Annie Carroll – a tale of betrayal

When my mother was young, she was eavesdropping on adult conversation and overheard her parents discussing a truly scandalous story. She believed they were talking about her Dad’s grandmother, Anne Carroll. Supposedly, Anne had married her sister’s husband, with whom she’d been having an affair, before her sister died. Shocking, right?

Except further research revealed my great-great grandmother, Anne (Ratcliffe) Carroll, was an only child. Her mother died when she was an infant and her father emigrated to Australia, without her. It’s true, when they married, Maurice Carroll was a widower. But Anne was not related to his first wife. She was only eighteen years old when the lady died. No sister! No ongoing affair!

So, I wondered, what exactly my mother might have overheard?

Sometime later, I met another family researcher online. She was attempting to prove her relationship to the Singleton family, of Kirkham, England. Her great-grandmother Annie Whittle, aged five years, was ‘boarding’ with the Singletons, in 1881.

Poor Annie Whittle was born out of wedlock in 1875. At the time, the Singletons had two boys, Thomas, aged ten years, and William aged six. It’s not clear why Annie ended up with them, but it seems she was raised as one of their own. Often, people described as 'boarders' in a census return were related somehow to someone in the household. Annie's maternal grandfather was a policeman, same as Mr. Singleton, and they may have worked together, so perhaps that was the long and the short of it.

Roll on 1894, and the Singleton's son, William Smith Singleton, converted to Catholicism and married Anne Carroll’s daughter, my great-grandaunt, Annie Carroll.

In 1897, Annie Whittle had a baby boy. She wasn’t married. She named her son William Smith Singleton Whittle. Why would she do that? Whatever about naming her son after a favourite ‘brother’, why would she include his surname as well? Unless she thought he was entitled to it!

There is no sign of William Smith Singleton, his wife Annie (Carroll) Singleton, or indeed Annie Whittle, in the 1901 census, but little William Whittle, aged three years, was ‘boarding’ with the Singletons.

Late in 1901, Annie Whittle had a second son, Robert Singleton Whittle.

Tragically, by 1907, the ill-fated Annie Whittle had had enough. She was found drowned in a pond near where she worked. The newspaper cryptically reported her employer as stating, Annie ‘had never threatened suicide owing to her condition’. But sadly, seemingly it was a suicide, poor woman.

Source: Lancashire Evening Post, 03 July 1907

In 1911, my great-grandaunt, Annie (Carroll) Singleton, was the head of her household, at 3 Ethel Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, 150 miles from her home in Kirkham. There was no sign of her husband, and Annie was mysteriously using the name ‘Annie Smith’ - as if she wanted nothing to do with the Singleton name.

Meanwhile, back in Kirkham, little William and Robert Whittle had ditched their birth surname, in favour of Singleton, and the Singletons claimed both of them as their grandsons. My great-grandaunt had dropped the Singleton surname, and the boys had taken it as their own.

And, then there was my great-grandaunt’s curious last will and testament. Annie (Carroll) Singleton had no children. When she died in 1926, she left the bulk of her estate to her sister Mary, with a proviso that her husband be paid £2 a week, until he died. It was as if Annie didn’t want someone getting their unentitled hands on her life savings!

Singleton family lore suggests William Smith Singleton fathered William and Robert Whittle. Maybe there was an issue with William Smith Singleton and Annie Whittle being together, given they were raised as siblings. But, perhaps William loved Annie Whittle. Perhaps he betrayed his wife, my great-grandaunt Annie Carroll, and continued an affair with her, his ‘sister’, even after he was married.

Annie Carroll - an affair - the sister! This could have been the scenario my mother overheard her parents discussing. Except, William obviously did not marry Annie Whittle after his wife died.

There was certainly enough heartbreak to go around in this family. My poor great-grandaunt seemingly had a sham marriage, Annie Whittle killed herself, and the two boys undoubtedly experienced quite an amount of undeserved shame regarding their circumstance of birth. As for William Smith Singleton, it seems he may have found love in the end. His ‘wife and son’, who as yet have not been identified, published a newspaper notice in his memory, on the first anniversary of his death.

