THE DERWENT LINE

When Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men were finally able to throw off the shackles laid upon them and their countrymen by Prince John, they received pardons for their actions by the returning King Richard the Lion-Hearted. In recognition of all that they had done to preserve his kingdom in his absence, the outlaws of Sherwood Forest may have also been granted rewards.

Most of the men probably went back to their old lives, like Much the Miller's Son. But others may have taken advantage of their reward to better their lot in life. One such Merry Man might have been Derwent, who seems only to exist in the televersion of Robin Hood's legend and in the Earth Prime-Time version only at that, which aired during the 1950's.

Derwent might have invested his reward wisely and enriched the coffers of his family. And with money comes power and influence - down through the generations, the Derwent family built up their fiscal strength to make inroads into English society. And with perhaps some glories achieved in service to the crown on battlefields over the centuries, the Derwent line may have finally been granted access to the nobility of the realm.

And so, without knowing exactly who all of the interceding generations were (I know the Wold Newtonites would have it all mapped out!), Toobworld Central is still willing to suggest a theory of relateeveety: Lady Frances Derwent, known to her friends in the mid-1930's as "Frankie," was a direct line descendent of Robin Hood's man, Derwent.

Don't see why not.....
By the way, any future generations via Lady Francis would have the family surname of Derwent-Jones because of her eventual marriage to her crime-solving partner, Bobby Jones. ("Nothing like the golfer.")

BCnU!