Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, by Winterhalter

Is this
"George P. Canning" of the CSS Shenandoah?

George Canning, England
This portrait has inaccuracies. His hair, before he began using powder on it, was so black that a raven would admire it, one of his close friends described.

Click here for an Online Genealogy Chart of the Influential Cannings

George Canning, the Prime Minister of England,

			Stratford Canning of Garvagh (1703-1775)
				mar.
			Letitia Newburgh
				|
				|
				|
	________________________|________________________
 	|		         |			 |
	|		         |		         |
     George "Senior"	        Paul		    Stratford
   (1734-1771)            (c. 1736-1784)	   (1744-1787)
       mar.	                 mar.                   mar.
 Mary Anne Costello          Jane Spencer	   Mehetabel Patrick
	|	|	            |		     ("Aunt Hetty")
	|       |                George (Col.)		   |
 George      unnamed child/twins?    (1778-1840)	        Stratford
"The PM"    (b. Dec 23, 1771,     1st Baron Garvagh      De Redcliffe
(1770-1827)	disappeared	   (died Chalons-sur-    (1786-1880)
		from record)	    Marne, France)

George Canning had a full sibling. Why did this child "disappear" from record?

Of the many biographies of "George the PM" only one, the best, by the astounding Wendy Hinde, mentions the fact that George's mother, Mary Ann Costello, gave birth to a second child, who most certainly was George's full sibling. Hinde does not say as much, but she is completely clear on the conditions of the birth of this child, including this: he lived several years, and there are no records of his name, or any facts at all about his death --- no place, no date --- if indeed he did die young at all.

Before marrying George Senior, Mary Ann had been living in London with her grandfather, a Mr. GuyDickens, an accomplished diplomat in his own right. George Senior had been expelled from his home in Northern Ireland by his father Stratford Canning, and disinherited, for falling in love with an unacceptable girl. He was sent to London with a very small allowance, and tried to make it in business there (wine), but was not successful. He was also quite an active pamphlet writer, entering the new milieu which was fast growing in London at that time.

Mary Ann and George Senior were deeply in love. They married in London, and a girl child was born, but she died after a few months. Then George was born, on April 11, 1770. The couple were hard pressed to live on George Senior's allowance. Tragedy struck, and George Senior died suddenly, precisely on the date of his son George's first birthday, April 11, 1771. Mary Ann was now completely out on her luck, as the grandfather in Ireland stopped the allowance they'd been living on.

Mary Ann appealed to Stratford the grandfather, and he sent 40 pounds, just enough for his son's funeral. Months went by, and she appealed a second time. Stratford answered that he would send money for young George, but none for her. Without a family or profession, she was destitute. Hinde adds simply, "She was also again pregnant." Now, if Mary Anne was pregnant in April of 1771, and her husband had just died, unless there is more to the story that Hinde doesn't tell us (which does not seem likely), this child was conceived in wedlock and was George the PM's full sibling.

Hinde goes on to say that this son (she seems to know it was a boy) lived for "several years" but that no record of his death, or even of his name, exists. We can have confidence in concluding that this child was "adopted" into another, more able, home. Adoption as we know it today did not exist at that time. If suitable arrangements were found for an infant, the baby was simply and freely given over to the other party; no legalities were needed.

Biographers make little mention of Mary Anne's several children by two subsequent husbands, actor Reddish, and cloth merchant Hull. There is no actual record of marriage to Reddish, but there is to Hull. Among the children that Mary Ann bore to Reddish and to Hull, variously two or three sets of twins are mentioned by different biographers, though not described with any factual detail. There is room, in the vacuum of biographical information, for admitting the possibility that the birth on December 23, 1771, was of twins, or even of triplets, and that therefore, George Canning may have had two or three full siblings.

George was diligent all his life in attempting to aid his half-siblings. Surely, he would have taken deep interest in his true sibling(s), if he had known of them. Perhaps we have now, thanks to the Internet, some information that might point to the identities of his full siblings. (More on this later.)

(Later) Thanks to an Internet friend, I've received a photocopy of a chapter from a book about Ireland: GARVAGH -- A Town and Two Parishes. The chapter is titled "The Canning Family". There is a reference here to Mary Ann Costello Canning's children by her husband George Canning of Garvagh (i.e., "George Senior" above), as follows:
"[George Canning "Senior"] and his wife [Mary Ann Costello Canning] set up a boarding house for actors and after the death of her husband, Mary Ann went back on the stage to help provide for her family - a son named George after his father, and a daughter."

"And a daughter!" This sounds like the child born after George Senior had died. The author of the above book on Garvagh makes no further mention of the Prime Minister's sister. We read in Hinde that there was a girl born before George the PM, but she died after only a few months, and before George the PM was born. If Hinde is as accurate as she seems to be, the Two Parishes book is not referring to the first girl, but a sister of the PM!!

The Grander Old Family

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