Burke's Landed Gentry


Burke's Landed Gentry is a reference work listing families in Great Britain and Ireland who have owned rural estates. 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. It has evolved alongside Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage.

Rationale

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 at 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. 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, however, the editors considered that so strict a policy was no longer productive, and in recognition of historical and genealogical value many pedigrees appeared titled 'formerly of' or 'late of'.

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; 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. 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..." This dedication to accuracy reached its peak under the chief editorship, from 1949-59, of L. G. Pine- who was very sceptical regarding many families' claims to antiquity: - and Hugh Massingberd.

Editions

Date rangeEditionFull titleVolumesOnline versions
1833–18351stA Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank, but uninvested with Heritable Honours3Vol 1:
Vol 2:
1836–1837reissue with additional volumesame 4Vol 1:
    • Vol 2:
    Vol 3:
    Vol 1-4: small paper edition
    • $ - all four volumes in file
    1843–18491st editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, a companion to the Baronetage and Knightage3Vol 1 :
    • Vol 1 :
    1850–18532nd edition, re-issue of previous edition, with additional pages in AddendaA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland comprising particulars of 100,000 individuals3Vol 3 :
    • Vol 1:
    Vol 2:
    Vol 3:
    1855–18583rd editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland with Supplement1, with SupplementVol 1:
    • 1862-18634th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland 2Part 1:
    • Part 2:
    1868revised 4th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, with Supplement and Corrigenda
    18715th Edition, re-issued with two Supplements and Addenda, 1875A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland2Vol 1:
    • Vol 2:
    Vol 1: reissue "With Supplement and Addenda"
    18796th edition, re-issued with larger Supplement and Addenda, 1882A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland2Vol 1:
    • Vol 2:
    18867th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland2
    18948th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland2Vol 2:
    • 18989th edition, including a separate section on IrelandA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry2Vol 1:
    • Vol 2:
    190010th edition, with AddendaA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain
    190611th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain
    191412th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, revised by A. C. Fox-Davies
    192113th editionA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain, ed. A. Winton Thorpe
    192514th edition, re-issue of 1921 edition, with SupplementA Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. Alfred T. Butler
    193715th "Centenary" editionBurke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H.1
    193916th editionBurke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry including American Families with British Ancestry, ed. L. G. Pine et al.
    195217th edition, 1954 Supplement, also ed. L. G. PineBurke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, ed. L. G. Pine
    1965–197218th editionBurke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Vol. 1 & 2 1965-9, ed. Peter Townend; Vol. 3 1972 ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd3
    2001–200619th editionBurke's Landed Gentry : 4