The Honourable John Smith Burke was born to Michael Burke, 10th Earl of Clanricarde and his wife Anne Smith in 1720. He was the couple's fourth and last child, and the heir to the earldom, having two older sisters. An older brother had died in infancy. He succeeded his father on the latter's death in 1726, at the age of six.[1]
In 1740, he married Hester Amelia Vincent (d.1804), daughter of Sir Henry Vincent, 6th Baronet of Stoke d'Abernon. By Royal Licence on 13 May 1752, he and his uncles assumed the surname de Burgh which had been the family's surname in previous centuries: de Burgh was gaelicised in Irish as de Búrca which over the centuries became Búrc then Burke.[4][5][6]
The couple had four children:
Lady Hester Amelia de Burgh, who married William Trenchard
Lady Margaret Augusta de Burgh, wife of Luke Dillon (d.1825) of Hall Place, Warnford, Hampshire.[7] The couple's funeral hatchment survives in the Church of Our Lady, Warnford.[8]
Cunningham, Bernardette (1996), "From Warlords to Landlords: Political and Social Change in Galway, 1540–1640", in Moran, Gerard; Gillespie, Raymond (eds.), Galway History and Society: Interdisciplinary Essays on the History of an Irish County, The Irish County History & Society Series, Dublin: Geography Publications, pp. 97–130
MacMahon, Michael (1983). Portumna Castle and its Lords. Portumna: Shannon Books. ISBN0-9538667-0-X.
Woulfe, Patrick (1923). Irish Names and Surnames (in English and Irish). Dublin: M. H. Gill & Sons Ltd.