Irish roots going way back: Taaffe and More O'Ferrall

A diagram might help here but for tonight it will have to be text.

Sir George Thomas Lambert, of No. 3 Charles Street (in 1871) is our current subject.

One of his sisters, Juliana Margaret married Edward Gerald More O'Ferrall, about 1860.
The More O'Ferrall family were Irish landed gentry. One of the several notable members was Richard More O'Ferrall, at one time the Governor of Malta, and before that, Secretary to the Admiralty (1839 to 1841). Bear in mind that Sir George T. Lambert made his career in the civil service, as Principal Secretary to the Admiralty, serving some of the men who held the same position as the Right Hon. Richard, in later years, when the title was Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty.


The eldest son of Juliana and Edward was John More O'Ferrall (b. ~1872), who married Cesira Polenghi (b. ~1872). Cesira was born in Italy. Her father's name was Signor David(e) Polenghi.

Cesira had an uncle named Major John Taaffe (1820 - 1911). Cesira was living with the Major and his wife in the 1891 census and with the widowed Major in the 1901 census. She and John More O'Ferrall were married in 1901. This connected (perhaps not for the first time) two ancient Irish families, Taaffe and More O'Ferrall, and also demonstrated a recurring theme in the history both families: the connection with Catholic Europe.

If you do a search of either family name, you may be overwhelmed, as I have been, with what you find. A hundred and twenty-two generations. A mythic king. A Prime Minister of Austria. Relatives of Pope Pius IX (who among other things decreed papal infallibility in the 19th century and promoted the doctrine of Immaculate Conception). It goes on and on.

The Major's father was also called John Taaffe. He lived from about 1787 to 1862, and died in Italy. He had some interesting friends there. That's for next time.


The Taaffe's Ancestral Castle Smarmore, is now a hotel.

Cesira Polenghi and the Taaffe family: 19th century connections between Italian and Irish families

Sir George Thomas Lambert, C.B., K.B., lived at No. 3 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London in the 1871 census.

He was a bachelor who died with a great deal of accumulated wealth.

Two of his six sisters, Juliana Margaret and Frances (Fanny) were granted probate.

Frances was at that time (1918) a spinster, and Juliana Margaret was the widow of Edward Gerald More O'Ferrall.

The More O'Ferrall family provides several interesting side trips from the Charles Street primary narrative.

John More O'Ferrall (1872 - )

The son and (I assume) heir of Edward and Juliana Margaret, John married Cesira Polenghi, who was born in Italy but appears to have lived in Kensington for some time.

1901: Cesira and John's marriage in Q3 (3rd quarter of the year)

In the 1901 census, before the marriage, Cesira lived at 16 Gordon Place, Kensington. The household:

John Taaffe, 82 years old, widower. "Major, late Louth Rifles". The census says born in Italy, Italian subject. I expect the born in Italy part is correct, but that Major Louth was a British subject.

Cesira Polinghi [sic], 28 years old, niece, single. No occupation. Born in Italy, Italian subject. This is probably correct.

Margaret Philips, 55 years old, widow. Housekeeper. Born in Ireland.

• Class:  RG12; Piece:  20; Folio  84; Page  40; GSU roll:  6095130.

Gordon Place is about halfway between Holland Park and Kensington Palace.

It's the end house, a bright white one with the red door in this picture from Google Street View, as far as I can tell.


View Larger Map

Link to 16 Gordon Place on Google Street View (in case picture doesn't display above)

In 1891, the family was at the same place and consisted of:

John Taaffe, married, age 71. Late Major, Louth Rifles. Born in Italy, British subject.

Barbara Taaffe, his wife, married, age 45. Born in Ireland.

Cesira Polenghi, his niece, singe, age 19. Born in Milan, Italy.

There was one servant, Bridget d'Alton, single, age 45. Cook. Born in Ireland.

Class:  RG12; Piece:  20; Folio  84; Page  40; GSU roll:  6095130.

 To unravel this, I started with Major John Taaffe.



Irish Genealogical Sources: Louth Rifles, 1877-1908 No. 21

Sir George Lambert: Value of his estate, and beginning of his sister Juliana Margaret's story

Probate Index, Sir George Thomas Lambert, 15 March 1919.
Estate valued at 22,946/9/8.
Using the calculator on the website Measuring Worth, in today's money (2009 values), that amount would be worth 1,630,000 GBP based on the retail price index, or over 8 million GBP based on the average earnings method used on the website. (The methods are explained on the website.) My point is obvious: Sir George T. Lambert was a wealthy man at the time of his demise.
Probate granted to two of his six sisters, Juliana Margaret (identified in index as Margaret Juliana) and Frances, referred to elsewhere as Fanny sometimes.

The Law Times, January 20, 1881 John Lewis More O'Ferrall obituary. His estate passed to his only son, Edward More O'Farrell, who was married to Juliana Margaret Lambert, Sir George's sister, and one of the two executrices of his will.




From: The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland .. (Volume ed.59, yr.1919), by Edward Walford, viewed as an e-book.

This is about Juliana Margaret's son.

