Macnamara's Memorials of the Danvers Family ______________________________________________________________

The centennial edition - 1995 While using the book in England it soon became obvious that the layout of the book could be modified to assist people find their way along the ancestral trail. The content of the original book has been enhanced for the centennial edition by:

In 1852 Dr Francis Macnamara, Surgeon Major with the Indian Army, married Amy Danvers. Upon retiring in about 1888 Macnamara, having time to spare and a fondness for antiquarian research, set about proving (or disproving) the correctness of a table of descent of the Danvers family which the family had acquired.

The chart, which provided the stimulus for Macnamara's research, traced the ancestry of the family through the Swithland branch back to the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066. His research enabled him to document the descent of the Culworth and Dauntsey branches of the Danvers family from about the year 1000 through to 1895. Although he agreed with the earlier descent charts of the Swithland branch he suspected that the branch died out during the 14th century and that the current Swithland branch is descended from Culworth circa 1420. Included in his book are detailed descriptions of the associates of the family, their places of residence, and the historical context of their lives.

a. the addition of maps to make the places mentioned easier to locate should you decide to follow the ancestral trail through Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, Gloucestershire, Middlesex, and Sussex; b. the addition of many more illustrations, several drawn by family members and friends, providing more views of the past and present; c. the addition of a comprehensive index which not only lists hundreds of family members and their relatives, but it also lists dozens of notable characters from the history of Great Britain and western Europe with whom members of the family came into contact; d. the addition of another index listing many places and items of interest, and the references from which Macnamara took his information; e. the incorporation into the text of eight pages of corrections and additional information from the first edition and subsequent research; and f. the updating of Chapter 14 which contains a lineal descent chart dating from 1761 to 1895 listing the descendants of John Danvers and Elizabeth Hardy. It now includes the New Zealand descendants up until 1995, and those of other countries where details have been located or made available.

The first edition - 1895 In 1895 Macnamara had two hundred copies of his book printed. In 1987 Jane and I borrowed one of the four copies known to have come to New Zealand. Having discovered the significance of its contents it was obvious that the information would be of great interest to most members of the family and would become even more interesting as the years went by. To preserve the ageing books we set about getting more copies printed and a few years later decided that it would be an interesting task to update the descendancy charts they contain. A task which took five years to complete and timed to be published in 1995 as a centennial edition of Macnamara's work.

Retracing Macnamara's footsteps One hundred years after Macnamara conducted his research, Jane and I spent several months during 1990 and 1993 in England retracing his footsteps. While referring to his book during our travels we discovered that many of the buildings he listed (Dauntsey, Culworth, Calthorpe, Danby Castle, besides the many churches) are not only still standing, but are mostly still used and well maintained. We also discovered that a considerable amount of research is being conducted by several members and relatives of the Leicestershire branch of the family. No doubt the results of their endeavours will eventually supplement Macnamara's work.

Description Macnamara's Memorials of the Danvers Family Centennial Edition - 1995 ISBN:    0-473-03049-7 Editors: Gary Danvers & Jane Webster Binding: Soft cover Format:  A4 Landscape 12" x 8" Copies printed:   150 Pages (2 column): 410 Maps:              31 Illustrations:     61 Family charts:     66 Index 1 People:    44 (3 column pages) Index 2 Misc:      19 (3 column pages)

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