The legendary wealth of Spain's New World colonies mesmerised merchants and investors in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Small wonder then that burgeoning maritime trade fostered speculation mania. In 1711, in London, the South Sea Company was launched, gambling on the opening up of trade with Spanish America. But in 1720 the South Sea "Bubble" burst, bringing widespread ruin to investors. One of these, indirectly, was young Thomas Fellowes, an ancestor of Julian Kitchener-Fellowes of the Fellowes-Gordons - a family with Scottish connections through the estate of Knockespoch and a history of adventures in many parts of the world.

Julian describes Thomas Fellowes as "rather unfortunate... His father died in Jamaica, having married and settled there, and young Thomas was brought to England, probably with a view to seeking help from well-connected relatives. Disastrously, though, the boy's fortune was placed in the hands of his uncle and guardian, Sir John Fellowes, Baronet and Sub-Governor (the King was the Governor) of the ill-fated South Sea Company..."

The failure of the South Sea Company meant that Sir John lost not only his own fortune but also that of his ward. All that remained to Thomas were some estates in Jamaica that had been left to him by his father. His straitened circumstances later prompted the young man to leave his new wife and small son to embark on a journey to the West Indies to see what could be salvaged there. His visit was to last several years.

When eventually Thomas left Jamaica to return to England, fortune again deserted him. His ship was captured by pirates who stole everything he carried with him. Alive at least, he was deposited in Cuba, at that time a Spanish colony.

But there he was considered an enemy of the régime, war having broken out between England and Spain as both parties defended their trading rights. This in itself did not seem to have been too distressing an experience as Thomas's son, William, wrote that: "My father, who was a handsome and well-educated man, was suffered to be at large, and was treated with every possible respect, not only by the Governor of Cuba but by the first people of that island."

However, Thomas's propensity for misfortune meant there was soon to be a complication, as William relates: "A niece of the Governor, who had been married to a rich Dom in the island, was at that time a widow. She had a magnificent establishment not far from the Havanna (sic), where my father was invited and treated with every possible distinction."

The problem was that the young widow was besotted by the Englishman and determined to marry him, despite his protestations of having a wife and child in England. Acutely embarrassed, Thomas escaped from the island, aided by the captain of the ship that had transported him from Jamaica. But once again Thomas's luck ran out as they were captured by a Spanish galleon and thrown into prison in Havana. The Governor's niece then ensured that Thomas "was kept there for more than a year under the most painful and rigorous treatment". His health broken, Thomas returned to England where he died in 1748.

Today all record of the Fellowes's holdings in Jamaica is lost but, intriguingly, in Jamaican birth and army records, there are various Thomas Felloweses, quadroon and octoroon, who appear later in the century. "Handsome and well-educated" Thomas was clearly far from idle during his sojourn on the island...

Thomas's son William led a more fortunate life. Born in 1738, he left home while comparatively young - his widowed mother had re-married and he did not care for his stepfather. Presumably prompted by the need to support himself, he chose to enter the field of medicine, a somewhat unfashionable career at the time but one in which he was to prosper.

William's first career move was as a surgeon's mate in the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards. In this regiment he fought at the Battle of Minden in 1759. According to his son, William Dorset, "he and his old friend, the late Colonel Samuel Knolles, uncle to the Earl of Banbury, were the last survivors" of the engagement - despite suffering a distinct handicap... William and his compatriots had been washing their shirts when they were surprised by the enemy - and had little option but to "fight in wet linen".

Julian describes how a year later "At the age of 22, William made a brilliant move in marrying Mary Butler, daughter of Peregrine Butler of Dungarvon, Co. Waterford. While Peregrine Butler was, officially, the younger son of Sir Walter Butler, Baronet of Polestown, Kilkenny, he was, in fact, almost certainly the illegitimate son of his mother’s kinsman, Peregrine Osborne, 2nd Duke of Leeds, at whose London house he was born in 1715. This fortunate connection meant William and Mary's children received the very generous patronage of the Osborne family and their cousins, the Berties. In 1780 this patronage secured for William the appointment of Surgeon General to the Forces in Minorca which at that time was still a British naval base.

"This was a somewhat short-lived appointment, however, as in 1783 the French invaded Minorca, commandeering William’s house, holding his wife and younger children in captivity and arresting William and his two eldest sons, Peregrine and William Dorset. However, Mary was soon given permission to leave the island with her children. William was released on the orders of the Duc de Crillon and so, some time later, were his sons.

"Over the years, the Fellowes family benefited particularly from the interest of the 1st Lord Gwydir, Lord Great Chamberlain. The relationship was an important one for Lord Gwydir promoted the family at Court. In 1817, Lord Gwydir secured for William Fellowes the position of Physician Extraordinary to the Regent. William Dorset was to become Gwydir's Secretary and Deputy and, following the latter's death shortly before the coronation of George IV in 1821, 'acting' Lord Great Chamberlain for that event.

