Profile Text
Fiennes in 2013, photo by PrPhotos
Birth Name: Joseph Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes
Place of Birth: Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 27 May, 1970
Ethnicity: English, Northern Irish, Irish, Anglo-Irish, Scottish, Cornish, distant French, remote Welsh
Joseph Fiennes is an English actor. His roles include the films Stealing Beauty , Elizabeth , Shakespeare in Love , as William Shakespeare, Enemy at the Gates , Killing Me Softly , The Great Raid , Running with Scissors , The Escapist , The Games Maker , and Strangerland ; and the shows FlashForward , American Horror Story , and The Handmaid’s Tale .
Joseph is the son of Mark Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, a farmer and photographer, from Dalton, Northumberland, and Jennifer Anne Mary Alleyne (Lash), a writer and painter, from Chichester, Sussex. The Fiennes are a prominent family. Among his siblings are actor, film producer, and director Ralph Fiennes ; film director, writer, and producer Martha Fiennes; film director and producer Sophie Fiennes; and composer, record producer, and songwriter Magnus Fiennes. His nephew, Martha’s son, is actor and model Hero Fiennes Tiffin .
Joseph is of English, Northern Irish, Irish, Anglo-Irish, Scottish, Cornish, distant French, and remote Welsh, ancestry. Many of his forebears had been born in India, during the time of British colonialism there. Joseph’s third cousin, once removed, is explorer and endurance record holder Ranulph Fiennes.
Joseph is married to María Dolores Diéguez, a Swiss model, of Spanish origin. They have two children.
Joseph’s patrilineal ancestor, Thomas James Twisleton, was born, c. 1770, in Broughton, Oxfordshire. He took on the name Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes; he was descended from the Viscounts Fiennes. Joseph’s brother Ralph stated during his interview on Inside the Actors Studio , 2006, that the surname Fiennes is of Norman origin.
Joseph’s paternal grandfather was Maurice Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (the son of Alberic Arthur Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and Gertrude Theodosia Colley). Maurice was born in Brentford, Middlesex, England, and was a prominent industrialist. Joseph’s great-grandfather Alberic was the son of Wingfield Stratford Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes and Alice Susan Yorke. Wingfield’s father, Joseph’s great-great-great-grandfather, was Frederick Benjamin Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 16th Baron Saye and Sele, who was Archdeacon of Hereford, from 1863 to 1887; and Wingfield’s maternal grandfather, nobleman and landowner Richard Wingfield, 4th Viscount Powerscourt. Joseph’s great-great-grandmother Alice’s maternal grandfather was Henry Cunningham/Conyngham Montgomery, 1st baronet of the Hall, County Donegal. Joseph’s great-grandmother Gertrude Colley was the daughter of Henry FitzGeorge Colley, whose grandfather was John Pomeroy, 4th Viscount Harberton; and of Elizabeth Isabella Wingfield, who was born at Rathmines Castle, Dublin, Ireland, and whose own father was a minister.
Joseph’s paternal grandmother was Sylvia Joan Finlay (the daughter of David Finlay and Lady Mabel Vivian Prideaux Temperley). Sylvia was born in Madras, India. David was born in London, Middlesex, England, the son of Alexander Finlay and Kate Burney. Joseph’s great-grandmother Lady Mabel was born in Gosforth, Northumberland, England, the daughter of Joseph Temperley and Mabel Elizabeth Vincent Millett, who was of Cornish descent.
Joseph’s maternal grandfather was Henry Alleyne Lash (the son of Nicholas Alleyne Lash and Violet Maud Keely). Henry, a British colonial officer, was born in Bengal, India. Nicholas was born in India, the son of Augustus Henry Lash and Alicia Elizabeth De Clare Quinlan, who were born in Ireland. Augustus’s paternal grandparents were English, and his mother was born in Jamaica. Joseph’s great-grandmother Violet was born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, the daughter of George Philipps Keely and Angela Fisher.
Joseph’s maternal grandmother was Joan/Joanna Mary Moore (the daughter of Pierce Langrishe Moore and Muriel Strange). Joan was born in Madras, India. Pierce was born in Trichinopoly, Madras, India. Pierce’s father, Lewis Moore, was born in Ireland, the maternal grandson of writer Henry Joseph Monck Mason. Pierce’s mother, Joseph’s great-great-grandmother Edith Katherine/Catherine Johnston, had Scottish and English ancestry. Joseph’s great-grandmother Muriel was born in London, England, and was the daughter of Indian-born parents, Lumisden Strange, who had English, Scottish, and Northern Irish ancestry; and Alice Sibylla/Sybil Rideout. Joseph’s great-great-grandmother Alice was the daughter of John Ward/Wood Rideout, who was born in France, to an English father and to an Irish mother; and of Amy Ledwell Taylor, who was English.
Joseph’s matrilineal line can be traced to Sibella/Sybilla Dickson, who was born, c. 1742, in Somerset, England, and to her mother, Anne Carteret Dickson.
Among Joseph’s many prominent ancestors were Irish evangelical, Church of Ireland cleric, hymn writer and founder of the Kellyites, Thomas Kelly (1769-1855); Nova Scotia chief justice Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange (1756-1841); playwright and satirist Richard Tickell (1751-1793); Thomas Twisleton, 13th Baron Saye and Sele (c. 1735-1788); Sir Hercules Langrishe, 1st Baronet (1729-1811); Charles Yorke (1722-1770), who was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain; Sir Edward Turner, 2nd Baronet (1719-1766); Sir William Fownes, 2nd Baronet (1709-1778); Theodosia Bligh, 10th Baroness Clifton (1695-1722); Brabazon Ponsonby, 1st Earl of Bessborough (1679-1758); Anglo-Irish politician and writer Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth (1656-1725); aristocrat and politician Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (1638-1709); Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, James Margetson (1600-1678); military officer and politician John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper (1600-1660), who was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Master of the Rolls; and Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (1572-1638).
Sources: Genealogies of Joseph Fiennes – https://www.geni.com https://famouskin.com
Genealogy of the Fiennes family – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Genealogies of Joseph’s parents – https://www.familysearch.org