Bernard Barden 1851 to 1918

I suppose I should not feel sorry for Bernard. The black sheep of the Barden family, reputedly an alcoholic, a spendthrift and a deserter, what is there about him to like?

Bernard, Joseph Barden, pet name Barney was born in Palace Street, Dublin in 1851. He was the 6th of eleven children, all of whom lived well into adulthood. His father was Patrick Barden, a tailor to the Irish Court and his mother was Sarah Cavanagh; he was baptised a Catholic on the 26.6.1851. His uncle Bernard and aunt Mary were his sponsors.  Here is a link to his baptismal record:
http://churchrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/details/d59d110006159


By all accounts Barney cut quite a dash. We are fairly sure that this is a picture of him and it has to be said that he was a very handsome man:

Judith was told that her grandfather Bernard studied law but failed to qualify.  He then worked in his father's business as a merchant tailor. At one stage the firm relocated from 3 Palace Street in Dublin to 6 Dawson Street; Judith has some tailor's shears and ribbon with the embroidered words:  Barden & Co.  Dawson Street:

 Bobby has a book with an inscription dated 23 June 1877:  "Given as a token of affection on his birthday to Barney Barden by himself"

Bernard  married Dora in 1884 when he was 33 years old.  His sister Georgina had been in the same art class as Dora Bradley six years before and it is likely that she introduced the two of them.  There must be the suspicion that he married Dora partly  for money. Dora's father Owen had died in 1877 and had left number 1 Sallymount Terrace to her so she was a wealthy woman.

Dora lovingly painted this picture of  Bernard and the locket in the picture above must have been hers.

There must have been a fair amount of romance in the marriage, because Bernard and Dora had seven children of whom five survived.  They followed the enlightened convention of the time, bringing up sons in the religion of their father and their daughters in the religion of their mother.

Oddly, Bernard, his wife Dora and his sister Georgina  all registered as a pupils at DMSA in 1896 when Bernard was 46 years old and Dora was 42.  I speculate that this was to covertly study Irish language.  Their son William had been born only the year before and their youngest son Brian was born in 1898, so it shows dedication!  Here is a link to the register:
http://www.nival.ie/collections/collections/collection/archive/bernard-barden/view/item/

 At some stage, we don't know when, things went wrong for the couple.  The story is that Bernard liked flash company and was extravagant.  He made suits for his fancy friends on credit, but they didn't pay and he fell into financial difficulty. He was responsible for the ruin of the Barden family business. Judith was told that when Dora was recovering from the birth of her daughter Dolly in 1893, Bernard asked her to sign a document guaranteeing his debts.  It took Dora the rest of her life to pay them off.

It all got too much for Bernard and he ran away to Wales, the family were told that he went to work in an institution. This left his wife to bring up six children and pay off his debts. Maybe she felt bitter towards him, certainly his children knew where their loyalties lay.

When did he go?  The 1901 census shows Bernard and his family living at 17 Sallymount Avenue, which is almost certainly the same address as number 1 Sallymount Terrace.  Dora signed the census on Bernard's  behalf, we do not know why, maybe he just didn't get round to it or maybe he was already absent.  The 1911 census still claims that Bernard is living with the family but this may have been for appearance's sake.  The signature could be BJ Barden or it could be BH Barden, namely Bernard's son Hugh (Bernard Hugh Barden), here is a link so that you can make up your own mind:

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000135608/

My mother  was told by her auntie May that when Dora Barden was on her deathbed in 1913, Bernard turned up at the house asking to see her.  The family decided that this was not in Dora's interests and my Uncle Hugh, aged 18 as the oldest male in the household had the job of turning his own father away from the door.

Bernard's son Owen Barden was a keen amateur photographer and this picture is in his photo album.  It has been taken in the back garden of number one Sallymount Terrace. I am sure it is of Bernard and I wonder whether he returned to see his children after the death of his wife. Maybe they felt able to receive him, at least for a short visit.

is this Bernard?

We can only find one mention of a Bernard Barden's death and that is in Northampton, England in 1918; the record states that the man was 57 years old and his job was an "attendant on the insane".  If this was our ancestor, then he was in fact 67 when he died; here is the death certificate:

I do pity my great grandfather Bernard.  His eyes look sad and I wonder if he suffered from depression; maybe he drank to self medicate himself.  Few people are bad to the core but Bernard with his problems wreaked havoc,  caused a lot of hurt to those closest to him and left his family in financial difficulties that took decades from which to recover.

Deirdre