At last - the grave of Captain William Fitz-Henry of Ashtead, Surrey

Please excuse what had become a bit of a personal obsession, but I've finally found the burial place of Captain William Fitz-Henry of Winchester and Ashtead, Surrey.

Actually, that isn't strictly true. Ann Williams, who runs the Ashtridge one-name study, found it. Her Ashtridge ancestors bought land in Ashtead adjacent to Oakfield Lodge from William Fitz-Henry.

She was over on vacation from Calgary doing some family research and popped into the Hampshire record office in Winchester. On the fiche for West Hill Cemetery, Winchester she found:

William FitzHenry of Astead (sic), Surrey
December 1 1885 aged 55
Entry no. 10,017

So William was buried in the same cemetery as his first wife Barbara Morrison and their infant children. William did not specify his final resting place in his will. I have yet to find the burial place of Martha Eagles his second wife, but now I'll look to see if she was buried there too.

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Marriage of George Hamilton and Ellen Fitzhenry, Waterford 1868

Bev Kronk also sent this marriage certificate:

1868 marriage solemnised at the Roman Catholic chapel of St Patrick in the Registrar's district of Waterford in the Union of Waterford in the County of Waterford

January 11th 1868
George Hamilton aged 22 bachelor
Tradesman
Father John Hamilton - Professor of music

Ellen Fitzhenry aged 21 spinster
Dressmaker
Father Thomas Fitzhenry Tradesman

Both parties resident at 22 Stephen Street
Both parties signed
Ellen signed herself Ellen Hamilton

Witnesses Robert Wedges, Mr. Seville

If you think that you've seen this couple before - you have - as witnesses at the marriage of William Henry Taylor and Mary Fitzhenry in 1867 also in Waterford.
However at least one of the sisters had a change of familial religious inclinations. Mary was married in the Church of Ireland cathedral, and as you can see, Ellen was married in St Patrick's Catholic chapel.

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Birth of Johanna Frances Fitzhenry 1902 Wexford city.

More certificates have been sent to us by Bev Kronk. Here's the first:

1902, 29 October, Selskar Street, Wexford
Johanna Frances Female
[father] Charles Fitzhenry, Main Street, Wexford, Shopkeeper
[mother] Mary Ellen Fitzhenry, formerly O’Connor
[informant] Charles Fitzhenry, Father, Main Street, Wexford
Registered 26 November, 1902

What else do we know about this family?
Charles and Mary Ellen Fitzhenry appeared in the1901 Irish census.
All of the family were born in County Wexford, and all were said to be "Roman Cathorlic"

Residents of a house 24 in Selskar Street (Wexford Urban, Wexford)
Fitzhenry Charles 30 Male Head of Family Grocer and Spirit Merchant
Fitzhenry Mary Ellen 24 Female Wife
Fitzhenry Robert Edward 3 Male Son
Fitzhenry Charles Herbert 2 Male Son
Fitzhenry Mary Ellen 1 Female Daughter

However, all the family is missing from the 1911 census. As yet I haven't found them on emigration records, but this is what I expect had happened.

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Annie Eliza Fitz-Henry - Winchester to Japan to Surrey (1867 -1958)

Annie Eliza Fitz-Henry was the one remaining daughter of Captain William Fitz-Henry of Winchester, Hampshire and Ashtead, Surrey who I hadn't been able to track down during her adult life... until now.

She was born on 4 October 1867 at the Winchester Peninsular barracks, the last of six children to William and his first wife Barbara Morrison and was christened at the parish church of Week (a small village near Winchester) on 22 October 1867.

William was posted overseas to the East Indies the following month (from his army service records at The National Archives) and was abroad during the 1871 census. What isn't clear is whether he was allowed as an officer to have his wife accompany him. However, I can't find Barbara in the 1871 census of England and Wales, nor can I find Annie Eliza or her older brother Norman Edward (1865 - 1901), so perhaps they were all living together in officers' quarters.
William's older surviving children - his stepdaughter Henrietta and son William George - were at boarding school in Winchester.

In the 1881 census, Annie was a 15 year old pupil at the Ellesmere College boarding School at Eastbourne Sussex, while William and his new wife Martha Eagles were setting up home in Ashtead with their two young children.

When William died in 1885, he left her £1000 and any items of furniture that she may have in her possession. She seems to have been the second favourite child - the oldest boy William George got all the family heirlooms, Norman Edward only received £300 and Henrietta wasn't mentioned at all.

Annie was a witness at the marriage of her brother William George to Isabella Cooper at the church of St George Hanover Square on November 1886.

And that was the last I had seen of her, until this weekend while I was going through the passenger lists on Ancestry. Obviously the wanderlust that had taken Dr William George to New Zealand and Norman Edward to Oregon had also infected her.

In 1928, she was a 60 year old woman travelling on her own on the packet steamer from Lisbon, Portugal and arriving in Southampton. Her destination address was given as The Cedars, East Dulwich Road, Dulwich, the address of her brother Dr. William George Fitz-Henry.

Even more remarkably in May 1935, she arrived in London having travelled from Yokohama in Japan
Her occupation was given as a secretary and her last country of permanent residence was Japan. Again she was heading back to her brother's house in Dulwich.
But just what was she doing in Japan?

Annie Eliza's death was registered in the 4th quarter of 1958 in Surrey aged 90. If anyone has any information about what she was doing between 1886 and 1958 please let us know!

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The Fitzhenry - Jenkinson - Manning connection in Arklow

Apart from the Heath surname, there are two other surnames that crop up in the Fitzhenry records from the Arklow district. These are Jenkinson and Manning.
I've put these events in date order.

