The English Cottrell family, counts in the duchies of Lucca and Parma

Henry, 1st Count Cottrell

When researching my family history one day I noticed in the 1911 UK census one of my great grandmother's was employed as a parlour maid for Agnes Isa Sophia Hill, the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Robert Hill, at her home in Heacham, Norfolk.

Looking into the background of Agnes Hill I discovered a rather unusual noble background for her.

Born in Florence, Italy in 1866, Agnes was the daughter of an Englishman called Henry Cottrell and his wife Sophia Augusta (née Tulk), the youngest child of the British politician Charles Augustus Tulk, member of parliament for Sudbury 1820 to 1826 and Poole from 1835 to 1837.

The Cottrell’s were part of the Landed Gentry in Great Britain with their family seat being located in Hadley, near Barnet, in Middlesex (now part of London). Agnes’s father Henry Cottrell was born 5 March 1811 at North Walton, Hampshire, the fourth son of the Revd Clement Cottrell (1773–1814), Rector of North Walton, and his wife Georgiana (née Adams) the daughter of John Adams, member of parliament for Carmarthen from 1774 to 1780. The eldest son Charles Herbert Cottrell (1806-1860) inherited the family’s Hadley estate upon the death of his uncle Charles in 1829.[i]

The Cottrell family had a long history of royal service, Henry’s direct ancestors Sir Charles Cotterell (1615-1701) and Sir Charles Lodowick Cotterell (1654-1710) served as Master of Ceremonies at the courts of the English and British monarchs Charles I, Charles II, James II, Mary II, William III and Anne. Sir Charles Lodowick’s eldest son Sir Clement Cottrell-Dormer (1686-1758) succeeded as Master of Ceremonies followed by his eldest son Sir Charles Cottrell-Dormer (1720-1779), his son Sir Clement Cottrell-Dormer (died 1808) served until 1796 when he was succeeded by a cousin Sir Stephen Cottrell (died 1818), who was the last Cottrell to hold the post of Master of Ceremonies.[ii]

As a younger son, Henry had to find his own path in life pursuing a naval career. Enrolling in 1824 at the Royal Naval College in Portsmouth, Henry went on to ultimately reach the rank of lieutenant before retiring in the 1830’s.[iii]

In 1838 Henry revived the Cottrell family's tradition of royal service, however it wasn't the British court that he served at. Instead, Henry was appointed a chamberlain to Carlo Ludovico di Borbone (1799–1883), the sovereign duke of Lucca in Italy. Amongst his duties as chamberlain, Henry was responsible for selling parts of the duke’s art collection.[iv] He himself became a collector of art and was responsible for saving large numbers of art his friend George Frederic Watts had left behind at his Careggi studio.[v]

Duke Carlo Ludovico awarded Henry the noble title of count on 9 July 1846.[vi] Just over a year later on 4 October 1847, Lucca became a part of the grand duchy of Tuscany at which point Henry left his post within the household of the former duke Carlo Ludovico.

However the former duke Carlo Ludovico was soon to inherit another Italian throne. Having long been promised the throne of Parma upon the death of the incumbent, the Duchess Marie Louise, following her death on 17 December 1847, Duke Carlo Ludovico succeeded adopting the regnal name Duke Carlo II of Parma, however he only reigned for a year and a half before abdicating in favour of his son, Carlo III, on 17 May 1849.

On 22 November 1853, Duke Carlo III, issued a new decree (#412) re-recognising the title of count for Henry and his legitimate descendants within the sovereign duchy of Parma.[vii] Following the death of Carlo III on 27 March 1854, his 5 year old son Roberto (1849-1909) succeeded under a regency headed by his mother, and reigned until 9 June 1859 when he was deposed during the wars of Italian unification and the duchy of Parma was annexed to the kingdom of Italy.

Countess Cottrell (nee Sophia Augusta Tulk)

Despite having left the service of Duke Carlo Ludovico (Carlo II) in 1847, Henry would spend the remainder of his life in Italy. It was during a visit to England that he had first met Sophia Tulk and the couple were married on 25 September 1847. The couple set up home in Florence, capital of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, in the Piazza Maria Antonia[viii] where they were friends with the English literary couple Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Sophia was a member of the New Church (Swdenborgism) which Henry also became involved with becoming a member of its Florence Society.[ix]

In late 1870 Henry moved with his family to Nervi, near Genoa for a milder climate due to his failing health. He died here on 16 March 1871 and was buried in the English Cemetery in Genoa.[x] Henry was survived by his wife Sophia who returned to England a couple of years after his death and by their children, Henry Edward Plantagenet, Violet Amy and Agnes Isa Sophia.

