Hi
I have printed the content word for word of a statement I received 19/12/2007.
This will be in 3 parts.
STATEMENT OF JEAN DESTANNE DE BERNIS
The ancestry of Peter Greville Ascroft was attested by Captain Guy Elliot Harcourt of Ankerwycke in a sworn deposition in 1926. The deposition was transcribed by Mrs Cecil Bussell and given to her niece Mrs Joan Sutherland, later Joan, Lady Carlton de Wiart, daughter of George McKechnie and Muriel Joan McKetchnie, formally Greville, daughter of Captain Brooke Southwell Greville of Pietermaritzburg, Natal, who married 1879, Pricilla Clough,b.1855 in Wynberg, South Africa, daughter of Edward Buerdsill (Buerdsail) Clough.
Captain Harcourt stated that Peter Greville Ascroft, who was born at his house at Longfield Farm, Ankerwycke, on the 27th June 1916 was his cousin. He stated that Peter Grevillle Ascroft was the son of his cousin, Charles Walmer Harcourt Ascroft, b. 11 May 1894, who was the son of Otto Simon Henry Harcourt, b.1849, who was the son of George Simon Harcourt of Ankerwycke, b.1807.
Otto Simon Henry Harcourt married at Wynberg, Cape Colony, on 5 June 1892, Muriel Ascroft, b. 1856, only daughter of James Ascroft, b. 1834 in Philadelphia (son of Hugh Ascroft or Ashcroft), of Philadelphia, by his wife Charlotte Ascroft, formerly Jennings, or Jennens, daughter of James Jennings of Magliesburg, son of James Jennings or jennens of Magliesburg who was b. 1816 at Londonbridge, Deverill, Wiltshire.
Hugh Ashcraft, or Ashcroft, or Ascroft, great nephew of John Thomas Ashcroft of Bird-in-the-Hand Court, London, by a Miss Tongue, had emigrated from Liverpool to Cape Colony, with his cousin, Loisa Ann Ashcraft (or Ashcroft or Ascroft) in 1828. Hugh Ashcroft (or Ascroft) then emigrated to America and landed in Philadelphia Pa. in 1832. His cousin, Louisa Ann Ashcroft (or Ascroft), b. 1799, remained in South Africa and m. at Wynberg July 4, 1830, ( diary entry of John Pears says 2 June 1830), John Pears, b Duns, Scotland in 1790, who landed at Cape Town, 3 March, 1829, Minister of Glen Lynden and had a daughter, Ann Christian Pears, b. 1831, who m. 1855, Alfred Everitt Murrey and had a son John Pears Murrey, b. 1866 in East London, South Africa, the grandson of Loisa Ann Ashcraft ( Ashcroft on marriage certificate), and cousin to James Ascoft, who emigrated from Philadelphia to South Africa in 1853.
In 1893, James Ascroft (grandson of John Thomas Ashcraft of London), father of Muriel Harcourt died. In October 1895 James Jennings (or Jennens) died. Her husband Otto Harcourt then assumed by sign manual, the name Ascroft, in order to inherit (under the terms of his father-in-Law's will), a shareholding in the Blaauwbank mine. The witness to the sign manual of Otto Harcourt wae the executor of James Ascroft's estate Gordon Symons of Johannesburg ( who late married Otto Harcourts sister, Agnes Matilda, dau. of George Simon Harcourt of Ankerwycke, at Wynberg, on April 7 1896.
Otto Ascroft, formally Harcourt, and his wife Mrs Muriel Ascroft, formally Harcourt (born Ascroft), had one son, baptized Charles Walmer Harcourt Ascroft, on 30 December, 1895 at Walmer, South Africa.
On 30 May 1912, at Pietermaritzbuurg, Charles Walmer Harcourt Ascroft, South African Mounted Police, m. Cecil Violet Enid Greville, b. 2 June 1896, youngest daughter of Captain Brooke Greville. Cecil Greville had been attending Wilmot's Select School for ladies in Wynberg when she met and was seduced (in the words of Captain Harcourts deposition 'ruined'), by Charles Ascroft and married him. Initially, her father captain Greville repudiated the marriage on the grounds that he had not, as required by law, given his consent; and on the grounds that his daughter, being only fifteen years old, could not contract a legal marriage.
Charles Ascroft's mother, Mrs Muriel Ascroft, formally Harcourt, then aquainted Captain Greville with the ancestry of her son and of his expectations from the Ankerwycke Estate. She then offered to settle on her son a substantial interest in the Blaauwbank gold mine. It appears that Captain Greville, satisfied that his son-in-law was of noble family and had prospects, then relented.
It is not known how, but in 1913, Charles Ascroft had been, in the words of Captain Harcourt's deposition, 'swindled' out of his share of the Blaauwbank Gold mine by his solicitor, and he was ruined. Captain Brooke Greville paid his son-in-laws debts and in 1913, Charles and Cecil Ascroft travelled to England, seeking help from his cousin Captain Guy Harcouurt. Captain Harcourt offered his cousins Longfield Farm at a peppercorn rent and they lived there until Peter Greville Ascroft was born in 1916.In thw words of Captain Harcourt, it was an 'abusive marriage', resulting in a terrible scene at Longfield in 1919, in which Cecil Greville's brother, Major Brooke Greville 'thrashed' Charles Ascroft, who then abandoned his wife and child and whom nothing more is known.
Signed: Jean Destanne de Bernis
Dated: 4th day of November 2007