Source: Lancashire Evening Post, 6 February 1933, p.2

Of course, I still need to find out what became of Annie (Carroll) Singleton's youngest sister, Margaret (Carroll) Penrose, to make sure she didn't play a part in this story. Unlike Annie's sisters Mary and Teresa, Annie did not mention her sister Margaret in her will.

5 September 2021: More on Annie and Margaret's story here.

Robert O'Carroll (1860-1942)

This post continues the series tracing the children of my great-great-grandfather, Maurice Carroll. He had five children with his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer, and ten children with my great-great-grandmother, Anne Radcliffe, but many of them seemingly vanished after migrating to North East England. Robert Carroll, who in later years changed his name Robert O'Carroll, remained in Dublin.

He was the second child born to Maurice Carroll and his first wife and was baptised in Donabate, Co. Dublin, on 25 July 1860. It's likely Robert was raised as Maurice's eldest son. No trace of his older brother David has been found, not since his baptism in St James’ Church in Dublin city, in December 1857, fourteen months before his parent's marriage.

Robert Carroll was raised as a country boy in Balheary, near Swords, in north Co. Dublin. His father worked as a coachman for a wealthy family in the area. Robert's mother died of phthisis (tuberculosis) when he only seven years old, and seventeen months later his father married my great-great-grandmother. It's not clear who minded him, or his younger siblings, during the intervening period. When their mother died, James, the youngest, was only two years old.

As a young man, Robert moved to Dublin city, perhaps following his father who lived in the city since before about 1888. Also like his father, Robert worked with horses. At various times during his lifetime, he was described as a coachman, a groom, and a livery man. Maybe he inherited that 'horse mad' gene, still prominent across some branches of Maurice Carroll's descendants today.

On 16 September 1893, aged 33 years, Robert Carroll married Mary Dunne, a woman from Courtnacuddy, near Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. They had their wedding ceremony in St Andrew's church, Westland Row, Dublin. Robert's brother James was his best man, while Mary's bridesmaid was an Agnes Lynch.

Source: Catholic parish registers at the NLI, St. Andrew's, Microfilm 09500-02, p. 62

Robert and Mary had nine children:-

Mary Anne Carroll was born on 5 April 1894. At the time of the 1901 census she was staying with her uncle Michael Dunne in Courtnacuddy. In 1911 she was back living with her parents and siblings in Dublin. Then 16 years old, Mary Anne, or Marian G. as she was named, was working as a monitress, assisting the teacher in a primary school - a position reserved for the very best of students.

Kathleen (a.k.a. Katie and Catherine) Carroll was born around 4 July 1895. Before the age of 15 years, she left school and worked as a biscuit packer in a factory, maybe Jacobs Biscuit factory. She married Joseph Prendergast, a soldier in the British Army, when she was 23 years old. After Joseph left the army, he worked as a shoe repairer, and they lived in Dublin city. Kathleen died of Hodgkin's disease on 16 February 1939, aged 43 years.

Maurice Joseph Carroll was born on 14 September 1896. Sadly, on 1 September 1900, this little toddler died in a tragic accident at home. He fractured his skull in a fall from the top-floor window.

Source: Freeman's Journal, 4 Sep. 1900

Robert Andrew Carroll was born 29 November 1898. He was found living with his uncle Michael Dunne in Co. Wexford when the 1911 census was taken. He became a bootmaker when he left school. Robert also died young. He caught tuberculosis and passed away, aged 18 years, on 31 March 1917.

James Carroll was born on 19 January 1902. He became a shoemaker when he left school. James never married. He was the only one of Robert and Mary's four sons to outlive them. He was with them both when they died and registered their deaths. Poor James died in Portrane Mental Hospital, Co. Dublin, on 23 September 1957, aged 55 years. He suffered from emphysema for some years and died of chronic bronchitis. He was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin.

Eileen Margaret Carroll was born on 20 September 1904. She married Joseph D. Fitzpatrick, a baker, on 14 February 1931 in the Church of St Nicholas, Dublin.

Theresa Christina Carroll was born on 16 December 1906. She went by the name Rita. On 17 July 1940, she married Michael O'Grady, the librarian in the science library at U.C.D.

