Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-TollemacheJP (19 October 1826 – 5 October 1895) was an English priest in the Church of England. He is best known for the unusual and increasingly eccentric names that he chose for his numerous children.
Tollemache was educated at Uppingham School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating with his BA in 1850.[1] He followed his father's vocation and was ordained as a deacon in Manchester in 1849 and as a priest in Lincoln in 1850. He became rector of South Wytham in Lincolnshire in 1850 and retained that living until his death. He was also a Justice of the Peace in Lincolnshire.
He married his cousin, Caroline Tollemache (7 June 1828 – 6 June 1867), on 15 February 1853. She was the daughter of the Hon. Felix Thomas Tollemache, the second son of the same William Talmash named above and Catherine Gray.
A dispute arose with his wife's trustees in 1859. He built up debts of approximately £4,000 (equivalent to approximately £622,250 in 2023 currency) and was declared bankrupt in 1863. He was discharged from the bankruptcy on 26 June 1868, the year after his wife died.
He remarried on 22 February 1869, to Dora Cleopatra Maria Lorenza de Orellana, the daughter of Colonel Ignacio Antonio de Orellana y Revest, an officer in the Spanish army. He doubled his surname in 1876, becoming "Tollemache-Tollemache".
He died in 1895, leaving an estate with a probate value of £1,619 19s. 7d. He was survived by his second wife, who died on 8 August 1929.
Children
Tollemache is best known for the unusual names that he gave to his many children. He had at least five children from his first marriage:
Lyulph emigrated to New Zealand, where he had 17 children.
Leo Quintus Tollemache-Tollemache de Orellana Plantagenet Tollemache-Tollemache renamed himself by deed poll in 1908, becoming Leo de Orellana Tollemache-Tollemache.
Leo and his brother Leone both died in the First World War, the former in action in 1914 and the latter of influenza in 1917. It is often said that Leone holds the world record for the most multiple-barreled surname, with six, including one repeated four times (Tollemache-Tollemache-de Orellana-Plantagenet-Tollemache-Tollemache), but this overlooks his father's eccentric naming choices. Leone's last name was just Tollemache-Tollemache; all of his other names (including the first instance of "Tollemache-Tollemache" in his full name) were forenames.
The Tollemache family's names are parodied in Book 1, Episode 4 of James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake, as Helmingham Erchenwyne Rutter Egbert (HERE) Crumwall Odin Maximus Esme Saxon (COMES) Esa Vercingetorix Ethelwulf Rupprecht Ydwalla Bentley Osmund Dysart Yggdrasselmann (EVERYBODY).
K. D. Reynolds, "Tollemache, Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache- (1826–1895)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 5 October 2007
