Halpin family of Wicklow - Part 1

[Shanachai]

     I'm glad you find the site useful, MCJ, and I assure you that until I decided to post this stuff I had never joined a forum like this myself.  But for our purposes - which are to find out what we can about the Halpins and to figure out what is and isn't plausible about the family lore - it is proving to be invaluable.  I can't tell you how glad I am that someone from the Canadian branch tuned in.  I have said very little about Canada because I know very little...your presence here, dropping in now and again, can help put an end to that.  You're right about one thing - there is a shitload of stuff about CG Halpine.  I often wondered if he had stayed in touch with his Canadian cousins, and if he had anything to do with the Fenian invasion of Canada.  He had planned something spectacular for Ireland, with General William G (for God's sake, does anyone know what the "G" stands for?  Tell me it's 'George') Halpin's assistance...I've yet to get to that part of the story, because it's difficult to compress all of the information I have on the two, but I hope to start within a few weeks.  In the meantime I intend to concentrate on two forebears you must know very little about - William Henry Halpin and Charles Halpin MD...they were busy and active members of an Irish society that few mention at all these days - Irish Protestants who were passionate about their country, its people, its culture and its political future.  They were patriots, plain and simple, and their nephew CG Halpine had planned to bring about an end to British rule in Ireland and might well have changed history if he hadn't let his hang-ups about his Da cause him to fall off the wagon, so to speak, while General G was languishing in an Irish prison..in an attempt to cope with his craving for alcohol, to stifel the craving, he took a dose of chloroform, and promptly died of the reaction to it, becoming a footnote in Irish history rather than Ireland's Liberator...all terribly 'Boysownish' stuff, which I hope to clarify soon.  As for his obituaries, I have an extremely long one that I'm currently editing, and a postmortem report which might extend another tenuous - another tantalising - link to the Wicklow Halpins.  In the meantime, glad you've joined the conversation, talk again soon.

[MCJ]

Hi Raymond,

My great Grandfather Henry Ross Halpin worked for the Hudson Bay Company for years, my Dad actually has his handwritten diary during his fur trading days.  He married a lady by the name of Annie Elliott, and had 8 children with her, I gave my Dad most of the information I found, so the number of children may be off a bit.  Annie Elliot died from a mental breakdown.  Henry Ross Halpin rejoined the Hudson Bay Company and worked at Fort Alexander where he met my Great Grandmother a Metis woman beautiful lady and they had 4 children one of them being my Grandpa.  If you google Henry Ross Halpin, Saskatchewan Archives of Canada there is a picture of him and a brief write-up of his life.

When I was searching for the Halpin's of Ireland, I came across ireland old news and searched many of the old newspapers and that is how I found out about Charles Halpin, when I read about him it seemed to me that he was more humble than his brother Rev. Nicholas John Halpin.  I got the impression Charles really loved to help his fellow man and wanted to improve life for everyone around him.

Some questions for you, do you know how many children Prof. Rev. William Henry Halpin, my great great grandfather of London Ontario, had.  I would just like to know how many brothers and sisters Henry Ross Halpin had.  I think they were all born in Ireland.

My other question is John Halpin, Rev. Nicholas John Halpin's brother was he Catholic, I remember reading your posting about these two and how it divided the family.  My Dad argues with me all the time that our family were all Protestant, I disagree because religion is a personal choice.

Another excellent resource for family history is www.familysearch.org, website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Utah, U.S., you probably already heard of them, however they have the biggest family archive service I believe in the world.  All kinds of information about the Halpin family in their database.

If there is anything you would like me to try and find out for you on the Canadian side I will do my best.  Bye for now.

   

[BillW]

It only just occurred to me to check the unusual name of Stopford with the LDS FamilySearch site.  A number of 'hits' produced the following:

To parents Stopford William HALPIN and Susanna Frances BESTALL -

1864, 05 April: Stopford William Halpin, Arklow, Wicklow (C701227)

1865, 30 July:  Stopford John Halpin, Arklow (C701263)

1868, 02 January:  Nannie Caldour Halpin, Wicklow (C014084)

1870, 05 June:  Susanna Frances Halpin, Wicklow (C702525)

1874, 30 July:  Violet Louise Halpin, Wicklow (C702537)

From the gravestone below is the calculated birth of Richard Frederick Bestall Halpin about 1858.  There may have been other children between him and those recorded above.

