Chapel Lane, Longford - my Irish ancestors' home

Last night I watched Julie Walters' episode of Who Do You Think You Are? and was inspired to look a little more closely into the the house where my maternal grandfather was raised in County Longford, Ireland. Julie was able to stand in the ruins of her ancestral home in County Mayo and touch the very walls where her great grandfather brought up his family. The census also disclosed who her ancestor's landlord was. By the time the programme was ending I was itching to get to my laptop so that I could also find out who my family's landlord was.

At the time of the 1911 census my grandfather, John, was seven years old. He lived with his father George, mother Annie, his younger siblings George and Mary Ann, his grandmother Ann and his uncle Patrick in a house in Chapel Lane, in the parish of Templemichael in Longford Town. Seven people shared this one house. Probably not a huge number in comparison to other families.

I had discovered the 1911 Ireland census many moons ago, but hadn't really studied the information regarding their house in any detail until today. The 'House and Building Return' attached to each family's census page provides particulars on the actual construction of their home. I've learnt that my family's property was made of either stone, brick or concrete; that it was roofed with slate, iron or tiles; had two, three or four rooms, and there were two windows on the front of the house. These attributes meant that the home they lived in was classified as a second class dwelling. A paper presented by the Registrar General, William J Thompson, in 1913 states:

'The Census of 1911' by William J Thompson, presented 1913

The marvel that is Google Street View shows two main types of building on Chapel Lane today. On one side of the road are two-storey properties such as that which can be seen in the photo of my great grandmother Annie, below. On the opposite side of the road are a series of smaller, single level properties seemingly made of the same construction materials. From the description on the census, I believe that my family lived in one of the single storey dwellings, although whether the buildings there today are the same as in 1911 I cannot tell.

Chapel Lane, Longford, c.2009 c/o Google Street View

The house therefore was made of concrete and roofed with tiles. It's good to know that my grandfather was raised in what was classed as a fairly decent home. As the census states that the family lived in two rooms (I'm assuming that, as in the UK census, the bathroom wasn't counted, and it's likely they had an outhouse) it would have been a tight squeeze for four adults and three small children.

My great grandmother, Annie Wenman, born Greene,
tending her garden in Chapel Lane, Longford.

I was interested to see that my family's landlord was Lord Longford, otherwise known as the 5th Earl of Longford, Thomas Pakenham. He was the landlord for just two of the homes on Chapel Lane which surprised me. My assumption had been that just one landowner would have owned all the homes in the area. Lord Longford made his career in the Life Guards but was killed in action during the Battle of Scimitar Hill at Gallipoli in 1915. He was clearly a brave and fearless soldier. Whether he was a good landlord I do not know, but I like to think he was.

1911 House and Building Return for Chapel Lane, Longford

I can't believe it's taken me this long to really delve into the type of house that my ancestors in Ireland lived in at the beginning of the twentieth century. Photos have always made my Irish ancestors look a little ragged, a little worn around the edges, but they clearly had a sturdy home. It may have been rather crowded, and was probably rather noisy but it would have kept them warm and dry. Their small property was their cave, their castle, their island. I believe Chapel Lane was their home for many years; it was their refuge against a fast-changing and increasingly unpredictable world.

Meet the Neighbours

Both sides of my family hail from very lowly stock. Going back through the generations you'll find farm workers, soldiers, miners, lace makers... and the odd criminal! My ancestors lived off the land or worked in factories and mines; they got by with what they had, and occasionally turned to poaching for extra food, or perhaps to sell on for a small profit. My wartime hero ancestors were privates, gunners or able seamen; there are no lieutenants, captains or majors in my tree. Because of this humble background, I was always very intrigued by the fact that my mother and her family grew up in a very exclusive and expensive part of central London, in a Regency house in Chelsea.

My mother was born in Ireland and spent her early childhood years there. In the late 1930s the family relocated from Ireland to London and found themselves in the heart of the great metropolis. My grandfather worked for the Guinness Brewery and on arrival in London the family were housed in several properties owned by the Guinness Trust. The Trust had been founded by the philanthropist Sir Edward Guinness in 1890 "to help improve the lives of ordinary people, many of whom couldn't afford homes". The family were bombed out of one of these properties during the Second World War and for a time lived in the Guinness Buildings on Draycott Avenue in Chelsea. They were now living a mere stone's throw from Harrods and the famous Royal Hospital, home of the Chelsea Pensioners.

Wellington Square, Chelsea, taken c.1950

By 1950 the family had moved from Draycott Avenue to nearby Wellington Square off the Kings Road. This lovely three sided square is home to a beautiful collection of five floored Regency houses surrounding an idyllic garden square in the centre. The house my family moved into had been divided up into separate flats and was home to four other households. There were at least 14 people living in this residence at any one time. The property had been requisitioned by the council after the war to house some of the many people who had been left homeless after the Blitz. It's a shame we didn't own it for, if we had, we would probably be a very wealthy family today!

With the release of Ancestry's collection of London Electoral Registers from 1847-1965, I was amazed to see that my mother was raised with some rather distinguished neighbours.

Two doors down from the family home resided Lord John and Lady Agnes Clydesmuir. Lord John was the 1st Baron Clydesmuir who became an MP in 1929. He held many prominent posts within government and was Secretary of State for Scotland between 1938 and 1940. In 1943 he became the Governor of Burma. He was even a governor of the BBC. Distinguished neighbours indeed!

Peter Bull

My aunt can remember an actor lived further down the road, but she couldn't remember his name. Ancestry solved that problem. It was Peter Bull, a character actor who had acted in over 70 films, including Doctor Doolittle, Dr Strangelove, Tom Jones and The African Queen.

