Introduction: Setting the scene

Our story begins in the 18th Century in Cork with Thomas England - formerly an escaped prisoner, and his wife, Honora Lordan. They had eleven children.

The first child was ordered to America. The second child waited with those about to be hanged or transported. The third was a tobacconist whilst the fourth had a famously controversial child who was thought too unworthy to be hanged. The fifth and sixth were twins. The seventh joined a convent and the eighth was born but has since remained anonymous. The ninth was most likely a bankrupt and the tenth died, aged twenty six, in a foreign land. The eleventh was only recently 'discovered' in the baptism records, so he's an unknown quantity. All of these children but the eleventh were mentioned by the official biographer of the first child who became famous - more of him later.

The settings in this story were many and varied. In Ireland: Cork, its environs and many other parts of Eire. In the USA: Philadelphia, Charleston and San Francisco. There was Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia and Offenburg, Leipzig and Berlin in Germany. In England: London, Liverpool, Hull and Prestwich mental asylum. In Wales: Cardiff, Cowbridge Road and Splott! Don’t forget Haiti or Valparaìso in Chile. There were many more.

Names closely associated with this branch of the England family were: Lordan, O’Connell, Barry, Bransfield, Reynolds, Walsh, Lane, Nunan, Shaw and Lawlor.

There was a mystery element. There were two brothers, both priests with the surname of England. Documents claim that they were nephews of Thomas and Honora's first child. They have their own chapter in our story, but they weren't the only ones ready to claim connection to the family who were well known at that time.

The information concerning The Englands was gleaned from many sources. For births, marriages and deaths three useful internet sites were Ancestry, Find My Past and Irish Genealogy. The British Newspaper Archive, Census returns, electoral registers, passenger registration records and Irish parish registers also proved invaluable.

Luckily, books and journals about the first child helped hugely but had to be drastically summarised. After all, this family research was not just the story of one child.

Acknowledgements will be made at the end but enormous amounts of material were unearthed by two relations some years ago. I have, of course, made use of this.

The text for each child normally follows a pattern but not always.

• Facts known.
• Other possible or probable links to that particular child 
• Historical context
• Footnotes
• Place names mentioned

The text also follows the children of each child and then their children if known.●Michael England, the third child was the most important in terms of our particular family of Englands, as this is our direct line. Direct line descendants are marked with a red dot. ●

Two final sections deal with the various Englands who popped up during the course of this research and a list of place names and acknowledgements.

The question might be asked why I started with Thomas England and Honora Lordan? Surely there must have been Englands before them? Obviously there were but linking them to these particular Englands proved, and is proving, very difficult. There are still significant gaps in Irish records for a variety of reasons.

Many mysteries concerning these eleven children and their families remain. Hopefully future generations may find further solutions.

Lastly, the present generation of people linked to the Englands of Cowbridge Road, Cardiff, have not been named or listed.

For me, this was clearly a very personal journey; but I hope others who have a connection with this family tree will find it just as interesting.


John England