As shown in Figure 2, “Forebears of Peggy Thorp, née de Moraville”, Peggy’s grandfather David Joseph Behrend, b 1836, married Rachel Mendes da Costa, b 1845. Their children were Maud, Hilda, Olga, and Louis; Olga was Peggy’s mother.
Figure 7 shows the forebears of this couple dating back to the 16th century. The tree is in four panels and has been severely damaged. The reason for this is that during the 2nd World War there was fear of a Nazi invasion and the tree would have shown the Jewish origins of the de Moraville family. It was thus broken into four pieces and hidden under the floorboards of Audrey’s house. The tree is now in the possession of Amanda Webb, her granddaughter.
The Behrend family is shown in the third panel with a darkened line leading back to the Mendes Da Costa origins. The furthest back appears to be Fernham (Fernao) Pinto Mendes, a famous Portuguese explorer and writer, who lived from 1510 to 1588; his granddaughter Rachel appears to have married into the Da Costa family and married Philip Lopez Da Costa. A note on the tree indicates that ” in 1605 there were settled in London members of the families of Mendes, Alvarez, Da Costa, Lopez“. According to a further note on the tree, David Da Costa lived in London in 1655 and rendered assistance in the restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660.
The following unpublished paper from the British Library indicates that Alvaro Costa came to London in the suite of Catherine da Braganza in 1662. It also mentions Alvaro’s son of the same name and his grandson Anthony, all of whom appear in the Tree in the second panel under the House of Alvaro M Da C (Mendes Da Costa). The Tree also shows Catherine Da Costa, the miniature painter, as the daughter of Jacob Alvaro Da Costa, uncle to Anthony, but it does not show that Anthony and Catherine were married, as described below.
Chapter 10. British Links with the Portuguese Empire in the East Indies: the Portuguese Jews.
Of further interest is that Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, 1804 – 1881, appears on the tree in the first panel. His grandmother Sarah Villa Real appears to be connected to Joseph Da Costa del Villa Real, but the connection is not clear.
Thorp Family History 