When Rodrigo Palacios Fitz-Henry from Valparaiso sent me some of his family photos, he included a photo of Myles Fitz-Henry. He didn't know who this man was or how he linked into his family. I put it on the FitzhenryDNA website, but no-one claimed kinship to the mysterious Myles.Then a few weeks ago I found the recently indexed burial records of Victoria Cemetery Hackney London on the internet.
I found
Fitz-Henry Myles
Died at 46 Baker Street Brighton Sussex
Buried 17 august 1864 Aged 17 month
And..
Fitzhenry John Joseph
Newington
Burial 18 January 1863 Aged 3 days No service
This burial obviously wasn't the Myles that I was looking for, but these turned out to be the twin sons born to Myles Fitz-Henry of Clapham, Surrey which is actually South London. I found him in the census wrongly transcribed under the surname Henry.
Here is the family group from the English 1861 census
Address:6, St Georges Road, Newington, London, Surrey
FITZ-HENRY, Myles Head Married M 37 1824 Ironmonger Westmeath Ireland
FITZ-HENRY, Frances Wife Married F 25 1836 Ironmonger's Wife Westmeath Ireland
FITZ-HENRY, Henry M Son Unmarried M 1 1860 Ironmonger's Son Newington Surrey
Address:6, St Georges Road, Newington, London, Surrey
FITZ-HENRY, Myles Head Married M 37 1824 Ironmonger Westmeath Ireland
FITZ-HENRY, Frances Wife Married F 25 1836 Ironmonger's Wife Westmeath Ireland
FITZ-HENRY, Henry M Son Unmarried M 1 1860 Ironmonger's Son Newington Surrey
The same family group can be found at 4 Brunswick Terrace, St Mary Newington, London, Surrey in the 1871 census.
So we have a Fitz-Henry family that came from Ireland and settled in London and also had another son besides the twins who died in infancy.
The son's full name is Henry Michael Fitz-Henry.
The son's full name is Henry Michael Fitz-Henry.
I found the marriage of Myles and Frances at St Georges Catholic Church, Southwark in the County of Surrey:
Myles Fitzhenry 35 years bachelor ironmonger 43 Deverell Street Newington son of Michael Fitzhenry (deceased) Farmer
Frances Colbourne 28 years spinster 34 Barnsbury Street Islington Daughter of Nathaniel Colbourn (deceased) Traveller to a Distiller.
Witnesses Kate Fitzhenry Henry S Simpson
Frederick Charles Fitch Registrar.
Myles Fitzhenry 35 years bachelor ironmonger 43 Deverell Street Newington son of Michael Fitzhenry (deceased) Farmer
Frances Colbourne 28 years spinster 34 Barnsbury Street Islington Daughter of Nathaniel Colbourn (deceased) Traveller to a Distiller.
Witnesses Kate Fitzhenry Henry S Simpson
Frederick Charles Fitch Registrar.
So far, all very interesting, but what's the positive link? I asked Rodrigo to send me a scan of the back of the photo. This was the real eureka moment. The photo was taken at the studio of Mr Henry Death of 119 Camberwell Road, London, within a mile of both the census addresses.
Myles died on the Twenty fourth October 1877 at 410 Clapham Road He was 55 years old and died of:
"Epilepsia 2 years. Gradual exhaustion of the vital powers."
Informant - Henry Fitz-Henry son present at the death, 410 Clapham Road
... and this is where I lose sight of Henry Michael Fitz-Henry. I have the widowed Frances still at 410 Clapham Road in the 1881 census but with only a visitor and a house-servant.
So more questions.... What happened to Henry Michael and Frances, and how do these people link into Rodrigo's family? And who is the Kate Fitz-Henry who was a witness at Myles and Frances' wedding?
So more questions.... What happened to Henry Michael and Frances, and how do these people link into Rodrigo's family? And who is the Kate Fitz-Henry who was a witness at Myles and Frances' wedding?
Update 12 February 2022: thanks to Leonie for sending us further information about Henry Michael and Frances, which ties up the loose ends - see the comments section below.
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I may have written to you earlier, not sure. I have information about Henry Michael Fitz-Henry and his mother. Henry died in New Zealand on 27 Feb 1880. The following I found in a newspaper archive:
ReplyDelete"From the London Standard, 3 May 1880:
FitzHENRY - Feb 17, at Wanganui, New Zealand, from the effects of a gun-shot wound, accidentally received, Henry Michael, only surviving and dearly loved child of the late Myles FitzHenry, of 410 Clapham Rise, in the 20th year of his age. RIP. Friends will kindly accept this intimation. Foreign papers please copy."
Henry's mother Frances Fitz-Henry was the daughter of Nathaniel Colbourn, 1796 -1849, and Frances Maria Cooper c1792 - ?. Nathaniel Colbourn was the son of Richard Colbourn of Cree near Birr, Co Offaly who was also my great great great grandfather.
Since the twins born to Myles and Frances died as infants and I presume that Henry Michael had no offspring, then the family line died with Henry Michael. There were many Colbourn relatives in New Zealand by 1880 so it is not unusual I suppose that Henry Michael was there, but I have not yet found evidence of his arrival. Could he perhaps have sailed via South America? Perhaps this information is of interest to you.
I live in Australia.
Cheers
Leonie
Thank you for this information about the Colbourn family Leonie. I have seen that death notice before but previously had no family link as to why he might have been in New Zealand. This fits very nicely.
ReplyDeleteHenry may well have travelled via South America as his kinsfolk, the Fitz-Henry family of Valparaiso, Chile, were already resident there.
Thanks Leonie and Jo,
Deletethe mystery of Henry Michael is still unsolved. In Chile we only have his father´s photo (Myles). A coincidence is that my great grandfather´s name was Michael Henry Fitz-Henry. My guess is that they were cousins with my grandfather Michael Fitz-Henry. They seemed to lack imagination on names...
regards
Rodrigo
Hello Rodrigo, good to hear from you!
DeleteHello again Jo and Rodrigo,
DeleteFurther to the above, I found that Henry Michael Fitz-Henry's mother, Frances, who was still in London in early 1881, migrated to New Zealand and died in Wellington NZ in 1904. Her sister Sarah Anne Mitchell, nee Colbourn, had migrated to NZ with her husband William, a journalist and Hansard reporter, in 1864 on the "Portland". They had three daughters born in the 1860s. Sarah was ill in 1881 and died on 26 May 1881, so perhaps Frances went to NZ to help care for her three nieces, the eldest of whom was about 17. She possibly did not get to see her sister Sarah as it would have been about 7 weeks after the census in London showed Frances in Clapham Rd, that Sarah died. Travel by ship from England to NZ would probably have taken longer than that. I guess Frances would also have been able to visit the grave of her son Henry Michael Fitz-Henry who died in Wanganui in 1880. I found an obituary for Henry Michael which mentioned that he was the nephew of William Mitchell so it all ties in neatly. It clearly was the end of that family line of the Fitz-Henrys. Cheers, Leonie (leonielast@hotmail.com)
Thanks for that further update Leonie, that's really great information and thank you for taking the time to post it.
Delete