This post collates whatever information I manage to gather about the Frew family of Killyleagh who my Stewarts seemed to be related to via a number of people. Most of the Frews of Killyleagh, who intersect with our Stewarts/Madines, were members of the Coast Guard, and I wonder were they all therefore closely related.....
Elizabeth Madine was the wife of Joseph Stewart, ironmonger of County Down and Dublin. They were our paternal great-great grandparents - ElIzabeth was the daughter of Robert Madine, butcher of Killyleagh, and of Margaret Frew, also from Killyleagh. There is a registration of death for a Margaret Madine - 1815 - 1875, although this would have meant she was only 13 when she married in 1828. They might not have known her correct date of birth when they registered her death, however.
I wonder was our Margaret Madine, née Frew, a sister of John, Thomas and James Frew of Killyleagh. Just a possibility at the moment, but the facts about all these people follow....
Margaret Madine (born 1832 to Robert Madine Senior and Margaret Frew) and John Frew (1830 - 1917):
Margaret Madine, Elizabeth Madine Stewart's older sister, married John Frew, a sailor, in Carnmoney Church of Ireland, north of Belfast city, on July 13th 1859. John had been born on 15th February 1830 to the coastguard David Frew in Queenstown, Co. Cork. His mother was most likely Prudence Theresa Frew. A quick search of the 1901 census shows that John Frew was the only Frew to have been born in Cork, which seems to suggest that his family didn't come from there; a quick scroll through the Irish Registration Index similarily reveals almost no Frews of Co. Cork.
The witnesses to the wedding of Margaret Madine and John Frew in 1859 were Margaret Madine's two siblings, Robert and Jane Madine...Jane would marry her brother-in-law Robert Stewart the following year and then promptly disappear from the records.
I accessed the naval records for John Frew, who married Margaret Madine, on the UK National Archives Discovery website. He had been a member of the Irish Coastguard, who had joined up on 14th December 1857, at the age of 27. The record gave a brief description of him too - he was 5'7", with brown hair, dark eyes and dark complexion. His detailed service records only date from 1st January 1873, when he was on board the Vanguard, stationed at Carrickfergus. John Frew was the chief boatman of the Belleisle from 2nd July 1878 until 13th April 1880. From 1th April 1880 until 5th November 1880 he was stationed in Ballymacaw, Dunmore East, in Co. Wexford, and was noted there as Chief Boatman in Charge from 6th November 1880 until 2nd December 1880. There then followed a stint at Curracloe, Co. Wexford from 3rd December until his retirement on 15th February 1890 when they pensioned him off. Curracloe in Wexford was where he and Margaret Madine were living in 1901 and 1911. John Frew also served aboard the Iron Duke and the Topaze.
There were other Curracloe Frews, all of them coastguards, and almost certainly the brothers of John Frew... David Frew, who had been born in Wexford on 10th October 1834, died in South Dublin/North Wicklow on 20th September 1888. David had been christened five days later on 15th October 1834 in New Romney, Kent, England, by his parents David Frew and Prudence Theresa Frew.
David Frew entered the coastguard service on 10th December 1859 as an able seaman who volunteered for ten years' service and who served firstly aboard "The Cambrian". Earlier he had served aboard "The Ajax" from 15th November 1852 until 19th October 1854. From October 1854 till September 1859 he served aboard "The Cunard".
David William Frew died on 20th September 1888 in the Rathdown Union Infirmiary in Dublin and his will was proved by the naval pensioner, James Edward Frew, who had himself been born on 27th April 1845 in Co.Wexford, and was most likely another son of David and Prudence Theresa Frew.
