Charles Mongan’s Warburton Relatives

Elaine Hopper has been searching for the link between Charles Mongan Warburton, and Alicia Warburton, the sponsor of his name change from Mongan to Warburton, and Alicia’s deceased brother William. An early paper on her search can be found on my papers page.

Central to the link is the identity of Charles’s mother. Elaine has explored a number of avenues, such as a link to the Garryhinch clan, or to the Reverend Thomas Warburton of Magherafelt, who came from Lancashire. Then there is Agnes Bayle who, like Charles’s mother, was a housekeeper to the Bishop of Clogher, and who left a will in 1793.

Then there are candidates for the William of London mentioned in the announcement of Charles’s name change. A distiller of Drury Lane fits the bill, but evidence shows he came from Frodsham so how could he fit?

The purpose of this post is to present my conclusions on these various avenues of research.

The announcement of the name change in the ’London Gazette’ of 22nd May 1792 includes the words: “to assume and take the Surname of Warburton only, in pursuance of the desire of his maternal cousin-german, Miss Alicia Warburton, spinster, sister of the late William Warburton, of the City of London Esq, deceased”.

A search for Alicia Warburton produces nothing of relevance so I would assume she is an Alice who chose to use the Latin version of her name.

A cousin-german is literally a first cousin, so the announcement states that William and Alicia were Charles’s first cousins on his mother’s side. Charles’s mother was therefore a sibling of one of William and Alicia’s parents. Had she been an aunt on their father’s side she would have been a Warburton, and Charles would have been adopting his mother’s maiden name. This would seem a stronger claim to the Warburton name than the one stated in the announcement, so the fact it wasn’t made suggests she was an aunt on their mother’s side. 

Elaine’s paper included the following about Charles’s mother:

VERAX, a columnist in the newspapers of early 1800s, describing what he knew of the Bishop’s early life, wrote that he believed the Bishop’s mother was a respectable woman, a housekeeper to the Bishop of Clogher and he named Hotham.

Some of VERAX’s other information is demonstrably erroneous, however. 

I have found 2 Cloghers on maps of Ireland. The one in question was in County Tyrone, in modern Northern Ireland. 

VERAX’s account describes how Dominic Mungen “made occasional visitations at the Bishops Palace” and how “his Lordship’s housekeeper, a respectable woman, condescended to ‘look with fond regard’ on …the ‘blind harper’ – became his wife – and brought him two sons”. 

It would seem that VERAX was confused about the relevant identities of the Bishops of Clogher, as John Hotham was Bishop from 1782 to 1795, while Dominic must have married before 1750. Charles was the youngest of 3 sons and was aged 72 when he died in August 1826, giving a date of birth in 1753/4. John, the middle son was listed as a medical practitioner at Sutton in 1768, so cannot have been born much after 1750, and an older son, Mark was born before that. Therefore Charles’s mother would have been housekeeper to Robert Clayton, Bishop from 1745-1758, and/or possibly to his predecessor John Stearne 1717-1745.

It is difficult to reconcile this with Charles’s mother being Agnes Bayle who died in 1793. In fact nothing is known about her apart from Verax’s description. However she would certainly have lived with Dominic in Stabane following their marriage. If she outlived him she had by that time, two successful sons, a medic and a cleric who had married into a rich family, so she would surely have been well cared for. To have become Agnes Bayle, she would first have to remarry, and then have the need to seek a housekeeping job. 

Elaine also noted that: The first child of the Bishop [i.e. Charles], a son born about 1775 in the US, was named Garnett which may have been in tribute to an earlier Bishop of Clogher, John Garnett 1707-1782 born at Lambeth, who would have been of possible help to the child Charles Mongan born c 1754. Garnett was Bishop of Clogher from 1758 -1782. If the Bishop’s father, harper Dominic O’Mungan was popular with wealthy and influential patrons, as appears to be the case, Garnett the Bishop may have been one of them. VERAX’s account is important (Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Thursday 07 September 1826) published immediately after the death of the Bishop Warburton. Later accounts were sometimes scathing about the wealth the Bishop was able to accrue.

As a housekeeper to the Protestant Bishops of Clogher it would seem likely that Charles’s mother was also a Protestant. However Domiinic’s 3 sons were raised as Catholics. The following description of Dominic and his family is from the Memoirs of Arthur O’Neal, another harpist, which is included in Charles’s Wikepedia entry. 

