Panter
The heart of this website is the Panter family consisting of the descendants of John Leach Panter and his wife Sarah Downes.
In 1851 they held a Jubilee party in the family house in Fulham, London, UK on their 50th Wedding anniversary, and ever since we have had regular family parties. This website aims to bring together all those descendants and share information about our history.
JLP wrote an extensive memoir which has been transcribed and published privately within the family. JLP believed very strongly in family values and no doubt would be proud of the family gatherings that have taken place to date.
After the 1851 Jubilee party, there were anniversary parties in 1951 in the UK and Australia, and from 1981, every ten years in the UK – 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011. The next party is scheduled for summer 2022 having been postponed for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Downes
Sarah Downes married John Leach Panter in 1801 and form the central family of this website.
The Downes ancestry was researched and extended by the grandfather of Wharton Lang and traced back to King Edward 1st of England. Sarah’s brother Edward was the last of the male line so this branch of the Downes was made extinct on his death in 1819.
See this article for more info on the Downes heritage.
Who was at the 1851 Party?
Present at the 1851 party were John Leach Panter, his wife Sarah Downes, four of his sisters, his 5 children and 18 of his 19 grandchildren.
Check the three images below.
The first is the painting of the 1851 event.
The second gives everyone in the painting a number and there is a hand-drawn tree below it.
The third is the list of all those present indented into their families – with the number in brackets preceding their forename.
There is some extra info in the list relating to the Ancestry tree it came from, including some dates.
Please note number 31 – Edward Panter – was not actually present but painted in to complete the families.
The four branches of the tree
When the 1951 centenary party came around, the tree was updated with all the descendants from those at the 1951 party and split into four branches to make it easier to manage based on the four of JLP’s children who had families of their own.
These are clear from the list above:
The McCauslands, headed by Emily S Panter and Dominick McCausland,
The Panter-Downes, headed by Frederick D Panter and Frances M Kennedy, (although their surnames also include plain Panters),
The Panters, headed by John E Panter and Elizabeth L Wrench and
The Selby-Heles, headed by Saramaria Panter and Henry Selby-Hele.