On page 130 of The last days of Richard III and the fate of his DNA, John Ashdown-Hill described John Talbot of Lacock, father of one of the many Barbaras in Richard’s mtDNA, as “John Talbot belonged to a cadet line of the descendants of the great John Talbot”, but there is no table to illustrate this precise point. This Ashdown-Hill article, however, includes the full line on page 12.

We can now observe:
1) That Barbara, later Viscountess Longueville, is indeed descended from the first Earl of Shrewsbury, “Old Talbot”, whose daughter Lady Eleanor was Richard’s sister-in-law.
2) Sir Gilbert Talbot II, whose father was among Barbara’s ancestors, married Anne Paston, who ought to share Lady Eleanor’s mtDNA and had three daughters by her.
3) Barbara’s great-great-great-nephew was William Henry Fox Talbot, the photography pioneer.

Sir Gilbert I, grandson of “Old Talbot” was the progenitor of an interesting cadet line. The portrait is from John’s website


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  1. […] for their descent, before that came another John Talbot who died in 1549, then prior to him, Sir Gilbert Talbot, who had supported Henry Tudor at Bosworth, commanding the right wing. Gilbert got the lands at […]

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