Radleys of Cork

New Section: Walloons and Huguenots in Cork

Walloons were Protestants of Flanders, the border area between northern France and southern
Belgium (also called southern Netherlands). Their language was a dialect of French. They were
among the first Protestant refugees to arrive in England, in the mid-1500's. Huguenots are, strictly
speaking, Protestants born in France, but the history of the two groups is similar and sometimes
the term Huguenots is used for both. For more information, see the website:
http://www.island.net/~andreav/index.html.

Figures for Walloons in Ireland are not usually quoted. It has been estimated that about 5,000 or
more Huguenots settled in Ireland between about 1650-1850, and at least 300 of those in Cork
County. In 1936, Grace Lawless Lee wrote a book (readily available as it was reprinted by
Clearfield in 1993 & 1999) called The Huguenot Settlements in Ireland. In her chapter called The
Colony in Cork, are mentioned 81 French names Lee found associated with Cork City. She
provided details about the history in France and/or Ireland of many of these families. In another
chapter called Huguenots in Cork County, Lee mentions some of the same names again and 37
additional names, including some she thought dubious, found in the towns of Bandon,
Innishannon, Youghal, or Kinsale. Her book is useful to genealogists as she supplied an index to
all the names she mentioned.

In a much shorter book called Silver, Sails and Silk, Huguenots in Cork 1685-1850 ( published in
1991 by Cork Civic Trust Ltd, 50 Pope's Quay, Cork) Alicia St Leger listed all the names in Lee on
two pages and added a few further names she found in Cork and some more information about
the others. This book does not have an index, making it more difficult to find what is said about a
particular name. The name BESNARD, found elsewhere on this web-site, is mentioned by Lee on
more than 6 pages and by St Leger on her pages 10 and 11. Alicia says the first BESNARD to arrive
in Cork was Pierre, in the early 18th century. Typically, Pierre was born in the Netherlands where
his parents had fled in 1685 after the French Government expelled Protestant Ministers and made
it illegal for all other Protestants to leave France. His son Julius became a partner in a sail-making
factory at Douglas with members of the Perdrian family, a venture started by Perry and Carlton in
the early 18th century. St Leger does not mention it but PERRY is the name of another Huguenot
family in Ireland. The factory remained in the control of the BESNARD family until the 1830's,
producing rope as well as linen sail-cloth. Many of the younger sons emigrated, some to Australia.

The 121 names found by Lee and St Leger mean that about 180 or more names of Huguenot
settlers in Cork County remain to be documented. Two French churches existed in Cork City but
the records of both were lost, one in the late 18th century when the River Lee flooded. Other
sources have to be used to find the remaining descendants of Walloons and Huguenots of that
city. A CLEMENT(S) family of Ireland are described as a family of Huguenot descent by Michael
O'Laughlin in his book Irish Families Great and Small. (He also mentions the CLEMENTS of
Norman descent in Ireland who were much wealthier and more prominent, being some of the
largest land-owners in Ireland).

The Huguenot Society of England told an enquirer that the name CLEMENT is both Flemish and
French. Some members of a CLEMENT family of Cork (and other parts of Ireland) seem likely to be
of Flemish or Walloon origin as the name occurs in the first quarter of the 17th c. in Munster (the
province of which Cork is part). The largest wave of Huguenots arrived in Ireland in the latter part
of the 17th c. This may be why the CLEMENT(S) name is not mentioned by Lee or St Leger. But
some CLEMENTS married into some of the Huguenot families listed by them. . In 1707 Joseph
CLEMENTS married Mary CROSS who seems likely to be a descendant of the DELACROIX family
of Cork. In 1701, a Joseph CLEMENTS ( possibly the same man) married Joan SMITH whose name
is probably a conversion of the French name LEFEVRE which means Smith. Simon Peter CODIER,
was a silversmith, goldsmith and jeweller whom Lee says was made a Freeman of Cork in 1725.
In 1703, Mary CLEMENTS married Jeremiah CODNER, whose name seems likely to be from the
name CODIER, especially as a Richard CLEMENT was a warden of the Goldsmiths Co. of Cork in
1694.

Some of the CLEMENTS in Cork married into families with French names not mentioned by Lee
and St Leger. In 1701, Amy CLEMENTS married Caleb RATHERAN, a name similar to ROTHERAM,
which is that of a Huguenot family in England. In 1779, Philip CLEMENTS married Joanna
BLEWETT, a name found in Ireland spelt Bluet, a French name. In 1793, Hill CLEMENTS married
Mary AHAR. Her name, found in Cork and other parts of Ireland spelt as Agar, Aher, and converted
to Archer, is a French name. This latter couple are ancestors of the actress and film star Googie
Withers, born 1917 in India, who lives in Australia. Her father was Edgar Clements Withers and her
mother of French-Dutch extraction.

