Percy Bysshe Shelley

Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets and is esteemed by some scholars the finest lyric poet in the English language. He is perhaps most widely famous for such anthology pieces as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, and The Masque of Anarchy; but his major works were long visionary poems such as Adonais and Prometheus Unbound. Shelley's unconventional life and uncompromising idealism made him a notorious and much denigrated figure in his own life, but he became the idol of the following two or three generations of poets (including the major Victorian poets Robert Browning, Alfred Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Charles Swinburne, as well as William Butler Yeats.) He was also famous for his association with contemporaries John Keats and Lord Byron, and, like them, for his untimely death at a young age. He was married to the equally famous novelist Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein. He was interested in the concept of free love and often went to great and sometimes dubious lengths to promote the idea (once, for instance, sleeping with his wife's step-sister after his wife had miscarried).

Family history

Ancestry

Shelley was a seventeenth generation descedant of Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel through his son John Fitzalan, Marshall of England (d. 1379). John was married to Baroness Eleanor Maltravers (1345 – January 10, 1404/1405. Their eldest son succeeded them as John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel (1365–1391). He was himself married to Elizabeth le Despenser (d. April 1/ April 10, 1408).

Related Topics:
Richard Fitzalan, 10th Earl of Arundel - John Fitzalan - Marshall - 1379 - Baroness - Eleanor Maltravers - 1345 - January 10 - 1404 - 1405 - John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel - 1365 - 1391 - Elizabeth le Despenser - April 1 - April 10 - 1408

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Elizabeth was a great-granddaughter of Hugh the younger Despenser by his second son Edward Despenser of Buckland (d. September 30, 1342). Her parents were Sir Edward Despenser, 1st Lord Despenser (March 24, 1336 – November 11, 1375) and Elizabeth Burghersh (d. July 26, 1409).

Related Topics:
Hugh the younger Despenser - Buckland - September 30 - 1342 - March 24 - 1336 - November 11 - 1375 - July 26 - 1409

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The eldest son of Elizabeth by Baron Maltravers was John Fitzalan, 13th Earl of Arundel. Their third son was Sir Thomas Fitzalan of Beechwood. His own daughter Eleanor Fitzalan was married to Sir Thomas Browne of Beechworth Castle. They had four sons and a daughter. Said daughter Katherine Browne was married in 1471 to Humphrey Sackville of Buckhurst (1426 – January 24, 1488).

Related Topics:
John Fitzalan, 13th Earl of Arundel - Thomas Fitzalan - 1471 - 1426 - January 24 - 1488

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Their oldest son Richard Sackville of Buckhurst (1472 – July 18, 1524) was married in 1492 to Isabel Dyggs. Their oldest son Sir John Sackville of Buckhurst (1492 – October 5, 1557) was married to Margaret Boleyn. Margaret was a sister to Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire. His younger brother Richard Sackville had a less prominent marriage which resulted in the birth of Anne Sackville. Anne herself was later married to Henry Shelley.

Related Topics:
1472 - July 18 - 1524 - 1492 - October 5 - 1557 - Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire

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Henry became father to a younger Henry Shelley. This younger Henry had at least three sons. The youngest of them Richard Shelley was later married to Joan Fuste, daughter of John Fuste from Ichingfield. Their grandson John Shelley of Fen Place was married himself to Helen Bysshe, daughter of Roger Bysshe. Their son Timothy Shelley of Fen Place (born c. 1700) married widow Johanna Plum from New York City. Timothy and Johanna were the great-grandparents of Percy.

Related Topics:
Fen - 1700 - Widow - New York City

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Family

Percy was born to Sir Timothy Shelley (September 7, 1753 – April 24, 1844) and his wife Elizabeth Pilfold following their marriage in October, 1791. His father was son and heir to Sir Bysshe Shelley, 1st Baronet of Castle Goring (June 21, 1731 – January 6, 1815) by his wife Mary Catherine Michell (d. November 7, 1760). His mother was daughter of Charles Pilfold of Effingham. Through his paternal grandmother Percy was great-grandson to Reverend Theobald Michell of Horsham.

Related Topics:
September 7 - 1753 - April 24 - 1844 - October - 1791 - Baronet - Castle - Goring - June 21 - 1731 - January 6 - 1815 - November 7 - 1760 - Effingham - Reverend - Horsham

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He was the eldest of six children. His younger siblings included:

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• John Shelley of Avington House (March 15, 1806 – November 11, 1866. He was married on March 24, 1827 to Elizabeth Bowen (d. November 28, 1889).
• Mary Shelley.
• Elizabeth Shelley (d. 1831).
• Hellen Shelley (d. May 10, 1885).
• Margaret Shelley (d. July 9, 1887).

Descendants

Three children survived Shelley: Ianthe and Charles, his daughter and son by Harriet; and Percy Florence, his son by Mary. Charles died of tuberculosis in 1826. Percy Florence, who eventually inherited the baronetcy in 1844, died without children. The only lineal descendants of the poet are therefore the children of Ianthe.

Related Topics:
Tuberculosis - 1826 - 1844

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Ianthe Eliza Shelley was married in 1837 to Edward Jeffries Esdaile. The marriage resulted in the birth of two sons and a daughter. Ianthe died in 1876.

Related Topics:
1837 - 1876

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