Charles CONDRON silk manufacturer

One of the more well-to-do CONDRONs I have found in 19th century England was Charles CONDRON, silk manufacturer of Macclesfield, Cheshire. Charles CONDRON was born in about 1805 in Macclesfield, a town renowned for its silk manufacture. He appears in the 1841 census as a clerk, and in 1851 as a silk manufacturer. With his wife, Ann, he had five daughters and one son, all born in Macclesfield: Emma (born c. 1825), Anne (born c. 1830), Elizabeth (born c. 1833), Mary (born c. 1835), Harriette (born 1841/2) and Henry Ainsworth CONDRON (born 1838). Emma married John TURNER in 1846/7; Ann married John Gerhard TIARKS, sometime rector of Loxton, Somerset, in 1862/3; Harriette married William Lawrence KENT in 1868. Harriette was evidently musical: she was "specially commended" in the first competition for the Potter Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Music, according to a report in the Daily News (London) of 22 December 1860.

On 23 January 1866 at St. Saviours, South Hampstead, Henry Ainsworth CONDRON married Johanna Louisa Augusta BISHOP, daughter of Sir Henry R. BISHOP, professor of music at the University of Oxford: they were married by Henry's brother-in-law the Rev. J. Gerhard TIARKS. Johanna died on 25 September 1875 "after a short illness", but not before the couple had had two sons and two daughters: Henry Bishop (b. 1866/7), Charles Percy (b. 1868), Emma Louise (b. 1872) and Alice Riviere (b. 1874). Captain Henry Ainsworth CONDRON, by then of Blundellsands near Liverpool, subsequently married Jane Lawrence KENT in 1880: he died in 1889. His widow Jane died on 9 March 1900. Henry Bishop CONDRON died in Santos, Brazil, of the yellow fever in April 1893, aged 26 years, as reported in the Liverpool Mercury of 15 April of that year. The other son, Charles Percy CONDRON, married Florence Alice E. HUNT, made his living as a ship store dealer, and died in 1946 in Liverpool.

Charles CONDRON was declared bankrupt in 1855: in 1861 he is described as a "manager in a silk mill". He died on 19 Feb 1869. His widow Ann outlived him by 14 years and died in 1882/3.

As always, I would be delighted to hear from any descendants.

CONDR*N update

Its been a while since I posted, though the CONDR*N one-name study has not been inactive! New records of births for County Wicklow have been put online by the Irish Family History Federation (IFHF - see the blog entry for 5 April 2008), which is an important county for CONDR*Ns with over 250 entries, particularly in Arklow. Also I'm happy to have had contact with a couple of people decended from the Condron brushmakers featured in the posting of 12 October 2008. And I discovered recently two more Facebook Groups devoted to Condrons: "Condron Family Tree" and "Condrons" - it's great to see some younger(!) Condr*ns also interested in tracing family roots.

In the UK the 1911 census for much - not yet all - of England has been released online. To date I have traced 231 CONDR*Ns, and no doubt this number will increase particularly when County Durham goes online, as well as the Welsh counties.

Another important development has been the pilot-version release of Irish civil births, marriages and deaths indices for 1845-1958 at the Family Search Record Search. Previously these were only available as far as I know by visiting the records office in Ireland. Of course I am extracting all the CONDR*Ns and so should be able to help if anyone is looking for a CONDR*N in Ireland in that time frame.

That's a quick update. Do keep those emails coming!