An Amazing Discovery

It all began with Census records for Thornton showing that Stephen's Great Great Grandmother Ann Fenton (nee Brining) had been born in Galgate (Parish of Ellel) near Lancaster. She was a servant who had come to the Fylde looking for work and ended up marrying local boy John Fenton. Ellel Parish Registers soon revealed Ann Brining's baptism and her parents Henry and Esther (nee Proddow). Henry and his father William were probably employed at the silk mill and were both natives of Galgate, but according to the census Henry's mother Betty (nee Cartmel) originated from Keswick in Cumberland. Thanks to blanket coverage by the IGI in Cumberland and Westmorland we soon found Betty's baptism in Lorton, and then her parents' marriage, John Cartmel and Mary Patrickson, in Lamplugh in 1757.

The Patricksons were a long established and prominent family in their part of the world and were known locally as the 'Kings of Ennerdale.' A detailed history of the family was published by Colonel Ralph P. Littledale in 1924, this showed my direct line of descent stretching back to the early 1500s.

Around this time Anthony Patrickson married Katherine Curwen, the Curwens were wealthy landowners and business people with a family seat at Workington Hall, a grand mansion whose ruins still stand today in the small industrial town of Workington on the Cumbrian coast. Not surprisingly they were well documented, there was reference to a family history published in the 1928, I ordered this book from Carlisle Library through my local branch. It turned out to be a volume of encyclopedic proportions, a compete family history, the line could be traced back through many generations of Curwens, frequently prominent knights of their day.

In the 13th and 14th Centuries Curwens held influential positions in the garrison of Carlisle, a strategically important town in the feuds between the English and the Scots. Sir Gilbert Curwen II, so legend has it, played a major part in King Edward II's defeat of the Scots rebel William Wallace at Falkirk in 1298, when in the nick of time he brought into the field such a retinue that it turned the battle. The story goes that in the flush of victory Sir Gilbert turned to the King and said "Ah, where would you have been if I had not been there?" Whereupon the saying became famous and Sir Gilbert took "Si Je N'Estoy" as his war cry, a motto that has remained attached to the family coat of arms to this day.

The earliest reference to Workington is Gospatric de Workington in the 12th Century, who was descended from a line of Saxon nobles, his grandfather, also Gospatric, led the Northumbrians to victory over the Normans at York in 1068. This led to King William laying waste to much of Northumbria yet realising he could not do without his enemy as he alone could overlord the district, he actually made him Earl of Northumbria in 1070, although by 1072 relations had soured and Gospatric sided with the Scots.

His maternal grandmother was Elgyfa, daughter of Ethelred II (the Unready) King of England, and his paternal grandmother Bethoc, daughter of Malcolm II King of Scots.

Thus was established Stephen's line of descent from the Kings of both England and Scotland. Follow the links for tables of names and dates, 49 generations in England, 38 for Scotland.