Rathgar Road

If you post the address I can check - generally it will be the name of the head of household

Thank you.  The address is 181 Rathgar Road, Dublin (previously Stanley Terrace I believe)

My gt grandfather moved to Ireland in 1895 but we have found no trace of him subsequently apart from a note in the family bible saying he died in Dublin in 1931. I have been unable to trace a death certificate either in Ireland or here in England.  As a stab in the dark I came across an entry online for 181 Rathgar Road calling the building Beddington Guesthouse and Beddington being the place in England that my family come from that seemed a bit of a coincidence. My gt grandfather's surname was Trappitt but prior to moving to Ireland we think he may have found out that his father's name was Chaplin and the family story goes that he started a new family possibly using his father's name. If either of those two surnames crop up connected to 181 Rathgar Road it would be amazing but not holding out too much hope. Some time ago I did write to the Guesthouse asking if they had any previous history of the building but got no reply.

Rathgar Road is listed in the County Dublin section under the section titled ‘Rathmines and Rathgar Urban District’, it is noted as having numbers from 1 to 196, from [the town of] Rathmines to junction of Highfield and Terenure roads. Number 181 was, and still is, beside the junction with Rathmines Park, which is on the east side near the Rathmines end.  Most of the houses on Rathgar Road are quite large, so mostly quite well off occupants, the nearby Catholic church was known as the 'Servant's Church'.

In the street listing for 181 Rathgar road in Thom’s 1930 the occupant is listed as Bernard Coleman.

The index does not show anyone with the surname Trappitt,  the index does not always includes everyone – the street listing is always more comprehensive. There’s just one Chaplin in the index – a J.W. Chaplin with an address at Tudor Road Ranelagh – not too far from Rathgar. No occupation or trade is listed for either of Mr. Chaplin or Mr. Coleman, so probably quite well off..

I had a quick scan through the full listing for Rathgar Road in the 1930 listing, but found no sign or any Trappitt or similar, or Chaplins.. as a double check I also had a quick scan of several late 1920s listing for 181 Rathgar road, but no sign in any of these either..  from 1928  back to at least 1925 the same listing is shown for No. 181 - J.H. Cox F.A.I and 29 Bachelor’s Walk (Auctioneer/Valuer)

Rathgar road was originally made up of individual houses and terraces and as it built up from the early 1800s  these were gradually incorporated in the main numbering system, so for a while you sometimes see houses with dual numbers e.g. xx bbbbb terrace/yy Rathgar road. The current number system for Rathgar road was already well in place by the late 1800s.  I looked into the old houses and terraces for Rathgar Road, many years ago , I may still have a list somewhere..

The 'Beddington' business name and guesthouse for 181 only seems to appear later in the early 1970s.

If the timeline you have is correct then your Trappitt/Chaplin should appear somewhere in Ireland on both the 1901 and 1911 census .. might be worth further checking there, place of birth would probably say just ‘England’ but you might be able to narrow down possible matches based on occupation/trade etc

Thank you so much.  J W Chaplin sounds interesting as his names are James William.  He was a builder here in England but not in a big way so would not expect him to be classed as wealthy.   I have checked the censuses in the past but will give them another try.  

I found a death for the wife of this J.W. Chaplin - her name was Alice Elizabeth died 1954 at 5 Tudor Road Ranelagh, the informant is husband J.W. Chaplin of the same address. Following up on this I also found a death for her husband John William also on IrishGenealogy - 1971 the most recent year covered at the moment, he died at 5 Tudor Road occupation Commercial Traveller (retd) reported age 77

They are both is buried in Deansgrange cemetery in South County Dublin - Alice Elizabeth in 1954 age matches the death cert as 59 - the plot is St. Nessan/A1/69, in the same plot is probable match for her husband, a John William Chaplin buried 1971 reported age 77.

Thanks once again.  I got excited when I saw the names Alice and Elizabeth but may have got over excited.  Looking at the dates it could be that John William was a  son of my James William but it is too much of a coincidence that both wives, his own and his father's  would have been called Alice. I would love to find James' death certificate but with no sign of one in UK or Irish records am at a loss where to look next.  The story goes that his sister had his body brought back to England for burial here but again have found to evidence of this. Given the time frame - 1895-1931 - is there a likely reason why a small time builder and a female companion from England would chose Ireland to make a new life for themselves having no known connection to the country. I am no expert on Irish history but it seems a strange decision.