| Previous Next MASKELYNE DYNASTY My main focus is the wartime career of Jasper Maskelyne. However, some of the information gleaned about other members of the Maskelyne family is worth recording, particularly the dubious Astronomer Royal connection, the rivalry between Jasper and his brothers and the recurrent financial problems. Here are some comments by Alistair Maskelyne culled from his earlier letters: "I am the first born of two children, father Jasper Maskelyne and mother Evelyn Enid Mary Maskelyne ( nee Home Douglas). The interesting thing about these facts is that neither family on both my fathers and mothers side rightfully used the names under which they were married: my father had claims to the Maskelyne family estate "Basset Down", in Wiltshire. As a small boy I was taken to see the old mansion (long since burned down and given over to industrial use) which both my father and my mother were convinced was theirs by right. On my mothers side, the name of Home Douglas was assumed by her father, whose family name was Klopp, just prior to the outbreak of the first world war. Done for obvious reasons. He was a successful civil engineer in Edwardian England , and did not wish to have racial prejudice added to his other problems: an expensive mistress in London and a large legitimate family in the country. Contrary to the textbook accounts of conjuring history, Alistair points out that his famous great-grandfather John Nevil Maskelyne was not strictly descended from the Maskelyne lineage! This tends to undercut the legend promulgated in White Magic and the opening chapter of The War Magician, that the Maskelyne family would only possess special powers for ten generations and that Jasper Maskelyne , alas, was the tenth generation. | |
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