Henry Edward Plantagenet, 2nd Count Cottrell

Succeeding as the 2nd Count Cottrell was Henry Edward Plantagenet Cottrell, the only surviving son of Henry and Sophia. Henry (or Hal as he was known) was born in Florence where he received his initial education before studying at Harrow.[xi] His third given name Plantagenet was a nod to the Cottrell family's descent from the Royal House of Plantagenet via Henry, 1st Count Cottrell's grandmother Elizabeth Chute who was descended from King Edward III of England via his son John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster.[xii]

The 2nd Count Cottrell trained as a civil engineer and worked on projects in many parts of the British Empire including British Hondurus (Belize), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), South Africa and Palestine, as well as in mainland China and Taiwan and on an early Panama Canal expedition.[xiii]

The 2nd Count served as the British representative at the Brussels International Exposition in 1897, the Milan International in 1906 and the Franco-British Exhibition of 1907 and was decorated with the rank of Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy and the rank of Knight of the Order of Leopold of Belgium. During the First World War he served as an advisor at the Ministry of Munitions.[xiv]

The 2nd Count Cottrell was married to Susan Jane Regessa Westwood with whom he had one daughter, Margaret Sophia. The 2nd Count who died in 1938 was the last male member of the family, upon the death of his only daughter in 1971 the family of the counts Cottrell became extinct.

The Counts Cottrell, of Lucca and Parma

Henry (Enrico), 1^st Conte Cottrell (born 5 March 1811, North Walton; died 15 March 1871, Nervi). Second Class of the Order of Civil Merit under the title of Saint Lodovico (Lucca). Married 25 September 1847 at Totteridge, Sophia Augusta Tulk (born 1824; died 26 February 1909)

Contessa Alice Enrica Augusta (born July 1848, Florence, died 8 November 1849, Florence)

Conte Charles Louis (14 May 1850, Florence; died 18 Jun 1850, Florence)

Henry Edward Plantagenet (Enrico Edoardo Plantageneti), 2^nd Conte Cottrell (born 1 August 1851, Florence; died 10 March 1938, Hull). Officer of the Order of the Crown (Italy), Knight of the Order of Leopold (Belgium). Married 1878, Susan Jane Regessa Westwood (born 1859, Wolverhampton; died 12 April 1933, Hull)

Contessa Margaret Sophia (born 23 January 1884, Hammersmith; died 28 March 1971). Married 1920, George Kryn Spruit (born 24 September 1890, Hull; died 3 April 1975, Hornsea)

Conte Clement (born 16 Mar 1855, Florence; died 17 March 1855, Florence)  

Contessa Violet Amy (born 15 January 1859, Florence; died 1936, Milan) Married 13 August 1878 at Richmond, Arthur Edward Hight (born 1856; died 4 April 1928, Rome)

Contessa Agnes Isa Sophia (born 1864, Florence; died 31 December 1945; Heacham). Married 21 August 1894 at Kensington, Joseph Robert Hill (born 1863; died 28 February 1950)

References

[i] Burke, John B (1850). ‘Cottrell of Hadley’ in A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1850. Volume I. Henry Coburn. p. 269

[ii] Burke, John B (1850). ‘Dormer of Roulsham’ in A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1850. Volume I. Henry Coburn. p. 342-343

[iii] The Brownings’ Correspondence. Henry Cottrell. Available at:  https://www.browningscorrespondence.com/biographical-sketches/?nameId=2021

[iv] The Brownings’ Correspondence. Henry Cottrell. Available at:  https://www.browningscorrespondence.com/biographical-sketches/?nameId=2021

[v] Watts, M. S. (1912). George Frederic Watts. Volume I. The Annals of an Artist's Life. MacMillian and Co Ltd. p. 55

[vi] Raccolta Generale Delle Leggi per Gli Stati Parmensi Anno 1853. Tipografia Reale. pp. 420-421

[vii] Raccolta Generale Delle Leggi per Gli Stati Parmensi Anno 1853. Tipografia Reale. pp. 420-421

[viii] The Brownings’ Correspondence. Henry Cottrell. Available at:  https://www.browningscorrespondence.com/biographical-sketches/?nameId=2021

[ix] 'Death of Count Cottrell' (1871) The New Jerusalem Messenger. Volume XX. General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the United States. p. 211

[x] The Brownings’ Correspondence. Henry Cottrell. Available at:  https://www.browningscorrespondence.com/biographical-sketches/?nameId=2021

[xi] 'Hull man's work all over world' (11 March 1938). Hull Daily Mail. p. 12

[xii] Burke, John B (1850). ‘Cottrell of Hadley’ in A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland for 1850. Volume I. Henry Coburn. p. 269

