Family tree

‘Field’ star attempts to trace roots to Westport House

Claire Egan

EFFORTS by the internationally renowned actor John Hurt to trace his family roots to the descendants of Westport House have ended in failure.
Apparently, family folklore suggested that Hurt’s great-grandmother had aristocratic links to the Browne family and the Marquis of Sligo. However, the genealogy quest to find such links were in vain, but the journey will be broadcast this Thursday night at 9pm as part of the popular BBC show ‘Who Do You Think You Are’.
Viewers in Ireland and the UK will see Hurt with his brother Michael, a Catholic monk, travel to the seaside town of Westport and meet with writer Anne Chambers to trace the connection of the Hurt and Browne families.
However, despite intensive efforts to link the family lineage of the Academy Award-winning star with the descendants of Westport House, the trail ran cold.
“The Hurt family estimated that there was a family connection with this region in light of the fact that a distant male relative had established two schools in Scarborough in England which went by the names of Westport House and Altamount Street. As well as that, John’s great grand-mother suspected that she had aristocratic links,” said Anne Chambers.
“While researching the book, ‘Shadow Lord’ I spent many many hours going through the Westport House papers and delving deep into the whole chronology and genealogy of the descendants of the house. It was for that reason that producers of the show contacted me, in order to try and trace the linkage of John Hurt and his family to the Brownes and their descendants,” explained Anne.
John Hurt is best known to Irish audiences for his role as Bird O’Donnell in the 1990 film screen adaptation of ‘The Field’, written by the playwright John B Keane.