Dublin Look-up

[lesB]

Would some kind person be in a position to look-up the following please.

From Australian newspapers of the time I have gleaned the following information:

1. A son born in Dublin on the 18 April 1831 to William Wilbore Harlington BENSON & Margaret. (Church of Ireland).

2. Another announcement in a newspaper dated 18 March 1835 advised Welbore Eagle Albuera BENSON aged eight & half months, son of Lieutenant W W H BENSON had died at sea on the 4th February 1835 on the way to Van Diemans Land.
Because of the difference in times of birth this is not the same child as at 1 as I estimate he was born about May 1834.

I’m looking for any details on both however, because WWH Benson was an army man I wouldn’t be surprised if child at 2 wasn’t born in Dublin.

Thanks in anticipation, Les

[shanew147]

since the birth you are looking for is before civil registration started (1864) you would need to research church records to locate details of the birth/baptism. Do you know where in Dublin the event took place (i.e. county Dublin, the City, a street, or parish)?

some Dublin City and county parish records are available on - http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/



Shane

[lesB]

Hi Shane,

Unfortunately, I can’t help with the exact location of the event in Dublin.

The Benson family were well connected. William W H Benson was reportedly the son of Rev’d William Benson of Ballybroud Limerick descendant of a long line of influential Churchmen in Ireland and England. I can only guess/hope that the first Baptism at least, took place in the main Church of Ireland in Dublin at that time.

I have had a look at the Internet site you mentioned but couldn’t find any answers there. As you pointed out not all parish records are covered yet.

Thank you for your interest, Les

[shanew147]

Baptisms usually took place in the parish church that covered the area where the parents lived at the time. There was quite number of Church of Ireland parishes in both Dublin City and County, all with their own churches.


Shane

[lesB]

Thank you Shane, I do appreciate the problem as I thought Dublin was a city only.

The Author Turtle Bunbury on his site, www.turtlebunbury.com in the article called “Benson of the Fould” describes William, the Grandfather of WWH Benson thus “he lived in Downpatrick and established himself as a merchant in Abbey Street Dublin”.

In addition, WWH’s  aunt Jane “married Charles Agar, first earl of Normanton and Archbishop of Dublin” This all happened some time before 1831 as the Earl as died in 1809 as Archbishop. But it does point to a strong connection to Dublin and might explain why they chose to have the baby there, perhaps whilst visiting family? I do have info that points to WWH stationed in England by July 1831 so it looks like a visit to Ireland only.

To summarise, the area around Abbey Street, and the Church where an Archbishop might ‘hang out’ are two likely parishes or could these be one and the same?

I hope this further detail might help, Les

[shanew147]

Without further details on the address I am not certain of which parish would apply for Abbey street as it is divided into three section and extends on both the east and west sides of Sackville (now O'Connell) street. These are the details based on what I can locate for slightly later times between about 1840 to 1870.

Lower Abbey Street runs from the east of Sackville st towards the Custom house and is in the Civil Parish of St. Thomas. At the time St Thomas Church was located at the northern end of Marlborugh St., but was destroyed in 1922 and rebuilt just off the original street on Cathal Brugha Street.

Middle Abbey Street runs to the west of Sackville st as far as Jervis Street, and is partially in the parish of St. Thomas and partially in the parish of St. Mary.  The building still exists but is now a restaurant.

The remaining section (Upper Abbey Street) runs on further to the west as far as Capel street, and is also in St. Mary's Parish.

I presume an Archbishop of Dublin at the time would be based at one of the Cathedrals

the  Cathedral - Christ Church

or St. Patrick's Cathedral

The first appears to be in the parish of St. John and the second in St. Nicolas Without.

Marlborough street is just to the north of Abbey Street and to the north of the river Liffey. Christ Church is on the south of Dublin city  and near to Dublin Castle etc..and St. Patrick's is a little further south on Patrick Street.


Shane

[Quaxer]

LesB

The Irish Church Directory 1961 at P.178 shows that Charles Agar Earl of Normanton was Archbishop of Dublin and Glendalough from 1801 until 1809
Any help?


Regards      Quaxer

[lesB]

Shane, Thank you for that great description of Abbey Street and Cathedrals. I spent some time on Google Maps finding it just as you described. You are obviously a Dubliner (hope that is the right term).

It looks as though you have narrowed the parishes down to about four viz
St Thomas, St Marys, St John and St Nicholas. Armed with this info I then looked at www.irishgenealogy. ie/ again hoping to find a list of completed parishes. No luck, that listing wasn’t available. It looks as though it was available previously or it may be under construction.  Would you Shane, or anyone else have that list? I just want to (hopefully) narrow down my list of four parishes to any that haven’t been covered yet.

On reflection, I looked again at IGI just in case the 1831 Dublin born child was christened in England. At post #4 I mentioned that by July 1831 WWH was stationed with the 57th Foot Regiment in England specifically at Brompton- near-Chatham, Kent. No luck with my1831 nameless child but I did find William Eagle…..Benson and a sister Jane Normanton….Benson, whose birth I had been looking for some time.

In anticipation, Les

[shanew147]

no problem...

small point - there there are two different St. Nicholas parishes, St. Nicolas Without. and St. Nicolas Within. The term relates to the fact that one was inside the old city walls, and St. Patrick's Cathedral parish is just outside.

There is a list of parishes included in the IrishGenealogy website at - http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/location.jsp?diocese=DUBLIN, but they dont state if these are fully complete or still being worked on. At the moment the list includes St Nicholas Without and St. John's (both CofI). It's also worth noting that there are sometimes gaps in the surviving records.

I dont see a list anywhere on the website of the parishes they are working on, but it appears that they are concentrating on Dublin city (and county) parishes not included by other websites like the IFHF (which covers almost no city parishes) All I can suggest is to keep an eye on their website for updates... and also here on rootschat, as I'm sure any new parishes will be mentioned and discussed.

p.s. Dubliner is fine!


Shane