Huge families of the peerage

[Eleanor Doughty]

Hello all,

Can anyone think of any particularly notable peerage couples that – in times recent or not so recent – had large numbers of children in the pursuit of producing a male heir?  For example, the 7th Earl and Countess Fitzwilliam had four girls and then a male heir in 1910. Ideally I'm looking for examples of families with even more girls born first than that.

I have a few on my list – recently the late Lord Braybrooke who had eight daughters between two wives and no sons – but if any immediately come to mind for anyone, from any period (though 19th/20th century preferred) I'd appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks ever so much in advance,

Eleanor

[bx...@yahoo.com]

The current Earl and Countess of Rosebery matched the Fitzwilliams, 4 girls and then their son, Lord Dalmeny, in 1967.

Brooke

[bx...@yahoo.com]

The 5th Baron Redesdale and his wife also had 4 daughters, before the birth of their son, the current (6th) Baron, also in 1967.

Brooke

[marquess]

Didn't the late Earl Spencer have 4 daughters before having a son, the current earl? I hope that we will be able to add the Sutherland boys to his list at some point, 6 daughters between the two of them, so far. 

[bx...@yahoo.com]

marquess,  he was one of the ones that came to my mind as well.  But I checked and the Spencers had had 2 daughters, a son who was born and died on the same day, another daughter (Diana) and then the current Earl.  So it was 3 daughters and then the son.   (I remember reading about the tremendous pressure the couple felt to produce an heir after the death of their first son, and the relief when they finally had the then Viscount Althorp.

As for the Sutherlands, they've now produced 7 daughters, and still no son.

Brooke

[David Beamish]

Not quite on a par with the Braybrooke example, but the 9th Baron Hawke (1901–85) had seven daughters and no sons, and so was succeeded by his younger brother.

[Eleanor Doughty]

Thank you all! The Hawke example is incredible since they were all from the same marriage. Think that’s a record so far, since Robin Braybrooke remarried.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Peerage News" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/peerage-news/YLp7OXvwIHA/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to peerage-news...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/peerage-news/082782fa-7c13-4760-be60-2d572bab401an%40googlegroups.com.

--

Eleanor Doughty

Feature writer

07854 073818

@brushingboots

eleanordoughty.com

[VJIW]

I think the previous Lord Sackville-West had 5 daughters and no son in the end. 

Cruel system. I wonder how many other titleholders had all daughters. Yet the Countess Mountbatten

Of Burma has managed to hold her title? my (untitled family side) great grandpa fathered 11 boys and 3 girls!

According to a documentary about the Spencer's it's a male line biological process of sex of child. Some families can't make boys for a while others like the Shrewsbury Seymours have loads. 

[malcolm davies]

The most pertinent example is the Marquess of Stafford who has 4 daughters and no son.His brother has 3 daughters.

This matters because they each have had no further children for at least 7 years,and unless either of them have a son the Dukedom of Sutherland will become extinct,after 8 or 9 dukes,depending on which brother survives last.

[marquess]

This one was already mentioned in my earlier post, what about the earl of Clanwilliam, two before the current one. He had 6 daughters and if I am not mistaken the historical family lands didn't go the the next successor in the title?

[pyvery]

Re Clanwilliam..I dont think that there were any historical family lands by then to pass on

[pyvery]

What about the present Earl of Stradrooke?

[https:/www.maltagenealogy.com/LeighRayment/]

MASSIVE FAMILY indeed is the Present Earl of Stradbroke family..

[bx...@yahoo.com]

From his 2 marriages, the Earl of Stradbroke has 8 sons and 7 daughters.  However, his very first child was a boy, so he doesn't fit this category.

Brooke

[bx...@yahoo.com]

What I meant to say is that he doesn't fit into the category of a peer who has had many daughters before having a son and heir.

Brooke

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Here is a German example:


Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Alexander von Könitz, cr 1818 Freiherr von Könitz (Ansbach 29 Jan 1790-Munich 21 Jul 1859), married 22 Oct 1826 Henriette Edle von Kerstorf (11 Dec 1807-19 Aug 1854)

They jad six daughters before their first son.They stopped having children after that.