There are a number of Wicklow BESTALL births in the 1870s recorded at the IGI.  Some are to William Law Bestall and Elizabeth Bestall French at Templelyon.  The remainder are to Robert M L Bestall and Mary Ellenor Bestall Askin, including Robert Frederick Bestall in 1873, one recorded at Bed Cross.

Bill.

The following is about Dr RICHARD F B HALPIN (1858 - 1903) of Arklow, Wicklow,  and is taken from the British Medical Journal, Nov 7, 1903, p.1246
(http://www.bmj.com/cgi/issue_pdf/admin_pdf/2/2236.pdf)

IT was with deep regret that the profession and the public
generally in County Wicklow heard of the death of Dr.
RICHARD F. B. HALPIN, which occurred at his residence,
Ferrybank, Arklow, on October 19th. Dr. Halpin got a
severe wetting while seeing a patient on the night of October
12th, pneumonia setting in two days afterwards. He progressed
favourably for some days, when symptoms of heart
failure supervened, and despite all that medical skill and
careful nursing could do he succumbed on the sixth day. Dr.
Halpin was in his 45th year. He pursued his medical studies
in London, becoming a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
in I883, and afterwards obtaining the Licence of the
Royal College of Physicians, Ireland. He was for some time
house physician to the Hospital for Diseases of the Chest,
and afterwards surgeon in the service of the Eastern Telegraph Company, of which his uncle the late distinguished
Captain R. C. Halpin, was the marine superintendent in
London. In 1885 he settled down in his native town of Arklow,
succeeding to the very extensive practice of his father,
the late Dr. Stopford Halpin, in addition to holding many
public appointments, including that of physician to Arklow
Fever Hospital, of surgeon and agent to H.M. Coastguards, and
of medical attendant Royal Irish Constabulary. He was held in
high esteem by both rich and poor, and the large attendance
at his funeral on October 22nd was in itself sufficient evidence
of his popularity, the predominant feeling in the breasts of
all being "that a thorough gentleman and an ornament to
his profession " had passed from amongst them. Dr. Halpin
leaves behind him three children and a widowed mother,
with whom sincere sympathy is felt.

I came to search for this man because someone had sent me a photo of a gravestone at Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin, knowing that I was searching for a Halpin burial there.  It had initially been erected by him for his wife Bessie in 1896.  I will try to attach this photo but please let me know if you need a transcript.

Bill Webster
Sydney

[Shanachai]

 1. Halpin and Wicklow.

    We can't understand the Halpins without understanding a little about Wicklow.

     What follows is fairly self-explanatory, so I won't waste time explaining what you can figure out for yourself.  But I will draw attention to the historical value of such a document - forebears can be heard in their own words, a good part of their daily activity can be clearly deduced from their replies to the commission's questions, and if you're cute enough you can glean from the minutes as a whole a feel for the shenanigans that were part of everyday life in a mid-19th century Irish town:- the petty corruption, the organised fraud and the propensity of each group to do what it could to screw the other.  The visiting Commission seems anxious to recommend for the whole of Ireland a draft of standards and regulations that it hopes will improve trade for both buyer and seller - a sort of mini version of what the EU is attempting to some extent today.  Personally, I found my greatgreatgrandfather's support for the Commission's recomendations to be a delight to hear, especially as it is obvious that he - and the Town commissioners - had been using existing arrangements to generate a little 'additional income' for themselves.  This sense of entitlement continued in one form or another until another Royal Commission arrived in Wicklow some twenty years later, to attempt to find out what had happened to a huge sum of money that the Wicklow Town Commission had borrowed, supposedly for the improvement of the Harbour.  I'll get to that report some other time, but to me what the minutes below prove is the general attitude some Town Commissioners seemed to have in regard to their duties - Empire meant spoils, it was a racket to be exploited by those who were priviledged with administrative power and responsibility...in many respects, little has changed - Empire may be gone, but the cute hoor remains as ubiquitous as ever.  And my dear old forebear was one of the finest.   

