Little is known about James Quinn. I was told by my father that he left Dublin with an uncle for Liverpool when a boy in the early 1860s; he was 8 or 9. Perhaps his parents sent him away because of the potato famine. Nothing is known about James' family in Ireland except that his father was also a James. His mother's name is not known, or the names of any siblings. My attempts to find his place of birth and his birth certificate have been unsuccessful. UK census returns for April 1901, 1891 and 1881 give James' place of birth as Bloomsbury, London .
James married Alice Martha Menzies in London on May 15th, 1877, at St Mary's Anglican Church in Paddington. Their dates of birth or ages are not given in the marriage certificate; it is written only that they were of age. James' father is given as James Quinn, a carpenter, and Alice's father as John Menzies, a coach builder. Rosina Norris and William Green were the witnesses.
Family sources give Alice Martha Menzies' birthday as April 4th, 1858. My father told me that she was a Scot, but, I was unable to find her place of birth and birth certificate at the Scottish Records Office in Edinburgh; and I've also tried at the Public Records Office in London without success. So it is not known where she was born. The presumption is that she was born in London because, from detective work, two siblings have been found, James and Rosina, and from her siblings her parents have been found, they were John and Eliza Menzies. James William Menzies was born in Marylebone on 15th February 1846; Rosina Menzies was born in Marylebone on 19th November 1855. John and Eliza Menzies were married 29th April 1844 at the Parish Church in Paddington. John Menzies' father was James Menzies and Eliza's father was William Absolom. William and Catherine Absolom were the witnesses. It is strange that the birth certificates of James and Rosina have been found but not Alice's.
Rosina Menzies married Thomas Norris at St Mary's Church, Paddington on September 3rd, 1876. They had three children, Thomas, Alice and Maud. The 1891 census shows that Rosina had married a second time to a John Batty.
James Menzies' marriage certificate has not been found, but he has been located in the 1881, 1891 and 1901 census returns. In 1881 he was a 1st class Petty Officer with the Royal Navy at Portsmouth; he had a wife Mary and a daughter Caroline/Catherine. In 1891 he was a watchman living in Islington; he was a widower and, as well as daughter Catherine, he had a son James and another daughter Gertrude living with him. Of interest is that James Quinn and Alice Martha were living in the same household along with their three (Quinn) children, Harry George, Eva and Beatrice.
James and Alice had 5 children who survived to adulthood; Evelyn, 1879 to 1934; Harry George, early 80s to 1918; Florence, 1885 to 1975; Beatrice, 1891 to 1975; Herbert Stanley, 1894 to 1983. It is known, from the 1881 census records, that there was a James Charles Henry, who died in childhood.
Harry George was killed at Clastre, south of St Quentin, in France, March 21st, 1918, in the first world war. March 1918 was the time, and St Quentin the centre, of the German "big push" to end the war; the German offensive was defeated, the Americans came into the war, and seven months later the Germans surrendered. Harry George was in his mid thirties when he died (see side panel). He served with the 8th Battalion, the Rifle Brigade. His grave is in a military cemetery at Seracourt le-Grand, close to Clastre. He left no known issue. Cousin Edna told me that he was working at the Royal Holloway Hospital before his war service, and that his name can be seen on the wall plaque at the hospital, of those employees who lost their lives in WW1. Harry George's death was deeply felt by the family, particularly by my father who was 12 years or so younger. I remember going with my parents to France in 1929 for a vacation and to try to find his grave. They were not successful, and it was not until 1996 that my nephew Paul Quinn found the grave by chance.
James died in London of hepatitis in 1895 at the age of about 41. At the time of his last illness he was working as a potman in a public house in Hammersmith. Alice Martha was 37. She was left with 5 children aged 1 to 16. She married a second time, a Mr Wright, who was an ornamental plasterer. They had 3 children; Sidney, Lily, and Alice. My father told me that Mr Wright was very good to his stepchildren. Nothing more is known of Mr Wright, when the marriage took place, when he died. There is a family photo taken at Florence's wedding in 1906 (see side panel), but Mr Wright is not in it; presumably he had died before 1906. The 5 Quinn children are in the photo, including Harry George (top right), as well as the 3 half siblings (front row), and Alice Martha (next to Harry George). Herbert was 12 at the time, and is at the far left of the photo; Evelyn sits beside the bride and Beatrice sits beside the groom.
Another photo, taken presumably during WW1, (see side panel) shows Alice Martha with four of her children. Herbert is on the left, Sidney Wright, his half brother, in the middle, and an unknown man on the right. Lily Wright is on the left of her mother and Alice Wright on her right. A photo taken on Lily's wedding day (see side panel) shows, from R to L, cousins Edna, Reg, Gladys, the groom and bride, Herbert Quinn, and the groom's sister.
Alice Quinn Wright died in London on December 4th, 1938 at the age of 80. I was 14 and old enough to go with my parents to the funeral, but I remember little of the occasion. I remember her a little from visits I made with my parents to see her; she lived in a terraced house in Highgate with her daughter Alice's family. I don't recall ever talking to her. We children were shown to her and then sent to be entertained by Aunt Alice and her son Frank, who was of my age. I noticed that she had severe cataracts in both eyes, and that there was a general smell of decay about her.
Herbert Quinn was born in Islington, London, March 14th, 1894, the youngest of James' 5 children. He was probably "babied"by his sisters, Eva, who was 15, and Florence, 10, when he was born. It was a large and, it would seem, a close knit family and one can imagine the grief when his father, James, died in 1895 at the age of 41. He told me that his stepfather was good to him and that, as he got older, he would be taken on his stepfather's work assignments.
We know that Herbert served in the Royal Artillery in France in WW1. There are several photos in existence of him in uniform and in civilian clothes taken during and after the war. When I was a child in the early 1930s he would take me to his regimental hall on Armistice Day and I would admire the howitzers and uniforms. He said little about his wartime experiences. He bought a 12 (or maybe it was 20 or 24) volume series of books about the Great War, as it was called at the time; the books had many photos, paintings, and maps describing the war in France and around the world; I spent many hours browsing through the books and was intrigued by the apparent adventure of it all. I was disappointed after WW2 to learn that the books had gone, I know not where. After the Great War Herbert worked for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), at its office in St Pancras, London. I believe he worked in an accounts department. In all the years of my growing up he left home very early every morning, at about 4 am, and returned in the early afternoon. He married Ivy Shephard at Islington Register Office, January 27th, 1922, when he was 27 and she 19. Ivy Shephard was born June 24th, 1902, in Yeovil, Somerset.There were 4 children, Stanley, James, Barbara and Peter.
Herbert and Ivy separated in 1949. He lived for 3 years with Cecilia and me and then in an apartment close to his work at St Pancras. He retired from the LMS in 1967, after some 50 years of service, at the age of 73. He spent the last years of his life at Lake, near Ventnor, Isle of Wight, with Winifred, whom he married in 1979 after the death of Ivy. He died there May 20th, 1983.
After Herbert and Ivy separated, Ivy lived with her 2 youngest children in Ruislip until they married and then she lived alone until, because of infirmities, she moved into an old folks home in Ealing. She died there August 24th, 1979.
Stanley Quinn