Burke's Landed Gentry (originally titledBurke's Commoners) is a reference work listing families in Great Britain and Ireland who have owned rural estates of some size. The work has been in existence from the first half of the 19th century, and was founded by John Burke. He and successors from the Burke family, and others since, have written in it on genealogy and heraldry relating to gentry families.[1]
It has evolved alongside Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. The two works are regarded as complementing each other. Since the early 20th century, the work includes families that historically possessed landed property.
The title of the first edition in 1833 expressed its scope clearly: A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank, but uninvested with Heritable Honours. It looked at both the family history and the arms of selected families who owned land or occupied important posts in the United Kingdom, but did not hold inherited titles. This excluded group, consisting of peers and baronets, had their own book called Burke's Peerage.
At the time the series started, the group it covered had considerable political, social and economic influence in their localities and in some cases nationally. During the 20th century, the power of rural landowners and the public's interest in buying books about them largely disappeared. Few of the families in the books still own country estates, a rare example being the Fulfords of Great Fulford near Dunsford in Devon who were mentioned in the 2012 TV series "Country House Rescue" and were described in Burke's Landed Gentry as having lived there since the reign of King Richard I (1189–1199).[2]
Until 1914, possession of landed property was a strict requirement. If a family sold or lost its estates, it was no longer included in Burke's Landed Gentry. Illustrating this point, at least half of the families included in 1861 were omitted from the 1914 edition. Following the alienation of families from their land after the First World War, the editors considered that such a strict policy was no longer productive, and in recognition of historical and genealogical value many pedigrees appeared titled (family name) 'formerly of' or 'late of' (place).[3]
Uses
Owing to the characteristic prose style developed by John Burke, the publication's founder, the material included in Burke's Landed Gentry, often based on work by many earlier authorities, was made more readable than had previously been the case, a style maintained by his successors.[4] This prose style, when subsequently employed by John Burke's son, Ulster King of Arms Sir Bernard Burke, took a turn towards flowery wording in keeping with the literary tastes of the Victorian period in which he wrote.[1]
The widespread inclusion of family legends which, due to the large number of families included in each edition, the Burke family were unable to comprehensively check, resulted in some criticism of the accuracy of information contained in the volumes. Accordingly, more recent editions are more scrupulously checked and rewritten for accuracy. Advertisements for the 1894 edition stated: "Apocryphal statements, which had crept into former editions, have been expunged, erroneous particulars and incorrect descents discovered and omitted..."[5]
This dedication to accuracy reached its peak under the chief editorship, from 1949 to 1959, of L. G. Pine – who was very sceptical regarding many families' claims to antiquity: 'If everybody who claims to have come over with the Conqueror were right, William must have landed with 200,000 men-at-arms instead of about 12,000',[6] – and Hugh Massingberd (1971–83).[3]
A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank, but uninvested with Heritable Honours
14th edition, re-issue of 1921 edition, with Supplement
A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. Alfred T. Butler
1937
15th "Centenary" edition
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H.
1
1939
16th edition
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry including American Families with British Ancestry, ed. L. G. Pine et al.
1952
17th edition, 1954 Supplement, also ed. L. G. Pine
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, ed. L. G. Pine
1965–1972
18th edition
Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Vol. 1 & 2 1965–9, ed. Peter Townend; Vol. 3 1972 (with Index to all three Volumes) ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd
3
2001–2006
19th edition
Burke's Landed Gentry: (Vol 1: The Kingdom of Scotland, 2001 ed. Peter Beauclerk Dewar; Vol. 2: The Ridings of York, 2005 ed. Charles Mosley; Vol 3 & 4: The Principality of Wales and the North West, 2006 ed. Charles Mosley)
4
Irish supplement
The early editions of Burke's Landed Gentry were "of Great Britain and Ireland". After 1899, to allow the authors to cover the topics in more depth, there was a Great Britain edition and an Ireland edition. The Ireland edition is important for genealogists, because it includes not only the Old English (12th century onward arrivals) and the New English families (16th century onward arrivals), but also some of the leading elements of the Gaelic Irish families who previously ruled vast swathes of Ireland and maintained some influence, including the O'Briens, the O'Conors, the MacCarthys, the Kavanaghs, and more.