The English National Archives have plenty of information about James Frew - he entered the service of the coastguard on 15th October 1864 for 10 years' service, and this was extended from 20th March 1875 when he was recorded aboard the "Excellent". Further records mention his very good conduct. He was aboard "The Hawke" from 15th October 1864 as Ordinary Seaman until 24th March 1865; on "The Arethusa" from 25th March 1865 until 28th February 1867, and from 1st March 1867 until 7th January 1869 as an Able Seaman. From 8th January 1870 till 5th March 1870 he was on "The Excellent", and from 6th March 1870 till 2nd September 1872 he served on "The Fawn", being promoted to Leading Seaman in 1872. He was to receive his pension on 24th April 1884.
When he proved the will of his brother, David William Frew, in Dublin in 1888, James Frew was living at 36 Glasthule, a suburb of Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin.
The UK National Archives also record a Robert Frew who'd been born in Newry, Co. Down, on 9th April 1844 and who entered the coast guard above the "Ajax" aged 18 years on 5th May 1859. There were no further details about this Robert Frew.
Also, on 15th December 1859 in Co. Wexford, Margaret Anne Frew, the daughter of an older David Frew, married the coastguard, Edward Latto, who had been born in Co. Wexford in 1820. The Latto family later moved to Kent, England.
The older David Frew had been born in 1796 and his death was registered in the Rathdrum registration district in 1894.
His wife, Prudence Theresa Frew, died in the Rathdown Registration District, ie: South Dublin or North Wicklow, in 1894, and her year of birth was given as 1823. The date of birth must be erroneous, since she would have been too young to be the mother of either John or David William Frew.
John Frew and Margaret Madine had children in Co. Antrim, presumably while he was stationed at Carrickfergus although Louisa Ann was born in Down:
- Louisa Ann Frew, born Co. Down in 1862.
- Unknown Child, born 19th April 1864 in the Whitehouse district of Co. Antrim.
- David Frew, born 9th September 1865; a David Frew, aged 0, died there the same year.
- Mary Elizabeth,8th September 1866, born in the Whitehouse district of Co. Antrim; she died in April/June 1895 in Co. Wexford.
- Teresa Jane Frew, 9th April 1869 in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. A schoolteacher in 1901 and 1911 in Curracle, Co. Wexford, she was blinded in an accident and lived the final years of her life in the Molyneux Asylum, Leeson St, Dublin where she died unmarried in 1948. She was known as Tess.
- John Frew, born 18th March 1868 - this son died later the same year.
- A later John Frew was born and died in 1872 in Wexford.
Margaret and John Frew appear on the 1901 and 1911 Censuses with their unmarried daughter, Teresa, living in Curracloe, Co. Wexford. John Frew was a retired naval officer, and in 1885 he was noted as the chief boatman of the coastguard in Curracloe, Co. Wexford. His daughter, Teresa, was a schoolteacher.
The 1911 Census tells us that the couple had had eight children but only two survived - Therea Jane and Louisa Ann.
Margaret Frew, née Madine, died in Wexford in 1914 followed by John Frew in 1917.
Louisa Ann Frew, the daughter of Margaret Madine and John Frew, married Thomas William Prothero in Dunmore East, Waterford, in 1878. Thomas was also a member of the Coast Guards, like John, James and Thomas Frew.
Thomas William Prothero had been born on 4th Feb.1849 in Walworth, Surrey, but was baptised mcuh later, on March 29th 1863, in St. Mary's, Newington, Walworth.
His parents were Thomas Dax Prothero (1816 - 1864) and Eliza Ann Eedy (1827 - 1914). Thomas Dax Prothero was a clerk in the Exchequer's Office, who was in financial difficulties in the late 1850s, and who was declared bankrupt in 1863. In 1854, his address was Bronti Place, East St., Walworth; in 1863, he was at Belmont Villas, Lorrimore Square, Newington.
His wife's parents, Bennett Eedy and Ann Susannah Rees, had married in St. Andrew's, Holborn, on 15th August 1824.
The children of Louisa Ann Frew and Thomas William Prothero were:
- Thomas Frew Prothero, born Dunmore East, Waterford on 23rd November 1880. Thomas joined the Royal Navy; he died in Plymouth in 1949.
