Elon Musk’s British family tree can be revealed for the first time and it shows he comes from a long line of Brits.
The world’s richest man has a handful of cousins living mainly in the north of England while another branch of the family settled in rural Gloucestershire.
MailOnline delved into the tech billionaire’s family background after he spoke of the profound influence his British grandmother had in shaping his life.
Musk told this week of the hardships Cora Amelia Robinson overcame growing up in poverty in Liverpool during the Great Depression before being bombed by the Nazis in the Second World War.
The Tesla tycoon went on to shockingly claim the woman he called ‘Nana’ may have fallen prey to grooming gangs had she been brought up in modern day Britain.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, which he owns, he said: ‘My British grandmother, Cora Amelia Robinson, was an important part of my childhood.
‘She was very strict but also kind and I could always count on her. She grew up very poor in England during the Great Depression only to be bombed in WW2.
‘To earn money for food she cleaned houses, leaving me with a lasting respect for those who do so.
‘My Nana was one of the poor working class girls with no one to protect her who might have been abducted in present day Britain.’
Elon Musk’s (pictured) British family tree can be revealed for the first time and it shows he comes from a long line of Brits
Cora Amelia Robinson was born in Liverpool but moved to South Africa after marrying and was survived being bombed by the Nazis in the Second World War. Cora is pictured with Elon’s father Errol in Johannesburg
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Musk, 53, highlighted his late grandmother’s working class roots following a series of social media attacks on the UK government.
He branded Sir Keir Starmer ‘evil’ over his opposition to holding a national inquiry into the scandal which saw thousands of vulnerable girls raped and sexually abused by gangs of mainly British-Pakistani men.
Musk – who is set to play a role in incoming President Donald Trump’s administration – previously branded the Prime Minister ‘two-tier Keir’ over his response to a summer of riots and condemned the jail sentences handed to people who had whipped up disorder online.
Musk has also backed calls for a fresh general election and branded the inheritance tax raid on farmers ‘Stalinist’.
After backing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, he went on to call for the party leader’s resignation saying he ‘doesn’t have what it takes’ – following an apparent disagreement over Musk’s support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
According to Musk’s father Errol – who is Cora’s son – the SpaceX founder is now considering a takeover bid for Liverpool football club.
He said: ‘His grandmother was born in Liverpool and we have relatives in Liverpool and we were fortunate to know quite a lot of The Beatles because they grew up with some of my family.’
Musk – who was twice married to British actress Talulah Riley – visited Liverpool as a six-year-old when his father brought him to Britain to watch tennis at Wimbledon.
Elon Musk (second from left) at a family wedding in Canada attended by his British-born ‘Nana’ Cora (bottom row, far right) in 2001
Mr Musk said on X that his grandmother’s humble origins and a lack of protection growing up could have made her way victim today
But last month two of Musk’s British relatives tracked down by MailOnline told how the entrepreneur – who was born in South Africa but is now a US citizen – appeared to have previously had very little interest in the UK or his family that still lives here.
One cousin even revealed Musk – who is said to be worth more than £380 billion – cruelly snubbed the family when they discovered the connection and tried to make contact.
Retired merchant seaman Marshall Robinson, 86, said: ‘I have never been in touch but one of the family did send him a social media message and he just said: ‘What do you want?’ That was it.’
Now MailOnline can provide the lowdown on Musk’s family heritage – which could prove helpful for the tycoon who seems increasingly keen to establish his British credentials.
His paternal grandmother was born Cora Amelia Robinson in the family’s modest terraced home in the Mossley Hill area of Liverpool on August 16 1923.
Her father John Robinson, a Liverpool-born stonemason, had previously lived in South Africa and married a local woman called Breghie Elizabeth Theron.
The couple had five children – two girls and three boys – of which Cora was the youngest.
Their eldest son Levi was born in Pretoria in 1912 but by the time their second child Elenora was born in 1916, the family had returned to Liverpool.
In May 1944, that a 20-year-old Cora (left) married Walter Musk (right) – a South African soldier who is said to have been transferred to British intelligence towards the end of war
Cora’s brother Kenneth married Ellen Scott in 1941 in Fylde, Lancashire, and went on to have six children. They included Marshall, pictured, who hit out at Musk for meddling in British politics last month
Another British cousin, Graham, makes no secret of where his heart is – though he now lives in Malta
The front of the two-storey home built on the land where Musk’s grandmother lived in Merseyside
The couple’s second son Sydney was born in 1918 while another son Kenneth was born in 1920.