In 1835 Robert Fitzhenry and Elizabeth Manning were granted a marriage license*.
I don't know where they subsequently married, but if this is the Robert Edward Fitzhenry whose gravestone we discussed in this post,
then Elizabeth Manning is the mother of
Susanna Fitzhenry (born 1840) who married George Wilson.
*Reference: "Index to the Act or Grant Books and Original Wills of the Diocese of Dublin 1800-1858, 30th report"

Bev Kronk sent me this one:
Marriage in the parish of Rathdrum 15 May 1845
William Fitzhenry, widower, shopkeeper in Arklow (father not alive) to
Mary Jenkinson spinster, shopkeeper, Rathdrum (father not alive)
The witnesses were John Jenkinson and William Manning

A wonderful collection of Manning records has been compiled by D J Griffiths at this site. The Mannings appear to have been in the Arklow area from at least 1600 and probably before. This following entry comes from this site:
Marriage in the parish of Rathdrum on 15th December 1852,
Samuel Manning of Ballyteigue to Sarah Jenkinson of Rathdrum,
William Fitzhenry - witness for the groom and John Jenkinson - witness for the bride.
Sarah could be Mary Jenkinson's sister.

This marriage is from the Irish Genealogy site (highly recommended!).
A Manning - Fitzhenry match here is probably coincidental, as the parish is Aghold much further inland, and is here on the map
30 June 1856 at Aghold Parish church
JOHN MANNING of MUNNY, bachelor aged 24, a servant
Son of JOHN MANNING a labourer
MARY FITZHENRY of AGHOLD, spinster aged 21, a servant
Daughter of GEORGE FITZHENRY, a labourer
Witnesses WILLIAM MANNING (WITNESS FOR HUSBAND) and RUTH DAGG (WITNESS FOR WIFE)


Are there any Mannngs or Jenkinsons out there with a Fitzhenry connection? Drop us a line!

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More about the siblings of John Joseph Fitz-Henry of Wicklow and Canada

The obituary of John Joseph Fitz-Henry, (1887-1957) said that he was survived by two sisters: Mary Fitzhenry and Mrs Lottie Wicklow.

With the help of two excellent free genealogy sites which are always worth another plug - Familysearch.com and The National Archives of Ireland - I was able not only to find these two women but another two sisters as well.

Starting with the National Archives of Ireland website for the 1901 and 1911 censuses, I found Lottie (Charlotte) Fitzhenry working as an 18 year old draper's shop apprentice in 1901 (although incorrectly transcribed as Latty) in Drogheda Town, County Louth.

Her surviving sisters were all at the Church Home Boarding School in Dublin

Fitz Henry Mary Raymond 17 Church of Ireland Ovaca, Co Wicklow Teaching Assistant
Fitzhenry Josephine 12 Church of Ireland Ovaca, Co Wicklow Pupil
Fitzhenry Kathleen 13 Female Church of Ireland Ovaca, Co Wicklow Pupil

Mary we knew about from the obituary, but the other two were new discoveries.

I couldn't find Mary in the 1911 census, and John Joseph had already emigrated to Canada.
Lottie had married Joseph John Wicklow in the 3rd quarter of 1903. He was in the 1901 census as a "merchant's assistant", a Quaker by faith and born in Dublin. I could find neither of them in the 1911 census.

Josephine Fitzhenry was working in the same draper's shop in Drogheda (as a draper's assistant) as her sister Lottie had been 10 years previously. Some of the same staff were still there from the 1901 census.

Kathleen Jane Fitzhenry had been incorrectly transcribed as Fitzhkenny and was living in the household of Norman and Rebecca Allen in Eaton Square Dublin as a companion and help.

Now working from the Familysearch website, I found the births of all these children registered in the registration district of Rathdrum:
Charlotte Elizabeth Fitzhenry registered 3rd quarter 1882
Mary Raymond Fitzhenry birth registered 1st quarter of 1886 according to Familysearch, but in the census her birth year would have been 1884. Also it would have been too soon after the birth of the twins for Mary to have been conceived and born by March 1886.
The twins Harriet Jane and William Henry who were born 6 September 1885 and died within 2 weeks. Both registered in the third quarter 1885.
John Joseph Fitzhenry registered 4th quarter 1886
Kathleen Jane Fitzhenry registered 1st quarter 1888
Josephine Emily Fitzhenry registered 1st quarter 1889

Charles Joseph Fitzhenry married Charlotte Elizabeth Raymond in the 2nd quarter of 1880 in the registration district of Longford, County Longford, and hence Mary Raymond Fitzhenry's middle name.

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Fitzhenry stars in Ribblesdale Cricket League Twenty-Twenty final

Back to the present briefly. Regular readers will know of my penchant for the odd game of cricket, so I couldn't let this moment of Fitzhenry cricketing glory pass me by.

Declan Fitzhenry of Whalley cricket club in the Ribblesdale League was instrumental in the team's epic Twenty-twenty final victory over rivals Read. His bowling figures of 3 for 20 helped restrict Read to 87 runs, a target which was easily reached with the loss of only one wicket.

A full match report is here with a photo of Declan thrown in for good measure. For our overseas readers here is Whalley in Lancashire.


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Robert Heath Cooper (not William Heath Cooper)

Bev Kronk very rightly pointed out that I had made an error in the last posting with the name of the uncle of John Joseph Fitzhenry, who was looking after the orphan in his own family.

The uncle's name was Dr. Robert Heath Cooper not William Heath Cooper.

Since the last post, both me and Bev had found his marriage to Susan Frances which shows that she was indeed a Fitzhenry.
Robert Heath Cooper / Susan Frances FITZHENRY Jul-Sep Qr 1880 Rathdrum Vol 2 Page 769.

Robert died in 1909 at the age of 73, and Susan died in 1912 aged 61, both in the registration district of Wexford (from the Irish Civil registration indexes).

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