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John McCarthy's younger brother, Dennis, was born on 14th July, 1849 in Digswell, Hertfordshire. His father, Daniel was recorded as a bricklayer's labourer. (In his early years John McCarthy himself had been a bricklayer's labourer - as indeed had Thomas Bowyer before he joined the army.)
Digswell was - is - a small rural parish near the town of Welwyn. It's main claim to fame is its railway viaduct. Opened in 1850, it is a massive brick construction built to span the river Mimram by the great Victorian railway builder Thomas Brassey. Brassey employed a small army of English and Irish navvies and bricklayers to complete the project.
During his career Brassey was involved in railway projects across the globe. When he died in 1870 it was claimed that he had built one in every twenty miles of railway in the world, including three quarters of the the railways in France.
John MCarthy was seemingly born in 1847/8 in Dieppe. And in 1847 Thomas Brassey was involved in the construction of the Rouen and Dieppe railway. I think it's highly likely that McCarthy's Dieppe birth was as a result of his father working on Brassey's project there. In which case he probably spent the few months of his life in a navvy's shanty town and that was the limit of his personal experience of France.
Of course, it's possible that once he had become a man of some substance he may have popped across the channel on occasion - to attend sporting events for instance - but I don't think the accident of his French birth has any significance when considered alongside MJK's alleged French jaunt.
Digswell was - is - a small rural parish near the town of Welwyn. It's main claim to fame is its railway viaduct. Opened in 1850, it is a massive brick construction built to span the river Mimram by the great Victorian railway builder Thomas Brassey. Brassey employed a small army of English and Irish navvies and bricklayers to complete the project.
During his career Brassey was involved in railway projects across the globe. When he died in 1870 it was claimed that he had built one in every twenty miles of railway in the world, including three quarters of the the railways in France.
John MCarthy was seemingly born in 1847/8 in Dieppe. And in 1847 Thomas Brassey was involved in the construction of the Rouen and Dieppe railway. I think it's highly likely that McCarthy's Dieppe birth was as a result of his father working on Brassey's project there. In which case he probably spent the few months of his life in a navvy's shanty town and that was the limit of his personal experience of France.
Of course, it's possible that once he had become a man of some substance he may have popped across the channel on occasion - to attend sporting events for instance - but I don't think the accident of his French birth has any significance when considered alongside MJK's alleged French jaunt.
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