Many descendants of French Protestants in Ireland tended to marry others of a similar
background. A Peter CLEMENT had a daughter Elizabeth baptised at Ballymodan in 1713. He may
be the Peter CLEMENT who married Christian TRESILIAN (a name found in Flanders, Cornwall
and Cork) in 1686, or perhaps more likely a son of his named Peter. In 1684, a Peter CLEMENTS
married Elizabeth MASCALL. ( Her surname was mentioned by Lee as that of John, a clerk,
named by Thomas Gimlette, a 19th century author of a book about Huguenots in Ireland). A Pierre
CLEMENT, who seems likely to be the same man, is found in records of the Regiment of le Comte
De Marton of 1689-1698, one of several Huguenot Regiments which fought in Flanders and Ireland
for William III. (From CD of The Irish Genealogist, Vol 3, No 6, Oct 1961). Some of the other
Clements of Cork became soldiers and are found in Dalton's books which provide early records of
the British Army.

One of the more prosperous lines of the CLEMENTS of Cork married into an Anglo-Irish family
already mentioned on this web-site, the BALDWINS. An abstract of the 1778 Will of Thomas
Clements, gent., of Madame (a townland in the Parishes of Kilmaloda and Kilnagross, near
Clonakilty, Co. Cork), proved in the Prerogative Court in 1780, mentions his wife Mary, son
Charles, a daughter Elizabeth COTTER and a grand-daughter Anne COTTER. Michael Leader (a
genealogist working for the Irish Genealogical Research Society, London, in the 1960's), noted
that Thomas's son Charles was baptised at Ballymodan, in the Bandon area, in 1727. Marriage
Licence Bonds show the marriage took place in 1726 of Melian ABBOT of Ballymodan to Thomas
Clement. Parish records of Kinsale which Michael Leader recorded show that a Thomas Clement
was born in 1699, the son of Bartholomew CLEMENTS and Elizabeth HODGES who married at
Kinsale in 1698.

In 1767, Thomas CLEMENTS married, as his second wife, Mary COTTRELL, her name a conversion
of the French name COQUEREL, one of many Irish names derived from French names, and
another not found in Lee or St Leger. After Thomas Clements of Madame died in 1780, his son
Charles (of the parish of Kilmaloda) married Miss Elizabeth BALDWIN of the parish of Kilbrogan, at
Murragh on July 13, 1782. (Eldest sons seem often to have married soon after the deaths of their
fathers at this time, when they inherited the bulk of their father's estate). In 1788, an
Administration Bond was taken out in respect of Mary CLEMENT, (nee Cottrell) a widow of
Bandon, in the area of Clonakilty. Among the Freemen of Bandon, in 1807, was a Travers Cottrell.
Elizabeth CLEMENTS (widow) who married John JERMYN Senior in 1806 seems likely to be
Charles' widow Elizabeth (nee BALDWIN). The JERMYN name, not mentioned by Lee and St
Leger, is that of another family of Huguenot origin.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas and Melian (nee Abbot) married Edward COTTER in 1750. An
Elizabeth Clements COTTER (probably their daughter) married John Robert KENT in 1841. It is not
yet clear who the Elizabeth CLEMENT is who died in 1867 at Rockville, Macroom, aged 60. The
COTTERS, like the BALDWINS, are one of the Cork families associated with the Travers family of
Cork. Their name may be from the French name Codier, already mentioned as found in Cork, as a
Marie Cotter's burial was registered in the Huguenot Non-conformist Church of St Peters, Dublin
on 30 September 1830, aged 113 years (born 1717).

The son of Charles CLEMENTS and Elizabeth nee BALDWIN was John Charles CLEMENTS, Esq. of
Clonakilty, who in 1825 married Anne GRAINGER, only daughter of the late William Grainger Esq
of Kilcondy, Co. Limerick, at Christchurch, Cork City, on Jan. 2nd. In 1841 a Charlotte CLEMENTS
(who seems to have been a second wife of John Charles Clements) married George GRAY. (An
article called Gray of Cork City and Lehana is found in the Irish Ancestor Journal on CD).

Information in the 1780 Will abstract, Marriage Bond Licences and a few Clements baptisms found
by Michael Leader has made it possible to build a tree for this particular Clements Branch in Cork
which seems to have had more financial security than others of the same name. That could also
account for the high number of second marriages in the branch. However, they lost that security in
the 19th century when John Charles Clements' children and grandchildren appear to have
become soldiers and servants.

