Lady Godiva

Recently I was talking with my son, Michael who is exploring our genealogy who said, “By the way, I found out that you are related to Lady Godiva!”

“Oh, really?” I explained. “That’s really funny, because an incident occurred when I was a very little girl after which I was called Lady Godiva.”

“Do tell….” urged Michael…

by Nancy Ware

January 2018

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It was 1948. We were living in Hyde Park in London after my father had been transferred there from the Bank of Nova Scotia branch in NYC. My parents were having a cocktail party with well-heeled guests in the banking and finance worlds of post-war London.

I was about four years old and my sister, Carol was almost 7. My mother had told us to stay in the back bedroom and play. We were charged with ONE important responsibility: Make sure that Walter, the cat, doesn’t get out and go in to the living room.

I was getting undressed, ready to put my PJs on when Carol opened the door and Walter raced out of the room. Me, being the dutiful daughter that I was, immediately sprung in to action to retrieve the cat. “Walter,” I called as I raced down the hall following the large marmalade fluff ball into the living room. I was totally unaware of the guests; weaving in and out of standing legs, I finally met up with the cat, picked him up in my arms and marched back down the hall into the bedroom feeling very victorious. I was also totally unaware that I hadn’t a stitch of clothing on!

The guests apparently were quite bemused, and for many years after, people would ask my father, “And how is Lady Godiva?”

Below is the genealogical trail

from the original Lady Godiva to the presumed one:

Lady Godiva of Mercia ( - 1066)

31st great-grandmother Wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy covering much of central Great Brittan.

Ælfgar of Mercia ( - 1060)

son of Lady Godiva and Leofric of Mercia

Ealdgyth (1057 - 1066)

daughter of Ælfgar of Mercia

Nest ferch Gruffydd

daughter of Ealdgyth

Nest ferch Osbern

daughter of Nest ferch Gruffydd and Osbern fitz Richard

Sibyl de Neufmarché (1100 - 1143)

daughter of Nest ferch Osbern and Bernard de Neufmarché who was was "the first of the original conquerors of Wales."

Margaret of Hereford (1123 - 1197)

daughter of Sibyl de Neufmarché and Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford.

Humphrey III de Bohun (1144 - 1181)

son of Margaret of Hereford and Humphrey II de Bohun

Henry de Bohun (1176 - 1220)

son of Humphrey III de Bohun and Margaret of Huntingdon

Humphrey de Bohun (1204 - 1275)

son of Henry de Bohun and Maud FitzGeoffrey

Humphrey de Bohun (1249 - 1298)

son of Humphrey de Bohun and Maud de Fiennes

Humphrey Bohun

son of Humphrey de Bohun and Eleanor de Braose

Margaret De Bohun (1311 - 1391)

daughter of Humphrey Bohun and Elizabeth of England, the daughter of King Edward I by his first wife Eleanor of Castile.

Elizabeth De Courtenay ( - 1395)

daughter of Margaret De Bohun and Hugh 3 de Courtenay

Hugh Luttrell (1364 - 1428)

son of Elizabeth De Courtenay and Andrew Luttrell

Elizabeth Luttrell (1388 - 1438)

daughter of Hugh Luttrell and Katherine Beaumont

Elizabeth Stratton (1425 - 1474)

daughter of Elizabeth Luttrell and John Stratton

Elizabeth Andrews ( - 1485)

daughter of Elizabeth Stratton and John Andrews

Andrews Windsor (1467 - 1543)

son of Elizabeth Andrews and Thomas Windsor

Edith Windsor (1515 - 1580)

daughter of Andrews Windsor and Elizabeth Blount

Thomas Ludlow (1550 - 1607)

son of Edith Windsor and George Ludlow

Roger Ludlow (1590 - 1666)

son of Thomas Ludlow

Sarah Ludlow (1626 - 1695)

daughter of Roger Ludlow and Mary Cogan

Timothy Brewster (1660 - 1744)

son of Sarah Ludlow and Nathaniel Brewster

Joseph Brewster (1709 - 1760)

son of Timothy Brewster and Mary Hawkins

Deborah Brewster (1741 - 1832)

daughter of Joseph Brewster and Ruth Briscoe

Daniel Roe (1762 - 1852)

son of Deborah Brewster Daniel Roe

Austin Roe (1803 - 1866)

son of Daniel Roe and Nabby Tucker

Harriet Roe (1827 - 1922)

daughter of Austin Roe and Sarah Wisner

Frances Roe Benton (1851 - 1910)

daughter of Harriet Roe and John Wesley Benton

Roger Benton Hull (1885 - 1942)

son of Frances Roe Benton and Arthur Norton Hull

Beverly Marsh Hull (1914 - 2000)

daughter of Roger Benton Hull and Miriam Bulkley Marsh

Nancy Hull Webster (1944 - )

daughter of Beverly Marsh Hull and George C. Webster

Did you Know?

Lady Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive taxation.

Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately refused to remit the tolls. At last, weary of her entreaties, he said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride on a horse through the streets of the town.

Lady Godiva took him at his word, and after issuing a proclamation that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair.

Just one person in the town, a tailor ever afterwards known as Peeping Tom, disobeyed her proclamation in one of the most famous instances of voyeurism.