The Dublin Connection

My dear old Nan, Martha Annie Barnes was born on 21st April 1911 in Stevens Hospital, Dublin, the only child of John Edwin Barnes and Elizabeth Daniels (Lizzie). The family home at the time was 7, Woodfield Place, Dublin.

John Edwin Barnes was a soldier in the Essex Regiment of the British Army and was stationed in Dublin.

John Edwin Barnes and Lizzie Daniels married on 27th October 1909 at The Registrar’s office in the City of Dublin. John is listed as a Private in the Essex Regiment.

John is listed as going from the 2^nd Battalion, then at the Curragh Camp, to join the 1^st Battalion in the Regimental Magazine of April 1911. He then appears in the 1911 Census at Quetta, India with C Company of the 1^st Bn as a Private soldier aged 22. John’s full military biography, including the details around his death at Gallipoli are covered in more detail in two of my other blogs. Lizzie went on to Marry again, to a Frederick Henry Ensum, a soldier with the Essex Regiment and she went on to have a further seven children. She died 15th may 1967 and is buried at St.Patricks Church, Leytonstone, London.

For many years I left this stone unturned, as I had many avenues to pursue and of course, following Irish ancestry, was notoriously difficult. That all changed with the recent opening up of the Irish indexes online, which made research that bit easier. What I have since uncovered is a complete family in Dublin, of which I have had the greatest pleasure in following. The Daniels family journey has been difficult, as these were tough, tough times in Dublin in the late 1890’s – 1900’s, this included numerous spells in the Dublin Workhouse (Lizzie was born there) and both Lizzie’s father, John Daniels Senior and Lizzie’s oldest brother, John Daniels Junior had spells in Prison. It was a tough time in Dublin at this time for the family.

John Daniels Junior and his brother, William Daniels, both served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. I will go into more details of John and William’s military adventures in a later blog.

I had the greatest of pleasure in making two recent trips to Dublin, to walk the paths of my Daniels family, to visit the houses that they lived in, see the streets they walked, the cemeteries that they were buried in

(John Daniels Senior’s final resting place at Glasnevin Cemetery.)

and even the Prison they served in. The family home was in Sarah Place and other places that the family lived in included, Woodroffe Cottages, Manor Street, Benburb Street, and Aughram Street.

It was a thrilling two trips and felt like a real ancestral home to m,e in many ways. I have now uncovered a whole new family of which I have become completely absorbed in and hopefully would like to eventually meet some direct Dublin descendants of my Daniels family.

If you have a Daniels, Whelehan, or Healy from Dublin in your family, I would love to hear from you. You never know, we might just be related!!

In the first picture, the child on the right is my Nan, Martha Annie Barnes.

In the picture on the right is my Great Nan, she is the one with glasses, Lizzie Daniels.

 

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