“In my travels I became acquainted with a Dominic Mungan, I may say I had known him since I was twelve years old. He was born blind in the County of Tyrone, and a real good harper. He was a Roman Catholic. I presume my following reason will plead an apology for mentioning his religion. He was a great economist, but would spend money as genteelly as any man occasionally. He had three sons, Mark, John, and Terence, whom he educated in the first style. Mark was educated for a priest, and finished his studies in France, in the College of Lombard [The College of Lombard was an Irish school in Paris. The Menapia Quest, a book by Norman Mongan, states he was educated at Louvain, an Irish School in Belgium] where he obtained upwards of forty premiums for his translations of Greek into French. After he finished his studies he came home, but in consequence of his intense application he fell into a decay, and died in his father’s house in Strabane. John, the second son, was bred a physician, and practised in and about Monaghan, and the adjacent country, with good reputation. About five years ago as he was returning from the races of Middleton in Monaghan in his gig he was upset and smashed to pieces [This tragedy occurred in 1803, so this passage was written about 1808]. Terence, the third and youngest son, is now Bishop of Limerick, and was formerly Dean of Ardagh. He had a good delivery, sung well, and acquired great interest. He and a priest O’Beirne, who was Chaplain to Lord Fitzwilliam when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, were promoted to their present ranks of Protestant Bishops. Now my reason for mentioning the Roman Catholic persuasion is this, that the doctor and the bishop both read their recantations; the doctor before and the bishop after their father’s death. He in his lifetime used to travel the north-west circuit with his harp, and at one time, as he was playing for one of the Judges, he asked Dominic his reasons for not speaking to his son, the doctor, since he turned Protestant. ‘My Lord’ says Dominic, ‘I spared no expense on him when he was unable to provide for himself; and assure your Lordship, I am no bigot; but I think it was his duty to consult me before he changed his religion. It was not, however, for the sake of religion he did so, but he fell in love with a young lady who was a Protestant. She informed him she could not have him as he was a Papist, on which he read his recantation, and then demanded her hand, on which, to his mortification, she scornfully informed him that she would be sorry to marry a turncoat.”

Dominic died circa 1774, and Charles is first recorded as a Protestant cleric with the 62nd Regiment of Foot is in April 1776, so his recantation must have occurred in this period. Charle’s career in the 62nd Foot is described in detail here.

If Charles’s son Garnett was, as seems likely, named after the Bishop of Clogher it attests to a continued relationship between the Bishops and Dominic’s family, even though it is unlikely Charles’s mother continued as their housekeeper after her marriage.

The next question is who were the William and Alicia mentioned in the announcement of the name change. William Betham’s genealogical notes include a hand drawn tree, said to be based on the work of Ralph Bigland, that shows that John Warburton, third son of Richard Warburton of Dublin (1595-1669 see Garryhinch Clan) had grandchildren William and Alicia by his son William, and Charles Mongan by his daughter Anne, wife of John Mongan, harpist of Dublin. However there is a note, also referencing Ralph Bigland that says it isn’t true.

The genealogy is obviously incorrect in some details, such as Dominic’s name. It also seem to be missing a generation as grandson William’s death is given (incorrectly) as 1790, nearly 150 years after his grandfather’s birth. However it is not clear if the disclaimer means the tree is total fabrication, or it indicates the relationship but is lacking in detail. There is evidence that John had a daughter who died in 1687, but none of a son William, or any other corroborating evidence.

There is only one William in the Garryhinch Clan who is a contender for William of London. He was born in 1698 the son of Richard of Garryhinch, and is known to have entered the Middle Temple in 1732, and was referred to as ‘cousin William of London” in a 1746 will. He married a Barbara Robinson, a member of the Lytton family from Hertfordshire. His only known son was Richard. He also had 3 sisters who married in Ireland but nothing is known of any children. Although William and his sisters were of an age to to produce the 3 cousins of the 1792 announcement, there is zero evidence they had offspring with with their names.

Similarly there is a Thomas Warburton who was Rector of Magherafelt who was probably the Thomas, son of John, who was baptised in Lancashire (Bolton) in 1680. He entered Trinity College in 1699 where he was recorded as from Lancashire, son of John. He married Phillis Ash in 1718, had 2 sons (one, also Thomas, attended Trinity College in 1742) and 4 daughters, and died in 1736. He is also of an age where the 3 cousins could be his grandchildren, but there is no supporting evidence, and Magherafelt is not particularly close to either Strabane or Clogher.

Elaine’s account of her investigation into the connection included the following:

I am exploring the connection of Terence Charles Mongan to an Alicia Warburton, who in May 1792 was mentioned as the relation behind Mongan’s change of name to Warburton. It seems likely she was from a family originating in Frodsham, Cheshire. There are connections to Frodsham stated in the will of a London distiller of Drury Lane, William Warburton, died November 1783 at Stephen Tissington’s Mile End Road establishment.

There was a William Warburton, Alicia’s late brother, Esquire of London, who was also mentioned in the change of name document. It is likely this man was the distiller, described in a court case as an ill old man at the time of his death. In a case related to his former host Stephen Tissington in 1784 an allegation was made that one of the executors to the will of the distiller, had “robbed the orphan” of his inheritance. Who was this orphan?

