Dear Jessica
Did you get any further information on James Robert Thackeray? He is my 5th great grandfather, through my paternal grandmother, whose grandmother was Hannah Thackeray. We grew up with the family story about W M Thackeray being a great great great etc uncle, but I'm not sure of its veracity. I've seen those newspaper articles you refer to about reference to WMT,(and also read up the fascinating court proceedings related to the Rev Thackeray and Bishop Tyrell). It seems to me that Rev Thackeray our ancestor added Makepeace to his name later in life after moving to Queensland and named his later children with Ellen Palmer putting Makepeace in their names. Makes me think maybe he made the relationship up.
Kind regards
Wend Wyatt