Talk:Spencer family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[edit] General discussion

The definition here seems a bit wrong-headed. The "Spencer family" would ordinarily mean the descendants in male line only of a given Spencer (i.e., members of the "Spencer family" would ordinarily be presumed to have the surname "Spencer"). It may be reasonable to have an article about a given Spencer family (e.g., the Earls Spencer) but it does not seem reasonable to me to list every descendent, or even every notable descendent of Henry Spencer. -- Someone else 07:58 Feb 22, 2003 (UTC)

Don't forget the Earl Spencer (the 5th perhaps?) who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the 1880s at the time of the notorious Phoenix Park murders? JTD 08:31 Feb 22, 2003 (UTC)

Don't know whose idea the page was, but I think it's got a lot going for it, as long as it doesn't go into too much genealogical detail. These Spencers certainly do get about. Deb 21:53 Feb 23, 2003 (UTC)
It was originally started by Imran, but I'm not really sure where it can go from here. I suppose it could be about the various peerages that the family ended up with, and the members of those families, but listing non-Spencer descendants could get out of control, if it isn't already! You could come up with similar lists of notable descendants for any family that was well enough documented, but it would look a bit odd if articles like this ended up all over the Wikipedia... So I don't really know if it should be here. -- Oliver P. 22:04 Feb 23, 2003 (UTC)

[edit] lineage question

I am a little bit confused, because the information of the generations between the given "Henry Spencer" and the 1st Baron Spencer are various on the internet. Leo van de Pas says the Baron was a descendant of William Spencer, of Rodborne[1]; but the Directory of Royal Genealogical Data says that the baron is a descendant of John Spencer, of Hodnell[2]; both, John[3] and William , being sons of Henry. Which information is the correct one? And how many generations are between Henry and the first baron? (My third genealogic source, ThePeerage.com, starts between Henry and the first baron[4].)
VM 15:21, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Looking at the generations, Robert Lord Spencer's great-great-great-grandfather, William, was by both estimations the son of a John. It would appear that Leo has this John as the son of William (Henry's eldest son), whilst the DRGD has him as Henry's second son (who Leo says is a different John). I'd be inclined to go with Leo, as I'd imagine it's easier to lose a generation (and assume a son is his uncle of the same name) than vice versa, which would make William, the elder son, the ancestor in question. But that's just a guess — I'm afraid I can't provide a definitive answer. Proteus (Talk) 22:10, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
Thank you very much for helping me. And it's free to all others to make things clearer, if they have better sources.
VM 12:29, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Edmund Spenser

I believe that Edmund Spenser, the great Elizabethan poet, claimed some sort of relation to this family in his poem, Colin Clouts Come Home Again and perhaps elsewhere, despite the lack of any real evidence for it. Can someone confirm this and perhaps make a mention of it in the article? (Eeesh 21:32, 5 June 2007 (UTC))