Irish community in West London 1860s

[Anthony Ward]

I recently obtained a certificate for the marriage of my ancestors Thomas
Roach and Margaret Morey in Kensington in 1868. I had known Thomas to be of
Irish descent. They married at the Roman Catholic Chapel and gave their
address as Jennings Buildings and according to a survey of London published
on British History Online 'in 1851 almost half (of Jennings Buildings)
population of 1048 was Irish-born, refugees perhaps from the potatoe
famine'. My Thomas Roach's father Patrick was a bricklayer labourer, and the
account goes on to say that 'nearly half the heads of household were
building labourers, some conceivably working on erecting the Great
Exhibition nearby'. Apparently Jennings Buildings were on the line of a
'worse than useless' sewer and 'the festering state of Jennings Buildings
continued to agitate respectable Kensingtonians'. in 1873 the occupants were
ejected by Baron Grant who offered them £2 per room and as much firewood as
they could carry', so that he could construct 'Grant's folly of Kensington
House'.
Does anybody know if this is the same building that became Kensington
Palace, or is there a separate Kensington House?
More widely, were these poor Irish dispersed to areas of West London like
Shepherd's Bush and Kilburn, as I seem to recall that these areas have
traditionally had their Irish communities? Are there any sources that
anybody knows of, which could tell more about the establishment of London's
Irish neighbourhoods?
It would be interesting to be able to put my ancestor's story into
historical context viz the Great Exhibition, gentrification of Kensington,
Irish settlement in London etc.



__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 5038 (20100418) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

http://www.eset.com

[e***@varneys.org.uk]

From: "Anthony Ward" <***@lists2.rootsweb.com>
Subject: Irish community in West London 1860s
Date sent: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:08:05 +0100

Post by Anthony Ward
I recently obtained a certificate for the marriage of my ancestors
Thomas Roach and Margaret Morey in Kensington in 1868. I had known
Thomas to be of Irish descent. They married at the Roman Catholic
Chapel and gave their address as Jennings Buildings and according to a
survey of London published on British History Online 'in 1851 almost
half (of Jennings Buildings) population of 1048 was Irish-born,
refugees perhaps from the potatoe famine'. My Thomas Roach's father
Patrick was a bricklayer labourer, and the account goes on to say that
'nearly half the heads of household were building labourers, some
conceivably working on erecting the Great Exhibition nearby'.

Two or three quick comments, before checking in any books

Masses of Irish workmen found a habitation of sorts in Kilburn (not
that far from Kensington) There are various sctahing reports of the
sanitary condition of the area, which caused a lot of deaths. West
Kensigington became an Irish slum, in parts, but much later, I think.
(Will check)

Post by Anthony Ward
Apparently Jennings Buildings were on the line of a 'worse than
useless' sewer and 'the festering state of Jennings Buildings
continued to agitate respectable Kensingtonians'. in 1873 the
occupants were ejected by Baron Grant

There is no such title as Baron Grant, though a couple of Grants did
acquire baronies (one of which (Glenelg) died out in `1866, the other
(Strathspey) in 1884. Neither would have been referred to as 'Baron
Grant'
who offered them £2 per room and
And tenants would have no rights to any compensation or
expectation of it.

oes anybody know if this is the

Post by Anthony Ward
same building that became Kensington Palace,

No
or is there a separate

Post by Anthony Ward
Kensington House?

There are many houses in Kensington, some of gentry status, but
West Ken seems a bit unlikely. But I will check.

[e***@varneys.org.uk]

They married at the Roman Catholic

Post by Anthony Ward
Chapel and gave their address as Jennings Buildings and according to a
survey of London published on British History Online 'in 1851 almost
half (of Jennings Buildings) population of 1048 was Irish-born,
refugees perhaps from the potatoe famine'. My Thomas Roach's father
Patrick was a bricklayer labourer, and the account goes on to say that
'nearly half the heads of household were building labourers, some
conceivably working on erecting the Great Exhibition nearby'.
Apparently Jennings Buildings were on the line of a 'worse than
useless' sewer and 'the festering state of Jennings Buildings
continued to agitate respectable Kensingtonians'. in 1873 the
occupants were ejected by Baron Grant

Well, bless me.
There was such a person,named Albert Granbt, who called himself a
Baron, possibly having bought the title from one of the Continental
states. (Austria sold such titles to loads of people.) It would not have
counted in England.
He was very rich - no source of this wealth is mentioned so it was
presumably dodgy. He tried to work his way into society by buying up
derelict spaces and laying them out as flashy public gardens - one
such was Leicester Square, which was a run down area associated
with gambling, prostitution etc, till he bought the land.
The Kensington site was that of a French emigre school (called by
the Jeusits Kensington House) behind the High St. Also pupils were
some Irish Catholic gentry who had fled during the penal times, to
France. This probably accounts for the establishment of a Catholic
chapel and the settling there later of much poorer Irish (many of whom
got jobs as building workers) .
The French returned to France after 1`815 and the school was
closed. The building was then used as a lunatic asylum and known as
Old Kensington Bedlam. Albert Grant bought this in 1873, with a
dilapidated nearby mansion called Colby House (ex Sir Thomas
Colby) and demolished the lot, to build an Italianate mansion, with a
hundred windows, a white marble staircase and a picture gallery..
The grounds of 12 acres were created by buying the land and
getting rid of the Irish colony etc in Jennings Buildings or The
Rookery, at the rear of Kensington High St, "which had been a
nuisance to the parish for some years past". He flattened the old
buildings and enclosed the lot in a garden with gilt iron railings
Some of the evicted inhabitants went to Kilburn, some to
Hammersmith, both still very Irish suburbs and some holed up in West
Kensington.
I don't know if the 'mansion' still exists - if so, it could have been
converted to a boarding house for one of the many drapers'
establishments in the neighbourhood
.
EVE
Author of The McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians
Secretary, Bucks Genealogical Society