William John Ryan

[sarah]

I am hoping that someone may be able to help me trace my Irish Ancestors. My Great Grandfather was William John Ryan born c1867 in County Clare ( I dont know which town/village) His fathers name was John. William was stationed on Jersey and was a Gunner in the Royal Artillery when married my Great Grandmother Elizabeth Ellen Paul in 1890. I know that by 1903 the family were living in Deal, Kent and by 1905 they had moved to Southampton where William died in 1914 before the war started.
Im sorry its not a lot to go on, but its all the information I have and im hoping that someone may also have William in their family tree. Any help or suggestions on which records to search, would be very much appreciated.
Sarah

[mcreed]

Sarah,
your grandfather was born too late to be mentioned in Griffith's Valuations (1855) and left Ireland too early to be registered for the 1901 Census. I would suggest that your best bet would be to try to trace him on a passenger list of a ship between Ireland and England. Ancestry.com has one reference to a William John Ryan and and eleven references to William J Ryan on its UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960. To see the full records you have to subscribe to the website (I'm not subscribed), but they offer a free 14 day trial of the service. I haven't used it, so can't vouch for it, but it might be a start at any rate.
Regards,
Mike

[sarah]

Mike, thank you for your suggestion, I do have a subscription to Ancestry so I will have a look. Im not sure if he enlisted with the army whilst still living in Clare or if he went to England and then joined up. I was hoping to find his Army records to find the address he was living at when he joined, but I dont know where to apply for them.
Thank you again
Sarah

[mcreed]

Sarah, take a look at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna/guide/military.html. It might help to locate your army records.
Regards,
Mike

[sarah]

Mike, thank you for that. I have had a look, but no luck at the moment. I will keep searching though.
Regards
Sarah

[smcarberry]

I don't have much to contribute to your effort, but there is one lead to follow, eventually. Unfortunately the involved military record is being digitized and will not be available for quite some time. I don't know if that means that you cannot gain access to it in hard-copy form in the meantime. The other detraction from this record as a lead (other than there was more one Clare man named William Ryan) is that the address is not a Clare one, although Limerick city might have been your William's new location if he had been seeking work there prior to joining the military. At least the parish records should be readily available via film from a LDS (Mormon) FHC or at the National Library (Dublin), in case there was a marriage or
baptism while William was in Limerick.

Anyway, here is what I was already going to post when I found or re-discovered this small section amidst a well-known website's group of databases, prior to reading your posting:
Royal Irish Garrison - almost entirely Clare men
1872 - 1915
http://www.failteromhat.com/military/clarerga.php

That group includes these two listings, both in record group WO96/1319:
William RYAN, St. Munchions, Limerick, Co. Clare
William Francis RYAN, Kilnaboy, Co. Clare

The British National Archives (with a physical location in Kew Gardens) is involved, for which the search engine is located
at:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp

The catalog information is this:
WO96 War Office: Militia Attestation Papers
Scope and content
Royal Garrison Regiment: ROBI - RYD
Covering dates 1901 - 1907
Availability Open Document, Open Description, Normal Closure before FOI Act: 30 years, This series is currently undergoing digitisation. Access to certain pieces will be disrupted over the next 3 years and advance ordering of this series is not possible during this time. Please check with us that the pieces that you wish to consult are not affected before you travel. (14 May 2008).

Sorry, no dates are provided, other than the scope of years covered by the WO96 series being digitized someday.

Best to you in your search,
Sharon Carberry USA

[sarah]

Sharon, thank you very much for all of the information. I have been researching my tree for 5 years now and so far I have only found 3 references to William's place of birth, 1891 census when he was stationed on Jersey, showing his place of Birth as Ireland, his marriage certificate showing his place of birth as County Clare along with his fathers name John, whose occupation was a labourer and then on the 1911 census also showing his place of birth as County Clare, its such a shame that none of the documents give a more specific place.. But I am not giving up just yet!
Thank you again
Regards
Sarah