THE HOWELL FAMILY

The story of Henrietta and Ida Howell spans, three continents, North America, Europe and Australasia and four countries, , England, and Ireland.

Before I begin, I should warn you that Henrietta and Ida Howell’s grandfather, father and brother were all named Nicholas Howell. I hope you do not get too confused as I set out the story of the family.

The Canadian part of Henrietta and Ida Howell’s history begins with one set of their grandparents.

Their grandfather, Nicholas Howell was born in 1770, in Co. Cork. He emigrated to Canada where he married. The family of his Canadian born wife, Elizabeth Wigmore, came from Castlelyons in north Cork. They had two sons, Henry and Nicholas (2n d) . The Howells and Wigmores were among the first settlers in Pickering, Ontario. Both families were involved in the logging and lumber trade and prospered.

The elder son, Nicholas Howell (2n d) was born in 1816. In June 1847 he travelled to Ireland and married Mary Bradshaw Wigmore in the church at Castlelyons, Co. Cork. The bride and groom were first cousins. I think it is safe to assume this was a ‘made match’.

After his wedding, Nicholas Howell (2n d) returned to Canada accompanied by his new wife, Mary and Mary’s brother, Robert Wigmore. Robert had been in New Zealand in the early 1840’s, but had returned to Ireland. In 1847 he decided to try life in Canada.

Nicholas Howell (2n d) sold his brother­in­law, Robert Wigmore some land. Both were involved in the timber logging and milling business.

In the Census of 1851 Nicholas Howell (2n d) is described as a merchant, 35 years of age, living in a frame house. He also had a store, a four­storey mill that employed three people, and a distillery that employed two people. His wife Mary (age 30) and two children, Nicholas (3r d) and Henry were also listed.

Nicholas (2n d) and Mary Howell had five children in total.

Nicholas (3r d) born in 1849 Henry born in 1850 William born in 1853 Henrietta born in 1856 Ida born in 1858