- John Walter Prothero, born Dunmore East, Co. Waterford, on 23rd October 1882. John Walter married Annie Donnan, the daughter of James and Eliza Donnan, in 1914 in the Downpatrick/Killyleagh area. A daughter, Louisa Ann Prothero was registered in this Downpatrick area in June 1915; John Walter Prothero died in Dublin in 1916. He also entered the Navy as a coastguard, and was present on the UK 1911 at the Royal Navy Barracks in Devon.
- Ernest Duncan Prothero, born Curracloe, Wexford, on 30th June 1884. Ernest spent 12 years with the Navy. He married Helen D. Edmiston on 7th August 1912 in Dundee, Scotland, before emigrating to Toronto, Canada, where he joined Battalion 238 of the Canadian army in June 1916. His address when he joined up was 7 Howie Avenue, Toronto, and he and his wife, Helen, were still living here in 1958.
- David William Prothero, born Cork 1888.
- Robert George Prothero, born 5th February 1890 Killard, Co. Down. He joined the Navy also.
- Henry Arthur Prothero, born Cork 1892. He married, in 1927, Olive Francis Barton, and had Margaret E.M. Prothero in Dublin in 1932.
- Charles Frederick Prothero, born Clonakilty, Co. Cork on 30th October 1895. He also joined the Naval service. He was noted on the 1940 electoral list at 30 Summerhill Parade, Ballybough, Dublin, with his wife Martha Prothero, née Norgrove, born 1910, who was the sister of Louisa's Prothero's husband, Frederick Norgrove. (See below for notes on the interesting Norgrove family of Dublin.....) Their children were Mary E. L. Prothero, born 1935, Charles F. Prothero, born 1940, and Thomas Prothero, born 1946.
- Louisa Prothero, born Dublin 1897. Louisa married, in Dublin in 1927, Frederick A.E. Norgrove, and the couple had Thomas F. Norgrove in North Dublin in 1928, and Lilian D. Norgrove in 1930. They were living at 171 Clontarf Road in 1939/1940. Frederick Norgrove died on 30th October 1973, and Louisa on 26th January 1988. Both were buried in Redford Cemetery, Greystones, Co. Wicklow.
- Lilian Prothero (1899 - 1971). In 1928, she married Albert William Newell (1893 - 1976) and had John Frederick Newell, Albert Victor George Newell (1925 -2005), and John Frew Newell (1928 - 2010).
The Norgrove family: Two of the Protheros married two of the children of Alfred George Norgrove (1876 - 1937) and Ellen Maria Carter (1875 - 1934). Born in Kingstown, Dublin, Alfred George Norgrove, known as George Norgrove, was the son of an English Navy man. George worked as a gas-fitter and was an active trades unionistist; following the lock-out of 1913, he became involved in the Irish Citizens Army, helping to asssemble a stockpile of billycan bombs in 1915. He served as a lieutenant, firstly in the GPO, then in City Hall, during the 1916 Easter Rising. His wife, Maria, was also active during Easter Week, as were his children. Frederick, who later married Louisa Prothero, worked as a messenger during the fighting, while two of his daughters, Annie and Emily Norgrove, supplied water to the men fighting on the roof of City Hall. Following the nationalist surrender, George Norgrove spent time in Frongoch internment camp in Wales, staying faithful to De Valera and joining the anti-Treaty side during the Civil War of 1922. His son, Robert Norgrove, fought in Barry's Hotel and the Hammam Hotel on O'Connell Street. George Norgrove died of suspected gas poisoning at work in 1937. The Irish Citizens Army provided a guard of honour at the funeral. George Norgrove is buried in Drumcondra Church of Ireland graveyard.
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John Frew, Game Keeper, Killyleagh Castle:
Robert Stewart was the brother of our great-great grandfather, Joseph Stewart. Robert married, in 1860, Jane Madine, the sister of our great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Madine.