↑ A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Colonial Gentry, Sir Bernard Burke, ed. Ashworth P. Burke, Harrison & Sons, London, 1895, p. 878 (end matter p. 2)
↑ Time magazine, 'Twentieth Century Squires', 10 Dec 1951
Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. His first publication, a Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom, was updated sporadically until 1847, when the company began publishing new editions every year as Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage.
The landed gentry, or the gentry, is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, their economic base in land was often similar, and some of the landed gentry were wealthier than some peers. Many gentry were close relatives of peers, and it was not uncommon for gentry to marry into peerage. It is the British element of the wider European class of gentry. With or without noble title, owning rural land estates often brought with it the legal rights of lord of the manor, and the less formal name or title of squire, in Scotland laird.
Sir John Bernard Burke, was a British genealogist and Ulster King of Arms, who helped publish Burke's Peerage.
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Sir William Leece Drinkwater was a First Deemster of the Isle of Man.
John Burke was an Irish genealogist, and the original publisher of Burke's Peerage. He was the father of Sir Bernard Burke, a British officer of arms and genealogist.
Hugh John Massingberd, originally Hugh John Montgomery and known from 1963 to 1992 as Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, was an English journalist and genealogist. He was chief editor of Burke's Peerage/Burke's Landed Gentry from 1971 to 1983.
Carter-Campbell of Possil is a branch of Clan Campbell, a Scottish clan. Historically, they are part of Clan Campbell, which was regarded as one of the largest Scottish clans. The branch of the Campbell clan was historically centred in Lawers. Some of the clan, which originated with the original Campbells, had links to the lands of Argyll.
There have been two baronetcies- both extinct- granted to the Willises of Fen Ditton, both in the Baronetage of England.
Sir Robert George Throckmorton, 8th Baronet was an English Whig and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1831 to 1835.
William Helyar of Coker Court, East Coker, in Somerset, was Archdeacon of Barnstaple and a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I.
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The Palmes family of Naburn Hall, and the cadet branches of Lindley Hall, North Yorkshire; Ashwell, Rutland; and Carcraig in Ireland, are an ancient English aristocratic family, noted for their adherence to Catholicism.
John Goddard Richards was an Irish barrister, justice of the peace, and High Sheriff of Wexford for 1824. He was the eldest son and heir of the leading surgeon Solomon Richards and his wife Elizabeth Groome, daughter of the Reverend Edward Groome. He owned land on the Roebuck Estate in County Dublin and the Ardamine Estate in County Wexford.
Catherine Dorothea Burdett was an Irish novelist who drew mainly on personal experience.
Reginald de Mure, Lord of Cowdams, Cameskan and Abercorn was a Scottish noble. He was the Lord Chamberlain of Scotland between 1329 and 1333 and between 1334 and 1340.
Lt.-Gen. Frederick Hamilton PC JP was a Scottish born Irish general and politician who served in the Parliament of Ireland.
Hugh Poyntz, 1st Baron Poyntz, Lord of Curry Mallet was an English noble. He fought in the wars in Wales, Gascony and Scotland. He was a signatory of the Baron's Letter to Pope Boniface VIII in 1301.
Ellis ap Griffith (c.1440-1489) or Elissau ap Gruffudd, was the Baron of Gwyddelwern in Denbighshire, Wales, and the grandnephew of Owen Glendower, Prince of Wales. Following his family defeat during the Glyndwr Rising, his branch inherited the co-representation of the Royal House of Mathrafal, and were immortalized by William Shakespeare in the history play Henry IV. Through his mother Lowrie, he inherited the lordship of his grandfather, Tudor Glendower, and by marriage, the estate of Plas-yn-Yale. By this union, he became the founder of the House of Yale, represented by the Yale family, later known in America as the benefactors of Yale University.
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