The Frew Family of Killyleagh, Co. Down

Elizabeth Madine was the wife of Joseph Stewart Jr., ironmonger of Crossnacreevy and Dublin. They were our paternal great-great grandparents - Elizabeth Madine had been born in 1835 to Robert Madine, butcher of Killyleagh, and to Margaret Frew, also from Killyleagh, whose family is the subject of this post.

Strong DNA matches confirm me to be descended from the Frew family of coastguards from Killyleagh, Co. Down, whose earliest recorded family member is George Frew of Killyleagh.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/joseph-stewart-and-elizabeth-madine.html

Robert Madine and Margaret Frew, my immediate paternal ancestors, were married by licence by the Rev. E. Hincks (who was a respected Egyptologist) in the Church of Ireland church in Killyleagh on October 7th 1826.   The LDS website gives a date of birth for a Robert Madine, born 11th Feb, 1806 in Downpatrick to Patrick and Eliza Ann Madine - I noted the same birth in the register of the Downpatrick parish church.

Margaret Madine, née Frew, died aged 74 on 26th July 1875 in Killyleagh - her husband, the butcher Robert Madine, registered her death.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/madine-family-of-killyleagh.html

Both DNA results and circumstantial evidence confirm Margaret Madine (1801 - 1875), née Frew, as a member of the same family as John Frew (1803 - 1892), Thomas Frew (c. 1821 - 1904), James Frew (1804 - 1882) and David Frew (1796 - 1888) of Killyleagh.  A fellow researcher on the internet, who descends from John Frew (1803 - 1892) has ascertained that John Frew was indeed the brother of our Margaret Madine, but  also of Matilda Louisa Frew and George Frew.
I would suspect strongly that David Frew, Thomas Frew and James Frew were also the siblings of John Frew, gamekeeper of Killyleagh.    I recently - in January 2017 - took an Ancestry DNA test, and the results revealed me to be the 4th, 5th or 6th cousin of a descendant of James Frew (1804 - 1882).

All of these Frews are believed to be the children of George and Mary Frew.  (A William Frew erected a headstone in Killyleagh Church of Ireland churchyard for his parents, George Frew of Killyleagh who died aged 62 on 12th February 1831, and Catherine Frew who died aged 86 on 31st March 1862.)

Fellow researchers note George Frew of Killyleagh as living from about 1765 to about 1835, which approximately matches the dates on the preceding headstone.  He is believed to be the brother of Hugh Frew (1758 - 11th December 1831) who married Mary Russell of Killyleagh in 1787, before both emigrated to the US where they became the founders of Frewsburg, New York.  

Descendants of both Hugh and George Frew carry matching DNA which confirms a family link.

The children of George and Mary Frew of Killyleagh were:

Margaret Madine (1801 - 1875):
Margaret Frew was my immediate ancestor, the wife of butcher Robert Madine, and mother of Elizabeth Madine who married Joseph Stewart Jr.
http://alison-stewart.blogspot.com/2011/07/madine-family-of-killyleagh.html


David Frew (born circa 1796 - 1894), coastguard:
David Frew had been born in 1796 (to George and Mary?) and died aged 98 of old age on 9th July 1894 at 36 Glasthule Road, near Dunlaoghaire. When his youngest daughter, Elizabeth Frew, married Captain Andrew Julius Winther in Dublin in 1880,  she was noted as the daughter of David Frew of Killyleagh and Sandycove.  Son James Frew was present at his father's death in 1894.

David Frew's wife, Prudence Theresa Frew (1823 - 1894) of 36 Glasthule Road, near Sandycove, Co. Dublin, widow of a coast guard, died aged 71 on 10th February 1894.   The 1834 birth of the son of David and Prudence Theresa Frew  - David (William) Frew Junior - was recorded both in Co. Wexford, where he was born, and in Kent, where he was christened. If the date of birth of Prudence Theresa Frew, as given on her registration of death, is correct, then she would have been 11 when she gave birth to son David William Frew.    When she died in Glasthule in 1894, her son, James Frew, also of 36 Glasthule Road, was present at her death.

A coastguard, David Frew Sr. was stationed in various places.  He was in Queenstown, Cork in 1830, Curracloe, Wexford, in 1834, and spent the later years of his life in Dunlaoghaire/Sandycove, Co. Dublin.
David Frew of the Kingstown Coastguard depot who was charged and found not guilty of assualting his wife in April 1875 - they were, according to the 'Dublin Daily Express' of 27th April 1875, fighting over a letter.  She received two black eyes, but managed to stick her hatpin in him which probably evened things out.

The children of David Frew and Prudence Theresa Frew:

On 15th December 1859 in Co. Wexford, Margaret Anne Frew, the daughter of David Frew, married the coastguard, Edward Latto, who had been born in Co. Wexford in 1820.  A son, Edward Latto, was born in Curracloe on 28th September 1866 to Edward Latto and Margaret Anne Frew, but he died the following year.
The Latto family later moved to Kent, England. 

David Frew aka David William Frew,  had been born in Wexford on 10th October 1834  to David and Prudence Theresa Frew, and was christened five days later on 15th October 1834 in New Romney, Kent, England.
David (William) Frew Junior 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".

On 19th June 1873, David William Frew, coastguard of Glasthule, Kingstown, Co. Dublin, and son of coastguard David Frew,  married Anne Sunderland of Sandycove Avenue South, the daughter of Henry Sunderland.  This was witnessed by William Richard Batter and Henry Meredyth.

Daivd William Frew died of paraplegia in Loughlinstown Workhouse in South Dublin on 20th September 1888.  David's will was proved  by his brother, the naval pensioner, James Edward Frew, who had himself been born on 27th April 1845 in Co.Wexford, and who also registered the death of his sister, Mary Frew, when she died aged 31 on 12th January 1888 at the Frew family home of 36 Glasthule, Kingstown, Co. Dublin.

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 the Frew family home of 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 and he might not be a child of this Killyleagh Frew family.

