Day Fourteen

In 1835, Lt Colonel Fitzmaurice Creighton, son of Abraham Creighton,  father of John Henry David Creighton, grandfather of John Leslie Fitzmaurice Creighton and great grandfather of John Michael Creighton  was born in Lymington, Southampton.

Day Thirteen

In 1801 Colonel John Creighton,  the second son of John, first Earl of Erne and  younger brother of Abraham, the second Earl,  was made Governor of Hurst Castle, Lymington, Southampton. 

His son, John Creighton, became the third Earl of Erne upon the death of  the second Earl, Abraham Creighton in 1848.  The official records show that Abraham Creighton , having been declared insane by his father in October 1798, died without issue.

The third Earl of Erne changed the spelling of the family name to Crichton and his son, John Henry Crichton,  became the fourth Earl of Erne in 1885.

Day Twelve

John Leslie Fitzmaurice Creighton photographed with his elder sister Molly in 1903 at the Vicarage in Kings Somborne, in the Diocese of Winchester.

In his memoirs he wrote  "Although my father (John Henry David Creighton) officially received only a Vicar's small stipend we managed in those days  to maintain a surprisingly substantial household and staff."

These household costs were apparently met by the fourth Earl of Erne.  Why?

Day Eleven

Edward Stuart Talbot was Bishop of Winchester during the period when John Henry David Creighton was Vicar at Kings Somborne 

Talbot's  grandmother was Caroline Creighton,  daughter of John Creighton, First Earl of Erne and Mary Hervey, daughter of Frederick Augustus Hervey, fourth Earl of Bristol.

Talbot maintained a close relationship with John Henry David Creighton.

Day Ten

John Leslie Fitzmaurice Creighton was born in The Vicarage of Kings Somborne, Hampshire on January 11, 1900.

His father John Henry David Creighton was Vicar of Kings Somborne, Hampstead in diocese of Winchester.

Day Nine

John Creighton, 1st Earl Erne,  was born 1731. He married twice and Abraham Creighton, his eldest son by his first wife, Catherine Howard,  became second Earl of Erne on his death in 1828.

Day Eight

Lady Elizabeth Hervey, "Bess", was the sister of Mary Hervey, who married John Creighton, the First Earl of Erne'.  Bess became notorious as the live-in companion of both Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire and also of Georgiana's husband the Duke of Devonshire after leaving her husband John Vere Foster in 1781.  

In that  same year Mary Hervey left John Creighton and the two sisters lived for a  short period  in Bath with an aunt. It was in Bath that Bess and Mary became acquainted with Georgiana.

Day Seven

Captain Fitzmaurice de Vere Creighton,  ADC to Chulalongkorn, King of Siam,  and head of the Siamese Military College until 1891, was the elder son of Colonel Fitzmaurice Creighton

Day Six

Caroline Creighton, daughter of John Creighton  first Earl of Erne and his second, considerably younger wife, Mary Hervey,  became an accomplished artist.

This work by Caroline Creighton is held in the Tate Gallery and is assumed to be a self portrait

Who is the half-concealed male figure in the background? Does the answer to the family mystery lie in this portrait?

Day Five

Mary Hervey, daughter of  Frederick Augustus Hervey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, became the second wife of John Creighton, first Earl of Erne in 1778

Mary was 23, John 53.  John had two sons by his first wife, Abraham and John. Mary bore him a daughter, Caroline

The marriage did not last and Mary left Crom in 1781 taking her child with her.