     1854 - 55: FAIRS AND MARKETS COMMISSION, IRELAND.

     REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS APPOINTED TO INQUIRE INTO THE STATE OF THE FAIRS AND MARKETS IN IRELAND. 
     PART 2: MINUTES OF EVIDENCE.

     Wicklow, December 22, 1852.  Mr. Robert Halpin, examined:
6618. Do you reside in Wicklow? - I do.
6619. Are you secretary to the Town Commissioners? - I am.
6620. Can you give us any information as to the patent or authority under which the markets are held in this town? - They are held by the Town Commissioners, as the successors of the old Corporation, under a charter of James the 2nd.
6621. Were the Corporation proprietors of the fairs and markets here? - They were.
6622. Did the charter give them a grant of the market? - Yes; it granted them the whole town.
6623. How often are your markets held? - On every Saturday.
6624. Is that the day mentioned in the patent? - I think it is.
6625. How many fairs are held? - Four; on 28th March, 24th May, 12th August, and 25th November.
6626. Are these fairs mentioned in the patent? - No; they were established some few years by the inhabitants of the town and the Commissioners.
6627. Did the Commissioners obtain any authority to establish them? - They did not.
6628. Are tolls paid at the markets or fairs? - No.
6629. Were they ever paid? - They were at the market under the old Corporation; but they were discontinued, because they were thought not to be for the general benefit.
6630. Where are the markets held? - In the streets.
6631. Is there a market house? - There is; but it is not used, because the market people disliked coming coming there, thinking it a backward place.
6632. Is there an enclosed market-place? No.
6633. All the agricultural produce, then, is sold about the streets and at the stores of the merchants? - Yes.
6634. Where are the fairs held? - At the upper end of the town, also in the streets.
6635. Have you public scales? - There is a public weighmaster, named John Ost, but he has nothing to do.
6636. When was he appointed? - I should think thirty years ago.  If goods came to the market-place, he would weigh them.
6637. Does he keep beams and scales? - He does.
6638. Where are they erected? - In the market-house.
6639. Are they the property of the Corporation? - They are.
6640. Is there a scale of fees laid down for him to charge? - I think there was by the old Corporation.
6641. Are the scales ever used? - Not now; they were used, I believe, within the last four or five years.
6642. Is the weighmaster sworn? - I believe he was.
6643. Do the merchants make any charge for weighing at their own stores? - No.
6644. Where are potatoes weighed? - About the town, the same way as corn.
6645. Are the fairs held in the public streets inconvenient? - I think not.

[Shanachai]

2. Halpin and Wicklow.

6646. Do the holding them there generally give satisfaction? - I think it does.
6647. Would it be more convenient to have them held in the streets than in an enclosed fair-green? - I think it would.
6648. Is not the thoroughfare blocked up? - It is a kind of fair-green.
6649. Is it sufficiently large? - At present it is.
6650. Were there any fairs held before the establishment of these four fairs? - There were two fairs before, but they failed.
6651. Have the Town Commissioners any property? - They have, in landed and house property, about £500 a-year, and in harbour dues about £200 a-year.
6652. How are they expended? - In improving the town.