Source: Irish Press, 18 Jul. 1940, p. 9

Beatrice (Betty) Carroll was Robert and Mary's youngest daughter, born on 12 September 1909. Unmarried, she was bridesmaid for her sister Rita in 1940, but no record of her has been found since then.

Raymond Vincent Carroll was their youngest son, born on 2 July 1912, though Robert and Mary had to bury this little tot too. He died of tuberculosis meningitis on 12 June 1917, the month before his fifth birthday, and two months after the death of his brother Robert.

The end of the ninetheenth century saw a Gaelic revival in Ireland, where many families began reinstating either the O or Mc prefixes in their surnames. The Carrolls were no different. The first instance noted of the 'O' in their surname was in the 1911 Census of Ireland. However, the additon of the 'O' was sporadic after that, at least until the 1940s, when the change became permanent.

Robert O'Carroll died at his home - 54 Larkfied Gardens, Dublin - on 9 November 1942. He'd had cancer of the mouth for eight months and succumbed to cardiac failure in the end. His wife Mary survived him by eight years and died on 24 November 1950. They were buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin.

Source: Irish Press, 10 Nov. 1942, p. 3

If you are related to the O'Carroll family, I'd love to hear from you. blackraven.genealogy(at)gmail(dot)com.

Great-granduncle John Carroll ~ a Black Sheep?

My current genealogy challenge is finding out what happened to the children of my great-great-grandfather, Maurice Carroll. He had five children with his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer, and ten with my great-great-grandmother, Anne Radcliffe. Some of his children seemed to vanish into the abyss after migrating from Dublin to North East England and my goal is to trace them all.

John Carroll was likely Maurice and Anne's eldest surviving boy. According to his father, he was born at Shanganagh Grove, Ballybrack, Co. Dublin, on 27 October 1878. In 1901, aged 22 years and single, he worked as a solicitors' general clerk, and lived with his parents and four of his siblings at 20 North Gloucester Place, Dublin city. 

John wasn't found in the 1911 census, but a note added to his baptism register advised he married Selina Asher in St Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle on Tyne, on 27 February 1914. The marriage was witnessed by his sister, my great-grandmother, Teresa Wynne and a woman called Mary Briggs. The civil index of births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales confirmed the marriage, and indicated the couple had three children - Monica Carroll born in 1914, Eileen Carroll in 1916 and Desmond Carroll in 1917. Eileen died within six months of her birth.

Source: RootsIreland.ie

And, that's where I previously lost track of my great-granduncle, John Carroll. 

Since then, many more record sets have been published online and I've managed to pick up his trail, again. And, it transpires, Uncle John was a bit of a black sheep.

John Carroll's service in World War I
First though, his World War I service record shows he enlisted at Sunderland, England and gave his home address, in September 1918, as 136 Frederick Street, South Shields. He was of slight build, 5 foot, 7 inches tall, with a chest measurement of 36.5 inches. He was working as a clerk in a shipbuilders when he was called up for service. 

John Carroll served as a Pioneer with the London Electrical Engineers, but was honourably discharged after only a few months. His army medical records reveal he suffered from both tachycardia (a rapid heart beat) and pyorrhoea (gum disease, according to Google) and was accordingly declared physically unfit for war service. John was awarded the Silver War Badge in 1919. 

The Swindle!

Shields Daily News, 22 Oct 1924, p. 1

Then, I came across a court case in the Shields Daily News concerning a John R. Carroll and his wife Selina, from 16 Bowman Terrace, Newcastle. John worked as a printer. All other accounts show our John was a clerk, and there's no other record he had a middle initial. The name John Carroll was not uncommon, even in England, BUT the combination John and Selina Carroll was probably quite unique. 

John, Selina and two other men were involved in a scam whereby they presented fictitious invoices to the Waverly Hotel, Newcastle, for adverts supposedly placed in Carter's Directory and Hotel Guide. Time and time again, the hotel paid these invoices - to the tune of £278 - in 1924.

However, it was all a con. No advertisiments were placed in any directory. 

