John Dunn Gardner - Family

Family

The Dunn-Gardners were descended via William Dunn-Gardner, originally Dunn (d. 1831) and his wife Jane Gardner, heiress of Chatteris House (d. 1839), who married in 1783 and had an only surviving daughter Sarah Gardner, Marchioness of Townshend (d. 11 September 1858), who died as Mrs James Lairder. Jane Gardner was herself the only surviving child and heir of her father John Gardner, Esq., of Chatteris House (d. 1804), who married his cousin, the daughter and heir of John Marriott, Esq., of Chatteris House by Barbara Johnstone, sister of his mother. When John Gardner died in 1804, his son-in-law was obliged to change his name from Dunn to Dunn-Gardner to inherit Chatteris House and the other Gardner estates. Burke's says that the grandson inherited Chatteris in 1839, after his maternal grandmother Jane had died that year.

Although A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain (1862) fails to mention Mr Dunn Gardner's parentage (as the eldest illegitimate son of a brewer John Margetts and his bigamous spouse Sarah Dunn-Gardner, Marchioness Townshend), it credits him with two surviving brothers (William and Cecil) and two sisters:

• William Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey, nr Newmarket, co. Cambridge, JP (23 June 1812 – 1879), known as Lord William Townshend from 26 December 1823 until 1843 (as the alleged second surviving son of the 3rd Marquess Townshend), when he and his siblings were declared illegitimate by private act. He inherited the Fordham Abbey estate from his maternal grandfather, but came into possession only in 1839 when his maternal grandmother died, and was at first an unpopular landlord. He married Angelina N (d. 1923), by whom he had one surviving son and heir Cyril.
  • Cyril Dunn-Gardner, of Fordham Abbey (d. 1911). Cyril was of age in 1895, and owned about 1,570 acres (6.4 km2) in Fordham in 1910. He died without issue in 1911, leaving a life interest in the Abbey estate to his mother and former guardian, who died 1923, as above. The Fordham Abbey estate then passed in 1923 to Algernon Charles Wyndham Dunn Gardner (d. 1929), apparently by then the next heir male. (The estate fell to about 1,140 acres (4.6 km2) by his death).
• Cecil Mina Bolivar Dunn-Gardner (b. 1827, possibly d. by 1880), formerly of the 13th light Dragoons. It is probably this Cecil Dunn-Gardner who was the father of four daughters - (Lucy) Cecilia or Cissie, Maude, Violet, and Flora:
  • (Lucy) Cecilia Dunn-Gardner, or Cissie (d. 24 November 1931), who married 1stly in 1887 Col. Robert Ashton (1848–1898) by whom she had one son and one daughter, and 2ndly in 1899 the 10th Earl of Scarbrough (16 November 1857 – 4 March 1945), by whom she had an only daughter. According to her daughter's obituary (2000), the Countess ignored her daughters, and was known for her vulgarity, solecisms, and malapropisms.
  • Violet Dunn Gardner, the artist.
  • Maude Dunn Gardner, aged 15 in 1881 (born circa 1865)
  • Flora Dunn Gardner.
• Rosa-Jane Dunn-Gardner (b. 2 January 1814)
• Frederick Thomas (b. 3 July 1816)
• Lavinia-Charlotte-Sarah Dunn-Gardner (b. 5 June 1820)