On 27th September 1880 in St. Paul's, Glenageary near Kingstown, A.J. Winther, captain of the Dennis Brindrit of London, son of Laurence Winther of Copenhagen, married Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of David Frew of Killyleagh and Sandycove, Co. Dublin. The ceremony was performed by Rev. W.E. Burroughs of the Mariners' Church, Kingstown.
The following year in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, Elizabeth gave premature birth to a son, David Stanley Winther, on 5th June 1881 ('Dublin Daily Express', 12th August 1881). Neither mother nor child survived this, and the deaths of both were registered in late 1881 on the same page back home in the Rathdown death registrations book. Elizabeth's widower, Captain Andrew Julius Winther, son of the Falkland islands draper, Lawrence Jensen Winther, married again, his second wife being Rose Emma Durose, the daughter of a Falklands gardener, Charles Durose. The couple had several children in Stockport, Cheshire, but Andrew Julius Winther (1849 - 1894) died young and his death was registered in Conway, Wales.

The oldest son of David Frew was John Frew (1830 - 1917), who married Margaret Madine, the daughter of Robert Madine and Margaret Frew of Killyleagh, and the older sister of our immediate paternal ancestor Elizabeth Madine who married Joseph Stewart in Belfast.  If David Frew and Margaret Frew were indeed brother and sister, then the younger John Frew and Margaret Madine were first cousins.

John Frew, the son of David and Prudence Frew, was a sailor; the couple married 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.  

The witnesses to the wedding of Margaret Madine and John Frew in 1859 were Margaret Madine's two siblings, Robert and Jane Madine.

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.

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; she would marry the English coastguard Thomas William Prothero.
• Unnamed daughter, born 19th April 1864 in the Whitehouse district of Co. Antrim.
• David Frew, born 9th September 1865 in Whithouse;  he died there aged 0 the same year.
• Mary Elizabeth, born 8th September 1866, born in the Whitehouse, Co. Antrim; she died of consumption on 18th May 1895 in what looks like Ballyhallblake, Co. Wexford, on the civil registration of death.
• Teresa Jane Frew, 9th April 1869 in the coast guard station in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim.  A schoolteacher in 1901 and 1911 in Curracloe, 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 on 11th July 1948. She was known as Tess.
• Gertrude Helen Frew was born circa 1870;  she died of TB and influenza in Courtmacsherry, Co. Cork, on 23rd June 1893, and her death was registered by her brother-in-law Thomas William Prothero.
• John Frew,  born 18th March 1868 - this son died later the same year.
• A later John Frew was born in Wexford, and died there in 1872.

Margaret Madine 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 - Theresa Jane and Louisa Ann.    
Margaret Frew, née Madine, died in Ardcolm, Co. Wexford, aged 82 on 26th February 1914, followed by John Frew, naval pensioner, at The Glebe, Ardcolm, aged 87 on 21st March 1917.  His daughter, Teresa Jane Frew, was present.

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.  Thomas had a son William and a daughter, Bessie Iris, whose son, John Vincent, also served in the Navy, and who has two children, Paula and Michael. John Vincent kindly passed this family information on to me.
•  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 in Whitegate or Middleton, Co. Cork on 6th June 1887.  He joined the merchant navy in 1905 and served for 12 years.
•  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).

In 1901, Thomas William Prothero and Louisa Ann Frew were living at Quay Road, Kingstown/Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin, and were in Howth, Co. Dublin by 1911, where Thomas Prothero was a pensioned chief officer of the Royal Navy, and Harbour Master of Howth.  Thomas died in South Dublin in 1916, and Louisa Ann in North Dublin in 1936.

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, on 28th May 1876, 
Alfred George Norgrove, known as George Norgrove, was the son of an English Navy man, Alfred George Norgrove Sr, and of Martha Anne Holman of Kingstown/Dunlaoghaire, Co. Dublin.  The older Alfred George Norgrove had been born in Birmingham in about 1849 to a soldier William Norgrove and Mary Ann Marsh who had married in Kent in 1834.   The siblings of Alfred George Norgrove Senior were Thomas William Norgrove born 1839, Anna Sophia Norgrove born 1844, John Richard Norgrove born 1851, Frank M. Norgrove born 1853, Selina Mary Norgrove born 1857 and who married James Blumfield in 1874, and Henry Charles Norgrove.

Alfred George Norgrove (born 1849 in Birmingham), as I've already noted, married a Dunlaoghaire woman, Martha Anne Holman, whose father, John Holman, was the coachman for a Mrs. Lefroy of Killiney, Co. Dublin, and who hung himself in the Lefroys' stables at their home of 'Mentone' in Killiney in July 1895 ('Freeman's Journal', 1st July 1895),  John Holman, aged 68 when he took his own life, had just been dismissed from his job, his employer having decided to leave the country. His grandson gave evidence at the inquest, and was named as Robert George Norgrove.  The only Robert Norgrove on the 1901 census was the gasfitter, Robert Norgrove - born circa 1876 in Dublin - who was living in Portland Row, Dublin, with his wife and children.  Given that Alfred George Norgrove, the son of Alfred George Norgrove and Martha Anne Holman, was also a gasfitter, this Robert Norgrove of Portland Row was probably the Robert George Norgrove present at his grandfather's 1895 inquest.

The children of Alfred George Norgrove and Ellen Maria Carter, who had married in Dublin in 1897, were:
a) Emily Norgrove, born 18th November 1897.
b) Annie Norgrove born 10th July 1899.
c) John Norgrove born 1901.
d) Alexandra Norgrove born 1902.
e) Frederick Albert Edward Norgrove born 12th July 1903.
f) Robert Norgrove born 26th September 1906.
g) Martha Ellen Norgrove born 7th December 1910 (or 1911?).
h) George Ernest Norgrove born 24th February 1913.
i) Esther Norgrove, born 16th April 1914.

Most of the above Norgrove children attended St. George's National School whose records are published courtesy of Find My Past - this confirmed the childrens' dates of birth, and noted that the family address was earlier 5 Sherrard Avenue before they moved to 15 Strandville Road on the North Strand.

