Having lost both my mother and father as a child, I became inquisitive about my family background sometime during the 70s. My older siblings had very little information and what little they did have proved to be influenced by their childhood imagination. Armed with only my birth certificate I set off to St Catherine's House London, where I found that John had been born in Cullompton. The census returns revealed that he was a Surgeon/Dentist by profession with a practice in Bath and had twelve children.

From there I was able to discover that his father Thomas, and mother Martha (nee Mills) owned Week Farm, some two miles north of Cullompton. Subsequently my search led me to my 3 x great grandfather James, third surviving son of John Moore-Blackmore and Elizabeth Tozer of Moorehayes Cullompton. I then wanted to find out where the Moore connection became linked to the family. Some months later I came across the pedigree of Moore of Moorehayes dating back to the 12th century. There I found that one John Blackmore of Sheldon had married Mary Moore at Exeter Cathedral. But was I related to him? I turned my attention to the Wills in Exeter Record Office and discovered that John Moore-Blackmore was the child of John and Mary and that both the estates of Cullompton and Sheldon were connected.

The Wills and Indentures between the two families proved the connection and that my forefathers were rich landowners. Above all the names of other West Country families revealed the existence of Knights of the Realm, Bishops, Lords, Earls, Dukes and even Kings. Names appeared that I and my siblings had never heard of, names that one only read about in the school history books.

Who could dream of ever finding their grass roots among the nobility when first they set out? I know I did not. On subsequent pages on this site I aim to give details of many of the well known families that are linked to my family.

For more information about the Blackmore Family, click here.