The Fleury family were orginally descended from French Huguenots who settled in Ireland at the end of the 17th century to escape religious persecution.

The first Fleury in Ireland was Louis Fleury, the Protestant Pastor of Tours, who fled to England in 1679 with his wife, Esther Dubourdieu, his son, born 1671 and two daughters. He eventually came to Ireland as one of the private chaplains of William of Orange and was present at the Battle of the Boyne along with Esther's cousin Jean Dubourdieu (son of Isaac Dubordieu), who was a chaplain to the Duke of Schomberg.

Louis Fleury later became pastor at Leydon where his son, Philip Amuret (or Amaury) was ordained. Philip Fleury was appointed chaplain to Colonel La Bouchetiere's Regiment of Dragoons, but as he is also stated to have officiated in the French Church of La Patente from 1704-1706 he cannot have accompanied the regiment abroad. From 1716 to his death in 1734 he served in the French Church of St Patricks, Dublin, however he appears to have kept his connections with the regiment as in 1719, when they were quartered in Ardee, he was instrumental in suppressing a mutiny in their ranks.

Philip was the father of Rev. Antoine Fleury, also educated at Leyden and ordained there in 1728. In 1730 the latter was licensed to the French Church of St Patricks, a post which he resigned on his appointment to Coolbanagher in 1736, He was appointed Vicar-Choral of Lismore in 1761 and died in 1801, being buried at the French cemetery in Portarlington. By his wife Marie Julie, daughter of Colonel Paul Brunet de Rochbrune, he had a son, George Louis, who was educated in Trinity College. He was appointed Archdeacon of Waterford in 1773. His daughter married Richard Ryland, author of the history of Waterford. Three of his sons entered the ministry and a fourth was Captain J Franqufort Fleury of the 36th regiment.

Another branch of the Fleury family seems to have settled in Cork for in Doneraile churchyard a monument existed to the memory of David Fleury, son of James Fleury and Louise Le Marchand, who was born in the parish of Torchand in Lower Normandy in 1667 and died in 1720. A certain TC Fleury, who graduated in medicine at the University of Edinburgh in 1760, may also have had some connection, with the family. He settled in Dublin, where he became the first systematic lecturer on Midwifery, where he died in 1797.

The fact that many Irish records were destroyed in a fire at the Dublin Records Office in 1922 means that it is extremely difficult to definitively prove any lineage to the first Fleurys to enter Ireland. However, the number of Fleurys in the country at any given time is not particularly large, and, given the fact that Louis Fleury and his descendents stayed in Ireland for several generations during which they are able to be tracked, it seems highly likely that there is indeed a direct connection.

Census return and birth and death records show that most Ireland born Fleurys were transient people, probably because of their history as refugees, and were not averse to travelling around England in search of work. The first Fleury ancestor we can pin down with any degree of certainty is John Flury (census returns spell his name without an "e"), born 1816 in Carlow and his wife Elizabeth Pardue, born in 1821 in Waterford. Both Carlow and Waterford were prominent Huguenot settlements.

Unfortunately, we are unable to track Elizabeth Pardue's lineage any further back. However, Pardue is a prominent Huguenot name, which is still common in the Waterford area. Pardue is a variant of Perdue, which also remains common, and which orginates from Normandy. Historically, thhe Perdues were prominent bell founders in England and Ireland, with bells in many English and Irish cathedrals being cast by them. Indeed, one member of the family, William Perdue was buried in Limerick Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland with this tombstone epitaph; "Here a bell founder, honest and true, till resurrection lie Perdue."

John and Elizabeth Flury were living in Manchester in 1861 with their 4 children, John (b. 1847), Catherine (b.1852), James H (b. 1855) and Joseph (b.1860). At that time John Sr was a cotton grinder and his son was also working in the mill. When the Fleurys first came to England is unclear and indeed, they may have gone to and fro from Ireland several times. They are not recorded on the 1851 census and may have been in Ireland at that time. However, John Jr was born in 1847 in Manchester so they were definitely there then.

Interestingly, the 1841 census also shows a family of Fleurys in Manchester (Poland Place) - John and Mary - born 1796 plus a number of children. Nearby there is also a Patrick and Elizabeth Fleury. Patrick is listed as a cotton carder and Patrick and Elizabeth are exactly the same ages as John Flury and Elizabeth Pardue. Could it be that Patrick Fleury and John Flury are one and the same people and that John and Mary Fleury are his parents? This is certainly possible as calling the oldest son after oneself was common. Patrick (or John) would have been the eldest.

John Flury would have been great grandfather to my grandmother, Gladys Fleury. Her father was Joseph Fleury (b. 1868-70), a nebulous character, who my grandmother didn't really know, as he spent much time away from home. All we originally knew about him was that he served in the army and that his father was a French teacher. Fortunately, Joseph's army records reveal a great deal about his personality (dealt with elsewhere) and also refer to a sister, Mary Anne and a brother, James.

This information has allowed us to track Joseph to Monkwearmouth near Sunderland in 1871. Here Mary Anne and Joseph both have the surname Mokone, and are living in the house of their grandparents - John and Elizabeth Flury, the former at that time being employed as a coal miner. There is also a James Flury living in the same house. However, this is James H Flury, the son of John and Elizabeth.

This is interesting because Joseph's marriage certificate says his father was a teacher called James. However, James is too young to be Josephs father. Could it be that James is actually an uncle or cousin but masquerades as a father or brother depending on the occasion?

The likeliest father is John Flury Jr (1847-88). His wife Margaret and children were in the 1891 census with the eldest child Margaret being born in 1873. This makes it possible that Mary Anne and Joseph were the product of a first marriage or a liaison prior to his marriage to Margaret.

Why the surname Mokone though? We can only speculate but it may well be that Mokone is a mispronunciation of a French surname. A more intriguing possibility as to the identity of Joseph's father and/or the origin of the Mokone name is thrown up in the 1871 census, which shows a Charles Fleury living in Addiscombe Road, Croydon. He was born in Waterford and his eldest daughter Elenor was born in Manchester, at approximately the time Joseph was born. Could there be a family connection here? Two doors away in Croydon was living a French servant called Josephine Marconnet. The phonetic similarity of her name to Mokone and her age, which is about right for her to be a candidate for Joseph's mother, throw up some interesting, if relatively unlikely, possibilities.

It would appear that the whole Fleury family moved to Sunderland sometime before 1865 as (Mary Anne was born in Sunderland in that year. John Flury Jr married in 1867 in Sunderland as did sister Catherine (in 1868 to Charles Gray). However, at some point they must have moved temporarily back to Manchester as Joseph was born there.