The Sovereign’s Sovereigns: a royal bounty for triplets

In August 1849 Queen Victoria, while on a visit to Ireland, established the practice of granting a sovereign, a one pound sterling coin, to the parents of triplets, one for each child. The bounty was "to enable the parents to meet the sudden expenses thrown upon them." Who benefited?

To qualify the births had to be live and in wedlock, the parents British subjects. Until 1938 the parents had to be "in necessitous circumstances."  The payment was by application which had to be made within four months of the birth, later relaxed to one year. Parents of quads and quints received proportionally more.

The program was suspended during the reign of Edward VII although a few payments were made. George V revived the program which continued until 1957. In that year Queen Elizabeth instituted several changes for the monarchy, including ending the presentation of debutantes at court. The Royal Bounty for triplets was replaced by provision for sending a congratulatory message instead. Unlike messages for 100th birthdays and 70th wedding anniversaries, which are available through application to the Governor General in Canada, greetings to parent of triplets are no longer advertised.

The program operated throughout the British Empire and Commonwealth. In Canada applications for the bounty relating to 167 cases exist, mostly consisting of letters of transmittal and acknowledgements can be found in archives of the Governor General at Library and Archives Canada.

Many parent did not qualify; in 1920 alone 99 triplets, 33 multiple births, occurred in Canada yet only two applications were considered. Often parents were unaware of the program or became aware too late to get the paperwork processed in time. Many parents were not in sufficiently needy circumstances.

The first Canadian case I found, in 1906 was for triplet girls Mabel, May and Marjorie born to John and Marguerite Matheson of East Nissouri, Oxford County, Ontario. The last, in 1970, additions to the Hjorleifson family of St Vital, Manitoba.

There were two cases of quads. In 1950 the Hargreave family of Sault St Marie, Ontario and in 1954 the Doucet family of Bathurst, New Brunswick. There was no record of an application or payment to the Dionne quintuplets.

The following cases are abstracted from three volumes in the Governor General’s files, RG7, at Library and Archives Canada in a few cases augmented by information from newspapers and miscellaneous sources.

