List of British people with German ancestry

This is a list of notable British people with German ancestry.

Academia

• Edgar Feuchtwanger, historian and author
• Timothy Reuter, historian of medieval Europe whose father was born in Germany.^[1]
• John Stein, professor of physiology and fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. Brother of the chef Rick Stein.
• J. R. R. Tolkien, writer, poet, philologist, linguist and Professor of Anglo-Saxon. His family had German roots but had been living in England since the 18th century. The name 'Tolkien' derives from the German 'tollkühn', meaning 'foolhardy'.

Aristocracy and royalty

• The Astor family, originally from Walldorf but gained prominence in both America and England. The English branch holds two hereditary peerages: Viscount Astor and Baron Astor.
• The British Royal Family, who belong to the House of Windsor (a branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). George V of the United Kingdom changed the name of his branch from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Windsor in 1917. Through Queen Victoria, the current royal family are also descended from the House of Hanover (see entry below).
  • Queen Mary of Teck, consort of George V. Born in Kensington Palace, London, she was a member of the House of Württemberg (through her father Francis, Duke of Teck) and also a descendant of the House of Hanover (through her mother Prince Mary Adelaide of Cambridge).
  • Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, member of the British Royal Family by marriage (consort of Elizabeth II), and member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg by birth.
• John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton - referred to simply as Lord Acton - Catholic historian, politician and writer, whose mother was a scion of the noble German Dalberg family.
• Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton (later Hereditary Princess of Monaco), whose mother was a member of the House of Baden.
• Natalia Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster, wife of Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, and great-granddaughter of Julius Wernher.
• The House of Hanover, a German royal dynasty who produced seven British monarchs: George I, George II, George III, George IV, William IV and Victoria.
• Harold Augustus Wernher, 3rd Baronet, peer, grandfather of the above Natalia Grosvenor (née Phillips) and son of Julius Wernher.

Art

• Walter Sickert, German-born painter of Danish-German, English and Irish descent (son of the painter Oswald Sickert).

Commerce

• Ernest Cassel, a German-born merchant banker of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.^[2]
• Tiny Rowland, originally Roland Walter Fuhrhop, Rhodesian-British chairman of the Lonrho conglomerate from 1962 to 1994.

Entertainment

• Simon Callow, actor of English, Danish, German and French descent.
• Julian Clary, comedian with a great-grandfather (on his father's side) and a great-grandmother (on his mother's side) who were born in Germany.^[3]
• Ernest Cossart, actor born as Emil von Holst. Brother of the composer Gustav Holst and consequently of German, Swedish, British, Latvian and Spanish descent.
• Rupert Everett, actor whose great-great-grandmother, Augusta Clara de Schmiedern, was a scion of the aristocratic Schmiedern family (Barons von Schmeidern).
• Richard E. Grant, actor of Dutch-Afrikaner, Hungarian and half-German descent.^[4][5]
• Jenny Hanley, actress of English descent through her father, Jimmy Hanley, and Russian-Jewish and German descent through her mother Dinah Sheridan.
• Tom Hiddleston, actor of English, Scottish, Irish and German descent. His mother's surname is Servaes, whose family were originally from Düsseldorf.^[6]
• Derek Jacobi, actor and film director, whose great-grandfather, William Jacobi^[7] emigrated from Germany to England during the 19th century.^[8]
• Jodhi May, actress of French-Turkish Jewish and German descent.
• Robert Morley, actor whose mother, Gertrude Emily (née Fass), came from a German family that had emigrated to South Africa.
• Carol Reed, film director and illegitimate son of Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
• Oliver Reed, actor who had Dutch, Lithuanian and German ancestry through his grandfather Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
• Enn Reitel, actor and impressionist. Reitel's family arrived as refugees from Estonia and Germany.
• Sean Pertwee, actor. Son of actor John Pertwee and his German wife, Ingeborg (née Rhoesa).
• Dinah Sheridan, actress of Russian-Jewish and German descent.
• Mark Sheppard, actor and musician, born in London of an Irish and German background.
• Claire Stansfield, actress, director, fashion designer and model of half-English and half-German descent.
• Herbert Beerbohm Tree, actor and theatre manager who was born as Herbert Draper Beerbohm, the son of Julius Beerbohm. His father was of Dutch, Lithuanian and German origin.
  • Iris Tree, actress, poet and artists' model. Daughter of Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
  • Viola Tree, actress and daughter of Herbert Beerbohm Tree.
• Peter Ustinov, actor, writer and dramatist of Russian, German, Polish-Jewish and Ethiopian noble descent.
• Gordon Warnecke, actor of Indo-Guyanese and German descent.

