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  • McCarthy/Dieppe

    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.
    Last edited by MrBarnett; 08-23-2018, 08:53 AM.

  • #2
    Digswell Viaduct

    [ATTACH]18767[/ATTACH]

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    • #3
      Cracking stuff, Gary. It all seems to fit plausibly together. Although I seem to recall that some sources say McCarthy was born aboard a ship mid-voyage (perhaps with Dieppe being it's next/previous port of call?).

      Would it be usual for navvies or brickies to bring their families along to live with them in the temporary shanty towns, do you know?

      It is a lovely viaduct, I hope the builders had a head for heights!

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      • #4
        Seconded.

        Excellent stuff as ever Gary.
        Regards

        Sir Herlock Sholmes.

        “A house of delusions is cheap to build but draughty to live in.”

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
          Cracking stuff, Gary. It all seems to fit plausibly together. Although I seem to recall that some sources say McCarthy was born aboard a ship mid-voyage (perhaps with Dieppe being it's next/previous port of call?).

          Would it be usual for navvies or brickies to bring their families along to live with them in the temporary shanty towns, do you know?

          It is a lovely viaduct, I hope the builders had a head for heights!

          https://youtu.be/lxk2bdmmqKI
          Hi Joshua,

          McCarthy's place of birth varies across the censuses. As you say, one of them says 'at sea', others say 'France, Dieppe and Spitalfields'.

          I know families did live in some of the shanty towns in the UK, whether they did in France, I'm less sure. Further research needed. Locally the Digswell navvies had the nickname of the 'Tray Bong Boys' which has a ring of 'Tres Bon'??

          Interestingly, the well known boxer Tom Sayers was also a bricklayer and is said to have worked on the Digswell viaduct. Apparently prize fights were the navvies chief form of entertainment.

          McCarthy's parents married in London in 1846, and as mentioned Dennis was born in Hertfordshire in 1849, so whatever took them to France their stay was only a short one.

          Gary
          Last edited by MrBarnett; 08-23-2018, 09:49 AM.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Herlock Sholmes View Post
            Seconded.

            Excellent stuff as ever Gary.
            Thanks, Michael. I've no idea how (if) such overseas births would have been registered. In the absence of a birth cert, the fact that Daniel was a bricklayer's labourer and the family were in Digswell while Brassey was constructing the brick viaduct there and the previous year or so they had been in or on their way to Dieppe where Brassey was constructing the Rouen and Dieppe railway suggests Daniel may well have worked as part of Brassey's team.

            After Digswell the family settled in the East End and from memory I think Brassey was involved in work at the docks and on warehouses in the Minories around the same time. It seems it wasn't until some time between 1855 and 1858 that the family relocated to Southwark.
            Last edited by MrBarnett; 08-23-2018, 09:49 AM.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by MrBarnett View Post
              Thanks, Michael. I've no idea how (if) such overseas births would have been registered. In the absence of a birth cert, the fact that Daniel was a bricklayer's labourer and the family were in Digswell while Brassey was constructing the brick viaduct there and the previous year or so they had been in or on their way to Dieppe where Brassey was constructing the Rouen and Dieppe railway suggests Daniel may well have worked as part of Brassey's team.

              After Digswell the family settled in the East End and from memory I think Brassey was involved in work at the docks and on warehouses in the Minories around the same time. It seems it wasn't until some time between 1855 and 1858 that the family relocated to Southwark.
              No leaps of faith required. It’s logically possible or even likely. The family followed the work.
              Regards

              Sir Herlock Sholmes.

              “A house of delusions is cheap to build but draughty to live in.”

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              • #8
                Gary, that's very interesting and seems to make a lot of sense in terms of the places of birth of Dennis and John.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Debra A View Post
                  Gary, that's very interesting and seems to make a lot of sense in terms of the places of birth of Dennis and John.
                  Thanks, Debs. I still have to locate Dennis's precise POB - Halsey Field, Digswell, which a Welwyn local historian I contacted suggested was probably just what it says on the tin, a field owned by a well-known local farming family named Halsey where Brassey's navvies camped.

                  I'm particularly pleased by the alleged connection to the prize fighter Tom Sayer, who was a protege of the granddaddy of the London horse slaughterers, Jack Atcheler.

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                  • #10
                    I've just invested in the book Digswell from Doomsday to Garden City which contains this map:

                    Click image for larger version

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                    I'm hoping I'll be able to locate 'Halsey Field' and learn a bit more about the Tray Bong Boys.

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                    • #11

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                      • #12
                        Just noticed I spelt Domesday incorrectly.
                        Last edited by MrBarnett; 08-25-2018, 01:20 AM.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Debra A View Post
                          Thanks, Debs. What date was that?

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                          • #14
                            Published in 1893 I think, and sung by Charlie Chaplin's dad Charles.

                            Sheet music cover for Oui Tray Bong or My Pal Jones as sung by Charles Chaplin, written and composed by Norton Atkins. Published in London by Francis Day & Hunter and in New York by T.B Harms & Co, 1893.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
                              Published in 1893 I think, and sung by Charlie Chaplin's dad Charles.

                              http://m.vam.ac.uk/collections/item/...is-day-hunter/
                              Thanks, Joshua.

                              I can just imagine a gang of navvies recently returned from a year or so in France using the few bits of French they'd picked up in the local Herts pubs.

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