The REAL truth behind Angela Lansbury and Malcolm Turnbull’s family connection (it’s not what you think)

Ever hear that thing about how Angela Lansbury and Malcolm Turnbull are cousins? Through his mother Coral Lansbury? Well, here are all the ways in which they are NOT related to each other.

Photo from 2013 of a smiling man and woman standing next to each other in a backstage dressing room. The man, Malcolm Turnbull, is wearing a black suit and tie. The woman, Angela Lansbury, is wearing a red jacket, long large pearl necklace and pearl earrings

Coral & Angela are NOT first cousins as stated here in this 1951 newspaper article (Carol/Coral, same letters, newspapers don’t care):

*Side note – the articles from the 40s and 50s are so extra.

Screenshot of a newspaper article reading: “Lass with the off-shoulder neckline and long clinging curl was Arts graduate Carol Lansbury, grand-daughter of Britain’s erstwhile Labor leader George Lansbury. Unlike her Hollywood cousin Angela, she has forsaken the Academy of Drama in favor of an academic career at Sydney University.”

They are NOT 2nd cousins once removed as Angela’s explanation in this article in 2013 would mean (if she’s using cousin to mean first cousin):

Screenshot of an online news article reading: “Her return also affords her a chance to catch up with a long-lost relative - the Federal Member for Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull. "My grandfather's cousin was Coral Lansbury's father. Coral Lansbury is the mother of Malcolm Turnbull," Lansbury explains. "I first met him when he was four years old. I had an email from him just the other”

Angela’s grandfather George was NOT Coral’s great uncle because they’re not 2nd cousins despite what Coral declares in this 1986 article:

Screenshot of a newspaper article reading: “Malcolm certainly had all the right genes to become a successful barrister. His mother, now a distinguished academic, came from a famous theatrical family, and was named after actress Coral Browne. Her cousin is Angela Lansbury, a distinguished actress now known to millions as the star of the TV series Murder She Wrote. “Acting and politics are very close,” says Coral. “My great-uncle George Lansbury (the English socialist) was one of the finest orators of his day.” Coral Lansbury was born in Australia while her parents were on tour with a theatre company. At the age of 13 she was writing plays.”

Which means Coral’s obituary, and those sourcing it such as Wikipedia, is wrong:

No, Coral wasn’t George Lansbury’s great granddaughter (but yes, she did write an award-winning verse play in 1948 about an Aboriginal girl titled Krubi of the Illawarra…):

Screenshot of a 1949 newspaper article titled “She starred in her own play”. The text reads “ A great grand-daughter of the late British socialist George Lansbury and a cousin of film actress Angela Lansbury, 19 year old Sydney University student Coral Lansbury is upholding her family’s name for both brains and histrionics. Her verseplay Krubi Of The Irrawarra won the 1948 Henry Lawson prize for poetry, and to show that her talents don’t stop at writing, she took the leading role in the play when it was broadcast in Sydney recently.”

Screenshot of the photo attached to the 1949 newspaper article. A black and white photo of a young Coral Lansbury wearing a light-coloured knitted long sleeve top, a tartan skirt, dark lipstick and large stud earrings. Her dark hair is pulled back and her face is slightly turned as she looks up and to the side.

So, are they even related? Let’s look first at Ms Angela’s family. Behold, my hand drawn diagrams and as you can see from Angela’s grandparents’ wedding record, George’s father was also called George.

Hand drawn diagram of Angela Lansbury's family tree up to her paternal great grandfather George Lansbury born 1833 in Harborough Magna, Warwickshire, England.

George Lansbury and Elizabeth Jane Brine's wedding record.

We can go back a further generation by looking at George Snr’s wedding and baptism records and see that his parents are James and Mary and he was born in 1833 in Harborough Magna, Warwickshire.

George Lansbury and Ann Ferries' wedding record.

George Lansbury senior's baptism record.

Hand drawn diagram of Angela Lansbury's family tree including her paternal great great grandparents James and Mary Lansbury.

On Coral’s side, her father is Oscar Lansbury and isn’t this picture of him doing the sound effects on a radio show fantastic?

Photo in newspaper of a man doing sound effects with the caption "Man at work. Veteran Macquarie sound effects expert Oscar Lansbury awaits his cue during a "whodunit" production. Oscar is the father of Coral Lansbury (Mrs George Edwards)."

Oscar’s father is Arthur Thomas Lansbury as you can see from this index of Oscar’s birth in Queensland.

We can go back a further generation when we look at the 1871 English census and find Arthur living with his family in Bromley, London. His father is Thomas Lansbury born in 1831 in Newham, Warwickshire.

Census index for Thomas Lansbury born 1831 in Newnham, Warwickshire, England.

We’ve now gone back 4 generations on Angela’s side and 3 on Coral’s and there are still no common ancestors.

Shall we try one more?

You might have noticed that both ladies’ great grandfathers were born in Warwickshire in Harborough Magna and Newnham. Well, Newnham is actually “King’s Newnham” and looking at a map, they are right next door to each other! Bingo!

Google map showing King's Newnham and Harborough Magna in very close proximity.

And whatdayaknow, looking at Thomas’ wedding and baptism records, they show that his parents were James and Mary the same names as George snr’s parents.

Here you can see the brothers Thomas and George in the 1841 census living in Harborough Magna with their parents James and Mary:

This makes Coral and Angela third cousins! Let’s see that gorgeous hand drawn diagram:

Diagram showing Coral and Angela's family trees joined together

Third cousins…that’s not a super close connection, I mean, I certainly don’t know any of my third cousins personally. But both Angela and Coral’s parents moved in London theatre circles in the 1920s and Lansbury isn’t a very common name.

They knew they were family, alluding to it being closer than it was didn’t hurt anyone. Coral didn’t really need the connection to Angela to shine though. After all, she was dubbed the Dean of Dazzle when she worked at Rutgers University. https://newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-the-dean-of-da/125121379/

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LINKS to the articles mentioned in this post:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/230232283?searchTerm=%22carol%20lansbury%22

https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre/georgia-on-her-mind-20130218-2emlt.html

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sydney-morning-herald/123599362/

https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/lansbury-coral-magnolia-17182

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/82389180?searchTerm=%22coral%20lansbury%22