William Kavanagh

I had a look for this family in the 1901 & 1911 Irish censuses but without success. Likewise I can’t find the parent’s marriage. There are a couple of Kavanagh-Kavanagh marriages but not the right forenames or occupation.

I noticed this young William fostered out. I wondered if his mother had died, and this had led to him being placed with another family. Just supposition:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/New_Kilmainham/St__Mary_s_Terrace/11124/

If William K senior was a serving police officer in Ireland, then they are usually in the censuses under their initials only. A search under WK & male brings up 199 possibles. Since we don't know where he was born or his age it makes it impossible to narrow that down. They are often listed by their former occupation or the euphemism “farmer’s son”, as in this WK example, who was RC, 36 and from Sligo but serving in Belfast (he was single so it’s not the right one, just an example):

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Antrim/Dock_Ward/Glenravel_Street/136718/

Other thing to know about the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) is that they normally never posted you to a county where you or your wife had family connections.  So if born in Co Dublin he wouldn’t serve there. If he was serving there, then he was born in another county.  In addition to the RIC, there was the Dublin Metropolitan Police Force. He might have served with them. (Not sure what their recruitment policies were). First step may be to check the RIC and DMP records to see if they had a William Kavanagh who married Julia Kavanagh. In the RIC, you had to have served 7 years before you could marry and marriage details, including the wife’s county of birth, are nearly always recorded on the service records, because of the need to avoid a posting to the wife’s home county.

Was William perhaps serving with some other police force in Scotland or England? Perhaps his wife came home to give birth to William junior but otherwise the family lived in Britain.  Again, as examples, huge numbers of officers in the London Metropolitan police and City of Glasgow police forces were from Ireland. In the late 1880s 20% of the City of Glasgow force were Irish born and the Met had similar figures. So, if you can't find the family in Ireland, search English & Scottish censuses and marriage records.

Hi Elwyn, thanks a million for your help.  Family rumour has it that he (Dad William) was from NI, but when he met Julia, she was RC, and he not being RC never went back to NI and took her name.  He was originally Lambert.  That's the extent of our family knowledge.  Regards, Barry.

I had a look at the Irish marriage records 1880-1903. There were 22 Julia Kavanagh marriages, but none to someone named Lambert. 2 to people named William (Kenny & Cleary), but neither had the right occupation.

I looked on Ancestry for William Lambert in the RIC. I found 2 in the pension records. One was born in 1874 and pensioned on 1.5.1921 as a Sergeant. His last posting was Roscommon town. The other was a constable who was pensioned in Waterford on 2.8.1898. There was a William Kavanagh born in 1890 (so too young) and another pensioned in Waterford on 22.6.1892. You can probably exclude the pensioners because the wording of the birth certificate suggests a serving officer rather than a retired officer. You might need to do a bit of digging at one of the locations where the service records are held eg NAS, Kew, PRONI in Belfast or the Garda Museum in Dublin.

I think to check the DMP records, you may need Jim Herlihy's book on all the staff who served with that force. (It was amalgamated into the Gardai around 1925).

Thanks a million Elwyn: I'll search in that direction and hopefully we'll find him!  Regards, Barry

There are just two William Kavanaghs listed in the index to DMP officers and men 1836 to 1923 (Jim Herlihy) - both seem a little too old to be 'your' William

Kavanagh, William DMP 4239, born 1830, KIlcummin, Co. Wexford
Kavanagh, William DMP 7606, born 1851, Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow

(The placenames given are civil parishes)

Thanks Shanew147.  I'll search in there too.  Ann.

A family member since said his Dad died, his mother had to foster him out as a nurse child as she had no income and he was possibly 3 or 4 years old. But we’re still stuck at a brick wall!