The house where the family lived is no longer there and it is thought to have been destroyed during a German bombardment of the strategic wartime port.
That may have prompted some members of the family to escape to South Africa and it was there, in May 1944, that a 20-year-old Cora married Walter Musk – a South African soldier who is said to have been transferred to British intelligence towards the end of war.
They had two sons including Errol who was born in 1946.
Retired businessman Errol, 78, went on to marry Canadian model Maye Haldeman and the couple had three children – Elon, brother Kimbal, 52, and sister Tosca, 50.
The couple divorced in 1979 and Errol went on to have two daughters – Alexandra and Asha – with his third wife Heide Bezuidenhout – before fathering another child with his step daughter Jana Bezuidenhout.
Meanwhile back in the UK, two of Cora’s siblings went on to have a total of eight children – Musk’s cousins – none of whom are ever thought to have met the tech tycoon, who is himself a father of 12.
Sydney married Dorothy Dodwell in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire shortly after the war broke out in 1939.
Retired businessman Errol, 78, who was born in 1946, is the son of Cora and Walter Musk
Errol, 78, went on to marry Canadian model Maye Haldeman (pictured) and the couple had three children
The couple had two children David who was born in 1940 and died aged 54 in 1994, and Carl, 80, who lives in Cheltenham. Sydney died in Cheltenham aged just 39 in 1958.
Cora’s brother Kenneth married Ellen Scott in 1941 in Fylde, Lancashire, and went on to have six children.
They included Marshall who hit out at Musk for meddling in British politics last month.
Speaking at his modest terraced house in the run down Lancashire seaside town of Fleetwood, he said: ‘I think he’s stupid with all the things he comes out with.
‘It’s pretty shocking with what he has become and how he’s linked to the President-elect Trump.’
He added: ‘I’m shocked that I’ve now got a link to the White House. I obviously knew we were related because of the name Musk which is Scottish.
‘I’ve never met Elon. I met his father in South Africa when I was in the merchant navy a long time ago.
‘I have never been in touch but one of the family did send him a social media message and he just said: “What do you want?” That was it.’
Elon’s brother Kimbal Musk, 52, appears on the US talk show The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
Tosca Musk (pictured), 50, is the youngest of the three siblings
His married sister Shane, 67, who also lives in the fishing port, told how she discovered the connection by chance while looking into the family tree.
The mother-of-five said: ‘I have not been in touch with Elon – and I don’t know what I’d say to him.
‘I don’t think Elon has snubbed the family but he hasn’t shown any interest in us from what I know.
‘I have thought about getting in touch with Elon but I decided not to – we’re his poor relations after all.
‘I was shocked to learn we were related to him. I didn’t realise the family connection until I started researching our family tree.’
Shane told how she was introduced to Musk’s brother when he was visiting the UK with his grandmother.
She said: ‘Cora once came over to see my dad more than 20 years ago so I asked him: ‘Will you bring her to meet us?’
‘And he did bring them. Cora brought Kimbal with her but Elon wasn’t with them.
Errol went on to have two daughters with his third wife Heide Bezuidenhout. The youngest is Alexandra,who was born in 1994
Asha is five years younger than her sister and was born in 1999
‘I decided to look into my dad’s side of the family but I had not got much information.
‘I then searched Kimbal’s name and then everything came up about Elon. My computer lit up with all this stuff about Elon.
‘It was a big shock. I messaged him and said I was searching my family tree and Kimbal said he did remember us.
‘I have been in touch with Elon’s dad and he remembered my dad.’
Although she hasn’t met Musk, Shane said she believed he may be misunderstood.
She said: ‘A lot of people say he is a bit mad but he is very intelligent – intelligent people often don’t come across very well.’
One of Marshall and Shane’s siblings, who was also called Kenneth, died shortly after being born in 1942.
Their sister Cora, who is 81 and named after Musk’s grandmother, lived near the Lancashire seaside town of Cleveleys while another brother Graham, 77, quit his home in Fleetwood to move to Malta where he lives with wife Irene.
He is Facebook friends of Errol along with a couple of other members of the Musk family.
Another brother, Glenn moved to Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. He is thought to have died in 2017 aged 61.
Their father Kenneth died aged 75 in January 1996.
She was believed to be the last surviving sibling when she died in Gauteng, South Africa, at the age of 87 on July 30 2011. Walter died aged 68 in 1986.
