Ferdinand Hursley
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| Portrayed by Theo James (former character) | |
| Full Name | Ferdinand Leonard Hursley |
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| Title | Earl of Forton |
| Associated Noble House(s) | Earldom of Forton, Marquessate of Hatherden |
| Date of Birth | 12th January, 1789 |
| Father | Christopher Hursley, Lord Hatherden |
| Father's Rank | Marquess |
| Mother | (birth) Anna Baker, (purported to be) Elenore Hursley, Lady Hatherden |
| Mother's Rank | (Anna) None, (Elenore) Marchioness |
| Town Residence | |
| Income | Unknown |
| School | Eton |
| University | Oxford |
| Year Attained Title | 12 January 1789 |
Ferdinand Hursley, Earl of Forton, is the son of the Marquess of Hatherden and his late wife's lady's maid.
Ferdinand was born about the same time as the death of Lady Hatherden. It was put about that she had died giving birth to him, in order to provide an heir for the Hursley family.
Ferdinand is a former character who was played by Delhi
Background
Ferdinand was born on the 12th of January, a snowy and bitterly cold day, in 1789, in a servants room up in the attic of Hatherden Court, Hampshire. A week prior to his birth was it made to clear to his mother Anna, that she was allowed to give birth and stay on the estate until early spring. Two weeks after Ferdinand’s birth, when the snow finally started to melt as the sun came through, the Marchioness, Lady Hatherden, died after a long period of weak health and illness. Anna feared her leave would be sooner than was agreed upon when Lord Hatherden summoned her with the newborn.
During his marriage to Eleonore, it seemed the two of them were not able to produce an healthy heir. The only son died shortly after his tragic birth. Eleonore was left in a state of fragile health ever since, she never really recovered from it. In a moment of depression, lust, anger and love, the Marquess made love to the lady' maid of Lady Hatherden, a beautiful dark-hair and brown-eyed girl of only 25 years old of Ottoman descent. And it did not happen only once, it turned out to a love affair, with Ferdinand as a result.
The Marquess could not possibly send his son away to nowhere. That beautiful baby boy, and in fact, his heir. He was desperate, so Christopher had it all figured out, Ferdinand could be the son of Eleonore, who died after giving birth to him, considering her poor health. No one had seen Eleonore in months, since she did not had the energy to receive visitors, no one could know she was pregnant. Anna was given a sum of money if she left the estate without making a fuss.
After that day, little Ferdinand, titled Lord Forton, was raised to be the sole heir of the vast estate of the Marquesses of Hatherden. He was the focal point, every time. Greatly loved by his father and sisters (who were aware of the illegitimacy), no one could resist his dark wavy hair and those deep brown eyes. At a young age, he developed a great interest in history, was good at the piano, while his sisters sang along, and loved to ride with his father on horseback from the age of 12 on little hunting trips. It was during one of these hunting trips that his father told him the truth about his mother, since Ferdinand always questioned him after one of his sisters accidentally blabbed out that the late Marchioness was not his mother. He locked himself up in his room for a few days, but then came to terms with his father again. He knew, that what his father did, was the right thing to do. Once he reached the right age, Ferdinand enrolled at Eton, and then onwards to Oxford, studying Economics.
In 1810, during his last year at Oxford, both of his beloved sisters were married off to become respectively the Countess of Litlington and Viscountess of Ravensden, both going in other directions and not staying close to home. That same year, he graduated at Oxford, and his father promised him, that in 1811 he would introduced in London Society, for it was time to find him a wife.