"Dr Fellowes eventually settled and practised as a physician in Bath, becoming a great friend of, among others, the family of Jane Austen - and looking after her dying father. He is counted among the 'worthies' of that city and his portrait still hangs in the Bath Council Rooms."

William Dorset Fellowes was also an interesting character. Born on board the Dorsetshire during a voyage to Minorca in 1769, in later life he joined the Navy. His greatest adventure came in June 1803 when his ship, the Lady Hobart, hit an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland and sank. He was one of eighteen people, including three women, who escaped in a lifeboat. After eight days afloat they were rescued, having apparently survived on more or less no rations at all. During that time a captured French captain had reportedly "jumped overboard in a fit of delirium and instantly sank". It seems hard to avoid the conclusion that the survivors had eaten him - but no one ever admitted to this.

Julian relates that "William Dorset was a tremendous snob and the position that Lord Gwydir secured for him at Court was the answer to his prayers. He, like his brothers and eldest sister, enjoyed the patronage of the Regent and was regarded as trustworthy. This virtue was acknowledged when William was put in charge of Queen Caroline during examination by the House of Lords of the claims of infidelity brought against her by George IV in his attempt to secure a dissolution of their marriage. Following public outcry, the bill for the dissolution of the marriage was dropped; and William later admitted he considered the wretched queen to have been ill-used."

However, at the time, William had had no hesitation in keeping Queen Caroline away from her husband’s coronation. When she arrived at the Great Entrance to Westminster Hall, William Dorset called out, "as soon as my voice could reach the doorkeepers at the bottom of the hall, to close the doors. This order was instantly obeyed and, having ascertained that Her Majesty had not been admitted, I returned to report the circumstances to Lord Gwydir (the 2nd Baron) within a few paces of the Throne."

However, as Julian explains, "William Dorset eventually earned his family’s obloquy by abandoning his wife and running off with a woman he had met on a visit to Paris in 1815. William had always combined his snobbery with some 'dangerously' liberal ideas, and he now became a fan of Napoléon. Following the death of the wife he had deserted, he married his mistress. Their daughter, Hélène, married the Marquis de Bois Thierry, a son of the Duchesse de Bassano, and settled in France."

"William's eldest sister, Anne, born in 1765, also benefited from the generous patronage of the Osbornes and the Berties," continues Julian. "In 1793 she accompanied the (Bertie) Duchess of Ancaster to Rome to witness the marriage of the Duke of Sussex to Lady Augusta Murray - a union that was illegal because it contravened the Royal Marriage Act of 1772. This earned her some unpopularity at Court, although not with the Prince of Wales who promised her that, when he ascended the throne, she would lead the coronation procession as Herbstrewer to the King. When he made this promise, she was 28 years old but, by the time King George III died in 1820, Anne was 55 - and quite stout - and it was expected that the Prince of Wales would have forgotten his promise. However, the Prince held true to it - despite the existence of an official Herbstrewer whom he chose to overlook.

"On 23rd July, in bright sunlight, Anne led the vast procession, scattering rosebuds - rather than herbs - as she walked. It was her finest hour and the only occasion on which she was to perform this office. In 1831, King William IV declined the services of the then 66-year old Anne, and in 1837 the young Queen Victoria had a simpler service altogether."

"Born in Edinburgh Castle where his father was serving at that time, William Fellowes's sixth son, James Fellowes, was to follow his father into the medical world. Through the patronage bestowed on his family, James was appointed Physician to the Forces and saw action in a number of historic foreign engagements. However, it was in 1804 when he was sent to investigate and treat pestilential fever among the troops in Gibraltar that he made his mark. His work on the variable nature of the principle of quarantine earned him a knighthood from George III in 1809 and an appointment as Inspector of Hospitals in 1813. James retired in 1816 when he married the heiress Elizabeth James, who brought with her a large estate.

"Ten years before, James had been in Paris at the time of the collapse of the Treaty of Amiens. He was arrested as an undesirable alien and incarcerated in the old Temple in the very rooms on the third floor occupied ten years previously by the luckless Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. There on the walls he found graffiti supposedly inscribed by the doomed French royal family.

"Fortunately, after a few days of imprisonment, James was freed. Shortly afterwards the old Temple was destroyed by the authorities who feared it might become a shrine to royalism."

William Fellowes's ninth and youngest son, Thomas, was to become Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Fellowes - "Fighting Fellowes" as he was called - the "hero of many daring exploits in the naval wars" of the early 19th century according to Burke's Landed Gentry. Thomas was eventually to serve with Lord Nelson, and later distinguished himself at Guadeloupe in 1809 and Cadiz in 1811.

In 1827 Thomas was in command of the Dartmouth when the English, French and Russian fleets were ranged against the Turks at Navarino Bay in southern Greece. To divert a fireship, Thomas sent off a jolly boat under the command of Lieutenant Fitzroy. When the Turks fired on it, killing the young officer, Fellowes opened fire on the Turkish fleet, firing the very first shot of the Battle of Navarino. The ensuing total victory resulted in the liberation of Greece from Turkish rule.

