The Family
A Victorian household of nine children, and a dynasty that scattered into engineering, art, anthropology and sport.
In 1849, at twenty-two and with little prospect of preferment, Augustus Lane Fox proposed to Alice Margaret Stanley, eldest daughter of the Whig politician Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley. Her parents refused him for want of prospects. The death of his elder brother in 1852 changed everything, and on 3 February 1853 he married Alice at St George's, Hanover Square. They were married for forty-seven years.
Nine children survived to adulthood, all born under the name Lane Fox, for the surname Pitt-Rivers came only with the inheritance of 1880. The family scattered into every corner of the Victorian professional world — the Guards, engineering, psychic research, literature, art — and the generations that followed carried his name into anthropology, farming and the Olympic podium.
The marriage
Alice Margaret Stanley
1828 – 1910 · married 3 February 1853
The children
Alexander Edward1855–1927
St George1856–1932
William Augustus1858–c.1945
Ursula Katharinec.1859–1942
Lionel Charles1860–c.1937
Alice Augustac.1862–1947
Agnes Geraldine1863–1926
Douglas Henry1864–1922
Arthur Algernon1866–1895
Alice Margaret Stanley
1828–1910
Wife
Daughter of Edward Stanley, 2nd Baron Stanley of Alderley, and Henrietta Stanley. Married 3 February 1853 at St George's, Hanover Square; married for 47 years.
Alexander Edward Lane Fox-Pitt-Rivers
1855–1927
Eldest son
FSA; inherited the estate in 1900 and was father of George Pitt-Rivers.
St George Lane Fox-Pitt
1856–1932
Son
Electrical engineer, author and psychic researcher.
William Augustus Lane Fox-Pitt
1858–c.1945
Son
Grenadier Guards; served in the Zulu War and Sudan; said to be his father's favourite.
Alice Augusta Laurentia Lane Fox-Pitt
c.1862–1947
Daughter
In 1884 became the second wife of John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury — the politician who sponsored the Ancient Monuments Protection Act.
Agnes Geraldine Fox-Pitt (Lady Agnes Grove)
1863–1926
Daughter
Writer; literary pupil of Thomas Hardy, who wrote the poem 'Concerning Agnes' after her death.
Douglas Henry Lane Fox-Pitt
1864–1922
Son
Trained at Cirencester, farmed in South America, later drew buildings for his father.
George Pitt-Rivers
1890–1966
Grandson
Anthropologist; a notorious eugenicist and anti-Semite, interned in 1940 under Defence Regulation 18B. He ran the Farnham Museum and eventually secured its closure.
Julian A. Pitt-Rivers
1919–2001
Great-grandson
Social anthropologist, author of The People of the Sierra.
William Fox-Pitt
b. 1969
Great-great-grandson
Olympic equestrian and multiple medal-winner.