Alfred George Norgrove (Junior) worked as a gas-fitter and was an active trades unionist;  following the lock-out of 1913, he became involved in the Irish Citizens Army, helping to assemble a stockpile of billycan bombs in 1915 at the family home of 15 Strandville Avenue, North Strand - this ammunition was rediscovered under the floorboards in 2011, causing the evacuation of the entire street. 
Alfred George 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.  Alfred George Norgrove is buried in Drumcondra Church of Ireland graveyard.

John Frew, Game Keeper, Killyleagh Castle:
Robert Stewart was the brother of our great-great grandfather, Joseph Stewart.  Robert married, in Killyleagh in 1860,  Jane Madine, the sister of our great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Madine.

http://alison-stewart.blogspot.ie/2011/07/robert-stewart-and-jane-madine.html

The witnesses to the 1860 marriage of Robert Stewart and Jane Madine were Richard Woofenden and local national school teacher, Louisa Matilda Frew.  
Matilda Louisa Frew was the daughter of John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite of Killyleagh.

John Frew (son of George and Ann 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, but this individual might not be related in any way.)  
Online research has the parents of John Frew as George and Mary Frew.

John Frew later 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 on 11th January 1892 aged 89 - his granddaughter, A.G. Denby of Pine Street, Belfast, was present.  John's wife Euphemia had died aged 80 on 12th January 1888 at The Cottage, Killyleagh.

I found the headstone of John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite in Killyleagh graveyard.

   
The Children of John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite of Killyleagh:

The children of John Frew, gamekeeper, and Euphemia Thistlethwaite were Helen, George, Mary Denby, John, Matilda Louisa, Elizabeth, Alexander, William, and Euphemia Alice and Thomas.


The Australian passenger lists for the 'Colonial Empire', travelling from Plymouth to Victoria in 1870 recorded three of the daughters of John and Euphemia Frew travelling to Australia. The lists showed Elizabeth Frew, aged 24 and a dressmaker, Matilda Frew, a 33-year-old schoolteacher who had witnessed the wedding of our Robert Stewart and Jane Madine in Killinchy in 1860, and Euphemia Frew, a 26-year-old milliner.

Matilda Louisa Frew, born circa 1841 to John Frew and Euphemia Thistlethwaite, died at 12 
Valentine Avenue, Kew, Victoria, Australia, on 10th November 1919.
She was living at 12 Valentine Avenue, Kew,  with her sister 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. Euphemia Alice Frew of 12 Valentine Avenue, Kew, died on 22nd October 1926.

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 1869 in Australia he married Rosanna Crisp (1850 - 1938).  A building contractor, he died in Albury on 9th October 1900 - the Australian papers noted him as the third son of the late John Frew of Killyleagh.  Alexander and Rosanna Frew had children - Alexander C. Frew, Walter L. Frew, George A. Frew and Euphemia A. Frew who had been born in 1877 in Albury.  Son Alexander C. Frew was born in Albury in 1872 and married Ellen M. Williams there in 1900 - their son, Harold Frew, was born in 1907.   Walter L. Frew was born in Albury to Alexander and Rosannah Frew in 1884 and married Letitia G. Moorhead in 1911 in Denilquin, followed by Helen M.Golder who he married in St. Leonards in 1923.  Alexander and Susannah Frew also had Euphemia Alice Frew, named after her paternal aunt, in Albury in 1874, and she married Albert Charles Lawson in 1902.  Son George A. Frew had been born in Albury in 1879 and married, on 19th Noember 1907, Violet Emma Payne, the second daughter of Mrs. Kate Payne of Northcote, but Violet Emma died on 19th November 1908.

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 following an operation for appendicitis which he failed to recover from. 
 He had emigrated from Ireland aboard the 'Colonial Empire' in 1870 which listed him as a 21-year-old millwright of Ireland. William married Ellen Clarke in Albury in 1876, and was a timber merchant in Albury, although he'd served an apprenticeship as an engine fitter. His obituary stated that he had spent most of his life in Albury apart from a few years in Wangaratta and Rutherglen;  he was an enthusiastic member of the Albury bowling club at the time of his death.
In his will, he left everything to his wife, apart from his gold watch which he bequeathed to his grandson Geoff Vernon Frew. The executor of the will was his son Harold Vernon Frew who had been born in 1882 in Albury and who had married Ethel Florence Walthew Steele in 1908. Another son of William and Ellen Frew was Denby Pearson Frew. (1878 - 1915), a member of the 19th Battalion Expeditionary Force who died after a short illness in Sydney on 27th March 1915, leaving three brothers, Harold, Dudley and Norman.    Dudley K. Frew was born in Albury in 1880 to William and Ellen Frew and he died on 29th March 1937.  

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 Thomas Denby.

Notes on the Denby Family:
Mary Frew, the daughter of John and Euphemia Frew of Killyleagh, married George Walter Denby  (1829 - 1905), pianoforte maker, on 6th May 1857.  At the time of the wedding, George Walter Denby, a pianoforte maker, was resident at Conduit Terrace, Greenwich, while Mary Frew, a milliner, was living at home in Corporation, Killyleagh.  The witnesses were James Wright Bell and Patrick Dougherty.    George Walter Denby was the son of a butler, Thomas Denby (1789 - 1864), who settled at some stage in Knocknagoney, Holywood, Co. Down.  He might have been of English origin.

The children of this Thomas Denby - and I've found no mention of his wife yet - were George Walter Denby who married Mary Frew,  William Denby, Eliza Denby and Jane Denby, 

Jane Denby, the eldest daughter of Thomas Denby of Westbrook, Holywood, married Henry Glasscock of Brent Pelham, Hertfordshire, England, in late January 1843.

Eliza Denby, the daughter of Thomas Denby, married Captain Hugh Tilly, son of Andrew Tilly, in Holywood on 7th December 1848.  Eliza had been born in London in about 1820, and died a widow at her home, 63 Hanover Street, Belfast, on 18th March 1908.

