The Shelley Family Tree

Carol Hayton considers Shelley’s lineage today.

We often receive questions and views on Shelley from those who engage with our website and social media and we are always pleased to hear from those interested in Shelley's life and work.  This year, we received a surprising amount of communication from people who can trace their family line back to Shelley. It's really good to hear from people who are connected to the Shelley family and are interested in engaging with their heritage. 

The surname Shelley is  well established in Sussex and across the South of England . Shelley's own  family was also very well-established, with clear connections to the county which stretch back to before the 15th century. Not all those with the family name Shelley will be  related to the poet, but there are, of course,  some who have  a branch of their family tree that connects directly to Shelley's.  

Shelley  himself was survived by only two of his six children: Ianthe, his daughter from his marriage to Harriet Westbrook,  and  Percy Florence,  his son from his marriage to Mary.    

In her publication, Shelley; His links with Horsham and Warnham,  produced by The Horsham Society in 1983, local historian Audrey Robinson reproduces a family tree drafted by Elizabeth Warmington, Shelley's  great - great grand-daughter,  at about the same time. This traces a line through to those who are described as ' Living Descendants of  Shelley from his First Marriage'. Ianthe married Edward Esdaile and had six children, the line of descendants from this marriage is not complete in this drawing,  but identifies at least six living descendants via selected branches. Shelley's son, Percy Florence Shelley,  married Jane st John. They had one child by adoption. Audrey Robinson shows no issue from the marriage and no further descendants. . Stephen Hebron and Elizabeth C Denlinger, however,  in their book Shelley's Ghost published by the Bodleian library, include a more extensive line from this branch of the family tree, which includes the descendants from Florence's adopted daughter Bessie. This also details the line that descends from Shelley's younger brother John. However,  this line does not  extend  as far as any living descendants; it does, though include Shelley's great-nephew , Percy Bysshe Shelley, 7th Baronet of Castle Goring, who was born in 1872 . 

We recommend both publications to any one who who has a connection to the Shelley family or anyone one who is  simply interested in the Shelley's lineage.