Julian relates that "Although the British Government was none too happy about this - it feared the consequences of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, 'the sick man of Europe', and had meant to frighten the Turks into concessions without actually beginning the liberation of the Balkans - the Duke of Clarence, later William IV ensured Fellowes received a knighthood from King George IV; he also received honours from Russia, Greece, France and Spain. Sir Thomas was eventually made Naval ADC to Queen Victoria, receiving the flag of a rear admiral in 1849.

"Prior to this, Thomas married twice. His first marriage, in 1813, was to Katherine Abdy, daughter of a baronet with connections to the Duke of Wellington. Following her death in childbirth in 1817, Thomas chose a very different partner, Mary Anne Humphreys, the love-child of an Indian nabob, a vague connection of the family. At the early death from disease of her father, the little girl inherited a vast fortune.

"As a means of keeping the money in the family, when she was nineteen Mary Anne was married off to her somewhat older, widowed 'Uncle' Thomas. The couple subsequently purchased an estate near Bath, Leigh Park, had twelve children and lived happily ever after...

"Meanwhile, the eldest son from Thomas's first marriage, William Abdy Fellowes - who like his father went on to become a rear admiral - was to bring the estate of Knockespoch in Aberdeen into the family through his marriage to Hannah, only child and heir of Harry Gordon of Knockespoch. William Abdy Fellowes assumed the additional surname of Gordon by Royal Licence in 1876."

Yet another remarkably adventurous member of Julian's family was Peregrine Forbes Morant Fellowes, great-grandson of Rear Admiral Sir Thomas and his second wife, Mary Anne. He originally joined the Navy, but a strong interest in flying prompted Peregrine, in 1915, to sign up for the Royal Naval Air Service. Three years later he was shot down while bombing the Ostend Canal and was taken prisoner, but he escaped. There is some evidence that, in that same year, Peregrine may have been involved in a failed attempt at an air rescue of the Russian Empress, Alexandra. In 1925 he was nominated Air ADC to King George V, a role he fulfilled until 1929.

"Peregrine was particularly concerned at the failure of the British Government to invest in developing air power," says Julian. "To draw attention to this, with the backing of a millionaire ex-showgirl, Lady Houston, he organised and led the Houston Everest Flight of 1933 which saw a formation of aeroplanes, the lead plane piloted by the Marquess of Clydesdale, fly over Mount Everest. The much-publicised event caused a huge surge of public interest in air power, ensuring the country was better prepared for the outbreak of war six years later than it might otherwise have been.

"Peregrine - or Uncle Pel as he was to me - subsequently pursued his interest in all forms of air travel - zeppelins included - until, at the end of the war, he retired to South Africa with his wife, Eleanor. He died there in the mid-1950s."

The additional surname Kitchener was adopted by Julian when he married Emma Joy Kitchener, only child of the late Hon. Charles Kitchener, great niece of Earl Kitchener of Khartoum and the last of the Kitchener line. Just under a century earlier, Julian's great-uncle, Lord Sydenham of Coombe, was Governor of Bombay and a strong supporter of Kitchener against the then Viceroy, Lord Curzon, but that's another story...

While the Kitchener name now endures, Knockespoch and its estate were, sadly, sold in the 1980s. But family traditions continue. Like his ancestors William Fellowes and William Dorset Fellowes, Julian has a keen sense of history and he religiously maintains the family tree and records. However his main activities are as actor, writer, film producer and lecturer. He is perhaps best known for his roles in Sharpe's Regiment (in which he plays the Prince Regent), Tomorrow Never Dies and, recently, as the Duke of Richmond in the BBC's Aristocrats and as Lord Kilwillie in the TV series Monarch of the Glen.

Gosford Park, Julian Kitchener-Fellowes's recent screenplay for the American director Robert Altman, launched this year's London Film Festival. Julian has written television scripts before, most notably Little Lord Fauntleroy (winner of 1995 International Emmy) and The Prince and the Pauper (nominated for a BAFTA 1998), but Gosford Park is his first screenplay for the cinema.

Finally, at Court, while the role of Herbstrewer is no more, Julian's wife, Emma, nevertheless continues a long tradition of service and is Lady-in-Waiting to Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent. "As for family fortunes," says Julian, "history, of course, is still being written."

Gosford Park boasts a remarkable cast including Maggie Smith, Alan Bates, Helen Mirren, Kristin Scott Thomas, Derek Jacobi, Eileen Atkins, Richard E. Grant and Emily Watson. It is a period film focusing on the class structure of the world between the wars while pretending - albeit not very hard - to be a country house mystery. As Robert Altman put it: "This isn't a whodunnit, it's a who-cares-whodunnit"... and Julian Kitchener-Fellowes had the extraordinary experience for a writer of being on the set for the entire shoot.

* Photographs courtesy of Eric Ellington - Photography, La Fontaine, Upper St Jacques, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1SR

Fellowes-Gordon formerly of Knockespoch Family Record

Sarah powell is a regular contributor to Burke's online magazine "Atavus"