Yes, you read it right. Just when you thought I couldn’t get any more annoying, I hit you with this. True story. I’ll try to keep it brief.
My father was born in England and moved to Canada after the war and met and married my mother. Proof that I’m not a bastard, but not is all it seems. They moved to NZ where I grew up (actually I just got older) with my 3 brothers. That was it. No other family. My mother was a single child so that ended there but my father had 6 bothers and 1 sister. Most of them resided in South Africa, some in France, the rest in the UK.
Now it gets interesting. At the age of 30, I had never met any of them but began wondering why we had 2 surnames in our family. I also wondered how my Grandfather made so much money when all he was skilled in was horse training. I tried to get some answers but my father was strangely tight lipped about our family history. Well he got cancer last year and subsequently died in Dec but on his way out he threw this one at me.
My Grandfather was the illegitimate son of Lord Thomas Brassey Jnr. His father, Lord Brassey Snr was the famous railway magnate in the 1800’s who built most of the railways throughout the UK, France and a few other European countries. Jnr was the first person to circumnavigate the globe in a steam powered sailing ship, The Sunbeam and even visited NZ in the late 1800’s. He became the Governor of Victoria for a while too.
The story goes that Lord Brassey fancied the maid, shagged her and out poped pops. Grandad went to a private military school, which one would assume, would be out of reach for a commoner like my Great grandmother. He said he was often visited by a man who spoke funny and when he turned 21, he inherited a fortune. My Grandfathers name was Thomas, which was also my father’s middle name.
This explains my uncontrollable fascination with trains, boats and shagging maids. I'm continuing to research this through genealogy sites and it's really interesting.
Now away with you peasants.
Lord Finn.
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Originally Posted by Sniper
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