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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Tipperary => Topic started by: WHM on Saturday 10 April 10 11:42 BST (UK)
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Hi all,
I would like to find out more about William Hewetson Mathew, according to his RIC record he was born in Tipperary in 1804. He joined the RIC in 1831 aged 27, and he was stationed in Tipperary for almost seven years before being moved to Cork. He died at Belturbet in 1889.
Does anyone know anything about his parents/grandparents?
Very many thanks,
Glenn
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A search of the pay-per-view www.irish-roots.ie shows a baptism of a William Matttews (no Hewetson) in 1803 in Roscrea C of I church, father's name James. May or may not be your ancestor. €5 to view. I wonder was his mother's name Hewetson? The Tipperary records don't show any Hewetsons but plenty of Hewitts.
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I think it would be a little usual for a member of the RIC to be posted to his county of birth. I understood that was not permitted..
Shane
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Hi Shane,
Thanks for your interest.
I have read that too but I have his service record here and he served at Tipperary, Cork, Clare, Donegal, Armagh, Antrim Tyrone and finally Cavan, he began his career as a Sub-Constable then Constable, 3rd Sub Inspector, 2nd Sub Inspector, 1st Inspector and finally in 1858 Extra Inspector. He retired early due to injuries sustained when attacked by a Constable Holden, who also murdered an RIC sergeant.
Glenn
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interesting to know that rule may not have been strictly enforced... I wonder if North and South ridings of Tipperary might have been considered as separate 'counties' for this rule.
So for example if he was born in somewhere in south riding - e.g. Cashel, might that have allowed him to serve in somewhere in the northern section like Thurles ?
Shane
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Hi Shane,
I have no idea but clearly some rule of that sort was in place. They are all long gone now so no one to ask!
Glenn
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I believe that William Hewetson Mathew married my great-great-aunt, Anna Sophia Dawson (born 1828) in 1860 at Knocknamuckley Church, Co Armagh, which was the incumbency of her brother Rev Abraham Dawson.
I had heard that he was in the constabulary, but it was only a rumour. As far as I know they had no children and I cannot find any records of their deaths. There is a possible sighting of her in the 1901 census as a widow visiting the Roe family
Regards,
Keith Dawson
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I had heard that he was in the constabulary, but it was only a rumour.
A William H. Matthews, S.I. commanded a number of the constabulary at Dungannon Society's Cattle Show in 1856...
Also, the Lord Lieutenant in Ulster and Countess Spencer were received in 1870 at Belturbet Junction (train) Station by 9 constablulary men under a first-class sub-inspector "William Hewetson Matthew" from Belturbet. So although your man would have been 66 (unless it was a son?), that name looks like more than a co-incidence...
Things have moved on since the previous 2010 posts, let's see what info folk can provide...
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Interesting. Anna was born in Dungannon and would probably lived with her mother there until she married, which would have meant she well may have met William in Dungannon. Her father, a doctor, died in 1847. She was 32 when she got married, which was rather late in life those days. Her mother, Elizabeth Dawson, mentions her by name in her will (dated 1864), which may be found at the PRONI will calendar website.
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"The Will of William Hewitson Mathew late of The Square Belturbet County Cavan Ex Sub-Inspector R.I.C. who died 17 June 1889 at same place was proved at Cavan by Charles Leonard Dobbin Maxwell of The Square Belturbet County Cavan Esquire and Archibald Noble of Glassdrummon County Fermanagh Esquire the Executors."
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014903/005014903_00231.pdf
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... I cannot find any records of their deaths ...
Here's the information you need to order a copy of his death record from Roscommon:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FT4Y-J3X
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... There is a possible sighting of her in the 1901 census as a widow visiting the Roe family ...
I'm assuming this is what you mean, it almost certainly has to be her:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Down/Pottinger/Knock_Church_Road/1220774/
Anyway, here's her death:
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FTXW-HW5
Fortunately, GRONI online has it, so you can view the full record for £2, it's registered in the Belfast Registration District, GRONI online has it under the name Anna Matthew, she died on 8 December 1901, reported age 73.
https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/
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I'm not allowed to reproduce it here, but if you can get access to the Belfast Newsletter of Tuesday 10 December 1901, it carries a death notice for Anna Sophia Mathew. Although brief, it ties everything together, with mention of both late husband and father. Burial detail also provided.
