A family from West Yorkshire is believed to be the first in Britain to have six generations alive at the same time.



The Hanson family from Bradford has 44 living members ranging from the oldest, aged 103, to the most recent arrival, born on Christmas Day.

Baby Finley is the great-great-great-grandson of the matriarch of the tribe, Hilda Hanson, known affectionately as “little gran”.

Talking to BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday, Finley’s great-grandmother Sue Godward, 62, said: “When Finley was born, my daughter Nikki and Melissa, my other daughter, started researching big generation families and they could not find anybody else in Britain with six generations living. Nobody else has come forward with six generations.”

They located one in Alberta, Canada, who last month celebrated the arrival of the sixth generation of their family. The Guinness World Records entry for most living generations is seven, achieved in 1989 by a family in the US.

Godward said: “When Finley arrived it was the perfect Christmas present, and Hilda, my grandmother, turned 103 a couple of weeks later. She met him on Christmas Day but as she has Alzheimer’s she cannot remember meeting him.

“She was so pleased to see him and gave him lots of cuddles and kissed his head, she had a big smile on her face and we all loved it. Finley held her finger, which was a lovely moment.”

Despite the logistical nightmare of get-togethers, the family say they meet up on a regular basis. “We get together quite often,” Godward’s daughter Nikki said. “There’s a lot of birthdays. We tend to celebrate birthdays a lot.”

Godward said the size of the family meant obligations such as Christmas shopping presented a challenge. She said she had to begin buying festive gifts almost a year in advance, during the January sales.

Five generations of the family met last week at Springfield care home in Buttershaw, Bradford, with Finley’s great-great-grandparents Frank and Jean Cottam the only generation not present because they were unable to travel from their home in Morecambe.

Godward, who works in child social services, said: “It was quite short notice and Frank and Jean, my parents, are in their 80s now so it was a bit of an ask to get them over to Yorkshire this time.”

A full reunion is planned for next month where they plan to get a family portrait taken.

“It’s a real achievement to have six generations and when we finally all get together it will be really special,” Godward said. “Finley is gorgeous and we’re really lucky to have him complete our wonderful family.”