1911 census religion

Jjameson

Looking at family relations in north Wexford that were as far as I know church of Ireland. But a lot of the family members are noted as THW. What is this or what does it stand for?

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Wexford/Cahore/Cullentra/685963/

pinkypinky

I presume it's these people.

When you look at the image, it says the family refused to state their religion. THW is the initials of the census enumerator, Constable Thomas H. Woods - see the note written on the bottom of the return.

William Sunderland & Alice Bailey married in a Church of Ireland service in 1901 though.

NattyO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575146#Comment_120575146

Interesting - I wonder why they would refuse to disclose it? It would hardly have been a secret what religion anyone was back then.

Jjameson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575146#Comment_120575146

I find it very peculiar. I can’t fathom why they’d refuse. It’s a bit far back for the older folk but thank you for your help.

Jjameson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120575146#Comment_120575146

They were actually “Dippers” I think.

Hermy

Mod Note: Just a reminder to always post a link to the document you are querying to help others to help you.

lottpaul

Dippers - not to be confused with Baptists who were sometimes also called Dippers - were also known as Cooneyites. They were regarded with suspicion/hatred by many of their C of I and other Protestant neighbours. From childhood memory (in the 60s and 70s) they were people who kept to themselves, worked hard, dressed plainly etc but because they had placed themselves outside of regular religion they were distrusted. Family memories would place them in certain parts of south Wicklow and Wexford. I know of several in my own tree who were married in a registry office rather than a church and there's a story of Gardaí being called to a C of I graveyard when some Cooneyites wanted to bury a member and the local rector - and some of his parishioners - objected. The last ones I knew personally - an elderly man and his sister - died in the 70s and their memory is all but gone.

Jjameson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120576546#Comment_120576546

The funerals were infamous. No clergy, instead any member could speak. They did I think have baptism ceremonies “Baptist” style.

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120576546#Comment_120576546

Interesting, I assumed Dippers was a Baptist sect. What is it about S. Wicklow? Darby was from there also. He founded the 'Exclusive Brethern', +/- the early version of the Plymouth variety.

pinkypinky

Does this Darby tie into the character in The Coroner's Daughter who is a Brethern leader? It's the One City One Book for this year - I'm reading it at the moment.

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120579242#Comment_120579242

I'm not aware of the book's detail - I'm not a big reader of novels, although I enjoyed Umberto Eco's ' Day of the Rose' and also Pears' 'An instance of the fingerpost'.

The guyI referred to is John Nelson Darby. a Church of Ireland cleric in Co. Wicklow. After a bad fall from a horse Darby spent his convalescence rigorously studying the Bible, during which time he became very fundamentalist in his views. His beliefs were founded in pre-millenarianism - a doctrine that suggests certain events are evidence of God's pre-determined plan to bring about the second coming of Christ.

As part of this belief Darby considered that although the Jews had rejected Jesus, they had a dispensation from God and the countdown to the second coming could only begin when they had returned to their homeland. Darby was a passionate preacher and his brand of religion spread across society. (He had very strong adherents in Kerry also and his influence had a major impact in Ireland during the Famine .)This Providentialism (the belief that all events on Earth are controlled by God) was not confined just to the adherents of the Plymouth Brethern and explains many of the policies put in place and the outlook during the Famine by CofI and RC clergy alike. It's a sort of Providentialism v.2.0. It also is very apparent today in US politics - internal and international - and explains in part the support for Zionism by fundamentalist Christians like GW Bush.

In my experience the people I've known who have fallen off horses too many times have strange views, not just on religion!

I

ath262

"...Umberto Eco's 'Day of the Rose' .."

could that be "The Name of the Rose" ? made in a film late 80s with Sean Connery and Christian Slater

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120582109#Comment_120582109

Yes. My slip. When working in Mainz for a few weeks in the late 1980's I was invited to a dinner in Eberbach Abbey (the film's location) when it was being developed to bring in revenue . I remember it as being very bleak and freezing cold and as a result I got a heavy cold! Those Cistercians must have been hardy men! (Sorry for going off topic.)