JERVOIS FAMILY CONNECTIONS

Some details have still to be found about a Cork City line of CLEMENTS before a tree can be
drawn up. In 1747, Nicholas CLEMENTS married Sarah JERVOIS (Cork and Ross Marriage Licence
Bonds). In 1753, John, a son of Mr Nicholas CLEMENTS, was baptised at St Nicholas Church in
Cork City, a likely son of this couple. His name may indicate that Nicholas was the son of a John
CLEMENTS born in the late 1600's in or near Cork City. Whose daughter was Sarah JERVOIS, a
surname already mentioned on this website?

A Welply Will Abstract 1734 of Samuel Woodroffe of Cork mentions, as his beneficiaries, his niece
Catherine Jervois, her child Sarah Jervois and his cousins the Barringtons. (Samuel Woodroffe
may have been a son or grandson of Clement Woodroffe of Bandon Bridge who was living at the
time of the 1659 Census. There is a slight possibility he was a descendant of a CLEMENT family
which appears on the same Census, but Clement was also quite a popular first name at this time).

On being told about this 1734 Will abstract, William Jervois, genealogist, wrote, in 2007: "There is
record that David JERVOIS, a merchant of Cork city, was to be married in 1724 to Catherine
Barrington (Cork MLBs). If one could the find a marriage between Samuel Woodroffe and a Miss
Barrington, then I would suggest that it would be safe to say that Sarah Jervois was probably a
daughter of David. I feel that David was related to the progenitor of our family, Capt Samuel
Jervois of the Parliamentary (Cromwell's) Army in Ireland. However, I only know of two sons who
survived childhood, Samuel Jnr and Joseph, for whom I have Will Abstracts. Neither of these
mention David".

What I found on the LDS film No 994024 of Cork and Ross Marriage Licence Bonds 1623 to 1750. is
that in 1705 Samuel Woodruffe married a woman called Sarah French. But in 1687 Naomi
Woodruffe married an Alexander Barrington, and in 1724, Catherine Barrington married David
Jervois. This suggests Naomi was a sister of Samuel and Catherine was Naomi�s child. It does not
explain why Samuel would call the Barringtons his cousins unless the term was used loosely at
this time to mean any relations. In N.Z Maoris use the term cousins this way.

The Cork and Ross Marriage Licence Bonds also told me that an Elizabeth Clements married a
Henry Bryan in 1744. From a copy of the Register of St.Peters C. of I.Church, Cork City 1744-1811,
transcribed by R.Caulfield in 1876, I learnt that Nicholas Clements was a sponsor, along with
Henry Bryan, Catherine Fanning and Sarah White, at the baptism of John, son of Timothy and
Catherine Horan on 27th September 1747. This suggests Elizabeth was probably a sister of
Nicholas Clements. In this way a tentative family tree can be drawn up.

Notes from the Council Book of Clonakilty show that a Samuel Jervois was described as Esq.
suffrain in 1729. He was made a Freeman between 1725 - 1729 along with a Joseph Jervois,
Stephen Jermyn and Robert Travers. The two Jervois brothers here are the same ones mentioned
by William Jervois but again David is not mentioned. Found in Cork Apprenticeship records is:
Jervois, Joseph son of Samuel of Bandon, Esq., bound to Joseph Devonshire and Thos Strettel of
Cork, merchant. 20 September. 1760. He seems likely to be a son of Samuel Junior.

A Commission of the Peace for several Counties in Ireland of 16 March 1654 included the name of
Samuel Jervis. (Journal of Cork Historical and Archaeological Society Vol 3 P. 114, 1897)

As reported elsewhere on this web-site, the JERVOIS family came to Ireland from England. So did
many other Irish families with French names, such as the CLEMENTS, whose name is found in
several of the Southern ports of England, such as Bristol, Plymouth and Gosport, in the 1500's. This
suggests they were of Walloon, rather than Huguenot, origin. However, some of the CLEMENT
name may have come to England and Ireland later as Huguenots, as the name is a common one
in France. A French Church was founded in Southampton, England in 1567 for Walloons. There
was a John CLEMENT who married there in 1571 who may be the ancestor of some of the Irish
family of that name. The index to the Marriage Licence Bonds for the Diocese of Cork and Ross,
on Film 994024 Item 8 for the period 1623-1750, provides 16 Clement marriages, in which at least 8
of the partners' names have possible Huguenot or Walloon connections.

There are about 100 Travers-associated families forming a large network of moderately well-off
Cork Protestants. Up to 10% of their surnames are of Norman French or Huguenot origin including
the names Cottrell, Delacour, Delahay, Delmege, Este, Eve, and Hill(es). The name CLEMENT only
appears a few times on two Mormon films about the Travers families of Cork and their Associates
by marriage: Film Nos. 1951821 for Abbot to Mace and 1951830 Item 1 for MacEwen to Young, with
some Pedigrees on the same film at Item 2, and Miscellaneous Notes at Item 3.

