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Supersized!

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As is well known, the number of children born to a married couple used to be far higher than is currently the norm (at least in the UK!) Many factors were involved; for example, couples married younger, potentially allowing childbirth to start at a younger age; and of course, prior to the 20th century, there was little understanding of the mechanics of human fertility and virtually no effective contraception.

On the other hand, the overall effect on population growth was offset by the risk of the mother dying of pregnancy or labour related complications, and of course by the high child mortality rates. Furthermore, menopause nowadays tends to occur at a younger age in developing countries than in developed countries, so we can speculate that our ancestors may have reached the natural end of their childbearing years at an earlier age than nowadays.

The natural birth interval (ie time between the end of one pregnancy and the end of the next) in agricultural human societies is thought to be around 2 years (in more primitive hunter-gatherer  groups, the natural interval between children can be substantially greater).

It’s no surprise, therefore, that in the 19th century and before, it was not unusual for healthy married couples to have 8 – 10 children over a 20 year period.

Looking at Holyland families over the years, they display the full range from childlessness up to super-sized families, with a clear decrease in average family size in the first halfof the 20th century. But who were the supersize families?

In third place, we have Stephen Morris Holyland and Ellen nee Connelly (or Conley). Stephen and Ellen married in Sheffield in 1890. Stephen was a blacksmith and the family lived in the heart of Sheffield’s industrial metal working centre. Ellen was around 19 years old when they married,  and over the following 15 years, she gave birth to no fewer than 13 children, including one set of twins, before dying at the age of 35 in 1905. I don’t have a copy of her death certificate, but I imagine she was worn out! Ellen was predeceased by at least 7 of her children. In 1916, Stephen remarried the much younger Nellie Bounds and had another child before Nellie also died in 1919.

In second place is Fulshaw Holyland and Kerrenhappuch nee Parker, who married in Leicester in 1839, when Kerrenhappuch was around 19 years old and Fulshaw about 3 years older. This family did not always register the birth of their children, and only a few of their children were baptised. This makes it difficult to be sure of the total number of children born. However, this family showed very high infant mortality and combining birth registration, baptism and burial records suggests at least 14 births between 1840 – 1866. Two of these children were buried with no first name, so may have been still born. Of these 14 little ones, only 3 seem to have survived to adulthood.  Despite having such a large family, the  Holyland surname would have died out in this line were not for the only surviving son (who fathered no children) adopting a child and giving it the Holyland surname

But first place in this league of supersized families has to go to my own gt-gt-grandparents, Joseph Henry Holyland, a “clicker” in the shoe industry,  and his wife Augusta nee Upton. Augusta was 17 and heavily pregnant when they married in 1867, and over the following 22 years she had no fewer than 16 children (including one set of twins). I suspect that she would have continued to have even more children (there had been no lengthening of her birth intervals) were it not that she was admitted to the asylum in 1890 and just 2 months after her discharge, her husband Joseph died. Nine of Joseph and Augusta’s children survived to adulthood –none emulated their parents’ fertility! You can read more about Augusta’s hard life here:  https://holylandons.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-fairly-strong-woman_28.html

Finally I shall give an honourable mention to Francis Holliland, a farmer b 1729 in Thurlaston, Leicestershire. Francis fathered a total of 16 children over 34 years; 7 with his first wife, Hannah; then 9 with his second, Mary. 

There are plenty of larger families in other trees, though -- what's the largest you've come across?

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