Rt. Hon. James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy

Notes:

Wikipedia Biography James Boothby Burke Roche

James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy (28 July 1852 ? 30 October 1920) was an Irish peer and a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom House of Commons. He was the great-grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.

He was born at Twyford Abbey, Middlesex in 1852, the son of Edmond Burke Roche, and his wife Eliza Caroline n?e Boothby.[1] He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]

He visited the United States where he met and married the heiress Frances Ellen Work on 22 September 1880 at Christ Church, New York City. The marriage was not a success and they separated in December 1886. She was granted a divorce on the grounds of desertion on 3 March 1891 at Wilmington, Delaware.[3]

They had four children, twin sons and two daughters:

Eileen (b. and d. 1882)

Cynthia (10 April 1884 - 8 December 1966), who married firstly Arthur Scott Burden (d. June 1921) in 1906 and secondly Guy Fairfax Cary (d. 1950) in 1922. She is the matrilineal great-grandmother of American actor Oliver Platt.

Edmund Maurice Burke (15 May 1885 ? 8 July 1955), who was the grandfather of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Francis George Burke (15 May 1885 ? 30 October 1958), who died unmarried.[4]

In 1896 he stood as an Anti-Parnellite Nationalist candidate in the Kerry East by-election for a seat in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Nationalists had split into two factions after the party leader, Charles Stewart Parnell was named as co-respondent in a divorce. Roche was supported initially by both the Parnellites and the Anti-Parnellites, until it was revealed that he was himself divorced. During the campaign, Roche denied publicly that he knew of the divorce or that he had deserted his wife and children.[5] Although he went on to win the seat, the opposing Unionist candidate gained the highest vote ever recorded for a Unionist candidate in Kerry East.[6] He served one term and did not stand in the following general election in 1900.


On 1 September 1920 he succeeded his brother as Baron Fermoy. Just two months later he died at Artillery Mansions, Westminster, London. He was buried at St Marylebone Cemetery, Finchley on 3 November 1920.[7]
[edit]Styles

1852? 1856: James Boothby Burke Roche
1856? 1896: The Hon James Boothby Burke Roche
1896? 1900: The Hon James Boothby Burke Roche, MP
1900? 1920: The Hon James Boothby Burke Roche
1920: The Rt Hon James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fermoy


1) Williamson, D The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer In: Genealogist's Magazine, 1981; vol. 20 (no. 6) p. 192-199 and vol. 20 (no. 8) p. 281-282
2) Roche, the Hon. James Boothby Burke in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922? 1958.
3) The Times (London) Friday, 27 March 1896, p. 7 col. F
4) Mosley, Charles (ed.), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition (Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2003) vol. I p. 1414
5) The Times (London) Saturday, 28 March 1896, p. 13 col. E
6) The Times (London), Monday, 30 March 1896; p. 7 col. F
7) Cokayne, G. E., Gibbs, Vicary and Doubleday, H. A. The Complete Peerage: Volume V (St. Catherine Press, London, 1926) p. 303

James married Frances Eleanor "Ellen" Work on 22 Sep 1880 in New York City, New York County, New York. Frances (daughter of Franklin H. Work and Ellen Wood) was born on 27 Oct 1857 in New York City, New York County, New York; died on 26 Jan 1947 in New York City, New York County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Wikipedia Biography of Edmund Maurice Burke Roche

Roche was born in Chelsea, London, [1] the elder of twin sons of the Hon. James Roche (later Baron Fermoy) and his wife, Frances Ellen Work. He was educated at Harvard University, but returned to England on succeeding to his father's title in 1920. He rented Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk from the Royal Family and at the 1924 general election, he contested and won the local parliamentary constituency, King's Lynn, holding the seat until he stood down at the 1935 general election. [2][3] He was also elected the town's mayor in 1931. [4]

On 17 September 1931, Lord Fermoy married Ruth Sylvia Gill (the youngest daughter of Col. William Gill) at St. Devenick's, Bieldside, Aberdeenshire [1] and they had three children:

a) Hon. Mary Cynthia (b. 1934),
married
(1) Hon. Sir Anthony Berry (divorced 1966),
(2) Denis Geoghegan (divorced 1980),
(3) Michael Gunningham (divorced 1989)

b) Hon. Frances Ruth (b. 1936),
married
(1) Edward Spencer, Viscount Althorp (divorced 1969),
(2) Peter Shand Kydd

c) Hon. Edmund James Burke (b. 1939), later the 5th Baron Fermoy.