O'FERRALL, John MORE., Esq., of Lisard,
CO. Longford ; and of Balyna, co. Kildare.

Eldest son of Edward Gerald More-O'Ferrall, Esq.,
J.P. and D.L., of Lisard, and of Balyna, who d. 1914,
by Juliana Margaret, 4th dau. of the late Henry
Lambert, Esq., M.P., of Carnagh, co. Wexford;
b. 1872 ;
m. 1901 Cesira, 3rd dau. of Signor David Polenghi, of Italy, and has, with other issue, a son, Gerald, b. 1904.
Mr. More-O'Ferrall was educated at Stonyhurst College;
Balyna, Moyvalley E.S.O., co.Kildare;
Lisard, Edgeworthstown, co. Longford:
Kildare Street Club, Dublin ;
S. St. George Yacht Club, Kingstown.

A volume by Bernard Burke (A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland) indicates John had three sisters (at least), Mary, Maria, and Ellen.

Because John More O'Ferrall, son of Juliana Margaret Lambert, married a woman with a unique name, Cesira Polenghi, I thought I would look for her in the census rather than searching a more common name (like "John", for example).


What I found leads to more connections between Ireland and Italy, and an unexpected contrast in sentiments between Sir George's family and that of his neighbour, Henry Fleming.

Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry,: Founded by the late Sir Bernard Burke

Lambert of Carnagh: George Thomas Lambert was from the landed gentry of Ireland

In 1871, the principal occupant and head of household at No. 3, Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, was George T. Lambert.

Later Sir George, this particular Lambert was the younger son of an Irish landowner.

In 1851, George and Henry Lambert, brothers only a year apart, were at the College of St. Gregory [earlier I had erroneously written here "St. George's School"] in Downside, in the Parish of Midsomer Norton, in Somerset.

I have pasted some images of documents below, but they're blurry, I'm afraid. So, don't strain your eyes trying to read the details. I'll tell you what you need to know and give you links to the originals.

The page of the 1851 census return with them on it:

Reference: Class:HO107; Piece:1939; Folio:420; Page:2; GSU roll:221098

From this 1847 directory, we can see how Henry and George-Thomas Lambert ranked when it came to inheriting the family jewels. Henry, b. 1836 was the eldest son of Henry Lambert, Esq., of Carnagh, co. Wexford, b. 1786. George Thomas was born a year later, in 1837. By 1847, there were two boys and four girls. The directory doesn't give the girls' birthdates.








After the death of their father, George Thomas Lambert's brother Henry inherited the estate.

From the 1871 "genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry", we see Henry-Patrick Lambert, Esq. (formerly known to us as Henry, b. 1836), installed at Carnagh. This book tells us a little about Henry-Patrick's siblings as well.

George-Thomas, b. 9 November 1837;
Mary-Jane, married to P.-J.  Lynch, Esq., of Rose Park, Co. Dublin;
Anne, married 1870 to Edwin-Windham, Earl of Dunraven and Mountearl, K.P.;
Catherine, died unmarried, 7 March 1857;
Juliana-Margaret;
Letitia;
Fanny.







(left a bit out)



An intervening directory from 1858 tells us that George Thomas's mother was Catherine, youngest daughter of William Talbot, Esq., of Castle Talbot in the same county (Wexford) and sister of the late Countess of Shrewsbury. She and Henry Lambert were married 11 June 1835.

In 1858, the children listed are:

Henry, b. 2 December 1836;
George-Thomas, b. 9 November 1837;
Mary-Jane;
Anne;
Catherine;
Juliana-Margaret.






The family motto is Deus providebit, which I believe means "God will provide".

Next, a look at Carnagh.

George Thomas Lambert: the brilliant genealogical detective work laid bare

Last time: No. 3 Charles Street, Private Secretary to the Admiralty, and great genealogical sleuthing by me 


Let's get to the brilliance as fast as I can.

George Lambert wasn't very easy to trace using ordinary fishing techniques on the Web. He just wasn't a flamboyant guy, not that I could tell.

In short, I traced him forward in the census, finding him in 1881 and 1901, but not yet in 1891. He had a long career at the Admiralty, and at some point became a trustee of Greenwich Hospital. I don't know whether that was a full-time job.

I found the index entry for the grant of probate in 1918, to two ladies I guessed to be his sisters.

I just kept putting his name into searches, trying different additional words. There was a George Lambert, age 13, born in Ireland, appearing at school in Midsomer Norton, in Somerset, in 1851. Could this be the right one?

On the same list was another boy, Henry Lambert, 14, also born in Ireland. I wonder, were they perchance related?

It was hard to figure out the name of the school but eventually the pieces came together. I tracked down a reference to George in an issue of the school magazine, many years later, mentioning him as a trustee of the Greenwich Hospital. Bingo. He was Sir George, Companion of the Order of the Bath by the time he died.

He was unmarried.

The one interesting thing I found about him was a reference, late in life, to his having sailed to America and back, and while in New York, having been a guest of Madame Hoity Toity.

I realize the diehards among us want the details. They're coming.

