Lewis had a son, Warwick, who in 1619 also became High Sheriff of Devon and was to marry Grace Gilbert of Babcombe. Warwick and Grace had two sons and a daughter, Thomas, Lewis and Susan. Their heir, Thomas, who is subject of the memorial, married Elizabeth daughter of Mathew Hals of Chard by whom he had two daughters Rebekah and Ann. Rebekah was baptised in St Michael's church Kingsteignton on 11th February 1670 whilst Ann was baptised on 10th March 1673, just three days before her father's death. Sadly Ann died aged only three.

Rebekah married Bishop Trelawney of Exeter who was one of seven Bishops sent to the Tower in 1688, an event recalled in the famous “Song of the Western Men” by R.S.Hawker which has become the “national anthem” of Cornwall . One of the sons of Rebekah Hele and Sir Jonathan Trelawney was Col Edward Trelawney who became Governor of Jamaica in 1738. He proved to be a most able governor and gained fame for bringing to an end the Maroon Revolt.

Today the family name is also remembered in the Kingsteignton street name Hele Road but how many people realise the connection with the name of a Kingsteignton street and the Royal family? Rebekah Hele's descendants married into the Buller family and into the Russell family, the latter were Dukes of Bedford, but perhaps her most famous descendants are Princess Diana of Wales and her sons Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry as the attached descendant chart shows.

 

Descendants of Thomas Hele

Generation No. 1

1. Thomas 2 Hele (Warwick 1 ) died 13 Mar 1673. He married Elizabeth Hals .

More About Thomas Hele:

Residence: Babcombe, Kingsteignton

Children of Thomas Hele and Elizabeth Hals are:

• + 2 i. Rebekah 3 Hele, born 1670 in Kingsteignton; died 1710.
• 3 ii. Ann Hele, born 1673 in Kingsteignton; died 1676 in Kingsteignton.

Generation No. 2

2. Rebekah 3 Hele (Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 1670 in Kingsteignton, and died 1710. She married Rt Rev Sir Jonathan Trelawny 1684, son of Jonathan and Mary Seymour. He was born 24 Mar 1650 in Pelynt, and died 19 Jul 1721 in Chelsea .

More About Rebekah Hele:

Baptism: 11 Feb 1670, Kingsteignton

Notes for Rt Rev Sir Jonathan Trelawny:

Trelawny and the other bishops were wary of James's pro Catholic leanings argued against James II's Declaration of Indulgence in 1687 and 1688, (which granted religious tolerance to Catholics) and as a result he was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London . The bishops and said that whilst they were loyal to King James II, their consciences would not agree to allowing freedom of worship to Catholics even if it were to be within the privacy of their own homes as the Declaration proposed. Trelawny was held for three weeks before trial, then tried and acquitted; this led to great celebrations, with bells being rung in his home parish of Pelynt.

Trelawny was rewarded by being appointed Bishop of Exeter after the military defeat of James II and the accession of the Protestant William of Orange to the British throne.

He has been immortalised in the Song of the Western Men by The Rev R S Hawker.

Children of Rebekah Hele and Jonathan Trelawny are:

• 4 i. Charlotte 4 Trelawny, born 1687 in Pelynt.
• 5 ii. Letitia Trelawny, born 1688 in Pelynt. She married (1) William Trelawny. She married (2) William Trelawny.
• 6 iii. John Trelawny, born 1691 in Pelynt.
• 7 iv. Henry Trelawny, born 1692 in Pelynt; died 1707 in HMS Association Isles of Scilly.

 

Notes for Henry Trelawny:

Henry Trelawny, fought in the War of the Spanish Succession, defending Barcelona in 1705. He died with Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell aboard HMS Association during the Scilly naval disaster of 1707.

• 8 v. Charles Trelawny, born 1694 in Pelynt.
• + 9 vi. Rebecka Trelawny, born 1695 in Pelynt; died 1743.
• 10 vii. Elizabeth Trelawny, born 1697 in Pelynt.
• 11 viii. Edward Trelawny, born 1699 in Pelynt; died 16 Jan 1754 in London .

Notes for Edward Trelawny:

British governor of Jamaica from April 1738 to September 1752 who ended a long-standing war between white planters and descendants of Negro ex-slaves known as Maroons.

In March 1739 he arranged a peace agreement, accepted by the English planters that guaranteed freedom and granted land to the Maroons. He was considered a firm and tactful governor and worked in unusual harmony with the colonial legislature.

Edward participated in the War of Jenkins' Ear, a war between Great Britain and Spain that began in October 1739 following an incident that took place in 1738. A Captain Robert Jenkins had appeared before a committee of the House of Commons and exhibited what he alleged to be his own amputated ear, cut off in April 1731 in the West Indies by Spanish coast guards, who had boarded his ship, pillaged it, and then set it adrift. Other Spanish outrages against British ships had already enraged public opinion in Britain before the War broke out. What started as a relatively minor skirmish quickly merged with the War of the Austrian Succession which broke out the following year.

More About Edward Trelawny:

Baptism: 09 Jul 1699, Pelynt

Occupation: Bet. Apr 1738 - Sep 1752, Governor of Jamaica

 

• 12 ix. Hele Trelawny, born 1703 in Pelynt.
• 13 x. Jonathan Trelawny, born 1705 in Pelynt.
• 14 xi. Ann Trelawny, born 1707 in Pelynt.

