Rowley Regis was once a small ancient village on the top of a very high hill in South Staffordshire, now apparently absorbed seamlessly into the enveloping sprawl of the West Midlands conurbation. It has had several other municipal designations due to local Government re-organisations in the last century but historically, it was in South Staffordshire – that’s what it said on my school exercise books, so I know! The other, less defined, description is that Rowley Regis was in the Black Country, that nebulous area of industry, metal working, mining, quarrying and sheer hard work and where probably most of the population lived in what we would think of now as poverty.
Although Rowley Regis is an interesting name – yes, at one time, part of it was held by the King, possibly as a hunting area – by the 19th century the village was of no particular note, the main industries in and around the village were quarrying the very hard ‘Rowley Rag’ stone from various quarries on the hill, mining and, above all, in Rowley itself, wrought iron hand nail making which was mostly carried out in small ‘shops’ at the back of houses, and involved whole families, men, women and children from about the age of six. The metal working skills of the local people and the plentiful supplies of the raw materials required meant that, as the Industrial Revolution progressed, hand nail and chain making fell into history and the metal working and myriad engineering skills gave rise to a vast landscape of heavy and polluting industry, canals, mines and brickworks.
I am a Rowley girl. I was born there, grew up and was educated there and lived there until I was eighteen. My parents and grandparents and many of their forebears were born there too and lived out their lives there. My mother told me stories about the area when I was growing up and I started my family history research in about 1980 and have been working on it ever since.
Retired after many years working in local government and now living in the West Country, during the first Covid lockdown I volunteered to transcribe parish registers at home from photographs for FreeREG, for Rowley Regis and Blackheath, the adjacent town which developed just down the road in the mid 19th Century, after the glebe lands belonging to the church were sold. This has included many non-conformist registers, which have never been available online previously.
Very quickly I noticed that many of the family names in those registers were familiar although some of them I had not come across for many years, since I moved away. But I had been at chapel and school with those names! It was also apparent from the Registers and from the various censuses that as well as the village proper, there were a number of hamlets on the edge of the village, some large and some small, and that families tended to stay within these hamlets or nearby. They appear to have been close-knit little communities. Some of my ancestors seemed to stay very firmly in and around the hamlets of Perry’s Lake, Gadds Green, Tipperty Green and Turners Hill, for example, which were very small settlements barely a mile from the village church and within half a mile of each other. Gradually as houses were built, new roads opened, transport improved and development spread, addresses were formalised and house numbers began to appear in the parish registers and censuses and some of the old names for the hamlets became less significant.
There is a very active and informative Facebook page about memories of Rowley Regis and Blackheath, the town. Recently one person asked on the Facebook page where Gadds Green was, because Poppy memorials were being placed near the homes of soldiers who had died in the First World War and one of those had come from Gadds Green. She couldn’t find any trace of it. I had not realised until then that quarrying had completely obliterated Gadds Green, and much of Perry’s Lake and the houses on Turners Hill – they only existed now on old maps. Other local names do not even appear on maps – there has been some animated discussion on the page about where a place called ‘Finger-i-the-hole’ was and most local people will never have heard of Blackberry Town, which appears in the 1841 census.
Several of the local historians using the page were able to tell the Facebook enquirer where Gadds Green had been. But it seemed a pity to me that these lost hamlets, home to so many of my ancestors, have not only physically disappeared but are now fading from local memory. Through my various researches and transcribing church registers and censuses, I have gathered quite a lot of information about these places, who lived there, who ran the shops and pubs, where people worked and worshipped and who married who.
So I have decided to create a One Place Study about these ‘lost hamlets’. My study will initially concentrate on the hamlets of Perry’s Lake, Gadd’s Green and Turner’s Hill, clustered to the North-West of the village centre, during the period 1840-1921, principally looking initially at censuses, parish registers , maps and what these can tell us about the people who lived there. The people and their lives are my main interest. I suspect that it will expand both geographically and in time period as particular information and resources come to hand. I will be posting to this site with new posts about aspects of life in the hamlets and will add maps and photographs in due course.
And by starting a One Place Study, now registered with the Society for One Place Studies, hopefully information about the people who lived in those ‘lost hamlets’ and in due course, others of the ‘lost hamlets’ can be preserved in a study where other people can also contribute their knowledge to it and where later researchers can find the answer to ‘Where was Gadd’s Green?’.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin… here is today’s story (with links, of course, to the Lost Hamlets and the Downing and Whitehouse families!)
To begin at the beginning… it is spring of 1822. It has been a mild spring and the weather is good for hunting. You, Joseph Downing, are a wealthy and respected young man of 38, with a profession as a beast leech and a practice which you took over several years ago from your late uncle Isaac who was an eccentric old gentleman, from whom you inherited both money and several properties. You are married with one son and three daughters and, after your uncle’s death, you moved from Portway to Turner’s Hill.
Yours is a close-knit little circle. Your father PaulDowning also lives on Turner’s Hill, although his house there was the site of some disturbance last year when four local Rowley men broke in and stole various items and last September, at Stafford Assizes they were all sentenced to death for this, although the sentences were commuted and the four were all transported to Australia instead.
Your wife Nancy, who you married in 1810, has her parents and three older brothers living nearby. One of those brothers, Samuel married your sister and only sibling Mary in 1813 so you four are double in-laws. Mary and Samuel live in West Bromwich but sadly have no children of their own so they have adopted your eldest daughter Emma and have paid for your children Matilda and Isaac to go to school.
You and Samuel are good friends and share a love of shooting so you often go shooting together in the Lightwoods area of Quinton, riding from your respective homes and meeting at the house of Thomas Fox, a blacksmith, in Beech Lane, on the turnpike road from Birmingham to Hales Owen. You bring your own victuals but buy in beer in generous quantities from the local pubs, which the three of you consume after your shooting. Life, it seems, is very good.
So, how does it happen that in September of that same year, you, Joseph Downing, find yourself on trial at Shrewsbury Assizes, in peril of your life – accused of the murder of your own brother-in-law SamuelWhitehouse in the woods on your way home after such a day out? Read on to find out!
The trial account
Summer Assizes – Shrewsbury, Saturday August 3 1822, Criminal Court (Halesowen was in Salop or Shropshire at this time so the case went to the Shrewsbury Assizes, not Stafford.)
As can be imagined, this case excited much interest and the newspapers of the time carried extensive reports, much of which I am showing verbatim:
“The trial of Joseph Downing for the murder of his brother-in-law came on at seven this morning, long before which hour every seat in the court was occupied. A large proportion of the audience were ladies. Mess’rs Puller, Campbell and Male appeared for the prosecution and Mess’rs Jervis, Pearson and Russell for the defence.
The indictment charged the prisoner with having, on the 3rd April last, given Samuel Whitehouse a mortal blow on the back part of the head with a gun barrel, of which he languished till the 5th April, when he died.
The prisoner, in a firm tone, pleaded – Not Guilty.”
This is the evidence which was put before the Court:
On the 3rd October Joseph Downing and his brother-in-law Samuel Whitehouse had met by arrangement at Tom Fox’s house and forge. Both came on horseback from their homes, about four miles apart, Samuel riding a mare which he had not had very long but which was described as ‘skittish’ and, while they were waiting for Joseph to arrive, he told Tom Fox that the mare had already thrown Samuel on a previous visit to Fox, having run against and broken down a stile for which he had had to compensate the farmer and of which he had said “what a mercy it was she had not killed him”. He said he would get rid of her, for she was so shy; he was afraid she would kill him some time or other. The same mare had also subsequently thrown and kicked one of his grooms. Samuel also brought his spaniel, a gun dog bred to find, flush and retrieve game from undergrowth and water.
Joseph had not two but three purposes with his visit. He came to shoot and socialise but also brought a colt to be shod at the forge and a new gun barrel which he wanted Fox to bore out and widen in his forge. Downing’s mare and colt were left in Fox’s warehouse for the day, Whitehouse’s mare tied up at Fox’s ‘hovel’, as Fox described it himself during his evidence. Then he loaned Joseph a gun and the three men went out shooting. Fox also testified that “During the whole time, there were no words of anger between them; they were very friendly; I never saw them better friends in my life.”
Fox told the court that he had known Joseph and Samuel very well for several years. They were great friends and had been for years. They were in the habit of coming frequently to his house for the purpose of going shooting together, putting up their horses, and sending for beer to the public houses. They usually brought their own victuals with them. On that day, they went out shooting together, and he accompanied them. They all returned about three in the afternoon, after being out between four and five hours.
This is Fox’s description of the rest of the evening:
“On our return we all took some refreshment. I then tried to widen the breech of the gun-barrel and we walked out to look at Whitehouse’s farm. We returned about six. We then took more refreshment, both food and drink. The ale came from the “Dog” public house, and was paid for by both. Altogether we had 12 quarts of ale. [A quart, a quarter of a gallon, is two pints, so the total here is twenty four pints of beer]. We three, a man of mine, my son and wife, partook of it; but they had not more than two quarts (four pints) of the whole. I, Whitehouse and Downing drank equal quantities [which would have been twenty pints, nearly seven pints each for the three men]. We continued drinking until nearly nine o’clock [so these quantities of ale were drunk over three hours]. In this time, Downing and I laid a wager on the age of Downing’s colt of £1. Each of us produced £1, and gave the money to Whitehouse to hold, who put it into one of his pockets, I did not see which.
I looked at the clock just before Downing and Whitehouse went away, which was on the stroke of nine. It was moonlight, clear but cloudy at times. It was rather calmish. Whitehouse went first. I fetched his horse from my hovel, where it had been put up, and I helped him on. At that time we were all fresh [drunk!]; but the deceased could sit his horse, as well I saw. I held his horse, and gave him the gun. It was then in the state which it had been the whole day. The lock was then entire, and the spring in its place. Downing followed, and mounted his horse, which had been kept in our warehouse. He was in the same [drunken] state in which we were.
They crossed the turnpike road to go through the wood. There is a narrow path through the wood which joins the road near the gravel pit. Across this path there are two gates, one next the road, and another 35 yards further on. I opened the first gate for them; Whitehouse passed through first and Downing followed. I went to the second gate. Here Downing said he had forgotten his gun barrel, and asked Whitehouse to stop or he would lose his road, as he had done the time before. I went back for the gun barrel, walked at a moderate pace, and on my return found Downing waiting for me at the gate. Whitehouse had gone on. The trees shade the road, so that more than 100 yards cannot be seen; but he was out of sight. I delivered the gun barrel to Downing, who rode on at a foot’s pace, leading the colt in his right hand. The colt was about 2 years old. The path is what is called ‘a little trig road’.
I returned and went to bed.”
So, this evidence shows, the two men had, after a night of hard drinking, left Fox’s house to make their way home cross country, all three men, apparently, considerably the worse for drink!
Perhaps, by this time, you feel a map would be useful? When I first read the trial reports and tried to place the events in my mind, I certainly did. So here is an extract from the OS One-Inch map from 1872, somewhat later but I have put stars at Turner’s Hill, The Oaks at West Bromwich (which was possibly where Samuel lived and this site was certainly associated with the Whitehouse family a few years later) and also at the probable site of Tom Fox’s forge, opposite the Light Woods.
Copyright: David and Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon.
And Joseph and Samuel had become separated in the wood. Presumably at some point their routes would have diverged anyway as one was going to Rowley, probably – looking at the map via Whiteheath Gate, and the other to West Bromwich, perhaps via Oldbury.
This extract from the Tithe Map for the area shows Plot Number 217, described in the apportionments as ‘house, blacksmith’s shop and garden, Plot 217, the property of Lord Lyttelton, at the Turnpike road’s (now Hagley Road West) eastern extremity in the township measured 2 roods, 1 pole.’ And the Fox family were associated with this site for most of the 19th century.
Copyright: Michael Hall
So this was right at the edge of the parish, on the toll-road, very near to the Beech Tree Inn, probably about where the road from Harborne comes up to meet the Hagley Road West and where eventually the Wolverhampton New Road began when it was built much later. This was also near Warley Woods and the Bear Wood, so there would have been some promising areas for shooting.
What happened next?
Now we hear the evidence of Richard Aston, an apprentice shoemaker:
“I am apprentice to John Bridge of the Beech Tree, who is a shoemaker. On the 3rd April I set out for Oldbury about seven o’clock. On my return I took the road from West Bromwich. I passed Parker’s house about 20 minutes after nine. I heard a horse galloping; I stopped it; the bridle had been in our shop for mending, and I noticed the broadness of the reins. I took the horse to Ezekiel Dearns, and inquired who had passed that way. In consequence of what I there heard, I pursued the road towards Fox’s.
In my way, near Wood’s Gate I found a body. I saw a hat lying about two yards from the body, nearer to me. The body lay across the road. A gun was lying about two yards from the body, near to the hat. I dismounted and found it was Mr Whitehouse. He was leaning on his right side, his face towards Fox’s, and he lay in the road. He was not then sensible.
I led the horse to our house. I afterwards went to Mrs Fox’s and she and a man named Henley returned with me. As I was going back to the body, I heard a man halloo, as if he was making an alarm. I thought it might be Mr Whitehouse got up, hallooed “Mr Whitehouse,” and heard a horse gallop from the place where he lay. He was then lying on his back, the flap of his smallclothes unbuttoned and his waistcoat stripped under his arm; and his pockets, to the best of my recollection, unbuttoned. In the left-hand breeches pocket we found nothing; in the right-hand pocket two £1 notes; his watch was gone.
We took him to the Beech Tree public house. It was three quarters of an hour from the time I first saw him, till I saw him again. I took the gun the first time, and left it at Mr Bridge’s shop. The next morning I found that the spring was off and shot in it but no wadding.
About five in that morning, I saw Downing, and again between twelve and one. The second time he brought me the spring of the gun; there was a little dirt in the middle of it. He said a good many had been looking for it, but no-one could find it but he. I had told Hanley that the spring was missing. I went with the prisoner to the place where he found the spring which was a few yards from the spot where the deceased was found. The place was soft and dirty; there was dirt in the muzzle of the gun, so that it appeared to have fallen on the muzzle. Afterwards I saw Mr Granger riding a mare which I believe to be that which I caught.”
Cross-examined by Mr Pearson:
“The gun was in a ditch, where the gravel was sufficiently hard to throw it on one side. I caught the mare at a gate. She seemed alarmed but I did not see her tremble. The gate was little more than half a mile from the place where I found the deceased. When I reached the deceased, the mare started. A spaniel was lying by the body and he went with me. Whitehouse breathed hard, like a man who was intoxicated. I lifted him up, under the arms; and did not, the first time, perceive the waistcoat tucked up. The person of the deceased must have been removed between the first and second time I saw him. When I went to Fox’s, Mrs Fox called twice to waken her husband; I heard someone answer whom I thought was Mr Fox, as if drunk or asleep. The gun was placed in the shop, where many might have seen it.”
Poor Samuel Whitehouse! Knocked senseless and then robbed, it seemed.
Mrs Fox had gone back to alert her husband to what had happened. He said:
“I was awakened by my wife who told me that Whitehouse lay hurt at the Beech Tree. I went to the Beech tree public house and found him there wounded. I mounted Whitehouses’s mare and rode to Downings to inform him what had happened. It was nearly two in the morning before I reached Downings, in consequence of the badness of the road. I went by the same trig road. I called Downing, who came down, and I informed him of the state of his brother-in-law. I said he was very badly hurt, and had lost his money. Downing said “he was very sorry it had happened and could not think which way he went that he had missed of him. Then we made ready to come to the Beech Tree. It was nearly four before we started, because the mare had not been fed, and it was necessary to feed her. Downing mounted his horse. In returning to the Beech Tree we came through that wood. Before that time I had been told by my wife in what place Whitehouse had been found. When we reached it, we stopped and looked about to see it we could find anything. It was then day-break. He dismounted and looked about. He said he thought there was some blood but it was not light enough to see. I looked and thought it was blood, but it was scarcely light enough to see.
We then went on to the Beech Tree and arrived nearly at five. Downing went into the room where Whitehouse was. I followed him; he was then so sensible as to know me. Downing went to the bedside and asked him if he was sick. I think he said “Yes” but I did not hear him. He shook hands with me very much. About an hour afterwards, Downing made him some tea, fed him with a teaspoon, took his hand, and felt his pulse, which he said beat regularly. I did not see Whitehouse take Downing’s hand. He knew me, I am sure.
We remained at the Beech Tree for nearly three hours. The Doctor and Downing consulted that Mr Baddeley, of Dudley, another Doctor, should be called in, and Downing went [to Dudley] for him. Between 10 and 11, Downing returned to the Beech tree.
Before Mr Baddeley came, Downing and I went together to the trig road. We searched all about the place where Whitehouse had lain. We found horses in the road before we came to the spot, on that side of the gate where he was found. We then went to the place and Downing found the spring of Whitehouse’s gun in the rut which might be three or four inches deep, and had no water. We found nothing else. We then went back to the Beech Tree. I might be 3 yards from Downing when he found it. He said “Here is his gun-spring,” before he took it up.”
The gun barrel taken away by Downing was produced, and identified by the witness. The spring of the gun was also produced and sworn to be that found, and the gun of Whitehouse was identified in the same manner.
All of this evidence was presented for the prosecution, so they clearly felt it was sufficient to charge Joseph Downing. Downing’s barrister Mr Jervis cross-examined Tom Fox. More facts (and opinions) emerged:
Tom Fox: “I do not remember any attempt of my wife to wake me because I was in liquor. The mare had been ridden to Hales Owen, about three miles, to fetch a doctor, after being caught a mile from my house. I was present while the surgeon searched the head. Whitehouse appeared to know me, as he shook hands with me very much by the right hand. Directions to fetch Downing were given in the presence of Whitehouse. Before this the doctor had said that he was in danger but might recover.
When I reached Downing’s, he appeared to have been in bed; he dressed and came to me. I told him “Whitehouse was badly hurt, and had lost his money.” He went and gave the mare a feed of hay; she had been 11 or 12 miles, besides having stood all day.
When we reached the Beech Tree, Downing went up first and I followed him. He went to the bedside and spoke to Whitehouse. He administers to cattle, and is somewhat acquainted with medicine. Whitehouse looked at him, and seemed to know him. When he shook hands with me, I was nearer to his hand than Downing. When Downing felt his pulse, he seemed sensible and showed no aversion. There was a twitching of his limbs on the right side which made it difficult to keep the clothes on him. He took the tea from the prisoner’s hand. Mr Bloxam being gone, Downing desired that the doctor might be fetched, and both the Mess’rs Bloxam came. He remained until their arrival, and desired them to do the best they could for him. They examined and dressed the wound again in his presence, and he looked at it. The two brothers of the deceased came after the dressing. Downing then desired that Baddeley, his own surgeon might be fetched and Downing and Thomas Whitehouse went for him. Downing returned first.
Then we went to the spot and he plucked out the spring of the gun with a stick. He attended the coroner’s inquest at every sitting, and also attended the funeral.”
Then some evidence was called from local people about various movements:
Ezekiel Dearn examined by Mr Campbell:
“I am a nailer by business, living by the side of the road. In the morning of the 3rd April I saw the prisoner and deceased separately pass my house. About nine in the evening, as near as I could guess, I saw Downing return at a gentle trot leading a colt, at a rate of 4 or 5 miles an hour. A few minutes later, two strangers passed on foot in the same direction. They were walking at a common pace. About four or five minutes after, Mr Whitehouse’s mare came up loose at a gallop, and she passed on. Near four minutes after Aston brought the mare to my door.
Cross examined by Mr Russell: The mare continued to gallop as long as I saw her: 10 or 12 minutes elapsed after Downing passed before the mare came by. Afterwards I continued working at my nail shop about an hour, by the road side; but I saw no other man or horse pass. Downing could not have gone back without my seeing him.”
Thomas Wakeman, examined by Mr Puller:
“On the 3rd April I went to Oldbury, and returned by the Rowley Road. I set out to come home 20 minutes before nine. It is about two miles and a half from the place whence I set off to Parker’s. I came gently, walking all the way. About forty yards before I got to Parker’s, I met a man leading a horse which seemed a young one. I wished him “good night”. He was going at a good fair walk. At that time I did not know him. He did not appear to take any notice of me. He was like the prisoner at the bar. Before I met him, I heard a halloo which seemed to come from before me. Afterwards, not more than seven yards behind, I met another man going about the same pace. I was then about three quarters of a mile from the spot where Mr Whitehouse was found.
Cross examined by Mr Jervis: There are other roads by which the persons might have reached the place than that through the wood.
Ann Fox, the wife of Fox the publican was called and brought into the witness box; but being in ill-health, she immediately fainted away, and was not again called, it being understood on both sides that her testimony would not be material.
Thomas Taylor, examined by Mr Male.
“My father lives about 100 yards from Fox’s house; I live with him. I went out about a quarter after nine on the evening of the 3rd April to procure some mud for the oven. I heard a voice in the wood call “Fox! Fox!” not very loud, and then a noise as of something falling. It did not appear as if it were a heavy fall. I was about 300 or 400 yards from the place where Whitehouse was found. My father was not so near the spot as I, but he might have heard the fall. It certainly was not 10 o’clock. The road is hard where Whitehouse was found. I heard no footing of horses.”
John Taylor, the father of the last witness, stated that he heard the cry of “Fox” three times at half past 9 by his clock but heard no footing of horses.
Then there was the medical evidence given by the two Doctors Bloxham, of Halesowen.
Mr Stephen West Bloxham examined by Mr Hale:
“I am a surgeon in partnership with my father at Hales Owen. On the 4th April I was called to attend Mr Whitehouse, the deceased. I found him totally insensible and speechless. The left side was quite paralysed, and the right in constant action and convulsion. I found a wound a little above the projection at the back oof the head. It was about two inches in length and half an inch wide. On examining the wound with my finger, I found the scalp separated for two inches upward in that part which is naturally separated in infancy.
I will not swear that it might not be caused by a fall from a horse; but I think, from examination of the head after death, such consequences could not have been produced. I think a fall from a horse could not have occasioned so extensive an injury. The blow must have inclined upwards, because the scalp below was perfect and that above severed. I cannot swear that a kick from a horse would not have produced a wound and effects such as I described but I am not inclined to think it was done by a horse from other appearances of the head. There were two wounds full of dirt on the left temple which induced me to suppose that this temple came into contact with the ground. There was no dirt in the wound at the back of the head. Had the deceased fallen with his hat on, the consequences could not have been so extensive.
My opinion is that the wound and fractures in the skull were produced by a violent blow at the back of the head; I think from a flat instrument. Any of the square sides of a gun barrel would be likely to produce the wound. I have no doubt that the blow behind was the cause of Mr Whitehouse’s death. I think he could know no one, and must have been incapable of shaking hands with any one from the time of the accident. I saw the prisoner about seven on the following morning in the presence of the deceased. I communicated to the prisoner, and so did my father, the dangerous state of Whitehouse. My father, in my hearing, expressed to the prisoner a wish to consult the family surgeon, and was informed by him that Mr Baddeley was the family surgeon. I do not recollect that he said anything further.”
Cross examined by Mr Pearson:
“I believe Mr Baddeley to be a very scientific man.
The two wounds on the temple might have been produced by a fall from the horse, and the back wound by a kick from the horse, without any other blow. The hat must have come off at the time when the chief blow was given. The back wound had bled some quantity, but I think not so much as to carry off the dirt. The edge of the horse-shoe might be free from dirt by constant friction. I should think the whole of the horse-shoe would not be received into the wound, but it would have admitted the edge of a horse-shoe. A kick from a horse would not be more violent than a blow from a man inflicted by a heavy instrument. A horse’s kick at the striking distance might produce the appearances at the back of the head; at least I will not swear it would not.
If the deceased answered a question as to his illness, I should think him sensible. If he grasped the hand of another in gratitude for fetching his friend and brother-in-law, this would be a proof he was sensible. I do not think it possible he could have moved from one side of the bed to the other, nor from a road into a ditch at six feet distance. Had a man given him the blow on the back of the head as he was riding, he must have fallen forwards, in which case his head would be towards the place to which he was proceeding.”
On re-examination, the witness said that if the horse had by a jerk turned round, the man might fall in a contrary direction. The wound appeared to be made with an instrument rather than a horse’s foot, because it was straight, not circular. It might possibly be given between the collar and the hat if the hat was on. The fracture was four or five inches towards the front of the head; which might have been produced by the weight and violence of the blow. Any square iron bar might have produced such a wound.
Mr C W Bloxam examined by Mr Puller:
“I am father of the last witness, and have been a surgeon 40 years. I saw the deceased the morning a after the violence but did not examine the wound itself until the morning after. I have heard the account given by my son, and as far as relates to the extent of the wounds, and the fracture of the skull, I entirely agree with him. After the death, I opened the wound and found it in the state which he has described. The impression on my mind at the time was, that it was inflicted by some heavy metallic substance, from the sharpness of the blow given. Such a derangement of the skull could not have been produced without a very wide instrument if of wood. The gun-barrel is certainly capable of producing the wound; I found part of the scalp which was mashed nearly to correspond with one of the squares of the barrel, but I cannot take it on myself to say that the wound actually was produced by it.
Cross-examined by Mr Russell:
“I could form very little judgment from the comparison with the scalp in the state it then was. Mr Baddeley did not attend when I made the examination, which was before the Coroner. It was possible the wound might have been given by great force. No injury was done to the hat.”
So the two doctors differed from Mr Fox as to whether Samuel Whitehouse was conscious at the Beech Tree Inn but seemed convinced that a blow from some metallic implement had caused the wound.
Then there was the evidence of Benjamin Granger, the person prosecuting this case:
Benjamin Granger, the prosecutor, constable of the parish of Halesowen, was examined by Mr Puller:
On the 13th of April, I went to examine the state of the wood. There are various little tracks which are very narrow; but one is waggon way, which is wider than the right path.
On the 20th I rode Mr Whitehouse’s mare, and she carried me safe. When I passed the second gate, I dropped the reins to see where she would take me, and she went straight up the right track. I ordered Fox to go through the same ceremony which he did in fetching the gun-barrel and returning and it took a minute. It is 576 yards from the second gate to the place where Mr Whitehouse was found. There is a bank at the place, on which a person standing might have struck Mr Whitehouse as he rode along. I was present before the coroner when Mr Downing was there. I heard his examination taken; he was told it was his option whether he would say anything. I heard it read to him, and saw him sign it.
As it appeared that the prisoner had been sworn at the start of the inquisition, Mr Justice Bayley thought the subsequent examination not admissible in evidence against him. His Counsel, however, waived the objection and it was read. It gave a narrative of the proceedings of the day, and stated that he never saw Whitehouse in the road, though expecting every moment to overtake him. The only part which could be supposed to assist the prosecutor’s case was, that in which he said he did not remember meeting with anyone; whereas Wakeman said that he met a man who he believed to be the prisoner.
This was the case for the prosecution.
The prisoner, being asked if he would say any thing for himself, replied “Nothing, my Lord, except that I am not guilty.”
Various witnesses were then called for the defence:
Samuel Hodgets: “I live with my father, near the wood. I remember, a month before Mr Whitehouse’s death, his coming late at night to my father’s house, saying that he had been thrown from his mare and lost her. We went to look for her, and found that she had broken into one of the fields. He paid for the damage done to the stile she had injured, and rode her home.”
Thomas Binks: “I was servant to Mr Whitehouse, and live with his widow. About a month ago I was sent out on the mare; she plunged and threw me. I have attended the mare in the stable; she is kicking and vicious.”
Mr Thomas Winter, the surgeon who attended the last witness after his accident, stated that he was brought to his house stunned and with a cut on the ear. As the wound had no dirt in it, he thought it might probably be occasioned by a kick from the mare.
Joseph Cox, who lives in the road to the prisoner’s house from the place where the body was found, saw him pass at a quarter or twenty minutes before ten, at a slow pace, leading the colt with his right hand.
Mary Binks, the servant to theprisoner, remembered his arriving at home on the evening of the 3rd of April. He took the colt to the field, put up his horse, came in and shortly after went to bed.
Mr Baddeley, a surgeon in extensive practice at Dudley, was fetched by a brother of the deceased.He examined the wound. The whole injury seemed caused by one blow, which could not have been given without injuring the hat, if on. The effects might undoubtedly have been produced by the kick of a horse, and much more probably than by an instrument.
Mr Winter was called again, and said that having attended to the evidence, he had no doubt the wound might have been given by a kick of a horse. A horse’s foot would have given a more severe blow than a man could strike with a colt in his hand.
Mr Evans, surgeon at Shrewsbury, thought it much more probable that such an injury was caused by a kick from a horse than by human force.
Mr Thomas Whitehouse, a brother of the deceased, stated that he had often seen the deceased and the prisoner together, and always in apparent friendship.
What did the Judge say?
Mr Justice Bayley addressed the jury:
He had not stopped the case because when life was lost it was right that all the circumstances should be investigated with the greatest care. But now, if they thought every probability was in favour of the prisoner’s innocence – that the deceased might have been delayed on the road by taking the wrong path – that the position of the body at first, its subsequent removal after Downing had passed on, the direction in which the horse was found, and the whole demeanour of the prisoner, left them without doubt, it would be unnecessary for him to read over the evidence.
The Jury immediately said that they were satisfied and found a verdict of Not Guilty.
Mr Justice Bailey then said “I think it right, in the presence of the prisoner and of all who have heard the trial, to express my opinion that, if the unfortunate deceased did come to his death by human hands, which is by no means clear, it appears from all the evidence that it was from other hands than those of the prisoner.”
Downing, who during the trial had preserved an entire composure, burst into tears on hearing this address, and said with great emotion “Thank you greatly, my Lord; thank you, Gentlemen of the Jury.” He was immediately discharged.”
So this was the account taken from newspapers at the time.
I hope my readers will forgive this very long account, but there are so many relevant details in the evidence that it seemed simplest to repeat the reports here.
So Joseph Downing was freed, without a stain on his character but that did not, apparently satisfy everyone. It appears that his family, at the time of the burial on 10th April, a week after the incident, were unsure what had happened and there is a note on the burial entry in the Register “Murdered or found in a dying state being thrown from his horse and kicked.”
The case rumbled on. A Reward of £100, for the apprehension and conviction of the person or persons who robbed and murdered Samuel, was offered in a newspaper advertisement in Aris’s Birmingham Gazette on 15th April 1822. This report noted that he had been robbed of several bank notes, his watch, chain and seals and a leather shot pouch. A Coroner’s Inquest had been started and statements taken from Mr Downing and the Foxes, father and son and at that point the elder Fox had been detained in custody on suspicion of being implicated in the act. But it seems that nothing more came of that and attention then shifted to Joseph Downing.
Two years later
I found another article about a trial at Shewsbury Assizes in September 1824, two years later when a John Felton was charged, on the oath of the widow Mary Whitehouse with stealing Samuel Whitehouse’s silver watch, bank notes and other items. This was how the report began:
“ This case excited a very considerable interest, and the court was unusually crowded. To explain the circumstances of this transaction, it will be necessary to state the following facts:-
In the 3rd April 1822 Mr Samuel Whitehouse, a respectable farmer, residing at West Bromwich, went to visit a Mr Joseph Downing, an opulent farmer, residing in the Parish of Rowley, near the Beech Lanes, on the road to Halesowen, who was his brother-in-law” …… etc, etc.
And then came the heavy hint that perhaps Mr Downing was not so innocent at all… an acquittal and the words of the Judge on that occasion did not prevent these innuendos, it seems.
“Mr Downing was apprehended on the charge of having murdered Mr Whitehouse and was fully committed for that crime and was tried at the Summer Assizes at Shrewsbury 1822 but was acquitted. It was sworn on that occasion, by a surgeon, that a blow had been inflicted with the barrel of a gun (and it was proved that Downing carried a gun when he left Fox’s house), which would have produced such an injury as that which occasioned the deceased’s death.
The prisoner Felton as also, at the time of the Coroner’s Inquest, in custody on suspicion of being concerned in the murder, and also a young man named Fox, the son of the man at whose house the deceased and Mr Joseph Downing were drinking on the night of the murder. They, however, were finally discharged.”
No mention, either of the opinion of another surgeon at the earlier trial that the injury was more likely to have been inflicted by a kick from a horse!
But back to the report on Felton’s trial:
“Mr Maule, for the prosecution, stated the case to the Jury. He said that the prisoner, at the time of the murder and robbery of Mr Whitehouse, kept the Pheasant public house, within half a mile of the spot where the deed was perpetrated. It could be proved that on the night in question, the prisoner [Felton] was seen on horseback, going in the direction where the body was found, and must have passed the place. It was not alleged that the prisoner inflicted the wounds that caused the death of the deceased, but that he passed by when the deceased lay insensible on the ground and rifled his person of his watch and ten £1 notes. The deceased, when first discovered, was lying on his face with his head towards a ditch, but in a quarter of an hour afterwards, when assistance was procured, on proceeding to the spot, he was found in a different position, and the pockets rifled of the watch and notes.
The deceased’s watch was found in the prisoner’s possession in June last, and in such a condition that no doubt could be entertained of its having been buried for a considerable period in the earth, as it was covered with soil and tarnished. On the prisoner being taken into custody, he told two different stories about his obtaining possession of the watch.
The Jury would seriously consider the facts he should prove, and if they were convinced of the prisoner’s guilt, they would discharge their duty by convicting him.”
Then entered a new character – Samuel Whitehouse’s widow.
Mrs Mary Whitehouse, the sister of Mr Joseph Downing, a good-looking woman, attired in deep mourning, was called. She was exceedingly agitated and could not speak for some time. She, being partially recovered, stated that, on the 3rd April, her husband went out shooting, and took with him the watch now produced.
Thomas Fox, the Landlord of the Pheasant public house, recollected the deceased, Paul Whitehouse and Joseph Downing coming to his house; the deceased had bank notes in his pocket and a silver watch. [Two errors here – it was Samuel, not Paul Whitehouse who died. At the time of the original incident, Thomas Fox was not the landlord of the Pheasant, the accused John Felton was!]
Richard Aston, whose detailed evidence in Downing’s trial we saw earlier in this script, found the deceased in the road insensible, and went to the Beech tree public-house for assistance; on returning to the deceased, he said “I heard a halloo, and then a second halloo; and I made a hallooing in answer, and directly after I heard a horse gallop off in a direction towards the Pheasant public house, which is about half a mile from where the deceased lay. When I arrived where the deceased was lying, I found he had been removed into the ditch; his waistcoat was raised up; the waistband of his breeches was unbuttoned, and one of the pockets was unbuttoned. I did not see that he had a watch when I first saw him. He had no watch when I saw him again. I assisted in removing him to the Beech Tree, where he lived two days in a state of insensibility.”
John Downing – [yes, almost certainly distantly related to the Rowley Downings!]: “I live at Harborne; on the night of the 3rd April 1822 about twenty minutes past nine, I saw the prisoner at the bar pass my house on horseback, which is situate about half a mile from where Mr Whitehouse was found, and in the direct road to the Pheasant public –house. The prisoner’s father lived at Harborne; I particularly noticed the prisoner by his beating his horse over the shoulders to make him go faster. It was a moon-light night; I am sure it was the prisoner.”
Cross-examined by Mr Maule:
“I saw the prisoner on other days in April frequently; he visited his father, and my house is on the road, between the residence of father and son; the prisoner might have gone up a turnpike road after he passed my house and not have passed through the wood.”
Questioned by the Judge:
“I was 20 yards off the prisoner when he passed me; it is not uncommon for a man to beat a horse on the shoulder; I did not speak to the prisoner, though he was a neighbour; his horse was darkish; I have known the prisoner since he was a child.”
Moses Hyam identified the watch left in Mrs Tonk’s possession to be the same he sold to Whitehouse.
Edmund Darby, a constable, apprehended the prisoner at Birmingham, when he gave different accounts how he obtained it.
The prisoner declined saying anything in his defence, and called several witnesses, who gave him a good character.
Mr Justice Park considered that the circumstances were very slight against the prisoner.
The Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
More details about the strange circumstances surrounding the watch emerged in a report in the Shrewsbury Chronicle dated 20 August 1824:
John Felton, charged with stealing a silver watch, value £3, from Samuel Whitehouse.
Elizabeth Tonks, took the Pheasant Inn off the prisoner’s hands in June 1822. In October last, he brought a dirty and tarnished silver watch to her house; he asked if a man had been there to enquire for him, and on being answered in the negative, he told Mrs Tonks that he had advanced 11/- (eleven shillings) on the watch to a strange man who was to have met him there to redeem it; he then asked Mrs Tonks to let him have 11/- on it, but enjoined her to let no one know of the transaction, and particularly not her servant girl, who had lived with him also at the Pheasant, when he kept it; witness accordingly took the watch in pledge, cleaned it in the best way she could, and used it; and that afterwards, when the matter became public, she gave it up to Darby, the constable.
Darby stated that he apprehended the prisoner at Bromsgrove Fair, where he had horses to sell, and telling him he was come to apprehend him, he said “Are you, by God! About that damned watch; I do not care about it; I had it of a man whom I did not know.”
A great number of respectable persons who had known the prisoner from 4 to 26 years, gave him a most excellent character.
The names of certain people seem to recur in these trials and it is likely that the local authorities were under some pressure to solve this mystery, and numerous people seem to have come under suspicion.
Summary
Was Joseph involved in attacking his brother-in-law? He certainly had nothing to gain financially – Joseph was a very wealthy man, as was Mary Downing, Samuel’s wife and both Joseph and Mary had received substantial bequests from their uncle Isaac Downing in 1814. And there is no evidence that the men were on bad terms, quite the contrary. So what motive could he have had? It’s difficult to think what motive Tom Fox would have had either, although he too clearly came under suspicion.
My own view is that it seems perfectly possible to me that, with Samuel riding in the dark in a very drunken state, his unreliable horse could have thrown him as he rode through the wood and then kicked him in the head and the horse was certainly running wild at that time. It appears that the Judge at the trial also had great doubt about whether Samuel had died as a result of a human attack.
The route taken by the two men – both of whom were the worse for alcohol – would have diverged anyway at some point cross country and it was clear that there were various tracks and pathways through the Lightwoods and that Joseph Downing had got lost there before. And could he really have attacked his brother-in-law so viciously while he was himself on a horse and leading a colt with his right hand? It seems unlikely.
That Samuel was subsequently robbed definitely happened, perhaps by one or more passing men who took advantage of his unconscious state and may not even have realised that he was so badly injured, (it seems the wound was on the back of his head and not immediately obvious in the dark of the woods). And he probably smelled of drink, too so the thief may just have thought he had fallen down drunk.
But what a fascinating glimpse of the life these men led and how the movements of people along the road were noted by the local residents!
I wonder whether Joseph was able to resume anything like his normal life after that. Was there always a whisper of doubt about his innocence? Did his wife Nancy suspect that he might have killed her brother? Did his sister Mary think that he had struck down her husband? Did all five of his daughters choose to live with their Aunt Mary, Samuel’s widow, in West Bromwich because of family issues or did they just prefer to live in a town? Who knows? They all returned to Turner’s Hill, to live with their mother and brother Isaac after their father’s death. I am currently trying to track down Joseph’s Will and also his son Isaac’s Will which may give some clues. Did all of those daughters and Isaac remain unmarried because of the family disgrace? We shall never know.
Would there have been much sympathy in Rowley in 1822 for Joseph? Remember that only the year before, four Rowley men had been sentenced to death for a minor robbery at the home of Joseph’s father, although those sentences were commuted to transportation, so local support might have been thin on the ground.
So, there it is – a real life murder mystery, unsolved, it seems, to this day. Or was it a terrible mishap, involving a man worse for drink, a bad tempered horse and an opportunistic thief?
The next family on the 1841 Census were the Redferns, Joseph Redfern, his wife Ann Maria (nee Priest) and their elder children. This is how the family were shown in that Census:
Christian name
Surname
Age
Occupation
Whether born in County
Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
Joseph
Redfern
35
Labourer
Yes
Maria
Redfern
40
Yes
Sarah
Redfern
12
Yes
Eliza
Redfern
10
Yes
Joseph
Redfern
8
Yes
William
Redfern
6
Yes
Ann
Redfern
4
Yes
Thomas
Priest
15
Yes
Thomas Priest was Joseph’s stepson, the illegitimate son of Ann Maria Priest.
No need for much new research on this family, I did a family study on this family in August and September 2023 which appears in two posts.
There is little new to be added to that information since then so any interested readers may wish to refresh their memories from those posts:
Next along the hill were Joseph Downing and his family, Joseph was shown as a farmer. This was their household:
Christian name
Surname
Age
Occupation
Whether born in County
Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
Joseph
Downing
55
Farmer
Yes
Nancy
50
Yes
Isaac
25
Yes
Sarah
Ward
20
Female Servant
No
Hannah
Harris
30
No
The Downing Family
There are many Downings in and around the Rowley area, also in Tividale, Sedgley, West Bromwich and Harborne and many of them were owners or tenants of land and therefore more prosperous than most of the average nailers. They intermarried with other families of similar status in the area. Many of them left Wills which, where I have been able to find them, have been the source of a lot of information.
Joseph Downing (1784-1849)
Joseph’s age in the 1841 Census indicates a birth year of about 1786, bearing in mind that in this census adult ages were rounded down to the nearest five years. I had hoped that I would be able to find Joseph in the 1851 Census which would give me a more accurate year but although I found Nancy still on Turner’s Hill with various others, she was now a widow. So now I knew that Joseph had died between 1841 and 1851, into the period of civil registration so easier to find – this should give me an age from the death registration and from the burial if I was able to find that. There were several death registrations of Joseph Downings in the Dudley Registration District between those dates but only one of them was for a Joseph of the right age. Joseph Downing, aged 65, died in the first quarter of 1849 which brings me back to a birth date of about 1784. And this JosephDowning, aged 65, and – according to the entry in the Burial Register – of Turner’s Hill was buried at St Giles on 2 January 1849. So this is definitely the right Joseph Downing. The Burial entry indicates that he died of a diseased heart.
So now I could look for a baptism of this Joseph. I searched FreeREG for a period from 1780 to 1790 in Rowley Regis and the surrounding area within 7.5 miles. Somewhat to my surprise, there were only two such baptisms – one in 1780 in Himley – a little early if our Joseph’s age was recorded correctly and quite a long way away – and one in Rowley Regis on 11 January 1784. It seems likely that this second Joseph was our man. This Joseph was the son of Paul and Ann Downing, who had also had a daughter Mary baptised at St Giles in 1782. There were no other baptisms for this couple anywhere that I could find which makes me suspect that the Hannah Downing who died in July 1786 and was buried at St Giles may have been this Ann – Ann and Hannah are sometimes used interchangeably. Or it is possible that she was the Ann Downing who was buried at Halesowen in December 1792. The only other trace that I could find at that point of Paul Downing was a burial at St Giles in November 1823, aged 81 (giving a birth year of about 1742) and giving his abode as Turner’s Hill. So, again, that ties in neatly with this family.
Joseph’s father Paul Downing (1742-1823)
Paul is not a common name in the Downing family nor indeed in Rowley Regis at this time, as far as I can see, but I was able to find a marriage of a Paul Downing on 14 February 1782 to Ann Darby – another name associated with Rowley – by Licence (which indicates a certain level of wealth or social standing). The marriage is listed as having taken place at Rowley Regis cum Clent but I cannot see it in the Rowley Regis Register so presumably it took place at Clent. And there was a Paul Downing baptised at Harborne on 10 February 1765 who may have been connected in some way, he was the son of John and Martha Downing. The only Paul Downing that I have been able to find in the area in the 1841 Census was a blacksmith living in Hagley Road, Harborne so it does seem that the Downings in that area used Paul as a Christian name, more so than the Rowley Downings. However, I know from other sources (of which more anon) that this Joseph Downing was the nephew of Isaac Downing of Turner’s Hill.
There was a Paul Downing living on Turner’s Hill from at least about 1782 until 1823. I found a newspaper report that in 1821, John Fox, John Priest, Samuel Perry, Benjamin Perry and Ephraim Rollason of Rowley were convicted at Stafford Assizes for housebreaking at the dwelling-house of Paul Downing in April 1821 and stealing a coat, two sheets and other goods. This does make me think that Paul Downing must have been living in a house of a larger than average size for the village. It would not have taken four men to burgle the average small cottage in the village.
For this crime all four were sentenced to death at Stafford Assizes, which seems a harsh sentence to our modern thinking although I have been able to discover that these death sentneces were commuted and they were all were transported to Australia instead. This was in the period of demobilisation of the army after Waterloo, leading to mass unemployment, poor harvests owing to bad weather, the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 and the introduction of the Corn laws which had a disastrous impact on the poor. Who knows what motivated these four men to break in and steal, though it does not appear that they managed to steal very much and the death sentences seem draconian to us today. I had also noted that Ephraim Rollason appeared in court a couple of times previously charged with stealing so this may not have been a one-off. I cannot help thinking that it would not have made the Downing family very popular amongst the poorer families of the hamlets who lost four of their men.
There was also Isaac Downing on Turner’s Hill at this time, he was buried at St Giles in November 1814, of Turner’s Hill, aged 75, having died of asthma. It seems that Paul and Isaac were brothers. And the maps which appear to have been prepared in connection with the Enclosures in Rowley in the late 1790s or very early 1800s, also show Paul Downing as tenant of land on Turner’s Hill. Looking back, I see that I wrote at some length about the Downings (amongst other families) in my piece about the farms in the Lost Hamlets.
Joseph Downing married Nancy Whitehouse – again by Licence – at St Giles, on 29 March 1810, the witnesses to this marriage were Mary Downing and William Whitehouse, a really Rowley union, it seems! A daughter Emma was baptised at Rowley on 17 September 1810, daughter of Joseph and Nancy, followed by Matilda in 1813, Isaac in 1815, Mary Ann in 1818, Lavinia (1821-1824), Amelia in 1823 and another Lavinia – Lavinia Augusta in 1829. In all of these baptisms except the first, Joseph was described as a ‘Beast Leech’.
The ‘beast leech’
A ‘beast leech’ is an old term for a man practiced in healing cattle, which would have included horses and other livestock – a veterinary or cow doctor. The term is first recorded, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, in 1627 in a dictionary by F Holyoake and that dictionary thinks that it was a term used in English Regional dialect. Certainly there are numerous examples of this term in Yorkshire in the mid 1700s but clearly it was not limited to there.
In archaic and Old English the word leech meant a physician, healer or surgeon and the term apparently comes from the Old English word lǣce which meant healer. This use had apparently fallen mostly out of use by the 17th century. But, as we can see, the use certainly continued in connection with animals.
And it must have been that there was a need for people experienced and knowledgeable in the treatment of sick animals in most farming communities. Doubtless some horse dealers, grooms, cattle dealers developed their own expertise in dealing with ailments and problems in their own specialisms but the description of Joseph as a beast leech over a period of years suggests that he was recognised as having particular skills in this area and earning his living from his practice and, since his uncle was also a beast leech, this may have been a family occupation. There is certainly continuing evidence that the Downing family were particularly interested in cattle breeding. But by 1841 Joseph was described simply as a farmer in the census.
So this was the only Census in which Joseph Downing appeared, and he died, aged 65, on the 27th December 1848 and was buried at St Giles on 2 January 1849. There is much more to say about Joseph Downing, so much that this will be a separate post about him, soon!
Nancy Downing (nee Whitehouse) 1788-1855
Nancy Whitehouse was born in about 1788-79, which fits with both the age shown in the 1841 and from the age of 62 which she gave in the 1851 Census. There were four Nancy Whitehouses baptised between 1785 and 1790 in the immediate area of Rowley, two in Wednesbury and one in Kingswinford. But the fourth one was baptised in Rowley Regis on 11 May 1788 which is a close fit, she was the daughter of William and Hannah Whitehouse. As Nancy gives her place of birth in the census as Rowley it seems likely that this is our Nancy.
In 1851, as a widow, Nancy was still living on Turner’s Hill. With her then were her surviving children Isaac (35), Mary (30), Amelia (27), Lavinia (21), along with a Thomas Whitehouse, aged 63, a widower shown as a ‘resident’ (not shown as a relative) and two servants – Joseph Hodgets who was a manservant, aged 20 and Caroline Wasnidge, a general servant aged 35. All of these were born in Rowley Regis except Thomas who was marked born in Staffordshire and Caroline who was born in Birmingham.
As I have often noted previously, those prosperous enough to employ servants often employed people from outside the village.
In 1851, all of the children listed were unmarried. Nancy‘s occupation was listed as an annuitant, as were her three daughters while her son Isaac was shown as a ‘proprietor of lands, etc’, as was Thomas Whitehouse. No mention of farming at all. So this was definitely a well-to-do family on both sides, it seems, owning land and wealthy enough to leave annuities for their unmarried daughters.
Where were the Downing daughters in 1841?
I was curious as to where the four girls, then 20, 17, 15 and 11 were in 1841 as they were not with their parents. The answer was that they, were with Thomas Whitehouse and a Mary Whitehouse, (b.1786, possibly his wife or his sister-in-law)at his home in High Street, West Bromwich. It seems very likely that Thomas was related to them in some way.
This Thomas Whitehouse was a Currier, these were skilled craftsmen, currying was the process of stretching and finishing tanned leather, using techniques of dressing, finishing and colouring to give the leather the desired colour. The leather was then ready to pass on to the finishing trades such as saddlery, bridlery, shoemaking or glovemaking. Walsall was at that time the capital of saddlery in England, plus the making of bridles and harnesses and leather goods, due to the proximity of lime pits used for tanning leather and metal industries supplying metal fittings so Thomas Whitehouse would have had a ready market nearby.
Whilst looking at the Whitehouse family, of whom there were many in this area, I noticed a list published in the Worcester Journal in 1845, of ‘members of the Dudley and West Bromwich Bank” which also showed their occupations and where they lived. There were seven Whitehouses listed among the investors: Richard from Oakham who was a Cattle Dealer (a source for Thomas’s hides, perhaps?); a Joseph and a John, both of Dudley and both canal carriers; a William and a William Frederick of West Bromwich, both Nail Merchants; Thomas of West Bromwich, a currier plus the representatives of a SamuelWhitehouse Deceased, also of West Bromwich and also a currier; and a William of Dudley and West Bromwich who was a Canal Carrier. There were no Downings listed among the Investors, perhaps merchants had more disposable capital than farmers, or perhaps they were more inclined to invest in banks. This is quite a close cluster of Whitehouses, who seemed – at least some of the time – to be close to each other in location and to be occupied in complimentary businesses. It is quite possible they were all related.
William and Hannah Whitehouse’s family
I looked to see what other children William and Hannah Whitehouse had had baptised at Rowley Regis around the time of Nancy’s birth. The first was Joseph in January 1775 which makes me think that William Whitehouse and Hannah Willetts were the couple who were married at St Philip’s, Birmingham on 14 February 1774. Then followed Samuel in 1777, William in 1780, Thomas in 1785, and Nancy in 1788. However, of these, I have discovered, from the Will of William Whitehouse (abt 1751-1827), Nancy’s father, that his son William died in 1812, sons Samuel and Thomas both died in 1822, leaving only his eldest son Joseph and Nancy herself of his children. So whoever the Thomas Whitehouse shown in the 1841 Census was , he was not Nancy’s brother, though he was very likely related.
So the Thomas and Samuel Whitehouse who were both curriers in West Bromwich must have been brothers from another or at least more distant twig of the Whitehouse family.
But it was when I was looking at these Whitehouse men that I came across a fascinating story of which more in my next post. But what I discovered for certain was that Samuel and Nancy and Thomas Whitehouse –were definitely siblings and that Joseph Downing had married Nancy Whitehouse in 1810 and Samuel Whitehouse had married Mary Downing in 1813 – Joseph’s sister and only sibling. So the families were double in-laws and clearly very closely connected!
Nancy Downing died in 1855 and was buried at St Giles on 22 August that year, her age given as 67 and her abode as Turner’s Hill. The person making the burial entry noted that the cause of death was General Decay. Thomas Whitehouse, appears to have died in May 1852 in Rowley Regis and was buried in West Bromwich, which had previously been his business base and home for many years.
Isaac Downing (1815-1874)
Isaac was still living on Turner’s Hill in 1851, listed within his mother’s household and described as a “Proprietor of Lands, etc.” His sisters Mary, Amelia and Lavinia were also living there by that time and Thomas Whitehouse.
In 1861Isaac was still there – although it is clear from the Census that the family were not living at Turner’s Hill Farm, as this is shown separately and occupied by a different family. The Downing abode was a private house. By this time, his mother and Thomas Whitehouse had died and Isaac, by then 42 and unmarried, was shown as the Head of the Household and described as “Principal Occupation: General Superintendence of the cultivation of Land”. Again his three sisters were also living there, all single.
By 1871, Isaac was 55 and shown as a Landowner and Farmer, employing 4 men. His sisters Mary and Lavinia were still with him, all of them unmarried.
Isaac died in 1874, aged 59 and was buried at St Giles on 20 November 1874. He was the last surviving issue of Joseph and Nancy.
Joseph and Nancy’s daughters
From another source, I learned that Mr and Mrs Samuel Whitehouse had been married six or seven years, and had no children of their own. Joseph Downing, who had married Samuel Whitehouse’s sister had four or five children. Samuel Whitehouse had reportedly taken Joseph and Nancy’s eldest daughter Emma from her birth and had adopted her as his own. He had also sent two other of Downing’s children to school, Whitehouse expressing his great satisfaction at what he had done, and saying what good children they were.
Samuel Whitehouse and his brother Thomas bothdied in1822 when Emma was about 12 but I suspect that at least one of the girls, if not all, remained with his widow Mary nee Downing. Another Thomas Whitehouse, a bachelor, married a Mary Whitehouse, a widow, by Licence in West Bromwich on 27 September 1827 and I suspect that this is the Thomas and Mary Whitehouse with whom the girls were living in 1841.
Just to add to the confusion about this family, when this second Thomas died in 1852, in his will he referred to his ‘late brother Samuel’ – don’t you just love it when branches of families use all the same Christian names…? And in the same Will, the second Thomas left property to a William and Joseph Whitehouse of Rowley, some minor bequests and the residue of his estate to the Downing children, naming Isaac as his nephew. Isaac was Mary’s nephew – but not his but it appears he considered Isaac as such.
Of Joseph and Nancy’s children then, their second daughter Matilda (1813-1837) had died of fever on 24th October 1837, aged 24 and of The Heath, West Bromwich (which was where Samuel and Mary Whitehouse were living at the time of his death and presumably where she continued to live) and was buried at West Bromwich. Emma (1810-1850) had died of Typhus Fever at Great Malvern, unmarried, aged 40 in 1850 and was also buried at West Bromwich. Amelia (1824-1861) died in 1861 and was buried at St Giles on 22 July. Lavinia Augusta (1829-1873) died on 12 March 1873 of Heart disease and was buried at St Giles on 18 March; her sister Mary Ann (1818-1873) died ten days later on 22 March 1873 of Hepatitis and Fatty degeneration of the heart and was buried at St Giles on 27 March. Isaac was described in their Probate Records as ‘Brother and only Next of Kin’. Isaac died the following year on 15th November, with Angina Pectoris given as the cause of death. None of the children married.
So, this particular family ended in 1874. What a contrast with some of the other, poorer families in the area who left dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I have not yet managed to find all of the Wills for this branch of the family and suspect they may be at Stafford Record Office but will continue to try to trace them for the further information they contain.
What sort of social life did the family lead?
I wondered what sort of life Isaac lived, whether the unmarried siblings were reclusive or whether they took part in life in the village.
What was Turner’s Hill House like?
I found an advertisement in the County Advertiser in 1875 which was placed by the Trustees of the Will of this Isaac Downing. This refers principally to the site as a
“Freehold Mineral Property , comprising a desirable Residence and Premises and several closes of very rich Pasture Land adjoining, with an extensive bed of Rowley Rag stone therein, together with the very valuable MINES and MINERALS thereunder ,situate at Turner’s Hill”.
This was being sold at Dudley in One lot and there was some further description of the house itself.
“That very desirable and compact FREEHOLD ESTATE, called TURNER’S HILL, with residence, pleasure grounds, luxuriant Shrubberies, Greenhouses, Vineries, Stables, Coach-Houses, Outbuildings, Entrance Lodge and Premises occupied therewith, and several closes of very fertile Pasture Land, with the Outbuildings and Cottages adjoining, the whole lying well together and comprising an area of nearly 20 acres.”
This surprised me, I had not realised how extensive the estate was. I wonder where the Entrance Lodge was? On Turner’s Hill or somewhere off Portway? So I looked on the NLS webpage and found this image of the top of Turner’s Hill which shows Turner’s Hill Farm quite clearly. And I now think that the estate called Cloudlands on this map is Turner’s Hill House – it fits the description above very well, it has shrubberies and gardens, it has outbuildings and cottages, it has an entrance lodge!
Copyright: National Library of Scotland Creative Commons Re-use.
Another paragraph notes “This property is situated in the very centre of the South Staffordshire Coalfield, and the Earl of Dudley’s new sinkings at Lye Cross are only a few yards from it’s boundary, proving beyond doubt the existence of Thick Coal of the very best quality under the entire Estate.”
The earlier Isaac Downing probably lived here, too and the previous news snippet shows that he had an estate worth £1,000 a year, so presumably this was that estate. The 1800 Enclosure Map shows Isaac Downing and Paul Downing as tenants in this area. And was this the house that attracted the attention of four burglars? In another context, in 1822, I noted Joseph Downing was described as a “opulent farmer”. So it appears that the family were quite wealthy.
Copyright: Mike Fenton.
Comparing this photograph with the map and the position of the road up between the quarries, I think that the large white house in the middle of the picture is probably Turner’s Hill House, much nearer to the edge of the quarry when this picture was taken than when the map was surveyed in the 1890s.
So the family lived in some luxury and they owned most of the surrounding cottages. I was surprised that there is very little evidence of live-in servants, in the census entries there is usually only one or at most two servants, I would have expected coachmen, grooms or gardeners, with the buildings and gardens listed.
From the description in the advertisement, I now think that all of this little group of cottages was associated with Turner’s Hill House and the farm – and quite possibly most of the people living in the houses worked for the Downings in one way or another. Perhaps Mary Cooper the washerwoman or Hannah Cooper or Phoebe Brinton living a few yards down the lane, actually worked for the Downings? I had wondered why a washerwoman would live so far from the village so that she or her customers would have to carry laundry a long way. But if she worked in a laundry at Turner’s Hill House, that would make more sense. So, in effect, this seems to have been another self-contained enclave in a similar way to Gadd’s Green, but associated – at least in the mid to late 1800s with the Turner’s Hill House estate, and the Downing family. This makes sense in many ways since the hamlet was so physically removed from neighbouring hamlets by a steep hill.
Isaac’s social standing
There is not much to be found about the Downing daughters and their lives. But their brother was easier to track. I noticed that in 1851, Isaac was one of several gentlemen appointed as assignees to hold finds in a bankruptcy case of a local Bank which implies a certain respectability and good standing in the financial community. In 1855, Isaac was shown as one of the Churchwardens which implies at least some association with St Giles’s, the Parish Church. In 1856 Isaac was listed as holding a General Game Certificate and certainly his father Joseph and his uncle Samuel went shooting regularly. In 1867, Isaac Downing, of Turner’s Hill was elected as a member of the Royal Agricultural Society which indicates a continuing interest in farming then.
In the 1851 and the 1871 censuses the family had visitors staying who were named Crump and it seems that these were the children of the then Vicar William Crump so clearly the family had some social contacts within the village.
The Cattle Connection
You may remember, when I listed Whitehouses in business, earlier in this piece, I mentioned a RichardWhitehouse from Oakham who was a Cattle Dealer. This must have been very close to the Downing estate and it is more than possible that Richard was related to Nancy, Joseph Downing’s wife.
The Sale of the Shorthorn Cattle Herd
I wonder whether this was a particular Downing interest, as in 1872, shortly before Isaac Downing died, there were numerous reports including one in the Gloucester Journal that he and another man Mr John Harwood of Winterfold, Kidderminster, sold their
“entire herds of shorthorn cattle, consisting of about 65 Head of Bulls, Cows and Heifers, of the Oxford, Waterloo, Wild Eyes, Kirklevington, Lally, Blanche and Surmise Tribes. More than half the Stock are directly descended from animals bred at Kirklevington, and the others largely inherit this highly fashionable blood. The sale includes the magnificent Bull Third Duke of Claro (23729), whose Sire and Dam were both by the celebrated Seventh Duke of York (17754(), and the superb Bull Eighth Duke of Geneva (28390). The young stock are by these excellent Sires, and the Cows and Heifers are served by them. Catalogues, with pedigrees may be had on application to Mr Strafford of Euston Square, London or of Mr Minett, at Winterfold.” Clearly this was no small local sale and generated considerable interest and the animals sold for what were described as “extraordinary prices” .
Another report in that Journal a little later describes the sale itself. The sale was held
“in one of the large parks connected with the residence of Mr John Harward at Winterfold, situated about three miles from Kidderminster. There was a large attendance of Shorthorn Breeders from all parts of the country. Among those present were the Lord Fitzhardinge, the Earl of Bective, Colonel Kingscote, MO, the agents of Lord Skelmoersdale, Mr Brogden MP, Colonel Morris (New York), the agent of the Duke of Devonshire, the agent of Sir W Throckmorton, etc.
Luncheon was served, prior to the sale, to which about 500 sat down. Five hundred! That must have been quite a sight to see! This picture shows Winterfold House in 1850 so it was a very grand establishment.
Copyright: Historic England.
At the sale, one animal, named as the Fifth Maid of Oxford, was sold to Mr G Moore of Whitehall, Cumberland for 900 guineas. Lot 26 was sold to a Mr Bowley of Cirencester for £210 guineas and was said to be one of the purest and best bred animals of that tribe in the Kingdom. In the eight-bull department – Lord Fitzhardinge (Of the Berkeley Castle estate near where I live now) had started the bidding for the Duke of Geneva, at £900 guineas but it was eventually purchased by Mr Leney of Kent, for the sum of £1,650 guineas, said to be a “remarkable fine animal, fully developed in every particular, healthy in appearance and well fed.”
The sums raised by the sale were: Cows £15,458; heifers £12,343; and the bulls £3,114. The average price per head was £253/16s. the highest on record.
So if Isaac was closely involved with the breeding of this herd, he was clearly a serious breeder. John Harward was also named as one of the executors of Isaac’s Will so they were at least good friends although I have found no evidence that they were related.
John Harward was a solicitor and apparently a temperance campaigner and preacher. He only outlived Isaac by a few years but I noted that there was another very large sale of Harward’s cattle in 1880 and almost continuous reports of sales of individual beasts after Isaac’s death so clearly Harward had not sold his entire herd at the sale detailed above, perhaps only ones jointly owned with Isaac Downing. I have also learned from the National Archives catalogue that a cache of legal documents relating to the “Downing/Whitehouse/Crump family” was deposited at Stafford Record Office by Harward and Evers, Solicitors of Stourbridge, John’s company, so I am considering whether a visit to Stafford Archives might be worthwhile at some point.
Summary
Generally building the pictures of the lives of this family was slow because they were not very well documented anywhere, as other families often are on Ancestry or Find My Past. Perhaps this is because there were no descendants, so there was less reason for family historians now to document them so fully.
But it appears that Isaac, at least, was not completely reclusive and played a part in society and was, clearly, extremely wealthy in comparison with most residents of the village. It seems rather sad that this wealth and privilege did not prevent all the children of Joseph and Nancy remaining single and dying at relatively early ages and without leaving children to continue their legacy.
One more post to come on the residents of Turner’s Hill in 1841 and another on a particular episode the Downing/Whitehouse families!
In the course of my research, I have often come across reports of Inquests in the newspapers and in Hitchmough. In the 19th century these were usually held in the nearest pub to the incident in which the death occurred which meant that local people could observe the proceedings and give evidence when required. And many newspaper reports of more interesting inquests went into great detail. There are reports in Dicken’s novels of such inquests, too – there were very few dedicated Coroner’s Courts then and often a pub would be the only building in poorer areas where there was a suitable room for the purpose. I often read about family historians now who are trying to trace a formal Coroner’s Decision, only to learn that many if not most have been disposed of and no longer exist. So the newspaper reports can be a valuable resource and are often the only surviving record of the proceedings.
Whilst researching the children and grandchildren of William Rollason, I was interested to see that a report from a Coroner’s personal notebook (West Yorkshire, England, County Coroner Notebooks, 1852-1909) was being suggested by Ancestry as a source of information. I have never seen such a document before and it is clearly a very precious resource for family historians. This particular notebook was noted as belonging to Thomas Taylor at the beginning of the book. It contained not the formal records but the Coroner’s own handwritten detailed notes taken during the inquests, a particularly contemporary record, precise and unaffected by the sense of drama which often shaped newspaper reports.
Copyright: West Yorkshire, England, County Coroner Notebooks, 1852-1909
This report related to Job Evans who had died on 25 October 1889 in Hemsworth, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, aged 41. So how does this relate to my One Place Study?
Job was married to Sarah Williams, daughter of Rhoda Rollason and Thomas Williams, granddaughter of William and Jane Rollason, who were the subject of my latest piece on the residents of Turner’s Hill in the 1841 Census.
Job and Elizabeth were married in St James’s Church, Eve Hill, Dudley on 18 March 1867. Job was 19 and Elizabeth 18. He had been born in Tipton, one of ten children and he and his father were miners. In 1871, they were living with Elizabeth’s parents in Dudley. They remained in Dudley until about 1877 and the first three of their children were born there. They appear to have moved for a time to Skegby, near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire where Job was a miner and at least two of their children were born there in 1878 and 1879. By 1881, they were living in Havercroft-cum-Cold Hiendley in Yorkshire, a small mining village where, again Job was working as a miner. By 1889, when Job died, the couple had nine surviving children, the last three born in Yorkshire. Elizabeth’s parents Thomas and Rhoda Williams were also living in Havercroft in 1881, in the next street and they later moved to Featherstone, near Pontefract.
Copyright: Havercroft-with-Cold Hiendley Parish Council
Havercroft-cum-Cold Hiendley was a small village, not far from Wakefield which was mostly a mining community. Today, Havercroft With Cold Hiendley features a landscape where reclaimed industrial land has been transformed into country parks and nature reserves and it is apparently well known for the walks and biking trails there. In the late-1800s country walks probably did not feature much in the day-to-day lives of mining families.
The Inquest
The notes in the Coroner’s report begin by detailing the date of the inquest, the venue (The Ship Inn, Royston) and the name of the deceased.
The notes give the background to Job’s death, beginning with the sworn evidence of Elizabeth Evans (nee Williams), of Monckton Row, Havercroft:
“Deceased was 42 years old and a coalminer. He married me about 18 years ago. He has worked hereabout for the last ten years. About 5 weeks ago he came home very soon after he had gone off to his work. He told me that he had got to the bottom of the shaft but on account of pain in his head & legs had immediately ascended the shaft. He went to bed before 7.00 the same morning and I fetched Mr Eskrigge, the Pit Doctor, who attended him 2 or 3 times.
Deceased did not remain in bed but got up and walked about until last week. Last Tuesday week I accompanied him to Wakefield. We walked to Notton Station and got off the train at Sandal Station & walked to Mr Smith’s shop where we obtained a bottle of medicine. Deceased had difficulty in reaching home and as soon as he arrived there he was undressed and helped to bed. We passed Mr Eskrigge’s Surgery on our way home and I called and saw him but deceased walked on. He had a glass of beer at Wakefield. He has been confined to bed from that day & has not had any beer or spirits since.
I sent my daughter Sarah, aged 13 years, to the Doctor on the following day. She told me that he was out. She went again in the afternoon & came back with a bottle of medicine & said the Doctor could not come that day. The Doctor saw the deceased on the morning of Thursday the 17th inst. And each day up to last Tuesday when he died about half past 1 o’clock.
Deceased had been very restless until I gave him a dose of Mr Eskrigge’s medicine which seemed to thrown him into a sleep. Therefore I did not give more than three doses altho’ directions were that he should have a dose every 4 hours. He required to be shaken up to be at all roused. He did not take any food. I sat up with him at nights up to Sunday last.
His brother John Evans arrived last Monday & took charge of the bottle with the medicine in it after the deceased’s death. Last Sunday I called in Mr Coleman of Pontefract & he told me that the deceased was dying. He sent some medicine, however and deceased had some of it given to him according to the directions on the bottle.”
The next evidence noted was that of John Blackburn, of Pitt Street, Barnsley, surgeon, who had performed a post-mortem, presumably because the death was unexplained, although, after some weeks of illness, it appears not unexpected by the end. He reported:
“Deceased was a stranger to me. Yesterday afternoon, accompanied by Police Constable Moore and Mr Eskrigge, I went to his house where I found his body laid on a coffin board on a bed upstairs. There was not any unusual appearance externally. Rigor mortis was fully developed. The pupil of each eye was dilated. The body was thin and spare. On removing the skull cap, I found all the membranes, (especially the arachnoid) very much congested & between the archnoid and on the surface of the brain on both sides there was a large quantity of pus. On removing the brain from the skull, a large quantity of pus was found between the lobes of the cerebellum. There was not any effusion in the ventriles. The bloody points in the substance of the brain were very much intensified. There was not any sign of violence. Both lungs were fast from very old adhesions. There was general adherence of all the organs – the lungs were much congested as would likely be caused by hypostasis. The abdominal organs were normal. The stomach was empty. In my opinion, the cause of death was congestion of the Lungs, followed by arachnitis.”
So he considered that Job had died from a lung infection, Hypostasis means the settling of blood and fluids in the lower parts of an organ or a body, due to gravity and weak circulation, which can lead to hypostatic pneumonia. This would have been brought on by his being confined to bed for a long period.
The Coroner noted the Verdict of the Jury: Died from natural causes.
So – what was this illness which afflicted the relatively young and previously healthy Job?
With the aid of the resources available to us now, and the benefits of modern science and technology, I was able to discover, by googling these symptoms, that poor Job may have had a brain abscess, or an infection of that nature, all his symptoms fit with this and, even today, this is a medical emergency requiring prompt treatment and strong antibiotics. Such abscesses can be caused by infection moving across from sinus, ear or dental infections. Key symptoms listed now include severe headache, fever or chills, stiff neck, confusion or changes in mental state, seizures and weakness or trouble moving parts of the body. It seems that without any of the modern technology which would enable a correct diagnosis and without any means of treating the infection, even had they known what the problem was, poor Job was doomed from the outset.
Another possibility was that he had an aneurism in his skull, either burst or not, either way likely to be fatal, although the post mortem examination made no mention of an aneurism being found, it could have been leaking and given rise to the infection. But the fact that he was able to travel and walk to the station only a few days before his death make this less likely, I suspect.
I can find no trace of a condition currently listed as arachnitis, which was mentioned as a cause of death by the surgeon. There is a rare condition called arachnoiditis which may be a more modern term for the same condition, as many of the symptoms also fit with Job’s illness. The arachnoid is one of the membranes that surround and protect the spinal cord and its nerves. Such inflammation may be a response to injury or infection, so may have spread from an infection in the brain.
Diagnosis of this today requires MRI scans, lumbar punctures, myelography and an electromyogram. And even today with this panoply of modern diagnostic aids, the condition is said to be challenging to diagnose and complex to treat, with a combination of pain management, physical therapy, exercise and counselling – with possible surgery to remove scarring where the condition is found only in a small area. Again, what chance in the 1880s for a humble miner in a small village with little access to proper diagnosis or meaningful treatment?
Elizabeth’s evidence – suspicious circumstances?
But I was also interested that, from the report, it appeared that Elizabeth was careful to demonstrate throughout her evidence that Job’s death was not due to any overdose or deliberate malfeasance on her part. She emphasises that she gave her husband only the prescribed doses or less of various bottles of ‘medicine’ which had been prescribed by the doctors (sometimes without even seeing his patient), sometimes less.
It is possible, even likely, that one or more of these medicines contained laudanum, which acted as a sedative and an overdose could certainly cause death. In the 18th and 19th centuries, people used Laudanum as a common cure-all for pain, coughs, insomnia, and diarrhea. It is rarely prescribed today. It contained powdered opium and high proof alcohol and was highly addictve. Common effects included drowsiness, extreme sleepiness, dizziness, and severe constipation. It also carried severe dangers – Slowed or shallow breathing (respiratory depression), overdose, and death. Any or all of these symptoms might be inferred from the descriptions of Job’s deterioration and it is possible, if the bottles of medicine prescribed did contain laudanum, may have been contributory factors in his decline.
Was Elizabeth under suspicion? Did local gossips speculate that Job’s unexplained illness over five weeks was in some way, a poisoning or deliberate harm? When a police constable and two doctors arrived at the house, after his death, I am sure this would have been noted by their neighbours. And Job’s brother John, who was by that time living about 11 miles away in Hoyland, Yorkshire with his family, had taken charge of the medicine bottle after his brother died – did he think Elizabeth was under suspicion? Were her parents supportive? They were living in the same village but are not mentioned in this account.
Poor Elizabeth, not only had she lost her husband and his income, leaving her with nine children, the youngest, Annie, only born in March of that year and the four youngest all under the age of ten but she would not have known what had caused his death or what had contributed to it. She probably did not really know for the rest of her life, indeed I suspect that most families would struggle to comprehend this illness even today, with all the resources available to us. What a sad situation for her.
Elizabeth was still only 39, she did not stay in Havercroft-cum-Cold Hiendley for very long after Job’s death, indeed the house they were living in may well have been a pit tied house so that once her husband was dead she had to move. By the time of the 1891 Census, she had moved three miles to Royston, where her eldest son Thomas was working as a general labourer – perhaps neither Elizabeth nor Thomas wanted him working in the pit. She also had two boarders who were coal miners which would have brought her some additional income.
But, in September 1896, Elizabeth married again in Warmfield, Yorkshire, to Thomas Skelton, a miner and widower a couple of years her junior. Thomas was not a Yorkshireman, he had been born in Rowley Regis and his first marriage had taken place in Tipton, his first three children were born in Netherton. In 1881 both Job and Elizabeth and Thomas and his family had been living in the same street in Havercroft so it seems likely that, as mining families and Black Country folk, they knew each other before Job died.
As we have seen previously, there seems to have been a Black Country enclave in this small village, I counted more than 25 families (including Thomas Skelton’s brother Herbert) in the ten pages around the Evans household, who were from the Black Country – Dudley, Gornal, Tipton, Kates Hill, Brierley Hill, Pensnett – all miners. There were people from other areas, too, mostly mining districts as well as local people. The local population appear to have been out-numbered by the incomers. Perhaps the Yorkshire mine owners and managers had been expanding their operations and had been recruiting around Dudley and other mining areas, it seems unlikely that all these families should have chosen to travel so far to settle in this small village unless they had been brought there by their employers. The Black Country mines were not worked out at this time, there must have been an incentive to leave their roots behind.
In 1891 Thomas was living in Leeds, Yorkshire with his wife and family but at least four of their daughters died in Leeds between 1888 and 1889, and his wife died there in 1894. At some point or perhaps at the time of their marriage, Thomas moved back to Royston with, as far as I can see, three remaining living children but another daughter died in Royston in March 1896. Without buying death certificates, I do not know why so many children died in a relatively short period – at ages ranging from 9-14, although it is possible that a disease such as consumption or TB affected both the girls and Thomas’s wife. Both families had been afflicted with tragedy and early deaths.
In 1901, the blended family – with Elizabeth, Thomas, four of her children and two of his – were living in Millgate Street, Royston.
By 1911, Elizabeth was again a widow, (Thomas died in 1908, aged 55) and was shown in the 1911 Census as a Grocer and shopkeeper in Royston, by now with her daughter Annie, Annie’s husband Joseph Mirfin, Elizabeth’s stepson Thomas Skelton (21) and three grandchildren – Frederick Hawkes (23), John W Powers (17) and Violet Powers (9). All of these men were working at the colliery, Joseph Mirfin as a hewer and the other three all as pony drivers below ground.
I can find no trace of Elizabeth in the 1921 Census but there is a death of an Elizabeth Skelton in the Barnsley Registration District (which covers Royston) in the first quarter of 1914, and, with the age of 63, this would tally with our Elizabeth.
The Coroner’s Notebook
It was interesting for me to see the detailed and professional way that the Coroner had kept his notes, they flow very naturally and in detail and his handwriting was clear. This report was page 106 of 141 so the Notebook obviously contains dozens if not hundreds of reports, an invaluable original contemporaneous source of information for family historians.
But I was struck by the vulnerable position of the widow of the man, who was taking such pains in her evidence to show that she had done nothing wrong. The post-mortem evidence and the verdict must have been a great relief to her but I do not know whether this was reported in the local newspapers, I have not found any trace of it but it may simply be that those newspapers have not yet been added to the newspaper archives or that no report was made.
Whatever happened then, there must have remained a mystery in Elizabeth’s mind about what had caused her husband’s death and whether there was any more she could have done to prevent it. Or perhaps, in a time when sudden death was not as uncommon as it is now, whether through industrial accidents and associated illnesses or through illnesses which proved fatal without antibiotics, once the natural causes verdict was pronounced, perhaps Elizabeth was able to live without guilt. I hope so.
I hope my readers will excuse this diversion from Rowley Regis to West Yorkshire and found this sad story interesting.
The next family listed in the 1841 Census is that of William “Robinson“, it appears or that is how it is transcribed on Ancestry – bear with me. Start with the basics – this is the family group as shown on the page, as transcribed on Ancestry and on FindMyPast:
Christian name
Surname
Age
Occupation
Whether born in County
Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
William
Robinson
40
Coal miner
Yes
Jane
Robinson
35
Yes
Jeremiah
Robinson
15
Yes
Edward
Robinson
15
Yes
James
Robinson
13
Yes
Rodah
Robinson
11
Yes
Martha
Robinson
9
Yes
Ruth
Robinson
4
Yes
Elizabeth
Robinson
1
Yes
Fairly straightforward then, local family, all born in Staffordshire. But, unusually, there were very few clues about them on Ancestry which is usually quick to offer hints to other records for names I am researching. Although the hints can be spurious, sometimes they can offer useful links. But I did notice, looking on Ancestry at the details of the census entry for William, that someone had suggested that his name was actually Rollason or Rollinson. Ah, yes, now that is definitely a local name that I recognise.
Copyright: The National Archives. HO 107/997/3.
You can see how the name is difficult to read in this small extract from the 1841 Census (the other children are on the next page) and this looks more like Rolinson than Rollason but for someone not familiar with local names, Robinson was a reasonable guess. But from comparisons with other records over several decades of his life, I have settled on using Rollason for him as the name this man was recorded as most!
Copyright Mike Fenton.
Taken in the 1970s, this view is looking over Alsop’s Quarry and the houses and farms can be seen at the top of Turner’s Hill, though it is impossible to know whether these were exactly the same houses as in 1841. But it does show how far up the hill they were from the village of Rowley and may be a clue to why the families there often used Dudley, rather than Rowley as their church.
The Robinsons/Rollasons
Out of interest, I checked the Rowley Regis Parish Registers to see how long Rollasons had been in the parish and there was a first clue to potential difficulties to come. Searching the digital copy of the Parish Registers is a good way of finding when people were in the parish, how many there were, whether there were any other place links, how the spelling varied. And the spelling certainly varied for this family, perhaps more than I have come across with any other Rowley family. There were 31 entries for names beginning with Rol in volume 2 of the digital version of the parish Registers, none in Volume 1 – the first was in 1729 when Enoch Rolason married Mary Davis at St Giles. There were 15 entries for Rolasons in this volume with this spelling, another 10 with Roliston, 2 with Rolison, 1 Roleson, 1 Rolinson, 1 Rollison, and 1 Rolloson. And that was just for the period 1685-1772. And these related to several different branches of the family, several of them described as ‘of Dudley’ and one from Oldbury. The next tranch of the Registers – from 1771-1812- has another 96 entries, more than half spelled as Rolinson but again with another six different spellings in various parts of the register.
One of these entries was for the unfortunate Alice, wife of Stephen Rolinson. The Burial entry relates that in September 1802 she “was murdered by a red-hot nailrod being thrust into her side while at work in a nail shop. It penetrated through her stomach and a considerable way into the right lobe of her liver. She died about an hour after. The Coroner’s Inquest sat on the body from 12 o’clock at midday until 6 the next morning when a verdict was returned Wilful Murder. The murderer was acquitted at the following Stafford Assizes.” Poor Alice, what a terrible death but what a long time the jury took to return their verdict – presumably both parties were known to the jurors – oh, to have been able to hear their deliberations! I cannot find any other record of the inquest or the trial so we do not know who the other party was.
The final tranch of the Parish Registers (1813-1849), Volume 4, has 60 entries for names beginning with Rol, 46 spelled Rollason, 7 with Rolinson, 2 with Rolason, 2 with Rolaston, 2 with Rollinson, and 1 with Rollaston. So it appears that expecting any sort of consistency in identifying this name is a forlorn hope. And, for once, I do not appear to have any connection with this 1841 branch of the family, although I do have people with various spellings of this name on my tree there are only a few and they are mostly in the mid-1700s so no short cuts for me there.
The Rolinsons of Dudley
William Rol*son (1801-1862)
So, back to basics. The 1841 Census gives me no information about where William Rollason or Rollinson was born. So I looked for him in the 1851 Census which would give a more detailed place of birth and also confirm relationships within the family. But William, now definitely shown in this census as Rollason, was no longer on Turner’s Hill. By 1851, he was, with his wife Jane and children James, Ruth, Elizabeth and several younger children born after 1841 – Sarah Jane (1842), Rebecca (1844), Phoebe (1846) and Ann Maria (1849), plus his daughter-in-law Sarah and her son Jeremiah (1849)– all living in Constitution Hill, Dudley which is on the Rowley side of Dudley, near Kate’s Hill.
And living next door in 1851 in Dudley was an Edward Rollason, presumably the Edward listed as William’s son in 1841, by now married and with his own wife Mary (Mary Ann, nee Ingley or Hingley) and two children, Rosanna and William. Lodging with Edward was his sister Rhoda with her husband Thomas Williams. So, with all these matching names, it is definitely the same family. By 1861, William and his family had moved to Bath Street, Dudley and again, Edward was living with his wife and six children two doors away, plus a lodger Henry Hingley who was presumably related to Mary Ann.
So, the 1851 Census tells me that William was born in 1801 in Dudley. In fact, all of his family were shown as having been born in Dudley which makes me suspect that they were living on the Dudley side of Rowley and of Turner’s Hill and counted this as Dudley. Now I was looking, in FreeREG, for the birth or baptism of a William ROLLASON in about 1801.
But there is no baptism for a William Rollason in this period, anywhere in Dudley or the surrounding area. There are clusters of Rollasons (with varied spellings) in Oldbury, Brierley Hill and Wednesbury, some of the fathers were William but there was no baptism between 1798 and 1805 for a William.
However, when I searched instead for ROLINSON for the same period, up came a whole list of 64 different baptisms, including just two for William, both at Dudley St Thomas, one on 15 March 1801 the son of Joseph and Phebe Rolinson and another on 4 November 1804 for William son of John and Phebe Rolinson. There was very little variation in the spelling of the surname here, the Rolinson family name was clearly familiar and well-established in the Dudley parish. Variations in spellings at this time often arose when different people – clerks, registrars, priests – wrote down what they heard or what they expected to hear.
Hmm, just to try to get some idea of how many Rolinsons there were in the area, and whether there were any particular names in use in any of the families, I looked at baptisms for Rolinsons in DudleySt Thomas, from 1790-1810. There were what appear to be twenty Rolinson couples having their children baptised at Dudley in this period of just twenty years, including Daniel and Mary;Edward with his first wife Hannah Parsons and second wife Prudence Griffiths;Enoch and Ann;James and Sarah; at least three, possibly four, different Johns with their wives Leah, Mary, Phebe, Sarah and Lucy; three Josephs with their wives Nancy (possibly the same wife as Ann), Mary and Phebe; Mark and Phebe;Nehemiah and Mary; Solomon and Ann;Stephen and Phebe;Thomas and Mary; and three Williams with wives Mary, Nancy and Sarah. They really weren’t very adventurous in their naming patterns, were they? But it seems very likely – though I have not researched this any further – that most of these were related to each other, brothers and cousins. This is indicated by the names they gave their children, too which all recur across the couples. All of the names are biblical, as is so typical of much of the Black Country at this period which is probably not surprising as the readings from the bible which they heard in chapel and church were probably the only narrative that they ever heard. I digress…
But the greatest of these was love.. sorry, I mean, the couple I was most interested in were Joseph and Phebe Rolinson . Joseph Rolinson married Phebe Davis (both of Dudley) on 2 Aug 1784 at Dudley St Thomas. They were married by banns and both made their mark so neither was literate enough to sign their names. Their children that I have found baptisms for are Jeremiah (1790), Elizabeth (1792), Mary (1793), Sarah (1796), Joseph (1797), Isaac (1799), William (1901), Benjamin (1802), and Dudley (1804). (Edward and his wife Prudence also named a son Dudley the following year so it recurs. And there was also a Dudley Rolinson baptised at DST in 1754, son of WilliamRolinson and Catherine (nee Dudley) so it was not completely new to the Rolinson family and was in fact a family surname brought forward.) So it looks likely that, if this was our William, and that he named one son Jeremiah, after his brother and a daughter after his sister Sarah.
The Rolinsons were not strangers to Rowley Regis. There were 49 Rolinson entries in the Parish Registers between 1772 and 1812, plus another half dozen with variations of Rolinson, rather than Rolason. But none of them appear to relate to the William on Turner’s Hill in 1841.
In fact William is one of the most challenging people I have ever tried to trace.
I shall work on the basis that I have correctly identified the baptism at Dudley of the correct William Rolason/Rollason/Rollinson.
William Rolinson married Jane Parkes on 23 November 1823 at Kingswinford St Mary, with Kingswinford given as the abode for them both. The witnesses to the marriage were William Parkes and Thomas Walker.
The GRO entries for their younger children, (born after the start of civil registration in 1837) mostly -that is for Sarah JaneRolinson(1842), Phoebe Rollason (1846) and Ann MariaRollason(1849) ) – give a Mother’s Maiden name as Parkes which fits with the marriage I had found. Rebecca Rolinson, born in 1845, has the Mother’s Maiden name as Vanes – which may be a Transcription error, as it is difficult to see how William could have changed wives in the middle of this period, unless she is the child of a different family – and ElizabethRollason, born in 1841 where the Mother’s Maiden name is shown as Smith. I cannot offer any convincing explanations for these differences, especially as William was still living with Jane in 1861 and all censuses in between.
I see also from other records that Rolinson and Rolason seem to be used interchangeably, including by children of the same parents, and also by the same person over their lifetime, just to add to the difficulties.
William and Jane were still in Bath Street in the 1861 Census, still with their son Edward next door. Their children Rebecca and Ann Maria were still living with them, plus their married daughter Sarah, now Garbet.
By the end of the following year, however, they were living in Oxford Streeet, Dudley where Jane died on 2nd November 1862, aged 63 of Bronchitis and Exhaustion, and William died on the following day, 3rd November 1862, aged 62 of Paralysis and Exhaustion. Both deaths were registered by their daughter Rhoda. They were buried together on 9th November at Dudley St Thomas.
William and Jane’s children shown in the 1841 Census:
As the family appear to have moved out of the hamlets by 1847 at the latest I have not gone into great detail about the later lives of their children and have also limited myself to those children who were living on Turner’s Hill in 1841.
Jeremiah Rolinson (1825-1843)
Jeremiah died, aged 18 years and 9 months on 5 May 1843 and was buried at Dudley St Thomas on the 7 May, noted as ‘of Rowley’.
Edward Rollason (1826-1897)
Edward was born on 10 March 1825 and baptised at Dudley St Thomas on 16 December 1838, along with James, Rhoda, Martha and Ruth. The bonus for me of this family group baptism record is that the date of birth of the children was recorded in the baptismal register so that we unusually have accurate dates of birth for these children.
Edward married Mary Ann Ingley (sometimes Hingley) (1829-1895) at Sedgley on 6 September 1847 when he was ‘of full age’ (ie 21 or over) and she was still a minor, both said to be of Dudley. Mary Ann’s father William was a Vice Maker. The couple lived in the Dudley/Kates Hill areas and had ten children. These were Rosanna (1847-1918), William (1850), Samuel (1852-), James (1855), Reuben (1858), Edward (1860), Isaac (1863), Mary Ann (1865), Elizabeth(1867) and Minnie Martha (1869).
Edward gives his place of birth mostly as Dudley but in later censuses as Oakham which might also have been Turner’s Hill.
Up to the 1881 Census, Edward and his family were living in Constitution Hill and later in Bath Street, Dudley, often near his own parents or siblings. But in 1881, while Mary Ann Rollason, giving her marital status as Married, was living in Tower Street, Dudley with four of their younger children (aged from 12-23), Edward, now aged 60, was recorded living as a Boarder in St John Street, Dudley where he is shown as a coal dealer. He was living in the household of a widow, Mary Ann Hill, aged 41, a nailer and her son John who was a coal miner. And in 1891, when Mary Ann Rollason was living with her son Isaac and his family in Flood Street, Dudley, Edward was still living in the household of Mary Ann Hill, as a lodger, but they had apparently moved to Owen Street, Kates Hill. I say apparently because when you look at it on the map, St John’s Road appears to turn into Owen Street so it may have been the same house as in 1881. By this time Edward was described as a coal haulier and he and Mary Ann Hill were living next door to another coal haulier Charles Dewell so perhaps there was also a coal business here. These places were only less than a mile from each other but show two separate residences over more than a decade. So it does appear that Edward and Mary Ann had separated between 1871 and 1881.
Mary Ann Rollason, nee Ingley, died in early 1895 and was buried at Dudley St Thomas, on 3 February 1895, aged 66 and with her abode given as Flood Street, Dudley where she had been living with Isaac in 1891.
Edward Rollason died on 7 August 1897, at 65 St John’s Road, Dudley, of pneumonia and his death was registered by his daughter Rosanna, now married and still living in Tower Street, Dudley where her mother had lived in 1881. Rosanna had been present when her father died so presumably there was no estrangement between them, even if her parents had parted. Edward was also buried at Dudley St Thomas on 11 August 1897. Was he buried with his wife, who had been buried there two years before? I don’t know, but it would be interesting to find out!
James Rollason/ Rollinson (1828-1897)
James was born on 9 January 1828 and baptised at Dudley St Thomas on 16 December 1838, with his siblings. He was still with his parental family in the 1851 Census. But he had married, on 4 October 1847 at Tipton St Martin, to Sarah Wheale. They were both minors and neither have an abode shown in the marriage record so presumably were living in the Tipton parish. James was shown as the son of William Rollason, miner (James was also a miner) and Sarah’s father John Wheale was also a miner.
Their son Jeremiah was born in the September quarter of 1848 so is also living with William’s family in 1851. They had a further ten children thereafter, making a total of eleven. These were John (1852), James ((1854), Edward (1858), Job ((1860), Rosanna ((1862), Fanny (1865), Jane (1865), Sarah Ann (1866), Ruth (1868), Cornelius (1873) and Joseph (1876). James also stayed in the Dudley area for the rest of his life, dying on 24 December 1897 and buried at DST on 2 January 1898. His wife Sarah had died in 1895.
Rhoda Rollason/Rollinson(1829-1909)
Rhoda was born on 19 November 1830 and baptised at Dudley St Thomas on 16 December 1838, with her siblings. She was married at St Andrews Netherton on 15 May 1848 to Thomas Williams, a miner like her father, (although his father was a chainmaker) of Dudley. Both of them give their abode as Dudley so it appears the family had already moved from Turner’s Hill by this time, perhaps her father William had moved to work in a different mine.
In 1851, Rhoda and her husband were lodging with her brother Edward in Constitution Hill, Dudley, as already noted abovewith their 10 month old daughter Elizabeth.
By 1861, Thomas and Rhoda Williams were living at 13 John Street, Dudley with their children Elizabeth (10), John (8), Ann (4) and Emily (1), plus one Boarder John Garbett (23, a coal miner. plus a lodger Frederick Hawkes (19, who was a fishmonger). All three of the children were described as ‘Sunday Scholars’ and this may be another indication that they were Methodist or at least nonconformists, who had more Sunday schools than any of the other denominations.
Rhoda’s younger sister Sarah Jane (b.1842) had married a William Garbett in 1860 and another sister Rebecca Rollason ( b.1844) – was to marry this Frederick Hawkes mentioned above in 1862. Rhoda’s niece another Rebecca Rollason, (b. 1872) daughter of Martha and Joseph, was later to marry a John Garbutt (b.1870) in Pontefract in 1890, he was also from Dudley so it seems likely that these Garbetts and Hawkes were all inter-related and remained connected with the Rolason/Rollinson family over a long period.
In all Thomas and Rhoda had six children, the last two were Rhoda (b.1865) and Rosannah (1867). They were in Dudley in the 1871 Census but then moved to Havercroft in Yorkshire by 1881 where Thomas was shown as a Coal Miner and in the next two censuses they were living in Featherstone, near Pontefract. Thomas died there in 1895 and Rhoda died in Royston, Yorkshire in 1909.
Martha Rollason/Rollinson (1836-1874)
Martha was born on 13 February 1836 and baptised at Dudley St Thomas on 16 December 1838. She was with her family in the 1841 Census. married her first cousin Joseph at Sedgley on 16 February 1852 when her abode was given as Gornal. He was the son of William’s older brother Joseph and Lucy, nee Rose. Joseph was 23 and a miner, Martha was said to be 20 in the marriage details but she was actually 16!
Martha and Joseph had Benjamin (1854), Obediah (1858), Joseph (1860) all born in Dudley and in 1861, they were living at Waterloo Street, New Dock, Dudley. But in 1871 they were living in Featherstone, a coal mining town near Pontefract, Yorkshire. Their daughter Rebecca was born in 1872 in Harrington, Durham and in 1874, Martha appears to have died giving birth or soon after to William who also died in the same quarter, she was buried at West Herrington, Durham on 7 May 1874.
In the 1881 Census, Joseph was back in Dudley, living at Chapel Street, Dudley with Moses and Rebecca and his widowed sister Caroline who was presumably helping to look after the children. But Caroline re-married in 1884. I have been unable to trace him in the 1891 Census but Rebecca was married in Featherstone in October 1890 to John Garbett and they settled there and had eleven children. And Moses was also married in Featherstone in 1891 and remained in the North, Yorkshire and Durham area for the rest of his life, so Joseph may well have moved back to the area, too. In 1901 he was definitely back in Featherstone living with Rebecca and her husband and family. In December 1901, there was a death registration for a Joseph Rollason in Wortley, Yorkshire. This Joseph had died, aged 73, in the County Asylum there and I think that this was this Joseph Rollason as I can find no other trace of him after that time. He had been admitted on the 12 July that year and died on 27 September so he may have been there as a hospital patient, rather than because of mental problems.
Ruth Rollason (1838-1885)
Ruth was born on 15 January 1838, and was baptised at Dudley St Thomas on 16 December that year. She was living with her family in Constitution Hill, Dudley in the 1851 Census.
On 27 Apr 1856Ruth married at Dudley St James, aged 18. Her husband rejoiced in the name Manassah which is another Old testament name and a great deal easier to track than Rolason/Rollinson. Perhaps it was a relatively unusual name as the biblical Manassah was ‘The Evil King of Judah’, who ruled for 55 years and introduced not only child sacrifices but also sorcery and demonic worship… fortunately, our Manassah did not exhibit any such antisocial tendencies!
Manassah Plant gave his occupation as an Engineer in the Marriage Register, as did his father although at this period this is likely to have meant that they looked after stationary pumping engines,in mines and factories, rather than the more general engineering we think of today. There is a full scale working replica of the Newcomen atmospheric steam engine at the Black Country Living Museum. Thomas Newcomen invented the first successful engine in 1712, although nothing remains of the original now, it was known to have been put to work in the Black Country in pumping water out of deep coal mines.
In 1861Manassah and Ruth, with their eldest children Phoebe (b.1858) and James (1860 – aged 5 months), were living in Portway Road and Manassah was shown as an Engine Driver. By 1871, they had moved to Tipton, where they were living at 1 Newels Road, Dudley Port, just four doors away from the Mallin family which I have looked at during my study of the Alsop family. By this time, Phoebe was 13, James 10 and Rebecca (b.1863), Martha (b.1865), Ruth (b.1867), Sarah Jane (b.1869), and Fanny, aged 1 month had been added to the family. Living next door to them, at 2, Newels Row, were Christopher and Phoebe Plant, Manassah’s parents and on the other side of them at No.3 was Manassah’s sister Phoebe with her husband Charles Bridgwater and their four children. So a tight little family grouping, as we have so often seen in these Black Country families. The 1881 Census finds Ruth and Manassah at 14 Railway Terrace, Tipton with three additional children Manassah (b.1873), Moses (b.1876), and Lilly (b.1878), so a total of 10 children.
That was the last census in which Ruth appears. She died in 1885 in the West Bromwich Registration area and was buried on 2 June 1885, although the record of this does not indicate where, other than ‘West Midlands’ which is a modern reference because there was no such administrative region in those days.
In 1891, the widowed Manassah was living at 43, Moor Street, West Bromwich and was listed as a ‘Stationery Engine Driver’. With him were Fanny, Manassah Jnr, Moses and Lilian who was now 13. In December 1897 Manassah re-married at Blackheath St Paul’s to a widow, Louisa Woodhouse (nee Barnsley) who had two sons and a daughter from her first marriage. At the time of the marriage, both gave their abode as Halesowen Street, Blackheath. But in 1901, they were all living in Bradley Street, Tipton along with two children of Manassah and Louisa, John (b.1899) and Maud (b. 1900) – Louisa was more than twenty years younger than Manassah and had been 37 when they were married, he had been 58. However in the 1911 Census, Louisa was living in Brades Village with these two youngest children and, although she was described as Married, she was also Head of the household. In this census Manassah was with his widowed son Manassah at 81 Moor Street, West Bromwich and working as an Engine Driver (Stationary) at an Iron Foundry.
And in 1921Louisa was living at 12 Henry Street, Langley and gave her occupation as a Housekeeper, still with John and Maud living with her. Manassah, however, was living at 54 Thynne Street, West Bromwich with his daughter Sarah Jane and her husband Edward Aston and their three grown up sons. Manassah’s age was shown in this Census as 94 years and 3 months.
Manassah died in April 1922 and was buried at Heath Lane Cemetery, West Bromwich on 15 April. This may well be where Ruth was buried, too. Although both the death registration and the burial record (and the 1921 Census) show his age as 93, in fact he was 85 – but there would have been no-one to dispute the matter and the ages of very old people (and he was old, for those times) are often exaggerated, I find. In any case, they are only as accurate as the facts known to whoever was registering the death!
Elizabeth Rollason or Rollinson (1843-1909)
Elizabeth was born in about 1840 in Rowley, almost certainly while the family were living on Turner’s Hill. She was baptised on 2 February 1840 at Dudley St Thomas. Three more sisters followed her, Rebecca in 1844, Phoebe in 1846 and Ann Maria in 1849 but I have not explored these last children in as much detail as they did not appear in the 1841 Census. Elizabeth was with the rest of the family in Constitution Hill, Dudley in the 1851 Census.
Elizabeth was married at All Saints Sedgley on 4 October 1858, when she was 18, to Edward Fisher, who was a Grate Moulder, presumably in an iron foundry. Their first son George Henry was born in early 1860 and a daughter Sarah Jane was born in late 1861. Another daughter Elizabeth followed in the third quarter of 1863 but sadly her father Edward died at about the same time, when he was only 24.
In 1867, Elizabeth married at St John, Kates Hill to William Finch, a miner who was a little younger than her at 22. The 1871 Census finds them living in one of the Courts off Fountain Street, Dudley with the three children of Elizabeth’s first marriage, all listed under the name Finch but with no children of their own. But by 1881, William Finch had also died, aged 36 and he was buried at Dudley St James in March 1881.
So by the time of the 1881 Census, Elizabeth, now 38 and described as a pipe maker (tobacco, unemployed) was living with her daughters Elizabeth and Sarah Jane in the Minories, Dudley. However, in July 1882, Elizabeth married for a third time, at Dudley St Thomas, to Joseph Freeman.
In 1891, Elizabeth Freeman, a widow, is living at 54a, Birmingham Street, Dudley with her daughter Elizabeth Fisher, aged 26, William Matthews, a Boarder who was 30 and a chairmaker, Jane Wakefield, aged 17, and Henry Harper aged 14, also both boarders and then George Fisher, aged 8 and Thomas Fisher aged 3. All of these were born in Dudley, and it may have been that Elizabeth was in effect running a boarding house. So where was Joseph Freeman? It seems that this was the Joseph Freeman of Birmingham Street who had died in Dudley, aged 48 in the June quarter of 1888 and was buried at Dudley St Thomas. Poor Elizabeth really didn’t seem to have much luck in choosing husbands for longevity, did she?
But who were the George and Thomas Fisher who were living with her in this census? They are shown as the sons of the Head of the Household which was Elizabeth Freeman. But the clue is in their surname – they were not Elizabeth’s sons, they were both illegitimate and I suspect that they were the sons of her daughter Elizabeth Fisher who was listed just above them in the census. Certainly in the 1901 Census, George is still living with Elizabeth Freeman and is shown as her grandson and Thomas was living with this Elizabeth Fisher, now married, and described as her son and I suspect that George(b.1882) was her son, too as Elizabeth Rollason/Fisher /Finch/Freeman would already have been 42 when this George was born and 48 when Thomas was born, having had no children since 1863 in either of her subsequent marriages. And she already had a son named GeorgeHenryFisher (b.1860) who was Elizabeth Fisher’s older brother. I have been unable to find baptisms for either of these two boys so there is no clue from that quarter. However I have resisted the temptation to buy the birth certificates as I am satisfied that these two boys were the grandsons of Elizabeth Rollason/Fisher /Finch/Freeman.
Elizabeth died in August 1909, aged about 67 and was buried at Dudley St Thomas.
Summary
So there we have the household of William Rollason who were living on Turner’s Hill in 1841.
Although there were undoubtedly other Rollasons/Rollinsons in Rowley and Blackheath, it seems fairly clear to me, from their baptisms and burials, that this branch regarded themselves as a Dudley family and, although they all moved around, rarely staying in one place for very long, for William and Jane and three of these children, those places were mainly in the Dudley area. Martha and Rhoda’s husbands and families ended up moving north to Yorkshire for work and settling there but Edward, James and Elizabeth stayed within a few miles of Dudley and each other. There is little of the deep-rooted attachment to Rowley and the immediate area which characterises so many of the families in the Lost Hamlets. And there appear to have been several instances of marriage breakdowns with couples living separately for many years, at a time when divorce was essentially not possible for people of this class. Again, not something I have observed very much in other family studies but a practical solution for those times.
This has been a challenging family to track because of all the name changes and variations and frequent changes of abode. For once, I have not found a connection to my own family tree and I started out thinking that I would not need a tree, working from paper notes which accumulated rapidly. After a few frustrating days, I gave in and created a separate family tree for this family on Ancestry and this did help to keep them straight. So if anyone has connections to this family, there is a tree on Ancestry with all my research so far.
I did not do a general search on the Rollason name, until I had completed this piece, as I prefer to reach my own conclusions before seeing whether there is anything to confirm or refute them. But a general search produces the AI generated information that there is, apparently, no formal One Name Study for Rollason registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies, although individual genealogical research and regional name collections (such as historical Warwickshire and West Midlands records) frequently track the name. And happily, despite my rant recently about the dangers of AI, all of that fits neatly with my own findings and needs little further explanation. The AI report also notes the variations of the name and also notes that there were a number of Rollason Christenings at the Ruiton Independent chapel at Sedgley in the 18th and 19th centuries, again, all of which tallies with my researches for this piece. So there were no great surprises or additional areas for exploration there. A similar search for Rollinson reveals that this is generally taken to be a variation of the Rollason name which again bears out my own conclusions.
There is a website dedicated to the Stubbs Family but which has a page about Rollasons living in Witton, Birmingham so if any Rollasons are reading this, they may find that of interest. Glancing quickly through it, I could see that these Rollasons appear to be partly in West Bromwich and that one of them married a Mallin – some names keep popping up! https://stubbsfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/rollason-linneage/
Another interesting finding was that there is a book entitled The Old Non-Parochial registers of Dudley comprising those of the Society of Friends … by a certain Arthur A Rollason. I was pleased to find this book on the Internet Archive and was able to download a copy. I searched it eagerly – there was one Rollason entry found – the author! Hey ho… There is also – according to the Sedgley Manor website – another book by him entitled Dudley Pedigrees but I have been unable to find out any more about this book, nor to trace where it can be seen. Hopefully, it will be at Dudley Archives when I am next able to visit again.
Creating a tree on Ancestry also enabled me to see trees created by other people for individuals in this family which were mostly pretty well in line with my own research. However, this did bring home to me the advantages of having FreeREG with its very full transcriptions, as it meant that I had usually accessed full details of the fathers of couples at their marriages to confirm I was looking at the correct couple. I came across more than one instance in other trees where someone had obviously not seen the full marriage record and had attached the bride or groom to the wrong parents, whereas FreeREG shows the name of the fathers where it has been recorded at the time. So those trees have gone off at a tangent, researching the wrong line for all the earlier generations, which is unfortunate. However, messages about such things are not always appreciated or accepted. Perhaps Ancestry will offer them some hints once it has absorbed the tree I have created. Thank goodness for FreeREG!
I had not anticipated that this one family would expand to take up a whole piece but it has. I hope to be able to fit in more than one family in future pieces!
Onward in my next piece on the 1841 Census to the family of Joseph Redfern and possibly to Joseph Downing. Although I also have a short diversion of more general interest in preparation which I hope to slot in soon.
I have succumbed to the temptation to repeat the analysis of local residents in the 1841 Census with the other hamlets, including those of Perry’s Lake, Tippity Green and Turner’s Hill. As before, some of these will already have been looked at in previous family studies or pub studies and I will not go into great detail on the children here but will try to identify how these families related to each other.
So Turner’s Hill. Was it once owned by someone called Turner? Or does the name come from another source? I do not claim to know the definitive answer to this but I have heard a suggestion that back in the mists of time, the Devil was on Romsley or Clent, trying to defeat the God Thor who was on this hill, by hurling spears (or some sort of weapons) so this hill became known as Thor’s Hill. Difficult to prove that one way or another…
Another theory I read a few weeks ago was that the hill was named for the painter Turner who was supposed to have painted scenes from it. However, J M W Turner was born in 1775 and there is a parish register entry for the burial at St Giles of “John Woodhouse Snr of Turner’s Hill” in December 1727 so the name was in use at least 50 years before he was born and probably longer. Certainly there are parish register entries for the name Turner in Rowley Regis as early as 1614, so it is entirely possible that the name relates to one of that family. And the earliest entry for the name of the Hill spells the name with an apostrophe, implying that it was possessed by someone.
So, who lived on Turner’s Hill in 1841? The names of families in nearby Finger i’the-Hole are familiar to anyone who follows this blog and many of those surnames also appear in Perry’s Lake and Tippity Green so it will be interesting to see whether there are any unfamiliar names on the Hill.
Copyright: Alan Godfrey Maps.
This map was first surveyed in 1881 and again in 1902 so is considerably later than the 1841 Census. However, it is the only detailed map I have been able to find which shows individual buildings and it does show the separation between Gadds Green, the Hill enclave and the heights of Turner’s Hill, referred to on some maps, including this one, as Cloudland! At this time, the toll road between Halesowen and Dudley went over the hill from Perry’s Lake, the new road down to Portway did not exist so this would have had quite a lot of traffic on it. Some of the houses shown in this map may not have existed in 1841, I believe that Turner’s HIll Farm was occupied by Joseph Downing as he is the only farmer listed on the Hill without the name of the farm.
The route taken by the enumerator notes that he went from “Windmill Farm, through the Tippity Green Toll Bar to Perry’s Lake, thence to Finger Hole and William Bridge’s house, taking the whole of Turnershill, back by Samuel Round and Josiah Parkes houses (more accurately, named farmhouses), back by the Bull’s Head, (so back to Hawes Lane, but not mentioning Tippity Green) to Cock Green”. So, as far as I can work out, he treated ‘Fingerhole’ as one unit, ignored for the time being the Stone Farm and what he called Freebury Farm and went on to Turner’s Hill where the listings do indeed have William Bridge as the second entry for Turner’s Hill. The first entry is that of Mary Cooper and two other women.
Having worked his way round the houses on Turner’s Hill, the enumerator then appears to have gone back past Fingerhole to the two farms partway up the hill to the left of that community on local maps. I think that the ‘Stone Farm’ he mentions must be what was otherwise known as Hailstone Farm – and which was indeed the nearest building to the Hailstone itself so this would be a logical name for it – and that what he called Freebury Farm was the farm a few yards from Hailstone Farm and which was noted in other records, including a Parish Register entry in 1744, as Freebodies Farm. But clearly in his mind these two farms were quite separate from Finger i’the-Hole which may reinforce the local perception at this time that this was a self-contained entity.
So, in 1841, the first household listed on Turner’s Hill is this:
Christian Name
Surname
Age
Occupation
Whether born in County
Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
Mary
Cooper
75
Wash for hire
No
Yes
Hannah
Cooper
45
Yes
Pheby
Brinton
25
Yes
Alas, this 1841 census gives us no helpful information as to relationships or occupations for anyone other than the head of the household but it is possible, indeed likely, that this is a family group of some sort. There is a tick in the column for this entry for Mary which appears to indicate that she was born in “Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts” but it does not tell us which. From other entries in this batch of entries however, where this box is ticked, I have developed a theory that the enumerator treated anywhere other than Staffordshire as ‘Foreign Parts’!
I have had little success in finding out much more about these ladies or their relationships to each other. It appears that Mary Cooper died in February 1851 and was buried at St Giles on 9 February, her abode shown as Turner’s Hill, aged 86, the cause of death shown in the burial register entry as ‘old age’.
Being a washerwoman/wash for hire/laundress was no easy career choice in those days. Washer women had very difficult jobs. They had to haul water for long distances, (especially true at the top of Turner’s Hill, as there were few springs up there, they had to make their own soap, and scrub clothes endlessly on top of maintaining their own households. And for all of their intense labour, wages for washerwomen were low. Washerwomen, while not high-status persons, performed an essential job given the lack of laundry facilities in most smaller houses.
This 19th century painting of a washerwoman by H. Valkenburg is in the Netherlands Art Collection so unlikely to be set in England but probably still gives some idea of a washerwoman’s working conditions. Although I suspect that – as when in our times when tv cameras go into people’s homes, the background may have been somewhat sanitised, I would have expected there to be rather more laundry around.
Perhaps Mary and Hannah went to the houses of better-off folk to do laundry in their houses, perhaps local farmers or landowners, this way they might have several clients and such more prosperous people might have more room for the laundry work.
Hannah and Pheby also appear in Turner’s Hill in the 1851 Census where Hannah, born in Rowley, is shown as a laundress and Phebe/y, born in Dudley, as a needlewoman. By 1861 the two women had moved to Cock Green, Hannah still working as a laundress and Phebe as a Sempstress. Both were shown as unmarried in both of these latter censuses, Phebe was shown as an inmate or boarder with Hannah.
Since the 1851 and 1861 Censuses both show that Hannah was unmarried and was born in 1794 in Rowley Regis, I looked for a baptism for her at St Giles. There were two possible Hannah Coopers baptised in that period – Hannah, the daughter of Richard and Mary Cooper (no abode shown) on 29 September 1793 and Hannah, daughter of James and Jane Cooper (also no abode shown) on 22 November 1795. Since Hannah was living with a Mary Cooper in 1841, it seems likely that she was the first of these.
Again, there is only one marriage of a Richard Cooper and a Mary in the area and the right period to be the parents of this Hannah and that took place at Dudley St Thomas on 12 February 1782, when widower Richard Cooper married Mary Brown. Catherine, the wife of Richard Cooper had been buried at St Giles a year earlier in January 1781, so that may well have been the same man. The 1841 Census shows that Mary was not born in Staffordshire but if she was a Dudley girl, that would fit, she would have been born in Worcestershire. I can find no other trace of this Richard alive, although there was a Richard Cooper, aged 80 who was buried at St Giles in 1794 who may have been the husband.
There is a death of a Hannah Cooper, aged 73 in the Dudley Registration District in the December quarter of 1866 which may well be this Hannah as she does not appear to be in the 1871 Census. And there is a burial of a Hannah Cooper at St John (Kates Hill) on 30th December 1866 which is likely to be the same person. It is possible that residents on Turner’s Hill regarded this newer church (opened in 1840) as serving that community so that our Hannah was buried there.
Pheby Brinton, I thought, might have been Hannah’s daughter but since she was apparently single in later censuses, that would not explain why she had a different surname. But Pheby is a mystery in all ways. Censuses indicate that Pheby was born in about 1816 in Dudley but I cannot find a baptism for a Pheby Brinton in a ten year period from 1810-1820 in Dudley or anywhere within 7.6 miles of Dudley. Neither Ancestry nor FindMyPast can find much about her other than the three censuses that I have already found. There are other Phoebe Brintons in earlier generations in the surrounding area and the Brinton name was not unknown in Blackheath when I was growing up. There were also Brintons in Oldbury and Halesowen. But I can find nothing about Pheby/Phebe after the 1861 Census, not even a death or a marriage.
What a contrast then, this little household presents to their neighbours just down the road in Finger i’the-Hole where everyone was related or connected to each other whereas the three members of this household, who may or may not have been related, appear to have been self-contained and leaving little trace of their lives behind them.
The next household listed was:
Christian Name
Surname
Age
Occupation
Whether born in County
Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
William
Bridge
60
Farmer
Yes
Elizabeth
Bridge
50
Yes
James
Bridge
15
Yes
Sarah
Bridge
2
No
Yes
Maria
Harrould
25
Yes
William
Bradshaw
40
No
Yes
William Bridge (1780-1845)
William Bridge was not to appear in any later Censuses. He died in 1845, aged 63, of ‘numerous complaints’ according to a note in the Burial Register and he was buried at St Giles on 13th January 1845. So, although we know that he was born in Staffordshire, we do not know whether he was born in Rowley itself.
William, like Edward Alsop, was one of the signatories to the advertisement in 1829, requesting sporting gentlemen from trespassing on their land so presumably he was farming in the Rowley area for some decades.
When I searched FreeREG for a baptism for William Bridge over a ten year period from 1775 and within an eight mile distance from Rowley there was only one result. I believe that this William was the William, son of James and Elizabeth Bridge whose baptism on 5 January 1780 is in the Halesowen Registers which would fit with the age shown in the census and at his burial; William’s third and fourth children were also named Elizabeth and James which is another helpful indicator. Halesowen Parish, at this time, included Oldbury and the priest or clerk did not always keep the records separate so he could have come from that area and the Rowley Registers include references to other members of the Bridge family from Oldbury and also in the parish of Rowley. By 1781 children were being baptised at Rowley to a James and Elizabeth Bridge so it seems possible that William’s parents moved into the Rowley parish at about that time. There were at least four Bridge couples baptising children at Rowley in the early 1800s, likely to have been related in some way but I have not investigated this yet.
William Bridge, a bachelor, had married Elizabeth Siviter, a spinster, on 15 January 1815 at St Giles, both presumably of the parish as no mention is made of any other parish. William and Elizabeth appear to have farmed at Plant’s Green, down in the valley near Old Hill for some years and where they had Joseph (1816), William (1818), Elizabeth (1820), James (1822) – probably the James shown in the census above, and John (1824), all while they were living in Plants Green. By 1841, most of these had presumably moved away to be married or work elsewhere. Plant’s Green was located between Old Hill, Cradley Heath and Saltwells Colliery and is shown on the 1881 OS Map but by the next edition in 1901 it had been built over. Surrounded by iron works, foundries and collieries, Plant’s Green was also a centre for back yard chain and nail making shops and was apparently later deeply tied to the 1910 Cradley Heath Chain Makers’ Strike. However, while William and Elizabeth’s children were born there in the 1810s and 1820s while he was farming, one can imagine that as the area became much more polluted and unsuited to farming as the heavy industries developed around it. Turner’s Hill must have seemed rather different than this area down in the valley.
Elizabeth Bridge (1787-1860)
Elizabeth Bridge, nee Siviter was born in about 1790 from her age in the 1841 census, 1788 is indicated by her age of 63 in the 1851 Census. This makes it likely that she was the Elizabeth, daughter of Richard and Hannah Siviter who was baptised on 10 June 1787 at St Giles. In April 1789 the same couple had a daughter Hannah, of which more anon.
By the 1851 Census, Elizabeth, Sarah and Maria Harrold had moved to Old Hill. Elizabeth was shown as a retired farmer. I think that Elizabeth died in 1860 as an Elizabeth Bridge, aged 73, of Old Hill was buried at St Giles on 17 August 1860.
James Bridge (1822-1860)
The James Bridge shown in the 1841 household, whose age was rounded down for this census to 15 was probably the James who was baptised on 4 August 1822 at St Giles. James was still farming on Turner’s Hill in the 1851 Census, apparently on the same farm as his neighbours in that census were still Hannah Cooper and Phoebe Brinton, just as they had been in 1841. By 1851 James was 28 and married. James Bridge and Anne Eliza Hodgetts had married by licence at St Giles, Rowley Regis on 22 May 1849 when he was listed as a farmer of Turner’s Hill and she a spinster of the village. His father was listed as William Bridge, farmer and her father John Hodgetts, also a farmer. The wedding was witnessed by William Whitehouse and Maria Harrold who also appears in the census in 1841. Marrying by Licence involved a fee and was sometimes seen as a status thing so perhaps the farm was prospering. Certainly by 1851 there was a female servant at the farm, Sarah Preston, aged 24 who was a Shropshire girl and an agricultural labourer, the young Reuben Ingram who was 18 in 1851 and born in Sambourne,Warwickshire, he has cropped up in various other family studies.
Was Anne related to Betty Hodgetts who was married to Edward Alsop the farmer at Mill Farm in Hawes Lane? Very possibly. When time permits, I will explore the Hodgetts family more. Alas, JamesBridge was not to make old bones, he died in 1860, aged only 37 and was buried at St Giles on 29 Mar 1860, his abode given as Turner’s Hill.
Sarah Bridge (1838-1861)
The Sarah Bridge shown in the census was apparently not born in the County, according to the census here. There is a tick in the column for this entry for Sarah which indicates that she was born in “Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts” but my other research indicates that this was not so and all future records refer to her being born in Oldbury which appears, for this enumerator to count as Foreign Parts. There was a baptism of a Sarah Bridge at St Giles on 9 December 1838, which would fit with the age of this child, and her parents were shown in the baptismal register as Joseph and Ann Bridge of Turner’s Hill and that he was a labourer. So perhaps Sarah was William’s granddaughter?
It seems likely as Joseph, eldest son of William Bridge, Farmer, was married in May 1838 at West Bromwich to Ann Davis, whose father Benjamin Davis was also a farmer. Once more, families marrying into other families with the same occupation, so that the new spouse already knew the ropes of the job. Later JosephBridge and his family were living in West Bromwich where he was a corn factor. I had never heard of corn factors until I started researching the Alsop family where Isaac Mallin was also a corn factor – perhaps this was a profession that the sons of farmers went into when they were either not needed or wished to work on the family farm, or perhaps it was simply an ancillary trade to farming and milling or just simply more profitable.
Sarah Bridge was still living with her grandmother Elizabeth Bridge in Old Hill in the 1851 Census, by now aged 12 and a scholar, though now her place of birth was shown as Rowley Regis. In the 1861 Census, taken on 7 April, following the death of her grandmother, she was living in High Street, West Bromwich with her Corn Factor father Joseph and younger brother William, aged 20. However, Sarah died of tuberculosis in September of that year and was buried at Holy Trinity, West Bromwich on 20 September.
Maria Harrold (1815-1885)
Also still in the household with Elizabeth Bridge in 1851 was Maria Harrold, now described as the niece of Elizabeth Bridge and a servant though whether she was a servant to her aunt is not stated. Maria’s place of birth was now given as Oldbury, Worcestershire so perhaps the places of birth for her and Sarah had been transposed in the 1841 Census.
The Harrolds were another family who seemed to live in the Turner’s Hill/Portway/Birchfield Road/Titford area. They first appear in the parish registers for St Giles in about 1769.
Maria’s baptism at St Giles had taken place on 6 August 1815, daughter of Joseph (which has a ? after it in the Transcript so it is possible that this was John or even James) and Hannah Harrold of Birchfield Lane, so not a great distance from Turner’s Hill and I have noted that Elizabeth Bridge, nee Siviter had a sister Hannah so it is possible that this was Maria’s mother, although I have not been able to find a marriage for either Hannah Siviter or Joseph Harrold. In 1817 a William, son of Joseph, a farmer and Ann Harrold, of Birchfield Lane was baptised but in March 1818, Joseph Harrold, aged 27 of Birchfield Lane was buried. There were several other burials in the following years of young Harrold children from the Portway area being buried at St Giles, so it seems that there were several branches of the Harrold family living there in the early 1800s. But it appears that Maria’s mother had been widowed at a young age and that may have been why Elizabeth Bridge took in her niece. Or it is possible that Hannah remarried (there was certainly a marriage of a widowed Hannah Harrold in West Bromwich in 1836) and a new husband might not welcome step-children. Whatever the cause, it seems that Maria lived with her aunt for a number of years.
In 1861, Maria was back on Turner’s Hill, staying with Anne Bridge, the widow of James Bridge who was still farming at Turner’s Hill Farm, with two labourers. Maria was noted as a cousin to Anne. However, after her aunt’s death in 1860, and soon after the census Maria was married. On 15 October 1861, only a few weeks after the death of Sarah Bridge, Maria, aged 46, a spinster, of Rowley, daughter of Joseph Harrold, was married by licence at St Giles to none other than Joseph Bridge, aged 45, a widower and corn factor of West Bromwich, son of William Bridge, a farmer. The witnesses to this marriage were William Woodall and Sarah Whitehouse. So this was Maria’s cousin and father to Sarah Bridge. ( Joseph’s wife Ann Bridge had died in 1858 in West Bromwich where they were living and he was trading as a corn factor.
Not even three months later, sadly, it seems, however, that this short marriage ended. Joseph Bridge died in January 1862, aged 46 and was buried in West Bromwich on 8 January 1862. Joseph died of heart valve disease, gout and asthma. With such ailments, it seems that Joseph cannot have been a well man even at the time of his marriage, perhaps he wished to make provision for Maria in view of her long association with the family.
In 1871Maria was visiting in Moseley Road, Birmingham, staying with Maria Nichols, aged 84 who had also been born in Rowley Regis. Both women were described as ‘living on income derived from house & Property’. In 1881, Maria was living as a boarder in New Road, Kings Norton and was described as an annuitant.
Maria died in 1885 and was buried at St Giles on 5 June 1885, aged 69. Her address was given in the Burial entry as Fox Cote, Hagley.
William Bradshaw (1800-?)
William Bradshaw was listed as a Male Servant but was probably what was more usually described as an agricultural labourer. He was apparently born in about 1800 but not in the County of Staffordshire and was no longer at the farm in the 1851 Census. There is a tick in the column for this entry for William which indicates that she was born in “Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts” but That leaves a fairly broad range of possibilities! It seems likely that he was a casual labourer and could have gone anywhere from there. A search of local parish registers, per FreeREG, does not show any likely marriages or burials in the immediate area up to 1880. There are 62 possible William Bradshaws in the 1851 Census born in about 1800, scattered far and wide across the country without any means of deciding which if any of them was this William Bradshaw so I have not attempted to pursue this any further!