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Dear Keith,
William Hewetson Mathew (born 1808 Queens County) only married once, to Jessie Ann Kidd, daughter of William Lodge Kidd and Sarah (Sally) nee Patton of The Mall, Armagh.
There were two children from the marriage, Elizabeth Wilhelmina and Catherine Maria.
Elizabeth married Thomas Dobbin Maxwell RIC (a son of the Newry born author William Hamilton Maxwell and Armagh born Mary nee Dobbin) and lived at Whitepark Lisnaskea and secondly Hugh Willis Thomson M.D. and lived at Riversdale, Belturbet.
Catherine married Reverend Charles Lendrick Maclean. They emigrated to New Zealand.
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Reply #9: Will Extract (1889) from William Hewitson Mathew mentions Charles Leonard Dobbin Maxwell-
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/reels/cwa/005014903/005014903_00231.pdf
I'm not allowed to reproduce it here, but if you can get access to the Belfast Newsletter of Tuesday 10 December 1901, it carries a death notice for Anna Sophia Mathew. Although brief, it ties everything together, with mention of both late husband and father. Burial detail also provided.
Belfast Newsletter, 10 Dec.1901: MATHEW- December 8, at The Mount, Mountpottinger, Anna Sophia, widow of the late W.H. Mathew, Esq., D.I., R.I.C., and eldest surviving daughter of the late Wm. Dawson, Esq., M.D., Dungannon. Funeral to-morrow (Wednesday) morning, at ten o'clock to Killyman, by the 11.20 from Belfast.
Marriage 1 June 1860 Co. Armagh-
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGXW-B67
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Hi,
Tomorrow I will try to find the announcement you mention, thank you for your reply. If you are correct it is an extraordinary discovery as in all of our family notes/diaries etc., is there mention of a second marriage. In 1859 Mathew was badly injured when someone attempted to murder him and he received a pension for his injuries in 1860. Do you have anything else that ties Anna to William?
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Please re-read my post.
Tomorrow I will try to find the announcement you mention
I have transcribed the death announcement for you.
You can view the actual marriage record on GRONI's website for a few credits. It may be that names of witnesses, etc. will help.
https://geni.nidirect.gov.uk/
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Marriage announcement confirms the details in the death announcement-
Belfast Morning News, 6 June 1860: June 1, in Knocknamuckly Church, co. Armagh, by the Rev. A. Dawson, brother of the bride, W. Hewetson Mathew, S.I., Constabulary, Belturbet, to Anna Sophia, eldest surviving daughter of the late Wm. Dawson, Esq., M.D., Dungannon.
Belfast Newsletter, 31 May 1860 (just before the wedding) has an article about bank shareholders which mentions "Anna Sophia and Elizabeth Dawson, Dungannon."
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Dawson family tree gives Anna Sophia Dawson born 2 July 1828. Her nephew (born the year following the marriage) named Thomas Hewetson Young.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wdgrassick&id=I11054
Perhaps the tree owner will be able to provide more detail.
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Thank you.
I'm mystified as to why none of the references I have from people who knew William Mathew failed to record a second marriage or any mention of Anna Sophia and why Mathew's gravestone, which is in the Annagh parish church yard, Belturbet, bears the inscription,
In loving memory of William Hewetson Mathew, Late Sub Inspector Royal Irish Constabulary who died June 17 1889 aged 86 years. Erected by his affectionate grandchildren.
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The gravestone at least is probably easily explained. WHM was married first to the grandmother of the ones who put up the headstone and she's not mentioned either. So, it's possible that both wives are buried elsewhere with their families and thus neither wife on headstone.
Also found a marriage notice in Enniskillen Chronicle and Erne Packet 17 June 1860.
Will do a bit more searching and let you know if I find anything else regarding Anna Sophia.
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Thank you for your reply, and I would welcome any information that you might find regarding this family.
It is mentioned that Mathew's first wife Jessie Anne was buried in a Kidd grave in Armagh, possibly with Sarah (Sally) her mother. Sarah's father, William Lodge Kidd has a memorial window in St. Marks cathedral.
In this string Keith Dawson says that Mathew's second wife Anne died at Belfast and was buried at Killyman.
