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Living in the U.K, surrounded by history inspires one to trace their own past. My past lead straight to John Ruskin ancestry!
When there is someone famous in your history, it does not take long to join the dots because the chances are, many people have also done the research.
Much to my surprise, my husband one day, who is a genealogy hobbyist bursts open my door and exclaims ” Susan, you are directly related to The famous John Ruskin Ancestry”.
Nobody in my family ever mentioned John Ruskin or talked about him. Surely I would know about it?
A couple of years ago, my husband returned to Australia for a family visit and approached my Nanna’s sister – Aunty Pam. Nanna had sadly passed away by this time and my husband assured me, it was Nanna and her sister who were the direct line to our Ruskin family.
My Nanna John Ruskin Ancestry:
So, Aunty Pam throws a lovely Aussie BBQ and my husband asks her “Hey Aunty Pam, do you guys realise you are directly related to a famous British guy called John Ruskin”? Aunty Pam pauses, thinks and says “Oh yeah, we know .. but who is he”? A common problem with people from the new worlds of Australia, Canada, United States and New Zealand is our fading memories of our British history.
Aunty Pam listened with much interest to learn about her famous British ancestor.
Aunty Pam then gets up and disappears into her house, later returning holding an old book named: “The Ruskin Birthday Book”. Within the book, generations of our Ruskin ancestors’ have written their birthdays, in their own handwriting. This book has been passed down the generations.
There is a portrait of Ruskin on the front cover and Aunty Pam says “that’s the guy apparently”.
The Ruskin Birthday Book:
My husband took a number of photos of the occasion, beamed them all back to me in Edinburgh as evidence, forcing me to concede it must in fact be true.
The connection to The John Ruskin ancestry is rather strong. Ruskin had no children and is the product of a union between two 1st cousins. John James Ruskin and Margaret Cock (Cox) (sister to John Ruskin’s maternal Richardson family line, of Croydon, London). The Croydon Richardson family had a successful pub and separate bakery business in Croydon, London. John Ruskin’s 1st cousin or genetic sister (he also treated all of his Richardson cousins from both Paternal and Maternal lines as siblings), “Mary Bridget Richardson” married (Isaac Fox) then moved to Sydney, Australia. They moved to Australia, partly because Mary Bridget had contracted Tuberculosis. The Australian weather would cure it, right?
Sadly the weather could not cure it and Mary Bridget died at the tender age of 30 but not before bearing offspring, one of them named “John Ruskin Fox”. I am directly linked through their youngest child, “William Richardson Fox”.
Ancestry Evidence Detail:
Irrespective of the discovery of the Birthday Book and all the heresay, Google etc, good geneology requires a scientific approach before claiming something to be fact. John Ruskin himself and his good friend, Charles Darwin would be in full agreement!
We discovered other ancestors from our same line (Fox), still living in Australia and have been working closely in colaboration to determine fact from fiction. Frances Steel has been amazing in helping us piece everything together, using verifiable evidence from credible source matieral.
Firstly, take a look at this image:
You can read the entire “The Life of John Ruskin” book by clicking HERE.
Ruskin wrote a lot about his family and what is easy to see from this diagram, is the common ancestor of both Paternal and Maternal sides of his family have the exact same common ancestor (1st Cousins). Just to be ultra confusing, this common ancestor is also named (John Ruskin) B: 1732 D: 1780, at the top. He was often referred to as John Ruskin Snr while his son, John Thomas Ruskin B: 1761 D: 1812 of Edinburgh was known as John Ruskin Jnr. There is an excellent small write-up on these early Ruskin family years researched by Lancaster University HERE.
Now, as we explore further down, we can see Jessie Ruskin married a Richardson from Perth, Scotland. By sheer coincidence, Bridget Cock (Cox) also married a Richardson! Bridget’s George Richardson was a Baker from Croydon, London and Bridget was the youngest daughter of Margaret Ruskin who owned and operated the old King’s Head Inn at Croydon Market-place, so now, by an odd coincidence, there were two families of Richardsons, unconnected with one another except through their relationship to the Ruskins. Source HERE.
Bridget Cock (Cox) and her Baker husband, George Richardson had 6 x children! The youngest, was baptised (Mary Bridget Richardson) on the 4th May 1814:
We now have a physical copy of this 1956 first edition, in our possession. Below, we have confirmation of the Date of Birth for our Mary Bridget Richardson: 8th April 1814, sourced from a search of the digital version of the book above (taken from Page 184):
A very important observation, is the Joan Agnew (later Severn), lineage on the bottom left – (also John Ruskin cousins). A.I often wonders if this lineage bears offspring which might be alive today. As this tree states, very clearly (bottom left) ” All the Arthur-Joan Severn children died without issue “. A very succinct statement which puts that question to bed.
On this tree, John Ruskin now has 2 x 1st cousins named “Mary Richardson” both were his 1st cousins but both were not related to each other. John spoke very highly of his 1st Cousin, Mary Richardson from Scotland but not so highly of his 1st Cousin from Croydon “Cousin Bridget” (our line).
Our, Mary Bridget Richardson ‘Cousin Bridget’ is mentioned in ‘Ruskin’s Scottish Heritage’ (Pages 88 & 89 below) and ‘Praeterita’.
