen rootsweb lists -- in the hope that someone on
the lists will have some information for me. Thanks, Moyra Burnett
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Is there anyone on the list who has a NEEDHAM connection to the CAVENDISH
family? I was told that "a cousin" of my grandmother (Eva NEEDHAM) was
"a grandfather" of William Spencer CAVENDISH, the Marquis of Hartington, who
was born 10 December 1917 at Churchdale Hall, Ashford-in-the-Water,
Derbyshire. He would have been the 11th Duke of Devonshire had he not been
killed in World War II (he married Kathleen KENNEDY, the sister of USA
President, John F. Kennedy).
The "cousin" was a Thomas NEEDHAM (or perhaps, a George NEEDHAM).
We were told he was the keeper of the Red Lion Inn, and was a breeder
and trainer of horses. A close friend of his was the Duke of Devonshire
at the time, who was interested in horses.
The people looking after the Cavendish archives at Chatsworth were not able
to find a connection for me. My NEEDHAMs were all from the Ashford area --
My great-grandfather was Jonathan NEEDHAM, his father was George. I am
wondering if Thomas (or George) NEEDHAM (cousin of my grandmother) had
a daughter who married a family related to the CAVENDISHs, with a surname
such as Howard, Spencer, Lascalles, Dykes or Beauclerk. An uncle of William
Spencer CAVENDISH married Moyra deVere BEAUCLERK and there are
3 more Moyra relatives in that line. That spelling is unusual, as it is
usually
Moira. In the hundreds of NEEDHAM names I have collected, my uncle
Howard Needham WALTERS is the only one with the given name Howard.
It makes me wonder if my grandmother knew some of these people and so
the given names "Moyra" and "Howard" were used in our family.
Only speculating, of course!! Moyra Burnett (in Surrey, British Columbia)