According to the newspaper article, the defendants each pleaded guilty to the charges in court. John Carroll also pleaded guilty to eleven similar offences against a ship chandler at Tynemouth. Plus, he had a record! In 1911, he was convicted of similar crimes in West Hartlepool and sentenced to two years hard labour, and in 1919, he served six months jail-time in Newcastle. Selina Carroll, on the other hand, had an unblemished record and said she didn't know she was doing wrong. She also claimed her husband used force to make her do it. Anyway, John was locked up, again, for twelve months with hard labour, while Selina (luckily, for the children) got off with a twelve-month suspended sentence. The two other lads got six months hard labour, each.

So, was this poor fraudster my great-granduncle?

It's difficult to prove there was only one couple named John and Selina Carroll living in England at the time, but the electoral registers do confirm there was only one registered to vote. Also, the electoral registers place John and Selina Carroll at that Bowman Terrace address from 1923 to 1933. In 1934, they seemingly moved to Royston Terrace, Newcastle and lived there for three years, and in the third year Monica Carroll was added to their electoral register. Our John and Selina had a daughter Monica, who'd just turned 21 years old. 

Coincidence? I don't think so. It seems, these master criminals (not!) really were family. This story was swept well under the carpet. Not a rumour if it survived today, at least not back home, in Dublin.

The death of John Carroll, aged 62 years, was registered in Newcastle upon Tyne, during the first quarter of 1941. The civil deaths index doesn't 'prove' he was definitely my great-granduncle. But, after the war, in 1945 and 1946, the resuming electoral registers do not reflect him living with his wife and family, so it probably was. 

Peopling New Zealand, 1947 Scheme ~ Terence Wynne

In July 1947, with a view to solving its labour shortage, the government rolled out a new assisted immigration scheme, aimed at attracting young, single and skilled workers to New Zealand. The scheme was widely advertised in the classified sections of British newspapers. My granduncle Terence McSwiney Wynne didn't have to be asked twice! He passed his interview, then his medical, and immediately packed his bags, ready to set sail.

The first batch of 118 assisted immigrants departed from Tilbury, in the Port of London, on 18 July 1947. Terry Wynne was among them. He sailed aboard the Rangitata, arriving in Auckland, five weeks later, on 23 August 1947. According to Captain G. Kinnell, the ship’s commander, they enjoyed a good trip out, with only about 24 hours’ rough weather.[2]

Their arrival in Auckland was met with a certain amount of ceremony. They had a sound truck on the wharf playing ‘specially selected music’, to provide a ‘suitable atmosphere’ for their disembarkation, and the Mayor, John Allum, welcomed them to the country.[3]

New Zealand’s assisted immigrants from Britain, 1947

(Terry Wynne, centre of the back row)

In return for the price of his passage, Terry was bonded for two years, to work whatever job the government gave him. Family lore says, he worked on three public projects in the Central North Island, during his two years:-

‘He purportedly mined the open-cast coal mine at Huntly, much to the horror of his mother back in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. She was adamant none of her sons would become miners. Supposedly, Terry was also a bushman in the Kaingaroa forest (which would subsequently become the largest man-made forest in the Southern Hemisphere). And, he's said to have helped rebuild the luxury hotel, the Chateau, at NZ’s first North Island ski-field.’

The story that Terry worked in the mines certainly turned out to be true. First, a report from the Minister of Mines to NZ's House of Representatives in 1948 confirmed assisted immigrants from Britain were employed in the mines.[4] And secondly, NZ’s electoral registers show Terence McSwiney Wynne, miner, residing at 3 Onslow Street, Huntly, in 1949.[5] So, his mother’s worst fears were realised, but only for a short time. Terry adapted well to his adopted home in New Zealand, on the other side of the world from all he knew, and he went on to create a good life for himself and his future family.

Sources:

[1] 'New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973' (accessed FamilySearch, 18 May 2019).

[2] Gisbourne Herald, 25 August 1947, p. 4.

[3] New Zealand History (accessed 18 May 2019).

[4] Mines Statement by The Hon. A. McLagan, Minister of Mines, Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1948 Session I, C-02, p.7 (accessed AtoJsOnline, 18 May 2019).

[5] 'New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981', accessed $ Ancestry.co.uk.

What happened to Margaret Mary Carroll?

