Sepia Saturday: Hats off to James Carroll

Sepia Saturday prompts bloggers to share their family history through old photographs. 

Their suggestion this week shows a British Grenadier Guard kissing a woman during a visit to Sydney in 1934, but the Guard’s towering bearskin cap hides most of the action. Indeed, hats of all kinds feature most prominently in this picture - nearly everyone is wearing one.

So today, as part of our family history, I thought I'd tell the story of James Carroll and share with you some of his photos. They feature a variety of great hats. James Carroll was Teresa (Carroll) Wynne’s older brother. Actually, he was her half-brother, the son of Maurice Carroll and his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer. That makes him my half-great-granduncle.  

James Carroll was born in Balheary, in Swords, Co. Dublin, 150 years ago, on 4 November 1865. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was only two years old, but, by the time he was four, his father had remarried. Anne Radcliffe was twenty years of age when she married Maurice and became mother to his surviving children. Although, five children have been identified in baptism records – David, Robert, Catherine, Thomas and James – some may have died prior to Maurice and Anne’s marriage. James probably had no memories of Mary Anne for he named Anne Radcliffe as his mother later in life.

Three days after his twenty-first birthday, James married Anne Molyneux in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin. His bride was originally from Ballymore Eustace in Co. Kildare. The young couple had three boys born in Dublin city, Maurice in 1887, William in 1889 and James in 1891. Sadly, William died.  

James and Anne (Molyneux) Carroll in later life

About 1901, the family migrated to Newcastle upon Tyne, in England. During the census that year, James, Anne and their son James were living in a lodging house in Elswick, seemingly having just arrived in the town. James had found work as a general labourer. Their eldest son Maurice was temporarily left behind with friends in Ireland.

James Carroll in his fire officer’s uniform 

By 1911, James was well established  in Newcastle, where he worked for Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Ltd, then the largest manufacturing company in Britain.  James was a fireman in their fire department. Both his sons also worked for the company, Maurice as a ship joiner and young James as an apprentice electrician in their gun department.

The Armstrong Whitworth fire-engine

After James retired, he moved out of Newcastle with his wife Anne and they spent some years living in the Northumbrian countryside, first in a place called Twice Brewed and later at Tow House, near Bardon Mill. During the war years they moved back to Newcastle to live with their son James, who was known as Jimmy. James died on 22 December 1943. His wife did not survive him by very long and within six months, on 18 June 1944, she too passed away.

Anne (Molyneux) Carroll in later life

To see what stories other Sepians have under their hats this week, head over to Sepia Saturday.

Sources: Copy birth, marriage and death registers, General Register Officer; Church records on RootsIreland.ie and IrishGenealogy.ie; 1901 and 1911 Census of England and Wales, accessed on Ancestry; information after 1911 and Carroll family photographs received, with much appreciation, from the great-grandchildren of James Carroll in Newcastle. Thank you Rosalie, Brian and Rosemary. 

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