But don't you think this was impressive detective work?

It gets easier, too, because there is enough history to this particular Lambert family that they appear in lists of peers.

More to come.

Clippings about the lost Baronetcy of Slane

From: A genealogical history of the dormant, abeyant, forfeited, and extinct peerages of the British empire. Sir Bernard Burke, publisher: Harrison, 1866, at pp. 217-218.
This copy provided by Google books.






A more modern book, A Genealogical History of the Barons Slane, by Lawrence F. Fleming (published by the author, 2008), mentions that James Fleming of Dublin and George Bryan of Jenkinstown, took their claims to the baronetcy to the House of Lords in 1828. Lawrence Fleming says later Flemings owe a debt of gratitude to these two, "for their rather foolish claims to nobility". He believes the evidence brought in opposition was conclusive proof that the claims were not well-founded, but by assembling the evidence for the House of Lords, the claimants unknowingly protected it from destruction a hundred years later, when the Four Courts building in Dublin was burned, taking so many historical documents with it.

Grandfather was a tyrant. Henry Fleming, Hunter Gowan and the Orange Lodge in Canada.

While on his father's side, Henry Fleming was descended from the Barons Slane, his mother's family were equally famous but also notorious.

Henry's grandfather was John Hunter Gowan II, often called Hunter Gowan.

Various descriptions of this man make him out to be a tyrant, a bully, and a violent leader. He was an anti-Catholic with a reputation for bloodshed.

One of his many children, Ogle Gowan, an illegitimate but recognized son, started the Orange Lodge in Canada. In The Orangeman: The Life and Times of Ogle Gowan, by Donald H. Akenson (, there is some description of Hunter Gowan's brutality back in Ireland.

There is also a paragraph mentioning how Ogle Gowan would use his half-brothers' and half-sisters' names when it suited him, even though he was "at daggers-drawn with his legitimate sisters and brothers".

"Catherine [Henry Fleming's mother], first married to a Sligo gentleman and also widowed had, as her second husband the Honourable John Fleming, third son and heir of Christopher, Lord Slane. A fine and noble man, Ogle was proud to say." (page 77)

I don't know if that's how Ogle said it, or if something has been lost in translation over the years, but my research to date indicates that Catherine married Captain Valentine Fleming, and that the descent from the Barons Slane was not quite as easily proven as Ogle might have suggested.

My other post for St. Patrick's Day today tells a bit more about the lost Baronetcy of Slane.

The Lost Baronetcy of Slane. Maybe you are an Irish noble and don't know it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In honour of the occasion I am going to post two stories connecting Henry Fleming to Ireland.

Henry Fleming's story is in turn part of a larger history and genealogy project, tracing the residents of Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, from the 1871 census.

The Charles Street Series

Flemings and the lost Baronetcy of Slane

There is a Slane Castle and a title, Baron Slane, attached to a little corner of Ireland near Dublin.

(U2 played there in 2001.)

I expect the castle is well taken care of, but the title is going begging for want of a suitable heir.

That's not for trying.

In the 1830s, one George Bryan petitioned the House of Lords in England to have himself recognized as the lawful inheritor of the title. It was a very complex claim, and the Lords referred it to a special committee. After five years of investigation, the decision was that the claim had not been made out, but Mr. Bryan was free to come back if further evidence surfaced.

Bryan's claim was opposed by a James Fleming and his brother Henry. I have seen references to these two being of Dublin, but also to James Fleming being one of Her Majesty's counsel. I have two theories.

1. The Fleming claim was made by James Fleming, a brother of Captain Valentine Fleming, and thus the uncle of James Fleming QC and his brother Henry of No. 2 Charles Street.

or

2. The Fleming claim was made by James Fleming, QC, when he was a student or a recent graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and thus living there, and that the Henry referred to was Henry of No. 2 Charles Street.

The latter theory seems more plausible because of the ripple effect this claim to the Baronetcy of Slane had in the generation to which James Fleming, QC, Henry of No. 2 Charles Street, and their brother Sir Valentine Fleming belonged. There is no doubt that this is the right family, it's just a question of which generation went to the House of Lords.

Sir Valentine named his second son Henry Slane Fleming.

James Fleming gave each of his children the middle name of Francis, other than the one who was actually called Francis Fleming. One of his other sons was Baldwyn Fleming. In the history of the Flemings as Barons Slane, the names Francis and Baldwyn are both prominent.

The three Fleming boys, James QC, Sir Valentine, and Henry of No. 2 Charles Street, and their sister, Emma, were perhaps raised with many tales of Irish greatness swirling in their heads, on both sides.

There is a Baron Slane today, Colonel Cyril Woods of Ontario, Canada, who was born in Ireland. Some controversy apparently surrounds the granting of arms to Colonel Woods, but without taking sides in an argument I do not pretend to understand, I think it may be safe to venture that Woods's claim may be for a slightly different title. Others can argue about the types of baronetcies and the intricacies. I am over my head.

There's another Irish story about Henry Fleming's family, but it's not quite so romantic. Since it's St. Patrick's Day, I'll post that one next.