|
This page
looks at some famous Duftons that have appeared in history, and
other Duftons worthy of recognition.
|
|
A Dufton coat of arms
provided by Robert Dufton of Milwaukee.
However, research
suggests that many Duftons would have felt extremely fortunate to actually
possess any kind of coat at all, especially one with arms or sleeves. |
|
Land and a coat of arms
were granted to Christopher Dufton after the battle of Bramham Moor
in 1408 by King Henry 1V.
William Dufton was
killed on 2nd February 1461 at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross,
during the War of the Roses. |
William Dufton born 1823 became a champion billiard player.
In 1856 he travelled to London from Northampton, and for a
wager of £1000 challenged the world champion Edward Green
to a match. William won. He became tutor to many of the nobility,
including the Prince of Wales, the future King of England.
Prince Albert was renown for his high living and involvement
in various scandals and divorces. William Dufton died
in 1877, he was found mysteriously poisoned in a tavern in
Brixton. |
| |
|
|
Mount Pleasant
at Sandy Bay on St Helena, the home of Sir William Doveton,
one of William Dufton of St Helena's descendants, He
was treasurer for the East India Company on its trade
routes. Sir William entertained Napoleon, his neighbour,
who was imprisoned there following the Battle of Waterloo.
It is recorded that the last person Napoleon visited
before he died was Sir William. The well recorded occasion
being a picnic for Napoleon at the home of Sir William
on the 4th October 1820, after which time illness overcame
him... It is suggested that Napoleon died of arsenic
poisoning. |
|
| |
Rider Haggard the author of
King Solomon's mines, and other adventure novels, was a
member of the St Helena's Dufton family. He was born
in 1856 in Norfolk, his mother was Ella Doveton. |
| |
 |
Sir
Frederick Doveton Sturdee, became Admiral of the Fleet in
1921. He also was a member of the St Helena Dufton family.
At the outbreak of the war he was placed in charge of Britain's
naval forces in the South Atlantic. He defeated the German
admiral Graf von Spee near the Falkland Islands on 8th
December 1914. He commanded the Fourth Battle squadron at
the Battle of Jutland in 1916. |
| |
Richard
Dufton was born in 1912 at Helton, Westmorland. 
He joined the Royal Navy but was blinded during an air raid.
He then worked as a designer, and was responsible for the
serviceable version of the Biro, developing the ball point
pen that we take for granted today. The original concept of
Lazlo Biro were rather unreliable and cumbersome. |
| |
| William
Dufton was born at Brigham, Cumberland in 1806. He was a surgeon
at Birmingham, and established the Institute for relief of
deafness there. William was the chief consultant in the midlands
for deafness. He was the author of the Nature and Treatment
of Deafness. |
| |
|
Jacki Lynn Dufton was born in London on the 3rd September
1928, she was to become a child star in several Hollywood
films. In 1932 she played the orphan child in the
classic Laurel and Hardy film, Pack up your Troubles.
Click the image of Laurel and Hardy to see a short excerpt
from the film Pack up your Troubles.
|
| |
|
 Dufton
Scott, Dufton was born at Forgue, Scotland in 1880.
He became a radio entertainer and was renown for his humorous
monologues. |
| |
John
Boste was born at Dufton in 1530 to a local family. He was
to become Saint John Boste of Dufton, one of the Forty Martyrs
of England and Wales. He was accused of treason for
being a catholic priest and was sent to the Tower of London
where he was crippled by being tortured on the rack. He was
then sent to Durham where on the 24 July 1594 he was
hanged, drawn and quartered.
Although not a Dufton, it is of interest. |
|
Captain Frank Dufton was the skipper of the freighter Hopestar,
which in November 1948 was lost off the coast of Newfoundland in
heavy weather. Captain Dufton and the crew of 40 men all perished. |
|
 Chris
Dufton, who over Easter 2007 was the reigning champion of the
television programme Countdown.
A most impressive achievement.
And, he managed to tell the whole nation about Dufton Family
History. Well done Chris. |
|
 Alan Hastings Dufton
was born in Liverpool, he moved to the USA in 1950 where he rode and
trained horses for many years. He became the leading amateur
steeplechase Jockey in the USA in 1961, and rode 'Ernie' an American
owned, British trained horse in the 1962 Grand National, finishing
9th. |
|
Ernest Hastings Dufton,
son of Alan Dufton, a distinguished jockey in the north eastern
states of the USA. He rode competitively for over 12 years. |
|
Major Leslie Bland
Dufton, born in Liverpool, moved to Texas where he owned a cotton
company. He was the British Vice Consul and then Consul of
Texas until his death in 1950. |
|
 Rose
Dufton celebrates her
100th birthday.
Rose was born Wilhelmina Euphemina Williams in Jamaica. Her
parents died when Rose was very young, and she was sent to Hong Kong
to live with relatives. She met and married Herbet Dufton who
was stationed there in the army. They married on a Saturday in
1941, on the Monday the Japanese invaded the island. Herbet
was taken prisoner and Rose was interned. During these cruel
times Rose lived on starvation rations of one bowl of rice a day,
but even so she adopted Ruby an
orphan Chinese girl. Rose was shot by a Japanese guard, the
bullet went under her arm, smashed through one of her ribs and
lodged in her abdomen. There were no doctors or medical
supplies, Rose's life was saved by a Chinese lady who applied herbs
to the wound which healed it. After the war Rose and Herbert return
to settle in his native Durham. The couple adopted another girl
Sandra. Rose and Herbet have three
grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Herbet died
in 1985. |
|
 Doveton
House in Madras, built in 1790. The house was named after John
Doveton who had joined the Madras cavalry in 1783, he died at
Doveton House in 1847. John had served with distinction in the
historic campaign against the forces of Hyder Ali of Mysore, and his
French and Dutch allies. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant General
Sir John Doveton GCB. On his death he bequeathed the house to a
Brahmin family whose descendants assumed the name Doveton in
addition to their Hindu titles. |
|
 Henry
Dufton, traveller and writer. In 1862-3 Henry travelled alone
and on a donkey from Cairo through the Nubian desert to Khartoum.
He describes his travels through the Sudan in his narrative.
In 1867 he joined the Intelligence Department of the British Army.
During the Anglo-Abyssinia war he was involved in supervising the
building of roads in Abyssinia. In June 1868 he was brutally
murdered by Shosho native bandits. Henry Dufton was mentioned
in the House of Commons on the 26 November 1867 when the Abyssinian
Expedition was being discussed. |
HMS Dufton
was a 365 ton minesweeper, she was launched in 1954, and was
broken up in  1977.
I went on board HMS Dufton in Gibraltar in about 1974, when
the submarine I was serving on, HMS Courageous, tied up along
side her. Sadly, I did not have a camera.
|
Dufton family history
and genealogy website
|
