Burke's Irish family records

"Preface THIS IS the fifth edition of a collection of narrative pedigrees of individual Irish families which do not have hereditary peerages or baronetcies. When these families first had a book of their own (Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland, 1899), the criterion for inclusion was territorial. At the turn of the century their ownership of land in Ireland was, on average, about 1,000 acres. In 1903, however, the whole concept of an Irish "Landed Gentry", dependent upon the rent of tenant farmers, was ended by the Wyndham Land Purchase Act. Suddenly the average ownership of land was reduced to about 200 acres. The next edition of Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland (1904) was published too soon afterwards to take note of this development; but A. C. Fox-Davies, the distinguished armorist, who edited the third edition commented as follows in his memorable 1912 Preface: "But one is confronted with the problem whether there still remains a Landed Gentry at all . . . so great has been the compulsory alienation of land in Ireland during the last decade. Whatever may be the decision as to future editions, in the present one there has been no violent disqualification of families because the broad acres of their estates have been contracted to the lands about the mansion house; in fact but very few pedigrees have been removed". Fox-Davies rightly stressed the interest of the family histories rather than the landowning factor, but the opportunity of changing the title and going for a wider selection of Irish families was not taken. This was hardly surprising at that period and the problem was bequeathed to the next edition. This was to come 46 years later and in those troubled years the majority of the families with which Burke had concerned itself ended up without any land or Irish base at all. And yet the fourth (1958) edition was still entitled Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland, which, though it again stressed the importance of the genealogy did not solve the anomaly. The 1958 edition is a much maligned work (many people seem to have their own favourite bete noire among some of the curious entries) and the present writer-who at the time was on the other side of the fence, as it were, with his family appearing in the book-is not here to praise it nor indeed to bury it. The book had its virtues and contains a good number of families which have not found their way into this new edition. There is,"