Children given landlords name as middle name

[JGSnoopy]

Hi, I'm looking for help deciphering why three children would be given the middle name of their landlord.

Richard Irwin Packington (1816-1873), John Irwin Packington (1819-1894) and William Henry Irwin Packington (1821-1860), were all given the middle name Irwin.  This is not the mother's maiden name (Buckingham) or the grandmothers maiden name, but is the surname of their landlord.  There is a newspaper report from 1826 (attached), which shows Mr Irwin was clearly close to the family, and his will, also attached, mentions the family by name and gives them a hefty inheritance.  The Irwin middle name has passed through the generations through to today.

Am I being cynical in thinking that Mr Irwin could be the biological father of the children?

[Milliepede]

If she was a married lady then I would say it was just a token of respect to add his name in there, maybe he was unmarried and had no children himself?

[JGSnoopy]

Hi,

The mother was Charlotte Buckingham from Eynsham, born 1778. She married William Stammers in 1803, and he died in 1809.  In 1812 she married John Packington (1783-1849), so at the time of the kids being born, and the help my Irwin gave them with the "ghost", John Packington was alive and very much on the scene.

[YorkshireBorn]

I don’t think you would ever be able to know for sure unless you had a DNA connection to the family of Mr Irwin.

[Stanwix England]

I agree with others who suggest it could be a mark of respect. I know some of my relatives were given Doctors surnames as middle names a mark of respect, for example.

There is perhaps a hint of a relationship, not necessarily a romantic one, between the two families. Did Mr Irwin always intend to convert his coaching house into a residence and then just happen to let it to the Beckingtons - or did he do it because he intended to let it to the Beckingtons? Perhaps the Beckington family had in some way served his family in the past? It isn't unusual for richer people to make provisions for people who had served them in some way.