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Showing posts from November, 2021

Photo Story- Driving with Elvis

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  Elvis! In 1959 (?) while were still living in Temora, New South Wales, my father Jack (John William) Hingerty bought a car. It was an old Ford Prefect ute with a plywood cover over the tray. We called it Elvis because it would 'Shake, Rattle and Roll'. Dad taught himself to drive and then drove down to the police station to apply for his driving licence. He was given his licence on the spot and then, to celebrate, drove the policeman to the pub for a beer (all the while being careful to only make left hand turns as he hadn't worked out how to make a right hand turn- in Australia we drive on the left).  And so my father was let loose on the public road! Not long after, we had the 'big move' from rural Temora to the 'big city', Sydney. All our belongings had been packed and taken to the city in the moving van. Mum, Dad, my two sisters Janet (11), Jennifer (2) and I (5) were to travel to our new home in Elvis. Dad had never driven such a long distance.... it

Not all Harringtons are equal

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Not all Harringtons are Equal Bantry Bay, County Cork Beginnings of the Hingerty Surname The Hingerty surname grew out of the Irish clan name O'hlongardail which Woulfe, in 1923 claimed was exclusively anglicised as the surname Harrington, but which MacLysaght in 1957 claimed also included the name Hingerty.  MacLysaght offered the evidence of Elizabethan Fiant 3082 of 1577 as evidence of the close relationship between the names Harrington and Hingerty (he misquoted the Fiant number- it is actually 3080).  In the Fiant 3030 John MacTeige O'Hengerltye of Dunbeacon in Cork is described as "alias Harrington". However, not all Harringtons are closely related to the Hingerty surname. Origins of Harrington Surname  The surname Harrington has multiple origins and was originally an English surname probably from Cumbria. In Ireland, at a time when it was safer to be known by an English sounding surname than an Irish sounding surname, a number of very separate Irish surnames

Hingerty- How do you spell that?

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 Hingerty- How do you spell that? If you are a Hingerty name bearer, the question of how to spell your name would be very familiar to you. Having a rare surname has its perks, but one of the drawbacks is that no one knows how to spell, and often, how to pronounce your name. This issue has been around for Hingerty name bearers for quite a while and has resulted in a wide variety of spellings listed on official records and indexes that adds a level of difficulty to any search for Hingerty historical records. Let's start at the beginning: Hingerty is an Anglicised form of a Gaelic clan name and as such it changed and morphed over the years as it was variously recorded by English speaking government officials struggling to render Gaelic pronunciation into more 'recognisable' English forms.  Attitudes to writing down surnames were more 'flexible' in the past when making it sound correct was seen as more important than making it look the same each time it was written.  Ch

Died in the Asylum

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Hingerty Deaths in Asylums St Luke's Hospital Clonmel William Hingerty Clonmel District Lunatic Asylum was opened in 1835 as part of a series of asylums built across Ireland. In the 1920s it became Clonmel Mental Hospital and in the 1950s St Luke's Hospital. On 6th March 1883, Patrick Hingerty of Toomevara (indexed as Hingarty) brought his 16 year old son William to court, charging him with serious assault on 2,3 and 4 March.  William was committed to Clonmel District Lunatic Asylum as 'a dangerous lunatic during his Majestys pleasure'.  I have not found any death record for William in Ireland and the records for the asylum are not available online. Did William ever leave the asylum?  If he did leave the asylum, when? where did he go? UPDATE June 2023: The Minute Books for the Clonmel Asylum are held at Tipperary Studies, Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland. They have not been digitised and can only be accessed by visiting the centre in person. In June 2023 I was able to visit

Those who Served- UK

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We will remember them..... With remembrance Day almost here, it seemed fitting to honour those Hingertys who served in the UK armed forces. More research and more detail is needed to do justice to their service- but this list is a start- if you can add further details, photos or names to the list e.g. nurses who served in theatres of war or those who served in more recent conflicts, please make contact. Later posts will detail those who served from countries such as Australia and the USA. William Hingerty #12B141 2nd Battalion North Lancashire Regiment (Late 81st Foot). William served in the second Afghan War between 1878 and 1880. He fought at Ali Musjid. Who is this William Hingerty?? James Hingerty  Pte 4462 Born 1875 Stafford, died 1909 Stafford,  son of Michael Richard Hingerty and Catherine McDonald, brother of Daniel, Michael and John Hingerty listed below. Enlisted at 18 years of age into the North Staffordshire Regiment in 1894 until 1897. Daniel Hingerty   #5499 Born 1874 St