Lanyon or Lannin?

In 1943 a William Lanyon of Bath was found floating in Bristol harbour.

The newspaper helpfully reported his age so I thought it would be fairly straightforward to identify him and where he belonged on the family tree. I was wrong! The following post is about my search to find where William came from and to fit him on the tree.

The Search

From the dates on the newspaper report I quickly found his death certificate which gave his age as 76 and his address.

I started to look for a birth circa 1867 and a marriage certificate, as the newspaper mentioned his ‘wife’. I couldn’t find either.

His death certificate listed his address as 27 The Paragon, Bath, Somerset. Today the Paragon is a very desirable area but in the 1930s it was rather run down and full of flats and boarding houses.

I checked the census returns for 1921 at the Paragon but there was no sign of him. So I decided to check the 1939 register and bingo, I found him.

William Lanyon at 27 The Paragon was living with three women, Cecil, Elsie and Kathleen Lanyon. All four are listed as single so where is the wife mentioned at his inquest in 1943?

The 1939 register includes the full date of birth which is really helpful when trying to track an individual.

• William – 5 Oct 1866 (retired grocer)
• Cecil – 9 Jan 1868 (incapacitated)
• Elsie – 20 May 1869 (unpaid domestic duties)
• Kathleen – 1 Jun 1874 (unpaid domestic duties)

The closeness of the dates of birth suggested that they may be siblings so I started to search for the birth registrations of Cecil, Elsie and Kathleen. I couldn’t find any of them. I then reversed the search and started looking for their deaths after 1939.

I found a burial at Lansdown cemetery in Bath for a Rhoda Kathleen Lanyon, born 1874 and died 22 Dec 1966. I then found a death record for Elsie Lanyon in Bath in Jan Qtr 1951. So I ordered a digital image of Elsie’s death certificate to see what information it contained. I also found a burial in Lansdown cemetery for an Elsie Kingston Lanyon, where did the name Kingston come from, it wasn’t on her death certificate?

The address was correct, it mentions her sister R Lanyon also of the same address, so that was confirmation that Kathleen was indeed Rhoda. It also mentioned that she was a retired school teacher and the daughter of William Lanyon a school master.

I then searched for Cecil Lanyon without any luck, so I added an ‘e’ to the end of her name and searched for Cecile. I found a Cecile Lanyon on the 1901 Irish census, born about 1873 in County Cork. Initially I rejected that as the Irish Cecile was five years younger than my Cecil, but I should remember that women don’t always age 10 years between censuses!

Cecile is at the bottom of the form, she is a boarder at 5 Morrison’s Quay in Cork. She can read and write but has no occupation. It also notes that she is Church of England.

I searched the census for any sign of Rhoda/Kathleen Lanyon and found a possible entry.

I found a possible entry at Cloughmacsimon (Ballymodan, Cork).

• Sarah A Lanyon Head, age 60 retired teacher, widow, born in Charleville
• Rhoda (R or K) Daughter, age 28, no occupation, single, born Co Cork
• Susan Jane Daughter, age 25, no occupation, single born Co Cork

I then searched for a birth of William Lanyon circa 1866 in Cork, the son of Sarah. I couldn’t find anything. Nor could I find a birth for Rhoda/Kathleen, Elsie or Cecil Lanyon in Cork.

So where had they come from?

I did find a Rhoda K Lanyon of Bangor signing the Ulster Covenant in 1912. This was a declaration that they were loyal subjects of the King and didn’t want home rule for Ireland.

I searched for a birth for Susan Jane Lanyon listed on the 1901 census, but couldn’t find anything.

I moved forward again and searched for probate records on the off chance I would find something useful. I didn’t hold out much hope.

I found Rhoda’s probate record. There was nothing terribly useful.

I couldn’t find a record for Cecil or William but I struck lucky with Elsie.

Elsie Lanyon was also known as Ellen Lannin. Now that was very useful!

Back to the internet, I now started looking for the name Lannin and I found them quite quickly in Cork.

Rhoda Kate Lannin born 31 May 1874 in Cork, the daughter of William Lannin and Sarah Howard.

The registration shows that Rhoda was the daughter of William Lannin a school master and Sarah Lannin née Howard.

I then searched Irish births and found William’s birth on 5 Oct 1866 at Clonakilty. Son of William Lannin school master and Sarah Howard. A Nicholas Howard is mentioned, a brother to Sarah? Father?