Living in number 9 Wellington Square were the O'Briens. This was a family I grew up knowing the name of but not knowing anything about. They were often mentioned at family get-togethers and there are photos of the O'Brien children with my cousin who also grew up in Wellington Square. The father, Toby O'Brien, was an Anglo-Irish journalist and, to quote Wikipedia, was a "public relations expert who spearheaded Britain's efforts to counter Nazi Germany propaganda during World War II". As press officer for the British Council, it was Toby O'Brien's job to contradict German lies and point out the truth in false German reports about the state of the war. His son Donough O'Brien has claimed that his father wrote the original wording for the World War II ditty 'Hitler Has Only Got One Ball', which is sung to the tune of the 'Colonel Bogey March'. My Nana was their cleaning lady and cooked for them when they held dinner parties. My cousin remembers Toby as "a lovely man" who used to let her sit next to him in the front seat of his car even though she was too small to see out of the window. She got to know the children of his second marriage and had the run of their house.

Maurice Buckmaster

The final distinguished neighbours that my family had were the Buckmasters. Maurice Buckmaster is, of course, well known as the head of the French Section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. The SOE's agents worked behind enemy lines, conducting espionage, subversion and sabotage. They blew up bridges and power stations, carried out assassinations (most famously killing Hitler's deputy Reinhard Heydrich) and encouraged and aided local resistance movements. It was dangerous and potentially deadly work as, if captured, an agent could expect torture and execution. My aunt remembers the Buckmasters, in particular having to take her 5-year old daughter around to the house to apologise to Mrs Buckmaster for a childhood misdemeanor which unfortunately my aunt can't recall. I would love to know what upset or annoyed her so much that she needed my 5-year old cousin to apologise.

My family left Wellington Square when the owners of the house decided they wanted it back. This was many years after the end of the war. Most of my family moved to the north London suburbs. But how wonderful to have lived in the heart of London and to have had these illustrious neighbours who played such key roles in the war, as well as actors and peers of the realm. My family look back with great affection and fondness at their time in Chelsea, and I must admit I feel a touch of envy that I was born so long after they left that I never experienced it for myself. The house may be in the hands of other people now but, to me, it'll always be my family's home.

Wellington Square, Chelsea today.
© Copyright D Johnston and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

My family in 1930s Ireland

As a child I always enjoyed the fact that I was a quarter Irish.  Born and bred in north London, it was one of those things to boast about in the playground to appear different, unique.  And who do I thank for my streak of Irish blood?  Well, that would be my maternal grandfather.  Grandad died in 1992 but I'll always remember him as a happy man with a smile on his face and a pint of Guinness in his hand.  I have fond memories of sitting in my Nan and Grandad's living room with my Grandad in his armchair talking nineteen to the dozen and, most likely, blaspheming his heart out.  We visited my grandparents every Sunday and for a small child who would rather be playing with her toys at home or watching the Sunday afternoon film on the telly, it was sometimes a bit of a chore.  Now I lament the lost opportunities to have drilled, interrogated and quizzed my grandparents on their lives and experiences.

In particular I would love to have known more about their early married life in Ireland in the 1930s.  My Nan was a Nottinghamshire lass but found herself working in Ireland as a lady's maid for the brewing side of the Guinness family.  It was in Ireland that she met and married my Grandad in 1929.  At the time of the marriage Grandad was a bus driver and family lore tells of how he took a fancy to my Nan and used to give her free lifts in his bus.  From pictures I've seen of him as a young man, I can fully understand why she would accept them!

My handsome grandad in his driver's uniform

A year after their wedding, their eldest child was born.  He was followed by four more children in the space of five years.  The three eldest, including my mother, Mary, were born in Longford, where my Grandad came from.  Their fourth child, my Uncle John, sadly died when he was a tiny infant.  He had been born in Carlow.  The youngest child was born in Dublin.  This was a family that obviously moved around a lot as it was a case of going where my Grandad found employment.

Russborough House

After his stint as a bus driver he stayed in the same line of work and in the 1930s became a chauffeur.  And it was in this capacity that my mother and her siblings found themselves living in the grounds of a grand Palladian style mansion, Russborough House, in beautiful County Wicklow.

Russborough House was built in the 18th century by Joseph Leeson, a property developer and important art collector, who later became 1st Earl of Milltown.  His art collection was so substantial that when it was bequeathed to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin at the beginning of the 20th century, they had to build a new wing to house it.

The workers flats at Russborough.

The house stayed the property of the Earls of Milltown right down to the 6th Earl's nephew, who then sold it in 1931 to Captain Denis Daly.  This is where my Grandad came into the picture as, for a few years in the mid to late 1930s, he was Captain Daly's chauffeur. My Grandad and his family moved into one of the worker's flats above the garage.  Russborough, at this time, must have seemed a million miles away from the troubles in Europe.

The Russborough estate and distant Wicklow Mountains

The house is set in a very quiet part of Wicklow.  With a view of the distant Wicklow mountains and nearby Blessington lakes it must have been a blissful place to grow up for four small children. My aunt's nickname, which has stuck with her to this day, is Trixie, due to her, then, tomboyish nature and the fact she got up to 'tricks' all the time.  What a lovely image to imagine these tiny terrors romping together over the estate, getting under the gardener's feet, hiding behind their mother's skirts when the master of the house strode into view, and generally getting up to 'tricks'.

But they weren't to stay in this idyllic location.  By 1938 most of the family had upped sticks and moved to Central London where they were to stay for many years to come.  The Irish accents that the children would have brought with them were to be sacrificed in an effort to fit in and not appear too 'different' to their peers (unlike me 40 years later).  The family never lived in Ireland again and its only in the last couple of years that I was to pay my first visit there.  I made sure I visited Russborough to see where my mother had spent her childhood years.  Rest assured, the quarter of me that is Irish is determined to go back.

Tiny terrors - my aunt, uncle and mum at the front