[Shanachai]

3. Halpin and Wicklow.

6653. Is any of it expended in market improvements? - Not as yet.  The harbor rates are expended upon the harbor, and the town property upon the town.
6654. Have you ever struck a borough rate? - Never.
6655. Is the town lighted or cleansed? - It is cleansed, not lighted; we have not the Act for lighting yet.
6656. You mean, you have not placed yourselves under that section of the Act? - Yes.
6657.How is the £500 a-year expended? - In widening the streets, purchasing old houses, making roads and sewers, and general cleansing.
6658. Would not an enclosed market-green be more satisfactory than selling through the streets? - As regards markets it would.
6659. And as regards fairs would it not be better? - The fairs are held here upon a green; they do not go straggling through the town.
6660. Could you give an idea of the quantity of corn sold here in a year? - I could not.
6661. Are there many buyers here? - About half a dozen.
6662. Do they keep stores? - They do.
6663. Do sales of corn take place every day? - Yes; there is no particular day for corn.  There are, I have just been told, from 60'000 to 80,000 barrels sold here in the year.
6664. Are potatoes sold every day? - They are.
6665. Then, in fact, a sort of market goes on every day in the week? - Exactly.

  

[Shanachai]

4. Halpin and Wicklow.

 Mr. William Wilkinson examined:
6683. Do you consider the system of weighing in private to be objectionable? - It may be in some respects.
6684. Would you be in favour of a general market, with proper accommodation, an enclosed market-place, and a sworn weighmaster, making it obligatory to all, and weigh all agricultural produce there, the market to begin at a certain hour and close at a certain hour? - I would be an advocate for it; it would give us a great deal less trouble.
6685. Of course the charge should be nothing more than would support such a market respectably? - Nothing more; and I think it would be a great improvement.
6686. Would it not be a protection to the farmer and the honest trader? - I think it would.
6687. Did you ever hear of instances of fraud practised in weighing at the private stores? - The farmers would not allow us to do such things; it is rather the reverse, generally.
6688. But frauds may be practised without the farmer finding them out for a long time? - The porters would have no interest in committing fraud, and it is they who weigh.
6689. But would it not be better to have a sworn weighmaster, a person of respectability, in whom all could place confidence? - It would be much better, if it could be done.
6690. Would you be in favour of an assimilation of weights and measures over the whole country? - I think it would be much better; everyone would understand it.  [...]
6695. Would there not be one great advantage in a well-regulated public market thatyou could get the proper statistics of the country? - It would be a great advantage.  We have very little power to do so now; but under the Act you speak of we would have the power.
6696. In such a market would it not be very necessary to have heavy penalties for frauds upon the part either of buyer or seller, and the person at the head of the market to prosecute? - It certainly would.
6697. Would you be in favour of buying by the stone or by the barrel? - I think by the stone would, perhaps, be more simple.

    Mr. James Nolan examined:
6700. Would you be in favour of such a general market as has been described? - I would decidedly.  I coincide entirely with the last witness.
6701. Do you think it would be a protection to the farmer and the honest trader? - Certainly.
6702. Would you be in favour of an assimilation of weights and measures? - I would.  (...)
6703. You think it would be easier [buying by the stone], as a uniform system, than buying by the barrel? - I think it would.
6704. Would you abolish all deductions, and let the merchant regulate his price according to quality? - Yes; I think in the end it would be much better.
6705. Would it not be very desirable to obtain the proper statistics of the country? - Certainly; they are very much wanted.
6706. Would there be any difficulty in obtaining a convenient place for establishing a general market here? - It would require some consideration; but I think such a place might be very easily procured.
6707. I suppose you would not allow the charge to be more than would support such a market respectably? - Certainly not.
6708. You would not have it a source of revenue for any body? - No; I think it is time to abolish all these things.
6709. Do you think the farmers would object to pay a small charge to support such a market? - They would object to pay anything, I think.

  

[Shanachai]

 5. Halpin and Wicklow.

Mr. Halpin reexamined:
6713. Have the Commissioners taken any steps with regard to the markets of the town? - They tried to enforce having them held at a regular hour.
6714. But if corn were to be brought to the market place for sale, would not the place be very insufficient? - It would.
6715. Have the Corporation sufficient ground at present unoccupied, without interfering with private rights, to make a place for a proper general market? - They have.
6716. And I suppose they would be glad to carry out any regular measure for improving the fairs and markets? - They have always shown that they would.
6717. I suppose your barrel of corn means twenty stone of wheat, fourteen stone of oats, and sixteen stone of barley? - Exactly.

