Andrew Brons represents an anti-immigrant party but whats his family history?
- On the ballot sheet his full name is “Andrew H W Brons” and after a quick search I established he is Andrew Henry William Brons.
- A quick search on http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ for 19th century and early 20th century “Brons” produces very few
- http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/ compares the 1881 and 1998 surnames of Great Britain. Brons is not present suggesting its rare, it is possible it’s a shorter form of Bronson
- According to internet sources he was born 3rd june 1947
- Brons is a very rare surname so logging on at a library I checked http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ and searched all the england birth catalogues. Fortunately 1 of them can be searched via name. Here is what the index popped up:
Andrew H W Brons
Mother's Maiden Surname: Spenner
Date of Registration: Apr May Jun 1947
Registration district: Hackney
Registration county: Greater London, Middlesex
Volume Number: 5c
Page Number: 1188
Normally I would order the birth certificate to confirm this but in view of his long and rare name I was tempted to jump to conclusions. However Mr Brons had been researching his family tree on the internet.
- I found the following on ancestry.coms family forums
Re: spenner of Todenhausen, Hesse
andrewb1 (View posts) Posted: 31 Mar 2002 12:45PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames:
My maternal grandfather Andreas Spenner was born in Gilserberg in Hesse in 1869 but his father Johann Heinrich Spenner was born in Redderhausen in 1817, as was his father, Jacob Spenner in 1793. However Jacob's father, Johann Mathaus Spenner was born in Unterrosphe and moved to and was married in Redderhausen in 1792. Unterrosphe and Redderhausen are a couple of miles to the East of Wetter, whilst Todenhausren is a couple of miles to the North of Wetter.
I was in that area last Summer and I called at a farmhouse in Unterrosphe and the farmer had records of a Spenner in that vuillage in 1628. It would appear that they spread our from there over the next two centuries.
I hope that this is of some interest to you.
I can be contacted on: andrewb@cordtbruns.fsnet.co.uk
Andrew Brons
http://boards.ancestry.com.au/surnames.spenner/2.1/mb.ashx
Note that his mothers maiden name was stated as Spenner. It could be argued at this stage that perhaps it is coincidence.
March 18, 2002 at 12:31:23
Dear Nicola,
Despite my name of 'Brons', my forebears were also called 'Bruns'. However, I think that it is unlikely that your Brunses are related to ours (ours all went to London from Germany.
Nevertheless, I have noticed some Liverpool Brunses on the Free BMD web-site. They are: Sophie Brunsmarried Sept Quarter 1871;Rebecka Bruns married December Quarter 1854; Henry Bruns marriedMarch Quarter 1871; Henry Bruns born December Quarter 1898; and Johanna Bruns born June Quarter 1893.
If you need any more information, you can contact me on: andrewb@cordtbruns.fsnet.co.uk. I am across the Pennines in Harrogate.
With best wishes
Andrew Brons
http://genforum.genealogy.com/bruns/messages/213.html
He uses the same email as in the above message and mentions Harrogate. During this time he was a politics lecturer at a Harrogate college, he retired recently. The message is dated 2002.
The Bruns family in Germany and London New
Andrew Brons (View posts) Posted: 5 Jul 2003 10:45AM
Classification: Query
Surnames:
Further to my message of 5th May 2003, I have now been told of the details of the births of my great-grandfather Cordt Bruns and his brothers. Cordt (written as Cord in the church register) was born in Waffensen, which is now part of Rotenburg(Wumme- with an umlaut over the 'u'), on 23rd July 1839. His brothers Hermann and Claus-Heinrich were also born in Waffensen on 1st November 1829 and 31st January 1834, respectively. Their brother Heinrich was born in Sottrum (just north of Rotenburg) on 14th November 1824. Their parents were Heinrich Bruns and Anna-Maria Bohling - with an umlaut over the 'o'.
There appear to have been a lot of Brunses from that area: I have found a Johann Cord Bruns who arrived in London from Bockel (which is nearby) in 1881.
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.bruns/150/mb.ashx
The Bruns family in Germany and London New
Andrew Brons (View posts) Posted: 5 May 2003 10:47AM
Classification: Query
Surnames:
My great-grandfather was Cordt Bruns (born1839/40). He had three brothers: Heinrich (1824/5); Hermann (1830/1); and Claus (1834/5). They were born in Germany (I believe but I have not confirmed in Amt Rotenburg (Wuemme) near Bremen. The emigrated from Germany to work as sugar bakers in London, England, where they were living in 1861. In 1863, Cordt married Eliza Fraley (the name was originally Froelich). He appears as Conrad Brons on the 1881 census.Cordt's brothers do not appear on the 1881 census. They might have died, returned to Germany or emigrated to some other country - perhaps to the United States.
