North Street, Newry, County Down

North Street, Newry, County Down
North Street, Newry, County Down

Monday 1 June 2020

Andrew John Jennings [1816-1892], Monaghan Street, Newry, County Down

Andrew John was the second son of Charles Jennings [abt 1780-1855] of Monaghan Street, Newry, County Down, and his wife Sophia Corley, daughter of Patrick Corley, Clones, County Monaghan. He was named after his paternal grandfather Andrew.
In 1833 he was a baptismal sponsor for Margaret O’Hagan, daughter of John O’Hagan and Mary Ann Cavanagh, together with Sara Catherine Caraher who was possibly his cousin and daughter of his aunt Eliza Jennings, wife of John Caraher.
14 May 1833 Margt of John O'Hagan (settled in the US) and Mary Ann Cavanagh sp. Andrew John Jennings and Sara Cathne Caraher. £0.10.0.[1]
He also sponsored his sister Ellen Jennings at her baptism in 1834 together with his sister Anna Maria.
Feb 19 1834 Ellen of Charles Jennings and Sophia Corley sp. Andrew John Jennings and Ann Maria Jennings £0.10.0[2]

The Registration of Voters [Ireland] 1840 was a Bill introduced in the House of Commons by Edward George Stanley on 25th February 1840. The Bill was opposed by the Irish MPs led by Daniel O’Connell.
A meeting of the ‘Parishioners of Newry’ was held in Newry, at 28 Merchant’s Quay on the 25th of April 1840 at which Andrew John Jennings was the secretary, and D.C Brady Esq., was in the chair. The Jennings family were supporters of Daniel O’Connell and the premises at Merchant’s Quay had been the location of a dinner welcoming O’Connell to Newry in the previous year.
The first resolution to be passed unanimously was:
That we regard with astonishment and indignation the provisions of the Bill introduced into the House of Commons by Lord Stanley, nominally for the purposes of amending the system of Registration in Ireland, but really with the design of re-establishing the ascendancy of Toryism.
It was followed by a second, also passed unanimously:
That this foul measure, if carried, would have the effect of disenfranchising the independent Constituencies of Ireland , to give her Illiberal Representatives and Tory Rulers,  and plunge her back again into all the turbulence, misery, and degradation which were her portion under long misgovernment.[3]
The Dublin Morning Register had this to say:
The Stanley Agitation. Newry.
On Sunday last an aggregate meeting of the Reformers of Newry, took place at no. 28 Merchant’s-Quay, pursuant to requisition, for the purpose of petitioning parliament for the complete rejection of Scorpion Stanley’s monstrously unjust and insulting Irish registration bill. Previous to the commencement of the proceedings the place (which is very large and spacious) was densely crowded with the greater portion of the rank, wealth, worth and respectability of Newry and its vicinity. Indeed the truly brave, patriotic, and intelligent men of “Ulster’s frontier town,” most enthusiastically evinced their determination to oppose the Scorpion’s iniquitous bill, by all lawful and constitutional means; and, therefore, this important public demonstration is calculated to have a stirring and striking effect on the rest of the northern province.[4]

In 1843 Andrew John was a witness in a case where James Bradley a blacksmith was accused of robbing some steel from Charles’ Jennings store. An account of the case can be found in the Newry Telegraph 22 July 1843
Andrew John requested that the judge should be as lenient as possible. He knew the prisoner’s family and had always considered them to be very respectable. However James Bradley was imprisoned for twelve months at hard labour.
County of Armagh Assizes, Monday, July 17. James Bradley for having stolen a bar of steel, value 5s., the property of Mr Charles Jennings, of Newry. Guilty twelve months' hard labour.[5]
He signed the William Smith O’Brien Petition 1848-1849, in Newry in 1848, where he is described as a merchant.[6]
He subscribed to the Railway Subscription.[7] Did this ultimately lead to his bankruptcy?
He appears to have moved from Newry to Dublin with his mother and sisters, and lived with them at 8 Cabra Parade, Phibsborough. After his father’s death in 1855 he no longer appears in records in Newry.
But what did he do in Dublin? While active politically in Newry, there is no evidence to suggest he was also active in Dublin, or so far any indication as to whether he continued to act as a merchant. Did he emigrate like his younger brothers, and later return to Ireland?
He died unmarried in 1892 and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin with his mother and sisters.[8]



[1] NLI Pos 5502 Baptism Records Newry
[2] NLI Pos 5502 Baptism Register Newry
[3] Newry Examiner 29 April 1840
[4] Dublin Morning Register 28 April 1840
[5] Belfast News-letter, Fri, July 21, 1843
[6] CRF 1848 O 16/2/048
[7] Accounts and PapersGreat Britain. Parliament. House of Lords.Vol 12.
[8] Glasnevin Cemetery, VB, 12, SOUTH. (Record no. T47249)

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