Last Name	First Name	Year	Place	Prov	Birth		Comment
Matheson	John	1906	E Nissouri	ON
Finklestein	John	1907	Toronto	ON	Dec/11
Blair	R J	1910	Finch	ON	Apr/20
King	Harry	1910	Bathurst	NB	Aug/05
Tessier	Maxime	1911	Warren	ON	Jan/01
Hardy	R A	1911					denied
Hache	Pierre P	1912	Robertville	NB
Von Zuben	Adolph	1912	Toronto	ON
May	James	1912	Earlscourt	ON
Thomas	Jessie Jackson	1912	Belleville	ON
Primeau	A de L	1913	Montreal	QC
Couling	A N	1913	Creston	BC	Nov/10		not pursued
Little		1914	Merriton	ON
Matthews	D A	1914	Prince Albert	SK			did not live
Watson	William W	1914	Bathurst	NB	Dec/13		too late
Couture	Charles	1916	Bathurst	NB	Feb/05
Bernstein	M	1916	Montreal	QC	Jun/09
Wiener		1916	Langdon	AB			too late
Harrison	G R	1916
Phelan	Frank	1916	Rover View	ON
Cloaks	Howard Stuart	1917	Montreal	QC
Miller	Charles	1917	York Co,	NB
Gilmour	Joseph	1917	Montreal	QC	Aug/14		denied - not indegent
Tozer	Norman J	1917	Toronto	ON	Dec/19
Thompson-Sawyer	James	1918	Mount Pleasant	QC	Apr/25
Leboeuf	Armand	1918	Valleyfield	QC
Michaelis	Daniel John	1918	McDougall	ON	Jul/30
Nicholson	Adam Alexander	1918	St Catherines	ON	Dec/19
McLachlan	Hugh Alexander	1918	Ramsayville	ON	Jul/01		Too late
Lynch	William W	1918	Belleville	ON	Apr/30		Too late
Haines	Ed G	1919	Elfree	SK
Doris	Albert B	1919	Peterborough	ON
Paige	George	1919	Trenton	ON	Aug/01
Coyetche	M	1919	Petit de Grat	NS	Nov/11
Stevenson		1919	Birch Hills	SK			too late
Phaneuf	J L	1920	Pointe Claire	QC
Larocque	James	1920	Perth	ON			Ineligible  lived 1 hour
L'Ecuyer	Alfred	1921	Valleyfield	QC			2 died
Williams	W M	1921	Saskatoon	SK	Oct/20
McCarter	W J	1922	Decker	MN
Ashcroft	John	1922	Birtle	MB
Dunseith	Frank	1923	Dublin	ON	Jan/22
McManus	Bernard	1923	Smith	ON	Mar/04
Stanley	Richard F	1923	Madison	SK	Jun/01
Rattray	Norman J	1923	Picton	ON	Apr/26
Penner	E F	1923		MB	May/08
Pittman	Thomas	1924	Kemptville	ON			request for $1000 for each baby
Mahaney	T D	1924	St John	NB
Calligan	Peter	1924	Toronto	ON	Apr/23		denied - died
Primeau	George	1924	Cornwall	ON	Feb/29
Tilley	W A	1924	Toronto	ON	Mar/25		application not made
Bowers	F C	1924	Oshawa	ON
Jarvis		1925	Toronto	ON			not necessity
Dillon	James	1925	Kerrobert	SK
Theoret	Osias	1925	St Telesphore	QC
Lennox	Wesley	1926
Patrey	Adrien	1926	Montreal	QC
Loiseau	Joseph	1926	Montreal	QC
Pitre	Alexandre	1926	St Benoit de Matapedia	QC
Kilbride	Percy J	1926	Port Hill	PEI
Keegan	J T	1926	Kimberley	BC
Schlamp	Philip	1926	Regina	SK
Kerr	R Lindsey	1926	Mountain	ON
Brunet		1926	Drummondville	QC
McGill	Clarence	1926	Englehart	ON
Provost	Marguerite	1927
Perras	Thomas	1927	Thurso	QC
Massicotte	Joseph	1927	Montmayny	QC
Kendall	Walter	1927	Elgin Mills	ON	Aug/21
Reddall	Joseph	1927	Toronto	ON	Sep/20
Pettman	William	1927	Tillsonburg	ON	Sep/23
Tully	J	1928	Edmonton	AB	Mar/19
Caswell	J A	1928	Durham	ON	May/11
Guillemette	Arsene	1929	St Dominique	QC
Cameron	W	1929	Toronto	ON
Burling	James	1929	Toronto	ON	Mar/13
Noble	Lorne	1930	Penetanguishine	ON	Jan/06
Kelsey	G S	1929	Walkerton	ON
Thompson	Thomas	1930	Toronto	ON	Dec/16
Scott	Frank	1931	Brechin	ON	Jan/04
Williams	C H	1932	Pennant	SK
Guillemette	Arthur	1932	Richmond	QC	Mar/15		too late
Thomas	Ivor	1933	Mt Denis	ON
McLaughlan	John	1933	Grafton	NB
Dick	Kenneth	1933	Beaver Crossing	AB	Jul/30		too late
Latohman	Philip	1933	Toronto	ON
Aubin	Charles	1933	Lisieux	SK	Nov/22
Chisholm	W H	1934	New Glasgow	NS
Lagace	Joseph	1934	St Didace	QC
McMurray	Jack	1934	Toronto	ON	Sep/15
