#Dublin #Military #Ireland #SierraLeone
William1 O’Brien GAVIN was the middle of three children born to William2 M GAVIN (c1775 – 1834), a military man, and Alicia O’BRIEN (1798 – 1869).
I believe his father’s ancestry is possibly Ireland from Scotland but nothing confirmed. Alicia was from Ireland though it seems. It seems likely that he has left the army and then settled down as if a baptism found is right then he was about 40 when married in February 1815.
His spouse would therefore have been about 14 years his junior and seems to have moved from Dublin to marry at Holy Trinity Church of Ireland which is in Cork.
William1’s brothers are Michael GAVIN (1818 – 1885) and Daniel O’Brien GAVIN (1822 – 1873). All three of them were born in Fisher’s Lodge, O’Briensbridge, County Clare, Ireland.
As his life is in Ireland there is not the same availability of regular records that I can access in English based research but still found some information from later resources. William1 was born on 29 July 1820 but not sure about his early life at all.
Have found a description of ‘Fisher’s-Lodge’ and the area of ‘O’Brien’s-Bridge’ 1. The property is in a village on the right bank of the River Shannon. The bridge had 14 arches and are what gave the place its name. The property is referred to as a ‘seat’ along with 6 others so this seems to imply it’s not just a standard house but maybe a bit more of a substantial dwelling since there were 814 houses in the whole parish.
In around 1844 William1 has joined the army. From 26 January 1858 to 26 November 1861 he was an Ensign before becoming a Lieutenant in 1st West Indian Regiment 2.
On 09 February 1864 he married Elizabeth Eleanor DOWLING (1832 – 1908) at St George, 613 Dublin, Ireland. Like his parents there is an age gap as he would have been about 40 to her 28. I’m not sure if she travelled with him at all, seems unlikely, but their daughter Mary Kate GAVIN (1869 – TBA) was born in Rathmines, Dublin.
I have found the 1865 pay details so he must have headed to Sierra Leone within months of the wedding and served there until he very sadly has passed away after a 25-hour illness at the age of 49 3.
His rank is given as Captain and Adjutant. He was then serving in the 3rd West Indian Regiment 4or there was in error in the information given to newspaper. It seems he was well regarded by officers of the regiment and they were planning to erect a monument to his memory 5.
It is quite likely that news of his daughter’s birth did not even reach him before his demise as believe that post would have been the only method and only three weeks gap in time. Have very minimal information for widow and daughter after this date currently.
On 10 July 1869 the letters of Administration (with the Will annexed) of his personal estate were granted to his widow and sole Legatee. Not sure if Mary even made it to adulthood but there are a couple of potential documents that may relate to the family that need more investigation.
It does appear that Eleanor’s goods were left to her niece though which may indicate that their daughter was not alive in 1908. More recent research meant that worked backwards to realise that the Annie referenced below 6was actually Anne Jane GAVIN (1859 – 1937) who was the elder daughter of William1‘s brother Michael.
William O’Brien GAVIN was a 5x Great Uncle to me. The nearest shared ancestors are my 5x Great Grandparents William M GAVIN (c1775- 1834) and Alicia O’BRIEN (1798 – 1869).
Footnotes –
Most research undertaken using Ancestry, FreeBMD and Google Maps. Additional resources listed below if utilised.
- Clare Library – http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/places/obriens-bridge_parish_1845.htm ↩︎
- National Library of Scotland – https://digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/archive/104508122 ↩︎
- The National Archives of Ireland – http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/details.jsp?id=1700454227 ↩︎
- Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_India_Regiments ↩︎
- The National Library of Wales – https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3385135/3385140/22/ ↩︎
- The National Archives of Ireland – Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1922 ↩︎