John Locke family quest

E-mail received from Graham Stephenson, 10th October, 2005

Good morning from Australia,

My name is Graham Stephenson and I live on the Gold Coast in Sunny Queensland - Australia.

My mother's name was Gwendolyn Claire Locke, and she passed all of the Locke family history/photographs/oil paintings on to me, I am the keeper for my generation and my children's generation of her side of the Locke history.

I have compiled most of it now on "Family Tree Maker", with the help of a distant cousin (Sumner Locke Elliot).

I have visited Edinburgh and located the grave of Peter Locke who was born 16 January 1761 in Burdiehouse, and died 24 March 1839 in Edinburgh (buried in St Cuthbert's, along with his wife Margaret Landell) and eight of their 10 children. They were married 30th July 1786 in Edinburgh.

Amongst the items which have been handed down from generation to generation, and are now in my hands, are various paintings, sketches and photographs, but what really had me stumped was a copy of person just named "Locke".

On dis-assembling the old frame, I noted that it had a tiny inscription hidden from view which said "Engraved by J Posselwhite from the original picture by Sir G Knetlerin in the Hall of Christ Church Oxford".

I went to the website for Christ Church Oxford and much to my amazement, here was the picture, the same picture which I have, which has been handed down, and that person is the famous John Locke, born 29 August 1632.

What I need to know now is, how can I identify "the" John Locke's parents to tie it in with Peter Locke, who is buried in Edinburgh, "the" John Locke never married and did not have any children.

I would be very grateful if anyone had a good knowledge of his parents/brothers/ sisters so that I may be able make the association with my mothers ancestor, which I can then accurately trace right through to today's date.

This is all very amazing stuff, I have had a quick look at a couple of web sites, and there appears to be some confusion.

A note on John Locke by Michael Lawder seems to be at odds with the information by Lillian Millard of Wrington - I think or perhaps I have misunderstood the way it has been written.

I actually do have the records on my mothers side, back to 1664, but that was a different branch, and the name Locke does not come into the frame until a person by the name of James Locke married Agness Ochterlouy/Auchterlonie. I have no dates here whatsoever, then it was on to Peter Locke.

Any help you can give me would me much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Graham D Stephenson JP
Freelance Travel Writer & Photographer

E-Mail from Dr Andrew Woodfield, University of Bristol, 11th October, 2005

" I'm afraid I don't have any info about Locke's relatives. But one way to pursue the search would be to look in publicly available texts such as:

H.R. Fox Bourne's biography of Locke (1876),
M. Cranston's biography (1957), and
E.S. de Beer (1976) The Correspondence of John Locke."

E-mail from Graham Stephenson, 12th October, 2005

Thank you very much for your efforts here , and thank you Andrew Woodfield.

Obviously this is not a matter of life and death so to speak, just a matter of great interest - as I would not want to mislead my future generation that my mother was directly linked to John Locke (but I can't explain having this etching in my possession). Incidentally, I did not mention the accurate dates that I have in my records for the Locke family on my mother's side.

Peter Locke, born 16 January 1761 in Burdiehouse, died 24 March 1839 in Edinburgh. Married Margaret Landell Born 18 march 1767 in Whitecross, Berwickshire, died 21 December 1850 in Edinburgh.

My sister and I found it rather emotional to stand in front of the grave in St Cuthbert's in Edinburgh where they are both buried (along with 8 of their 10 children). Without them we would not have existed!

As a Freelance Travel Writer, I have visited the UK many times over, the last time in May this year where my wife and I spent 9 days in the middle of England writing for Visit Britain, then 4 days in North Wales writing for Wales Tourism, then on to Northern Ireland writing for Tourism Ireland. I also write for the Queensland National Trust here in Australia - usually about the properties in the UK, funny about that.

We visited Bristol some time ago, but I have never written about it, so rest assured on our next trip ????? I will visit Wrington and defiantly do an article on it for Aussie newspapers.

Please feel free to use my name etc in your website, I would be happy to reply to any questions as requested.
Email: gramar@smartchat.net.au