Anyone got any interesting family trees or well known ancestors?
one of my relatives was a duke in holland circa WW1
My name has a Lord associated with it, and a town in Southern Ireland
One of my ancestors was the guy the film ‘Master and Commander: Far Side of the World’ was based on.
My father has the hereditory right to be a Baron, I’ve got a couple of saints, kings and assorted knighted nobility in my ancestry. Major General Sir William MacBean VC is a recent claim to fame. There is a bust of him in the town hall in Inverness and my dad is a spitting image of him. William MacBean QC was Lord Provost of Inverness and lots more… Aparently we are related to MacBeth as well, and he was a good bloke, not the villian Shakespeare makes him out to be. Can trace our Scots ancestry back to around 10th century.
No idea really, my grandfather was Lord Mayor of Derby for several years. There is an infamous side to the family which resulted in this place:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=-33.64785,115.349922&spn=0.045085,0.090637&z=14
Need to find out what crimes they got deported for…
My great-grandfather was a top jockey is the late 19th century. His claims to fame are rather dubious - he rode the favourite Surefoot in the 1890 Derby and came 4th, this being the shortest-odds horse ever to lose that race. Fortunes were lost and many a landed gentleman lost more than his shirt. Then in 1894, he rode Gospedar to victory in the French Derby at 25-1 and, as many felt that the horse had been “held-up” in previous races to improve the odds for the big race (and the favourite well beaten in the race itself) rioting broke out at Chantilly and later in towns and cities across France; rider, horse and trainer required police protection from the angry mob after the race on the way to the winner’s enclosure. Again, fortunes were lost, questions asked in Parliament etc. He was a bit of a character.
My Grandpa designed the engines used in the WW2 Liberty Ships which were mass produced in the USA and stopped Britain from starving when the German U-boats ruled the waves, sinking many Allied ships with the loss of many lives. I’ve set up a little website about him but it doesn’t work very well at the moment… will post the URL as soon as I’ve remembered what it is…
He had a company called North Eastern Marine (or NEM for short), which had shipyards in Wallsend - Newcastle upon Tyne - and Sunderland.
Can’t beat Bbsmonk’s Ghengis Khan
My Dad had questions asked about him in the House of Commens over some supposedly dodgey planning permissions granted to his developpment company.
Does that count 
Sure, all good stuff.
I havn’t but my dogs great, great something or other was the white husky on Due South.
Some people think my father is a plank…
Does that count?
Cool, if you put his name into google he gets the top 2 returns :D:D
1st is the House of Commons from a few years back and Number 2 is the large development we are currently working on in Bulgaria.My favorite piece from the House of Commons minutes is;
My only claim to fame, and no one especially famous, is a dodgy great great great… grandfather was hung for piracy, apparently a scurge of the Spanish Main, but that may have been an embellishment. He was one of the original DeViese’s on my Spanish side. My granddad was named after him Ernesto DeViese.
Now that’s 
That’s really really
My maiden name means im possibly related to Dave of Chas & Dave 
…I’ll get my coat… 
My great grandad introduced the telephone to Sarawak and got an MBE for it years ago & 1 of my uncles was Pete in Family Affairs on C5 - thats about it really!