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 activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genealogist
John Burke began releasing books devoted to the
ancestry
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
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, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...
of the
peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks.
Peerages include:
A ...
,
baronetage,
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a 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.
The concept of a knighthood ...
age and
landed gentry
The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...
of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
and
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. 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'' (often shortened and known as ''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 its peerage publications, the ''Burke's'' publishing company produced books on
Royal families
A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family.
The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while the ...
of
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
,
ruling families of Africa and the Middle East,
distinguished families of the United States and
historical families of Ireland.
History
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 Lineage (anthropology), lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family ...
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 ...
s. His son
Sir John Bernard Burke (1814–1892) was
Ulster King of Arms
Norroy and Ulster King of Arms is the provincial King of Arms at the College of Arms 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 th ...
(1853–1892) and his grandson,
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...
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 a ...
(1859–1930), was
Garter Principal King of Arms
Garter Principal King of Arms (also Garter King of Arms or simply Garter) is the senior king of arms and officer of arms of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority with jurisdiction over England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The position has ...
(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
Alfred Trego Butler MVO, MC, FSA, FASG (8 October 1880 – 22 December 1946) was a genealogist and officer of arms at the College of Arms in London.
Early and personal life
Alfred Butler was born in 1880 as the second son of Robert Frederi ...
,
Leslie Gilbert Pine,
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 began his career at ''Burke's Peerage''/''Bur ...
.
From 1974 to 1983,
Jeremy Norman was chairman of the company, taking the role while Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd was
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...
.
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 heraldry, heraldic subjects, and a long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London. In 1947, while still a student, Brooke-Little founded the Soc ...
,
Norroy & Ulster King of Arms. Under Norman's chairmanship, new volumes were published on royal families, Irish genealogy, and country houses of the
British Isles
The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, 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 Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
. 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 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'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...
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 Moo ...
and
Hugh Massingberd (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 masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...
must have landed with 200,000 men-at-arms instead of about 12,000."
["Twentieth Century Squires", ''Time'', 10 December 1951]
See also
* ''
Almanach de Gotha
The ''Almanach de Gotha'' () is a directory of Europe's royalty and higher nobility, also including the major governmental, military and diplomatic corps, as well as statistical data by country. First published in 1763 by C. W. Ettinger in ...
''
* ''
The Complete Peerage
''The Complete Peerage'' (full title: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom Extant, Extinct, or Dormant''); first edition by George Edward Cokayne, Clarenceux King of Arms; 2nd edition re ...
''
* ''
Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage
Debrett's () is a British professional coaching company and publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of ''The New Peerage''. The company takes its name from its founder, John ...
''
* ''
Social Register
The ''Social Register'' is a semi-annual publication in the United States that indexes the members of American high society. First published in the 1880s by newspaper columnist Louis Keller, it was later acquired by Malcolm Forbes. Since 2014, ...
''
* ''
Carnet Mondain
The ''Carnet Mondain'' ( English: Social Notebook) of Belgium is a directory featuring high society (nobility and upper bourgeoisie), Belgian or foreign, established in Belgium, as well as members of Belgian families established abroad. It is eq ...
''
*
International Register of Arms, formerly ''Burke's Peerage & Gentry International Register of Arms''
References
External links
*
Burke's Peerage Foundation website
Online editions
1st edition – 1826 – Hathitrust3rd edition – 1830 – Hathitrust4th edition – 1832 – Vol 1 – Hathitrust4th edition – 1832 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust4th edition – 1832 – Vol 2 – Google Books4th edition – corrected to 1833 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust5th edition – 1838 – Google Books6th edition – 1839 – Hathitrust7th edition – 1843 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust10th edition – 1848 – Hathitrust12th edition – 1850 – Hathitrust20th edition – 1858 – Hathitrust22nd edition – 1860 – Hathitrust23rd edition – 1861 – Hathitrust27th edition – 1865 – Google Books30th edition – 1868 – Google Books30th edition – 1868 – Vol 1 – Hathitrust30th edition – 1868 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust31st edition – 1869 – Vol 1 – Hathitrust31st edition – 1869 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust37th edition – 1875 – Vol 2 – Hathitrust40th edition – 1878 – Hathitrust47th edition - 1885 - Hathitrustalso
48th edition – 1886 – University of Dusseldorf
53rd edition – 1891 – University of Dusseldorf
59th edition - 1897 - Archive.org
60th edition - 1898 - Hathitrust
65th edition - 1903 - Archive.org
66th edition - 1904 - Archive.org
74th edition – 1912 – Archive.org
76th edition – 1914 (to page 1274) – Archive.org
77th edition – 1915 – Archive.org
92nd edition - 1934 - Google Books
- covers to 'Lacon'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke's Peerage
Publications established in 1826
Publishing companies established in 1826
British biographical dictionaries
Book series
Society of England
Society of Scotland
Society of Wales
Family history
Genealogy publications
Literature on heraldry
19th-century history books
20th-century history books
21st-century history books
1826 establishments in the United Kingdom
Peerages in the United Kingdom
Baronetcies