The sad death this week of Conservative councillor John Sheldon brings to an end one of the best known political dynasties in Brighton and Hove.

It is just 20 years since the death of his celebrated father, Danny, while his uncle, Bill, was also a councillor.

It set me thinking while there were once many political families, there seems little chance of this tradition continuing in any meaningful way.

Many of them shaped the destiny of the city and some, like the Sheldons, straddled more than one political party.

Brighton and Hove's current mayor, Harry Steer, is part of a proud political family. His son Francis was once the youngest member of Hove Council but it has been a long time since he departed.

Many people in Hove will recall Les Hamilton, who became Labour mayor of a Tory town, followed by his son, also Les, who is still a councillor.

Stanley Theobald has given his name to the tallest council block in Brighton. His son, Geoffrey, proudly emulated his feat of becoming mayor and is still on the city council, along with his wife, Carol.

The Fitch family provided Reg, leader of the Labour group in the Fifties, and his brother Stan, a Socialist stalwart.

Stan's son Brian, another ex-mayor, is now the senior member of the city council. There's also Bob Carden, a descendant of Sir Herbert, often described as the maker of modern Brighton.

There have been national dynasties since the Pitts, elder and younger, continuing through to Gladstone whose son, Herbert, was a noted politician in his own right. Lord Salisbury was followed as prime minister by his nephew Arthur Balfour.

Lady Megan Lloyd-George, daughter of the Liberal statesman, became an MP.

It all reached a peak when Harold Macmillan became premier in the Fifties and at one time seemed to have half his family in office, including his son-in-law, Julian Amery, himself the son of a cabinet minister.

But Macmillan proved it can be devilishly hard to follow a famous man into politics.

His son Maurice, who became an MP, and his daughter Catherine, who married Amery, both developed drink problems.

Amery, who eventually became MP for Brighton Pavilion, had an amazing war record and seemed destined for great things when young.

But he never fulfilled that early promise and holds a smaller place in history than his father, Leo.

Sir Winston Churchill's brilliant but wayward son, Randolph, also ruined himself through drink while his grandson, also Winston, is a shadow of the old man.

The domineering and difficult Joseph Chamberlain produced Neville, perhaps the least well-regarded premier of the last century, and Austen, the last Tory leader before William Hague not to have become the country's leader.

Occasionally, you find a son more famous than his father. It happened to Quentin Hogg, whose father bore the same name, and to Tony Benn, son of an obscure but worthy Liberal.

Enoch Powell once said all political lives end in failure but it seems to be even more true of the politicians' families.

There are still a few surviving dynasties.

Peter Mandelson is the grandson of former Labour Minister Herbert Morrison.

The Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames has impeccable antecedents on both sides of his family.

But generally, locally and nationally, I do not see the sons and daughters of politicians following their footsteps into council chambers or Parliament.

Perhaps they have too much sense.