[xiii] 'Hull man's work all over world' (11 March 1938). Hull Daily Mail. p. 12

[xiv] 'Hull man's work all over world' (11 March 1938). Hull Daily Mail. p. 12

Monaco Pretenders - The English Grimaldi's

George Frederick Ernest, 13th Marquess Grimaldi
and his wife Kathleen Elizabeth, Marchioness Grimaldi 

The Monaco branch of the House of Grimaldi died out in the male line on 14 February 1748 with the death of Honoré François Grimaldi (born 1669), Archbishop of Besançon from 1724 to 1731 and then Abbot of the Abbey’s of Saint Maixant and of Vauluisant.

He was the younger brother of Prince Antonie I of Monaco (1661-1731) who was succeeded by his daughter Princess Louise-Hippolyte (1697-1731) and her husband Jacques Goyon de Matignon (1689-1751) who adopted the Grimaldi name and arms and ruled Monaco as Prince Jacques I, firstly alongside his wife then after her death alone until his abdication in 1733 in favour of their son Honoré III.

Their descendants were known in the Almanach de Gotha as the House of Goyon de Matignon-Grimaldi and reigned until the death of Prince Louis II in 1949 when the succession passed via his 1919 legitimised daughter Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois (1898-1977) to her son Prince Rainer III (1923-2005).  He and his son, the present prince of Monaco, Albert II (born 1958), belong to the House of Poliginac in the paternal line (Poliginac-Grimaldi) via Count Pierre de Polignac (1895-1964) the husband of Princess Charlotte, who like the husband of Princess Louise-Hippolyte had also assumed the Grimaldi name and arms and was created a prince of Monaco.

On account of the break with the male line in 1731 with the succession of Princess Louise-Hippolyte, the surviving branches of the House of Grimaldi have at various times publicly asserted a claim to the Principality of Monaco believing salic law should have been adhered too as it was in France, and the succession should therefore not have passed via the female line.

One such surviving branch of the House of Grimaldi are the Marquesses Grimaldi, the title having been created in Genoa in August 1529 for Luca Grimaldi (died 1580) by the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, in his capacity of King of Italy. The 1st Marquess’ descendant Alessandro, 6th Marquess Grimaldi (1659-1732) commanded the Spanish forces during the French bombardment of Genoa and as a consequence was exiled in 1685 by edict of King Louis XIV of France. The exiled 6th Marquess settled in England and married the granddaughter of Sir Francis Anderson MP, his descendants form the English branch of the House of Grimaldi.

In 1834 Stacey Grimaldi, a descendant of the 6th Marquess, noted with the publication of House of Grimaldi’s pedigree that "The Principality of Monaco is now claimed from the reigning Prince of Monaco by the Marquess Luigi Grimaldi della Pietra on the ground that it is a male fief and ought not to have descended to heirs female and this Pedigree has been compiled to show at Genoa and Turin that the Grimaldis of England are the eldest branch and have a prior claim."

Stacey Grimaldi (1790-1863) however belonged to the junior line of the English Grimaldi’s descending from William Grimaldi (1751-1830), a son of Alexander, 7th Marquess Grimaldi (1714-1800) via his second marriage, while there was also a senior line descending from Alexander Grimaldi (1742-1780), the son of the 7th Marquess’ first marriage. In 1834 and for many decades after, the senior line were either uninterested in their claim to Monaco or without the means to pursue it. Stacey Grimaldi and his younger son Alexander Beaufort Grimaldi (1839-1925) were therefore the initial driving force behind the English Grimaldi’s claims to Monaco and as such this junior line have adopted (or at least been attributed by various sources) the Marquess title and been numbered as though they succeeded on the death of the 7th Marquess.

Descent of the senior and junior lines
from the 7th Marquess Grimaldi

In 1913 the senior line of the English Grimaldi’s registered their pedigree with the College of Arms, having had it verified by the Norry King of Arms, Sir Henry Farnham Burke. The head of the senior line and the rightful 11th Marquess Grimaldi was George Frederick Grimaldi who had been born 18 February 1857 in Islington the son of Alfred, 10th Marquess Grimaldi (1833-1885) and his wife Ann Birch (1832-1888).