Mary Denby, the third daughter of Thomas Denby of Holywood, married William Marshall in Holywood Parish Church on 8th  July 1846. 

William Denby, the son of Thomas Denby, married Lily McLarnon, the daughter of Hugh McLarnon, on 13th Octboer 1857 in Kilconriola, Antrim.  A coachmaker of the Antrim Road,  William Denby died 11th November 1903 at 11 Cavehill Road, Belfast and left a 7-page will which can be read online on the PRONI website.  In his will he names his children as Hugh McLarnon Denby who settled in Killyleagh, Alice Maude Denby who never married and who died in Carrickfergus on 23rd December 1951, William Henry Denby who took over the coachbuilding business with his brother, Thomas Ernest Denby, Mary Louisa Denby who married George Gageby of South Africa, and George Walter Denby who would later work for the railways in Buenos Aires.   One of the executors of William Denby's 1903 will was James William Linden who was married to William's niece, Martha Denby, daughter of William's brother George Walter Denby.

The obituary of William Denby's son, Thomas Ernest Denby, son of William Denby and Lily McLarnon, was published in the 'Northern Whig' of 28th December 1942 - his address at the time of his death was at 39 Cardigan Drive, and he had been a coachbuilder with the family firm of William Denby & Sons on  the Antrim Road.  Thomas was noted as a pioneer of motorcycling in Belfast and was survived by two brothers, George Denby who was currently working with the railways in Buenos Aires, and Hugh McLarnon Denby;  he also had two sisters although neither were named in the article.  I found an earlier newspaper report on an investigation into Thomas's brother, Hugh McLarnon Denby, who was stopped and accused of speeding while riding his motorbike into Ballymena in 1913 - accompanied by Thomas Ernest Denby, the pair were testing the fuel consumption of the bike at the time, and were suspected by the policeman who stopped them of having exceeded the speed limit of 20 mph(!).
His older brother, who he had been in business with, was William Henry Denby who was tragically killed during the German bombing of Belfast in April 1941 along with his wife, two daughters and granddaughter.  They were living at 20 Evelyn Gardens which was hit on the night of 16th April 1941- William Henry Denby was aged 76, his wife, Harriette Macredie Denby was 72;  their dead daughters were Dorothy Ethel Denby, BSc aged 36 and Isabella Denby aged 41;  their granddaughter was also killed at 20 Evelyn Gardens on the night of the raid - she was 12-yr-old Dorothy Kathleen Burdett, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Burdett of Dr. Barnardo's Homes in Eastby Sanatorium, Skipton, Yorkshire, and with a home address at 17 Alexandra Drive in Liverpool.  I accessed the list of the dead in the book 'The Belfast Blitz' by Brian Barton, published by the Ulster Historical Society in 2015.   William Henry Denby, eldest son of William Denby  and Lily McLarnon, had married Harriette Macredie Skelly, daughter of Francis C. Skelly, in Fortwilliam Park Presbyterian Church on 9th June 1891.('Belfast Newsletter', 12th June 1891.)   William Henry and Harriette Denby were survived by their son, also named William Henry Denby, who had two addresses when he died on 13th March 1964 - 97c Sandown Road and 37 Cherryvalley Park;  he was survived by his widow Elizabeth Denby.
Hugh McClarnon Denby, son of William Denby and Lily McLarnon, died at Myra, Downpatrick on 14th March 1948, with probate to his brother William Henry Denby.

But to return to George Walter Denby, son of Thomas Denby of Holywood, and Mary Frew, daughter of John Frew of Killyleagh.
   
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 Walter Denby and Mary Frew had several children:
Annie Ingles/Ingle Denby, the 5th daughter, was born at 42 Joy Street, 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.  

George Alexander Denby, was born to George Walter Denby and Mary Frew at 100 Joy Street on 8th July 1874 but died the following year.

Martha Denby was born  to George Walter Denby and Mary Frew on 29th July 1868 at 42 Joy Street and married James William Linden, a bookkeeper, the son of James William Linden, in Holywood Church of Ireland church on 2nd October 1899; this was witnessed by John Linden and Martha's sister, Alice Georgina Denby. The young couple were living at 41 Dufferin Avenue, Bangor, Co. Down in 1911 with their two young children, Thomas Wilson Linden and May Linden. He was the executor of the 1903 will of coachbuilder William Denby, his wife's paternal uncle.

Euphemia Matilda Denby, daughter of  George Walter Denby and Mary Frew, married Thomas Wilson on 17th August 1889 in Christchurch C. of I, Belfast, and were living in 1901 at 29 Dufferin Avenue, Bangor.  Martha Denby and James William Linden named their son as Thomas Wilson Linden.  Thomas Wilson had been born in 1863 in Lisburn to Thomas Wilson and Sophia L. Saulters.  Thomas, husband of Euphemia Matilda Denby, was a senior partner in the shipbuilding business of  'Wilson and Reid' of Waring Street, Belfast and was a leading figure on the Belfast Harbour Board. He was the first mayor of Bangor and was knighted on 1st December 1922.  He died on 17th November 1930 and the Belfast papers widely reported his funeral on 18th November 1930. At the time of death he was living at 'Avoca', Princetown Road, Bangor.  Sons-in-law at the funeral were W.S. Murphy, James Milliken Jr. and R.M. Jamison;  relations present were J. Linden, John McKnight JP, Thomas Beattie of Dungannon and Fred Marks. His widow, Euphemia Elizabeth died at 6 Mayfield, Bangor, on 1st March 1938.  
Yvonne Irish Wilson, 3rd daughter of Sir Thomas Wilson, married in August 1923, William S. Murphy, late a Captain in the 8th Leicestershire Regiment, son of John Murphy of rugby Avenue, Belfast. The bridesmaids were Yvonne's sister, Gwen Wilson, and the groom's sister, Evelyn Murphy.
In November 1922, in Bangor, James Milliken Jr,, son of James Milliken, town clerk of Bangor, married Euphemia Ruby Wilson, 2nd daughter of T.S.Wilson, JP, Avoca, Bangor.  Following the wedding, the young couple went to live in Penshurt, Kent.  
Sir Thomas Wilson's brother was W.J. Wilson of Sandymount, Lisburn, who was chief cashier at Messrs. Robert Stewart & Sons, thread manufacturers of Lisburn, and who died in December 1924 . ('Northern Whig', 2nd December 1924.

