For your interest, here is further information, correcting and adding to the previous letters.
Joseph Frederick Joel was born in 1816, possibly in Bristol. His name was changed by deed poll to JOEL-ELLIS in 1863. He died in London in 1885 (see obituary in The Jewish Chronicle, 10th July 1885).
There WAS an Irish connection on that side of the family, as his parents were Pessa and Isaiah JOEL who started out in Bristol, immigrating from Krotoschin (now Posen) in Bohemia. they moved to Ireland. Joseph must have returned to London from there.
Isaiah died in Dublin in 1840. Joseph WAS a jeweller in London, based in 49 The Strand. The name change was something to do with the colliery and a link subsequently to Ellis and Everard (bricks). The Grange, Ellistown, was the family home, and the children were Walter Lima, George, Montague, Chatham, Percy, Isidore Lewis, Evelyn (Eve) Gertrude, and Bessie. And a still born son, buried in the Jewish section of the Brompton Cemetery in London.There were also London houses, the final one being in Portland Place. It's now the Chinese Embassy! Joseph Frederick was indeed known within the family as "The Colonel" and seems to have also been Consul-General for Persia during the 1880s.
His wife was certainly Marguerite, maiden name NATHAN. When they married he was still at the Strand, and she was living in Artillery Lane in the East End. But she was born (1829) possibly in Brazil. Or could it have been Peru? The Latin American connection is verified by Walter's second name being LIMA. She died in Brighton in the Edwardian era.
I think there may also have been a link with one LEWIS JOEL, born in Dublin, in 1824 (d. London 1899) son of ISAAC JOEL,who himself was another son of Pessa and Isaiah. There also seems to have been a sister called Sarah. Lewis was H.M. Consul General to Savannah, Georgia. Sarah also went to America and died in New York. The connection is partially confirmed by the Colonel's will, which left money to a Lewis and a Sarah. They must have been siblings or cousins. And N.B. look at Isidore's second name (Lewis).
Anyone who can add anything to this - your contributions gratefully received. It's particularly the connection between Joseph and Lewis/Sarah that I would like to have confirmed.
So yes, there IS an Irish connection, as well as links with London, Bristol, Latin America, and further back, with Central Europe at the time of the pogroms.
KiwiDi