Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache-Tollemache JP (19 October 1826 – 5 October 1895) was an English priest in the Church of England. He is best known for the unusual and increasingly eccentric names that he chose for his numerous children.
Born as Ralph William Lyonel Tollemache, he was the eldest son of the Reverend and the Honourable Hugh Francis Tollemache (1802–1890) and his wife, Matilda, the daughter of Joseph Hume. His father was the fourth son of William Tollemache, Lord Huntingtower, the eldest son and heir of John Manners and Louisa Tollemache, 7th Countess of Dysart. He was rector of Harrington in Northamptonshire for 58 years.
Tollemache was educated at Uppingham School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating with his BA in 1850. He followed his father's vocation and was ordained as a deacon in Manchester in 1849 and as a priest in Lincoln in 1850. He became rector of South Wytham in Lincolnshire in 1850 and retained that living until his death. He was also a Justice of the Peace in Lincolnshire.
He married his cousin, Caroline Tollemache (7 June 1828 – 6 June 1867), on 15 February 1853. She was the daughter of the Hon. Felix Thomas Tollemache, the second son of the same William Talmash named above and Catherine Gray.
A dispute arose with his wife's trustees in 1859. He built up debts of approximately £4,000 (equivalent to approximately £622,250 in 2023 currency) and was declared bankrupt in 1863. He was discharged from the bankruptcy on 26 June 1868, the year after his wife died.
He remarried on 22 February 1869, to Dora Cleopatra Maria Lorenza de Orellana, the daughter of Colonel Ignacio Antonio de Orellana y Revest, an officer in the Spanish army. He doubled his surname in 1876, becoming "Tollemache-Tollemache".
He died in 1895, leaving an estate with a probate value of £1,619 19s. 7d. He was survived by his second wife, who died on 8 August 1929.
Tollemache is best known for the unusual names that he gave to his many children. He had at least five children from his first marriage:
Sir Lyonel Felix Carteret Eugene Tollemache, 4th Baronet, of Hanby Hall (15 January 1854 – 4 March 1952), inherited the Tollemache baronetcy in 1935
Florence Caroline Artemesia (19 February 1855 – 24 May 1935)
Evelyne Clementina Wentworth Cornelia Maude (7 June 1856 – 1919)
Granville Grey Marchmont Manners Plantagenet (8 June 1858 – 20 April 1891)
Marchmont Murray Reginald Grasett Stanhope Plantagenet (24 December 1860 – 10 April 1898)
His imagination took flight when he named the many children from his second marriage:
Dora Viola Gertrude Irenez de Orellana Dysart Plantagenet (11 November 1869 – 4 July 1874)
Mabel Helmingham Ethel Huntingtower Beatrice Blazonberrie Evangeline Vise de Lou de Orellana Plantagenet Toedmag Saxon (11 March 1872 – 5 January 1955)
Lyonesse Matilda Dora Ida Agnes Ernestine Curson Paulet Wilbraham Joyce Eugénie Bentley Saxonia Dysart Plantagenet (9 November 1874 – 26 August 1944)
Lyulph Ydwallo Odin Nestor Egbert Lyonel (LYONEL) Toedmag Hugh Erchenwyne (THE) Saxon Esa Cromwell Orma Nevill Dysart (SECOND) Plantagenet (21 August 1876 – 1961)