A daughter of  George Walter Denby and Mary Frew, Louisa Matilda Denby, married the builder John McKnight of Killyleagh 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, relation Hugh McClarnon Denby, coachbuilder of Antrim.  The 'Northern Whig' of 1st April 1935 reported the death of John McKnight JP of Frederick Street, Killyleagh, noting that he had been born in Ballydonnell, Ballykilbeg 90 years ago, and that he had come to Killyleagh in 1872 to go into business as a builder and hardware merchant. They named him as the brother-in-law of Sir Thomas Wilson.

On 22nd February 1892 in Killinchy Parish Church, Mary Helen Denby, fourth daughter of George Denby of Donegal Pass, Belfast, married in Killinchy Parish Church, George Bell of Tullyveery, Killyleagh, the eldest son of David Bell of Melbourne. The witnesses were Thomas Wilson and Annie I. Denby.  ('Belfast Newsletter', 22nd February 1892.)  In 1911 they were living at 42 Ravenhill Road, Belfast.  George Bell, a storeman, had been born in about 1860 in Co. Wicklow. They had children - Mary aged 18, Katie aged 16, Alice aged 15 and Denby aged 8. 

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, and seems to have been taken in by the Denby family - perhaps he was the son of Alice Georgina Denby?  The passenger list of the 'Goorkha' captured Alice Georgina Denby of Princetown Road, Bangor, heading to Capetown in November 1923.

George Denby died aged 76 on 25th April 1905 at Dufferin Avenue, Bangor;  his daughter, Alice Georgina, was the informant.

Mary Denby, née,Frew, the widow of George Denby, died on 30th August 1922 at 5 Princetown Road, Bangor, aged 88.  ('Northern Whig', 1st September 1922.)
  
Another son of John Frew, gamekeeper, and of Euphemia Thistlethwaite, was the engineer John Frew of Killough, Downpatrick, who married Susan Gilmore of Belfast. He worked for a while as a mill engineer in Pendleton, Lancashire, England, where some of their children were born - Alice Ann Frew was born there in 1864, Mary Frew in 1866, John William Frew in 1868 and Susan Frew in 1874. In 1871 the UK census captured the family living in Morsley, Lancashire.  More children followed - Robert, Louisa who was born on 11th July 1875 in John Street, Downpatrick, Euphemia who was born on 6th June 1877 in Fountain Street, Downpatrick, Susan, Rebecca Gilmore Frew who was born at Saul Street, Downpatrick on 26th April 1879,  Thomas who married Agnes Wilson, and George Alexander who was born on 5th April 1883 in Killough, Downpatrick.

The family moved back to Killough, Downpatrick, and settled there.  The 'Belfast Newsletter' of 25th August 1894 reported the marriage in Cliftonpark Independent Church on 22nd August 1894 of John William Frew, eldest son of John Frew of Downpatrick, to Minnie, second daughter of the late John Lewis Carnduff of Glasgow.  They would have a daughter, Adeline Frew.

The following year, on 10th April 1895 in the Wesleyan Chapel in Blackpool, Lancashire, Mary Helen, known as Pollie, second daughter of John Frew of Downpatrick, married Frederick, son of John Slater Whitehead of Pendleton, Manchester.

Robert Frew, son of John Frew and Susan Gilmore of Downpatrick, who had been born in about 1871,  trained as a merchant seaman, serving his apprenticeship aboard the Liverpool ship 'Scottish Glens'.  He sat for his master's certificate in Belfast, before serving several years with the Belfast Lord Line of steamers, then with the Liverpool shipping company of Ellerman.  Chief Officer Robert Frew, died tragically, aged only 37, aboard the 'Sardinia' which had been sailing from Liverpool to Alexandria, and which caught fire off the shore of Malta in December 1908.  The fire quickly got out of control, thanks to a highly flammable cargo, and the passengers - mostly Arab Muslims on their way to Mecca - panicked and burnt to death, having refused to jump overboard.  Robert Frew's body was recovered, and he was buried in the English Cemetery in Malta on 11th December 1908.  The papers of the time noted that he had two brothers in the mercantile marine, and that he had married his cousin in Liverpool at some stage, although they don't name her.

Robert's brother, Thomas Frew, was a seaman also, but in 1875 when his daughter was born, he was working in the local asylum.  Margaret Frew had been born on 19th September 1875 in Killough to lunatic asylum keeper, Thomas Frew of Downpatrick, and to his wife Mary Bracken.  On 27th August 1900, Margaret Frew, the only daughter of Thomas Frew, naval pensioner, married, in St. Patrick Leggamaddy Catholic church in Arglass, Killyleagh, mechanic Daniel McClean, son of smith Bernard McClean;  this was witnessed by Charles and Ellen Welsh. 
A Mary Frew, widow of a naval pensioner, died aged 60 in Killough on 13th January 1898.

George Alexander Frew, the son of John Frew and Susan Gilmore, had been born on 5th April 1883 in Killough.   A seaman, George Alexander Frew, would die of enteritis and chronic rheumatism in Shamshuipo Japanese POW camp in Hong Kong on 14th September 1942.  

