MACHEN Family and SMITH Family Letter 1873-1889 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, September 10, 2016, 16:54 (2784 days ago) @ jevans

That is interesting that the Machen family were society folks. Does that mean there was some connection to royalty? I ask because family lore has it that my gg grandmother Jane Smith, (the one who emigrated to the US at age 20) worked as a nanny for "royalty". I am sure many of us descendants of British ancestors think their forebears had some connection to royalty. ;)
..........The Lodge noted at the top of the letter is, I believe Mailscot Lodge, where the Smiths lived.

Hi again Jane,
when I said "society" I wasn't thinking Royalty as such, but more upper/middle class people (aka "posh" or gentry) as appears to be the case with the Machen family - living in rather grand houses with servants etc, all so very different to the vast majority of Forest folk in those times. Of course it's possible Jane Smith did work for genuine "royalty", but just maybe this is family folklore, altho to many locals the privileged few who lived in these large houses would have seemed to be like Royalty in many ways. Maybe she met genuine Royals when they visited her own employer's households ?. I've been looking-up the Machen family and it's perhaps fair to say they were as near as we got to having "royalty" living in the Forest, the family had a huge impact on the lives of many generations of Foresters, initially as Surveyors of the Forest and latterly as major landowners. I'm unable to find a concise history of their lives online, but these links should help.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp101-117
https://penarthramblers.wordpress.com/walk-reports/march-2015/joy-leads-the-group-aroun...

Thanks for reminding me of your Mailscott Lodge background and your prior threads. I did wonder if this thread was from the same poster aka your good self (sorry for my poor memory wrt names !), when I saw this Census return last night, but now I realise it's the wrong Lodge. The Reddings Lodge and woodland are mentioned a lot in the above British History links ref the Bicknor area and the Machens. It's the neighbouring page to the 1871 Census to Edward Machen at Bicknor Rectory as posted above. The Census pages suggests an idyllic neighbourhood to this town dweller !

1871 Census, Reddings Lodge, Staunton, Glos.
Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country
Joseph Brown Head 35 Woodman 1836 Male Ganarew Herefordshire England
Ann Brown Wife 28 1843 Female Whitchurch Herefordshire England
Emily Brown Daughter 5 Sch 1866 Female Staunton Gloucestershire England
Sidney Brown Son 3 1868 Sch Male Staunton Gloucestershire England
Alexander Brown Son 2 1869 Male Staunton Gloucestershire England
Frank Brown Son 5 Months 1870 Male Staunton Gloucestershire England
Augusta Morgan Servant, Genr'l Domestic 14 1857 Female West Dean Gloucestershire England

References to Reddings Lodge, and the Machen family, can be found in this history of Staunton.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp272-284