A more recent emphasis in the history of the family has been upon siblings. Socio-economic and demographic historians interested in the history of the family in England have tended to focus on relationships within a nuclear household, between parents and unmarried and co-resident dependants. When considering the elite family, the nature of this focus has been more often than not structural in approach. The growing use of strict settlements to define the inheritances of male heirs through primogeniture and the provision for younger children has demanded attention from many, including women and gender historians. A glance at the family trees of both John Temple and Thomas Temple readily illustrates that sibling relationships during both childhood and adulthood were a reality for the Temples. The existence of close bonds is more debatable.

It will indeed always be a matter of debate how much such involvement was motivated by emotion and affection and how much by a sense of responsibility and/or self-interest. Some seventeenth-century writers saw that siblings could form an important part of the clientele of the heir to a great estate.

While historians may well discuss the terminology which we use to address kinship, it could seem that there is little room for doubt concerning what constituted one's siblings – these were an individual's brothers and sisters. However, such was the prevalence of blended families in early modern England that historians should also include step- and half-brothers and sisters in any in-depth study of siblinghood. Similarly one should at least consider including brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law. Here, however, we concentrate on the full-sibling relationships of the parents’ generation. It is clear from the archive that both Hester and Thomas had continuing and meaningful relationships with their own siblings. Sibling bonds and responsibilities were important within the framework of patriarchy. When a father died, the male heir assumed the role of patriarch not only in his own nuclear household but also regarding the affairs of his sisters and brothers, especially but not only when they were unmarried or widowed. So we find wives trapped in unhappy marriages appealing for assistance from their eldest brothers. Early modern historians have paid relatively little attention to the general significance of sibling relationships yet various primary sources attest their strength.