Mary, 86, becomes one of UK’s only great-great-great grans - with 90 grandchildren

An 86-year-old gran has become Scotland’s only great-great-great grandmother, following the birth of a baby girl last month.

Matriarch mum-of-eight, Mary Marshall, now has a whopping 90 grandchildren.

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The birth of newborn Nyla Ferguson puts the Edinburgh family among only a handful of families across the UK who have six generations alive at the same time.

Mary - who was born four years before the start of World War Two - boasts a whopping 90 grandchildren.

Six in a row

The women are all on the same side of the family - and all except new mum Toni-Leigh – work, or have worked, as carers for the NHS.

All women gave birth aged 18 or younger - resulting in this super-sized happy family - and live in or around the Capital.

Head of the family Mary has eight children including eldest daughter Rose.

Rose Thorburn, 68, has four children including mum-of-three Chyrel Borthwick, 50.

Chyrel gave birth to mum-of-four Carrie Dow in 1986.

Carrie, 35, has four children, including new mum Toni-Leigh Aitken, 17.

And on 25 May 2021, Mary earned herself the title of Scotland's only great-great-great grandma with the birth of 6lb 14oz Nyla Ferguson.

Due to the size of her family, Mary says she is forgiven for not buying each and every member a birthday and Christmas present as she'd spend "half the year doing so".

‘Love at first sight’

Mary said: "I'm a lucky woman to be honest with you. It's great to have such a big family. There's always someone there looking out for you. I'm incredibly happy."

New mum Toni-Leigh, who gave birth to the newest member of the family last month, said: "When we found out I was pregnant we did make a joke about us breaking some sort of record.

"Then we started looking into it and it doesn't look like anyone else has our family set-up.

"It's a bit too early to see a resemblance to her great-great-great-grandma but it was love at first sight when they met!

"We live no longer than a 10-15minute drive away from one another so we see each other.

"We haven't had a big do with the entire family since the pandemic but when we do it's great fun!

"There's 90 grandchildren now with Nyla so it's always pretty loud!"

"But now we're pretty big! I haven't heard of any other family of this size in Scotland.

"Whenever we get together there's always fun and laughs. There's always someone there for you."

The family are believed to be the only family in Scotland with six generations alive at the same time.

According to Guinness World Records the most generations alive in a single family has been seven.

The family comprises: Mary Marshall, 86, b.June 1935 Rose Thorburn, 68, b. October 1952 Chyrel Borthwick, 50, b. July 1970 Carrie Dow, 35, b. February 1986 Toni-Leigh Aitken, 17, b October 2003 Nyla Ferguson, b. May 2021.

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