Patrick Comerford
I have been researching two branches of the Comerford family in London in recent weeks and have visited some of the areas where they lived and the London churches where they were baptised, married and were buried from.
These two branches of the family (see here and here) share a common ancestor, Thomas Comerford, who came to London from Ireland and was a tobacconist in London from the mid-18th century. Although they went on to have contrasting social experiences and lives, they continued to share the same naming patterns when it came to naming patterns.
Now I have come across a third branch of the Comerford family in London that I believe may be closely related to these two. As I was putting together a family tree for this third London branch of the Comerford family, I found an unexpected connection with Old Wolverton, which is less than half an hour’s walk from Stony Stratford, and Castlethorpe and Hanslope, villages about three or four miles north of Stony Stratford, and in nearby Newport Pagnell.
I told the story of the Castlethorpe and Old Wolverton connections with this other Comerford earlier this week, and promised to outline the family tree of this third Comerford family too.
Naming patterns, inter-marriages with the Cox family and the places where this third London branch of the family lived seem to indicate they were descended from Charles Comerford (1784-1849), a London solicitor and half-brother of both James Comerford (1764-1833), ancestor of the Comerford family of Holborn and Belgravia, and Thomas Comerford (1769-1810), draper, of Bond Street, who has a large number of living descendants in London, Northampton, Leicester and other places.
These families are descended from Thomas Comerford, who came to London from Ireland and was a tobacconist in London from the mid-18th century. He was twice married and married his first wife Alice Davenport (1735-1769) on 26 October 1759 in Saint Mary’s Church, Whitechapel. They lived in Leman Street, Whitechapel (1759-1768), and they were the parents of three sons, including James Comerford (1764-1833), and Thomas Comerford (1769-1810).
Alice died in childbirth in 1769, and the widowed Thomas Comerford married his second wife, Ann Underwood (1734-1807), in Saint Botolph’s Church, Aldgate, on 28 October 1770. Thomas and Anne Comerford were the parents of two more children, a daughter and a son:
Charles Comerford (1784-1849), solicitor. He married Elizabeth Edings Morgan (1797-1867) in Saint Luke’s Church, Chelsea, on 1 May 1813. He lived at East Street, Lamb’s Conduit Street, off Great Ormond Street in Bloomsbury (1807), 16 Clement’s Inn, off the Strand in Saint Clement Danes parish (1838-1840), 72 Old Broad Street (1848), and 21 Oxford Square, Paddington, at the time of his death (1849).
I suggest – although more research is needed – that this Charles Comerford was probably the father of:
Charles James Comerford (1817-1887), born ca 1817. He married Emma Haddow (born 1834) of Stepney, daughter of Joseph Haddow (1801-1875) of Shoreditch. They lived in Hammersmith, and their only known son was:
1, Charles James Comerford (1862-1930)
Charles James Comerford died in Kensington on 21 April 1887. His only known son that I can find to date was:
Charles James Comerford (1862-1930), a shipping accountant, was born in Bermondsey in 1862. He married Charlotte Cox (1857-1930) in London on 30 September 1882. They lived in Shepherd’s Bush, 41 Wardo Avenue, Fulham, Hammersmith and Islington. They were the parents of six sons and a daughter:
1, Charles James Comerford (1884-1887), died in childhood.
2, Charlotte Emma Comerford (born 1884), born in Shepherd’s Bush.
3, Herbert J Comerford (born 1886), born in Shepherd’s Bush.
4, Cecil Percy Comerford (1890-1928), born in Hammersmith, died in Henley, Oxfordshire, October 1928.
5, George Cyril Comerford (1892-1971), of whom next.
6, Harold William Comerford (1894-1963), born Marylebone in 1894, living in Fulham in 1901 and 1911. He married Lily Elizabeth Beale (1903-1990) of Fulham, daughter of Charles Frederick Beale (1867-1931) and Louisa Matilda Ebbitt (1869-1948). They lived at 116 Mornington Road, Ealing. He died in Worthing 19 October 1963. His widow Lily married her second husband, Charles Robert Howes (1892-1986) in Worthing in 1969, and she died in Worthing 16 September1990.
7, Roland Frederick Comerford (1900-1974), born in Fulham in 1901, living in Fulham in 1911, died in Brent 30 August 1974.
Charlotte (Cox) Comerford (1857-1930) died in Bristol in January 1930 and Charles Comerford died in Hammersmith six months later in July 1930. Their fourth child and third son was:
George Cyril Comerford (1892-1971) was born in Hammersmith, London, 7 June 1892, and grew up in Fulham. He was working as a clerk when he married Lottie Elizabeth Weston (1893-1958) in Fulham on 24 September 1916, and they first lived 17 Rostrevor Road, Fulham. He entered the military in 1918 at the end of World War I, and the couple later lived in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Their only child was:
1, Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021), of whom next.
Lottie Elizabeth (Weston) Comerford died in Aylesbury 15 November 1958; George Cyril Comerford died in Aylesbury 18 February 1971. Their only son was:
Herbert George Comerford (1928-2021) of Bierton, Aylesbury, and Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. He was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 2 January 1928. At the age of 21 in 1949, he was still living in Bierton, near Aylesbury. At 24, he married in July 1952 in North Buckinghamshire, Barbara R Whiting (1929-2016), daughter of Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954) of Manor Farm, Wolverton, and Gladys M Whiting (1893-1974).
Barbara Ruth Whiting was born in Potterspury, Northamptonshire, 29 March 1929. Her father, Charles Reginald Whiting (1886-1954), was born at Castlethorpe, Buckinghamshire, and later lived at Pottersbury, Hanslope, Newport Pagnell, and then at the Manor Farm, Old Wolverton. He married Gladys M Whiting (1893-1974) of Long Buckby Wharf, Northamptonshire. Charles died on 23 May 1954, Gladys died in Old Wolverton on 3 February 1974, and they are buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Old Wolverton.
Herbert and Barbara Comerford were the parents of a large family, including four sons and a daughter. They later lived in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, where Barbara Comerford died on 21 August 2016, and Herbert Comerford died on 27 February 2021. I understand they have many descendants living today.
