Sir, - For whatever reason Lord Mayhew was chosen to be one of the speakers at the celebrations marking the anniversary of the death of Edmund Burke, it was not, as Louise East suggests (Weekend, November 15th), because he is "a direct descendant of Burke".
Edmund Burke's only surviving child was his son Richard, who died of tuberculosis in 1794, aged 36. He left no children. Edmund's grief was such that it seems certain the loss shortened his own life. Certainly it ended the line.
Either Miss East does not know her Burke, or Lord Mayhew does not know his family. - Yours, etc.,
From M. E. Synon
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