Johnson / Bryans Families

Tracing the ancestry of Pamela Murdoch Bryans and Maurice Alan Johnson

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Rev. William Bryans

Clergyman (vicar of Tarvin)
Male 1821 - 1889  (67 years)

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  • Name William Bryans 
    Relationshipwith Marion Murdoch Johnson
    Gender Male 
    Birth 8 Oct 1821  Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2] 
    Baptism 16 Nov 1821  Everton St George, Walton-on-the-Hill, West Derby, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [3, 4] 
    Education 8 Oct 1837  Rugby School, Rugby, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [5, 6] 
    Education 24 Sep 1841  Clare College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Education 10 Oct 1842  Trinity College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Degree 1845  Trinity College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Ordained 1846 
    Residence Between 1846 and 1848  Windermere, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Ordained 1847 
    Residence Between 1850 and 1852  Ash Parva, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Census 1851  Ash Parva, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [2] 
    Residence Between 1852 and 1886  Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [5] 
    Census 1861  The Vicarage, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [1] 
    Census 1881  The Vicarage, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [7] 
    Occupation Clergyman (vicar of Tarvin) 
    Death 18 Jul 1889  Eltham, Greenwich, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [8] 
    Burial 22 Jul 1889  St Andrew's, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 9] 
    Siblings 4 brothers and 4 sisters 
    Last Modified 24 Jan 2021 

    Father Richard Bryans
              b. Abt 1773, Moy, County Tyrone, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 20 Dec 1864, Upper Northgate Street, Chester, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 91 years) 
    Mother Anne Pillar
              b. Abt 1779, Ireland Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 14 Aug 1853, 18 Nicholas Street, Chester, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 74 years) 

    Wife Sophia Anna Lonsdale
              b. 10 Jan 1825, Westminster, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 8 May 1907 (Age 82 years) 
    Marriage 29 Apr 1848  Holy Trinity, Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location  [10, 11] 
    Type: This record says 28th, but other sources say 29th 
    Age at Marriage William was 26 years old - Sophia was 23 years old. 
    Children 
     1. Edward Lonsdale Bryans
              b. 6 Mar 1849, Birthwaite, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 3 Nov 1911, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years)
     2. Rev. Henry Allen Bryans
              b. 29 Jul 1850  
              d. 27 Jan 1883, Ajaccio, Corse-du-Sud, France Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 32 years)
     3. Arthur Bryans
              b. 14 Mar 1852, Harley Street, Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 1 Mar 1944, Holmwood Cottage, Holmwood, Surrey, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 91 years)
     4. John Lonsdale Bryans
              b. 21 Mar 1853, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 16 May 1945, West Malvern, Herefordshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 92 years)
     5. Clement Bryans
              b. 19 Aug 1854  
              d. 21 Nov 1916, Harrogate, Yorkshire North Riding, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 62 years)
     6. Herbert William Bryans
              b. 14 Jan 1856, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 30 Apr 1925 (Age 69 years)
     7. Katherine Bryans
              b. 23 Jun 1857  
              d. 20 Aug 1941 (Age 84 years)
     8. Mary Sophia Anne Bryans
              b. 26 Oct 1859  
              d. 15 Mar 1860, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 0 years)
     9. Alice Bryans
              b. 4 Apr 1861  
              d. 5 Mar 1892 (Age 30 years)
     10. Lucy Bryans
              b. 11 May 1862  
              d. 10 Jan 1966, Torquay, Devon, England, United Kingdom Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 103 years)
     11. Margaret Sophia Bryans
              b. 25 Jun 1864
     12. Elizabeth Bryans
              b. 15 Jun 1870  
              d. 1916 (Age 45 years)
    Last Modified 19 Oct 2018 

  • Notes 
    • Early Life
      William Bryans was born on the 8th of October 1821, in Liverpool, the ninth child and youngest son of Richard Bryans and Anne Pillar, both of whom were recent immigrants from Ireland. William was one of only two of the children to be born in England, the rest were born in Ireland (country Tyrone, most likely) where the family lived prior to 1817. William was baptised on the 16th November 1821 at St George, Everton (near Liverpool).