    I'll leave it there for the time being, and come back to it tomorrow.  But before I sign off, it might be wise to keep in mind a few self-evident facts: the Commissioners are not just on a fact-finding mission.  They are clearly out to sell a set of proposals.   Questions that might be asked are Who's proposals, and For what purpose? 
    If the Commission's recomendations are approved and markets throughout Ireland are regulated, standardised and their activities documented, then the British Administration will find it easier to properly assess the real wealth of buyers and sellers alike.  This will lead to more effective - and more lucrative - taxation, it will bring about a shift in power away from local councils and towards head office (in Dublin and London), and - ultimately - it will result in a form of Protectionism that over time will allow traders (and Governments) to milk consumers for all their worth.  This is what amounts to a racket - the racket that was Empire - and it was a process my greatgrandfather Edwin Halpin (son of the Halpin being interviewed above) took real exception to.  The racket that was Empire had to be brought to an end - Ireland had to be relieved of British rule and politically and administratively reconfigured  along American lines...Edwin was both pro-American and very much a Socialist, which wasn't a contradiction in terms in those days.  He was an enthusiast for the Celtic Revival and encouraged his kids to be bi-lingual: to speak both English and Gaelic.  But he had an idealised vision of what the Irish and Ireland could become.  He thought, for most of his life at least, that change could be brought about peaceably, through the democratic process...his eldest son William thought differently and, in 1913, joined Connolly's Irish Citizens Army.  I will reveal later what Edwin did in response to William's behaviour, but William was interned after the Rising in 1916 and, after his release, went on to become part of a squad (H-squad) of Sinn Fein assassins that ambushed a military lorry in Church street, Dublin, in 1920.  During the attack one of the squad members - Kevin Barry - was captured and, very soon afterwards, convicted of the murder of 3 British soldiers and hung.  After the British left Ireland William would gather up his children every Easter and arrange them round a flagpole he had erected in his front yard.  There, on Hawthorn Tce. North Strand (Dublin), he and the kids would pay their respects to the fallen Heroes.  According to my elderly relatives (his nieces) this ceremonial mark of respect drove the locals mad.  I've often wondered what William's grandfather - the Halpin interviewed by the Commissioners above - would have made of that.

[Shanachai]

6. Halpin and Wicklow.

     Mr. John Chapman examined:
6719. Are you one of the Town Commissioners? - I am.
6720. Do you farm? - I do.
6721. Would you, as a farmer, be in favour of such a general market as you have heard described? - I would.
6722. Would you, as a farmer, object to pay a small charge to support such a market? - I would not.
6723. Do you object, on principle, to the system of weighing in private? - I do not object on my own behalf, for I believe there has been no fraud committed here; I am quite satisfied there has not; but I think the other plan would be much more satisfactory.
6724. Does it not offer great facilities for fraud? - It does; and I have heard that frauds were practised here some years ago to a great extent.

     John Ost examined:
6732. What is your occupation? - Town Sergeant.
6733. Are you weighmaster? - I stopped weighing shortly after my father died.
6734. Did you ever receive any appointment? - Never.
6735. Were you sworn? - No. [...]
6742. Do you keep a book? - No; my father did.
6743. Did you keep the money you received? - I did.
6744. Are you paid a salary as bailiff? - I am.
6745. Have you been weighing lately? - Not these ten or twelve years; there has been nothing here.
6746. Was it during the time of the old Corporation your father died? - It was.
6747. Was it with their sanction you took his place? - I was allowed to remain where I was.
6748. To whom did the scales belong? - To the Town Commissioners.

     Andrew William Byrne, esq., examined:
6749. Are you a weighmaster for this county? - I am.
6750. Can you give us any information with regard to the fairs of the town? - Not of the town, for they are very little attended, and scarcely talked of as fairs; ...they are tolerably well conducted under the circumstances, but upon a bad system.  Some are subject to charges, and some are not, which causes a great deal of confusion, and very often fights.  There is another defect; although a late law gives magistrates the power of interfering and settling disputes, still from the non-attendance of magistrates...the law is of very little use.