The witnesses to the marriage of Robert Stewart and Jane Madine were Richard Woofenden and Louisa Matilda Frew. Matilda was a teacher in the local National School and may well have been a relation of Jane Madine - Jane Madine's mother had been Margaret Frew before her marriage to Robert Madine in 1826. Matilda Louisa Frew was the daughter of John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite.
John Frew married Euphemia Thistlewaite in Killyleagh parish church on April 29th 1826; John Frew was noted in the parish register as being a member of the Royal North Down Militia at the time of his marriage to Euphemia. In 1809, a Captain Frew of the Royal South Down Militia was noted as a subscriber to a book about the American Revolution.
John Frew became the gamekeeper at Killyleagh Castle and, immediately prior to his death in 1892, had appeared in the police census of Killyleagh as a bailiff of 48 Corporation, Killyleagh, living with a granddaughter, Mary Denby. Earlier, in 1870 and 1877, he had been noted as living at 'The Cottage' in Killyleagh.
John Frew died in Killyleagh in January 1892 aged 89; his wife Euphemia had died aged 80 on 12th January 1888 at The Cottage, Killyleagh.
The Children of John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite of Killyleagh:
Matilda Louisa Frew, born circa 1841 to John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite, died in Kew, Victoria, Australia in 1919.
Was living at 12 Valentine Avenue, Kew, with Euphemia Alice Frew, in 1919. They were living at 3 Queen Street in 1914 and at 77 Foley Road in 1904.
In 1924, Euphemia Alice Frew (born circa 1842 to John Frew) was living at 12 Valentine Avenue. She died in 1926...in 1902 she had married a man named Charles Albert Lawson, but had reverted to her original name by 1914.
A Euphemia A. Frew was born in 1877 in Albury, NSW, Australia, to Alexander Frew and Rosanna. Alexander Frew was the brother of Euphemia Alice and Matilda Louisa, and had been born to John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite in Killyleagh on June 28th 1841. In Australia he married Rosanna Crisp (1850 - 1938). A building contractor, he died in Albury in 1900. He had children - Alexander C. Frew, and Walter L. Frew.
William Frew was born to John and Euphemia Frew in Killyleagh on August 30th 1842, and died in Albury, New South Wales on 6th November 1923. William married Ellen Clark, and was a timber merchant in Albury, although he'd served an appprenticeship as an engine fitter. Their son was named as Denby Pearson Frew. (1878 - 1915)
Elizabeth Frew was born to John and Euphemia Frew in Killyleagh in 1848 and died in Australia.
John Frew, the gamekeeper/bailiff of Killyleagh Castle, was noted on the Killyleagh police census of the early 1890s as sharing a house with his granddaughter, Mary Denby, who was most likely visiting her grandfather. Her mother was John's daughter, Mary Frew, who married George Walter Denby on May 6th 1857 - the couple had been married in the Killyleagh Church of Ireland by Rev. Dr. Hinks who had earlier married Margaret Frew and Robert Madine (the parents of Jane Madine who married Robert Stewart in 1860). George Walter Denby's father was James Denby.
George Walter Denby (1829 - 1905) , the husband of Mary Frew of Killyleagh, was a pianoforte maker of Belfast and is easy to trace through the Belfast Street Directories, as is another relation (brother?), John Denby, who was also a piano maker. George had a brother, William Denby, who was a coachmaker of Belfast, and who named a son after his brother, George Walter Denby.
The family lived in Joy Street, Belfast:
1863 - 1864: John Denby, Piano Maker, 42 Joy Street.
Mrs. Denby, Milliner and Straw Bonnet Maker, 42 Joy Street.
1865 + 1870: George Denby, Pictureframe Maker, 46 Joy Street.
Mrs. Denby, Milliner and Straw Bonnet Maker, 42 Joy Street.
1880: George Denby, Pianoforte Maker, 105 Joy Street.
Mary Denby, Milliner, 105 Joy Street.
George's brother, William Denby, who died 11th November 1903 at 11 Cavehill Road, Belfast, left a 7-page will which can be read online on the PRONI website.