      William went to Rugby School in 1837 and then on to Clare College Cambridge in 1841 (aged 20) though he ultimately graduated from Trinity, in 1845.

      From the reminiscences of his wife Sophia Anna Lonsdale1:
      My husband went early to school at a day school in Liverpool with his brother Edward [Edward Thomas Bryans, 1820-1841], 2 years older and a brother who died young. After his childish school he went to a Mr Cowan’s in Liverpool and he often spoke of good teaching then and of Vanderhoff’s lessons in elocution. I fancy that he was one of V’s best pupils and some of the Shakespeare then learnt always stuck in his memory. Then he went to Rugby & was under Dr Arnold [1795-1842, Headmaster of Rugby] with Beadley, Lushington & Tom Hughes [author of Tom Browne's School Days]. Then he was at Trinity Col. Dublin for 2 years. I suppose it was considered a pity that a promising pupil should not go to Cambridge. He was first a Scholar at Clare but gave up his scholarship in order to be at Trinity where he was intimate with rather a distinguished set of friends, Tom Taylor [probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Taylor], Lushington again, Henry Hallam [probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hallam], Mansfield & Gray. Unfortunately the spasms which had begun when he was a boy of 15 interrupted his happy time at Cambridge and a bad term of them when he went in for the exam for his degree obliged him to send in a blank paper on a subject he hoped to do very well in. He got a Second Class in Classics in spite of his illness.


      Career
      Like at least one of his brothers (Henry, the second eldest), William chose the ecclesiastical life. He was ordained Deacon in 1846 aged 26 and spent two years in Windermere before being ordained a priest in 1847. After brief stints in Windermere and Ash Parva (Shropshire), in 1852 he and the family moved to Tarvin in Cheshire (close to his parents and siblings, most of whom lived in Cheshire) and was the vicar of Tarvin for 34 years, retiring in 1886 from ill-health.

      Family Life
      William married Sophia Anna Lonsdale, the daughter of John Lonsdale (the Bishop of Lichfield), at Holy Trinity in Marylebone, London on the 29th of April 1848. He was 26 at the time and Sophia would have been 23.

      Again, from Sophia's reminiscences1:
      I believe he had never cared for any girl before me. We were not engaged for many months. I should think in June or July 1846 when he came to us in Harley Street and we were not married til April [18]48 at Marylebone Church. A very quiet wedding as my mother was in delicate health. Henry Hallam was best man & Mrs Coltman & her daughter my great friend were there, also Libby Reid [a cousin of Sophia's, the daughter of Sarah Bolland and William Reid] & my deaf and dumb cousin Arthur Bather & I think George Field & his wife.


      William and Sophia had a prodigious number of children over the next 23 years:
      1. Edward Lonsdale, born 1849, who married Gwendoline Anne Davies in 1881
      2. Henry Allen, born 1850, who died unmarried aged 32 in Ajaccio, Corsica
      3. Arthur, born 1852, who married Annie Jessie Burn-Murdoch
      4. John Lonsdale, born 1853, who married Sibella Eliza Tomkinson in 1881
      5. Clement, born 1854, teacher at Fettes and Dulwhich College, who married Constance Mary Fell in 1883
      6. Herbert William, born 1856, and became a renowned maker of stained glass windows, who married Louisa Richardson in 1881
      7. Katherine, born 1858, who married George Herbert Sing in 1885
      8. Mary Sophia Anne, born 1859 (died 1860)
      9. Alice, born 1861 and died unmarried in 1892
      10. Lucy, born 1863, who married Richard Craven Garnett in 1900. Lucy celebrated her centenary and lived to the age of 103.
      11. Margaret Sophia, born 1864, who married Edward Diggins in 1889
      12. Elizabeth, born 1871, who married William Hunter Steen in 1902


      Residences

      • 1852-1886: The Vicarage, Tarvin with Oscroft, Cheshire
      • 1886?-1889: (In retirement) King's Garden, Eltham, Kent

      Death
      William died on the 18th July 1889, aged 67, in Eltham in London. His will was proved on the 19th of September that year by his sons Edward and Arthur. He left his chattels to Sophia and the residue of his estate went into trust to pay income for his wife for life, and then to his children in equal shares2.

