Some of Wilde's paternal Scottish ancestors were upper-class and lived in many locations at the height of the British Empire, including Peking (where her paternal grandfather was born), Calcutta, Bombay, Cairo, and Tasmania. The Cockburns descend from the lawyer, judge, and literary figure Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn. One of Wilde's great-great-grandfathers, Henry Arthur Blake, was governor of Hong Kong. Through her father's family Wilde is related to George Cockburn, who was responsible for burning down Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812. Wilde's ancestry includes English, German, Irish, Manx, and Scottish; she is also of 1/64th Sephardic Jewish descent through her great-great-great-great grandfather, Ralph Bernal (1783–1854), a British Whig politician and actor.