George Alexander Frew

Military collector, Peter Helmore of High Wycombe kindly shared his notes on George Alexander Frew, including the details and photo of the Lloyd's Silver Medal for Meritorious Service which was awarded to Frew while serving as captain of the S.S. Branksome Hall:

"‘During the night of 2^nd November 1917, when the S.S. Branksome Hall was off Bolt Head she was torpedoed on the starboard quarter close to the gun’s magazine. She at once commenced to sink rapidly by the stern, and listed so much that the Master ordered the crew to the boat stations. The Master ordered the boats to leave the ship and stand by. The whole crew, including the Master, were picked up by a steam trawler, which stood by for a short time. The Master then called for volunteers and returned on board. Great risk was attached to this, as a very heavy sea was running, and the vessel was listing heavily to port, the deck being awash. A tug then came up and took her in tow, but after a few minutes the line broke owing to the heavy sea. The tug then made fast again, and although the ropes parted several times during the night, she was eventually safely towed to Salcombe Bar, where she was beached. She was taken off and towed to Devonport on the 18^th."

S.S. Branksome Hall

Peter Helmore's notes on George Alexander Frew reveal his long career at sea:

Ordinary Seaman barque Bankhall Liverpool May 1899

Application to be Examined 2^nd Mate, Belfast 3 April 1903. Passed 2 June 1903

Certificate of Competency number 037675 as Second Mate of a foreign-going Ship issued 10 June 1903

Application to be Examined 1st Mate, Belfast 11 August 1905. Passed 5 November 1905

Certificate of Competency number 003838 as First Mate for foreign-going Steamship only, issued 2 January 1906

Application to be Examined Master, Belfast 28 July 1911. Passed 1 August 1911

Certificate of Competency number 003838 as Master for foreign-going Steamships only, issued 18 August 1911

Appointed Master S.S. Flaminian 18 September 1911

Appointed Master S.S. Branksome Hall 10 December 1913

Appointed Master S.S. Crewe Hall 10 September 1913

Appointed Master S.S City of Birmingham 21 April 1915

Appointed Master S.S City of Lincoln 17 January 1917

Appointed Master S.S Branksome Hall 11 September 1917

Master S.S. Branksome Hall Government Transport torpedoed and damaged by U-Boat UB 65 off Bolt Head, S.Devon 2 November 1917

Awarded Lloyd’s Silver Medal for Meritorious Service and £50 by the Committee of Lloyd’s 12 June 1918

Master S.S. Branksome Hall Government Transport torpedoed and sunk by U-Boat UB105 when 68 miles NW by W of Marsa Susa in the Mediterranean on a voyage from Newport to Port Said with a cargo of coal 14 July 1918

Appointed Master S.S Sedbergh 6 August 1918  

Presented with Lloyd’s Silver Medal for Meritorious Service and £50 at Liverpool 18 September 1918

Appointed Master S.S. City of Dunkirk 25 March 1919

Appointed Master S.S. City of Lahore 17 April 1919

Appointed Master S.S. Branksome Hall (IV) 23 November 1920

Appointed Master S.S. City of Newcastle 6 December 1923

Appointed Master S.S. Athelchief  30 May 1929

Appointed Master S.S. Anjou (Portuguese vessel registered in Hong Kong) 2 January 1936

Captured by the Japanese and imprisoned Shamshuipo POW Camp Hong Kong

Died 14 September 1942 Hong Kong ‘Enteritis and chronic rheumatism’

Buried Stanley Military Cemetery Hong Kong Plot 1 Grave A 46

(Many thanks to Peter Helmore for sharing the preceding military information and photos.)

Louisa, the daughter of John Frew and Susan Gilmore of Downpatrick, died suddenly in Bangor on 28th March 1955. 

John Frew, engineer of Downpatrick, died on 2nd June 1900 aged 67 in Church Street, Downpatrick;  his daughter, nurse Alice Ann Frew, was present.
Susan Frew, widow of John, died in Church Street on 15th January 1916 aged 73. Her son, George Alexander Frew, was the informant.

Matilda Louisa Frew:

Matilda Louisa Frew, daughter of George and Mary Frew, married Allan McCrea of Killyleagh. Allan McCrea/M'Crea of Killyleagh, died aged 64 years on 18th December 1850. ('Banner of Ulster', 31st December 1850.)

On 9th November 1872 in Killyleagh, the death occurred of Matilda Louise, relict of the late Allan M'Crea, aged 82. (Belfast Newsletter', 

13th November 1872.)

On 10th August 1865 in the First Presbyterian Church in Killyleagh, Louisa Helen, youngest daughter of the late Mr. Allan M'Crea, married Mr. Thomas Breeze of San Francisco, ('Belfast Newsletter', 14th August 1865.)

The 'Downpatrick Recorder' of 9th May 1874 reported on the death of Thomas Breeze of Killyleagh at his residence, 718 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco on 6th April 1874, aged 53. he had worked, first for the house of Eugene Kelly & Co., then for the mercantile establishment of Murphy, Grant & Co.

George Frew:

Named as the son of George and Mary Frew of Killyleagh by a fellow researcher, George married Ann Guiney and had Mary, James and George, who emigrated to Australia.

Thomas Frew, Coastguard, born 1821 Killyleagh:
In the Killyleagh Church 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, at one time a hotelkeeper of Killyleagh,  but also a coastguard officer. 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.
• Mary Frew, born in 1849 in Brading, Sandown, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, which was where this family were still living in 1851.

Thomas Frew had married Elizabeth Jenkins in East Stonehouse, Devon, in 1841.

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.
In 1866, he applied for a dog licence while living in Liscannor, Co. Clare.

The daughter of Thomas Frew and Elizabeth Jenkins, Emily Catherine Frew, married a policeman, 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.

The children of Emily Catherine Frew and policeman William Wilson were:

• William Wilson, born on 8th October 1865 at Liscannor - he entered the police force like his father, but died aged only 32 on 16th February 1898 in Lisdoonvarna.
• John Wilson, born 16th December 1867, at Roadford, Liscannor, Co. Clare.
• Emily Wilson, born 12th October 1871 in Doolin - she later married a man by the name of 'Keenan', and was the informant when her mother died in 1924.
• Robert Wilson, born 5th December 1874 at Doonbeg, Kilrush, Co. Clare.
• George Wilson, born 22nd March 1877, at Corofin, Co. Clare; he died aged 8 in 1885.
• Mary Wilson, born 9th April 1879, at Corofin, Co. Clare.
• Louisa Wilson, born 9th September 1880 in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare.
• Caroline Wilson, born 13th November 1882 in Lisdoonvarna.