I may be speculating, but I think I know why Anne Sophia's existence was left out of the contemporary material we have from that time. We have a recollection from Charles Leonard Dobbin Maxwell, a grandson and executor of William Hewetson Mathew's who would have known his stepmother very well and yet he and all of his siblings omit to mention her.
I do not want to be harsh to Anne's memory but I think there is a very good reason for this and this new discovery about her marrying William could be the missing piece of this family puzzle.
To explain I need to jump forward a generation down from Sarah to her second eldest daughter Mary Jane Dobbin Maxwell born 1886, by her marriage to Thomas Dobbin Maxwell.
In Sheffield in 1891, Mary (May) a nurse, married John William Staniforth M.D.
John kept a journal and in it he writes about Mary's Irish family.
John gives hint of the existence of Anna Sophia, but in a disguised way, describing her as an aunt. I think it is because Jack was not directly connected to the tragic events that unfolded at Belturbet that he felt able to record what happened.
As I have said before, Mathew's daughter Sarah married Thomas Dobbin Maxwell. They produced four children, Jessie Wilhelmina, she died of consumption aged 21 and is buried with her father in Lisnaskea, Mary Jane Dobbin, Leonard Dobbin and Thomasina Olivia Maud (initials Tom after her father).
Thomas died in March 1871 and Sarah and the four children moved from Lisnaskea to Belturbet to live with her father, and now it seems, her step mother Anna Sophia. In January 1879 Sarah married Hugh Willis Thomson M.D. (it was also his second marriage) They lived at Riversdale House, Belturbet.
Hugh and Sarah had five children, Benjamin, Hugh, James Dalziel, Kathleen Johanna and Phyllis Eileen.
Hugh died May 29th 1885 and Sarah and their four youngest children, one only five weeks old, moved back to live with her father William and presumably her step mother Anna Sophia.
Two years later Sarah died and was buried with the Kidds in Armagh. At about the same time, Benjamin Thomson died. The remaining four children continued to live with their grandfather and step grand mother.
On I June 1889 William died, leaving the four children orphans.
It is here that I quote from John Staniforth's journal; which he addressed to his children
"Dear old Mr Mathew had been both father and mother to them, and when he was gone they had practically nobody to turn to for guidance and support"
He goes on: "Under these circumstances your mother (Jane Mary Dobbin Staniforth), Ina and Leonard decided to put all of their money into a common fund, and to make themselves responsible for the education and upbringing of their little brothers and sisters. This was tyrannically over ruled by a certain Aunt, whose name I need not mention, and almost before they knew what was happening, all four children had been spirited away. They were told at the time that they would never know what had become of the children; but after a long and painstaking inquiries they subsequently found that they had all been adopted".
"Kathleen was adopted by a Dr Robinson, of Sheffield. Phyllis by a certain Miss Skarrett, also in England, I am not sure if they ever heard who had adopted Hugh and James. At any rate, they never saw either of the boys again"
It was during Mary's search for the adopted Kathleen that she met John.
Unknown to Mary, in December 1894 an appeal was published in the London Standard by the Royal Asylum of St Anne's Society, Redhill Surrey, by a Miss Kersteman of Dublin for sponsors for Hugh aged 10. Beyond St Anne's I have not been able to find anything more about what happened to him between 1889 and 1894 or after that.
James died in a shipwreck off Cape Horn aged 18.
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What an interesting story- thanks for sharing it.
If you don't have it already it would be worth getting the Will of WHD (mentioned in reply #9) to see when it was written and what provisions he might have made for his family.
It may be that Anna Sophia had money of her own and also controlled his. She would have been about 71 when he died so perhaps thought the young children would have been better off raised elsewhere. At that time it wasn't really unusual to split up young children from their siblings.
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Following the money, or in some cases the lack of money, is showing some interesting points.
Anna Sophia (Dawson) Mathew's mother died in 1867 and Will (1864) gives £10 to daughter Anna Sophia Mathew but mentions husband provided £300 to daughters although it sounds as though there wasn't money to fulfil all the bequests.
Thomas Dobbin Maxwell died 1871 with an estate valued at under £200. His will would also be worth checking.
Hugh Willis Thomson died 1885 and letters of administration (approx. £708) granted to a creditor.
Sarah Elizabeth Wilhelmina (Mathew) Thomson died 1887 and her estate only worth about £25 with probate to William Archibald Kidd. Her Will might mention provision for all her children.