Lord Fermoy joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 at the start of World War II but when the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for King's Lynn was killed on active service in 1943, he resigned his commission and stood for re-election. He retired from politics when Parliament was dissolved for the 1945 general election. [2]

Lord Fermoy collapsed in a shop at King's Lynn, Norfolk in June 1955 and died three weeks later. [2] He was succeeded by his only son.

1) Williamson, D The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer In: Genealogist's Magazine, 1981; vol. 20 (no. 6) p. 192-199 and vol. 20 (no. 8) p. 281-282

2) The Times, Saturday, Jul 9, 1955; p. 8 col. D

3) Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

4) The Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk

Edmund married Ruth Sylvia Gill, Baroness FermoyScotland. Ruth was born on 2 Oct 1908 in Dalhebity, Bieldside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland; died on 6 Jul 1993 in London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Wikipedia Biography of Frances Ruth Roche

Frances Ruth Shand Kydd (n?e Roche, formerly Viscountess Althorp) (20 January 1936 ? 3 June 2004) was the first wife of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales. After two failed marriages and the deaths of two children, she devoted her later years to Roman Catholic charity work. Frances Ruth Roche was born in Park House, on the royal estate at Sandringham, Norfolk.[1] Her father was Edmund Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, a friend of King George VI and the elder son of the American heiress Frances Work and her first husband, the 3rd Baron Fermoy. Her mother Ruth, Lady Fermoy DCVO was a confidante and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother). On 1 June 1954, aged 18, Roche married John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (later the 8th Earl Spencer) at Westminster Abbey. She was then known as Viscountess Althorp (the name is pronounced Altrup).

The Althorps had five children:

Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia Spencer (19 March 1955), who married Neil Edmund McCorquodale, a distant cousin of Raine, Countess Spencer

Cynthia Jane Spencer later Baroness Fellowes (11 February 1957), who married Sir Robert Fellowes, later Baron Fellowes

John Spencer, who died within 10 hours of his birth on 12 January 1960

Diana Frances Spencer later Diana, Princess of Wales (1 July 1961? 31 August 1997), first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales

Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer (20 May 1964), who married Victoria Lockwood, then Caroline Freud (the latter formerly wife of Matthew Freud)

The British media made comparisons between Lady Althorp's and Diana's lives, because both were inexperienced young women who were thrust into the spotlight by marriage to much older men in higher stations to whom they were unfaithful. As with the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the marriage between Lord and Lady Althorp was not a happy one.

1) England & Wales, Birth Index, Jan Feb Mar 1936, 4b 344, Freedbridge Lynn, Norfolk

Family/Spouse: The Right Hon. Edward John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer. Edward was born on 24 Jan 1924 in London, Middlesex, England; died on 29 Mar 1992 in London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Wikipedia Biography of Diana Frances Spencer

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances n?e Spencer; 1 July 1961 ? 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family and an international personality of the late 20th century as the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981. The wedding, which was held at St. Paul's Cathedral, was televised and watched by a global audience of over 750 million people. The marriage produced two sons: Princes William and Harry, currently second and third in line to the thrones of the 16 Commonwealth realms, respectively.

A public figure from the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, Diana was born into an old, aristocratic English family with royal ancestry, and remained the focus of worldwide media scrutiny before, during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce on 28 August 1996. This media attention continued following her death in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, and in the subsequent display of public mourning a week later. Diana also received recognition for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1989, she was the president of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

Diana married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]