The 1793 marriage of Hill CLEMENT and Mary AHER is on the Index to Protestant Diocese of Cork
and Ross Marriage Licence Bonds for the Period 1845 back to to 1750. Michael Leader of the Irish
Genealogical Research Society did some extensive research into the CLEMENTS name in Cork,
commissioned by a descendant of Hill and Mary CLEMENTS (nee Aher). But he, and Rosemary
Folliott, who searched in Ireland, failed to find Hill's ancestral line. One reason may be that many
parish records of Cork are missing, having been destroyed in a fire in the Four Courts building in
Dublin in 1922. Another reason may be that families descended from Huguenots tended to move
from place to place, looking for places where they could prosper and where their Protestant
religion was accepted. They went to America, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand,
as well as many European countries, for those reasons. They also moved around Ireland and
England and sometimes moved back to places where they or their ancestors had lived before,
making it difficult to build a tree. A Hill CLEMENTS was baptised in Gosport, England in 1698, who
may be an ancestor of the later Cork one of the same name.

An abstract of the 1690 Will of Richard CLEMENTS of Cork, merchant, proved 1692, shows he had a
wife Mary. Quaker records show Mary's maiden name was FENNELL (from the French name
FINEL). She was born in Wales but her parents took their children to Ireland. Richard and Mary
married at Cashel, Tipperary, in 1681 and their children's births and deaths are found in Cork
Quaker records. The beneficiaries mentioned in Richard's Will are his surviving children Richard,
John, Ursula, Rebecca and Mary; his sister, Mary, wife of John SMITH, and his unmarried sister,
Rebecca. The last-named sister may be the Nurse CLEMENT mentioned by the Earl of Cork in his
diary in 1633.

Richard's date of birth is unknown but he may be the Richard CLEMENS sworn Constable of High
St, Kinsale on 16 October 1676 (found in O'Casey's volumes). However, a record of Cork goldsmiths
on Mormon film has a Richard Clements in 1694 as one of two wardens of the Goldsmiths of Cork
when Goble was the Master (recorded by Caulfield), the Goble family being mentioned by both
Lee and St Leger. The date of Richard and Mary Fennell's marriage suggests this Richard would
have to be a cousin of the merchant of the same name, unless he was his son by an earlier
marriage.

I would be very pleased to hear from any likely descendants of the Huguenot CLEMENTS family in
Ireland, and, in particular, any of Samuel or Sampson CLEMENTS, an accountant of Cork City who
died in 1882, aged 76, his son James F. Clements present at his death. A Samuel Clements,
baptised in Limerick in 1804, was a younger brother of my great-great-grandfather Andrew
CLEMENTS, also an accountant, baptised 1802. Andrew died in 1845 in Co. Clare, Ireland, when
my great-grandmother, Jane Clements, was 6 years old. The parents of Andrew and Samuel
CLEMENTS were an Andrew Clements (Senior) and Mary Ann DULAHAY who married in Limerick
City in 1800. Her name is from the fairly common French name DELAHAY (also spelt in Ireland
Dellehay, Dolahay, (De) Lahay, also Delay and Dellea, as H is a silent letter in French). This name
is found in Cork in the 18th century. It is also said by Thomas Gimlette to have been among the
French names of the first settlers found on the estates of the first Earl of Cork, Robert Boyle.

Andrew CLEMENTS Junior baptised 1802 called his two sons, by his wife Eliz. BENSON, William
and Samuel, baptised 1828, and his third son, by his second wife, Eliz. ELLIOTT, John William,
baptised 1845, in Limerick. It is possible that Andrew Senior's father was the John CLEMENTS, a
linen-weaver of Cork, who bound a son called William CLEMENTS as an apprentice to a firm of
Cork merchants in 1793 when he was about 14 ( making William born 1779). Peter CLEMENTS, a
weaver, found mentioned in a Limerick City newspaper as a voter in 1808, may have been a
brother of William and Andrew Senior as one of Peter's grandchildren was called Andrew. An
article in Irish Links magazine March 1999 called Refugees to Ireland says Huguenots, known for
their skills in silk weaving, made gloves and lace in Limerick. In 1837, Samuel Lewis wrote: the
glove trade, formerly of great celebrity, has declined considerably, most of the gloves sold under
the name of Limerick, now manufactured in Cork.

Barbara Holt, Wellington, New Zealand (BHHolt@xtra.co.nz)