Cormier	Arthur	1935	Upper Saskville	NB	Oct/01
Bouchard	Amable	1935	St Pascal	QC
Fleet	Henry	1935	Kirkland Lake	ON	May/21
Malloff	Adon	1935	Toronto	ON	Jun/07
Richmond	Alex	1935	Toronto	ON	Sep/16
Lahaye	Real	1936	Cap de la Madanline	QC			not qualified
Tavara	Joseph	1936	Lauzon West	QC	Apr/18
Erich		1936	Torquay	SK			too late
Case	Charles	1936	Vancouver	BC	Dec/12
Wild	John W	1936	Cedar Springs	ON	Oct/19
Jean	J Antoine	1937	St Pascal	QC	Apr/22
Salyha	P N	1937	Hairy Hill	AB
Bull	Stuart J	1938	Minden	ON
Kundsgaard	Laurine O	1938	Rossland	BC
Lynds	Crawford	1938	Emerson	NB
Beettam	H G	1938	Toronto	ON	Dec/17		dropped - not needy
Biron	Emmanuel	1939	Ottawa	ON
Letourneau	Rene	1939	Clarenceville	QC
Herbert	Jacques	1939	Napierville	QC
Salteric	Josephine	1939	Prince's Lodge	NS
Person	E	1939	Melfort	SK
Racicot	Sophie	1939	Fassett	QC
Vogt	George	1939	Waterloo	ON	Jun/29		dropped - not needy
Robbins	Mrs Ivan	1940	Corunna	ON	Feb/05
Smith	Rev and Mrs Stanley	1940	Middleville	ON	Nov/12
Flyer	Leading Seaman Frank	1940			Nov/07
Robbins	Ivan	1940	Corunna	ON
Savard	Mrs Fernand	1941
Thiffault	Mrs Leo	1941
Wettlaufer	Mrs Ezra	1942	Neustadt	ON	Mar/24
Thompson	Mrs R G	1942	Belleville	ON	Feb/25
Morrison	Mrs A A	1942	Collingwood	ON	Oct/17
Griffin	Mrs J F	1942			Not needy
Peeler	Mrs M	1943			Not needy
Hardwick	Mrs C A	1943	Toronto	ON	Jul/09
Strachan	Mrs Donald S	1943	Norwich	ON	Sep/07
Starr	Mrs Clinton E.	1943	East York	ON	Oct/29
Brown	Mrs M A	1944	Haney	BC	Oct/14
Hatt	Mrs Roy F	1945	Tobermory	ON	Mar/07
Staskow	Mrs	1945	St Catharines	ON	Aug/29
Sciarra	Mrs Louis	1946	Thorald	ON	Jul/20
Losier	Mrs Exhibe	1946	Tracadie	NB
Hersikorn	Mrs A G	1946	Doncrest	SK	Mar/09
Holtz	Mrs Wallace A	1946	Powassan	ON
Kelly	Mrs Grace	1946	Winnipeg	MA	May/03
Hislop	Mrs J O	1946	Verdun	QC
Bond	F W	1946	Toronto	ON	Sep/02
Levasseur	Albert	1947	Mont-Joli	QC	Jun/28
Lamontagne	Roger	1947	Iberville	QC	Sep/30
Jones	Morton H	1948	Toronto	ON	Apr/04
Miller	T J	1948	Lakeburn	NB	Mar/18
Dimmock	Percival S	1949	West Hill	ON	Aug/31
Mercille	Adrien	1950	Cap de la Mad	QC	Jul/30
Hargreave	Ozzie	1950	Sault St Marie	ON	Oct/13		quads
Kenny	Mrs Margaret	1951	London	ON	Apr/12
Baker	Mrs D Roy	1951	Hamilton	ON	Feb
Hester	E N	1951	Toronto	ON
Martin	Mrs Arthur	1952	Lac Megantic	QC
Herder	Mrs L W	1953	South Burnaby	BC
Delmaire	Mrs Andre	1953	Wauchope	SK
Robitaille	Mrs Jean-Paul	1954	St Jean	QC
Baker	Mrs R A	1954	Petawawa	ON
Hamilton	Mrs D	1954	Pickering	ON
Zubko	Mrs Peter	1954	Sturgis	SK
Poplar	Mrs John	1954	River Herbert	NS
Bauer	Mrs Arthur Walter	1954	Trochu	AB	Dec/04
Charter	Mrs Norman A.	1954	Three Hills	AB	Oct/15
Perron	Mrs William	1954	Mountain BrookNB
Doucet	Mrs Laurent C	1954	Bathurst	NB	Oct/18		quads
Cockell	Mrs W B	1954	Montreal	QC	Apr/30
Johnson	Mrs John D	1954	Hitchcock	SK	Oct/07
Mueller	Mrs E H	1955	Champion	AB	Jun/05
Palidwor	Mrs Gloria	1956	New Westminster	BC	Apr/03
King	Mrs A F C	1956	Chippawa	ON	Jun/26
Oulton	Mrs Ralph G	1958	Jolicure	NB	Feb/08
Reeve	Mrs Harry	1959	Morden	MB	Nov/06
Hjorleifson	Mrs Ray William	1960	St Vital	MB	Feb/01

Documents for the volumes 1 and 2, to 1941, are located on microfilm reel T-1171 available as a digital microfilm via Canadiana–Héritage at http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_t1171/1?r=0&s=1 starting at page 562. Subsequent years are from hardcopy in RG 7 G-26 Volume 107, File 3450-B KING'S BOUNTY FOR TRIPLETS - APPLICATIONS 1941-1960 at LAC.