Introduction

Welcome to the Family History of the Haighs, Plunketts, Moores and Drews - from 1150 to current times.
The family history documents are stored online if you follow the following link:

Family History Documents

If you wish to contact the author with any questions on family members or additional material, you may do so by email at: da_haigh@bigpond.net.au

Introduction

 

In 1931, my distant cousin Geoffrey Marescaux (or to give him his full title, Commander Geoffrey Dennis St. Quintin Marescaux De Sabruit RN), started researching our family history. Since his grandmother was a Ruddell, and some work had already been commenced by his grandmother’s brother Archibald, it made sense to start with their ancestors – the Ruddells. He named his research “In search of the Ruddells”, hence the title of this Introduction.

 

To complete his research, he used parish records, local and government departments and family memories – all of which he typed into a 25-page dossier using his trusty Remington 25 Typewriter!!

 

His grandmother’s brother, Sir Archibald Ruddell-Todd, had started some research himself some 20 years previously, around 1910, and Geoffrey therefore used this as a basis for his work.

 

Approx. 40 years later, Geoffrey had finally finished and he handed the original copy of his work to my grandmother Vera Haigh (known affectionately as LaLa) and her husband Cecil (known as Pop) – this was something to do with the nursery rymn “La Di Da Di Duddie Di Da…Pop goes the weasel” (!) which must have been sung a million times when we were babies!!

 

Anyway, during the 1970’s, LaLa did more research and added the family tree diagrams going back as far as 1600 in some cases, to Geoffrey’s work. She then gave all the documentation to me in about 1975 and I still have the original documents that she and Geoffrey produced. And there it stayed for the next 45 years!!

 

Earlier this year I decided to put the whole thing online and make it available for anyone in the family to view and/or download to their own computer. Hopefully, this will preserve the painstaking and detailed research that Geoffrey and LaLa (and Archibald) completed over the past 100 years and it will never be lost – it should remain online and available for generations to come. All I had to do was add more details to the characters involved, and put their achievements into a historical context.

 

Since taking on the project of documenting the family history and putting it all online, I have obviously used the work that Geoffrey and LaLa did as a basis for my work, and I would like to add that none of this would have been possible without the work that they did all those years ago. All I had to do was use online resources that are available free at a click of a button to get the information I needed – Google, Wikipedia, National Archives (UK), Births, Marriages and Deaths (UK) and a range of other online resources. No letters required; no stepping outside the door or foraging in local libraries – very easy. Amazingly, the information and detail which Geoffrey and LaLa had collected was 100% accurate, and they had done it without the help of the internet or computers etc. The fact that they could discover and prove the names and positions held, decorations awarded and dates of birth/death (and more) of ancestors going back as far as 1600 (400+ years) is just amazing!! The time they must have spent in reference libraries, and local and government offices, wading through books and other material would have been awesome. Now, of course, it’s all available at a click of a button.

 

Geoffrey concentrated on his grandmother’s side (Ruddell) because that research had already been started previously by Archibald – and the Ruddells and Campbells and Bydes provided a rich vein on which to draw information. A lot was already known about them, either from family members since at that time (1930’s) many of them or their immediate children were still alive but also because their illustrious past meant their history was already preserved in official records.

 

As mentioned, I am treating each branch of the family as a story of the exploits and achievements of our ancestors, set in the historical context of their times. Thus, it isn’t just a family tree of names in a hierarchical tree – it actually documents their story so we can understand them better, and fully realise their achievements – which were formidable in many cases.

 

There are 6 branches of the family:

 

ALL the Haighs, Moores, Drews, and Plunketts are Ruddell-Todd descendants, and the main branch of the family that relates to that is:

 

‘Ruddell-Todd family tree (1749-current)’ – descendants of James Ruddell-Todd/Eliza Henrietta Campbell

 

The other 5 branches are:

 

'Clan Campbell of Inverneill (1156-1870)' – ancestors of Eliza Henrietta Campbell (married James Ruddell-Todd)

 

'Byde-Martin (1600-1893)' – ancestors of Montague James Martin (married Flora Ruddell-Todd)

 

‘Plunkett-Darby-Babington (1719-current)’ – ancestors of John Oliver Plunkett (married Elsie Ruddell descended from Archibald Ruddell-Todd)

 

‘Clan Haig of Bemersyde (1150-current)’ – ancestors of Cecil Francis Tyssen Haigh (married Vera Le Breton descended from Flora Ruddell-Todd)

 

‘Drew-Hawker-Elder-Barr Smith (1785-current)’ – ancestors of Nigel Seymour Drew (married Pamela Haigh descended from Flora Ruddell-Todd)

 

The stories of our ancestors are contained in the link you can follow at the beginning. They consist of ordinary men and women, as well as Lords and Ladies, Baronets, Knights and a Marquess. They include MP’s, Governors, JP’s and QC’s, Ushers of the White Rod (Scotland) and a British Consul to Dieppe (France). Two are buried in Westminster Abbey. On a personal level, they include Hollywood actresses of the silent era, womanisers, bigamists, bankrupts, murderers, a Benedictine monk and an Irish Saint; and also mistresses to 2 Kings of England. One lady of the time eloped with one of her servants from ‘below stairs’! Another had an ‘incestuous affair’ with her sister’s husband! Three of our ancestors were executed by their King for treason; others decorated and promoted to high rank in the armed forces – an Admiral, Vice-Admiral, General, Lt-Generals, a Brigadier, Colonels and Lt-Colonels. They include a VC, two MC’s, a DSC and other awards for bravery. One received the highest decoration for chivalry in France – the ‘Order of St. Louis XIV’ and another the ‘Legion of Honour’. As merchants, they made fortunes in the teak and silk industries, and in the wine business; one was bankrupted in the South Sea Bubble. One was instrumental in the founding of the colony of South Australia. Another, a Sheriff of London. Another, a Gentleman of the Royal Bedchamber. There were also stately homes and Castles in England, Scotland and Ireland (Wales missed out!). Read about these exciting ancestors by following the link at the beginning.