My current genealogy challenge is finding out what happened to the children of my great-great-grandfather, Maurice Carroll. He had five children with his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer, and ten with my great-great-grandmother, Anne Radcliffe. Some of his children seemingly vanished after migrating from Dublin to North East England and my goal is to find out what happened to them.

Margaret Carroll was the youngest of the ten children born to my great-great-grandparents. She survived childhood, followed some of her elder siblings to North East England, and married, supposedly twice. I lost track of her after her first marriage. 

But, here’s what I 'know':- 

The early years
Margaret Mary Carroll was born at Buckingham Buildings, Dublin city, on 23 September 1893 and baptised, two days later, in the Pro-Cathedral, in Marlborough Street. In 1901, aged seven years, she was living with her parents and four of her older siblings, at 20 North Gloucester Place, Dublin city. She attended school. Her father was employed as a coachman. The family shared their one-roomed home with a boarder, presumably to earn a few extra shillings to help make ends meet.

Margaret’s father died of lung cancer on 6 January 1906, when Margaret was only twelve. In 1911, Maggie, as she was then called, was living with her mother, her eldest sister Mary, her sister Teresa Wynne, and two infant nephews Maurice and Brendan Wynne. Then seventeen years of age, she worked as a shop girl. 

Marriage(s)
A note added to her baptism register indicates Margaret married Christopher Penrose at St Joseph’s Church in Gateshead on Tyne, England, on 9 May 1923.

Source: IrishGenealogy.ie

And, the marriage of Margaret M. Carroll and Christopher Penrose, in Gateshead, during the second quarter of 1923, was vouched against the civil registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales. 

Christopher’s death, indicated by the letters ‘R.I.P.’ beside his name in the baptism register, was also corroborated by the deaths index. He died in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at the age of fifty-five years, during the first quarter of 1934, leaving Margaret a widow, aged forty. There is no obvious record the couple had any children. 

And, that’s where I lost all documented trace of Margaret (Carroll) Penrose, despite a second marriage being recorded in the baptism register. According to this note, Margaret remarried in Hornsea, Yorkshire on 15 November 1949. But her new husband’s name was not provided and no record of the marriage has been found. 

Source: IrishGenealogy.ie

The marriages index for England and Wales (at FreeBMD.org.uk) shows only one lady named Margaret Penrose marrying in the final quarter of 1949, and she was Margaret A. Penrose, not Margaret M. Penrose, and she lived in Cornwall, 350 miles from Yorkshire. 

I also tried to catch up with my great-grandaunt in the 1939 National Register of England and Wales. But there was only one Margaret Penrose born within two years of 1893, in all England. She was also a widow, working as the manageress in an off-licence, and was born on 24 Sep 1893, just one day after our Margaret. Could this have been my great-grandaunt?

Source: Findmypast

This lady was found in Hornchurch, Essex, not in Hornsea, Yorkshire and she seemingly lived with someone born after 1918, though that record is currently closed. She married Martin Parsons in Romford, near Hornchurch, during the second quarter of 1943, not during the final quarter of 1949. 

So, what really happened to Margaret Mary (Carroll) Penrose after Christopher died? 

If you have any idea, or know anything else about her, please let me know. Blackraven.genealogy[at]gmail[dot]com

Family size matters!

My parents had five children, which might have been considered more than most, even when we were younger. But they only have two grandchildren. Previous generations were larger still, and increasingly so the further back into the nineteenth century you go. Colleen, at the Leaves and Branches blog, says what constitutes a large family ‘depends on the year, the generation,’  which is probably the general perception. 

So, how large were my family in preceding generations?

My grandparents
James Byrne and Lena O’Neill	2 children
Kevin Wynne and Annie Byrne	9 children
My great-grandparents
Michael Byrne and Elizabeth Mahon	4 children *
Charles O’Neill and Mary Agnes Donovan	9 children
Patrick Wynne and Teresa Carroll	8 children
James Byrne and Christina Devine	8 children

* Elizabeth died aged only 34 years.  

