LEINSTER, The Most Noble Anne, Duchess of (Anne nee Eustace Smith) 1922-2016

[Richard R]

From the Times of 10 December 2016: LEINSTER  Anne, Duchess of Leinster, peacefully on 4th December 2016, aged 94. Beloved wife of the late Gerald, 8th Duke of Leinster, mother of Maurice, 9th Duke and the late Lord John FitzGerald. Funeral to take place on Thursday 22nd December, at 2.30pm, St James' Church, Ramsden. Family flowers only. Donations welcome to The Injured Jockeys Fund, c/o R H Barker, Harcourt Road, Wantage, Oxon.

She was d of Lt-Col Philip EUSTACE SMITH MC (1889-1935) of Rothley Crag, Cambo, Northumberland, and Eleanor CLAYTON (1887-?). She m 1946, as his 2nd w, Maj 8th Duke of LEINSTER (1914-2004) and had two sons including the present 9th Duke of Leinster. Her 2nd son, Lord John FitzGERALD, d in 2015, and it's his only son Edward (b 1988 and unm) who is hp to his uncle. Others in line to the dukedom are:

2. Peter Charles FitzGERALD (b 1925)
3. Stephen Peter FitzGERALD (b 1953, unm) son of Peter Charles.

[S. S.]

Is Peter Charles FitzGerald still alive? I recall seeing him as being deceased in the late 90s according to another post here?

S.S.

[Richard R]

I can’t find a group post for him. There’s a legacy online death notice for a Peter Charles Fitzgerald

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/peter-fitzgerald-memorial?id=41474482

But there’s no indication that it’s this Peter Charles (no marriage or issue mentioned). DPB online still show him as living.

[S. S.]

He is indicated in Colinp’s Contenarians in Debretts (Part 4) (2025)

“Leinster D – Peter Charles Fitzgerald b 22 March 1925 (of Victoria, Australia – possibly died 2 Aug 1999?, Victoria probate search)”

 

https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/wms_ZTc7BVY/m/CA0nVszMAwAJ

S.S.

[Richard R]

Thanks, I'm not good with chains in posts! So, does that answer your question? DPB online need to correct their info if this is indeed our gentleman.

[S. S.]

If the info on the Victoria probate search is the same man noted by Colinp then perhaps it is indeed true that Peter has died and his death needs to be recorded. Further investigation should be done. Richard, if you are having difficulty searching through the posts, I suggest confining your search to phrases instead, it tends to narrow down even more, though it is still not exact since you have to read through the individual posts in a chain. 

S.S.

[S R Eglesfield]

Eleanor SMITH, née CLAYTON, appears to be the Eleanor Smith of Titlington Hall, Northumberland, who died on 18 December 1946. I say this because probate was granted to her son John Eustace Smith, and it is confirmed by other sources.

[Henry W]

See also my post in Heirless Titles in conversation with Brooke:

I agree that the LEINSTER dukedom bears watching, however, as you say it has a few things in its favour:

- the hp, Edward, is still young and has recently had daus.

- the line of collaterals is probably not updated. The heir born 1953 is one of 4 grandchildren of the late Rupert Augustus FitzGerald (1900 - 1969) listed.  These grandchildren were all born 1951 and 1962.  However, none are shown as married or with any issue.  It is definitely believable that one or even two of these has never married, but all of them?  I doubt it.  This branch appear to be resident in Victoria, Australia, which makes searching tricky as you cannot search very recent BMD records.  You can search probate records, but FitzGerald is a common name, meaning that even though there are matches on both heirs, it is difficult to be sure they are for the "correct person".

NB these probate records are:

Peter Charles FitzGerald [b 1925] - died 02/08/1999

This might be correct (and realistically we should be on the look out for a death record given his age), however, this notice was placed by "Maggy" and his wife is recorded in Debrett's as June.

Stephen Peter FitzGerald [b 1953] - died 22/12/2004.  See this notice, but he would have been only 51.

Victoria death records can be searched 30 years after the event, so we can check the first of these deaths in about 5 years time.