Lord Buckley, the hipster king

Here's a fun fact, which I can't quite prove, so isn't in the book. The founder of Hendreddu Quarry and the tramway was Sir Edmund Buckley. Sir Edmund fathered at least 15 illegitimate children, one of whom was James Buckley. James in turn was father of William Buckley, born in 1863.

William stowed away on ship bound for to California where he married one Annie Bone. Their son, Richard Buckley was born in Tuolumne, California in 1906. Tuolumne was the home of the West Side Lumber Company and Richard was a lumberjack in his early years, and would have travelled to work on the 3ft gauge West Side Railway.

In the mid 1930s, Richard moved to Chicago, where he took up vaudeville, and started to develop his character "Lord Buckley". After the Second World War he became a major star, selling many records and playing the packed clubs. He was the original "hipster lord" and appeared on Groucho Marx's TV show. In 1960 he was arrested for failing to declare a 1941 conviction for marijuana possession. Quincy Jones, George Plimpton and Norman Mailer all turned up at his hearing to defend him. Sadly, Lord Buckley died three weeks later.

So the great grandson of Sir Edmund Buckley, Lord of Mawddwy was (probably) the self-styled Lord Buckley of Tuolumne, the hipster king.