In the will a son William is listed as well a late brother of the distiller, Thomas of Frodsham. A sister Mary Nickson alias Starky is also mentioned. No wife is listed. The necessary siblings, William the distiller, Alicia his sister, Mary another sister, a likely brother Thomas who died in Frodsham earlier in the year 1783 can be found baptised as children of a William Warburton of Frodsham the children being born in the years 1710 to 1723. However, the Mary baptised in Frodsham in 1711 appears to have died in 1714. So when the sister Mary Nickson alias Mary Starkey mentioned in the distiller’s will was born is as yet unknown. No mother is listed on those baptisms – that was the usual practice then.
The distiller’s son William is stated in his father’s will of 1783, to be in North America with the 31st foot regiment. This regiment took part in the Battle of Saratoga where Mongan was also present as chaplain, in the 62nd foot. The battle was very bloody with many deaths and injuries. The pair may have well met there or in the imprisonment camp afterwards.

A William Warburton is mentioned in a Frodsham land deed of 1766 as being aged 13, son of the distiller of London. In 1787 a William Warburton age 34 is named on another lease for 3 lives in Netherton (part of Frodsham). Before he went to North America, William had been named as the father of a child extraordinarily christened Easter Christmas Warburton. The case was heard in a hearing on 6 January 1775 by the St Clement Danes church board where the unmarried mother, Catherine Wetherspuron gave evidence as to the father of her child born at Christmas in 1774 . She was unsure at one time of the man’s name but the account, which crosses out the names Robert Warburton and James Warburton as the father finally says he was William Warburton, son of William Warburton distiller of Drury Lane. See London Lives. Catherine later called the child Hester and on ancestry the father is said to be James Warburton. The 1783 will of the distiller says his son William had injuriously incurred debts and that was why his allowances were to be doled out monthly unless money was needed for advancement in the army where he might be given up to 500 pounds to pay for commissions.

The woman Alicia Warburton who championed the change of name for Mongan is not mentioned in the distiller’s will, and how/when she lived and died after the name change is not yet known. If she is the Frodsham, Alice Warburton born to a William Warburton 1723 she would be 69 in 1792 when the name change occurred.

In the distiller’s will there is a 100 pounds to go to a Mrs Sarah Scougal of Henry Street Dublin wife of Mr ——Scrougal. This is a substantial amount of money and it would be good to know who she might be.

A Sarah Warburton married John Scrugham in Dublin in 1777. They had a son William Warburton Scrugham, who emigrated to New York and established a business as a merchant. A grandson, also William Warburton Scrugham, became a judge and was instrumental in naming Warburton Avenue in Yonkers. See my Posts here and here. 

The will does not state Sarah’s relationship to William, but the size of the bequest implies she was a daughter, or at least a favoured niece. However the only known niece called Sarah, the daughter of William’s brother Thomas, can be eliminated because of her marriage in 1779, at Frodsham. to John Higson. No baptism has been identified for a Sarah, daughter of William, but the same is true of the son William mentioned in William’s will.

A website at Rootsweb includes a a page called Some Selected Reports from The Craftsman; or SAY’s Weekly Journal. In a list of Deaths dated September 5th 1767 it includes the following: “At Tottenham High Cross, Mrs.Elizabeth Warburton, wife of Mr.William Warburton, distiller, in Clare-market’.  This matches a burial at All Hallows Tottenham, of Elizabeth Warburton of St Clement Danes parish, buried 6th Sept 1767, wife of William Warburton, age 48.

There is a baptism at Frodsham of a William, son of William and Elizabeth dated 21st November 1748, followed by a burial on December 12th, that might be an earlier son of the same couple. However no satisfactory marriage has been found. The closest is of a William to Elizabeth Tollett at Bowden, St Mary dated 9th August 1743, However a marriage Bond identifies William as a Yeoman of Hale, suggesting an attachment to land in Hale which is inconsistent with him being originally from Frodsham.

It is known that the baptisms of William and his siblings were preceded by the marriage at Frodsham on March 20th 1710, of William Warburton and Sarah Churchman. If this is indeed William and Alicia’s parents, then Charles’s mother would be Sarah’s sister. However no baptisms for Sarah, or any siblings, have yet been found.

Also there is a generational issue. William the distiller was 40 years older than Charles, and whilst it is possible that William’s mother had a sister 20+ years younger who had her children later in life, it is also possible that Charles’s mother was a niece of Sarah Churchman, who would then be a first cousin, once removed, of William and Alicia.

The identification of William the distiller as the brother of Alicia is circumstantial, being largely based on the lack of an alternative candidate in London, and the presence of a sister called Alice.

There are also two curious coincidences. These are the presence of both Charles and William junior at the battle of Saratoga, and the presence of Sarah, William’s probable daughter, in Dublin around the time that Charles’s mother was widowed. If the families were in touch with each other, these might be more than just coincidences.

There is no known explanations for Charles’s mother being in Ireland as a housekeeper. Without being able to identify her it can’t be known if she had family connections through her parents, especially if she was Sarah Churchman’s sister or niece. William Betham has just one reference to a Churchman in Ireland in his Genealogical Notes, a merchant in Dublin in 1667.

So to summarise the current situation, the identification of William the distiller as Alicia’s deceased brother is the only solution with a degree of corroborating evidence. This would make Charles’s mother William’s maternal aunt, or cousin, but it hasn’t been possible to put a name to her.