The other claimant: bicycle repair man

When James William Perceval/Offley came forward in 1929 with a claim to the earldom of Egmont, an even more unlikely contender appeared, namely, Robert Pownall, a retired optician from Haydock, Lancashire. Robert Pownall claimed to be descended from Captain the Hon Philip Tufton Perceval RN, a son of the second earl of Egmont. Since he traced his descent through the female line, he was claiming a share of the estates, rather than the title.

According to Robert, his grandmother, Sarah Perceval, was a daughter of Philip Tufton Perceval and his wife, Irish actress Catherine Hennessy. Sarah married farmer James Pownall in 1816 at the Chapelry of Hale, Lancashire. Sarah and James had a son William who became a shoemaker and was the father of Robert.

Robert, who was born in 1857, appears on the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses living with his parents in Prescot. By 1871 he is working in the local industry, watchmaking. On the 1891 census he is living with his wife Sarah in Westfield Street, St Helens, and has a daughter Edith and a son Percy. Ten years on the family is living on the same street, and have two more sons, Joseph William and Robert. But then life changes for Robert senior. On the 1911 census he is still living in Westfield Street, but is lodging with Mary Ann Norbury and her children, and described as a cycle repairer. His wife, meanwhile, has petitioned for divorce and been awarded 12s 6d weekly alimony. He may have been rather more than a lodger; when Mary Ann died in 1966 she was called Mary Ann Pownall. (The terms lodger and housekeeper on the census sometimes disguised the fact that two unmarried people were living as partners.)

The Niagara Falls Gazette of 7 August 1930 takes up the story, after describing how Canadian rancher Frederick Perceval had won the right to the earldom of Egmont:

“But… things must come before Mr Justice Eve, because there was another claimant, not to the earldom, but to the estates. In the courtroom for the first time the new earl saw the man who denied his rights to the rich estates. He was Robert Pownall of Lancashire, an old, white-haired man of 74, who had once been an optician and was now a poor man, drawing an old-age pension from the state. No lawyer had taken his case. He appeared for himself.

Lawyers for the other side said the Egmont title was an Irish one created in 1733. It was accepted on all sides that, when the ninth earl died in January, 1929, the whole of the male line on that side of the family came to an end. One of the younger sons of the second earl – Spencer Perceval – became prime minister of England. The rancher, Frederick Perceval, was a direct descendant from the man who had been premier and had been held to be the rightful holder of the title and estates.

Then old Pownall got up to present his case. He said he did not claim the earldom, because he could not inherit through the female side of the family. But he did claim that there was really no Earl of Egmont now and that the estates should come to him.

“The first Earl of Egmont, said he, had one son and two daughters. In 1736 that son married Lady Catherine Cecil…. Of this marriage there was born a son, Philip Tufton Perceval, in 1740, and from him I claim descent. For some reason, when he grew up, he was turned out of his home. He went into the navy and at the age of 22 he had command of the greatest warship of the age.

“He died in 1795, still in the service and entitled to be the heir. In 1790 he had married Catherine Hennessy, a poor and pretty comedienne. His wife signed the marriage certificate with a cross, evidently being unable to write her name. That woman was my great-grandmother.

“My father was a poor shoemaker. Sixty-six years ago he gave me this book which I hold here, an old and much-stained life of the Right Honorable Spencer Perceval, prime minister of England. My father said to me: ‘Robert, always keep this book. When you grow up look up the family history. There are great titles and estates to which we have the rightful claim. This Spencer Perceval was my grandfather’s brother. In 1800, when my mother was only seven, two grand ladies in a coach and four came to her humble lodgings where she lived with her mother, who had been the actress. They said they were the sisters of the prime minister and my grand-father. They wanted to see their brother’s widow and daughter. They offered to take the daughter – my mother – bring her up in accordance with her rightful station and ultimately leave their property to her. But they offered nothing to my poor grandmother. The latter refused to part with her child. She said while her husband, the distinguished naval officer, was alive they refused to recognize him because he married beneath him. Now they could not have his child.’ “

The judge said that Pownall had sought to establish a great many things which could only be established by what he himself said. There was not sufficient evidence to prove whether his claims were true or not, but in any case they were barred by statute. Decision was, therefore, given for the rancher earl.”

Was there any truth in Robert’s story? Philip Tufnell Perceval certainly did marry Catherine Hennessy (in St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden, London, 15 May 1790). Robert Pownall’s grandmother certainly was called Sarah Percivall. But I have been unable to find anything to link Sarah Percivall with Philip and Catherine Perceval. I am sceptical about the story because Sarah Percivall signed her marriage certificate with a cross and I find it hard to believe that the daughter of a naval officer would be unable to sign her own name. But presumably any descendants of Robert Pownall could compare their DNA with that of Perceval descendants and see if they were related.