By the 1860’s, all the suitable timber in that part of Ontario had been logged and the area suffered economic collapse. Robert Wigmore availed of incentives to increase the population of New Zealand, a country in which you will remember he had previously tried to settle. He moved his family there and was given a grant of land at Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula on the North Island. This mountainous area of spectacular natural beauty is about 200 km. from Auckland. It was and still is, heavily wooded. He set up a logging business. Conditions in that rugged, unpopulated area were harsh in the 1860s, but Robert Wigmore prospered and in time was appointed a Magistrate for the expanding colonial population. Despite his success, Robert still bore a grudge towards his brother­in­law, Nicholas Howell (2n d) . He blamed him for bad business advice and his financial loss. But the economic situation had also affected Nicholas and Mary Howell and their family. They also left Canada and the next record found regarding them is the 1861 English Census. They were living in West Derby in Lancashire. The fact that the eldest son Nicholas (3r d) , aged twelve, was already working as an office boy suggests that the family’s financial circumstances were not very good. Ten years later, in February 1871 Nicholas Howell (2n d) died. In the Census taken a few months later, Mary Howell, a widow, was living in Wallasley, , Liverpool, with her five children. Her three sons, aged twenty­one, twenty and eighteen were described as ‘Bookkeepers’, while Henrietta was aged fifteen and Ida was thirteen. The Government in London was actively seeking able bodied people who would be willing to emigrate to New Zealand and help populate the colony there. Various incentives were offered to those who volunteered. Shortly after their father’s death, Henry and William Howell decided to emigrate to New Zealand, where their uncle Robert Wigmore was prospering. William married his first cousin, Mary, who was Robert Wigmore's daughter. Robert Wigmore, still blaming the Howells for his financial losses in Canada, was not pleased by the marriage. Henry Howell died as a result of an accident shortly after his brother William married Mary Wigmore. Three years after her husband’s death and very shortly after her son William married his first cousin and her other son, Henry was killed in an accident in New Zealand, Mary Howell took the brave/extraordinary/foolhardy decision to emigrate to New Zealand. She was fifty years old when, with her son Nicholas and daughters Henrietta and Ida, she travelled in April 1874 on the settler ship, ‘Dorette’ which left London for Auckland. The voyage on that sailing ship took seventy­six days. They availed of ‘assisted passage’, which suggests that they had very limited means. The total fare for the four Howells was £58. Mary Howell contributed £14.10s and the government paid the balance. Mary is described on the ship’s manifest as a ‘Farmer’ & her family as ‘Farm Servants’. These descriptions seem a bit fanciful considering Nicholas had been described as a Bookkeeper in the Census three years earlier and his two sisters had lived at home. Being described as ‘Farm Servants’ and their mother as a ‘Farmer’ would have helped them qualify for assisted passage, putting them in the category of potentially useful people to build up the colony and perhaps even a grant of land in New Zealand, While Mary Howell’s son, William, may have welcomed his mother and siblings, Mary’s brother Robert Wigmore still resented the Howells. This, along with an inability to survive in the harsh conditions of the colony, may have been a contributory factor in the decision of Mary, Nicholas, Henrietta and Ida not to remain in New Zealand. We do not know how long they stayed in New Zealand but after a time, they returned to England. In 1896 Mary B. and her son Nicholas Howell appeared in the Cheshire Electoral Records, living in Wallasley, Liverpool. The family are next recorded in the 1901 Irish census. Mary, Nicholas, Henrietta and Ida were living in Ivy Bank, Lislee, Courtmacsherry, Co Cork, a house owned by the Church of Ireland. Mary Howell, nee Wigmore, was of course a native of Castlelyons in north Cork and born into a Church of Ireland family. Perhaps it was this connection that got them this house and why they came to live in Courtmacsherry, a place with which they had no previous connection. This house is now the home of the Madden family. Mary died in June 1904 and Nicholas in July 1917. They were buried here in Lislee beside the church where they had worshipped. Henrietta and Ida Howell were now alone in the house at Ballycullinane and alone in the world too. The next chapter in their life story was explained in court in January 1919 when an application was made to probate their Wills. The two sisters wrote their Wills on the 28th August 1918, appointing Mr David Hall of Cork & the Rev James Walter Forde of Lislee as executors. In an affidavit to the Court, Mr Hall said that he had acted as the sisters’ Agent since the death of their brother Nicholas and that because of their small income, and for other reasons, he had obtained a house for the Howell sisters in an institution known as “Whitely’s Village’ in Walton­on­Thames, England, where they would live free of rent and other expenses, and receive a small annuity. He had arranged all the details of their change of residence and had given Ida £9 and Henrietta £3 in Treasury notes, together with their tickets to London via Kingstown and . They left Cork on Wednesday 9th and intended to stay the night in the Pier Hotel, Kingstown before crossing to Holyhead the following day on the mailboat, R MS Leinster. The Leinster was only 7.4 km outside Bay, when she was hit by three torpedoes fired from German submarine UB 123 on 10 October 1918. The mailboat sank in a very short time and 569 of the 771 on board were drowned. This was the greatest single loss of life ever in the . The submarine U123 hit a mine in the North Sea ten days later and all thirty crew on board were lost. They too were victims of that terrible war. Sixty­two year old Henrietta’s body was recovered and buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Dublin. Sixty year old Ida’s body was never recovered. They had come from Canada to Europe on a sailing ship, they had endured a 76 day voyage on another sailing ship when they went to New Zealand and they had made the return journey to England, and crossed the Irish Sea to settle in Courtmacsherry all without incident yet the short journey from Kingstown to Holyhead on the 10t h October, 1918, which was to take them to a safe and secure retirement, was to lead to their tragic deaths. Courtmacsherry is the last place that Henrietta and Ida Howell called home. It is fitting that we remember them.

Mary Holly­O’Leary