John Aylward, A Waterford-born Merchant of the 17th Century - the Lecture

Lecturer Jimmy McCrohan meets present-day John Aylward (right)

On Thursday 5th September, on the second day of the Aylward Gathering, Mr Jimmy McCrohan gave a talk on a 17th century merchant, John Aylward, born c 1650 in Waterford. He emigrated very young, arriving in Málaga in the 1660s where he became an apprentice to the Wyse family. Málaga was then a military, not a commercial port, and Spain dominated the American trade. John Aylward proved to have shrewd business sense, good judgement, and the ability to built strong relationships with business partners in many cities. He moved to Saint-Malo, in France, where he married the widowed daughter of Matthew Porter, another Irish expatriate. His wife was as astute in business as he was, and he left matters to her while he was away. He became an aristocrat in France, yet later relocated to London in 1698. He had three daughters, one of them, Mary Alsen Aylward, married Charles Howard, of he Dukes of Norfolk family. John Aylward died in 1705.

A view of the attendance - many of them Aylwards! 

Kieran Walsh, editor, Munster Express, and Jimmy McCrohan
 have a chat after the lecture

(l. to r.)Eddie Sinnott, Donnchadh Ó Ceallacháin,
Jimmy McCrohan, John Aylward

Mrs Gemma McCrohan & Mr Jimmy McCrohan (lecturer)
at the Aylward gathering