Edward and Mary Fitz-Henry (Ireland to London)

Bev has also sent me the details of a couple of letters she received from a Mrs Betty Volante back in 1998 who was also researching the Fitz-Henrys. It turns out she was looking for information on my branch, so if Mrs Volante is still researching this tree I would be very pleased to hear from her (or from any other person who recognises these Fitz-Henrys).

Edward Fitz-Henry was born in Ireland in about 1788, place unknown. He is my great-great-great-great-grandfather. He was a labourer according to the marriage certificate of his son Michael (my great-great-great-grandfather) or a carpenter according to the death certificate of his wife. He died in the Whitechapel workhouse (London) in 1833 and was buried in St Mary's graveyard in Whitechapel according to the Findmypast.com website parish records collection.

Edward married Mary (surname unknown) some time between 1804 and 1816 according to Mrs Volante's letters. Mary apparently was born in about 1790 and came from County Kilkenny. Mrs Volante was looking for the death of Mary in Australia, as family legend had it that her son Thomas went to Australia and was shot dead there.

I have Mary in the 1841 census living at Fives Court in Mansell Street, St. Mary's Whitechapel with two sons James (a gunmaker) and Thomas (a cigarmaker). Both sons are born in Middlesex and Mary is recorded as being Irish. She is a charwoman and has a given age of 45 years, although in this census the age was rounded down to the nearest 5 years. This would give her birth year from 1791 to1796.

In the 1851 census I have a Mary Fitzhenry, a servant unmarried aged 53 born Sligo Kilkenny.
She is living at 22 Craven Street, St. Martins in the Fields in the house of Rebecca Loosnig (widow) lodging house keeper. This is gives her year of birth as 1898. This may or may not be the correct Mary but it would fit with her previous occupation as a charwoman and her assumed place of birth. She may have told her employer she was younger to make it more likely she got the job!

Mary died in the Wapping Workshouse on 6 May 1859, the widow of Edward Fitzhenry, carpenter. Her age was given as 73, which puts her birth year around 1786.

There are four sons from this marriage that I know about:
John born before 1810.
Michael born 1813-1816 - my ggg-grandfather. At least 12 children!
James the gunsmith born 1818 died December 1858 - one son James survived infancy. I don't know what happended to James junior.
Thomas born about 1823 - emigrated to Australia - a Thomas Fitzhenry fitting his description was admitted to the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum in 1881 - no known marriage or children.

It would be great to hear from anyone who has these people in their tree, or has any more information about them . Edward and Mary are my brick wall!

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A tad more about Andrew Fitzhenry ..was he a doctor?

After doing yesterday's post , I was reading through some notes that I made at the most excellent Wellcome Library near Euston Station in London in 2005. At that time I was making notes on all the medically qualified Fitzhenrys as they appeared on either the list of Members of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of the Medical Directory.
An Andrew Fitzhenry is there flittting in and out of the yearly register of the RCS from 1805 (the earliest volume) until 1825. All I know is that he lived more than 7 miles outside London - the Medical Directory was very parochial, either you were fashionably in London or you weren't.

Until the late 1800s, there are only another 2 Fitzhenrys listed. Edward FH had dual qualifications - an MD from Glasgow in 1851 and a Licence in Midwifery from Dublin also in 1851. He practiced both in Liverpool and in County Wexford Ireland.

George FH obtained the Membership of the RCS in 1844 (10 years before the introduction of anaesthesia), was in Blackheath London in 1845 and then had a practice in Brynmaur near Abergavenny in Brecon Wales.

However they are all Fitzhenrys without the hyphen and unlikely to be related to my branch of Fitz-Henrys