Other possible Denby relations may be the following people...
Martha Denby who married Archibald Shaw in St. Anne's, Belfast, on 11th September 1853.
Mary Denby who married William Marshall in Holywood C. of I. on 8th July 1846.
Elizabeth Denby who married Hugh Tuilley in Holywood C. of I. on 7th December 1848.
Patrick Denby wo married Susanna McKendry in Newtownards on 9th October 1890.
George Denby and Mary Frew had several children - Annie Ingles/Ingle Denby, the 5th daughter, was born in Belfast on 6th June 1866 and married John McMullan, the son of a John McMullan of the GNR in Belfast, in the All Saint's Church, Shankill, Belfast, on 17th September 1894. (Also, a Charles Denby married an Agnes McMullan on 6th November 1885 in St. John's Laganbank Church of Ireland in Knockbreda.)
Martha Denby was born on 29th July 1868 and married James William Linden, a bookkeeper, in Holywood Church of Ireland church on 2nd October 1899 - they were living at 41 Dufferin Avenue, Bangor, Co. Down in 1911 with their two young children, Thomas Wilson Linden and May Linden.
A brother, George Alexander Denby, was born to George and Mary in 1874 but died the following year.
A Euphemia Matilda Denby married Thomas Wilson on 17th August 1889 in Christchurch C. of I, Belfast, and were living in 1901 at 29 Dufferin Avenue, Bangor.
A daughter, Louisa Matilda Denby, married John McKnight in Christchurch Church of Ireland, Belfast, on 11th February 1889 - they appeared on the 1911 census in Frederick St., Killyleagh, with their four daughters, and a visitor, Hugh McClernon Denby, a coachbuilder of Antrim. (Hugh McClarnon Denby died at Myra, Downpatrick on 14th March 1948, with probate to the Belfast coachbuilder, William Henry Denby - a William Denby had married Lily McLarnon in Ballymena 3rd Presbyterian Church on 13th October 1857; later, on 9th June 1891, a William Henry Denby married Harriette Skelly in Fortwilliam Park Presbyterian Church. In 1910 he was a van and wagon maker with an address at 60 Tomb St; William Denby, carriage builder, was at 164 Antrim Rd.)
In 1901 and 1911, George and Mary Denby were living in Holywood, North County Down, along with their unmarried daughter, Alice Georgina Denby, and with a boarder named Edward Jones, who was aged 4 in 1901 and 14 in 1911. He had been born in Dublin.
There seems to have been only the one Denby family in Belfast at this time which makes tracing them quite easy - earlier, in 1853, a second Martha Denby married James Crothers in Belfast; she was possibly a sister of George and William Denby.
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Thomas Frew, Coastguard, born 1821 Killyleagh:
In the same register I noted down the Killyleagh burial, on June 24th 1901, of a Lizzie Frew of Belfast; she was 53 at the time of her death. She'd been born, therefore, in 1848. She appeared on the 1901 census living with her widowed sister, Mary Kirk, at 13 Essex Street in Belfast; both sisters had been born in England, Lizzie in 1848, and Mary in 1851. Mary Frew had married James Kirk, a blacksmith, the son of a farmer William Kirk, in Killyleagh parish church on December 23rd 1878.
The father of Mary Frew and Elizabeth/Lizzie Frew was Thomas Frew, a hotelkeeper of Killyleagh. Thomas Frew witnessed the wedding of Mary Frew and James Kirk. The Kirk family were living at 2 High St., Killyleagh in the late 1890s.
I found the family of Thomas Frew on the 1851 UK Census, and it confirmed that he, too, was a member of the Coast Guard who had been born in Killyleagh, Co. Down, in about 1820. His wife was Elizabeth, who'd been born circa 1821 in Davenport, Devon. There were three daughters - Emily Catherine Frew, born in 1845 in Fishbourne, Elizabeth/Eliza Frew, born in 1847 in Fishbourne, on the Isle of Wight, and Mary Frew, born in 1849 in Brading, Sandown, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, which was where this family were still living in 1851.
