Did you wonder how Two Ball Lonnen, Newcastle got its name?

My great-grandparents lived on a street mysteriously called ‘Two Ball Lonnen’ in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. They moved there from Riddell Avenue, Newcastle, about 1934, and opened a general provision store. When I first searched Google maps for images of their home, which they named 'Wynholm', at 297/299 Two Ball Lonnen, it was hard to see where the street name had come from. 

Modern-day view of Two Ball Lonnen, Fenham (Google maps)

‘Lonnen’ means ‘lane’ in the Geordie dialect of the Tyneside, and it seems Two Ball Lonnen was an ancient lane in Newcastle. Old photographs online at the ‘Newcastle City Library Photographic Collection’ reveal the source of the street name. There really were two balls!

Entrance to Two Ball Lonnen, Fenham, c.1905, Newcastle Libraries

Entrance to Two Ball Lonnen, Fenham, c.1905, Newcastle Libraries

As you can see, the lonnen got its name from the ball-shaped ornaments sitting on top of the two pillars, once positioned at each side of the entrance. It didn’t look like this when my great-grandparents moved to the area though.

The following picture shows a view of the street in the 1930s. The entrance pillars have long been removed, but I haven’t yet ascertained when.

Two Ball Lonnen, Fenham c.1930, Newcastle Libraries

Historical images (public domain), online at Newcastle Libraries. 

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© Black Raven Genealogy

Our Wynne family in the National Register of 1939

On 29 September 1939, during the earliest days of WWII, the British government compiled a National Register of its civilian population. The Register would have many uses, but initially it was used to issue ID cards and ration books, as part of the War effort. The details for England and Wales are now available online, and included my Wynne family, who had emigrated to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[1] And, as you know, I like to collect every snippet of information concerning my direct ancestors. 

My great-grandfather, Patrick Wynne, died on 21 December 1937, so it was his wife, my great-grandmother, Teresa (Carroll) Wynne, who headed up the Wynne family, in Newcastle, in 1939.  She was one of five people living in their home - 297 Two Ball Lonnem, Fenham.

Teresa resided with her second eldest son Brendan, born in 1908, and her eldest daughter Eileen, born in 1916. But, the identity of the two other household members is officially closed. The records of anyone born within the last 100 years, who are still living, or who died after 1991, are restricted, for privacy reasons.

Patrick and Teresa had eight children.  By 1939, their eldest son Maurice was married and heading up his own household at 11 Waverdale Avenue, Newcastle, while my grandfather Kevin lived back home in Dublin. This leaves Brian (1918-1969), Nora (1920-2000), Terrence (1922-1993) and Laurence (1924-1993) unaccounted for in the survey. The records for the three youngest are likely still closed, but we should be able to locate Brian Wynne, who died well before 1991. Yet, there is no sign of him.

Newcastle was a major port and industrial centre in 1939 and an attractive target for German bombers. Young children were removed from the city to the countryside, during the War, but the National Register was probably enumerated long before the evacuation started.  So, it isn’t clear which two of the four youngest were living at home with Teresa.

The following information can currently be gleaned from the Register: -

Name	Sex	Birth date	Status	Occupation
Teresa Wynne	F	10 May 1888	Widow	General Dealer
Brendan Wynne	M	6 Apr 1908	Single	Wholesale General Warehouse
Eileen M. Wynne /Johnson	F	22 May 1916	Single	Unpaid Domestic

Eileen married John Walter Johnson in 1950, and her married-name was added to the Register, over time. 

1939 Register, Wynne household, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

[1] 1939 England and Wales Register, separately indexed and available online at ($) Ancestry and ($) FindmyPast. Click on image to enlarge.

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© Black Raven Genealogy

The Daly Brothers

I recently received an email from a distant cousin on my mother's side, who had come across my blog. Her great-grandparents were Richard Daly and his second wife, Sarah Jane McGrane. They married in St Laurence O’Toole’s Church in Dublin, on 30 July 1879. Richard worked as a car-man, like a modern-day taxi driver, but with a horse and trap. And, Sarah Jane is better known in the family as the mother of Frank Teeling and his brother, Fr Camillus, the Cistercian monk. 

My new-found cousin is actually a double third cousin - related on two separate lines. We are third cousins once removed via Sarah Jane, who was a younger sister of my great-great-grandmother, Margaret (McGrane) Byrne. And, third cousins twice removed via Richard Daly, who was a brother of my third-great-grandmother, Jane (Daly) Byrne. Both families lived in Upper Jane Place and Lower Jane Place, parallel rows of cottages, off Oriel Street, in Dublin city. 

Richard and Sarah Jane had five children born in Jane Place - William, Myles, Sarah Mary, Richard and Margaret. They were all raised by their step-father, Christopher Teeling. Their father was an old man, more than forty years older than Sarah Jane, and he died in 1888, when the children were small.

Sadly, Sarah Jane buried three of the children from her first marriage. William was twelve when he died in 1893, Sarah Mary was twenty-two when she succumbed to tuberculosis in 1906, and Margaret caught pneumonia and died in 1909, aged twenty years. What terrible heartbreak for Sarah Jane and the rest of the family. Only Myles, born on 25 July 1882, and Richard, born on 6 November 1886, lived to see old age.  

Myles Daly married Catherine Wisely on 28 September 1909, and went on to have nine children. After their marriage, and as part of the Gaelic revival taking place across Ireland at the time, they changed their surname from Daly to O'Daly. But, unlike his step-brother Frank Teeling, Myles was not politically-minded. It was his wife Catherine who joined Inghinidhe na hÉireann, an Irish nationalist women's organisation, and later Cumann na mBan. Still, during 'the troubles', when Frank was on the run, having dramatically escaped from Kilmainham Gaol, he often found refuge with Myles and Catherine. 

Richard, or Dick as he was called, kept the Daly surname, without ever adding the historical 'O'. He worked as a wood-sawyer, like his brother Myles. On 27 October 1910, he married Catherine (Kate) McGrane. His grandniece remembers hearing they needed a dispensation from Rome, before they could marry, as they were so closely related. And, it turns out, Kate was a first cousin of Dick's mother, a daughter of her uncle Francis McGrane. Kate grew up in Jane Place too. So, we have a triple relationship with Dick and Kate's children! 

Both brothers each celebrated over fifty years of marriage. Myles made his home in Shelmartin Avenue, in Marino, while Dick lived not far away in Rutland Place. Dick died first in November 1965, and Myles passed away in April 1968. Both men were buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

Here'a a picture of them together, probably taken at the celebration of Dick and Kate's 50th wedding anniversary, so about 1960.

Dick and Kate Daly (sitting) with Catherine and Myles O'Daly, c.1960

With special thanks to my cousin Barbara for sharing her extensive knowledge and pictures of the ['O]Daly family with me.

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© Black Raven Genealogy