Canon, Communications and Cork, An Account of the Pope Family in Portugal

Author:

Carol Rankin

Report:

25

Page:

41

Year:

1998

Subject Matter:

British Community and Family History

Excerpt:

Thomas Godfrey Pembroke Pope was born in Dublin in 1838. In 1862 he followed his father into the Church. After marriage in 1863 he moved to Portugal because it was considered that the warmer climate would be better for his throat infection. Pope took up a position as locum tenens at St George's Church in Lisbon. He was next posted to Seville, but on being offered the chaplaincy in Lisbon, returned to Portugal in 1867. In 1873 he started to produce annual Church reports to keep the British community in touch with what was going on. These provide us with a rich source of historical information.

His son, William Godfrey Thomas Pope did not follow his father into the Church. Studying in England, he returned to Portugal in 1902 to work for the Anglo-Portuguese Telephone Company. His son, Godfrey William Baden Pope was working in England but came to Portugal before WW2. In the late 1940s he moved to Porto and led a semi-reclusive live. He caused great consternation in the family when he married his housekeeper in 1966. Despite being separated from his wife, they were not legally divorced. The cork connection in the title comes from Monica Mary Eileen Leta Pope, who married George Ian Rankin, a member of the cork family.

(see also An Account of the Rankin Family in Portugal, Annual Report 29, 2002 by Carol Rankin)

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