Birth Name: John Graham Mellor
Date of Birth: August 21, 1952
Place of Birth: Ankara, Turkey
Date of Death: December 22, 2002
Place of Death: Broomsfield, Somerset, England
Ethnicity:
*English, Ashkenazi Jewish, Armenian (father)
*Scottish (mother)
John Strummer was a British musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He was the lead singer and the rhythm guitarist of the punk band The Clash.
Joe was the son of Anna (Mackenzie) and Ronald Ralph Mellor. Anna was born in Bonar Bridge, Scotland. Ronald was born in Lucknow, India, and had English, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Armenian ancestry.
In Chris Salewicz’s book Redemption Song: The Definitive Biography of Joe Strummer, Salewicz wrote:
Ronald Mellor had been born in Lucknow on 8 December 1916… His father was Frederick Adolph Mellor, who had married Muriel St Editha Johannes; half-Armenian and half-English, she was a governess to a wealthy Indian family. There was a large population of Armenians in Lucknow. Frederick Adolph Mellor was one of five sons of Frederick William Mellor and Eugenie Daniels, a German Jewess, who had married during the Boer War when his father lived in East Budleigh in Devon… Muriel Johannes was one of three daughters of Agnes Eleanor Greenway and a Mr Johannes: her two sisters were Dorothy and Marian. After the early death of her Armenian father, Muriel’s mother Agnes remarried, to a Mr Spiers.
Joe’s paternal grandparents were Frederick Adolph Mellor (the son of Frederick William Mellor and Eugenie Daniels) and Muriel St. Editha Johannes (the daughter of ? Johannes and Agnes Eleanor Greenway). Joe’s great-grandfather Frederick had English ancestry. Eugenie was Jewish, from Germany. Johannes was of Armenian descent. Agnes had English ancestry.
Joe’s maternal grandparents were David Mackenzie (the son of Donald Mackenzie and Catherine Ross) and Jane Gillies (the daughter of Alexander Gillies and Anne MacLeod). Donald was born in Bonar Bridge, Scotland. Catherine was born in Kilmuir, Scotland. Alexander was born on the Isle of Raasay, Scotland. Anne was born in Rona, Isle of Raasay, Scotland.
Sources: Genealogy of Joe Strummer (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Joe Strummer (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
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