Emily Catherine Wilson, née Frew, daughter of Thomas Frew and Elizabeth Jenkins, who was the postmistress in Lisdoonvarna, died aged 75 on 1st May 1824 - her daughter Emily Keenan was present.

On 18th June 1918 in Kilfenora, Co. Clare, Caroline Wilson, the daughter of the late William Wilson of Rooska House, Lisdoonvarna, married Robert Baker, a sergeant with the Canadian Cavalry, awas nd son of a farmer Richard Baker of Shorncliffe, Kent.  The wedding was witnessed by the bride's sister, Louisa Wilson, and by her financée Reuben Clayton Dorland Maston.    Reuben was the son of Canadian Reuben Burlingham Maston, and had been born in Prince Edward Island.  He married Louisa Wilson on 27th September 1919 in St. George's Church in Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, where the bride was working as an assistant post mistress.  The witnesses were Edward Henry Collopy and Elizabeth F. Mason.  Louisa Wilson and Reuben Maston later settled in Winnipeg where he died, aged 45, on 27th March 1925.   The papers noted that he had been an employee of the Winnipeg Electric Street Railway Company for the previous 22 years.

Mary Frew, also the daughter of coastguard Thomas Frew and of Elizabeth Jenkins, had married James Kirk, a blacksmith, the son of a farmer William Kirk, in Killyleagh parish church on December 23rd 1878. 
Children were:
Armina (Mina) Frew Kirk, born 27th February 1880 in Killyleagh.
Elizabeth Maude (Minnie) Kirk, born 1st October 1881 in Killyleagh.
Thomas Frew Kirk, born 29th June 1886 in Killyleagh.
William James Gilbert Kirk, known as Gilbert, born 11th April 1888.
John Frew Kirk born 6th May 1891.

Blacksmith James Kirk died in Killyleagh of heart disease aged 53 on 16th September 1898, and his widow and children  subsequently moved to live in Belfast.  Daughter Minnie Kirk married a cabinet maker, Thomas Hugh Young, the son of John Young, in Windsor, Belfast, on 15th March 1913;  the witnesses were the bride's sister, Mina Kirk, and a John MacDermott. 

Mary Kirk, née Frew, died of acute bronchitis in Belfast Asylum on 25th April 1906.

Her father, the widowed Thomas Frew, died aged 80 on 14th April 1904 at Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, chief boatman with the coastguard;  M. Wilson was the informant.    Earlier in 1886, when he proved the will of his sister, Armina,  Thomas Frew had been running a shop of some sort in Downpatrick, near Killyleagh.

   
Armina Eakin:  The elderly Armina Eakin died in Killyleagh on 14th November 1886 - probate was granted to her brother, Thomas Frew, a storekeeper of Downpatrick.   Armina Eakin's death was registered by her niece Mary Kirk.   Mary Frew  had married the blacksmith James Kirk and had named a daughter as Armina Frew Kirk in 1881.   
Also of interest is the Armina Frew Adams who was born in Killyleagh on 5th December 1881 to the carpenter James Adams and to his wife Eliza Martin.   Who were this couple and why did they name a daughter after Armina Eakin, née Frew?

James Frew of Downpatrick/Killyleagh registration area.  1804 - Dec. 1882, Downpatrick. Although I've found no direct documentation which shows James Frew to be a member of the Killyleagh family discussed here, not only is the circumstantial evidence compelling, but a recent Ancestry DNA test shows me to be a distant cousin of one of his descendants.

The British Royal Navy Personnel 1831, viewable via Find My Past, lists a James Frew who had been born in Co. Down in about 1806.  He joined the navy on 22nd August 1828 and served as an able seaman aboard the 'Samarang' at Spithead.

He married Ann Madine, the daughter of Edward Madine of Downpatrick.  
The Marriage Licence Bonds Index note the marriage in 1831 of James Frew and Ann Jane McDun, which is just a weird misspelling of Madine or McDine.

(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.)

In common with most of this Killyleagh Frew family, James Frew was a coastguard.   The death of  Ann Jane Frew, widow of a coastguard, was registered in the Downpatrick Registration district when she died, aged 70, on 1st February 1892 in Cross Street, Killyleagh.  She was probably older than this if she had married James Frew in 1831. The informant was her niece, Lizzie Frew, who had been present at her aunt's death.   Lizzie Frew was most likely the daughter of Thomas Frew of Killyleagh and Co. Clare, who I discussed earlier in this post.  

Coastguard James Frew died aged 78 in Killyleagh  on 21st December 1882.  His death wasn't registered by his wife, Ann Jane, but by a Sarah Jane Middleton.  She would later become the third wife of labourer Henry Frew, when she married him on 24th January 1896.  Henry Frew (1831 - 1905), the son of a Robert Frew, had married Ellen Montgomery in 1854.  His second wife was the short-lived Mary Reukart who he had married on 12th July 1895 - she died aged 44 from breast cancer on 24th October, only three months after her wedding.   Three months later, widower Henry Frew married Sarah Jane Middleton.  
Was this Henry Frew another member of the Frew family discussed here?  His marriage registrations confirm him as the son of a Robert Frew.   Following his first marriage to Ellen Montgomery, he worked as a fisherman in Ringhaddy, immediately north of Killyleagh.  Children were born there - Ellen in 1864, Robert in 1871, Margaret in 1874.  A daughter of Henry Frew was the Jane Frew who died on 9th January 1884 aged 19.  Another daughter was Mary Frew of Killyleagh, who married Thomas Todd, the son of Hugh Todd, in Killyleagh on 12th August 1881.   This was witnessed by Jane Todd and by James Frew.  
Henry Frew was the son of a Robert Frew.  Children of a Robert and Catherine Frew were baptised in Killinchy Church of Ireland as follows - Henry Drain Frew in 1829, James Finlay Frew in 1831, Mary Frew in 1833, Jane in 1838, Anne in 1840, John in 1843, Catherine in 1843 (she would marry John Keenan, son of Robert Keenan, on 29th February 1864), Ellen in 1848 and Margaret Finlay Frew in 1854.