1.Charlotte Marie Henriette (5 Nov 1828-    ); m.18 Aug 1850 [19 Aug 1850, per 1879 GGT] Philipp Gf von Isenburg-Philippseich (d.10 Jul 1866)
2.Juliane Friederike Caroline (28 Apr 1830-    ); m.11 Oct 1852 Oscar Peschel (d.31 Aug 1875)
3.Friederike Mathilde Therese Eleonore (19 Sep 1832-    ); m.18 Aug 1850 Ludwig Gf von Isenburg-Philippseich (d.1889)
4.Luise (20 Jan 1835-    ); m.1st 23 May 1859 Ludwig Hoermann von Hoerbach (d.29 May 1868); m.2nd 29 Jul 1869 Ludwig Walther (d.7 Jul 1871)
5.Friederike Ernestine Eleonora Mathilde (4 Sep 1836-    ); m.6 Oct 1863 Hans von Kirchbach (d.1903)
6.Albertine Franziska Luise (12 Apr 1840-    ); m.5 Nov 1861 Christian Wilhelm Ludwig von Abeken (d.1890)
7.Albert Alexander (4 Sep 1842-    ); m.1883 Johanna Gfn Verri della Bosia (1857-    )

[bx...@yahoo.com]

With regards to foreign families, one of the most famous examples in modern times was the case of the  Russian Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918) and his wife Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (1872-1918)

With semi-Salic law in effect, they were under pressure to produce a male heir. Their first 4 children (the Grand Duchesses Olga (b. 1895), Tatiana (b. 1897), Maria (b. 1899) and Anastasia (b. 1901) were girls. They finally had a son, the Tsarevich Alexis,  in 1904.

All five of the children and their parents were executed in 1918.

Brooke

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Another German case:

Carl Ludwig Friedrich August Freiherr von Maltzahn (Nov 1810-26 Dec 1858); m.1844 Dorothea Maria Christiane Leonhard (1819-1894)
1.Agnes Albertine Franziska (3 Jan 1845-    ); m.1878 Ferdinand von Stöcklern zu Gründholzegg (d.1887)
2.Hedwig Albertine Auguste (2 Dec 1846-    )
3.Agathe Bertha Charlotte (24 Dec 1848-    )
4.Martha Caroline Emilie (12 Mar 1851-    ); m.1873 Rudolf Loholm
5.Anna Emma Luise (12 Jul 1853-Utzedel 16 Jul 1910)
6.Clara Albertine Emilie (5 Nov 1855-    )
7.Albrecht Wilhelm Hermann Friedrich Frhr von Maltzahn, b.Utzedel 20 Sep 1858, d.there 1909; m.1st Stendal 1882 Adele von Reppert-Bismarck (Gohre 1864-Stendal 6 Jul 1889); m.2d Medrow 1895 Hedwig von Witzleben (b.Waldberg 1864, d.Neubrandenburg 1945)

[dpth...@gmail.com]

Here is a German case in which eight daughters arrived before two sons appeared.


Mauritz Karl Julius Oscar Hyacinth Philipp Joseph Frhr von Strachwitz u.Groß-Zauche (27 May 1822-13 Jun 1881); m.11 Mar 1854 Luise von Bockelberg (20 Oct 1833-1917)
|
1.Anna (Bruschewitz 20 Sep 1855-    )
2.Marie (Bruschewitz 9 Dec 1856-    )
3.Hedwig (Bruschewitz 11 Jun 1858-    )
4.Thecla (Bruschewitz 6 Jul 1860-    )
5.Elisabeth (Bruschewitz 5 Dec 1862-    )
6.Gertrud (Bruschewitz 18 Jan 1865-    )
7.Helene (Bruschewitz 13 Nov 1866-    ); m.1906 Joachim Gf von Oriola
8.Luise (Bruschewitz 28 May 1868-25 Oct 1869)
9.Mauritz Anton Friedrich Rudolf Hyacinth Adam (Bruschewitz 25 Sep 1870-    ); m.Breslau 1898 Dora von Nostitz u.Jänkendorf (b.Brieg 1877, d.Sagan 1945)
10.Egon Moritz Anton Friedrich (Bruschewitz 27 Jun 1874-d.by 1908)