Even better I found a birth registration for Sarah Maria Lannin on 9 Jan 1868 daughter of William Lannin a school master and Sarah Howard, I had found Cecile. A Mary Howard was present at the birth, a sister? Mother?

It didn’t take long to find the marriage of William Lannin and Sarah Howard on 1 Aug 1865 at Clonakilty.

The registration lists Richard Lannin a shoe maker as William’s father and Nicholas Howard, a school master, as Sarah’s father. (There are certainly a fair few shoe makers in the Lanyon family!)

It was straightforward to locate Sarah’s baptismal record on 19 Aug 1838 at Innishannon, Cork, the daughter of Nicholas and Mary. So that explained the names Nicholas and Mary on the grandchildren’s birth registrations.

I searched for a birth/baptism of William Lannin senior but couldn’t find one. I searched for a possible marriage of Richard Lannin and found a marriage record in 1821 at Cork, to an Ellen Kingston, so that explained the Kingston name on Elsie/Ellen’s burial record.

I found another child of William and Sarah, Richard Frederick Charles Lannin b 20 Mar 1871 Skull, Cork. Then I found later records of him joining the Masons in South Africa and his name had changed to Eric Frederick Charles Richard Lanyon, also a school master.

So the tree now looked like this.

• William Lannin/Lanyon b 1866 d 1943
• Sara Maria Lannin/ Cecile Lanyon b 1868 d 1957
• Ellen Lannin/Elsie Kingston Lanyon b1869 d 1951
• Richard Frederick Charles Lannin/Eric Frederick Charles Richard Lanyon b 1871 d 1927
• Rhoda Kate Lannin/Kathleen Lanyon b 1874 d 1966
• Susan Jane Lanyon b 1876 (no trace of a birth or baptism but this is the name she was using in 1901)

I couldn’t find a birth/baptism/death or burial for William Lannin senior. He was probably born sometime after 1821 when Richard and Ellen were married. I searched for a death from 1875 onwards and didn’t find anything. I did find a small newspaper article which may have related to him.

The results of examinations of teachers of primary schools in 1889. That could well be him although Ballinalee is not in Cork! I think the town should be Ballinadee, which is in Cork.

When I found William’s death registration that confirmed that he was living in Ballinadee.

That means that as early as 1889 they were using the name Lanyon rather than Lannin.

I decided to go back a generation and see what I could find and if that helped to make things any clearer.

I found Nicholas Howard and his family.

Nicholas was a school master, baptised 16 Mar 1798 at Innishannon, he died on 8 Feb 1868 at Timoleague, Cork. He married Mary (the records state that her surname is Keefe but their children’s death certificates in the USA state that she was Mary Lester. Perhaps she remarried after Nicholas died?)

I found five daughters but as there are big age gaps between them there may have been more children or stillbirths.

• Mary Howard born 1830s married William Henry Warner died 19 Jun 1869 age 40 at Bath in Somerset (she was suffering from TB)
• Sarah Anne Howard who married William Lannin
• Catherine Howard b 1840 married Samuel Kingston and died 1917 in Indiana USA
• Jane E Howard b 1849 married Samuel Probert and died in 1917 in Indiana USA
• Victoria Howard b 1853 married William Charles Osmand Ellis from Bath Somerset and died in 1943 in Bath

With two of Sarah Anne’s sisters living in Bath it’s easy to see how her children would end up in the same city. In 1871 Victoria Howard appears on the census living at The Paragon in Bath. In 1878 she married William Ellis.

Catherine Howard married a Samuel Kingston and I tried to work out their family tree as we’ve seen the name Kingston before.

Samuel Kingston b 1831 was the son of Samuel Kingston and Ellen Brenan. Samuel and Ellen had a large family. Perhaps Samuel senior was related to the Ellen Kingston who married Richard Lannin in 1821?

Despite all the searching I still don’t know why they changed their name from Lannin to Lanyon.

Perhaps they read about Sir Charles Lanyon, famous architect, Mayor of Belfast and MP in the papers and wanted to enjoy a little reflected glory? If that was the case why did they feel the need to change their christian names too?

Perhaps the reasons lie in the fight for home rule and the Easter uprising of 1916.

Rhoda Lanyon in 1912 signed the Ulster Covenant which was against home rule for Ireland. Perhaps as a protestant family in southern Ireland they experienced problems and felt they had to move to England. Naturally they would go to family already settled there, which is how they ended up in Bath in Somerset. Perhaps they stayed with aunt Victoria at The Paragon?

If you can answer any of the questions posed in this post then please get in touch!