Count Maximilian Hollender (1855-1906) was my great grandfather. Nobody seems to know how he came by the title of Count. One version was that it was a Papal title but this seems unlikely as he was a Jew, not a Catholic and it is unlikely that he would have given large sums of money to the Catholic Church. Any more than the Catholic Church would have elected him for the title!

It is possible that his father was a Swedish Count as he is known to have had some Scandinavian blood (with Dutch overtones) and all sons in Sweden inherit their father's title. Be that as it may, he was born in England and there is no doubt that he was a Count when he married my great grandmother, Rose Beyfus, who was also Jewish on the 30th July, 1876 at 90, Bedford Square, London.

According to a scrap of paper (see Fig. 1) that has somehow survived the test of time, the Count and Countess Hollender produced 4 children in rapid succession. Joseph Vivian Cecil (b.1880), Vera Charlotte Eugene (b.1881) who only lived a few months, Salomon Albert Harold (b.1882) and Dorothea Charlotte Frederica (b.1883) my Hollender grandmother.

Joseph married Madge Snell and had two children Patricia and Babette who in turn married Innes Westmacott a champion shooter at Bisley. Upon the death of his father Joseph inherited his father's title and was known as Count Vivian Hollender. But he himself only had daughters, and so the title became extinct.

The second son Salomon Albert "Bertie" became involved in some of his father's business interests and married a girl called Celia.

The Countess Hollender, née Rose Beyfus was born in 1854 to Solomon and Charlotte Beyfus (née Abrahams). Rose was one of 10 children; her brother Lewis Alfred was the father of Gilbert Hugh Beyfus Q.C. Rose was extraordinarily forgiving; her husband was frequently unfaithful but each infidelity produced a gift of jewellery as proof that these were mere pecadilloes. One such gift, a very beautiful diamond ring is on my finger as I write. What stories it could tell after four generations! It never left my grandmother's finger, nor my mother's. Nor has it left mine since my mother died. One day my daughter Rebecca will wear it…and so another link is forged with the past.

"Count Max" didn't have to work. Those were the days when if you were rich you invested your money and spent your time thinking up ways to give and receive entertainment. Naturally he had business interests in London and he and a friend called Cremetti opened an art gallery in Bond Street called 'Hollender & Cremetti' that popularised the Flemish School of Art in England; he also invested in and became manager of the Palace Theatre of London.

There is, of course, much more to tell. Shortly before his death Marconi approached him for a loan to finance "a wonderful invention". Unfortunately Max Hollender died before he could help his friend…had he done so our story might have been very different, but these are the threads that join and twist and separate to make up the constant warp and weave of our lives.

Fortunately a few photographs and documents have survived, including some dating from the beginning of the 20th Century – bows and bustles, parasols and veils, these memorabilia cross the intervening years with a quiet statement of perpetuity.

• Countess Hollender with the Gayford family. Left to right: Ernest Gayford, Countess Hollender (née Rose Beyfus), Gertrude Gayford & Amy Harding. Front: Ursula & Sybil Gayford.

• (3. and 4.) Annotations made by Countess Hollender in the Family Bible. Since she was Jewish this is slightly confusing! But these pages are all that have survived almost 150 years.