A quote from ‘Praeterita’: “My Croydon Aunt left four sons – John, William, George and Charles; and two daughters – Margaret and Bridget. All handsome lads and pretty lasses; but Margaret, in early youth, met with some mischance that twisted her spine, and hopelessly deformed her. She was clever, and witty, like her mother; but never of any interest to me, though I gave a kind of brotherly, rather than cousinly, affection to all my Croydon cousins. But I never liked invalids, and don’t to this day; and Margaret used to wear her hair in ringlets, which I couldn’t bear the sight of.“
“Bridget was a very different creature; a black-eyed, or, with precision, dark hazel-eyed, slim-made, lively girl; a little too sharp in the features to be quite pretty, a little too wiry-jointed to be quite graceful; capricious, and more or less selfish in temper, yet nice enough to be once or twice asked to Perth (Scotland) with us, or to stay for a month or two at Herne Hill (Ruskin’s home) but never attaching herself much to us, neither us to her. I felt her an inconvenience in my nursery arrangements, the nursery having become my child’s study as I grew studious; and she had no mind, or it might be, no leave, to work with me in the garden.“
A final quote from ‘Ruskin’s Scottish Heritage” Page 89 (image below)‘ – “Cousin Bridget did, however, eventually cause some slight embarrassment by marrying a Mr Fox …. of rank somewhat above a tradesman – just enough to be uncomfortable.” But before long, luckily, “they went out to Sydney …”.
We have their Marriage record here:
On the 1st July 1838, Mary Bridget Richardson and her husband, Isaac Fox with their 2 year old boy, George Fox and Newborn (born at sea) Isaac Alexander Fox – landed in Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia (now known as Sydney Harbour).
They went on to have 1 more boy (named ‘John Ruskin Fox’), a girl then a final child, a boy. Their final child was named William Richardson Fox (My line) born in 1843. Mary Bridget, died only 2 years later, in 1845 (see timeline below).
William Richardson Fox is my lineage and Mary Bridget Richardson (John Ruskin’s ‘Cousin Bridget’) is my Nanna’s Great, Great Grandmother, straight up the line.
These original photos for Mary Bridget Richardson and Isaac Fox are held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney. These images were kindly provided to us by Frances Steel, also a descendant, living in Australia.
Sometimes life can throw up coincidences. My link to the famous John Ruskin ancestry was certainly an unexpected find. To later discover Barony House B&B, the Hotels in Edinburgh, house we operate as a Boutique Guest House (built in 1887, during the Arts and Crafts architectural movement, a movement pioneered by my famous ancestor), was a total shock!
In honour of my John Ruskin ancestry past, I have designed and hand painted an Arts and Crafts frieze in our Club Room and in some of the Guest Rooms. I have also created a “John Ruskin Room” which also sports a frieze and is entirely inspired by his era.
The John Ruskin Room:
The Ruskin Museum Coniston:
We did manage to visit The John Ruskin Museum in Coniston, the Lakes district (screenshot above). A record of our visit is here:
https://www.facebook.com/345575902483304/photos/a.403700923337468/516510578723168/?type=3&theater
We now know, the bloodline is (Mary) Bridget Richardson, rather than (Bridget Richardson) as stated above. Ruskin referred to his 1st Cousin – Mary Bridget Richardson from Croydon as ‘Cousin Bridget’.
We also made it into John Ruskin’s Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruskin
Find us under the heading: Ruskin in the 21st century.
When you stay with us in Barony House Hotels in Edinburgh, B&B in Edinburgh, we will be sure to show you:
The many original Arts and Crafts features in our home. All Inspired by my famous ancestor who is on the wall, hanging as a lovely portrait in our hall.
Our favourite quote from Ruskin:
“The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.” —John Ruskin
Very true of our life in Barony House, Edinburgh B&B, Hotels in Edinburgh.
John Ruskin Edinburgh – the missing link:
John Ruskin’s father – John James Ruskin was in fact born in Edinburgh on the 10th May 1785. In 1795, following his mother’s receipt of a legacy, the young John James Ruskin was able to enter the Royal High School at Edinburgh, run by the rector Dr Alexander Adam (1741-1809). John James also received some art lessons from Alexander Naysmyth (1758-1840).
Originally, John James had wished to train as a lawyer, but he left Edinburgh for London in order to begin a mercantile career. He came to know his future wife Margaret Cock, who had travelled in the opposite direction (from Croydon to Scotland) to live within the Ruskin household as helper and companion to Catherine around 1800-1804. Margaret was the daughter of an innkeeper William Cock (1754-1787) and John Thomas Ruskin’s sister Margaret Ruskin Cock (1756? -1817) and therefore a first cousin of the man she was to marry.
In 1808 John James and Margaret became engaged, an engagement which lasted eight years. During his time in London he rose to become head clerk of the firm of wine importers, ‘Gordon, Murphy and Co’, and eventually made a large fortune through the setting-up of his own firm of ‘Ruskin, Telford and Domecq’. In 1818, following the close deaths of all their parents, three months earlier, John James and Margaret were married in Perth on 2 February. They moved into their own house, in Brunswick Square, London where their son John Ruskin was born on 8 February 1819.
John James spent the next ten years paying off his fathers debts whilst building the foundation of his own successful business. John James Ruskin was to have a powerful influence upon the life of his son through his total commitment to his welfare, which was not always appreciated, by his son. When he died on 3 March 1864 age 78, he left his son £120,000, a number of properties and around £10,000 in the value of his art collection. He left his wife £37,000 and the large family home at Denmark Hill. Ruskin wrote the epitaph for his father’s tomb:
Here rests from day’s well-sustained burden,
JOHN JAMES RUSKIN,
he was an entirely honest merchant
and his memory is, to all who keep it, dear and helpful.
His son, whom he loved to the uttermost
and taught to speak truth, says this of him ( Works, 17.lxxvii)
John Ruskin Grave:
After our visit to John Ruskin’s museum, we were most enthusiastic to seek out Johns Ruskin’s Grave. We needed to pay homage to Susan and the kids’ 1st Cousin, up the line:
Below, John’s living descendants pose proudly next to the John Ruskin Grave.
As a final tribute to John Ruskin’s wisdom, we feel a quote from the man himself is well overdue:
Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort