THE
SCRIVENER
The Journal of Calderdale Family History Society
Incorporating Halifax & District
Number 146
Spring
March 2014
CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
Incorporating HALIFAX and DISTRICT
Calderdale Family History Society was founded on the 7th March 1985.
We aim
•
To encourage interest in, and assist with, research relevant to the study of family history in Halifax and the Calder valley.
Our area
•
Covers the modern Calderdale Council established in 1975, which broadly covers the same area as the Ancient Parish of Halifax, with the addition to the west
of the township of Todmorden and Walsden.
We do this by
•
Holding meetings, usually on the 4th Thursday of each month (except August) in
Halifax.
•
Publishing The Scrivener, a quarterly journal, in paper form for full members and
on our website for internet members. Contact the Editor.
•
Hosting a website www.cfhsweb.com/web/, and a members’ forum. Contact the
Webmaster.
•
Running a Research Room at Brighouse Library two half days a week for personal research. Contact the Research Room co-ordinator.
•
Running projects to transcribe records relevant to members’ research. Contact
the Projects Co-ordinator.
•
Publishing transcribed records. Contact the Publications Officer.
•
Providing an enquiry and search service from our records in the Research
Room. Contact the Enquiry service Co-ordinator.
•
Maintaining a list of members’ interests by surname and dates of interest, which
are available to members on the website. Each quarter new additions are published in The Scrivener. Contact the Members’ Interests Co-ordinator.
•
Maintaining an index of “Strays” (Calderdale people who appear in records elsewhere). Contact the Strays Co-ordinator.
Membership
•
Is open to all family historians who have an interest in the area. Contact the
Membership Secretary.
•
Annual subscriptions are £10.00 for UK individuals (£12.00 for family membership), £15/£17 for Overseas
•
Internet membership is £5.50/£7.50 which only provides information such as the
journal on the Internet, but not on paper.
•
Subscriptions are due in April at the time of the AGM (cheques made payable to
C.F.H.S.) and should be sent to the Treasurer.
•
Overseas payments must be made in sterling, drawn on a bank with a branch in
the UK, by Sterling Money Order.
•
Credit Card payments for subscriptions and purchases of our publications may
be made over the Internet via Genfair (www.genfair.co.uk).
Contacting the Society
•
All correspondence requiring a reply must be accompanied by a S.A.E. or 2
recent I.R.C.’s [International Reply Coupons]. Contact the Secretary or appropriate officer.
•
The names, addresses and email contacts of the Society’s officers and coordinators appear inside the back cover of The Scrivener and on the Society’s
website.
Page 2
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
COVER PICTURE
EDITORIAL
APPEAL FROM THE ACTING EDITOR
A VISIT TO MIXENDEN
AN ESCAPE FROM RUSSIA—1917
RASTRICK WAR MEMORIAL
MEMORIES FROM ELLAND
OCTOBER TALK—LIFE IN THE VILLAGE OF HAWORTH
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN HARPER
FROM MIDGLEY TO MAYOR OF MOONEE PONDS
AN EASTER CELEBRATION
JANUARY TALK—DIMENSIONS OF TIME
4
5
..5
6
15
16
18
21
24
37
46
48
GENERAL INFORMATION
FAMILY HISTORY FAIRS—SPRING/SUMMER 2014
ANCIENT PARISH OF HALIFAX ~ chapelries & townships
53
56
CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY NEWS
ABOUT CFHS
2
PROJECT UPDATE
16
DATA PROTECTION—SOME CHANGES
20
MEMBERS’ INTERESTS UPDATE
22/23
AGM—A PLEA FROM THE CHAIRMAN
35
NEW HALIFAX LIBRARY—AN UPDATE
36
MONUMENTAL INSCRIPTIONS—A VALUABLE RESOURCE 47
RESEARCH ROOM DETAILS
CFHS OFFICERS
PUBLICATION & SERVICES SUPPLEMENT
Page 3
53
54
P1- P4
THE SCRIVENER
Publication Dates
Deadline Dates for Copy (Monday)
WINTER 2013 (December)
SPRING 2014 (March)
SUMMER 2014 (June)
AUTUMN 2014 (September)
WINTER 2014 (December)
NOVEMBER 11TH
FEBRUARY 17TH
MAY 19TH
AUGUST 18TH
NOVEMBER 10TH
Data Protection Act
As a “not for profit” organisation, we are not required to notify the Data Protection Authorities in the UK regarding the holding of personal data. However you
should know that we hold on the Society’s computer the personal data that you
provide us. Furthermore we make this information available to other members
for the purposes of following up “Members’ Interests”.
As part of this, those details are posted on our Members’ Only website, which,
under certain circumstances, can be accessed by non-members. If you either
do not want us to hold your details on our computer and/or you do not want
your details made available to other members as described above, please contact our Membership Secretary by letter, or email at [email protected].
Insurance Exclusions
The insurance which we hold for certain activities undertaken by members is
limited to cover for members under 75 years of age. Consequently, any member over 75 who is concerned about taking part in specific Society activities
should contact the Secretary for clarification.
COVER PICTURE
The recent terrible floods experienced in many parts of the country are sadly
not a recent phenomenon. Perhaps not on the same scale as experienced in
the south of England and Wales, this photograph taken in the early 1900s in
Sowerby Bridge demonstrates the power of the elements.
Page 4
Editorial
Can it really be three month’s since I last sat down to write the editorial for the
winter edition - how time flies.
It is also hard to believe that it’s twenty-nine years since a handful of family
historians gathered together and formed the Calderdale Family History Society.
Research has changed very much since the societies inception but we believe
we continue to be a valued resource for our members.
It is also the time of the year when we ask for your continued support by renewing your membership. This can be done by completing the Membership Renewal form which can be found in the centre of the Scrivener or by going online
at Genfair, (www.genfair.com).
You will also find the Nomination Paper for the Members Sutcliffe award—if you
wish to nominate someone please fill in the form and return to our secretary
Margaret Smith.
We are also pleased to announce that the transcription of the parish registers
for St Bartholomew’s Ripponden is nearing completion. When complete, in the
next few months a download will be available via Genfair, or if you prefer, a CD
from our Publications Officer.
And now a request to you our members - we are always looking for interesting
bits of news, articles and pictures for publication in our quarterly publication the
Scrivener. I am sure many of you have an interesting tale to tell about your own
family research, why not share it with your fellow members and put pen to paper.
If you are not able to attend our Annual General Meeting on the 24th April a full
report together with all the award winners will appear in Summer edition of the
Scrivener.
In the meantime, happy researching.
Clifford Drake. Chairman.
———————
Appeal from the Acting Editor
I’m afraid that we are running dangerously short of material for the next Scrivener (June 2014). We usually have the basis for the next Scrivener once the
previous one goes to press, with material that has been “left over”.
If any of you have anything that you want to impart—an interesting genealogical
story, or an appeal for information from other members, please let me have it,
so that we can continue to give you an interesting & entertaining magazine.
Thanks v. much
Peter Lord—Acting Editor—[email protected]
Page 5
A visit to Mixenden 1
I expect we have all wished, at times, that we could travel back in time and see
how our ancestors lived. Of course, I know that it is impossible. The idea of
travelling back in time is inconceivable, isn’t it? Just as inconceivable, in fact, as
motor cars, aircraft, mobile phones and television would have seemed to those
ancestors. But, we can imagine….
* * * * * * *
I parked my car by the church and followed the path past a farmyard and into a
field. I looked across the valley at the wind turbines on Ovenden moor. Then
they disappeared from view as the mist closed in. I walked on.
When the mist cleared, I found myself in a dell, only a few yards from the path,
but quite hidden from it. I clambered back up the slope till I reached the path,
brushed myself down, and headed back towards the church. No-one had seen
me arrive, materialising out of the mist.
It was a fine, sunny morning in early summer. There was a bit of breeze,
enough to blow the summery clouds along and ruffle the grass, but it was still
warm enough to be out without a coat. I was dressed in a suit and tie. I didn’t
think I could get away with dressing as a local, and although a business suit out
in the Yorkshire countryside would look peculiar enough even in my own time, I
hoped the locals would just put it down as one of the things these funny London
folk do.
Reaching the road at the church, I had the first indication that things were different. The road was no more than a track, rutted and paved with stones. I
doubted that many horses or carts passed this way. That suited me – I wasn’t
ready to meet anyone just yet.
I followed the road for a quarter mile, as it turned sharp right at the junction to
lead down the steep side of the Hebble valley to the village of Mixenden below.
The most prominent feature of the village was the mill, which was built not on
the Hebble itself but a little way up the other side of the valley across a stream
which came down from the moor to join the Hebble by the inn.
Crossing the bridge brought me to a road which led to a row of cottages2. This
must be the place. Children were playing outside the cottages, which gave directly onto the street. A middle-aged woman who was sweeping out her doorway looked at me curiously.
“Morning,” I called to her, “Lovely day!”
I haven't specified the date of this story, though it clearly takes place shortly before
Daniel's death in 1854. Originally it was going to be 1851, for which we have some detail
from the census, but I decided to make it slightly later so that the elder sons (James and
John) would be young men.
2 Mixenden Mill cottages, now Clough Lane.
Page 6
“Aye,” she replied and carried on sweeping.
“I’m looking for Mr Walmsley’s house,” I asked, and she indicated a cottage
about halfway along the row. I made my way to the house she had shown me.
The door was closed, so steeling my nerves I knocked on the door, timidly at
first, then a little louder.
A man opened the door. He was about 5 ft 6 ins tall and was wearing a waistcoat over a cotton shirt and woollen trousers. He looked middle-aged, though I
knew he was only in his early forties.
“Good morning,” I greeted him, “I’m looking for Mr Walmsley, Mr Daniel
Walmsley3. I believe this is his house?”
“Aye, that’s me,” replied the man, polite but curious. “What can I do for you?”
I had prepared my introduction.
“My name is David,” I told him. “I have travelled up from London to look at the
home weaving business. I was told to ask for Mr Walmsley because he could
tell me how it works.”
“They told you to ask for me?” he asked defensively. “Who would that be,
then?”
“It was at the Holdsworth’s office4 in London. They said you do some work for
them.”
“Oh, aye, I do most of my work for Holdsworth’s. Well, Mr David, you’d best
come in.”5
Daniel held the door open for me, and I entered the house. It was small and
neat inside, with one main room which clearly served as living room and dining
room – and probably as a bedroom for some of the family as well. Daniel went
to a door at the back of the room and called through.
3 Daniel Walmsley (1811-1854), my great-great grandfather.
4 Holdsworth’s was (and still is) one of the main weaving firms in Halifax. I am indebted
to their website for much information about the history of weaving in Halifax. They
owned factories and had a London office, but at this time they also still serviced the
home textile trade, collecting the yarn from the spinners and delivering it to the weavers,
then taking away the finished goods for sale. I have no evidence that the Walmsleys
worked for Holdsworth’s, except that some years later Sarah (Sally) lived in Spring Hall,
Halifax, one of Holdsworth’s properties. But they probably worked in this fashion for one
or other of the big companies.
5 I assume that Daniel spoke with a broad West Yorkshire accent. Most Yorkshire people
do even today, having grown up with BBC English and Holywood films. I have tried to
give just a flavour of how I think he might have spoken, based on Yorkshiremen I have
known (including my grandfather). Hence “best come in” instead of “better”, reversed
pronouns (“He’s a good lad, is John”), and use of the glottal-stop definite article written
Page 7
“Sal,” he called to his wife, “we’ve got a visitor.” A woman in her early forties
appeared from the kitchen wiping her hands on her apron.”
“This is my wife, Sally6,” said Daniel to me, then to his wife, “This is Mr David,
up from London. Mr David’s come to look at t’work we do for Holdsworth’s.
’Appen he’d like a cup of tea after his journey.” Sally said hello to me, then went
back into the kitchen to put the kettle on.
Sitting on a couple of wooden chairs at the fireplace, Daniel explained to me
about their work. There was a wooden hand-loom out in the shed at the back of
the house. A cart came up from Halifax every couple of weeks and delivered
the yarn. Daniel and his wife worked at the loom whenever they could, then the
cart took the finished worsted cloth away to market when it next called.
“They give a good price, do Holdsworth’s,” Daniel told me.
“I expect the older children help you out as well?” I asked.
“Aye, when they can. The older boys, John7 and James8, they work at t’mill as
weavers – good workers, they are. Young Squire’s9 learning his trade and all,
and Stephen10 does a bit of fetching and carrying.”
“You’ve got some younger children too, have you?” I asked – though of course I
knew the answer already.
“Aye, there’s Suzie – Susannah11 – she helps her mother around the house,
and gives a hand wi’ t’chickens. We’ve got a bit of land up t’road, where we
keep a few chickens and grow some vegetables.
At this point two young children came running in from the back of the house, a
boy and a girl whom I knew to be Thomas12 and Sarah13. They stopped when
they saw me, and Daniel made them come and say hello.
6 Sarah Walmsley, née Ingham (1808-1887). She married and was widowed twice more
after Daniel’s death.
7 John Walmsley (1834-1894), married Rebecca Moor (1839-1924)
8 James Walmsley (1837-1875), married Caroline Cockcroft (1838-1907)
9 Squire Walmsley (1838-1899), married Mary Hannah Greenwood (c1840-1908)
10 Stephen Walmsley (1844-88), married Amelia Jane Hewitt of Bolton. Stephen emigrated to St Louis, Missouri USA, in 1869 and pursued a career as a stonemason on the
railroad in Bald Knob, Arkansas.
11 Susannah Walmsley (1842-1933), married Mary Freer’s brother John (c1840-1933),
and emigrated to first New Zealand, then Tasmania. She died in Burnie, Tasmania
12Thomas Walmsley (1846-1883), my Great-grandfather, married Mary Freer (18441919)
13 Sarah Walmsley (1848-??), named in the 1851 census but no further information.
Page 8
“This is Mr David, up from London,” he said by way of introduction. “Say hello to
him, he’s come a long way to see us.”
“Hello, Mr David,” they said together. Sarah looked down at her hands demurely, but Thomas eyed me curiously. Perhaps he suspected something
strange, I wondered; he was, after all, my closest relation there.
"Go and help your Mam in t'kitchen, now," Daniel told them, and they ran off.
"They're your youngest, then?" I asked.
"Aye, they're t'nippers," he replied. "The little 'un is Sal's pride and joy – we
thought we'd finished with all that, like."
"So, that's seven children, is it?" I asked.
"Eight," Daniel replied. "There's Mary14, the eldest. She's upstairs. She's none
too special, isn't Mary. She's been bad with her chest again. She usually just
has it bad in t'winter, but this year she's not got over it proper all t'spring." He
sighed heavily. "I hoped she might be settling down before long with a nice
young feller, but the way she is at t'moment I can't see it happening. She helps
out wi' t'weaving when she's feeling a bit better."
Daniel fell silent for a moment. I think he knew that Mary was quite ill. Then he
continued.
"And then there were young Daniel15, of course. Ee, he were a lively one, were
Daniel. Always on t'go, morning till night. He led Sally and I a right dance, I can
tell thee. Took bad, he did, when he were seven year old. Aye."
He fell silent again, thinking about his young son, who had died some years
previously.
"T'Lord giveth, and t'Lord tekketh away," he said heavily. "Blessed be t'name o'
t'Lord."
I said nothing.
"Ah well, it's all in t'past now," he added brightly. "'Appen tha'll stay for some
dinner?"
I was pleased at the invitation. He had overcome his natural suspicion and had
now accepted me; I noticed he had even started using the familiar "thou" to me.
The kitchen door opened and Sally bustled in, laying the table with knives and
forks and mugs.
"You must excuse me, Mr David," she said busily, "The boys'll be back from
t'mill soon, and I must have their dinner ready for them." A clock somewhere
outside struck midday.
"Of course, you must carry on," I said to her.
14 Mary Walmsley (1835-1853)
Page 9
"Mr David'll be stopping for dinner, Sal," Daniel informed her.
"Aye, and right welcome too," said Sally. "I wish I'd known earlier, I could have
done a pudding," she added. I mused on how I could possibly have let them
know I was coming – no emails, no phones, were there telegrams, or even a
letter post in those days?
The front door opened, and suddenly the room was full of young people, John
and James, and the teenage Squire close behind. We all sat for dinner, and
Daniel showed me to a seat beside his at the head of the table.
"This is Mr David, everyone," he introduced me. "He has come from London on
t'new railway to see how we all live here in Yorkshire." I didn't say so, but I hadn't come by rail, I had come in the car, which even now was parked up at the
church. Whatever "now" means, I added to myself.
Sally brought a steaming pot to the table, followed by Susannah carrying a
large loaf of bread on a board. Sally served generous helpings, enough to fuel
hungry young men after a morning's work. It was a stew of potatoes and vegetables with a little lamb added, what would have been called hot-pot "over the
hill” in Lancashire. We ate it with large chunks of fresh bread and drank mugs of
tea; a simple but substantial meal. The older boys discussed the morning's
events with their father.
"There's talk of t'mill closing down, Dad," said John, with James nodding in
agreement.
"Aye, so I've heard," said Daniel. "'Appen it won't be for a few years yet."
"It's the way things are going, Dad," said James. "We can't compete with t’big
steam mills. Not efficient. We shall all have to move to Halifax and work in
t'mills there. Mr Cockcroft was telling me last night."
Rather to my surprise, this provoked smiles and chuckles around the table.
"Oh, aye, you were round at Cockcroft's again last night, was you?" asked
John, grinning. James blushed deeply. Daniel decided to put me in the picture.
"James 'as gone sweet on his cousin Caroline, Cockcroft's daughter," he explained. "A right bonny lass she is, too. Cockcroft's got a bit of land up at Brockholes, he makes a living selling his potatoes and carrots16. You're eating some
of them now!"
Thomas, who had finished his dinner, had clambered down from the table and
was busying himself in a corner. Suddenly he appeared at my shoulder.
"Do you know your letters, Mr David?" he asked. "Look!"
Thomas held up a slate on which he had written his name "Thomas Walmsley"
16 After writing this, I discovered that Caroline Cockcroft's father was a weaver like the
Walmsleys, but I decided to leave him as a small farmer to add a bit of colour. Caroline
married James around 1857.
Page 10
in big round letters. He was clearly proud of his achievement.
"That's very good, Thomas," I said encouragingly. "Did you learn that at
school?"
"Squire taught me," said Thomas.
"Thomas doesn't go to school yet," Daniel explained. "When he starts work he'll
do afternoons in school, like Squire and Stephen. It's the law nowadays."
"We never had no schooling," said John. "Didn't do us any harm. I can't see
why you want to be doing with these letters."
"Aye, and you'll be happy to be at t'machine all your life, will you?" said Daniel
crossly. "'Appen if you'd had a bit of schooling like those two you could have
made overlooker in a few years time. I wish I'd had t'chance when I were a lad."
He broke off, coughing.
"Yes, all right, Dad," said John, who had obviously heard his father on this
theme before.
"Come on, brother," said James, getting to his feet, "we'd best be getting back."
The two eldest boys kissed their mother and set off back to the mill for the afternoon shift.
Squire retrieved his slate from Thomas and started getting ready for school.
Sally tidied up after the meal, with Susannah's assistance. Daniel lit his pipe,
coughing as he drew on the smoke, then started pulling on his coat and boots.
"I'm off up to t'chapel for a while," he called out to Sally in the kitchen. "Fancy a
walk, Mr David?"
We set off over the bridge and up the lane. The sun was bright and warm, and
the village and the hills around looked green and pleasant. Even the mill in the
valley fitted the scene; powered by the stream, there was nothing dark and satanic about it.
Daniel appeared lost in thought. "He's right, is our James," he said eventually.
"That mill's old and small and inefficient. The big mills in Halifax are tekking all
t'trade, what with their steam engines and t'railway to bring t'coal in and tek
t'cloth to the cities. Our little mill's got no future here. Anyway, there's talk that
it's going to be closed down and sold off."
"I’ve heard they're thinking of building a reservoir," I told him. I had stood in this
very lane in my own time, looking down at the reservoir.17
Daniel looked puzzled, wondering how I could possibly know that, but all he
said was "Oh, aye?"
17 I believe Mixenden Mill stood where Mixenden Reservoir now lies. For the purpose
of this story I have assumed the reservoir opened in 1857. This date is actually
“transplanted” from Ogden Water, a mile or two up the valley.
Page 11
"With Halifax growing so fast, it's going to need a more reliable water supply," I
added by way of explanation. "There's all the new homes they're building, and
the mills need water for washing and so on."
Daniel reflected on this.
"Aye, that meks sense. Well, as I say, t'mill can't compete. And as for home
spinning and weaving, that's been dying out for years now. It weren't so bad
when I were a lad and my Dad were in t'trade. They'd brought in power looms
by then, but they weren't as good as what t'home weavers could do. They could
only mek plain cloth, it took a skilled weaver to do patterns. But now they've got
power looms as can do just as well as hand weavers, and a lot faster too. It's as
James were saying. When t'lads grow up, they'll have to be going to work in
Halifax, among all t'dirt and smoke and all."
He walked on for a few minutes, then continued.
"Holdsworth's have made us a good offer," he went on. "They've got jobs at
Shaw Mills for us all if we want them, and they're building new houses, so
there'll be somewhere for us to live."
He stopped by the roadside for a minute, coughing and getting his breath back.
"I shan't be going to Halifax meself," he informed me. "I've got my bit of land
and my house here, I shall be all right." He paused again.
"To tell thee t'truth, Mr David, and I haven't said owt to Sal about this…," he
paused, then went on confidentially, "I'm not so sure that I'm long for this world.
My chest's been getting worse lately. I think another winter, and the Good
Lord'll be calling me."
I didn't know what to say to this. I knew, of course, that he was quite right.18
"Eh, but I would have liked to see t'lads grown up and settled, and see my
grandchildren – if t'Lord grants me any."
It was against the rules to pass on any information about what was to come, but
I felt I could reassure him on this point at least.
"I am sure He will, Mr Walmsley," I told him. "Maybe you will live to see them,
and maybe you won't. But I am quite sure you will have grandchildren, lots of
them, and great-grandchildren and they will have children themselves, on and
on into times you cannot imagine."
"Aye, well, it's in t'Lord's hands," he said philosophically.
"And as for making a life for themselves in Halifax," I went on, getting into my
stride, "I think you are absolutely right, that's where their future lies. But… does
it have to be in the mills?"
"Well, they know nowt else," he replied reasonably.
18 He was almost right. He died in August of the following year.
Page 12
"I wonder. The world is changing, Mr Walmsley. It’s not just your little mill closing down and the steam mills taking over and the railways coming. This is just
the start, part of a great change that's happening all over England.
"The little cottage industries are dying out, and the future lies in the factories –
it’s spinning and weaving today, but in the future all manner of goods will be
made in factories. There will be a lot of change and disturbance and hard times
for many, but in the end it will be better for everyone. And it all starts here, in
the woollen trade in Halifax, and Bradford, and Huddersfield, and the Lancashire cotton mills, and soon there will be factories in a hundred towns all over
the country, railways in Doncaster, engineering in Birmingham, shipyards on
Tyneside, it will go on and on.
"You yourself can see some of this happening already, Mr Walmsley, but you
cannot imagine where it will lead. Take a steam engine and connect it to a
dozen looms, and it will turn out more cloth in a day than your little loom at
home can weave in a month. Put that steam engine on a set of wheels, and it
will pull a train to take your cloth from the factory to London. Put it in a ship and
it can take your cloth all over the world. Make the engine smaller and more efficient, maybe use a different fuel, and you can have a carriage that will replace
horses and be cheap enough for everyone to have one. Maybe in a hundred,
hundred and fifty years from now, I will be able to come to Yorkshire from London in my own carriage, and go back in a day."
Daniel was looking at me oddly. "You're a strange fellow, and no mistake," he
said.
We met an older man coming the other way. He looked at me curiously, and
greeted Daniel.
“Nah then, Daniel,” he said as he passed on the other side of the road.
“All right, Dad?” Daniel asked, then explained to me, “That’s my Dad, John
Wombsley19. He lives up in Brockholes. He’s on his own now, but our Jim20
keeps an eye on him now he’s getting on a bit.”
“It’s good to see him looking so well,” I said. I came back to my point.
"All these people moving to Halifax and working in the factories, Mr Walmsley,
they won't have time to be weaving their own clothes. They won't have a bit of
land to grow vegetables or keep chickens. They will need food, and clothes,
and fuel, and teachers and doctors. Someone's got to supply these things. Why
not you… why not your sons? They don't have to go to the mills. You know the
farmers round here, you could get them to supply the goods, then your sons
can set up a shop and sell the people in Halifax what they need. There's a living
to be made there."
19 John Wombsley or Walmsley (1775 – 1857 or 1859), husband of Sarah Butterfield
(c1775-) and father of Daniel.
20 James Walmsley (1811 – 1880?), Daniel’s twin brother, married Mary Varley
(1812-1883).
Page 13
Daniel looked thoughtful.
"Aye, 'appen your right," he said. "Someone's got to do it, why not us? Mebbe it
could be 'Walmsley's of Halifax, Grocers'," he laughed. "We'll need to get the
goods into town – maybe Holdsworths would sell us one of their carts cheap,
once they don't need them for collecting t'cloth no more."
"Good idea!" I said encouragingly. "That's the spirit, you're planning the business already."
“Well, I must be getting on,” said Daniel. “Eh, but tha’s given me summat to
think about there.”
We had arrived at the little chapel. It looked much the same as in my own time.
There was a clear view across the valley to the moor, though of course there
was no wind farm.
“Well, it’s been a real pleasure to meet thee, Mr David,” Daniel went on. “I don’t
know what made thee come and visit us, but I’m reet glad tha did. And I shall
think about what tha said, about setting up a shop and that. It’s a good idea, is
that.”
“It’s been a real pleasure for me too, Mr Walmsley,” I replied.
“But I’ve got a funny feeling about thee, Mr David,” he went on. “We haven’t met
before, have we? Tha seems sort of ... familiar, like.”
“No, we haven’t met before, Mr Walmsley, I’m sure of that.”
“Well, ‘appen I’ve met someone from your family”
“Yes, maybe that’s it,” I agreed; it was true enough. “My father’s family came
from these parts.”
“Aye, ‘appen that’s it,” he said, not reassured. “I don’t remember anyone called
David, though. It’s a funny sort of name, that, more of a Christian name, I’d
say.”
I decided to enlighten him a little on that point, though at the risk of increasing
his puzzlement in other ways.
“David is my Christian name, Mr Walmsley.”
“Aye, I was thinking maybe it was. So it’s Mr David what, may I ask?”
I took a breath. It was time to go.
“My name is Walmsley, David Walmsley, at your service. I am ... a distant relation, you might say. It’s been a real pleasure meeting you, Mr Walmsley. I wish
you and your family all the very best of luck, health and prosperity, and may the
Lord be with you.”
I shook him warmly by the hand, then turned and walked up the lane at the side
of church towards the moor. I caught a last glimpse of Daniel Walmsley as I
Page 14
waved goodbye. He was staring after me, puzzled, and I wondered what was
going through his mind. Had I planted the germ of an idea there? In years to
come, would his sons John, Squire and Thomas, grocers of Halifax, or James,
engineer, or Stephen, master mason on the railroads of the American MidWest, or his daughter Susannah, a farmer’s wife carving a living from the pioneer lands of the Antipodes, remember the tale their father told them of the
visitor from London – strange yet somehow familiar – who joined them for lunch
one summer’s day in 1853?
I turned away and walked on confidently. A white mist gathered quickly around
me, and when it cleared I was in the dell by the path again, and I saw my car
parked up ahead just by the road. I looked across the valley one last time. The
afternoon sun caught the blades of the windmills up on the moor. I started the
engine and headed for the motorway.
David Walmsley
—————————————-
An escape from Russia—1917
Frederick Jagger (1867 - 1933) married Sarah Hannah Culpan (1875 - 1929)
They had a daughter Winifred (1906 - 1967)
Bankfield Museum in Halifax is proposing to put on an exhibition in August 2014
about the First World War.
A branch of my family, Frederick and Sarah Jagger and their daughter Winifred,
worked in Russia during the First World War. Frederick was a representative
of Crossley’s Carpets, Halifax. He and his wife fled Russia at the start of the
revolution in 1917, travelling across country to Vladivostok from where they got
a ship to America.
Frederick wrote a journal about the journey, of which I have a copy, but there
are several questions which remain unanswered. I would appreciate it very
much if any of your readers know of this family and would contact me so that I
can fill in the gaps.
Our telephone contact is 01670 - 516797 & E-Mail address is
[email protected]
Rachel and Pete Cryer
Page 15
Rastrick War Memorial
Alan Flux is researching the men commemorated on the Rastrick War Memorial
located in the grounds of Rastrick Library.
He would greatly appreciate any
information on them, especially photographs.
If you can assist please contact Alan—[email protected]
Project Update
The project to transcribe St. Bartholomew, Ripponden, Parish Registers
is continuing. All transcription work has now been completed & validation of this is well underway.
Our thanks to Neville Broadbent & his team for the tireless effort that
they are putting in.
Neville hopes to see the project complete this Spring.
Peter Lord—Project Coordinator.
Page 16
More Howlers from Salt Lake City
1. Our 2nd great grandfather was found dead crossing the plains in the
library. He was married 3 times in the endowment house and has 21
children.
2. He and his daughter are listed as not being born.
3. Will you send me a list of all the Dripps in your library?
4. My Grandfather died at the age of 3.
5. Documentation: Family Bible in possession of Aunt Merle until the tornado hit Topeka, Kansas. Now only the Good Lord knows where it is.
6. The wife of #22 could not be found. Somebody suggested that she
might have been stillborn - what do you think?
7. I have a hard time finding myself in London. If I were there I was very
small and cannot be found.
8. This family had 7 nephews that I am unable to find. If you know who
they are, please add them to the list.
9. We lost our Grandmother, will you please send us a copy?
YORKSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY
FAIR
SATURDAY 28TH JUNE 2014
At York Racecourse Knavesmire Exhibtion Centre
(all Exhibitors undercover)
ADMISSION £4.50
FREE PARKING
The largest Family History Event outside of London
Now in its Nineteenth Year!!
Page 17
Memories from Elland.
Photo 1:My Uncle Jack Barnes aged 6 and my mother Enid Mary Barnes are
on the front left of the cart. He is holding her on his knee. (Uncle Jack became
manager of a 'Woollen' mill on South Lane and died in 1968).
Photo 2: My mother Enid Mary Barnes is 6th from the right on the front row.
Page 18
Photo 3: School photo has my mother 1st child back row, left.
I am searching for a photograph taken of a huge blaze at what was a soap factory on South Lane. It became site of the Brick Kiln in late years.
My Grandparents lived just below the upper brick works in a quad back to back,
three rooms one above the other with a privy in the back yard. Their garden
was across the road and overlooked the huge oval shaped, sloping walled kiln.
Overhead the huge buckets would run on their overhead gantry system all day,
taking the brick clay from the upper factory to the kiln. The raw materials were
delivered throughout the day in the backs of huge Scammel trucks.
I spent many a happy holiday there with my Grandparents and, the memories I
made then are the strongest I hold to this day.
Fish and chips every Friday from Catherine Street Chip shop, owned by a relative. Granddad, tended the static engine at a huge mill on Saville Road. If he
was working he would pick them up on his way home, if not I would go down
and get them.
Granddad had a shed on the garden and would spend his
spare time making wooden toys to sell at Christmas to help with the families
meagre income. I bet some of them are still kept as treasured family heirlooms.
He would spend the long winter evenings making rag rugs on a frame in the
basement kitchen snug or, doing jigsaws on a board I still have today.
Grandma was very religious and her diaries are full of meetings and church
notes. Her pastor was Mr.Rothery and I spent many a Sunday at her side for
either Morning or Evening service.
Page 19
As you can probably tell, I love Elland and its surrounding areas and, my remaining Barnes Family are still round and about though getting a bit on the thin
side now.......
Sandra Cardwell - Preston
Progeny of a cross border romance.........
Data Protection - some changes.
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that we have changed the wording on our statement about Data Protection, which we publish on page 3 of
every Scrivener.
We have done this as part of a change in procedures, to ensure that we continue to comply with the Data Protection Act , and to carry on protecting your
privacy.
With the increasing use of electronic communications, there has become little
need for members automatically to have details of addresses and telephone
numbers of fellow members of our Society. Accordingly, we will no longer publish personal details of new members, nor changes to members' addresses or
E-Mail addresses.
From now on, the only personal information publicly available about any member is their Name, Membership No. & E-Mail address as part of the Members'
Interests system in the Members' Only part of our website. This is the only
information that any member needs to identify an Interest from our files & the
associated E-Mail address does not identify the holder's name and/or address.
If you feel you have a need to contact any other member on any subject other
than Members' Interests, just contact the Membership Secretary with the details
& she will pass on the query to that member to make contact with you at their
discretion.
In truth, this may seem rather peculiar in an organisation dedicated to the exchange of information, but we acknowledge the need to comply with the law as
it applies to the holding of personal information. We don't believe that these
changes should restrict the flow of information amongst our members.
We are always open to receive articles for the Scrivener from any member, who
has the discretion to give whatever personal contact details they wish.
Peter Lord
Page 20
Life in the village of Haworth the Bronte family knew
October 2013 Talk
A summary of a lecture given by Isobel Stirk to the Calderdale Family History
Society on 24th October 2013.
The Industrial Revolution was well under way when the Brontes arrived in Haworth, from Thornton in 1820. Today we may bemoan that we cannot get an
immediate doctor’s appointment or that during a dry, hot summer we have to
refrain from washing our cars or watering the lawns but the worthy residents of
Haworth in the mid 1800s had much more serious things to worry about.
The water supply in Haworth was diabolical and 21.7% of the population died
without receiving any medical attention. The houses, damp and poorly ventilated, with many cellar dwellings, did not have any running water. The villagers
obtained their water, for all purposes, from wells which frequently dried up and
the water was green and putrid- which was not surprising.
En route to the wells the water passed under the crowded graveyard – thus
picking up all sorts of noxious matter before it arrived .The average number of
privies for the whole of the village was one to every four and a half houses.
Some of these privies were in the public street within view of the houses and
also passers by and these cesspits often burst spilling foul matter into the street
and under the doors and through the walls of the houses.
After a long campaign by Patrick Bronte- which resulted in Benjamin Herschel
Babbage coming to the village to make an inspection- in 1858, after the construction of a main sewer and the building of a small reservoir, a constant supply of fresh water became available to every cottage in Haworth.
In 1846 Haworth obtained a public gas supply. This was not without its drama
as a person incautiously applied a light to the gas when it was discovered there
was a leak. The result was mayhem with one person being seriously injured.
.Life expectancy at that time was short and the graveyard memorials show the
misery and sorrow that many families had to endure as it is not unusual to read
names of up to seven children in one family and five wives, not worthy of naming, of one man.
Patrick Bronte’s appointment as perpetual curate at Haworth was not without its
difficulties. There was friction between the Vicar of Bradford, who could claim
the right to appoint a curate, and the Church Land trustees who had the power
to thwart the appointment by refusing to pay a stipend. One curate appointed by
the vicar of Bradford had a terrible time when he took up office- a man rode a
donkey into church one Sunday and the following week parishioners had plied a
chimney sweep with drink who then clambered up the pulpit steps and embraced the poor man.
Page 21
Children were being employed in the growing textile industry and were working
very long hours without recreation and some could walk nearly thirty miles a
day round the machines. Writers of the 19th century including Fanny Trolloppe,
Mrs Gaskell- who wrote the first biography of Charlotte Bronte-Disraeli and
Charles Dickens were all writing social novels and were shocked by the brutal
effects of the growing industrialisation.
The Brontes lived in Haworth when it was undergoing a major transformation
but perhaps the biggest change there occurred after it was known that some of
the greatest novels in the English language had been written in that once obscure parsonage.
Thousands of visitors have since then made a pilgrimage to the remote village
perched on top of the Pennines between Yorkshire and Lancashire. They walk
the moors, now dotted around with signposts- some in Japanese. They visit the
shops on either side of steep Main Street which sell Bronte pencils, mugs, antiques, tweeds- buildings which once were occupied by handloom weavers and
combers.
The Bronte’s own story fascinates so many and may be the village of Haworthwith its long history dating back to Norman times- and the people who lived and
worked there may have influenced them to write as they did.
New MI Contact List
Given below are the contact details of those members who have
submitted new or changed Members’ interests, which are listed on
the opposite page (page 23)
Please note that, in line with the Society’s Data Protection policy,
we are no longer listing members’ addresses or telephone nos.
1262, Mr.J.M. Hardcastle, [email protected]
1266, Mrs.J. Smith, [email protected]
3297, Mrs. J.E. Coles, [email protected]
3348, Mrs.J. Milne, [email protected]
3534, Ms J, Shangraw, [email protected]
3600, Mr J, Barraclough, [email protected]
3603, Mrs K, Fussey, [email protected]
3609, Ms A, Clark, [email protected]
Page 22
MEMBERS’ INTERESTS UPDATE
received by 15th February 2014
You can now update your interests online on cfhsweb.com
Contact Mike Hardcastle (address on back page) if you can’t get online.
Surname
Location
BARRACLOUGH DEWSBURY
Cnty
WES
Known
From
1810
Known Wanted Wanted Memb
To
From
To
No.
Now
1700
Now
3600
BERRY
HALIFAX
YRK
1835
BLAKEMORE
HALIFAX
YOR
start
Now
3603
now
3609
BRIER
BRIGGS
BRIGGS
BRIGGS
CHALMERS
CHAPMAN
CHAPMAN
CLARKSON
HALIFAX
HALIFAX
MONTREAL
HEYSHAM
MONTREAL
HULL
HORNCASTLE
HALIFAX
YRK
YRK
CAN
LAN
CAN
ERY
LIN
YRK
1863
1819
1906
1940
1957
1841
1927
1909
1921
1962
1996
Now
Now
Now
Now
Now
Now
1928
Start
Start
Start
Start
Start
Start
1700
Start
Now
Now
3603
3603
3603
3603
3603
3348
3348
3603
1863
CLARKSON
CLARKSON
CLAWS
CLOSE
DEWHIRST
MONTREAL
HEYSHAM
SW'DALE,MALTON
SW'DALE,MALTON
HALIFAX
CAN
LAN
NRY
NRY
YRK
1928
1940
1770
1770
1876
1950
1972
1850
1850
1947
Start
Start
Start
Start
Start
Now
Now
Now
Now
Now
3603
3603
3348
3348
3603
ELLERKER
HARDCASTLE
HOLROYD
JACKSON
LORD
MCNEIL
MCRIE
MCRIE
MITCHELL
PURITAN HIST.
SPINK
WALTON
WARLOW
WOOD
BISHOP BURTON
HUDDERSFIELD
ELLAND
HALIFAX
FLAMBOROUGH
MONTREAL
HULL
SCARBOROUGH
HALIFAX
H'X,SHELF,SOW'BY
NORLAND
MALTON
CALDERDALE
SOWERBY; H'X
ERY
WRY
WRY
YRK
YRK
CAN
ERY
NRY
YRK
WRY
WRY
NRY
YOR
WRY
1750
1789
1800
1824
1901
1895
1841
1745
1837
1850
Now
Now
1915
1916
Start
Start
1600
Start
1916
Start
Start
1700
Start
1600
Now
1789
1900
Now
Now
Now
Now
1800
Now
1635
1841
1659
1450
1950
1659
1635
1700
1659
1450
1850
1700
Now
3348
1262
3297
3603
3603
3603
3348
3348
3603
3534
1266
3348
3609
3534
Page 23
Start
1850
1850
The mystery of Edwin HARPER
(Riches to rags in one generation, and why did his wife disappear?)
The Harper family of Ovenden (a village 1 1/2 north west
of Halifax) would appear to have been in the Calderdale
area for many generations. Harpers abound in the baptism records of St. John’s, Halifax. There are numerous
references to the name. The troublesome Rev. Robert
Harper 1769-1829 founded the first Sunday school in
Northowram around 1803. He served at Shelley and
then became minister of Heywoods Chapel 1801-1818,
and caused a split in his congregation. More distinguished was the handsome John Harper [1809-1842]
Architect, born at Dunkenhalgh Hall, Blackburn, of whom
there is a splendid portrait by his friend Thomas Etty. ( See Malcom Bull, Calderdale Companion.)
Richard Harper of Ovenden married Alice Dakor on July 27th 1545. Two hundred years later a Richard Harper was born at Ovenden in 1750; a Jeremiah
Harper, in 1777, gave a subscription over £2 towards the building of Illingworth
Chapel (1) Several of our Harpers are recorded at the Ovenden Zion Methodist Chapel built in 1773. (2) Our direct Harper ancestors would have heard
Wesley preaching in that building, between 22nd April 1774 and May 1790. (On
his last visit he was 87 years old and had two friends to assist him, as his memory was failing.)
An apparently unbroken line of Harpers, each with numerous siblings, seems
to start in the 1500s.(3) John Harper 1518; William Harper 1540; William
Harper 1562, M Sarah Randel; William Harper 1579-1644, M (I) Mary Weaver
(ii) Mary Furness; Henry Harper 1604 M Alice Clifton; Francis harper 1630 1712, M Sibbill Walker; Francis Harper, 1699 M ?; Richard Harper 1704 M
Susannah Stafforth 1705; Joseph Harper 1734 M Mary Broadbent; John
Harper 1764-1844 M Hannah Hewitt, the parents of JOHN Harper, who was
baptized at the Ovenden Chapel in 1792, but his son John Harper 1764 –
1844 married Martha Thorp in the Parish church, (St John’s, Bradshaw), on 9th
June 1816. (Apparently it was not unusual for nonconformists to marry “at the
big church”.) Joseph and Hannah lived at 109 Park Lane End. Their son FREDERICK, born 1st Aug, 1824-1881, married Ellen Chambers 1824-1903 on
27th Feb 1853, at St. John the Baptist, Halifax.
(1) See website, The present building was erected in 1815 on the same site
(2) In his journal, Wesley described the adjoining cottage, where he stayed, as
“standing alone in a dreary waste. But although it was a cold and windy
day, the people flocked from all quarters. The house offered hospitality and
shelter for man and beast.”
(3) Not yet verified - Sources unknown
Page 24
Her father Richard, mother Hannah, and grandparents were also from Ovenden. Both families were Methodists. Ellen was 29 when their only son,
EDWIN Harper, was born in Ovenden in 1856, and like Frederick and his
many siblings, was baptized at the Chapel. The siblings’ descendants remain to
be researched. It is going to be difficult to untangle the different branches as
the same Christian names are frequently used for cousins.
By the 1881 census, Frederick was a Master Maltster, employing 5 men and he
lived at 6 Rhodes Street, Halifax, with his wife and 24 year old son. He died
there in June of that year, aged 56. His gross estate was £4,075. 16s, a small
fortune at that time, but the net estate was only £119.13. His executors were
his son Edwin, his friends Joseph Moore, Cromwell Place, Halifax (gentleman),
Thomas Sunderland of Halifax (Banker’s Clerk) and James Parrish of Halifax
(Provision Merchant).
He left his household effects and furniture to his wife Ellen, to whom son
EDWIN has to pay £75 p.a. Frederick leaves his sister Sarah Harper £100.
Clearly the trust fund stocks referred to in the will, were not good ones! Further research is required to see if the Harper of Harper and Worsick, Maltsters
at Savile Park road in 1874, were connected to our Harpers.
There was a
Solomon Harper described as a “Yeast Dealer”. (There is no connection to
Websters Brewery’s beautiful Maltings at nearby Ovenden Wood, which was
not built until the 1900s.)
Edwin married Ruth Hunt, born 1861 in Kings Green, Redmarley D’Abitot,
Worcs. (now Gloucs.) In 1881 she was employed as a maid to a wellconnected spinster who had addresses at Weymouth and Bath. We can only
speculate what took Edwin to Bath. Perhaps he was spending the last of his
inheritance “taking the waters”. Ther railway through Ovenden since 1874,
which would have facilitated the journey. They were married at St. Martin’s
church, Lyncombe, nr Bath on 15th March 1883, aged 26, On his marriage
certificate he gives his occupation as “a Brewer” and residency, Sowerby
Bridge
The starting point of this research was the tracing of this couple, named on
Marion Harper’s birth certificate, and her memories passed to her son and
daughter in law, in the 1970s. Edwin had given Marion up for adoption. She
was convinced that she had a brother, but did not know why, and sadly died
before his existence was confirmed.
In fact, the 1901 Portsmouth census
revealed the names of two brothers. It is from their birth places that the movements of Edwin and Ruth, between their marriage in May 1883 and the birth of
their daughter Marion in 1904, were tracked. It first appeared that they did not
have children for some time after their marriage. A random search of “Harper
+ Ovenden”, provided an explanation, when baptism and burial records revealed the brief lives of their first children.
Edwin had taken his bride, Ruth, back to Sowerby Bridge, about three miles
from Halifax, about three miles from its centre. There they had twins Edith and
Page 25
Frederick on 2nd June, 1885. They were baptized there, at Christchurch, on
2nd August, and Frederick died, the following day, aged 8 weeks. The parents’ residence is given as Warley. Edith died at the age of 3, and was buried
on 28th June 1888.
Both twins were buried in All Saints, Salterhebble, the
same churchyard as their grandfather Frederick. Their parish is given as Sowerby Bridge. Is it possible that twin Frederick was weak from birth and was
baptized because he was dying? Was there an epidemic of illnesss? There
are references to typhoid and influenza in the press of the area during that decade. Twins born at that time often had complications and frequently one or
both died. Edith may have been fragile since she was born. The causes on
Death certificates, at this period are often wild guesses.
Presumably there was no shortage of Brewers and Maltsters, and Edwin could
not find employment in the area of his origins. Between this return to Sowerby
Bridge and Edith’s death, in 1888, a son, Leon Victor, was born. From this
time, Edwin and Ruth seem to have a nomadic existence. Perhaps he was
searching for work, and/or was having to do “a midnight flit” to avoid debt?
Leon was born in Liverpool, in1886, Edwin describes himself as “a Confectioner”.
Three years later, August 1891, he gives his occupation as “a
brewer” on the birth certificate of his son, Percy Frederick Harper (known as
Fred) when he was born, Hanwell, Middx.
By 1884 Ruth Harper’s brother, Robert Samuel Hunt, had settled in Portsmouth, with his wife and two daughters, one of whom was named Ruth Edith
Hunt, born in 1884 in Southsea. (By 1901 that family was living on the Isle of
Wight and Ruth E. Hunt was listed as Edith Ruth on the census.) Between
1891 and 1901 Edwin and Ruth had also moved to Portsmouth, reputed to be
the town with the most pubs in England, and In 1901 they have been joined by
Edwin’s mother Ellen Harper nee Chambers, aged 73, at 301, Fawcett Road.
Until 1891, ten years after Frederick’s death, she had still been living in Ovenden, with her brother Samuel Chambers, a Worsted weaver. Edwin is now
44, and gives his occupation as “living on his own means”. Ruth is 40, Leon, 14
is an Apprenticed stonemason. Fred is a scholar. From the muddle that was
made on the census form, it is possible that either Edwin or the census recorder
were drunk, or the latter, hard of hearing. Leon was recorded as Leah, then
corrected, and the birth places of the two boys were transposed.
The next record of the family is that of Ellen Harper’s death, aged 76, at “the
imbecile” ward of St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, in the second quarter of
1903. Her death is registered but there is no record of her burial anywhere in
Portsmouth, and it is likely that she had a pauper’s grave. No doubt Ruth and
Edwin had neither the skills to manage an old person with Dementia, and possibly not the means with which to house and feed her. Her last address was
given as 19, Brompton Road, Portsmouth, but we do not know if all the family
was here or just she – the former being most likely, and yet another move for
the family.
Surprisingly, given her age, some nine months later, on 4th April 1904 Ruth,
Continued on Page 31
Page 26
CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
Incorporating Halifax and District
Application for Membership Renewal
(For 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015)
Application can be made in either two ways:
Over the Internet from the site www.genfair.com
By completing the form below and posting to the Treasurer
NAME………………………………………………TEL.No………………
ADDRESSS………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………
POST CODE……………………………………………………………….
E-MAIL ADDRESS…………………………………………………………
(Existing) MEMBERSHIP NUMBER……………………………………..
I/We enclose cheque/P.O. for £………………………………………….
(Made payable to CALDERDALE F.H.S.)
FEES:
Individual
Family
UK MEMBERSHIP £10.00
OVERSEAS
Mail)
£15.00
INTERNET £5.50
(Incl.
UK MEMBERSHIP £12.00
Air OVERSEAS £17.00 (Incl. Air Mail)
INTERNET £7.50
Please note that INTERNET membership provides access to the Quarterly
Magazine and all other information from our Members Website only, not on
paper. Overseas members not renewing via Genfair should make payments in
Sterling.
Please return to:
MR D. FRYER, TREASURER C.F.H.S
74, FORD,
AMBLER THORN, QUEENSBURY
BRADFORD BD13 2BJ
For those living in West Yorkshire, please indicate whether you intend to attend
our monthly meetings by deleting as appropriate: YES / NO
Page 27
Date Protection Act
As a “Not for Profit” organization, we are not required to “notify” the Data Protection Authorities in the UK regarding the holding of personal data. However,
you should know that we hold on the Society’s computer the personal data that
you provide us. Furthermore, we make this information available to other members for the purposes of following up “Members Interests”. As part of this, those
details are posted on our “Members Only” website, which, under certain circumstances, can be accessed by non members. If you either do not want us to hold
your details on our computer and/or you do not want your details made available to other members as described above, please contact our Membership
Secretary by letter or by e-mail at [email protected]
APPLICATION RECEIVED…………………………………..
RECEIPT No…………………………………………………..
Calderdale FHS Annual General Meeting - Thursday 24th. April 2014
at 7.30 pm at the North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax.
Agenda & Notes
Announcement of Nominations and Citations & distribution of voting
papers for the Members' Sutcliffe Award
2.
Secretary's Report
3.
Treasurer's Report
4.
Collection of voting papers for the Members' Sutcliffe Award
5.
Election of Officers & Committee
6.
Election of Auditors
7.
Presentation of the Sutcliffe Award
8.
Presentation / Announcement of Margaret Walker Award
9.
Any Other AGM Business
Please bring this Agenda to the AGM
Page 28
Nomination Paper for the Members' Sutcliffe Award 2014
Every year, the Society makes a presentation of 2 annual awards to Members
who have made an outstanding contribution to the Society over the previous 12
months. These are entitled The Sutcliffe Awards, in recognition of the work
carried out by John & Joyce Sutcliffe over many years.
The Committee Sutcliffe Award is awarded by the Committee to the Away
Member who they feel has made such a contribution during the year.
The Members' Sutcliffe Award is awarded to any Society Member, nominated
by any other member, and voted on at the AGM by all members present.
This nomination paper may be completed, signed by the submitting member &
returned to The Secretary by 7.30pm. Thursday 24th. April 2014. Please note
that only one nomination may be made by any one member.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I nominate ...................................................................... to be considered for
the award of the 2014 Members' Sutcliffe Award, for the following reasons:
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................
Signed: .............................................................Date :................................
(Please print your name here)......................................................................
Please return this nomination form to Margaret Smith, 4,Rawson Avenue,
Halifax. HX3 0JP to arrive before Thursday 24th. April 2014
Form for nominations for Committee Member(s) is overleaf.
Page 29
CFHS - 2014/2015 Committee Nomination
Please print the name of the nominee in the space provided. Please return this
nomination form to Margaret Smith, 4,Rawson Avenue, Halifax. HX3 0JP to
arrive before Thursday 24th. April 2014
I nominate ................................................................ for election to the CFHS
Committee for the year 2014/2015
Signed ...................................................................................
Members’ Name ................................................
Date ..................................
Please note that fresh ideas are always required on the Committee, which
may have as many as 8 members. For the year 2013-14 we only had 7, so
we would welcome further nominations.
The Society thrives when we can call on new initiatives put forward by
people who have not previously been closely involved with the running of
Calderdale FHS.
Being a Committee member only commits you to 6 meetings every year
(on the 2nd Tuesday evening of even numbered months), so please consider seriously whether or not you would like to stand for election to the
Committee for 2014-15.
Page 30
aged 43, gives birth to a daughter whom they
name Marion, but Edwin does not register the
birth until a whole month later. He describes
himself as an “Electrician, HM Dockyard”, but
most likely, simply carried the cables!
The
place of birth was given was 42 Heidelberg
Road, Portsmouth. Edwin’s residency here is
confirmed in an article in the Portmouth Evening News. On Sunday 26th June, 1904, there
was a fire in the back room at 42 Heidelberg
Road, The “horse escape and half a dozen
firemen attended but were not required as the
fire was extinguished by the occupier with
buckets of water before much damage was
done.”
The occupier was named as Edwin
Harper. No mention was made of his wife,
Ruth, or his 3 month old baby daughter and it
would be the kind of detail to expect from the
tenor of the rest of the paper, if they were simply out, or present and not hurt.
Marion Harper around 1907/9?
Marion was raised by a Royal Navy engineer and his wife Julia, in a loveless
household. She had no conscious memory of when she was adopted, but
she felt it was to save the marriage. The only evidence is a photographic studio
portrait taken when she looks between 3 and 5 years old.
In 1911 census she is 6 years old and living with her adoptive parents and her
step mother’s mother. Perhaps Edwin came across Charles Mansfield in the
Dockyard, or did he frequent the same pubs as Marion remembered her step
father spending much of his time in? His parents were academics, and Marion,
was raised as a gracious young woman, who played the piano well.
The first she knew of her adoption was when a cruel schoolgirl taunted her that
Julia Mansfield was not her mother, and that she “came from the nuns.” Enquiries at the Sisters of Nazareth, the town’s orphanage, produced no evidence
and, the bombing in Portsmouth contributed to many incomplete records. Most
adoptions prior to the 1926 Adoption of Infants Act were informal. Marion
claimed to remember having a rosary.
Ruth Harper, now disappears as no other records have been found. She does
not feature in the 1911 Census. Edwin does, and is a lodger at 15, Dover
Road, Copnor, and describes himself as “married”, but he could simply have
meant that he was not a bachelor, not thinking to describe himself as a widower. There is no record of Ruth’s death and there are no burial records for
her in Portsmouth or anywhere else in the country. Variations on the name
Ruth Edith Harper and Hunt have been searched several times, up to 1960.
Page 31
After Marion’s birth, there are two records of Edwin spending two short periods
in the Work House in 1905/6. There are none in that source for Ruth. The records at Portsmouth were not helpful.
Edwin lived and walked around the
same streets as his sons, daughter and grandchildren, for another thirty years.
On his death certificate – 24th July 1935, aged 78, his last address is given as
108, Ranelagh Rd., Stamshaw, Portsmouth. Both his death and burial in a
pauper’s grave at Milton cemetery, are recorded. He could have provided so
many answers for a daughter who grieved for, all of her 86 years, and puzzled
about, the parents who gave her away .
Ruth was 44 when she gave birth and probably exhausted from caring for a
mother-in-law with Dementia, struggling to feed two teenage sons and, possibly, a feckless husband. It is likely that giving birth took her last strength and
there were complications which caused her death. Death in the work house
and a pauper’s burial, meant that the deceased could be used for anatomical studies, which might account for the lack of a record of burial. Alternatively, if Ruth survived the birth, having lost her first daughter, was she distraught when not able to keep the second, born 19 years later, blamed Edwin,
and did he harm her and not wish to have to explain her disappearance? The
oral evidence deepens the mystery. Percy Frederick told his grand-daughter
that one day he went home and, “they were gone”, meaning his parents. By
that time his older brother was in the Navy and he found lodgings until he was
old enough to join up too.
Having identified Marion’s two brothers, their Royal Navy records were obtained, and a few Harpers were written to. A 92 year old son of the younger,
(Percy) Frederick was traced.
Two branches of descendants of Edwin and
Ruth’s children were able to be completed to the present day. The third, Leon’s,
is only sketched from records.
Leon joined the Navy in 1906 and married Rosa Forward in Kent, in 1918. In
1911 he was on board ship in Stokes Bay. From a newspaper article and his
death announcement it appears that he was a Customs Officer and had a son
Leonard Victor, killed at the age of 8, playing on the railway line near Southampton in 1931. (see opposite page), Leon died in Portsmouth on 9th June,
1975, his wife the year before. It would appear that he had four daughters,
Doris Bessie Harper (1918), Joyce V Harper (1926), Barbara Eileen (1927)
Rosa (1921) + husband Walter G Moss and two sons, Michael and Malcolm.
Marion and her son passed Leon’s house regularly, and he was still alive when
her son’s 4 daughters were born in St Mary’s Hospital in the same road. Efforts
to contact the descendants have failed so far. (Percy Frederick) “Fred”, had
three sons and a daughter.
Edwin and Ruth over 43 known, (and most likely more), descendants, because
of the untimely deaths of sons and a predominance of daughters, only one
male, still carries the family’s name Harper. He is Ruth and Edwin’s 3 x gt
grandson.
Page 32
Page 33
What happened to Ruth Harper? We are left with many questions. Why did
Edwin and Ruth move so often? Why do neither Ruth’s death nor burial, appear not to be registered at all? Why is there no burial record for her mother-inlaw Ellen Chambers. Why did Edwin wait so long to register Marion’s birth?
Why did Edwin describe himself as married in the 1911 census? Why would
Edwin/Edwin and Ruth (if alive at the time) abandon their teenage son and do
“a moonlight flit”?
The most likely explanation is that Ruth died on, or soon after giving birth – and
if buried at all – it was in a communal grave. Her body might have been used
for anatomical research and not buried, or buried anonymously, or, did Edwin
“do the old girl in”?
Marion had a good life, celebrated a Diamond wedding anniversary and lived
into her 80s with good health until her last years were blighted by Dementia.
Her only son is now nearly 85, and would love to have solved the mystery of his
grandmother’s disappearance, but it looks as though the task will remain impossible, despite frequent re-visits to the original sources of records. His first
daughter has even more Halifax roots. By coincidence his first wife’s family
also originated in Halifax. Edwin’s Harpers gt grand-daughter born in 1961 in
Portsmouth, had a maternal great grandfather, Frederick THWAITE, who
was born in Halifax in 1860. When Frederick Harper died in Rhodes St, in
1881, Frederick Thwaite was aged 21 and a Solicitors’ Stationer, living in
Commercial Street, a stone’s throw from the Harpers.
This family came to
Portsmouth via Great Yarmouth.
…………
…………………………………………………………………………..
Christchurch - Sowerby Bridge where the twins were baptized in 2nd Aug 1885
Page 34
All Saints Salterhebble –
where Edwins father was
buried in 1881 the twins Frederick and Edith were buried
in 1885 and 1888
Taken from a postcard on E
bay – for sale £8
.
The pictures in this article are reproduced with the kind permission of Malcolm
Bull.—Calderdale Companion.
“Harpist”
AGM 2014—Thursday 24th April 2014 @ 7:30pm
North Bridge Leisure Centre, Halifax
You will see elsewhere in this issue of the Scrivener, the details about the AGM
& the opportunity to nominate members for officer positions.
Please take the opportunity to do this and, even more importantly, come along
to the AGM on the night to be involved in the decision-making of your Society.
Clifford Drake—Chairman.
Page 35
New Halifax Library - Update.
As you know, from the last Scrivener, we now have an active presence on the
Consultation Group of interested parties, concerning the building of the new
Central Library & Archives in Halifax.
Having attended 3 meetings since last autumn, I have to say that I am quite
impressed with the level of detail on which the architects & planners are prepared to consult.
My main aim is to represent the interests of family historians, but, inevitably, we
get to discuss many other aspects, from signage, internal & external, through to
bird boxes for nesting swifts, to preserve as wide a natural habitat as can be
achieved.
Particularly thoughtful contributions have come from group representatives covering the facilities (and safety !!) for children and the position of the toilets & the
facilities they offer !
Regarding the Local History part of the library, which will incorporate the West
Yorkshire Archives Service (WYAS), we have been particularly keen to make
sure that the signs within the library are as prominent as possible, bearing in
mind that we hope to welcome visitors away from Calderdale, who may be using the library for the first time.
Separate from this group, and as part of representations made to WYAS by the
Yorkshire Group of FHSs, we have separate meetings with Teresa Nixon, head
of WYAS, to ensure that we know what issues are arising from their point of
view & to be able to express comment on these. To date, WYAS seem to be
going to get everything that they have asked for, which is encouraging.
Another interesting aspect is that the consultation group are keeping up pressure to ensure that the library development keeps in step with the Piece Hall
renovation, so that, once open, main access to the library will be through the
Piece Hall from day 1. In addition to this, The Industrial Museum are also represented & they are trying to make sure that their planned developments are
considered, so that they can, too, benefit from the new development.
No doubt there will be many twists & turns along the way, but, to-date, things
are progressing towards a scheduled opening date mid-2016.
If you have any relevant issues that you would like me to raise during this consultation, please contact me.
Peter Lord – Project Coordinator.
E-mail : [email protected]
Tel : 01484-718576
Page 36
From Midgley to Mayor of Moonee Ponds
William Eastwood of Midgley and Moonee Ponds
In 1877, ex-Mayor William Eastwood of Luddenden Cottage, Flemington Hill
near Melbourne made his last Will and Testament. It ran to six pages of closely
written, flowery and elaborate information in which he nominated his wife and
various siblings as beneficiaries.
Specifically his legatees were his wife, Susannah Wellard; his brothers Joseph
Eastwood of Melbourne; Edwin Eastwood of Blackburn, England; John Eastwood of Ascot Vale, Melbourne and Thomas Eastwood of Sowerby Bridge,
England. His sisters were also not forgotten: Sarah Ann Patchett, Mary Wormald and sister in law, Ann Eastwood - all of Luddenden in the parish of Midgley, Yorkshire.
He also included as a beneficiary his wife’s brother, James Wellard of Feltham
Industrial School in England. William, born in Luddenden, Yorkshire, spent over
half his life in Australia, dying in Melbourne in 1883.
Despite being half a world away from his English roots, he showed an enduring
affection for his brothers and sisters by including in his Will all those still living in
1877. Luddenden is so deep in Calderdale that it is said (and is often true) that
the sun does not find it after the end of September. The village, which was
part of Midgley parish, sits in a hollow in the steep sided Calder valley. The
Luddenden Brook in the centre of the village was the boundary between the two
adjacent parishes of Midgley and Warley both of which are mentioned in the
Doomsday Book of 1086. In the mid-19th century, the Calder valley was filled
with mills for the production of cotton, flour and worsted material.
See next page for the detailed family tree
From about 1725, the area had begun to move from woollen kersey production
to worsted manufacture. This required long-combed wool, rather than carded
wool. (It was teased out by two combs each containing about a hundred
prongs. One comb was always kept warm on a charcoal-fired pot.) Massive
growth of the Lancashire cotton industry around 1780 brought its expansion into
surrounding areas. Mills were built for sale or lease in the Luddenden valley,
often for cotton spinning and increasingly incorporating the new technologies,
such as Hargreaves’ ‘Spinning Jenny’.
By 1800, there were eleven mills using the Luddenden brook for power supply.
By 1850, the population of the whole parish of Midgley had grown to around
2,300 souls. Eastwood, Greenwood and Patchett were three of the most common names in the locality - not all recently related to each other.
Page 37
Page 38
Apologies for the size of the chart on the opposite page —for more detail,
please E-Mail the author, at [email protected] , who will gladly
provide you with a more legible copy.
William Eastwood’s family
William’s parents were William Eastwood (1781 to 1852) and Susannah Wormald (1786 to 1861). The Wormalds were another well-known family in the district with connections in inn keeping, farming and weaving. William and
Susannah married in Luddenden on the 28th of April 1811. William (senior) was
a cotton spinner. By 1823, he had moved from the mill and was a ‘grocer’. It is
probable that the shop was the front room of his rented home in Luddenden. By
1851, he had moved with his wife and family to Luddendenfoot (about a mile
away from the village of Luddenden). He is shown in the census for that year as
an ‘Innkeeper”. Old William probably ran what was known as a ‘beer house’
rather than a fully licensed inn - again from his own family lodgings. He is not
shown as landlord of any of the eight (yes - eight) public houses in the small
village of Luddendenfoot -The Red Lion, Murgatroyd Arms, White Lion, Black
Lion, White Swan, White Horse, Weavers Arms and the Anchor & Shuttle.
(Malcolm Bull’s ‘Calderdale Companion’ web site gives a wealth of information
about these local pubs including the fact that it was in the ‘Anchor & Shuttle’
that Branwell Bronte used to drink with friends). William and Susannah had
ten children of which young William was the sixth.
Inn keeping became a family tradition. Old William’s second son, James Eastwood born in 1813, kept a public house in Midgley and subsequently in the
nearby village of Sowerby Bridge. James is not named as an inheritor in his
father William’s 1877 Will and is presumed to have died before him. Sarah Ann
Eastwood, born in 1815, married twice. Her second husband, Henry Patchett,
was from another inn keeping family.
At the time of his marriage, Henry was landlord of a pub in Warley and was
probably landlord of the Murgatroyd Arms in Luddenden from 1861 to 1891.
Mary Eastwood, born in 1817, must have been a bit of a black sheep. She had
two sons out of wedlock but subsequently married William Wormald.
John Eastwood born in Luddenden in 1822 was a tailor and his wife, Sarah
Edmundsen was a dressmaker. After the death of Sarah in Sowerby on June
3rd. 1882, John left England for Melbourne to join his sons Arthur, John, Joe
and his elder brother William. He died in Ascot Vale on May 10th 1892. Another brother of William Eastwood’s, Joseph born in 1824, emigrated to Australia on an unassisted passage arriving in Victoria on the SS Royal Family in February 1863. Joseph was the ‘Bros’ in the Eastwood Bros business.
After William’s death in 1883, Joseph returned to England and moved to Blackpool where another of his brothers (Thomas) lived with his family. Joseph died
Page 39
in Fylde near Blackpool on February 6th 1886. Thomas was born in 1827 in
Luddenden. He married firstly Ann Pickup in 1854 and the couple ran the local
sub Post Office in Midgley. From 1861 Thomas and his wife were innkeepers
of the pub at Triangle near Rishworth. His wife died and Thomas then married
Espenetes Wormald in 1863. In 1874 the couple became landlord and head
bar-keeper at the Friendly Public House in Warley.
By 1871 the couple were running the ‘Craven Heifer’ at Hawksclough in Mytholmroyd. Thomas and Espenetes then moved across to the west coast to the
seaside resort of Blackpool which was just coming in to its heyday. They ran a
lodging house subsequently moving upmarket to a boarding house. By 1901
the elderly Thomas and Epenetes, with the help of their unmarried daughter,
Margaret, were in the role of company house managers at No 4 Claremont Terrace. Thomas died in 1908.
The youngest brother was Edwin Eastwood born in 1829. Edwin married in
1848. His wife’s name was Eliza and they ran a public house in Manchester
before taking over the St Leger Hotel in Blackburn, Lancashire. His mother-inlaw, old Susannah Wormald, lived out her old age with Edwin’s family in the
Blackburn hotel and was still working as a barmaid up to her death in 1861.
Nothing is known about the oldest brother, Isaac Eastwood born in 1812, or of
Elizabeth Eastwood born in 1819 and who possibly died in 1840.
William Eastwood
Young William Eastwood of Flemington Hill was born in Luddenden, Midgley in
1820 and baptised on January 14th 1821 in Luddenden Chapel. He died on
the 8th December 1883 at Luddenden Cottage, South Street, Ascot Vale. In
1841 he was 20 years old and had moved to Stafford where the census shows
him working as an iron moulder. By 1848 he had travelled to London, and on
October 2nd that year he married Susannah Wellard in Lambeth. Again his
occupation is shown as iron moulder.
Within a 19th century iron foundry, a pattern maker made the original of the
item to be produced in iron. This was usually of wood. The moulder would then
pack sand around the pattern. This was often done in two half shells. The pattern was removed, the shells put together, and the iron poured into the mould.
William would have learned this skill in one of the several iron foundries within a
few miles of Luddenden.
It was a time of unrest in the Lancashire and Yorkshire mill communities and
William most likely left Midgley parish looking for work in the south of England.
The unrest in the industrial regions of Lancashire and Yorkshire has become
known as the ‘Plug Riots’ of 1842. These were stimulated by the Chartist
movement rebelling against poverty and the dreadful working conditions in industry. Some striking workers stopped production by removing the boiler plugs
from the steam engines in their factories. New technologies were making
weavers and millers redundant and it was a wise move of the Eastwoods to
Page 40
move away from mill work to inn-keeping or, in the case of William, to learn
different skills in foundry work.
Australia
William Eastwood arrived in Australia from England in 1849 on an assisted passage. With Susannah, he arrived at Port Phillip on 11th February that year on
the ‘SS Labuan’. Unfortunately the disposition pages of the shipping record
have not survived. The couple seemed to settle in Melbourne.
William may initially have found work as a foundry worker but in 1854 his entrepreneurial drive led him to set up a tent near South Street from where he carried out processing and selling chaff to carriers in transit to the diggings. By
1856, William had set up a steam driven chaff mill and corn crusher. The chaff
factory and produce store were located on the corner of Mount Rd and South St
and expanded westward on South St. The Eastwood residence, Luddenden
Cottage, was also located on this street one from the factory.
On the 1856 electoral roll. William claimed in his qualification to have freehold
property worth £1000, a general store in Moonee Ponds.
By 1858 William was a fully-fledged processor and dealer in chaff, hay and
corn. In March 1858, he found himself in court defending a case brought by a
customer, Hector MacKenzie, who claimed that Eastwood had failed to pay him
in full for a delivery of hay in May 1857. William’s defence was that the hay
had been ‘wet and musty’ and that he told Mckenzie he was not paying the full
amount. William lost this case and had to pay to McKenzie an additional
£20.13.4. This was one of several court cases that Eastwood was involved in
over the years as he gave evidence as a witness, brought a case or was prosecuted for obstructing the footpath with his wares or furious driving .
In September 1859, William, describing himself as an engineer, is recorded as
applying for a patent for ‘a new and improved method of conveying and sifting
chaff direct from the cutting machine’. He appeared to manufacture this machinery and advertised this for sale. Royal Letters Patent were later issued.
William wrote occasional letters to the press. These promoted his business but
seemed also to be genuine comment about the deficiency in public services.
For example, in the ‘Argus’ of 22nd August 1861 he writes complaining about
the unfairness of the Government water charges for supplies from Yan Yean
water. Later letters to the ‘Argus’ include a criticism in September 1878 about
the mis-management of the railways in which he describes how railway staff left
his deliveries of new chaff ‘open to the elements’ of hot sun and rain - thus destroying their value. William advertised that he catered to the export trade and
had agents who sold his produce so quality of goods was critical.
William was also keen to play his part in local government. He was one of 169
residents who petitioned the Government for the creation of a municipality in
Page 41
this district. He attended the first meeting in January 1862 along with forty
other men who elected the first Borough Council. In August 1862 after the
resignation of J T Smith, Eastwood was elected a Councillor.
That same year, his younger brother, Joseph Eastwood, aged 39, arrived on
the ‘ SS Royal Family’ at Port Phillips on an unassisted passage from England.
William’s business then became‘Eastwood Bros’- merchants of chaff and
crushed corn in Ascot Vale, manufacturer of flock [woollen stuffing] in premises
at A’Beckett Street and wool dumping at Williamstown. In 1865 they took out a
display ad in the Sands directory advertising that although they had sold one of
their factories at No 4 A’ Becket St they were still in business at No 21and
`would pay highest prices for hides, horns, shank bones and woollen rags.`
In 1864 William’s private residence was listed at 78 Leicester St Carlton .The
Flemington Hill business was advertised for sale then. This probably explains
why in August 1864 he was disqualified for re-election as a Councillor on the
grounds that he was ‘not on the burgess roll’. It seems that the flock and wool
business was to be his focus and he had moved from this district closer to the
business in A’ Beckett St and Elizabeth St .
During 1864 two of his nephews, Alfred (age 22) and Frederick Eastwood (age
17) emigrated from Luddenden and joined their uncles’ expanding business.
They were the illegitimate sons of William’s sister, Mary Eastwood. 1865 was
William’s ‘annus horribilis’. On May 30th of that year, his young and newly
arrived nephew Frederick was killed when the boiler at the A’Beckett Street
factory blew up. He was thrown over the high roof of the building and died
later in hospital from ‘severe scalding’. At the inquest it emerged that his elder
brother Alfred had been employed as the Works Foreman and had been responsible for supervising his brother ‘get steam up’. The inquest jury brought
in a verdict of ‘accidental death’. William gave extensive evidence testifying
that he had been at the business on the Saturday night and had returned at
7am` not always being there when the men started but generally shortly after` .
He had been upstairs with the man feeding the machine and had been blown
two yards by the explosion. He described himself as having been `amongst
engines all my life`
In August of that year, the flock manufacturing business of William Eastwood
was declared bankrupt. The sale of his machinery at Melbourne and Williamstown sites, together with monies due to the business, brought in sufficient funds
for creditors to receive 18 shillings in the pound. So this was not a severe setback and on October 20th of the same year, Eastwood was discharged from
bankruptcy. For the time being he concentrated on building up the hay and
chaff feedstock merchanting in Ascot Vale with the leased store in Elizabeth St
[near Therry St]. T his seems to be his original business now back in his ownership.
In 1866, William took to court an appeal against excessive toll charges for his
Page 42
dray. This was a horse drawn ‘vehicle on springs’ which could carry as much
as ton of material. The toll collector had charged the vehicle as a gig or passenger chaise instead of at the lower rate chargeable for business drays.
Eastwood won his case.
During the afternoon of Saturday March 7th 1868 fire destroyed Eastwood
Brothers’ hay and chaff business in Ascot Vale. According to the subsequent
fire inquest, for which Eastwood paid, the fire could not be extinguished because ‘there was no water at the time in the Yan Yean pipes’. The court ruled
the fire was accidental. The brick house, outbuildings and two adjoining cottages were burnt. .Mr Chadwick of the adjacent Laurel Hotel lost his two newly
built stables. Two valuable racehorses were rescued by their jockeys. The
Laurel was little damaged but its furniture in its `hasty removal suffered greatly.
`The fire engine from Melbourne did not arrive in time. William had insured the
business for £800 but claimed the
actual loss at £1500.
By January 1869 the business was again advertising as a going concern. On
the Thursday following the fire and two days after the inquest Eastwood was
again elected as a Borough Councillor. The boundaries were remade and he
represented the new Ascot Vale and Moonee Ponds wards.
William was appointed Chair of the Public Works Committee, was on the bridge
working group, acted as one of a deputation re small pox patients being housed
in Royal Park and was a political supporter of the Parliamentary career of J. T.
Smith. By 1875 Eastwood was Mayor presiding over the fortnightly council
meetings and public gatherings and sitting on the Bench as a Justice of the
Peace. He was re-nominated in August 1876 and was opposed. The Argus
predicted that `there is not likely to be any change in the representation` however Eastwood’s name no longer appeared as a Councillor. Eastwood St Kensington appears for the first time in the 1877 directories . It is possible that
naming of the street was an honour
bestowed on William to mark him leaving the Council.
William was a member of St Thomas Church. In 1871 he was elected as an
auditor which position he held for some years. He was unsuccessful however
in the 1873 election for the local Board of Advice. He also became a director
of the County of Bourke Building Society established in 1875.
William and his wife, Susannah, had no children but encouraged and possibly
financially assisted a number of nephews and families to settle in the Melbourne area. Three more nephews arrived from England in 1879 on the SS
‘Sultan’, sons of William’s brother, John Eastwood, Arthur Wellesley Eastwood
(with his wife Elizabeth and their daughter, Annie); John Herbert Eastwood
(with his wife, Emily and daughter, Nellie) and Joe Long Eastwood.
The business from 1867 onwards had only been described as `W Eastwood’.
Page 43
However in the 1880 directory `Eastwood Bros` made a reappearance except
now the principals were listed as J Eastwood and Charley Siddall. The latter
was a man only in his 20s, fairly recently arrived in the colony. It seems that
William had retired from active business. His last illness would have been noticed at about this time as we learn later that he endured `three years patient
suffering’
He had time for a recreation as in November 1881 his garden was judged in the
West Bourke Agricultural Society annual competitions. He received a favourable mention in the Mayor’s prize for the best kept cottagers garden. William
Eastwood died after a long and painful illness on the 8th December 1883 at
Luddenden Cottage, South Street, His total estate was valued at £4742 net of
disbursements and tax. His wife, Susannah, with Charles Hammond, traveler,
and his brother Joseph were the executors. His last words as recorded on his
gravestone were `Lord have mercy on me`
William’s wife - Susanna Wellard 1824 to 1902
Susannah was born in Harbledown, Canterbury and baptised on 16th November 1824. Her parents were James Wellard and Sarah. Nothing so far is
known about her parents other than James was a farmer/ agricultural labourer
who died in Harbledown and was buried on January 6th 1830. Wellard is an
extremely common family name in the south and east of England and it is difficult to identify specific family strands. It was not exceptional for family data to
go unrecorded in rural areas in the early to mid-1800s. This was the time leading up to the ‘Swing Riots’ which took place in Kent during 1830 and 1831 in
response to the extreme poverty of agricultural workers, post Napoleonic war
instability, high rents and low wages. These factors were exacerbated by the
introduction of new farming technologies such as the steam powered threshing
machine.
The area surrounding Canterbury city centre was highly rural and the main jobs
were in agriculture for men or farm service for women. In the census of 1841,
‘Susan’ Wellard, aged 17, is listed as working as a farm servant in Guston
Court near Harbledown. Guston Court was a medium sized farm run by the
widowed Mrs Carter and her four children. Susan is one of nine staff at the
farm. Susannah Wellard married William Eastwood in Lambeth, London on
October 2nd 1848.
There were Wellards living in the Lambeth area at that time and it could be that
Susannah met William when on a trip to visit her relatives. In 1849, she emigrated with her husband to Australia on the SS ‘Labuan’. This ship left Plymouth of the 1st Nov 1848 but had to put back because of heavy gales which
delayed them for a week. Susan shared the voyage with several hundred
bounty migrants many of whom were bound for Geelong. Despite not making
any return trips to England, or receiving visits in Australia from her brother
James (born 1823), Susannah’s husband included his brother-in-law in his Will
Page 44
of 1877.
It may be that as Susannah and her brother had to fend for themselves from an
early age they developed a close bond until separated in their teenage years.
(James joined the army in 1840, aged only 14). Susannah seems to have
taken an unusually active role in the business as in 1858 William testified that `I
do not make all the entries in the book myself, as my wife and the store man
manage the business when I am away in Melbourne’.
In July 1884 Susannah `gave up housekeeping` i.e. she moved into a boarding
or lodging situation perhaps with a relative. Her household goods were sold by
public auction from the South St home. The furniture `comprises a large quantity of ornamental and useful articles of household use, including the contents of
bedrooms, dining room, kitchen and outhouses. Susannah was 60 yrs., aged
by standards of the time.
Given that William had died aged 63 yrs. she could not have expected that she
would live beyond the end of the century. Her bond with William seems strong.
Again, unusual for the time, she placed two memorial notices one for the first
anniversary specifying the exact time of his death `8th December, 1883, at
10.15 a.m. and quoting scripture. Another was placed in 1889. Susannah’s
health deteriorated with age and in August 1902 she was admitted by warrant
to Yarra Bend Asylum and Hospital for the Insane suffering from senile dementia and with ‘bodily health in an unsatisfactory state’. Alone Susannah died on
6th November 1902 and was buried with William in the Eastwood grave at Melbourne General. She left estate valued at only £120. This by her will, made in
1885, was left to her brother or if he predeceased her to his four children.
Fifty years after the siblings had parted Susannah’s residual estate found its
way back to her brother’s children. William Eastwood impresses as a hardworking, innovative businessman and engineer. Within seven years of arrival
on an assisted passage he had taken advantage of the gold rush and accumulated property. Persevering in the face of fire, loss and bankruptcy he demonstrated marked resilience in rebuilding his business. He also made time to contribute to his community with more than ten years’ service on the Borough
Council. William and Susannah, though they had no offspring of their own
helped build up the nation through making possible the migration of other family
members. No images of them have survived but their legacy does.
Research carried out by Marilyn Kenny, historian and writer, of Moonee
Ponds, Australia and Anne Herdman of West Yorkshire, UK. April 2013
[email protected]
Page 45
An Easter Celebration
Easter Day morning. As I gaze out of my bedroom window I can see beyond
the boundary of our garden a vibrant carpet of green and yellow. A meadow
alive with a host of daffodils intermingled with early crocuses. Delicate heads
bobbing and dancing to the rhythm of an offshore spring breeze. Birds singing
in the trees beneath my window. Criss-crossing a sky of cobalt blue vapour
trails, in wisps of white, the planes streaking to far off destinations. Perhaps
Easter Island.
As I set off to walk the short distance to the church the sun shone brightly making the frost look like shards of crystal on the roofs of the dwellings I passed.
Today was a true indication that Spring was on its way. Farewell we would
soon cry as the cold weather of winter was shrugged off like a warm cloak after
an icy rain shower. Presents, Easter Eggs, chocolates, new clothes for all
would be worn with pride heralding the arrival of a new season.
Spring! A time for newly-hatched chicks ducklings and the first tender green
shoots of new life in the plant kingdom. Young rabbits would soon be seen
running in and out of a warren of burrows in the countryside further afield. In
villages all around there would be Spring Fairs.
Soon I was on my way home again after a lovely Easter service reminding us of
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The vicar was a lovely minister who never
tired of relating the story of how Jesus rose again from the dead after his crucifixion and betrayal by Judas, one of his disciples. As the congregation left their
seats in neatly arranged pews the vicar stood in his robes waiting to bid goodbye to his flock and occasionally enquiring after certain villagers as they gave
thanks for a beautiful service.
As I arrived home after this special day I was met by a wondrous sight of a table heavily laden. I quickly divested my outdoor clothing; coat, scarf and
gloves, slipped my stockinged feet into warmed slippers, then sat in a vacant
place at the table. Mum had been beavering away preparing the feast including
buttered Hot Cross buns and Simnel Cake. Family reunions and get-togethers
would be affairs to remember and cherish during the coming years. That night
as I fell asleep my bedroom was illuminated by a silvery moon; a dog barked
and somewhere faintly in the distance an owl hooted.
The whole concept of Easter is a time of renewal and rejuvenation giving a purpose and direction to our lives after the dormancy of Winter. Longer days and
brighter evenings making us awake with all sorts of plans for the coming season. Plans to use the coming days, weeks and months to their best advantage
and not to say “I’ll do it another day” but to get out and do it that day. This is
the meaning of Easter to myself and my family.
Page 46
Monumental Inscriptions - A Valuable Resource.
As many of your know, Monumental Inscriptions are a very valuable resource in
identifying your ancestors & also in discovering family relationships that you
would not otherwise have expected.
How many times have you come across an inscription "...and the much loved
sister of Freda Bloggs, and aunt to James Firth. Also daughter of the late Matthew & Freda Wilson....." - 3 family relationships in one !!
Unfortunately, it is not quite as easy to garner such information as it is for, say,
Parish Registers. It generally means that a small team has to go out into wind
& rain (it always rains on a pre-planned day !!) & copy down inscriptions from
moss-covered headstones on to soggy pieces of paper.
Not always everyone's idea of a great day out !
Nevertheless, we are trying to get a team together to tackle some of the remaining graveyards in Calderdale (of which there are many), even though we
have already done nearly 60 and published details from over 32,000 graves.
The plan is to select a graveyard & photograph the headstones, so that transcription can be done in the comfort of people's homes rather than in the long,
wet grass. So what we are looking for are volunteers to make up the following
small teams :- Cleaners - local members who will go in first & clean off any
obscuring vegetation.
- Photographers - local members who have a decent digital camera
who will photograph the headstones.
- Transcribers & Validators (any member) who will transcribe the inscriptions from the photographs.
- A Checker - a local member who will go back to the graveyard, after
transcription, and complete any words found to be illegible from the
photographs.
We hope that a number of you will volunteer to be on the team, in any capacity
that you wish. It is only by carrying out these projects that we are able to supplement the finances of the Society & to continue to produce research information for member & non-member alike.
If you would like to help, please contact Peter Lord, Project Coordinator,
at [email protected] or ring me on 01484-718576. I look forward to
hearing from you.
Peter Lord- Project Coordinator.
Page 47
JANUARY 2014 MEETING- DIMENSIONS OF TIME
By Peter Watson
What I’m going to talk about tonight I don’t understand. I want you to think
about the concept of time. You sometimes say you don’t know where the time
has gone. Where does time go? On this planet we don’t go anywhere, we just
go round and round in space in the same place, so where does time go? In fact
can anybody give me a definition of the word time? How do you define that
word, time?
What we call time and real time might be two different things.
Whatever you are talking about, whatever you are researching in your family, if
you go back to the 1800s, that time has gone, hasn’t it? When we talk about
the future, what we mean is, it’s yet to be. So whilst I am talking, I want you to
think particularly about what we call the past and what we call the future. In the
9th century, King Alfred said, we are going to measure the passage of time using a candle. What’s the question? Would you not need a clock or a watch to
time it? And if you had a watch, you wouldn’t need a candle, would you? Your
watches and the clocks, I am not even sure they are anything to do with time.
We have organised these gadgets to measure what we call the passage of
time, but we haven’t yet defined what we mean by time.
Twice a year we alter time. If you put your clock forward an hour, you only go
past half past one once – I don’t understand that.
If you alter your clock from 2 am to 3 am, where’s that hour gone? If we are
going to put the clock back from 2 am to 1 am and somebody dies at 2 O’clock,
and we put the clock back an hour, when did they die? Did they die at 2
O’clock or did they die at 1 O’clock?
Is time overlaid one on top of another on an on in innumerable layers of what
we call time? Because people have said to me, we have seen the past – we
have seen people who died long ago and we have seen the buildings in some
cases those people were associated with and in a few seconds they have just
disappeared. Other people have said that they call them dreams. If you can
see the future that suggests to me it’s already there. If you go to Spain, Italy or
France, you put your clock forward an hour. If you go to Portugal you
don’t. You walk 100 yards across the border and into Spain and alter your
watch by an hour. Where’s 24 miles from here? If I leave here at nine O’clock
tonight and drive 24 miles to Manchester, it will be the same time there as it is
here and in Canterbury 350 miles away. If we go 24 miles across the channel,
we alter time by an hour. Now some people say, well actually you are not altering time, you are only altering the timepiece, but as far as we are concerned,
what we say is it’s not 2 am now, it’s 3 am. As far as we are concerned, we
have altered time. That is the time that we understand and not necessarily real
Page 48
time. There are some people on this plant now who have no concept of the
passage of time like we do. If you go to the Amazon Basin, the Indians there
have no word in their language for time. They have one for day and they have
one for night and if you can talk about day you can talk about night. That doesn’t tell you what time it is. They don’t need to know – we do, because our society arranges it around the passage of time. Hands up who think I’m crackers.
We think that time is fixed, it’s not. It’s known that between John O’Groats and
London, there’s a 15 minute difference in time. Let’s suppose we are on a train
and it’s 30 carriages long. All the people on this side of the room from that lady
with the red necklace, all you lot are in the first carriage. Those of you on the
right are in the last one. The train sets off and in a short time it’s doing a constant speed of 90 miles an hour. I start then walking from the back of the train
to the front. If the train’s going at 90 mph and I am walking along it, I'm going at
94 mph. When you get home work it out.
Now you and I know that’s daft, because nobody can walk that fast. I have
walked from the past to the future – I have walked through time. In other words
we are all in the same dimension on the train. Same dimension but at least two
different time spans within that dimension. The future and the past.
Think about how we measure the passage of time. You have a clock with a
second hand and you watch it and it ticks round at apparently a regular rate,
tick, tick, tick. A man on this side of the room said, Peter you can divide a second by nine million. If you have a clock at home, before you go to bed look at it
and stand there for five seconds, watch the second hand ticking round five seconds and think you can divide those seconds by 45 million. By how much can
you divide a second of time until you can no longer divide it. People have written songs about till the end of time. Where does time end – we don’t
know. What time is it? Is that the right time? How you know that’s the right
time. It may not be the right time. How many dimensions has this table got? If
we had a clock on the wall, Einstein said, that’s the fourth one. Nine or ten
years ago, Einstein said there are four dimensions, the fourth dimension is
time. If that’s the case, what is time a dimension of - itself? People said he
was crackers. The faster you travel, time slows down and people said, he had
a screw loose. The faster you go, time slows down. As a young man, people
thought Einstein was an idiot. I was talking to some men in Wigan and I said
that this table had three dimensions - its length, its width and its height. I said if
we talk about this table’s length, which of those three dimensions is its length –
is it the first one or is it the third. So at the end of the talk I said to these
men. When you are sitting at home watching TV one night, remember there
are at least twenty dimensions in your living room of which you can only see
three. When you go to bed tonight just think to yourself which dimension am I
lying in. Where are the dimensions? People talk about parallel universes, people say dimensions overlap and then they don’t overlap and os on and so
forth. Fred died and people say they prefer to say Fred’s passed over. What’s
Page 49
the question? The twelfth dimension?
I gave a talk in a church hall one night to about 40 or 50 men. I asked these
men, who went to Sunday School when you were kids. Hands up if you think
Heaven was up there like you were taught in Sunday school and one put his
hand up. After a talk one night, a lady came and she said she went to look at
an old church and she was on her own at the back of the church and I turned
round and there was a group of monks walking up the aisle towards me. According to the local vicar, the first church was built in the 12th century and he
said the monks used to use that first church as their monastery church and so
over the period of perhaps five or six hundred years at least, those monks
would have been in that church several times in the evening, during the night
and during the day. Now some people would say why are they still there after
all this time? Other people have seen them. . As far as we are concerned,
those people went 150 years ago nearly. Hands up who think they can see the
future. People say they are charlatans and I say, are they? Are there people
who see things that we can’t?
People talk about split seconds, don’t they? People have said that they had
seen the past.
A man told me that he and his friend were looking at an old airfield in Lincolnshire and the only thing left was the old control tower They went up to a viewpoint on the roof and videoed the surrounding area and he said that they had
both felt uneasy as though they were being watched. They agreed to have a
walk around the outside of the tower. He said he had videoed all the outside as
well. When he got home he had a shock. He told me he played his video tape
and they had got quite a good recording. On entering the tower, everything
was quiet, but when they went up onto the roof, everything had changed. All
you could hear on the tape was the sound of Merlin engines This man had his
video camera, so as they walked round, he videoed everything. It sounded like
a squadron of Spitfires ticking over. You could hear very clearly the sound of
old time waltz music and big band music, but whilst videoing we heard nothing.
What’s the question about that story? The camera picked up nothing visual,
except what it could see, but the sound recording bit picked up the sound of
Spitfires ticking over and an old time band and waltz music and the airfield had
not been used by anybody for nearly 70 years, so where did those sounds
come from? I spoke to a group of men at Irlam and I asked if anybody had
been in the RAF. I asked him if he was part of the RAF and he said yes. Is that
airfield’s past still there somewhere, and if, during the war, any young airman
came in to land and crashed and were killed
So time means many things to many people - I hope this talk has entertained
you & given you something to think about.
Page 50
HUDDERSFIELD & DISTRICT FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
The Root Cellar
THE PLACE TO FIND YOUR ANCESTORS
35 Greens End Road, Meltham, Holmfirth HD9 5NW
We are Open
Afternoon
Monday:
2 pm to 4.30 pm
Tuesday:
2 pm to 4.30 pm
Wednesday: 10 am to 12.30 pm 2 pm to 4.30 pm
Thursday:
2 pm to 4.30 pm
(alt )
Saturday:
2 pm to 4.30 pm
Morning
Evening (1st & 3rd Th)
7.30 pm to 10 pm
No appointment necessary, just come along and carry out your research, seek advice, explore our resources and speak to people with similar interests.
Ring the Root Cellar 01484 859229 for information, or to make a booking. Booking
is not essential but is recommended, especially if you are travelling a distance and
wish to access particular information.
CALDERDALE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
2014 SPRING MEETINGS ~ Thursdays 7:30p.m.
At The Shibden Room, North Bridge Leisure Centre
Please note that, due to some speaker illnesses, these talks & titles may differ
from those printed in the Society Syllabus.
24th April
Annual General Meeting—please make a special effort to attend
22nd May
Allan Stuttard—Water wheel to E-Mail
26th June
Tony Foster—And in Flew Enza
Page 51
USEFUL CONTACTS AND SOURCES
FOR RESEARCHING WEST YORKSHIRE ANCESTORS
West Yorkshire Archive Service ~ www.archives.wyjs.org.uk (This can be a good
place to start to access the West Yorkshire Archive Catalogue)
Calderdale District Archives, (Registers, BTs, Census, etc. etc.)
Calderdale Central Library, Northgate House, Northgate, Hailfax HXI IUN
Tel: +44 (0) 1422 392636 e-mail [email protected]
WYAS Headquarters, Newstead Road, Wakefield WFI 2DE (Registers, WRiding Registry of Deeds, Manorial Records etc.)
Tel: +44 (0) 1924 305980 email : [email protected]
The Borthwick Institute ~ www.york.ac.uk/inst/bihr/ (Peculiar + PCY wills, BT's etc.)
University of York, Heslington, YORK YO10 5DD
Tel: +44 (0) 1904 321166 email ~ link on website
Calderdale Central Reference Library (address as above) Tel: +44 (0) 1422 392631 email [email protected] (local studies collection, newspapers, maps,
trade directories, IGI, GRO indexes, census and parish register fiche, on-line
Familysearch and Ancestry; research service offered).
Weaver to Web ~ www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/ The council maintains a website with a
miscellany of information from the archives (a wide range of photos, maps, census returns, parish registers, poll books, wills , etc., have been digitised to view online).
Malcolm Bull’s Calderdale Companion ~ http://www.calderdalecompanion.co.uk
(Large collection of trivia, miscellaneous facts of people and places and other bits of local
history about Halifax and Calderdale).
All the Parish records transcribed by the Society are available to search (for a fee) on
FindMyPast.co.uk (In addition there are many other records available to search)
West Yorkshire Parish Registers have been put online (for a fee) by the West Yorkshire
Archives Service which can be accessed on Ancestry.co.uk. (Again, many other useful
records, for a fee)
www.familysearch.org
(Thousands of records for free including the IGI and some census data). LDS Family
History Centres are invaluable for 'distance research'. Check local telephone directories.
The National Archives ~ www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (a wealth of data arising from
public records, including BMD’s, census and much much more).
Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876
www.direct.gov.uk/gro is the website of the general register office for everything concerning civil registration and to order certificates.
Consider subscribing to a periodical such as Family Tree Magazine or BBC’s Who Do
You Think You Are? Magazine. Online sites such as GenesReunited and LostCousins
may help you find relatives researching the same family.
Page 52
LOCAL FAMILY HISTORY FAIRS
Forthcoming Fairs of Interest :Sat. May 10th 2014—Pudsey Civic Hall—10am to 4:30pm
Sat June 28th 2014—York Fair—The Racecourse—10am to 4:30pm
Sat Sept. 13th 2014—Newcastle Fair—Central Premier inn 10am to 4pm
There is a useful list of family history fairs around the country at:http://www.familytreefolk.co.uk/page_10898.html
View our website at www.cfhsweb.com
and visit
Calderdale Family History Society’s
RESEARCH ROOM
Brighouse Library
Rydings Park, Halifax Rd., Brighouse, HD6 2AF
Tuesdays 1:30pm to 4:30pm
&
Thursdays 10:00am to 1:00pm
Open to both Members & Non-Members
•
•
•
•
Facilities include :Searchable information on 4 computers.
Fiches for all Calderdale C of E churches.
6 Internet terminals, with access to Ancestry.com
(Note—now increased from original 4 terminals)
Wide range of books, journals, cuttings, etc.
For more information and bookings ring 07952-211986 during the hours
given above.
Page 53
Calderdale Family History Society
Incorporating Halifax and District
Officers and Co-ordinators of the Society
Officer and Name,
Address and E-mail
Tel. No.
President
Mr. Barrie Crossley, 9, Victoria Terr., Delph Hill Road, Halifax, HX2 7ED
e-mail - [email protected]
01422-366931
Chairman
Mr. Clifford Drake,
22, Well Grove, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2LT
e-mail - [email protected]
01484-714311
Secretary
Mrs. Margaret Smith, 4 Rawson Avenue, Halifax, HX3 0JP
e-mail - [email protected]
01422 -345164
Treasurer
Mr. Dennis Fryer,
74 Ford, Ambler Thorn, Queensbury, Bradford, BD13 2BJ
e-mail - [email protected]
01274-880471
Membership Secretary
Mrs. Susan Clarke, 33, Cumberland Ave., Fixby, Huddersfield, HD2 2JJ
e-mail - [email protected]
01484–304426
Publications Officer (sales of books, CDs, etc.)
Mrs. Joan Drake,
22, Well Grove, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2LT
e-mail - [email protected]
01484-714311
Editor ~ Scrivener (for submission of articles, letters, etc.)
Mrs. Rosie Burgess, 65, Ham Close, Holt, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 6PY
email - [email protected]
01225-782146
Enquiry Service Co-ordinator (for research queries and search requests)
Mrs. Susan Lord
288 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2PB
e-mail - [email protected]
01484 718576
Research Room Co-ordinator (for information about room at The Rydings)
Vacant
e-mail [email protected]
[RR Bookings and Information Tues pm/Thurs am 07952-211986]
Page 54
Officer and Name,
Address and E-mail
Tel. No.
Projects Co-ordinator
Mr. Peter Lord,
288 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse, HD6 2PB
e-mail - [email protected]
01484 718576
Webmaster
Mr. Keith Pitchforth, 10 Hallam Grange Road, Sheffield, S Yorks, S10 4BJ
e-mail - [email protected]
0114-2307685
Strays Co-ordinator
Mrs. Dorothy Hunt, Springfield House, Whitehall Green, Halifax, HX2 9UQ
e-mail - [email protected]
Librarian
Mrs. Anne Kirker,
356, Oldham Rd. Sowerby Bridge, Halifax HX6 4QU
e-mail - [email protected]
01422 - 823966
Members’ Interests Co-ordinator
Mr. Mike Hardcastle, Cedarwood, The Grange, Huddersfield Road,
Brighouse, HD6 3RH
e-mail - [email protected]
01484 715493
The Society's Home Web Page on the Internet is
http://www.cfhsweb.com
Page 55
CHAPELRIES AND TOWNSHIPS OF THE ANCIENT PARISH OF HALIFAX
CHURCH/CHAPEL
Registers begin
BAP. MAR.** BUR.
1. COLEY
St. John
1735 1745 1734
2. CROSS STONE
St. Paul
1678 1837 1678
3. ELLAND
St. Mary**
1559 1559 1559
4. HALIFAX
St. James (inc St Mary Rhodes St 1953) 1832 1837 nk
5. HALIFAX
St. John**
1538 1538 1538
6. HARTSHEAD
St. Peter
1612 1612 1612
7. HEPTONSTALL
St. Thomas**
1599 1593 1599
8. ILLINGWORTH
St. Mary
1695 1697 1695
9. LIGHTCLIFFE
St. Matthew
1703 1704 1704
10. LUDDENDEN
St. Mary
1653 1661 1653
11. RASTRICK
St. Matthew
1719 1839 1798
12. RIPPONDEN
St. Bartholomew
1684 1686 1684
13. SCAMMONDEN
WITH MILLHEAD
St. Bartholomew
1746 1886 1746
14. SOUTHOWRAM
St. Anne
1813 1838 1818
15. SOWERBY
St. Peter
1668 1711 1643
16. SOWERBY BRIDGE
Christ Church
1709 1730 1821
17. STAINLAND
St. Andrew
1782 1844 1783
18. TODMORDEN
St. Mary/Christ Church
1678 1669 1666
**Following Hardwicke’s Marriages Act of 1754, Banns and Marriages will only be found in the registers
of these churches. After 1837 they lost their monopoly of marriages.
Page 56