The 11th Marquess was the owner of a successful firm of Aberdeen butchers and supplied meat for the coronation of King Edward VII. He was married twice, first in 1883 to Lavina Thomas (1859-1887) with whom he had a son Ernest George Grimaldi (1885-1953), and secondly in 1890 to Elizabeth Darling, nee Devine (1853-1913). Haven proven his ancestry the 11th Marquess pursued an active and serious claim to the throne of Monaco; he left London and moved to the nearby French city of Nice from where he could distribute pamphlets in the principality promoting his claim. In 1916 Messrs Canottieri et Cie, a Nice based firm, placed an advert in a British newspaper stating that a widowed nobleman from an ancient family was looking to re-marry with a lady of any age from a good family who could bring a dowry of between £500,000 and £600,000 to aid his struggle against a "usurper". The nobleman in question was the 11th Marquess, nothing ever came from it though as he would never remarry.

The 11th Marquess’ big push for the throne came in 1922 on the death Prince Albert I of Monaco. As the late prince’s marriage to Lady Mary Hamilton had been annulled in 1880, the 11th Marquess sensed a weakness and argued that the late prince’s son and heir Hereditary Prince Louis was illegitimate and so ineligible to succeed and lobbied the British government and newly formed League of Nations to intervene. He was in Monaco at the time of Prince Albert’s death before being forced to return to his base in Nice due to ill health. With his claims having fallen on death ears and the late Prince Albert’s son declared Prince Louis II, when the 11th Marquess attempted to return to Monaco he was barred from entering by the gendarmerie. His meticulous tracing of his ancestry and pursuit of the throne cost around £1.7 million in today’s money and exhausted the family fortune. He died on 20 September 1924 in Nice and was succeeded by his only son Ernest George Grimaldi as the 12th Marquess Grimaldi.

Ernest George, 12th Marquess Grimaldi was born 3 December 1885 in Highgate but he grew up in Aberdeen where his talent as a cricketer and rugby player saw him play for the Aberdeenshire Cricket Club and the Aberdeen Nomads Rugby Club. He was educated at Edinburgh University before serving an engineering apprenticeship and training as an accountant, before finally establishing himself as a car salesman.  The 12th Marquess was married in Aberdeen to Mabel Joss Gray (1885-1951) with whom he had three sons George Frederick Ernest Grimaldi (1908-1979), John Derek Grimaldi (1914-1992) and Geoffrey Brian Grimaldi (1915-1942).

After succeeding his father he recognised his rights to Monaco, despite having neither the money nor the time to pursue an active claim with the same vigour that his father had done. In 1930 he stated "I grew up to learn the full facts of our unfortunate history. It is now my turn to attempt to establish our rights, but I put my claim forward more as a matter of form than anything else, for what more proof can be submitted than that which was received by the College of Heralds? I am probably a fatalist, but it seems we can do nothing more to establish our rights." On his death in St Albans on 17 February 1953 his eldest son, George Frederick Ernest Grimaldi, succeeded as the 13th Marquess Grimaldi.

George Frederick Ernest, 13th Marquess Grimaldi was born 23 June 1908 in Highgate.  He served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and went on to have a varied career working as an exhibition organiser, a hotelier in Kent, a petrol station owner in Sussex and a car salesman in Bognor Regis. He married Kathleen Elizabeth Cordon (1909-1991) in 1937 and had two daughters Vanessa Grimaldi (born 1944) Anne Serena Grimaldi (born 1946).

Like his father he recognised his claim stating in 1962 "I have more right than Prince Rainer to be ruler of Monaco", however also like his father he could do little to advance it "A tremendous amount of money would be needed to do anything and I just haven’t got it. And it would also need some support from within Monaco". However he expressed his hope that "If I don’t live to become Prince of Monaco I certainly hope that one of my successors will."

The 13th Marquess visited Monaco just the once, which was while on holiday rather than to claim the throne, his visit taking place in 1949, the year Prince Rainer III succeeded. Following the prince’s wedding to Grace Kelly in 1956 the 13th Marquess acting "as head of the family" sent his congratulations and the two corresponded for a time after. Having only two daughters on the death of the 13th Marquess in 1979 he was succeeded by his younger brother John Derek Grimaldi.

John Derek, 14th Marquess Grimaldi was born 26 February 1914 in Edmonton and followed in his father’s footsteps into the car industry working as an engineer. He was married twice, first in 1942 to Frances Margaret Grundy (1914-1946), and secondly in 1947 to Thelma Louise Diffley (1917-1988).

His only child was a son who predeceased him, John Patrick Michael Grimaldi (1955-1983) a musician and a guitarist in the English rock band Argent between 1974-1976 who died unmarried and childless. The 14th Marquess, who never seemed to publicly assert any claim to Monaco, died on 21 September 1992 in Fraddon, Cornwall at which point the male line of the 11th Marquess Grimaldi died out.

In a future post I may revisit the family tree of the English Grimaldi's to explore who succeeded as the 15th Marquess Grimaldi, of Genoa.