Notable Individuals in the Halhed Family Tree

Having a few ancestors who, one way or another, have been well documented for their accomplishments makes genealogical research much easier. Highlighted below are several who made their mark in arenas large and small.

Henry Halhed (1517-1588):

My tenth Great Grandfather, or "first Henry" as we call him, is the earliest Halhed-line ancestor known to us with certainty. He was a woolen draper or mercer, property owner, one-time Bailiff of Banbury (in Oxfordshire), Alderman for life and Auditor. Henry Halhed was a successful, respected businessman of his time, who left a will, naming many sons, daughters, sons-in-law and grandchildren, providing for the disposition of a considerable array of property. His will is a real treasure trove of information for the family historian. (There are also earlier Halhed families of which traces can be found in Cambridge, Oxford and London in the 14^th and 15^th centuries, many carrying with occupations and civic responsibilities similar to those of "first Henry," but we have thus far been unable to make any connections between these early Halheds and our Halheds of Banbury.)

Nathaniel Brassey Halhed (1751-1830):

My third great grand-uncle Nathaniel, studied at Harrow and Oxford, where he became a personal friend and confidant of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He entered the service of the East Indian Company, and gained recognition lasting to the present day for writing A Code of Gentoo Laws, or, Ordinations of the Pundits, from a Persian Translation Made from the Original, Written in the Sanscrit Language; and A Grammar of the Gentoo Language. On his return to England, he was elected Member of Parliament, but his reputation suffered greatly when he publicly championed the soi-disant prophet, Richard Brothers. His biography was written by Prof. Rosane Rocher (UPenn): Orientalism, Poetry and the Millennium: The Checkered Life of Nathaniel Brassey Halhed 1751-1830 (published in 1983). In his lifetime, he went through times of great wealth and very constrained circumstances, and lived the life of a recluse for most of his later years. He left no will and, having no children, his widow took pains to distribute his possessions among family members.

Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1851-1941):

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, my second cousin three times removed (related through Mary Ann Powell, wife of my second great-grandfather Francis Halhed), was the founder of the Boy Scouts movement and related organizations, and was created the first Baron Baden-Powell. Much has been written about his military career and his passion for encouraging young people to pursue meaningful lives.

James Powell (1774-1840):

My third great-grandfather, James Powell (father of Mary Ann Powell mentioned above), purchased the very successful Whitefriars Glassworks, London, in 1834. His grandson, my cousin (Harry) James Powell, was responsible some of the amazing designs produced by Whitefriars over the years. A number of other Powells (cousins and uncles) were involved in the family glass business for more than a century. Whitefriars closed in 1980, largely as a result of commercial competitive pressure from Corning and others.

Henry Fielding (1707-1754):

My fifth great-grandfather Henry Fielding (related through my great-grandmother Gertrude Ellen Fielding, wife of Richmond Beauchamp Halhed) attended Eton and the University of Leiden, and became a barrister and magistrate in 18th century London. Henry Fielding is best known however, as a novelist and playwright, author of the novel Tom Jones and many other works. He seems to have been responsible for changing of the spelling of the surname from Feilding to Fielding, and in the Halhed genealogy, all descendants of Henry Fielding have been given the Fielding spelling, whereas his ancestors and their other descendants are spelled Feilding.

Beryl Mildred Halhed (1887-1980):

My grandaunt, Beryl Mildred Halhed, wife of William Claude Cryer, transposed Aboriginal myths of coastal British Columbia into a collection of stories for children called The Flying Canoe: Legends of the Cowichans (published in 1949) and was also responsible for recording and publishing some of the oral history of First Nations people of British Columbia.