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.bruns/143/mb.ashx
Re: Bruns
Andrew Brons (View posts) Posted: 6 Jul 2003 9:52PM
Classification: Query
Surnames:
It would appear that the mother of my great grandfather, Cordt Bruns (born in Waffensen - now part of Rotenburg(Wumme) - 1839) was Anna Maria Bruns. However, that was her married name (her maiden name being Bohling). Nevertheless, it is quite possible that she had a daughter named after her. I have so far only discovered four brothers but it is quite possible that they had sisters.
Andrew Brons
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/localities.ceeurope.germany.niedersachsen.general/390.1895.2182/mb.ashx
Another harrogate connection, but from his Nephews. There are several posts related to the Gangwers.
Gangwer family history
andrewb1 (View posts) Posted: 22 Dec 2001 5:52PM
Classification: Query
Surnames:
My nephews, Jonathan and Ian Gangwer, living in Harrogate England, would like to know about their family history. Their father was James Ray Gangwer (born in 1941 approx)(Junior).
His father was also called James Ray Gangwer. They lived in Pasadena in the 1960s and 1970s (probably later) but the family previously came from Indiana
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.gangwer/39/mb.ashx
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.gangwer/38/mb.ashx#
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.gangwer/40/mb.ashx
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.gangwer/41/mb.ashx
http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/surnames.gangwer/42/mb.ashx
5)Again another family tree website, again Brons, again Spenner.
Posted by: Andrew Brons (ID *****9824) Date: July 23, 2003 at 17:03:38
In Reply to: Huth family index in Britian by Alister Huth of 161
My maternal grandfather, Andreas Spenner was born in Gilserberg, Hessen in 1869. He and his two brothers and three(?) sisters came to London. One of the sisters, known as Elizabeth married a Nicholas Huth, who I believe, came from Austria. He was not naturalised so he was interned in the First World War, in Alexandra Palace. His wife lived with my grandfather and his family during the war.
There were four sisters of my grandfather with Elizabeth as part of their names and I do not know which one was the Elizabeth who married Nicholas Huth.
There are no children shown on the family tree drawn up by my father but it did have omissions and inaccuracies so it does not mean that there were none. There is one person surviving from the generation following Andreas and his brothers and sisters. I can ask him if he remembers any.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/huth/messages/130.html
6) After this I went back to the Library and searched through the marriage indexes.
Unfortunately only some of the index is available to search by name at http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ The library edition of http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ had a rough 1837-2000-ish index. There are usually 4 marriage registers produced each year, so I had to trawl through several years surnames beggining with “br” until I found a Brons ho married a Spenner. It is then possible to do the same for Spenner and get both of their full names
I then used http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ to look up the births of Ronald Lloyd G Brons and Alice Elizabeth Spenner.
So Andrew Brons parents were Ronald Lloyd G Brons born late 1909 Bethnal Green and Alice Elizabeth Spenner born mid 1910 Hackney.
7) 1911 census....
Ronald lloyd G Brons is a very unusual surname and using the free preview search at http://www.1911census.co.uk/
I found his father was Herbert Brons born 1880 in Mile end, London (http://www.freebmd.org.uk/) and by using http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ to find Ronalds birth index entry his mother was Isabella Simpson. I believe she is Isabella Sophia Simpson born late 1881 in Bethnal Green (ancestry+freebmd). I then looked at the census entries for Britain which happened every 10 years from 1841 onwards, the newest census available is the 1911 census (ancestry + http://www.familysearch.org ). Possibly Isabella Simpson is the daughter of John Simpson (born 1857 Bethnal green) and Sarah Lydia Richards (born 1854 Bethnal Green). The Simpsons and Richards appear to have several generations in London/Berkshire and due to the common surname I would need to order full birth, marriage and death certificates (at £7 a go!) to confirm any great great grandparents or earlier.
Possibly Isabella’s parents are:
John Simpson B 1857 Bethnal Green, London
Sarah Richards B 1854 Bethnal Green, London
The Brons family is easy to find in London due to their unusual surname, heres the 1871 and 1901 census results for the Brons/Bruns.
From the 1901 census I identified that Andreas Spenners wife (alice) was also born in 1872 Gilserberg, Germany.
