Considering that practically every medieval male ancestor of name was a knight, baron, earl, prince, or king, it was inevitable that they'd be military-minded. Below are a few representatives of hundreds of warrior ancestors!
Also, I've included a few more-recent pictures of direct ancestors. Their captions explain their names and roles in making history.
Andrew Anson, 1913-1999, my maternal grandfather. US Navy, WW II, Pacific theater.
Leonard Robinson, 1886-1975, paternal grandfather, US Army, WW I in France.
George Washington Stewart Anson, maternal great-great-grandfather, 1830-1891, Union Army, United States Civil War.
Colonel Augustine Moore, Sr., 7x grandfather, ~1685-1743. Born Yorkshire, died Chelsea Plantation, Virginia.
My 9x-grandfather, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Spottswood, 1676-1740, royally-appointed Governor of Virginia 1710-1722. Spotsylvania County is named after this man. He commissioned the capture and execution of Blackbeard the Pirate, Edward Teach. His father, Dr. Robert Spottswood, was the surgeon to the British military post in Tangiers; his grandfather Sir Robert Spottswood, a royalist, was executed by Parliamentarians after his capture at the Battle of Philipaugh in England's Civil War; and his great-grandfather John Spottiswoode was the Archbishop of Scotland.
 |
| Photo by Christy K. Robinson |
Catherine Mortimer, Countess, and her husband Thomas Beauchamp, 1314-1369, 3rd Earl of Warwick, Knight of the Garter. Thomas died at Calais of either typhoid fever, or from being poisoned by Humphrey de Bohun VII (not my ancestor--probably an uncle or cousin).
 |
| Photo by Christy K. Robinson |
William Longespee "Longsword," 1176-1226. Earl of Salisbury, illegitimate son of Henry II, Duke of Anjou and Normandy, and King of England, and Ida de Tosny (mistress of Henry II, later wife of Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk). William Longespee's ancestor through great-grandmother Sybil de Chaworth and his father King Henry II, was William I "Longespee" of Normandy, 2nd Duke of Normandy, ~900-942. William's tomb is at Salisbury Cathedral in the center aisle of the nave.
 |
| Photo by Christy K. Robinson |
Humphrey de Bohun (VIII of that name), Earl of Hereford and Essex, 1276-1322. "[The 4th Earl of] Hereford led the fight on the bridge [Boroughbridge], but he and his men were caught in the arrow fire. Then one of de Harclay's pikemen, concealed beneath the bridge, thrust upwards between the planks and skewered the Earl of Hereford through the anus, twisting the head of the iron pike into his intestines. His dying screams turned the advance into a panic."
Humphrey de Bohun's effigy (and probably remains) are at Exeter Cathedral in the South Choir aisle.
 |
| Photo by Christy K. Robinson |
Margaret Peverel and husband Robert de Ferrers, 2nd Earl of Derby, 1100~1159. He founded Merevale Abbey in Warwickshire during the civil war between Empress Matilda and King Stephen. The effigies are in the gatehouse chapel of that abbey.
