Thomas Transfield entered the Royal Chelsea Hospital London on 1st November 1764 aged 52 after serving 26 years with the army. His record shows he was born at Urney (Orney) Cavan, Ireland, about 1712 his occupation on joining stated as weaver. Would any member be familiar with the name Tranfield/Transfield in Urney? Thank you for your help.
Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!
There are no Transfield entries in mid-19th Century Ireland (Griffith's Valuation):
http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/surname/index.cfm?Surname=Transfield….
Out of interest I also had a look at the Flax Growers List to see if the name was noted there, but there was nothing in Co. Cavan in general or Urney specifically and nothing even approaching the spelling of the name:
http://www.failteromhat.com/flax/cavan.php
One of the difficulties is the early timeframe for your search. RC records for Urney (Kilmore) begin in 1812 - early enough in the context of other parishes, but not early enough for your search for Thomas. Do you know if he was RC or CoI? Records for the CoI parish of Kilmore begin in 1702. Rootsireland list them (a pay site) or you could use familysearch for free, though you may already have tried this?
Best wishes
Clare Doyle
Genealogy Support
Thank you for your response and your advice which is greatly appreciated.
Regrettably, the content of my original message is all I know about Thomas Tranfield. But since his is the earliest record found outside England I was hopeful that it might lead in a new direction. The surname survives in Ireland today from a later generation and perhaps not so surprising both RC and COI. The name is rare but occasionally appears, under variant spellings, throughout English records from 1556. Unfortunately, nothing as interesting as an identifiable family line until 1780.