Generation No. 3

9. Rebecka 4 Trelawny (Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 1695 in Pelynt, and died 1743. She married John Francis Buller .

More About Rebecka Trelawny:

Baptism: 05 Jan 1695, Pelynt

Child of Rebecka Trelawny and John Buller is:

• + 15 i. Mary 5 Buller, born 1726 in Morval Cornwall; died 1787.

Generation No. 4

15. Mary 5 Buller (Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 1726 in Morval Cornwall, and died 1787. She married Lord Joseph Copley .

Child of Mary Buller and Joseph Copley is:

• + 16 i. Catherine 6 Copley, born 1760 in Bake, Cornwall ; died 13 Sep 1791.

Generation No. 5

16. Catherine 6 Copley (Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 1760 in Bake, Cornwall , and died 13 Sep 1791. She married John James Hamilton 20 Jun 1779 in St Marylebone, London , son of John Hamilton and Harriet Craggs.

Child of Catherine Copley and John Hamilton is:

• + 17 i. Sir James 7 Hamilton , born 07 Oct 1786 in Petersham Lodge Surrey; died 27 May 1814 in Upper brook St London.

Generation No. 6

17. Sir James 7 Hamilton (Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 07 Oct 1786 in Petersham Lodge Surrey, and died 27 May 1814 in Upper brook St London. He married Harriet Douglas .

Child of James Hamilton and Harriet Douglas is:

• + 18 i. 1st Duke of Abercorn James 8 Hamilton, born 21 Jan 1811 in Lanark; died 1885.

Generation No. 7

18. 1st Duke of Abercorn James 8 Hamilton (James 7 , Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 21 Jan 1811 in Lanark, and died 1885. He married Duchess of Abercorn Louisa Jane Russell 25 Oct 1832 in Dorchester . She died 31 Mar 1905.

Children of James Hamilton and Louisa Russell are:

• + 19 i. 2nd Duke of Abercorn James 9 Hamilton, born 1838; died 1913.
• 20 ii. Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton.

Generation No. 8

19. 2nd Duke of Abercorn James 9 Hamilton (James 8 , James 7 , Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 1838, and died 1913. He married Lady Mary Anna Curzon-Howe 07 Jan 1869 in St Georges Westminster. She was born 1848, and died 10 May 1929.

Child of James Hamilton and Mary Curzon-Howe is:

• + 21 i. 3rd Duke of Abercorn James Albert Edward 10 Hamilton, born 30 Nov 1869 in Hamilton Place , Piccadilly; died 12 Sep 1953 in London .

Generation No. 9

21. 3rd Duke of Abercorn James Albert Edward 10 Hamilton (James 9 , James 8 , James 7 , Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 30 Nov 1869 in Hamilton Place , Piccadilly, and died 12 Sep 1953 in London . He married Lady Rosalind Cecilia Caroline Bingham 01 Nov 1894 in Knightsbridge, daughter of Charles Bingham and Cecelia Gordon-Lennox. She was born 20 Feb 1869 in Westminster .

Child of James Hamilton and Rosalind Bingham is:

• + 22 i. Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix 11 Hamilton, born 1897 in Sandringham ; died 1972.

Generation No. 10

22. Lady Cynthia Elinor Beatrix 11 Hamilton (James Albert Edward 10 , James 9 , James 8 , James 7 , Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 1897 in Sandringham , and died 1972. She married 7th Earl Spencer Albert Edward John Spencer 1923 in Sandringham . He was born 1892 in Sandringham , and died 1975.

Child of Cynthia Hamilton and Albert Spencer is:

• + 23 i. Edward John 12 Spencer, born 21 Jan 1924 in Paddington, London ; died 29 Mar 1992 in London .

Generation No. 11

23. Edward John 12 Spencer (Cynthia Elinor Beatrix 11 Hamilton, James Albert Edward 10 , James 9 , James 8 , James 7 , Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 21 Jan 1924 in Paddington, London , and died 29 Mar 1992 in London . He married Hon Frances Ruth Roche 01 Jun 1954 in Westminster Abbey, daughter of Edmund Roche and Frances Work. She was born 20 Jan 1936, and died 03 Jun 2004.

Child of Edward Spencer and Frances Roche is:

• + 24 i. Lady Diana Frances 13 Spencer, born 24 Jan 1961 in Norfolk ; died 31 Aug 1997 in Paris .

Generation No. 12

24. Lady Diana Frances 13 Spencer (Edward John 12 , Cynthia Elinor Beatrix 11 Hamilton, James Albert Edward 10 , James 9 , James 8 , James 7 , Catherine 6 Copley, Mary 5 Buller, Rebecka 4 Trelawny, Rebekah 3 Hele, Thomas 2 , Warwick 1 ) was born 24 Jan 1961 in Norfolk, and died 31 Aug 1997 in Paris. She married Prince of Wales Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor . He was born 1948.

Children of Diana Spencer and Charles Windsor are:

• 25 i. William Arthur Philip Louis 14 Windsor, born 1983.
• 26 ii. Henry Charles Albert Windsor, born 1985.