THE DUNBAVINS

My paternal grandmother was Sarah Dunbavin (born 1881) who came from the Dunbavin family who lived in and around the village of Hale, Lancashire (now Cheshire). Hale is just outside Widnes on the north bank of the River Mersey. During my searches, I realised that the name Dunbavin is quite an unusual name but there was a concentration around Hale, Oglet and Speke which are all within a few miles of each other on the river. Sarah's father was Thomas Dunbavin who died in his late twenties of a 'fever' and she was brought up by her maternal grandparents whilst her mother went into service. Thomas's father was Ralph Dunbavin (born 1818), and Ralph's father was another Thomas who was born in the late 18^th century. Although I have found a lot of Dunbavins in the area, it has been difficult to put the various parts of the families together.

From various sources, I have found that the Dunbavins were a fishing family. I am not sure whether they just fished the river or went out further into the Irish Sea. Also, I am not sure what they fished for but I did find a reference to shrimp fishing in the River Mersey in the mid-19^th century. This industry would have died out in the late 19^th century as the river became increasingly polluted from the chemical industry just up the river at Widnes. I found out that the fishing community had existed for hundreds of years and the fishermen had to pay a tithe to the Lord of the Manor, this tithe consisted of all fish caught on Fridays. The 1881 Census has three separate Dunbavin families living in York Street, Garston, with two of the heads of household being listed as fishermen. The same Census shows five different Dunbavin households in the same immediate area of Cottage, Speke. Within three of these five households there are six men with fishermen listed as their occupation.

The churchyard of St. Mary's Parish Church in Hale contains six Dunbavin family graves. One gravestone says, "Thomas Dunbavin of Speke who unfortunately drowned in the River Mersey on 26^th October 1826 in the 48^th year of his life." He was probably my 3^rd great grandfather who I know was born in the late 18^th century but I can not be sure of this as there were so many Thomases in the Dunbavin family.

By Ralph Crosby (1955 - )