Tom Daley

Tom Daley at Nickelodeon's 26th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, USC

Daley in 2013, photo by s_bukley/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Thomas Robert Daley

Place of Birth: Plymouth, Devon, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 21 May, 1994

Ethnicity: English, small amount of Irish

Tom Daley is an English diver. He won the Gold medal at the men’s synchronised 10-metre platform event at the 2020 Olympics, as well as the Bronze medal at the platform event at the 2012 Olympics, the synchronised event at the 2016 Olympics, and the platform event at the 2020 Olympics. He is also a 3-time World Champion, a 2-time junior World Champion, a 5-time European champion, and a 4-time Commonwealth champion. In team events, he won the inaugural mixed team World title in 2015. He appeared on ITV’s celebrity diving reality show Splash!

Tom is the son of Debbie (Selvester) and Robert Daley. He is married to American screenwriter, director, and producer Dustin Lance Black, with whom he has two children.

Tom’s family surname was changed from Deeley to Daley around the 1890s. Tom’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to his great-great-great-great-grandparents, John Deeley and Catherine Maria McDermot, who moved from Roscommon, Ireland, to Birmingham, England, in the 1830s.

Tom’s paternal grandfather is David C. Daley (the son of James Joseph William Daley and Winifred Irene Eastlake). David was born in Plymouth, Devon, England. James was the son of Henry Deeley and Emily Heath. Winifred was the daughter of William George Eastlake and Blanche Mary Sawdy.

Tom’s paternal grandmother is Rose-Marie J. Lucas (the daughter of Wesley William Alfred Robert Lucas and Julia Millicent Edgecombe). Rose-Marie was born in Plymouth, Devon, England. Wesley was the son of Wesley John Lucas and Elfrida/Elfreda Louise Foot; Elfrida was a first cousin of politician Michael Foot (Michael Mackintosh Foot). This makes Tom Daley and Michael Foot first cousins, four times removed. Tom’s great-grandmother Julia Edgecombe was the daughter of Frederick Edgecombe and Julia Blanche Hehir, whose father was of Irish origin.

Tom’s maternal grandfather is Douglas William “Dougie” Selvester/Silvester (the son of Frank Silvester and Florence M. Ward). Douglas was born in Plymouth, Devon, England.

Tom’s maternal grandmother is Jennifer A. Collins (the daughter of Theodore W. L. Collins and Irene G. Barley). Jennifer was born in Plymouth, Devon, England.

Sources: Family history of Tom Daley – http://celebrityancestry.blogspot.ca

Genealogy of Tom Daley – https://www.geni.com

37 Responses

  1. cwm85 says:

    My partners mother is english. And her hair was black and eyes hazel. Last name Joyner. Her ancestry was traced all the way back to the 1600’s from England.

  2. cwm85 says:

    Ignorance. Some English people are brown haired, black haired, blonde. Some have blues eyes, other times brow or hazel. There is no one size fits all. He fits in well with western Europe. United Kingdom. I would not mistake him for french or Spanish tho.

  3. theropod says:

    Okay, maybe I would’ve understood if he were full Irish or Welsh as they can be be dark. But English?

    The most whitest and blondest people around me (especially here in AUS) are Anglo Saxons. He certainly doesn’t fit in that bill.

    • gel says:

      “Anglo-Saxons” make up a small part of English population – they were overlords od the vastly more numerous Britons, just as the Normans were later.

      • rafe says:

        This is wholly incorrect, and based on poor interpretation of incomplete genetic data from the early 2000s. Updated genetics research proves that the English have been influenced a lot by the Anglo Saxons, deriving 30% of their ancestry from them. At 30% of a population, no ethnic group can be dismissed as merely overlords or insulated elites. Anglo Saxons were a major part of the population in England. Genetically, pre-historic inhabitants of what is now England don’t quite look like modern day Englishmen, though they look quite a bit like the Irish, for example. It’s because of the Anglo Saxon heritage that transformed England and pulled them closer genetically to continental Europeans, and further away from other Brits. Here’s a link to a study on the subject. http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/022723

    • Alice says:

      Don’t be so daft. I live in Australia as well and plenty of people have dark hair and brown eyes and are of English descent. There is variety in most European populations.

  4. roman2886 says:

    He is 3/32 Irish he doesnt have much Irish blood i have lot of English Irish Scottish and Welsh blood and a lot of Filipino blood the only little blood i have in me is Chinese and Japanese blood i have very little Chinese and Japanese blood most of the younger generation of British who have Irish blood are 1/32 Irish and 1/16 Irish and 1/8 Irish very few young people in Britain who have Irish blood are 1/2 Irish and 100% Irish Im only 1/16 Irish im also 1/16 English English people who are 1/16 English are British mongrels they have English Irish Scottish and Welsh blood which very common in England im a Filpino British mongrel i have English Irish Scottish and Welsh blood along with Filipino blood Tom Daley may have ancestry in other parts of the UK like Scotland and Wales i have other ancestries from outside the UK and Phillippines but i dont acknowledge those ancestries im only interested in the UK side and Phillippines side but im mostly of English Irish Scottish Welsh and Filipino blood.

  5. WTF says:

    He is not just English. He looks too dark to be just English.

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