Some trivia about someone - 1

:: George Leigh Mallory

George Leigh Mallory was never a "Mallory". And people who get a little disturbed on hearing this have reached a stage when they associate the name with the mountain more than the man with the mountain, if you know what I mean. Let me tell you a bit about the man before he was born.

The village of Mobberly in Cheshire has had Mallorys for centuries. The first was Thomas Mallory who was born in 1621. The Mallorys were a respected name in the village. In the long list of Mallorys, a man called John Holdsworth Mallory was born in 1771. He continued the tradition of the "Mallory greatness and respect" in Mobberly, was married to a lady called Julia Crowder.

They had two daughters. And no son. And one of the daughters was again
called Julia.

A man called George Leigh (born 1806) came visiting Mobberly in those days. he fell in love with Julia, the daughter. When he asked John Holdsworth Mallory (then on his deathbed and depressed that the Mallory name would die since there was no son), he was allowed to marry Julia on one condition - that he added the word "Mallory" to his surname. Thus George Leigh, the starry eyed wanderer, became George Leigh Mallory, and inherited the heir.

George Leigh Mallory and Julia had one son, after which Julia died (young, at the age of 29). This boy was born in 1833 and they named him George Mallory (smile...).

After Julia's death, George Leigh Mallory (the husband) married again. He felt no compulsion to retain his "Mallory" surname now that Julia was dead and he reverted to George Leigh. He married a woman called Henrietta Trafford. They had a son called Herbert Leigh. Herbert Leigh was born in 1856. The name Mallory had disappeared by now if you notice. The tree was separate. The branch extended elsewhere.

Herbert Leigh married a lady called Anne Beridge and they had four children. One of this children, a boy, was born in 1886, and they called him George Herbert Leigh (and now......we are getting close....smile).

There was no Mallory in this tree. Yet, something strange happened. Herbert Leigh applied for the coat of arms, a respect given to very few in Britain at that time. He was narrated (by the church) the entire story about his father (George Leigh) having had one surname in one marriage and another one in his second marriage. The church thus told him that Herbert Leigh was in this unique position of not having a surname at all ! The parish told him that the only way to rectify this was to re-christen himself "Herbert Leigh Mallory".

Thus, his son, George Herbert Leigh became "George Herbert Leigh Mallory". And a legend which had been born in 1886 was given a name finally. The name has become so much part of Everest now, that I thought I would tell you the history behind it.

I have often wondered how Mallory, whose death was so fantastic, could have had an ordinary birth. And it is correct isn't it, that even his birth, the way he got his name, is as fantastic.

So much went into something as simple as even naming the legend.

And oh, one more thing, the church which gave Mallory his name ? The one I was writing about a paragraph or so above ?

It was the same church whose spire Mallory had climbed as a boy of 8.

-- Sandeep Chopra, 5 August, 2003