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My grandfather's great grandfather was John Smith coachman to Queen Victoria, his son (my grandfather's grandfather) was Alfred John Smith coachman to Edward VII. I am looking for information on John smith's ancestors (probably in Isle of white), john's wife Edith and alfred's wife Annie Fitzgerald Chambers...I have already been sent all the information that Windsor Castle is holding.
Ben
Dear Ben. I guess we have a little in common with the Royal Household. My Great Aunt was an Elizabeth Irvine and she had a son, one James Campbell who was Head Piper to Queen Victoria after William Ross. James went on to be the piper to King Edward. Maybe your ancestor and mine knew eachother.
Kind regards. Mike Irvine.
well well. I arrived here because I was doing a search on queen victorias coachman called smith. My own great great grandfather was also queen vitoria's coachman, though he retired in 1873. Name of Charles Smith. Had at least two daughters, but might be other children, and came from a big family in Suffolk.
Hi Ben
I realise you posted the above a long time ago but I have just started researching my ancestors and came across your post. I believe that we must be distantly related. My great great grandfather was also Alfred John Smith (coachman to Edward VII) and my great great great grandfather therefore John Smith (coachman to Queen Victoria). As I am just starting out I am afraid I don't have much information on either yet to offer you but would be grateful to make contact with you and to receive any information that you may have. My grandmother was a Smith and my mother has inherited John Smith's pewter beer tankard from "the Youthful Queen" pub in Pimlico and also his pewter hip flask. The story in our family (which I am yet to validate) is that John Smith was responsible for an incident in which Queen Victoria's carriage was rolled. Rumour has it that he may have been an alcoholic and that he was retired shortly after this incident.
Hello Everyone,
I see Ben's first post was 15 years ago and the last post by Alexandra_C was 11 years ago, however, I am doing some reseach for a friend and just found these. I have found info that says her ancester Thomas Dolan 1775-1851, started to work at Windsor Castle as a coachman in 1825 then later as Head Coachman to Queen Victoria. Yet, the only Head Coachman name I have found proof of is George Payne. Also I can not find any info on the Royal Mews at Windsor, only Buckingham. Were the same men used at both? Does anyone know if there is a list somewhere of who all the coachmen/livery were and their dates? Or a list of the Royal Staff at Windsor? Any help would be appreciated.
Bevanne46
Hello Bevanne46,
Welcome to British-Genealogy. :smile5:
Duplicate posts lead to confusion so I have deleted your other post (especially as that was in a thread referring to a soldier).
I knew the answer to your question would be somewhere in the BG files, and by chance I happened to find it. :smile5:
Well, sort of, because although it gave the address to write to, it also gave an out-of-date link. This is the updated link, and then click on FAQs on the left-hand side.
https://www.royal.uk/archives
I would suggest that you quote your source of info re Thomas being Head Coachman when writing.
Bear in mind that coronavirus working restrictions may mean it could be some time before you receive a reply.
Pam
this may already be known - Find My Past (FMP) has a dataset Royal Household Staff 1526-1924 with 386,000 entries (a lot of duplicated names).
a man in my extended family tree was on the Buckingham Palace staff in the early 1900's and has entries in the above dataset and also appears on the 1911 census for the palace.
Thanks for that wimsey. :smile5:
I remember reading it (think it's in the FAQs, along with other sources), but it's handy to have it actually mentioned.