Josh O’Connor

Josh O’Connor – 2018 Pre-BAFTA Film Awards Chanel & Charles Finch Party – Arrivals – Mark’s Club, 46 Charles Street – Mayfair, London, UK – Orientation: Portrait Face Count: 1 – False – Photo Credit: Landmark / PR Photos

Birth Name: Joshua Mathias O’Connor

Place of Birth: Southampton, Hampshire, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 20 May, 1990

Ethnicity: Irish, English, Scottish, one eighth Ashkenazi/Sephardi Jewish (matrilineal)

Josh O’Connor is a British actor. He has starred on television’s Ripper Street, The Durrells, and The Crown and in the films Hide and Seek (2014), The Riot Club, Bridgend, God’s Own Country, Only You, Hope Gap, Emma., Mothering Sunday, and Aisha.

He is the son of Emily, a midwife, and John O’Connor, a teacher. His family moved to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, when he was five. His aunt (mother’s sister) is writer and commentator Madeleine Bunting.

Josh’s paternal grandfather is named Peter O’Connor.

Josh’s maternal grandfather was sculptor John Bunting (John Joseph Bunting, the son of Bernard L. M. Bunting and Bridget E. McElearney). John was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England. Bernard was English. Bridget was of Irish origin.

Josh’s maternal grandmother is Romola Jane Farquharson (the daughter of Maurice Gordon Farquharson and Nancy Kohnstamm). Romola was born in Hampstead, London, England. Josh’s great-grandfather Maurice was a schoolmaster, actor, and broadcasting administrator. He had Scottish ancestry.

Josh’s great-grandmother Nancy Kohnstamm was Jewish, of Ashkenazi and Sephardi descent. Her Ashkenazi ancestors were German Jews, and, more distantly, Polish Jews and Belarusian Jews. Her Sephardi ancestors were from the Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Curaçao, the Virgin Islands, France, Gibraltar, Morocco, Serbia, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Nancy was the daughter of Rudolf/Rudolph Kohnstamm, who was an Ashkenazi, German Jew, with family from Niederwerrn, Lower Franconia, Bavaria and Frankfurt am Main, Hessen-Nassau, Preussen; and of Emily Piza. Josh’s great-great-grandmother Emily was born in Manchester, England. Her father, Jacob “Coco” Joshua Piza, was born on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Danish West Indies, to a Sephardi Jewish father, Joshua “Hazan” Piza, from Amsterdam, Netherlands, and to a mother, Hanna/Hannah Jacob Sasso, who was born on Curaçao, Netherland Antilles, to Sephardi Jewish parents, Jacob de Abram Sasso and Judith/Judy de Moses Sasso. Emily’s mother, Josh’s great-great-great-grandmother Bendita Ascoli, was born in Hamburg, Germany, the daughter of Semuel Ascoli, a Sephardi Jew, and of Betti/Betty Brayne Jaffé, an Ashkenazi Jew, from Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Sources: Genealogy of Josh O’Connor (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://www.blankgenealogy.com

Obituary of Josh’s maternal great-grandfather, Maurice Gordon Farquharson – https://www.independent.co.uk

Genealogy of Josh’s maternal great-grandmother, Nancy Kohnstamm- https://www.geni.com

2 Responses

  1. andrew says:

    His “Ascoli” ancestors were surely Italian Jews even though the latest traceable ancestor on that line was born in Paris.

  2. Oaken05 says:

    What of his paternal side? And would he be 1/8 Scottish through his mother side, or is the implication that Maurice Gordon Farquharson wasn’t entirely of Scottish heritage?

    Would love to see this one more fleshed out.

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