Food

• Rick Stein, chef, restaurateur and television presenter whose father, Eric Stein, was of German descent (an ancestor, Julius Otto Stein, emigrated from Germany during the 19th century).^[9]

Literature

• Max Beerbohm, essayist, novelist and caricaturist who was of German descent by virtue of his relationship to Herbert Beerbohm Tree, his half-brother. Their father was Julius Beerbohm.
• Robert Graves (full name Robert von Ranke Graves), poet, novelist and scholar, whose German mother was a great-niece of the historian Leopold von Ranke.
• Rupert Hart-Davis, man of letters, publisher and editor. Great-great-great grandson of King William IV and, in turn, the German House of Hanover (and other prominent German dynasties).
  • Adam Hart-Davis, historian, photographer, television presenter and scientist, son of Rupert Hart-Davis.
  • Duff Hart-Davis, biographer and journalist, son of Rupert Hart-Davis.
• Frieda Hughes, poet and painter. Daughter of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, Sylvia's father, Otto Plath, was German while her mother, Aurelia Plath, was of Austrian descent.
• Patrick O'Brian (born Richard Patrick Russ), novelist and translator, the son of a physician of German descent.
• J. R. R. Tolkien, writer, poet, philologist, linguist and Professor of Anglo-Saxon. (also see above entry in 'Academia')

Music

• Antony Beaumont, musicologist, writer, composer and conductor. Born in London of Anglo-German and Greek-Romanian heritage.
• David Bedford, composer and musician. Brother of Steuart Bedford (below) and grandson of Liza Lehmann.
• Steuart Bedford, conductor and pianist. Brother of the above David Bedford and grandson of Liza Lehmann.
• Frederick Delius, composer born as Fritz Theodore Albert Delius in Bradford, Yorkshire to German parents.
• Gustav Holst, composer of British, Swedish, Spanish, Latvian and German descent.
• Bert Jansch, folk musician and descendant of a family originally from Hamburg, who had settled in Scotland during the Victorian era.

News and journalism

• Rachel Johnson, editor, journalist, television presenter and writer. Sister of Boris and Jo Johnson, and descendant of the House of Württemberg through an illegitimate line.
• Laura Kuenssberg, journalist and granddaughter of Ekkehard von Kuenssberg.

Politics and government

• Andrew Brons, BNP politician and Member of European Parliament, whose great-grandfather was German.^[10]
• David Cameron, Conservative Party politician and current Prime Minister, who is descended from the German House of Hanover through an illegitimate line.
• Eyre Crowe, former diplomat whose mother, Asta von Barby, was a German noblewoman.
• Natascha Engel, German-born Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament (half-German and half-English descent).
• Nigel Farage, UKIP politician, whose great-grandfather Charles Justus Schrod (born Carl Julius Schrod), a clerk in the General Post Office,^[11] was born to German parents.^[12][13]
• Boris Johnson, Conservative Party politician and current Mayor of London who is descended from the royal German House of Württemberg (and the House of Hanover) through his German great-great-great grandmother Karolina von Rothenburg (born to Prince Paul of Württemberg and his mistress Frederike Porth).^[13]
• Jo Johnson, Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament. Brother of Boris and Rachel Johnson, and descendant of the House of Württemberg through an illegitimate line.
• Joseph Jonas, former Mayor of Sheffield and Imperial German Consul to the city.^[14]
• William Joyce
• Angus Robertson, SNP politician and Member of Parliament. Born to a Scottish father and German mother.
• Gisela Stuart (born Gisela Gschaider), Labour Party politician and Member of Parliament.

Science

• John Herschel, English mathematician, astronomer, chemist and inventor. Son of William Herschel, the Hanoverian-born astronomer who emigrated to Great Britain at the age of nineteen.
• William Herschel, 2nd Baronet, forensic scientist. Son of the above John Herschel and grandson of William Herschel.
• Frederick Lindemann, scientific adviser and physicist. Son of Adolph Friedrich Lindemann, a German-born engineer.

Sport

• Geoff Hurst, former English international footballer. His mother, Evelyn Blick, was from Gloucestershire but her family originally came from Germany.^[15]
• Glen Roeder, former English Club footballer Coach.
• Nicky Butt, former English international footballer.

See also

• British people
• German migration to the United Kingdom
• German people

References