The Reynolds Shawl

My family heirloom is a christening shawl that has been passed down from eldest daughter to eldest daughter in my family for approximately nine generations. The shawl is made of fine Indian silk with long ivory tassels, and it is known in my family as the “Reynolds Shawl,” named after an ancestor who served in the British army in India. It is over two-hundred years old.

My grand uncle on my mother’s side carried out detailed research on our family tree. In particular, he traced back the lineage of the “Reynolds Shawl.” He carried out this research at the time with the help of my great-grandmother, who recounted to him the lineage of the shawl, as told to her by her own mother.

He documented that Mary Reynolds, my five times great-grandmother, was baptised in March 1800 with her birth registered in about 1799, in Clonsilla, Kilmore, County Roscommon, Ireland. Her parents are believed to be Michael Reynolds and Catherine Smyth. It is believed that she was born out of wedlock, which was scandalous at the time. The shawl was likely to have been very meaningful to Mary, as her parents were not legally married, and although we do not know much about his involvement in her life, her father was certainly absent during her early years, given he was stationed in India. My grandmother carried out further research and successfully found a record for an individual named Michael Reynolds, born in Roscommon, in 1767, and who served in the British army in India. From the research that has been carried out, we can now say that, in all likelihood, my five times great-grandmother Mary Reynolds, born in about 1799, was the first recipient of the Reynolds shawl in my family. From the document above, we know that Michael Reynolds was enlisted into the army in 1804. It is likely that he was the original purchaser of the shawl, and that he bought the shawl during his time in India while serving the army.

Given that his time in the army post-dated her Christening, we deduced that Mary could not have been christened in the shawl. Similar shawls are still for sale in Eastern Asians countries as wedding shawls. It is likely, therefore, that Michael Reynolds bought the shawl as a wedding present, and, later, Mary began to pass it down as a christening shawl.

The shawl has since been passed from eldest daughter to eldest daughter, with eight generations of my family having been christened in this shawl. It is certainly unusual that a family heirloom would be passed down the female line. One would assume that this was because Mary was the couple’s only child, and given that she was a daughter, it seemed only fitting for that tradition to be continued. The importance of the shawl as a family heirloom carried extra significance when a family tragedy occurred. After just eight years of marriage, and with four young children, my three times great grandmother, Mary Finn Murray, lost her husband. Unable to look after her children alone, she left them behind and moved to England. The children were split up to be taken care of by other family members as was the custom of the time. Her eldest daughter, Mary J. Finn received the shawl as a family heirloom, meaning it was one of the few things that she had left of her mother, no doubt treasured by her.

The picture below shows me, Aoife, Carroll, a ninth-generation recipient of the shawl- the eldest daughter of an eldest daughter. I feel honoured that in the near future, the “Reynolds shawl” will be passed on to me, as it is a treasured piece of my family’s history, and I look forward to it being passed on in generations to come.