Some Family History, Scotland and Ireland

11 April, Fort William

Last day in the Highlands today, the worst weather wise. We were out fairly early this morning, to visit Neptune's Staircase, a series of eight locks used to move boats between lochs. We hung around for a while and were lucky enough to see a large dredging rig and a small private sailing boat move through the first lock.

As the rain started to build, we found St Mary's Catholic Church, formerly the Church of the Immaculate Conception, where the baptismal records of most of Janita's McDonald family are stored. We ended our day at the small, but interesting West Highlands Museum.

A few hours’ drive tomorrow back to Edinburgh. We will overnight at an airport hotel, prior to the short flight to Belfast for the last sector of our trip. A quick visit to Warrenpoint and Lurgan, where Paul's maternal ancestors, the Wards, lived and worked will, we hope, add some new knowledge of the family.

13 April, Banoge House, County Down, Northern Ireland

One day we'll sit down and calculate the amount of time we have spent in airports on this trip. We always arrive early, to ensure a stress-free flight, so three hours in an airport prior to a flight is not unusual. We flew out of Edinburgh Airport two days ago. For a relatively small airport, it is chaotic. In the Security area, bags and their owners were going in all directions and Security personnel were scrutinising the liquids bags with great enthusiasm.

Our Emerald Air plane was a turbo prop and fairly small, which added a little excitement to the flight. Most of the passengers were part of a wedding party that had obviously had a BIG night in Edinburgh before lining up for the flight. There were screams and groans aplenty as the little plane bumped its way over to Ireland.

The small town of Warrenpoint is close to the border with the Republic. Paul's mother was a Ward, and her family line originated from this area. Interestingly, Grandpa Jimmy (James Thomas) Ward always referred to Northern Ireland as “da black north.”

Paul's great-great-great-grandfather, Michael Ward, was born in Lurgan. Patrick, his son, migrated to Australia in 1883, settling in Bundaberg, Queensland. We found the street where Michael lived, but sadly, we had no number of the house, directories at that time only recording a resident's street. Clara Street runs along the edge of a large linen mill, and it is fairly safe to assume that the row houses were mill workers’ housing. It isn't too much of a logical leap to assume that Michael worked in the linen mills. Lurgan was the centre of a thriving linen industry through much of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Banoge House, where we are staying for a couple of nights, was originally the residence of an extremely wealthy linen mill owner. Our room is magnificent, but we were taken aback on our arrival to discover that all was not as advertised. We had booked a self-contained apartment, but what we got was just the, admittedly great, room and bathroom. There was no soap and only one towel. The place has a real “Fawlty Towers" feel, including the owner, John, who was a dead-spit for one of the characters in that show, Stubbs, the hopeless builder. All worked out in the end when John gave us access to the home's kitchen.

There is a famous picture of a market day in the square at Warrenpoint in 1902. In the middle of one block of shops we spotted Ward Brothers' butcher shop. Although the shopfronts have changed, the buildings around Warrenpoint's main square remain, so we were able to identify the location of the old shop. The current owner of the business, an optometrist, believed the old butcher's shop was two along from his. Nice fellow as he was, we disagree with him and are 99% sure that his shop is the correct location. The proprietors of the butcher shop were Daniel and William Ward, who were possibly cousins. We believe that William was Paul's great-great-uncle. The evidence for this conclusion is a little thin, but better than just a guess.

William's father, Patrick, was Paul’s great-great-grandfather. He was a tailor by trade, an occupation that was passed down through following generations. Paul's grandfather, Jimmy Ward was also a tailor. Patrick had a shop on Duke Street Warrenpoint and a residence on Newry Road. He and his wife, Mary, née Havern, migrated to Australia in 1883 with most of their family, including Paul's great-grandfather, John Ward.

The Wards, at least some of them, have links to the English nobility through Bernard Ward, first Viscount of Bognor. Castle Ward is still standing today, so we paid a visit trying, but with no success, to see some family resemblance in the many portraits in the house. What we realised after leaving was that Paul's great-great-uncle, Barney was, of course, also Bernard Ward, perhaps named after an illustrious ancestor.

Back to London tomorrow for a short visit to the National Gallery then back home via Tokyo, and Sydney.

15 April, Ibis Heathrow Hotel

A late flight this evening, so a full day to kill in London. The forecast for the city was less than encouraging and as we exited Leicester Square tube station, the wind and rain hit. One strong gust sent traffic dividers flying up Charing Cross Road, umbrellas were turned inside out and bags of rubbish flew along the street like tumble weeds. We pressed on, drenched, but determined to reach the fabulous and free, light and sound show just outside Tottenham Court Station. The show did not disappoint.

We had pre-booked our entry to the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square to avoid the queues, so our entry was quick and painless. The gallery is a little overwhelming on such a short visit, so we concentrated on our favourite genre, the Impressionists.

Although we have visited the National Portrait Gallery on a previous visit to London, we should have planned more time there. With limited time, we directed most of our attention to the more contemporary portraits, as we were more familiar with the subjects.

By mid-afternoon, the sky had cleared and we were treated to some long periods of sunshine for our tube and bus return trip to the Ibis to collect our bags, before catching the #111 bus to Heathrow for our long flight home.