William Archibald Kidd died 29 Jan.1892 and left the considerable sum of £13,710 but of course this is a few years after the younger children were sent away.
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Thank you for your findings, I will look into obtaining the wills tomorrow. Are they held at PRONI?
I thought most Irish wills were destroyed, and I have not applied for any before.
The Maxwell's family fortunes were halted by the recklessness of Thomas's father, William Hamilton Maxwell, who squandered both his and his wife's inheritances and also every penny he made from writing. He was declared bankrupt twice and spent time residing in The Fleet prison.
I do know that Sarah, her husband Thomas Dobbin Maxwell, William Archibald Kidd and Thomas Augustus Prentice jointly owned a property in Tandragee, circa 1867. Also that the eldest children from Mathew's marriage to Jessie Ann Kidd, benefitted from the income accrued from a £500 marriage settlement created by William Lodge Kidd, Jessie's father.
I am not surprised that W A Kidd left over £13.000, the Kidd family as a whole, were very capable people, and like the Prentices, good at making money and holding onto it. I think that by 1892 the Kidd/Maxwell connection was fairly tenuous.
I have ordered a copy of William and Anne's marriage certificate, to see who the witnesses were.
Hugh Willis Thomson had children from his first marriage and I think both he and Sarah were living fairly hand to mouth on Hugh's professional earnings. I see though, that their house, Riversdale is substantial, but I do not know if it was owned by them. It still survives, and in good condition.
I can't see why stepmother Anna would have felt forced to send the youngest children for adoption when she knew that their adult half brother and two half sisters were capable and willing to support them at their own expense.
On our mantlepiece we have a poignant image of William Mathew and Sarah together when She was about ten years old, innocent of the tragic events that lay ahead.
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I will look into obtaining the wills tomorrow. Are they held at PRONI?
PRONI (Belfast)- original destroyed but transcription from Will Book can be seen:
The Will of Elizabeth Dawson late of Dungannon County Tyrone Widow deceased who died 25 August 1867 at same place was proved at Armagh by the oaths of the Reverend Abraham Dawson by the oaths of the Reverend Abraham Dawson of Knocknamuckly Parsonage (Moyallen Gilford) County Down Clerk one of the Executors. Effects under £1,500
National Archives (Dublin)- click on 'image' to see entry in index:
Thomas Dobbin Maxwell died 1871 (Will does not survive but NA might have Will Book)
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/details.jsp?id=1639284595
Hugh Willis Thomson died 1885 (letters of administration so there was no Will)
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/details.jsp?id=1639531004
Sarah Elizabeth Wilhelmina (Mathew) Thomson died 1887 (Will does not survive but NA might have Will Book)
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/details.jsp?id=1639529088
William Archibald Kidd died 29 Jan.1892 (Will does not survive but NA might have Will Book)
http://www.willcalendars.nationalarchives.ie/search/cwa/details.jsp?id=1639493955
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Thank you very much for your guidance.
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Somewhere I have a transcript of Elizabeth Dawson's will (and I think her husband's) and can look it out if you think it will throw added light on the matter.
Keith Dawson.
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Elizabeth Dawson's Will has been transcribed in the Will book and available to read online at www.proni.gov.uk
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I now have William and Anna's marriage certificate. Unfortunately I have not heard of the witnesses before, but it does say that William's father was another William and that he had been a Lieutenant in the 99th Regt of Infantry. I know William Jnr was born in Tipperary and i have found that a 99th regt of foot was raised in that county but was disbanded. The 99th seem to have been appeared and disappeared several times. I can't find anything on Ancestry nor on the Imperial War Museum site, which says a lot of early service records were destroyed during WW2. I'm guessing that William senior would have been serving around the time of his son's birth and maybe up to Waterloo.
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Thank you.
I'm mystified as to why none of the references I have from people who knew William Mathew failed to record a second marriage or any mention of Anna Sophia and why Mathew's gravestone, which is in the Annagh parish church yard, Belturbet, bears the inscription,
In loving memory of William Hewetson Mathew, Late Sub Inspector Royal Irish Constabulary who died June 17 1889 aged 86 years. Erected by his affectionate grandchildren.
Photo here.. http://www.igp-web.com/IGPArchives/ire/cavan/photos/tombstones/belturbet-coi/target22.html
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What a fantastic surprise, I had never seen William's gravestone before, thank you very much Hallmark.