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Brentford Dynasties - Ronalds

Hugh Ronalds, nurseryman & seedsman

Hugh Ronalds the younger (d. 1833) was noted for fruit trees, growing 300 varieties of apple in 1829, and commemorated in his Pyrus Malus Brentfordiensis (1831). He supplied many plants to Kew Gardens from 1801 to 1816 and his firm provided 14,000 shrubs for Kensal Green cemetery. Robert Ronalds (d. 1880) still occupied the nursery by St. Lawrence's church in 1863. (From: 'Ealing and Brentford: Economic history', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 131-44. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22579.)

Ronalds family tree

• A History of the County of Middlesex (see above)
• the PCC wills of three Ronalds
• census returns and other records available through ancestry.co.uk

The tree is speculative and if you are a Ronalds descendant it would be advisable to check the details using primary resources such as certificates!

Hugh Ronalds (ca 1720/35 - 1788): settled in Brentford by 1754, origins not know, his name sounds Scottish; he appears to have had at least two sons:

• Hugh Ronalds (ca 1750/65 - 1833): married Elizabeth Clark in 1784; took over the running of the family nursery business when his father died in 1788; he left a will; his children included:
  • John Ronalds ( - 1850): a seedsman living in teh family home in 1841; he left a will
  • Mary Ronalds (ca 1787 - ): a spinster who lived in Brentford; her baptism is on the IGI
  • Elizabeth Ronalds (ca 1788 - 1852/4 ): a spinster who lived in Brentford; she left a will which was proved in 1854
  • Henry Clark Ronalds ( ): possible marriage to Elizabeth Robinson in New Brentford, 1820; a doctor in Kensington in 1833, deceased by 1852; his children included:
    • William Ronalds
    • Henry Ronalds ( ): possibly married Elizabeth Lucy (-) who was 'of unsound mind' in 1855 (A2A reference); Elizabeth Lucy Ronalds was a widow and a patient in Norwood in 1851; she was born in Canada; their children included:
      • Lucy Ronalds
    • John Ronalds (1831 - 1871)
    • Malcolm Ronalds (1835 - 1865): born Kensington, a lieutenant in the 2nd Warwick Militia; he was visiting Thomas Byass, a surgeon in Cuckfield, Sussex in 1861 and had 'no profession or occupation'; he died in 1865, leaving a will for which James Montgomrey of Brentford was the sole executor
    • Lucy Ronalds ( ): married Francis Byass 1851
    • Mary Ronalds
  • George Naircut Ronalds ( )
  • Robert Ronalds (ca 1800 - ): did not marry; took over the running of the family nursery and continued living in the family home near St Lawrence's church into the 1870s
• Francis Ronalds (deceased by 1841) married Jane (-) (ca 1767 - 1851+): widow living in Turnham Green (1841); in 1851 she was living at Pond House, Chiswick; children include:
  • Jane Ronalds (1786 - ): her baptism is on the IGI
  • Francis Ronalds (ca 1788 - 1873): born 'London, Middlesex'; son of a 'London merchant' who died when Francis was 17 (http://archives.iee.org); in 1851 he was unmarried and 'assistant director of the Royal Observatory Kew'and living in Chiswick with his mother; in 1871 he was living at Battle, Sussex with his unmarried niece Julia ROnalds; Francis's occupation was 'Knight author of electricity': he developed an electric telegraph in 1816; there is a portrait of him in the National Portrait Gallery (1870) which can be viewed online; he was living at St Mary's Villas, Battle when he died and his executors were Samuel Carter of Quarry Hill, Battle Esquire and his nephew Edmund Ronalds, Doctor of Philosophy, Bonnington near Edinburgh
  • Edmund Ronalds (ca 1791 - 1874): married Eliza (Anderson?); Edmund was a cheese dealer of Thames Street London, in 1833 and was trading from this address in 1846; he lived in Hornsey (1861) and Islington; his children included:
    • Edmund Ronalds (1819 - 1889): born Canonbury, baptism is on the IGI; married Barbara (-) and settled in Leith near Edinburgh; Doctor of Philosophy & manufacturing chemist
    • Charlotte Ronalds (1824 - ): baptism is on the IGI
    • Marian Ronalds (ca 1830 - )
    • Janet Ronalds (1831 - ): a governess in 1861; her baptism is on the IGI
    • Francis Ronalds (1832 - ): baptism is on the IGI
    • Hugh Ronalds (1833 - ): occupation 'none' in 1861; baptism is on the IGI; married Bertha Greg in 1867 and lived in Scotland during the 1870s; living in Bollington, Cheshire in 1881 with his wife and mother in law, Mary Greg; settled in Herefordshire where he remained in 1901
    • James A Ronalds (ca 1835 - )
    • Ellen Ronalds (ca 1837 - )
    • Eliza Ronalds (ca 1840 - )
  • Mary Anne Ronalds (1794 - ): her baptism is on the IGI
  • Emily Ronalds (ca 1796 - 1889): born Canonbury, Islington and an annuitant living with her mother in 1851; fundholder living in Reigate Foreign in 1861 & 1871; boarding in Brighton in 1881; she may be the mother of
    • Julia Ronalds (ca 1829 - 1901+): born Kensington; in 1861 she was living with her widowed uncle Edmund Ronalds in Islington; in 1871 she was 'deriving income from dividends' and living with her uncle Francis Ronalds in Battle; in 1881 she was living in Bedford; in 1891 visiting in Bedford; in 1901 visiting Sarah Flower in Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
  • Charlotte Ronalds (1797 - ): her baptism is on the IGI
  • Maria Ronalds (1804 - ): her baptism is on the IGI; possible marriage to Samuel Carter at Chiswick in 1833