Are you a Staffordian of Irish Descent.

Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
I have a fairly obscure Irish surname ( not on the list above ) and, even back in the days when the Stafford phone book covered most of the county, there was only ever one more of us in there, a chap in Uttoxeter.

Some years ago I was at a classic car show at Weston Park when a chap mentioned that he had some parts in his garage that might be of use to people I knew and so we both wrote our names and phone numbers on a piece of paper which was then torn in half so that we each had the other's details. We both glanced at our piece, saw our own surnames and assumed that we had the wrong half - until we swapped them and found that we still had our own surnames on the new piece, but our own phone numbers as well, this time - small world..

The Irish phone book will often have both husband's and wife's Christian names, a particularly useful feature with the more common surnames. Nicknames are often used in phone book entries, as well..
 
M

Mrs M

Well-Known Forumite
Two of my family names are on their and the people that he is talking about are my gt gt grandparents.
 
gon2seed

gon2seed

(and me! - Ed)
My mother and her family were evacuated from Belfast in the War. They were put/billeted with a family in Rugely. They were living next door to the Evans family, and my dad! Funnily! enough their interest in the scouting movement, and his rougish attractions, lead to the couple getting enguaged and wed'. That's as much as I know about my herritage from over the sea, but the next time I see her I'll have to ask her! Her maiden name was Gregory, and she had a family middle name of Wemyss, which is I believe Scottish, ancestors having crossed the irish sea at some point! All this lead to me investigating my eligabilty for athletics purposes, when I was running well enough for it to matter! And I was elligiable to compete for, England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland in the early 80's. I actually appeared in the Nothern Ireland Rankings for Junior Men, when I was 20. (3rd!) What could have been! NON of the mentioned surnames appear in the site :(
 
Moley

Moley

Well-Known Forumite
Interesting but doesn't apply to me as I am Irish, livining in Stafford but I'm not old enough to have moved in the listed years.
 
S

socjhers

Newbie
I've seen this thread about Staffordians of Irish descent. I'm the author of the web-site which has the names of Irish families who settled in Stafford in the 19th century. I thought you'd like to know a bit more about it.
My mother and her family were Staffordians born and bred, and I lived in Stafford for a time in the 1980s. I then did my mother's family history, found an Irish connection and was surprised how many Irish people were in Stafford in 1851. So I've been looking at the history of Irish families who settled in the Victorian town. Varied and fascinating they are.
The web-site, which I posted some years ago, was designed to make contact with descendants, and I've had a lot of replies and help from people in Stafford and from as far away as Australia and New Zealand! The URL is http://www.staff.ljmu.ac.uk/socjhers/stafford/index.html
I'm now writing the history of the Irish in Stafford up to 1919. It's about half-done. If you want to know more, please get in touch.
 
Gramaisc

Gramaisc

Forum O. G.
Feel free to keep us up to date on your progress. There's a lot of people in Stafford with an Irish heritage behind them, although a lot of us drifted here after your period of interest. Perhaps the railway and canal age drew a lot in the old days?..
 
S

socjhers

Newbie
Yes, some came to work on the railway and one was a lock-keeper at Deptmore lock. But the biggest number came to work on the farms. Before the Famine many Irish had come as seasonal workers, particularly from Galway, Roscommon and Mayo. During the Famine a lot of refugees came to Stafford because they already knew the area or had contacts who did. Many arrived in Stafford starving and ill. Even after the Famine a lot of seasonal farm workers continued to come. Many moved on, but some settled and were the ancestors of families still in the town today. Other Irish (particularly Protestants) came to work in the shoe trade, and one, Hugh Gibson was mayor of Stafford in the 1870s. Others had been soldiers and were posted to the militia barracks in Park Street/Friar's Terrace. They settled in Stafford after being demobbed. So they were very varied!
 
John Marwood

John Marwood

I ♥ cryptic crosswords
socjhers said:
Yes, some came to work on the railway and one was a lock-keeper at Deptmore lock. But the biggest number came to work on the farms. Before the Famine many Irish had come as seasonal workers, particularly from Galway, Roscommon and Mayo. During the Famine a lot of refugees came to Stafford because they already knew the area or had contacts who did. Many arrived in Stafford starving and ill. Even after the Famine a lot of seasonal farm workers continued to come. Many moved on, but some settled and were the ancestors of families still in the town today. Other Irish (particularly Protestants) came to work in the shoe trade, and one, Hugh Gibson was mayor of Stafford in the 1870s. Others had been soldiers and were posted to the militia barracks in Park Street/Friar's Terrace. They settled in Stafford after being demobbed. So they were very varied!
Click to expand...
Interesting stuff.. thanks for that

this is worth watching if only for the barman trying to take a tray of Guinness through the club.. :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd-oFPJl_v0&feature=related
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top