Irish Travels

[higgles]

Why would someone move from Oxford to Manchester, set up a book binding business and then move to Ireland-Dublin for 3 years 1881-1884 before moving back to Manchester to continue the business. There was no Irish ancestry on either side of the family. Would there be any way of me finding out what they were doing in Ireland for these few years?

[shanew147]

are you referring to Henry Richards ?

He is listed as a Bookbinder on the baptisms of at least two children in Dublin, both with addresses in Geraldine Street in Dublin. This street is located in the civil and Church of Ireland parish of St. George and close to Eccles Street in the north east of the City.

   Frederick George Richards - 5 Jun 1881
  15 Geraldine St.
   Lillian May Richards - 10 Jun 1883
  50 Geraldine St.

Both baptisms are in the Church of Ireland Parish of St. George

Henry is listed in the street listing of Thom's 1884 directory at one of the address - but without an occupation. I dont see any business listing for him.

  50 Geraldine St, Mr. Henry Richards

Not everyone is listed as Mr. - usually those slightly better off.

I would suspect that his reason for being in Dublin might have related to his business in some way..


Shane

[higgles]

oh yes, that's him, thank you. I'm still not sure why he decided to move and then come back. Do you know if that was a common thing? I had thought that around this time, people were trying to leave ireland.

[shanew147]

People travelled for all sorts of reasons - migrant workers travelled back & forth for seasonal work, many less well off people moved to England permanently to avail of the employment opportunities of the Industrial Revolution. Gentry travelled back and forth all the time - e.g. to parliament etc. 

There were many business connections, particularly in the cities, that could have lead to people moving temporarily, or even permanently to Ireland and vice versa. For example my own gt-grandfather was sent over to Dublin from Leeds to manage a branch of his employers mantle shops.


Shane