By 1855, Thomas Frew was leasing a house in Fintra Beg, near Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. I presume there was a coastguard station closeby - Griffiths Valuation shows up a Customs House in the same townland, just south of the Cliffs of Moher.
Emily Catherine Frew married a William Wilson in 1862 in Co. Clare, and can be seen, widowed, and living with her young family and her elderly, widowed father, Thomas Frew, in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, where she was working as the postmistress.
Several of the children of Emily Catherine Frew and William Wilson were born in Co. Clare, and the records for these Irish births appear on the LDS website as follows...
Robert Wilson, born 5th December 1874 at Cragaknock, Kilrush, Co. Clare.
John Wilson, born 16th December 1867, at Roadford, Co. Clare.
George Wilson, born 22nd March 1877, in Co. Clare.
Mary Wilson, born 9th April 1879, at Corofin, Co. Clare.
Louisa Wilson, born 5th September 1880 in Co. Clare.
More of their children appear on the 1901 census...
Emily H. Wilson, born Co. Clare, in about 1872.
Caroline L. Wilson, born Co. Clare in about 1883.
Of Interest here: an Armina Eakin died in Killyleagh on 14th November 1886 - probate was granted to her brother, Thomas Frew, a storekeeper of Downpatrick. The name 'Armina' is significant here, since Mary Frew and James Kirk named a daughter as Armina Frew Kirk in 1881.
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I also noted the burial in Killyleagh, on 25th September 1907, of Sarah Jane Frew, aged 77. (ie: 1830 - 1907.)
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James Frew of Downpatrick/Killyleagh registration area. 1804 - Dec. 1882, Downpatrick. He married Ann Madine, the daughter of Edward Madine of Downpatrick.
(There were other children of Edward and Anne Madine, whose baptisms I recorded in the Downpatrick Parish Register:
Baptism, 19th September 1802 - James Madine, born to Edward and Anne.
Baptism, 11th February 1805 - Edward Madine, born to Edward and Anne.
Baptism, 11th July 1807 - Jane Madine, born to Edward and Anne.)
She was born in June 1811, and died in the Downpatrick area in June 1895. The couple married in about 1829.
James Frew was a coastguard. Their children emigrated to Australia in 1877.
Their daughter, Mary Frew, was born in 1842 in Dundalk, Co. Louth, and married Oswald McCloskie in Termonfeckin, Co. Louth on 4th November 1861. Oswald was the son of William McCloskie and Harriet Read; both William and Oswald McCloskie were gardeners.
The Children of Mary Frew and Oswald McCloskie were:
William James McCloskie, born Rathcoole, Dublin in 1861, died Australia 1952.
Harriet Matilda McCloskie, born 5th April 1864, in Stradbally, Laois. Died 10th March 1954, Australia.
Douglas McGregor McCloskie, born 1st August 1865, Rathcoole, died 1871, Dunshaughlin, Meath.
Matilda Luisa/Louisa McCloskie, 16 Jan 1869 - born Co. Meath. (Was she named after Matilda Louisa Frew, born in Killyleagh to John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite?)
Mary Mc Closkie - Meath, 17 Jun 1870
Madora Florence Eleanor Mccloskie - 19 May 1872, Meath
Maria Mc Closkie - 16 Nov 1875, Meath.
Lillium Viola Mccloskie - Killeen, Meath, 10 Apr 1867
Oswald William McCloskie, 24th March 1874, Killeen, Meath, died 2nd Feb. 1930 in Australia.
Ann Jane McCloskie, 18th August 1878, in Brisbane, Australia. Died there in 1962.
Laura Lizetta McCloskie, born Australia 30th September 1880, died 26th June 1927.
Fanny McCloskie, born 1883 - 1884.
Essie Anna McCloskie, 1885 - 1953.