The daughter of James Frew and Anne Madine emigrated to Australia in 1877.
 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, and had been born in Cork in 1838. Both William and Oswald McCloskie were gardeners.   Oswald McCloskie died in Bulli, New South Wales, on 7th December 1915; his wife, Mary, née Frew, died in Wollongong, New South Wales on 8th June 1939.

Oswald McCloskie's 1915 obituary noted that he died aged 80 at Bellambi - four years previously, during a stay at a hotel in Redfern, he had accidentally gassed himself when he forgot to turn off the gas. He had received a certificate in landscape gardening from Kew Gardens, and in Ireland had been the representative of the 'Dublin Gardener Chronicle'.

Oswald McCloskie, circa 1908

Mary McCloskie

Mary Frew and Oswald McCloskie left London in 1877 and arrived in Brisbane, Queensland, on 2nd July 1877.  They lived in Spring Street, Brisbane from 1877 to 1879, then Palmer Street in Sydney in 1880.  Following this the family moved to Newtown where they lived from 1881 to 1884, before heading to Dulwich Street in Petersham, living there in 1884 and 1885. They were in Marrickville in 1887, Bathurst in 1888 and 1889, then Orange in 1890 and 1891.

The Children of Mary Frew and Oswald McCloskie were:

William James McCloskie, born Rathcoole, Dublin in 1861, died Maitland, Australia 1952.  He married, then divorced, Isabella Burns on 9th August 1881 in Sydney.  William James McCloskie started his professional life working in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, before teaching horticulture in the Agricultural College in Maitland. For the final 19 years of his career, he worked as the caretaker for the West Maitland Technological Museum. 

Harriet Matilda McCloskie, born 5th April 1864, in Stradbally, Laois. Died 10th March 1954 in Hurstville, New South Wales.  Harriet Matilda married Hermann M.H. Meyer in Sydney on 24th April 1880.

Douglas McGregor McCloskie, born 1st August 1865 in Rathcoole, died 1872 in Dunshaughlin, Meath.

Lillium Viola Mccloskie - born  Killeen, Meath, 10 April 1867, and died in 1871 in Dunshaughlin, Co. 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?)  Matilda Louisa died in Bathurst, New South Wales, in 1940.  She had married Robert S. McPhillamy in Bathurst in 1889.

Matilda Louise McCloskie

Mary Mc Closkie - born in County Meath on 17th June 1870, Mary died there the following year.

Medora Florence Eleanor Mccloskie - born on 19th May 1872 in Tara, Killeen, Co. Meath. She died on 14th July 1951 in Marrickville, New South Wales, having married Charles Dalby in NSW on 20th June 1895.   Medora's great grandson, Tony Dalby, kindly shared his family details and family photos with me.   Medora's husband, the carpenter Charles Dalby, had been born in 1862 to John and Martha Dalby in Croyden, London. He was known to have worked in the Great Exhibition's Crystal Palace when it was being moved from Hyde Park to Sydenham Hill in the 1880s. Charles emigrated to Australia in 1887, and married, as his first wife, Josephine Townend Long, who would die of typhoid in Melbourne in 1889, leaving a son, Maurice William Dalby. Charles moved from Melbourne to Ballambi, Sydney, in 1892, and married Medora McCloskie there in 1895. Together they had three children - Medora (Poppy) Dalby,  Viola Dalby who died in infancy, and Arthur John Dalby. Charles Dalby was accidentally killed in Bellambi on 4th April 1907 when he was crushed between two railway buffers.

Medora McCloskie

Oswald William McCloskie was born on 21st March 1874 in Killeen, Co. Meath  and he died on 2nd February 1930 in Corrimal, New South Wales, Australia.  His wife was Harriett Stevenson who he'd married in 1903 in Woonona, New South Wales.  He worked as an electrical engineer with the Corrimal Colliery. At the outset of the First World War he joined the 54th Battalion and served for the duration of the conflict, first in Egypt, then in France.  He died of pneumonia, leaving a widow but no children.

Maria Mc Closkie - born on 16 Nov 1875 in Meath, she died the same year.

Mary McCloskie - she was born on 18th May 1877 in Brisbane, Australia, and died at sea on 25th May 1877.

Ann Jane McCloskie, born 18th August 1878, in Brisbane,Queensland, Australia and died in Bulli, New South Wales in 1962.  She had married Claude M. Hamilton in 1902 in Woonona.

Laura Lizetta McCloskie, born Australia 30th September 1880, died 26th June 1927 from kidney failure in Wollongong. She married twice, first on 26th March 1896 to Charles Dalby in Corrimal, then to William E. Parsons in Woonona in 1902.  Laura's first husband was the carpenter/builder, Charles Dalby, whose nephew, also Charles Dalby, had married Laura's sister, Medora, in 1895.  Charles Dalby Senior was the brother of Charles Dalby Junior's father, John Dalby, both being the sons of John and Jane Dalby of West Ham, UK.   Charles emigrated to Australia in about 1870 and settled in Bellambi where he prospered as a builder, but he was tragically killed by an accident at work on Bellambi Jetty in 1898.  The couple had two children, Lizetta Dalby and Charles Montague Dalby who was born after his father's premature death in 1898.   Daughter Lizetta married Herbert J. Clegg in Corrimal in 1916 and had Charles, Irene, Valerie, Victor and Enid.

 Fanny McCloskie, born 1883 - 1884 in Newtown, New South Wales.

Essie Anna McCloskie, born 1885 in Petersham, New South Wales, and died in Wollongong in 1953. She married Douglas Lewis in Woonona in 1903.