8)Great Great grandparents.
I then decided to type “andrew brons” and “froelich” into the web and came up with the following:
carl adolph froelich b. Berlin 1803
Posted by: Andrew Brons Date: April 17, 2001 at 06:27:47
My great great grandfather was called, in England, Charles Adolphus Fraley. I know that he was sixty seven in April 1871 and that he was born in Berlin. I believe that he was the Carl adolph froelich christened in Berlin in October 1803, whose father was Carl Wilhelm Froelich and whose mother was Dorothea Brandtin. I have not however verified this. He was married to (or lived with) Mary Taylor and they had four daughters
http://genforum.genealogy.com/froelich/messages/22.html
Re: carl adolph froelich b. Berlin 1803
Posted by: Andrew Brons (ID *****9824) Date: May 19, 2002 at 07:10:24
In Reply to: carl adolph froelich b. Berlin 1803 by Andrew Brons
There was a slight error in my previous message. The mother of Carl Adolph Froelich was Carolina Dorothea Brandtin (and not just Dorothea).
I have found the marriage of Carl Wilhelm Froelich and Carolina Brandtin on 1st September 1799 in Berlin. They were both in domestic service. Carolina's father, Adolph Brandt, was a fisherman from Fuerstenberg (then in Mecklenberg).
It is possible that Carl Wilhelm Froelich was previously married to Dorothea Friederica Rauthen. A Wilhelm Friederich Froelich was Christened in Berlin on 17th August 1791 - parents Carl Wilhelm Froelich and a Dorothea Friederica Rauthen.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/froelich/messages/36.html
Re: carl adolph froelich b. Berlin 1803
Posted by: Andrew Brons (ID *****9824) Date: May 19, 2002 at 07:10:24
In Reply to: carl adolph froelich b. Berlin 1803 by Andrew Brons of 85
There was a slight error in my previous message. The mother of Carl Adolph Froelich was Carolina Dorothea Brandtin (and not just Dorothea).
I have found the marriage of Carl Wilhelm Froelich and Carolina Brandtin on 1st September 1799 in Berlin. They were both in domestic service. Carolina's father, Adolph Brandt, was a fisherman from Fuerstenberg (then in Mecklenberg).
It is possible that Carl Wilhelm Froelich was previously married to Dorothea Friederica Rauthen. A Wilhelm Friederich Froelich was Christened in Berlin on 17th August 1791 - parents Carl Wilhelm Froelich and a Dorothea Friederica Rauthen.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/froelich/messages/36.html
Cordt Bruns married Elizabeth Froelich in 1863. She was the daughter Charles Adolphus Froelich born circa 1801 Berlin. He married a Mary Taylor. Charles was the son of Carolina Dorothea Brandtin and Carl Wilhem Froelich. Carolina
So here is a rough family tree:
CLICK HERE FOR CLEARER PICTURE OF FAMILY TREE
Andrew H Brons
B 1947 london, middlesex
Ronald Lloyd G Brons Alice Elizabeth Spenner
B 1909 Bethnal Green B 1910 Hackney
Herbert Brons Isabella Simpson Andreas Spenner Alice (Spenner)
B 1880 Mile End, B 1881 Bethnal Green B 1869 Gilserberg B 1872 Gilserberg
London Germany Germany
Cordt/Conrad Bruns Eliza Frayley/Froelich John Heinrich Spenner John Simpson Sarah Rich.
B 1839 Waffensen B 1839 Mile end B 1817Redderhausen B 1857 B 1854
Germany London Germany Bethnal Green Beth. Green
Anna maria Charles Adolphus Mary Taylor Jacob Spenner
Bohling Froelich born 1801 B 1793
Berlin
Carl Wilhem Froelich Carolina Dorothea Brandt
Adolph Brandt
B Fuerstenberg?
CLICK HERE FOR CLEARER PICTURE OF FAMILY TREE
Now, this is all very interesting but Andrew Brons represents an ‘anti-immigrant’ party. And his party have even suggested policies, such as forcing Northern Ireland Catholics back to Ireland!
For reference 8-9% of people on the last 2001 census claimed they were not ‘British’ or ‘Irish’.
I don’t know what the exact answer is for migration but it has to be decided alongside: money for world aid; fairtrade; avoiding illegal wars; world debt; climate change and trade deals. I look forward to the results from the 2011 census. When the results are published in 2012 I will hopefully write something on this website. I have met people who advocate no controls and those who want much tighter borders. Most people are somewhere inbetween.
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