Colonization
William had 12 children and 56 grandchildren. His two eldest sons alone (William and Henry) had 29 children between them. He was a strong supporter of overseas colonisation – he was wont to say that, with so many children, he could not be otherwise. Frederick and three of his brothers went to the United States while their elder brother, Henry, joined the first expedition of settlers to New Zealand. Henry’s son, Francis Petre, was a leading architect who designed the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (Christchurch, New Zealand).
Frederick Charles Edmund Petre (1824–1906) was William’s 3rd son and Agnes Louisa Catherine Petre (1826–1891) who later became Lady Clifford was his third daughter. In addition, by his second wife he had Edmund George Petre, (1829–1889). In 1845, Mary Agnes Petre (1816 – ) later married to Mr. Douglas, took an inventory of the pictures at Thorndon Hall, the book is divided into a number of sections, each executed in a different style of illumination.
His tenth son, Edmund, was a stockbroker and the father of Francis Loraine Petre, an Indian Civil Servant. Upon retirement, F. Loraine Petre wrote several regimental histories, and five books on the Napoleonic Wars.
Read more about this topic: William Petre, 11th Baron Petre