William Ap Howel from Anglesey lived a modest life of fishing and fowling, but fathered 43 children across 81 years with three wives and two concubines. At his funeral in 1581, around 300 descendants attended
He was a man who treasured life’s simple pleasures, finding contentment in fishing and tending to his vegetable patch. Milk products were the mainstay of his meals, while his spare time was devoted to shooting game birds.
Church documentation reveals William Ap Howel lived to the remarkable age of 105, maintaining his wit and recall throughout what was largely an ordinary life. He could easily have faded into obscurity were it not for one extraordinary feat: over 81 years he fathered 43 offspring.
This accomplishment, if one can call it that, brought significant fame to the small parish of Tregaian on Anglesey in north-west Wales.
His legacy endures in the graveyard of the local 14th-century church, dedicated to a saint far less documented than its most celebrated resident. When travel author Thomas Pennant journeyed through Anglesey in the late 18th century, meticulously documenting the copper workings of Parys Mountain, he felt compelled to mention the island’s most prolific father in his 1778 work A Tour in Wales, reports Wales Online.
He observed that, contrary to what one might expect, the “great patriarch of Tregaian” was not a towering figure with an enormous appetite, but rather “small of stature, of a cheerful, convivial temper; but spare in his diet, living mostly on milk”. Pennant continued: “He passed his time in rural employments, and at his leisure in fishing and fowling.”
Large families were commonplace when he passed away in March 1581, reports the Express. Even by the standards of that period, William’s brood was remarkably vast: the typical household size across Wales and England during the 16th century was a mere 4.75 – a statistic that stayed relatively stable until the Great War.
His trio of marriages produced a staggering 36 children
Starting at the youthful age of 21, William developed a routine of producing a child every couple of years, a practice he maintained well into his elderly years. At the impressive age of 105, his youngest offspring was a son, Griffith, who was merely two-and-a-half years old.
His first spouse, Elen Williams, bore him 22 children; his second wife, Katherine Richards, contributed another 10 to the tally. His third wife, Ellen Williams, provided a comparatively modest four.
His trio of marriages produced a staggering 36 children in total. However, William’s reproductive endeavours didn’t end there.
“300 persons descended from him”
He also maintained two “concubines”: Jonet Ferch William delivered two additional offspring, whilst Lecky Lloyd produced another five. Their collective contributions sparked an extraordinary population explosion in this remote corner of Anglesey.
For perspective, throughout William’s lifetime, the broader parish of Llanfairpwll housed approximately 80 residents. When he died, 80 of William’s descendants were still residing in Tregaian parish.
Furthermore, some seemed intent on perpetuating the family tradition: his eldest daughter Alice, then 72, had wed twice and, according to parish documentation, she “hath numerous offspring” of her own. The record stated: “At his funeral there was computed to be about 300 persons descended from him.
A “robust health”
“He has children’s children to the fourth generation in abundance.” Supporting such a vast brood may have proved testing, although many of his offspring would likely have departed the family home before the arrival of the next Ap Howel baby.
Nonetheless, local gossip hinted he boosted the household’s food supplies through his poaching talents. Christenings at the modest mediaeval St Caian’s church may have presented their own difficulties.
In 1847, clergyman Harry Longueville Jones observed the font was “hardly large enough for immersion”. Parish records reveal William enjoyed robust health throughout his lifetime.
Nothing compared to the world record
“The old man was of a midle stature, of good complexion, never troubled with cholick, gout or stones, seldom sick,” they documented, noting: “Of moderate diet, lived by tillage, exercised himself much in fishing and fowling and had his senses perfect to the end.” William’s remarkable tally of 43 children was extraordinary by any measure.
However, in the annals of human reproduction, he ranks considerably lower on the scale. Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif, an 18th-century Moroccan sovereign, would have scoffed at such numbers.
With a harem of 500 women, he allegedly sired 525 sons and 342 daughters. Indeed, Guinness World Records calculated a staggering total of 1,042 children.
Fathering over 1,000 children
Academics at Vienna University went a step further, proposing a figure of 1,171. Setting aside sperm donors (Viennese physiologist Bertold Paul Wiesner is believed to have sired as many as 1,000 offspring via artificial insemination), royalty have traditionally been the most fertile.
Prominent cases include 18th-century Polish monarch Augustus II the Strong (roughly 370 children), and 20th-century Swazi ruler Sobhuza II, who allegedly maintained 70 wives and produced 210 offspring. Further instances encompass Sultan Ibrahim Njoya, Cameroon’s ruler of Bamum (around 600 spouses, 177 children), Emperor Minh Mng (142) and Saudi Arabia’s monarch Saud (roughly 110).
Mohammed Bello Abubakar, who passed away in 2017, was another candidate, having wed 86 women in Nigeria and produced 170 offspring. In 2008, he encountered legal trouble for polygamy after surpassing the four-spouse restriction.
Even across Wales, William ap Gruffydd may not possess the record. That honour supposedly goes to Augustus John, whose artistic reputation was matched by his infamous womanising.
He’s claimed to have sired “up to 100 children”, mainly born out of wedlock – though some believe this figure is greatly exaggerated. Currently, William’s achievements are commemorated with a modest plaque and an engraved slate at the Grade II*-listed St Caian’s Church.
These commemorate his death on 11 March 1581, having “begat 43 children”.
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