My father had told me that his mother was very keen on her Irish heritage but he appeared somewhat sceptical of this.
Is there any evidence of a connection with Ireland?
Birmingham and the Egan Connection
The central figure in my father’s maternal family history is Patrick Wyer.
My father had told me that Patrick was born in Birmingham, that he’d joined the British army, served in India and retired as a captain. And had changed the surname of his sons to Egan-Wyer.
Introducing the Wyers and Egan Wyers
When my father’s sister asked me, in 2004, to research the family history, I knew nothing about how I should go about doing so. I had some rough notes which I’d made years before in conversation with my father, but I needed more information. I needed to make contacts. But how? And with whom?
Wyer and Egan-Wyer Family Tree
Before viewing the tree, please read the following instructions and notes: Rolling the mouse wheel inside the shaded area changes zoom; rolling the mouse wheel outside the shaded area, or when at the limits of zoom, scrolls the page (sorry). A navigation thumbnail appears in the lower left corner when the mouse is hovering over […]
Three Patricks, three generations, three soldiers
We know that our Patrick enrolled in the 1st Staffordshire Regiment of Militia on 24 October 1857 and enlisted in the 96th Foot Regiment on 11 February 1858.
His life after 1858 is well documented here but the big question is: Can we discover anything about his early life?
Patrick Wyer and Ellen Shannahan
Patrick Wyer was born in 1840 and enlisted in the army two days before his 18th birthday. He arrived in India in 1867 and spent all his army career there.
He married Ellen Shannahan in 1873 in Bengal, India and had nine children. This is their story and that of the change of name from Wyer to Egan-Wyer.