Talk:Somerset Butler, 1st Earl of Carrick

Discrepancy on children

There is confusion among the sources about the children.

• Edmund Lodge (1832) says Margaret was born 30 January 1749, she married Earl Belmore and died January 1777. Henrietta was the twin of Pierce and born 15 August 1750, she married Viscount Mountgarret and died 20 June 1785.
• thepeerage.com says Margaret was born 23 January 1748, she married Earl Belmore and died April 1775. It does not give dates for Henrietta but says she married Viscount Mountgarret.
• Debrett's (1838) says Henrietta was born 30 January 1748, she married Earl Belmore and died January 1774. Margaret was the twin of Pierce and born 15 August 1750, she married Viscount Mountgarret - the date of death is unspecified.

I am unable to access the fourth source for this article, George E. Cokayne (1887), so I am unsure which of the three accounts above are correct. Or perhaps all three are wrong. A further level of confusion is added by Debrett's with a mention of another child born in 1747; if that is correct the January 1748 date for the third child gives a pregnancy of less than 25.5 weeks (assuming both the second and third were with his wife). While modern technology can sustain some children born at 22 or 23 weeks, it is highly unlikely a child of the 18th Century would have survived. If the details of the second child are accurate that would suggest 1749 as the correct birth year for the third child.
Is there any other source material available that can shed light on this problem? Road Wizard (talk) 00:42, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I have restored the {{Disputed-section}} template to the article as the issue does not seem to have been addressed. Road Wizard (talk) 13:54, 28 October 2012 (UTC)