              

My great-great-grandparents
John Byrne and Alicia Leahy	2 children *
James Mahon and Margaret McDonnell	1 child
John and Margaret O’Neill	Unknown
John Donovan and Maryanne Coyle	7 children
John Wynne and Bridget Hynes	10 children
Maurice Carroll and Anne Ratcliffe	10 children **
Francis Byrne and Margaret McGrane	14 children
John Devine and Maryanne Keogh	7 children

* Alicia died aged about 29 years. John also had 5 children with his first wife. 

** Maurice also had 5 children with his first wife. 

My great-great-grandfather, Maurice Carroll, claims the prize for having fathered the most children – 15 in total – 10 with my great-great-grandmother, Anne Ratcliffe, and 5 with his first wife, Mary Anne Frazer. 

Maurice's children with Mary Anne were David Carroll (born 1857), Robert Carroll (1860-1942), Catherine Carroll (born 1862), Thomas Carroll (born 1863) and James Carroll (1865-1943). 

His children with Anne were Mary Carroll (1871-1941), Thomas Carroll (born 1873), Anne Carroll (1875-1926), Maurice Carroll (1877-1877), John Carroll (born 1878), Maurice Carroll (born 1882), Peter Carroll (1884-1888), Teresa Carroll (1888-1958), Joseph Carroll (1891-1896) and Margaret Carroll (born 1895). 

I've written about my great-grandmother Teresa before, and about her half-brother, James, and her sister Anne (see links to these articles above). But, although some of Maurice’s children died in childhood, I've lost track of others who I know survived. 

Maybe, it’s time to revisit their stories…

Updates:
19 May 2019: What happened to Margaret Mary Carroll? here.
16 Jun 2019: Great-granduncle John Carroll ~ a Black Sheep? here.
30 Jun 2019: Robert O'Carroll (1860-1942), here.
14 Jul 2019: Annie Carroll - a tale of betrayal, here.
28 Jul 2019: What happened to Maurice Carroll, here. 

Michael Byrne & that charge of animal cruelty

I wrote about this case before. My great-grandfather, Michael Byrne of Malahide, Co. Dublin, was taken to court on a charge ‘did cruelly abuse or torture a dog, contrary to the law’. What shame! But, to my relief, he was not actually found guilty. In October 1907, the case was ‘dismissed on merits’, whatever that really means. Anyway, the whole sorry business left a sour taste in my mouth.

It turns out, a local newspaper reported verbatim what was said in court that day. So, now I know the full story and am happy to conclude my great-grandfather did not torture his dogs.

In court, Sergeant Tyndall of the Malahide police testified he had found two men on the platform, at Malahide train station, arguing over a greyhound.  One had the dog by the head and the other by the hind legs and both were trying to take possession of it. The brave Tyndall said, until he intervened, they were tearing the dog in two and subjecting it to excessive cruelty. Poor puppy!

Mr. Dickie, a solicitor, appeared in court on behalf of my great-grandfather. When cross-examined, Tyndall admitted Michael Byrne had gone to him complaining Patrick Mahon had taken his dog. But, Tyndall did nothing to help. He advised my great-grandfather to take out a summons against Mahon for the dog. When my great-grandfather said he was afraid he would never see the dog again, if it went to Dublin, Tyndall advised him to go to the platform and try to get it back himself. Which is obviously exactly what my great-grandfather was trying to do when Tyndall then arrested him.

The dog wasn’t injured during the incident, thankfully, and was healthy and present in the court a couple of weeks later. It was a young dog belonging to my great-grandfather. When it was a pup, it had been promised to Patrick Mahon, and Mahon thought he had a right to come and take it back to Dublin.  

The case was dismissed and, with Mahon’s consent, the dog was returned to my great-grandfather. 

So, Michael Byrne might not have covered himself in glory that day, but at least he loved his dogs.

Boy with greyhound, Malahide, Co. Dublin

This barely visible picture probably features one of my great-grandfather's beloved greyhounds. It was found at his home in Malahide. The boy may even be my grandfather, James Byrne, Michael's eldest child, born in July 1893.

Source: Drogheda Independent, 26 October 1907, p. 7; Findmypast, ‘Irish Petty Session Order Registers 1828-1912’, Swords Court, accessed 25 November 2013.