Burke's Peerage Limited is a British

genealogical Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

of the

peerage A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted noble ranks. Peerages include: Australia * Australian peers Belgium * Belgi ...

, baronetage,

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

age and

landed gentry 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, th ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. 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 releasing new editions every year as ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage'' (often shortened to just ''Burke's Peerage''). Other books followed, including ''

Burke's Landed Gentry ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' (originally titled ''Burke'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 cen ...

'', ''Burke's Colonial Gentry'', and ''Burke's General Armory''. In addition to the peerage, the Burke's publishing company produced books on

royal families A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papa ...

of Europe and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

, ruling families of Africa and the Middle East, distinguished families of the United States and historical families of Ireland.

History

Coat of Arms of the Norroy and Ulster King of Arms

The firm was established in 1826 by John Burke (1786–1848), progenitor of a dynasty of

genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...

s and

herald A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms. Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...

s. His son Sir

John Bernard Burke Sir John Bernard Burke, (5 January 1814 – 12 December 1892) was a British genealogist and Ulster King of Arms, who helped publish ''Burke's Peerage''. Personal life Burke, of Irish descent, was born at London and was educated in London and ...

(1814–1892) was

Ulster King of Arms Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is the Provincial King of Arms at the College of Heralds with jurisdiction over England north of the Trent and Northern Ireland. The two offices of Norroy and Ulster were formerly separate. Norroy King of Arms is t ...

(1853–1892) and his grandson, Sir

Henry Farnham Burke Sir Henry Farnham Burke, (1859–1930) was a long-serving Anglo-Irish officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Biography A son of Sir Bernard Burke (who was Ulster King of Arms from 1853 until his death in 1892), Henry Burke was app ...

(1859–1930), was Garter Principal King of Arms (1919–1930). After his death, ownership passed through a variety of people. Apart from the Burke family, editors have included

Arthur Charles Fox-Davies Arthur Charles Fox-Davies (28 February 1871 – 19 May 1928) was a British expert on heraldry. His ''Complete Guide to Heraldry'', published in 1909, has become a standard work on heraldry in England. A barrister by profession, Fox-Davies worke ...

, Alfred Trego Butler,

Leslie Gilbert Pine Leslie Gilbert Pine (22 December 1907 – 15 May 1987) was a British writer, lecturer, and researcher in the areas of genealogy, nobility, history, heraldry and animal welfare. Early life and education Pine was born at Bristol, the son of Henry ...

, Peter Townend, and

Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd Hugh John Massingberd (30 December 1946 – 25 December 2007), 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''/''Burk ...

. From 1974 to 1983,

Jeremy Norman Jeremy Gordon Norman (born 1947) is a British entrepreneur, whose ventures have included ''Burke's Peerage'', Mayfair's Embassy nightclub, the gay 'ultradisco' Heaven, the clubs Embargo and Leopard Lounge on Fulham Broadway, the Power Station g ...

was chairman of the company, taking the role while Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd was editor. His fellow directors included Patrick, Lord Lichfield, and

John Brooke-Little John Philip Brooke Brooke-Little (6 April 1927 – 13 February 2006) was an English writer on heraldic subjects, and a long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London. In 1947, while still a student, Brooke-Little founded the Society of He ...

. Under Norman's chairmanship, new volumes were published on royal families, Irish genealogy, and country houses of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. In 1984, the ''Burke's Peerage'' titles were separated and sold: ''Burke’s Peerage'' itself was acquired by Frederik Jan Gustav Floris, Baron van Pallandt, while ''Burke’s Landed Gentry'' and other titles were sold to other buyers.

Criticism

In 1877, the Oxford professor

Edward Augustus Freeman Edward Augustus Freeman (2 August 182316 March 1892) was an English historian, architectural artist, and Liberal politician during the late-19th-century heyday of Prime Minister William Gladstone, as well as a one-time candidate for Parliament. ...

criticised the accuracy of Burke's and said that it contained pedigrees that were

purely mythical – if indeed mythical is not too respectable a name for what must be in many cases the work of deliberate invention .. andall but invariably false. As a rule, it is not only false, but impossible ..not merely fictions, but exactly that kind of fiction which is, in its beginning, deliberate and interested falsehood.

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

in the play ''

A Woman of No Importance ''A Woman of No Importance'' by Oscar Wilde is "a new and original play of modern life", in four acts, first given on 19 April 1893 at the Haymarket Theatre, London. Like Wilde's other society plays, it satirises English upper-class society. It ...

'' wrote: "You should study the Peerage, Gerald. It is the one book a young man about town should know thoroughly, and it is the best thing in fiction the English have ever done!" In 1901, the historian J. Horace Round wrote of Burke's "old fables" and "grotesquely impossible tales". More recent editions have been more scrupulously checked and rewritten for accuracy, notably under the chief editorship, from 1949 to 1959, of

L. G. Pine Leslie Gilbert Pine (22 December 1907 – 15 May 1987) was a British writer, lecturer, and researcher in the areas of genealogy, nobility, history, heraldry and animal welfare. Early life and education Pine was born at Bristol, the son of Henry Mo ...

and

Hugh Massingberd Hugh John Massingberd (30 December 1946 – 25 December 2007), 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''/''Burk ...

(1971–1983). Pine was particularly sceptical regarding many families' claims to antiquity, saying: "If everybody who claims to have come over with the Conqueror were right,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

must have landed with 200,000 men-at-arms instead of about 12,000.""Twentieth Century Squires", ''Time'', 10 December 1951

References

External links

* *
Burke's Peerage Foundation website

Online editions

1st edition – 1826 – Hathitrust

3rd edition – 1830 – Hathitrust

4th edition – 1832 – Vol 1 – Hathitrust

4th edition – 1832 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust

4th edition – 1832 – Vol 2 – Google Books

4th edition – corrected to 1833 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust

5th edition – 1838 – Google Books

6th edition – 1839 – Hathitrust

7th edition – 1843 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust

10th edition – 1848 – Hathitrust

12th edition – 1850 – Hathitrust

20th edition – 1858 – Hathitrust

22nd edition – 1860 – Hathitrust

23rd edition – 1861 – Hathitrust

27th edition – 1865 – Google Books

30th edition – 1868 – Google Books

30th edition – 1868 – Vol 1 – Hathitrust

30th edition – 1868 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust

31st edition – 1869 – Vol 1 – Hathitrust

31st edition – 1869 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust

37th edition – 1875 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust

40th edition – 1878 – Hathitrust

48th edition – 1886 – University of Dusseldorf

53rd edition – 1891 – University of Dusseldorf

76th edition – 1914 (to page 1274) – Archive.org

77th edition – 1915 – Archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke's Peerage Publications established in 1826 Publishing companies established in 1826 British biographical dictionaries English society Scottish society Welsh society Family history Genealogy publications Literature on heraldry Series of books 19th-century history books 20th-century history books 21st-century history books 1826 establishments in the United Kingdom Peerages in the United Kingdom

History

Criticism

See also

References

External links

Online editions