Dublin and Somerset connection

[dismo]

Hi

Does anyone know of a Dublin and Somerset connection in last half of 18th and first half of 19th centuries.

Thanks

Simon

[KGarrad]

Would you like to a bit more specific?

[dismo]

My ancestor Faustin Jeffery, (1789-1866) supposedly born in Huntspill or Cannington in Somerset (not found his birth entry yet) was married in 1811 to Catherine Byrne (1795-1865) of Dublin. I wonder how they made the connection in the first place. I today found a Patrick Byrne (1770-1843), born in Dublin and yet in 1841 living in Bathford, Somerset, a stone mason. Was there a constant exchange between Dublin and Somerset tradespeople? I assume that Patrick was in Bathford to renovate houses of pre- 19th century in the early 19th century.

Simon

[KGarrad]

Judging by my own family, I would say that anyone from England marrying in Dublin was very likely to be in the Army.


As for your stone mason, Bath became very popular in the 18th & 19th centuries, and many buildings were erected using the local Bath stone. Lots of work for a stone mason!

Quote from Visit Bath:

During the 18th and 19th centuries Bath became a cultural centre attracting such famous people as writers Jane Austen, Oliver Goldsmith, and later Charles Dickens artist Thomas Gainsborough, poets William Wordsworth, Richard Brinsley Sheriden and Walter Savage Landor and actors David Garrick and Sarah Siddons.  Bath also attracted Lord Nelson, Josiah Wedgwood, William Pitt (later Prime Minister, Lord Clive (later Governor of Bengal in India) and the explorer and missionary Dr David Livingstone.

1805 Theatre Royal opened.

1810 Kennet and Avon Canal opened.  The canal connected the River Thames with the Severn Estuary and was used for the transportation of coal and other products.

1830 Princess Victoria opened Royal Victoria Park which was designed by City Architect of the time, Edward Davis.  It was the first of many places in England to be named in her honour.

2nd May 1840 The first Penny Black postage stamp was sent from 8 Broad Street, Bath (now the Postal Museum).

About 1840 The canal was superseded by the Great Western Railway, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel who also built Bath Spa Station.

[dismo]

Thanks for this. I checked army records and no Faustin Jeffery (was Faustin a nuckname I wonder, one he used for the rest of his life). Will need t check again when I go to Dublin next year. Faustin and Catherine moved to London in 1817-18 and had eleven children, Faustin was a shoemaker, as were most of his sons

Many thanks

Simon

[Seren]

Though a later period (1901), my grandmother and her family needed to flee Dublin quickly, and they had no prior connection with Somerset but ended up there purely because of the availability of regular boats between the two places.
 
They disembarked at Uphill near Weston, but there were several ports in Somerset  which had been used for centuries  for carrying livestock and people between the two countries.  In comparison with the long voyages from Ireland to eg America etc, Somerset was a short journey...... though according to my gran it wasn’t a very pleasant one !