      Footnotes
      [1] R_Unknown_WBryans_Profile
      [2] The Scotsman, Friday October 4, 1889, page 7

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 8 Oct 1821 - Liverpool, Merseyside, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBaptism - 16 Nov 1821 - Everton St George, Walton-on-the-Hill, West Derby, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsEducation - 8 Oct 1837 - Rugby School, Rugby, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsEducation - Matriculation - 24 Sep 1841 - Clare College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsEducation - Transfer - 10 Oct 1842 - Trinity College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDegree - 1845 - Trinity College, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - Between 1846 and 1848 - Windermere, Cumberland, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Type: This record says 28th, but other sources say 29th - 29 Apr 1848 - Holy Trinity, Marylebone, Westminster, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - Between 1850 and 1852 - Ash Parva, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsCensus - 1851 - Ash Parva, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsResidence - Between 1852 and 1886 - Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 18 Jul 1889 - Eltham, Greenwich, London, County of London, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 22 Jul 1889 - St Andrew's, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    The Wedding of Arthur Bryans & Annie-Jessie Burn-Murdoch
    Bryans/Burn-Murdoch wedding

    Documents
    Obituary    		Obituary
    Obituary

    Headstones
    William Bryans Memorial    		William Bryans Memorial
    St Andrews, Tarvin, Cheshire

  • Sources 
    1. [S0310] FamilySearch, England and Wales Census, 1861, (familysearch.org), 1861, Bryans; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7L7-81N : 24 October 2019), Sophia A Bryans in household of William Bryans, Tarvin, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom; from "1861 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast.

    2. [S0311] FamilySearch, England and Wales Census, 1851, (familysearch.org), 1851, Bryans; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SG66-4GT : 9 November 2019), William Bryans, , Shropshire, England; citing , Shropshire, England, p. 18, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.fi.

    3. [S0042] Ancestry, Liverpool, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1917, (ancestry.co.uk), 16 Nov 1821, Liverpool Record Office; Liverpool, England; Reference Number: 283 GEV/2/1.

    4. [S0307] FamilySearch, England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975, (familysearch.org), 16 Nov 1821, William Bryans; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJGX-R87 : 11 March 2018, Richard Bryans in entry for William Bryans, ); citing yr 1814-1902 p 23, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL mic.

    5. [S0095] Ancestry, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900, (ancestry.co.uk), http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2017c.pl?sur=bryans&suro=w&fir=william&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50.

    6. [S0096] Rugby School Register (Volume 1; 1675-1849), (Published 1881, printed by AJ Lawrence), Volume 1, Pag 198.

    7. [S0312] FamilySearch, England and Wales Census, 1881, (familysearch.org), 1881, Bryans; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q272-L8VC : 13 December 2017), William Bryans, Tarvin With Oscroft, Cheshire, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales Census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.

    8. [S0046] findagrave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144070892/william-bryans.

    9. [S0211] British Newspaper Archive, Cheshire Observer, The, (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk), 27 Jul 1889, Page 3.

    10. [S0191] Ancestry, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932, (ancestry.co.uk), 29 Apr 1848, Bryans / Lonsdale;London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: p89/tri/049.

    11. [S0309] FamilySearch, England Marriages, 1538–1973, (familysearch.org), 28 Apr 1848, Bryans / Lonsdale; (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJWL-K8H : 10 February 2018), William Bryans and Sophia Anna Lonsdale, 28 Apr 1848; citing Trinity Marylebone, Middlesex, England, reference , index based upon data collected by the Geneal.