The Hipkiss family
Christian name
Surname
Age
Occupation
Whether born in County
Whether born in Scotland, Ireland or Foreign Parts
James
Hipkiss
55
Nailmaker
Yes
Pheby
Hipkiss
45
Yes
James
Hipkiss
10
Yes
Ezekier
Hipkiss
5
Yes
Thomas
Morton
15
Coal Miner
Yes
The Hipkisses are one of the core families of the Lost Hamlets, families who lived there over many generations and intermarried with the other core families frequently.
James Hipkiss (1781-1851)
It seems very likely that James Hipkiss is the son of Thomas and Esther Hipkiss (nee Whitehall) who was baptised at St Giles on 16 September 1781.
I think that he may have had an earlier marriage to Jane Hackett at Tipton in 1808 and had five children with her. I am still exploring this possibility.
However he married Phebe Moreton on 27 November 1826 at Tipton which ties this family firmly into the Hill family living just down the road. Phoebe (or Pheby as it is spelled here) Moreton was the sister of Ralph Thomas Moreton who had married Elizabeth Hill. The widowed Elizabeth Hill was still living in Finger I’ the Hole in 1841.
James and Phoebe, together with their younger son Hezekiah had moved to Spring Row by 1851 where they were living with Thomas Moreton, probably the same Thomas Moreton who had been living with them in 1841 and his wife Mary. They are described as his parents-in-law in this census but I think that this is Phoebe’s illegitimate son Thomas Moreton, born in 1822, as –in-laws was also used to describe step-relationships and James was his step-father. James was described as a Pauper/Nailer and Phoebe as a nailer. My blog pieces on the Hill family, specifically Elizabeth Hill, deal with the Moreton family in some detail.
James died in 1851 and was buried at St Giles on 14 December 1851. The burial entry gives his cause of death as ‘old age’, he was about 70. However, his son James had been killed in a pit accident a few weeks earlier which may have caused or accelerated his decline.
Phoebe Hipkiss nee Moreton (1894-1876)
Phoebe was the daughter of Francis Moreton and Ann Milles who were possibly from the Bromsgrove area and, like several siblings, Phoebe was baptised at Harborne Parish Church, in her case on 18 May 1794. It is possible that at this time, the parish of Harborne extended almost as far as Whiteheath so the connection to Rowley may not have been as distant as it appears at first sight.
Phoebe had an illegitimate son Thomas Moreton in 1822 in Rowley Regis and married James Hipkiss four years later so it seems unlikely that James was his father. She and James were living with Thomas Moreton and his family in 1851 in Spring Row so had moved down from Turner’s Hill by then.
In 1861, Phoebe was living in Blackheath as a lodger in the household of Thomas Butcher, a labourer, I do not know of any other relationship between them. In 1871, at the grand age of 81, she was living in Causeway, Blackheath and Henry Hadley, her grandson, was living with her, plus a lodger Thomas Willetts. I have no details of a Henry Hadley so cannot tell which of Phoebe’s children he belonged to. I shall continue to research this as it is possible that there were other children of hers that I am not aware of.
Phoebe died in November 1876 and was buried at St Paul’s, Blackheath, on 5 November 1875, aged 86. Her abode was shown as ‘The Hill’ which seems to have covered the whole area between Blackheath and Quinton and Gorsty Hill so an exact location is unclear. There was another Phoebe Hipkiss, aged 78 and of Perry’s Lake who was buried at St Giles on 20 January 1868 but the 1871 census shows that the Blackheath Phoebe was born in Harborne which is correct for James’s wife so clearly this was not the Phoebe who was buried in 1868. I suspect that this Phoebe may have been a sister of James Hipkiss but this is unclear as I am unable to find any census entries at all for this Phoebe Hipkiss. It is possible that she was married to a Hipkiss.
James Hipkiss (1828-1851)
James was about ten at the time of the 1841 Census and the only baptism of a James Hipkiss in this period was on 6 April 1828, at Dudley St Thomas, when James, the son of James (a nailer) and Phebe Hipkiss of Dixon’s Green was baptised. Although there is a three year difference here, in the 1851 Census James gave his age as 22 which is closer to the correct age.
James married Phoebe Ruston on 25 December 1850, at Dudley St Thomas. They were living with the Ruston family in Club Buildings in the 1851 Census, along with their five month old son Joseph. Another son James was born on 26 November 1851. This was less than a week after the burial of his father James at St Giles, aged 23, after he was killed in a coal pit, as noted in the Burial Register.
PhoebeHipkiss subsequently remarried, to Philip Whittall in 1858 with whom she had three children Ebenezer( 1859-1864) , Sarah Jane (1861-), and Ann Maria (1862-1863) , before Philip died in 1864, aged 37. In 1870, when Phoebe was 42, she married William Taylor, a nailer aged 33, at Dudley St Thomas and she was living with him in the 1871 and 1881 Censuses in Blackheath. In 1891, Phoebe was living in Long Lane as a boarder with Thomas and Elizabeth Hill, presumably the same couple who had acted as witnesses to her marriage to William Taylor in 1870. Elizabeth Hill was Phoebe’s sister and according to this census Thomas was born in Gadd’s Green so he is certainly one of the Hill tribe. In 1901, Phoebe was living in Hackett Street, Blackheath, aged 72, as a Boarder with John Blakeway, a widower aged 78. I think that it was this Phoebe Taylor who was buried at St Pauls, Blackheath on 19 January 1905, her age given as 73 which is a couple of years out but such discrepancies are not unusual for people of this age at this time, when there would have been few people alive who actually knew her correct age.
Hezekiah Hipkiss (1836-1888)
(probably Hezekiah, but sometimes recorded as Issachar or Ezekiel any of which may be attributed to whatever name the writer at the time thought they heard!)
Poor Hezekiah, it appears that no-one knew how to spell his name as it appears as Hezekiah, Ezekier, Issachar and several other variations in various records. I have been unable to find a baptism for him and it may well be that the family were non-conformist and their children were baptised in a chapel for which no records have survived. I did check every Hipkiss baptism in the FreeREG database in the area for a period of several years around 1836 in case there was another spelling obscuring the entry and also for any children of James Hipkiss but, alas, still no joy.
In 1851, Hezekiah, now 15, was living in Spring Row, Springfield, with his mother and father in the household of his half-brother Thomas Moreton and his family. Both he and Thomas were coal miners.
On 25 December 1855, Hezekiah (with that spelling) married Mary Ann Willetts, daughter of Thomas Willetts, (a nailer) at Dudley St Thomas. The witnesses to this marriage were Joseph Redfern and Maria Taylor. This seems likely to be the Joseph Redfern living next door but one in 1941 on Turner’s Hill and his future wife, Ann Maria Taylor. At Joseph and Ann’s wedding in June 1856, Hezekiah and Ann Hipkiss returned the favour and acted as witnesses. Hezekiah and Joseph would have grown up together on Turner’s Hill and were obviously good friends. Joseph remained living on Turner’s Hill for the rest of his life, more about him later – Hezekiah moved on.
By 1861, Hezekiah (this time named as Isacher) had moved with Mary to Rowley Village, a few doors from the King’s Arms. In 1871, they were to be found in Causeway, Blackheath, this time as Issachar and he was still working as a miner. In 1881,now listed as Isaac (though the spelling is unclear and has been overwritten), by now 45 and still a coal miner, the couple had moved to 32 Hackett Street, Blackheath.
On 26 February 1888, Isachar Hipkiss, aged 52, of Blackheath, was buried at St Paul’s, Blackheath. Issachar or Hezekiah and Mary had no children, it seems.
Thomas Moreton (1822-1895)
Thomas was the son of Phoebe Moreton, baptised as the ‘base-born son of Phebe Moreton’ on 24 February 1822, at the Poorhouse – which was somewhere in the Brickfields/Cock Green area. There are no clues who his father was and, since he continued to use the Morton or Moreton name throughout his life, there is no reason to suppose that James Hipkiss, who married Phoebe four years after his birth, was his father, although he grew up in the Hipkiss household and members of the family lived with him later in life. His own Christian name might be a hint, but Phoebe had a brother Thomas and she may have named her son after him. And Thomas is not exactly an unusual name in the village. DNA might provide some clues if any descendants are really keen!
Thomas was a coal miner, and lived on Turner’s Hill at least until 1841, although at the time of his marriage to Mary Ruston at Dudley St Thomas on 17 Apr 1843, his abode was shown as Dudley Wood, as was Mary’s. Thomas and Mary had ten children – Emma (1843-1843), Ann Maria in 1844, Joseph in 1847, John (1848-1849), Mary Ann in 1850, Thomas in 1851, Caroline in 1856, Rebecca in 1857 and Alfred in 1860.
By 1851Thomas and his family, including his mother, step-father and half-brother Hezekiah were living in Spring Row which was in Springfield. In 1861 they were to be found in Bell End, and in 1871 in Long Lane, Blackheath, Thomas always shown as a coal miner. In 1881, he and Mary were in Newtown Street, Cradley Heath , although they may simply have been staying temporarily with their son Thomas and by now, aged 60, Thomas had taken up rivet making, an occupation also followed by his son. 1891 finds Thomas and Mary lodging in Malt Mill Lane, Blackheath. Thomas died on 5 November 1895, of bronchitis, perhaps a legacy of his many decades working as a coal miner, perhaps simply from the heavily polluted air locally from all the foundries and chimneys. He was buried at St Paul’s, Blackheath on 10 November, his age shown as 74. His abode was shown as Long Lane, as it was for his widow Mary who died on 12 June 1908 and was buried at St Paul’s on 17 June, aged 86. So, like so many natives of Rowley Regis, Thomas and Mary lived out their lives within a mile or so of the village and quite possibly never travelled further afield than a couple of miles.
Conclusion
Although I have only looked at three households on Turner’s Hill so far, I think this is a good point to stop this piece and will begin another piece with the next household – The Robinsons.
It is now more than 45 years since I began researching my family history and I still have some of the original hand written notes I made at that time.
In those days, to confirm a birth, death or marriage reference, you had to go to Somerset House in London to examine the physical indices for registrations of Births, Marriages and Deaths – and haul huge hardbound registers down for each quarter and each type of register off a shelf and pore over it page by page, always supposing that you could get to London in search hours and someone else wasn’t using the volume you wanted. I never actually had this experience as the friend who introduced me to this fascinating world was a regular researcher and looked up various events for me but I have often seen people who did it recall it. Now, of course, these registers have not only been indexed and put online, the main genealogical websites all have access to them and will offer you the appropriate (or sometimes inappropriate) entry as they see your interest. And there are finding aids like FreeBMD, done by volunteers. No hauling of heavy books, no travelling to London or waiting your turn, all available 24 hours a day from the comfort of your own computer – brilliant! This technology has made a huge difference and still allowed us to have accurate references.
Censuses were not exactly accessible either – in those days there was a copy of at least one of the censuses for Rowley Regis at the Local History Research Room at Smethwick library – the 1851, perhaps. And someone had created an index for at least one census, on cards, in a wooden card cabinet, as such things were in those days. And I remember a loose leaf book which had references to many of the local streets, again created by volunteers, so that you knew which microfilm to look at. Many of the censuses we have access to now had not been released then, of course, because of the 100 year rule and I can remember waiting eagerly for the 1891 census to be released, then the 1901, the 1911 etc, etc.
We who were researching Rowley Regis were fortunate that many of the parish registers had been transcribed by Miss Henrietta Auden, before the disastrous fire at St Giles which destroyed or damaged so many registers and these had been published in a printed volume by the Staffordshire Parish Registers Society, which also included an index – so helpful – providing no-one else was using the only copy when you wanted it. There was a copy of this book at Smethwick , the print was rather small. I remember searching rapidly through the index, watching the clock to do as much as possible before the library closed. Now I have a facsimile reproduction of this book (with somewhat larger print, thank goodness) and this is also available online, free to download at the Internet Archive. I also have also a digital version of the registers from Midland Ancestors which goes later than the book and which can also be searched digitally. Another vast improvement for the researcher.
And then there was the computerised index called the IGI, done by the Mormon church, divided into counties and available on microfiches in libraries and archives – oh, yes, the technology was definitely moving on. We even eventually had a microfiche reader at home and copies of the fiches for the counties we had particular interests in, at one stage.
There were no computers available to plebs when I started, of course so all of the outcomes of research had to be on paper. And although I used computers and word processing at work from the 1980s onwards, at that time there was no internet either. I can remember going to a training session sometime about 1990, I think, as a parish clerk and being told about this amazing new invention called the World Wide Web and how it was going to transform our lives and have so many different uses. I was a tad sceptical, I admit and I was wrong.
And, having not done a great deal of hands-on research for a few years when I was busy with work and growing family, my daughter got me started again when she used her computer to find the baptism of my 3xg-grandfather (for which I had been searching, on and off, for about twenty years) in Gloucester. I had explained this ‘brick wall’ to her and she picked up her laptop and five minutes later said “do you think this is him?” and showed me exactly what I needed. I was thrilled and hooked and my interest was rejuvenated… and I was astounded by the variety and number of online resources now available for genealogists.
And over the last few years, I have made use of the plethora of records and programs for family and local history in my own family research and for my One Place Study – and I have been hugely grateful to be able to do most of it from my own computer in my own home. The internet has indeed revolutionised family history research and enabled so many people to trace their families with ease, though not always with accuracy.
Then came DNA which has also opened up all sorts of channels, some of them unexpected. Have I done my DNA? No, I haven’t. Partly because I am cautious about new developments and partly because I do not trust the security of online storage of what is essentially very personal information and because I just do not know what use will be made of it in the future and by whom. Will we find insurance being refused because of some newly discovered trait that we were not aware of? Will some people with a particular line of DNA suddenly find themselves pariahs for whatever reason – a susceptibility to a particular disease, a greater likelihood of developing Alzheimers which might be responded to by not treating other issues – who knows? Could we reach the stage where the ‘wrong DNA’ might lead to ‘Do not resuscitate’ being put into our medical records, as it seems may have happened with some patients during the Covid outbreak, not least because they were elderly? Far-fetched perhaps but just imagine what it might have been like if the Nazis had had access to DNA. No, not for me at the moment, thanks, I’ll work on in my research with the methods I have used up to now.
And now – the latest development which seems to be seen as a brilliant development – Artificial Intelligence!
Now I open a digital copy of an old Will on my computer and am immediately told that it seems to be a long document and would I like to see a summary prepared by AI? Would I like AI to transcribe it for me? ‘No, thanks’ to both from me. Yes, old Wills can be long and wordy but many of them are written in standard phrases and once you get used to reading the old handwriting, the only way to be absolutely sure that you have a correct transcription is to do it yourself. And you can learn so much about that ancestor and his family and his relations with them and often his property, holdings and living standards that Wills are a rich source of information which cannot easily be found elsewhere. I have been told by people who have tried such transcriptions that if AI can’t make sense of a word or a phrase or a paragraph, it puts what it thinks should be there. Not what I want.
But now another reason for extra caution has come to my notice. Twice in recent weeks, I have read reliable first hand accounts from researchers who have used AI to discover details of particular events. In each case, a very plausible report has arrived promptly with lots of details, references, sources and pictures – easy peasy! But too easy. In both those cases, the experienced researcher had then gone on to check those quoted sources to other records. And failed to find them at all. And, in both cases, eventually, when challenged about these sources, a grovelling admission has arrived admitting that these records did not actually exist and that suitable sounding references has been invented to add authenticity to the story. This has included inventing details of trials which never happened and even inventing National Archives References which of course, lead to nothing.
Bob Adams was recently investigating the story of a murder in Rowley Regis in 1863 which he had seen mentioned in various historical accounts.
“The Case: Matilda Stringer was murdered at the Hailstone quarry by a man named James Griffin, who was subsequently tried and executed for the crime in Stafford in August 1863.”
And Gemini produced a whole page of references to the story, some parts of which were correct but others which were completely invented.
Bob sent me a copy of the explanation he eventually got and has said that he is happy for me to share it, as he feels that people, especially researchers, need to be aware of this.
Bob pointed out to Gemini that there was no record of any trial or execution of James Griffin at Stafford. This is what Gemini said:
“You are completely correct, and I apologize for the misstep in my previous answer.
There is no historical record of a “James Griffin” being tried or executed at Stafford Gaol for this crime—that was an error in my prior output.”
Bob asked “Why mislead me?”
To which the response was:
“I didn’t mean to mislead you, and I sincerely apologize for doing so.
What happened is a classic AI failure known as hallucination. Here is the honest breakdown of how my mistake occurred:
1. Pattern Matching Over Fact-Checking: I can read the text printed directly on the image—”THE HAILSTONE, ROWLEY RAG. Scene of the murder of
Matilda Stringer.” However, rather than simply telling you, “I see the caption, but I don’t have verified historical records about who Matilda Stringer was or when this happened,” my system tried to complete the pattern.
2. Fabricating Plausible Details: Because I know that The Hailstone was a real geological site in Rowley Regis, that “Rowley Rag” is a real type of stone, and that historian F.W. Hackwood wrote about Black Country history, my system blended those real facts with invented specifics—generating a fictitious killer named “James Griffin,” a made-up year (1863), and fake trial details to present what sounded like a complete historical answer.
3. Double-Down Error: When you called me out on the lack of trial records, I acknowledged the missing execution record, but I still failed to be transparent about the bigger picture: the extra names and dates I gave you earlier were generated out of thin air.
You deserved a clear “I don’t know” or a transparent search for verifiable records rather than a confidently presented guess. I appreciate you calling it out, and I’ll use this to keep my responses grounded in facts rather than plausible-sounding storytelling.”
Well, that’s okay then. Not. I have become accustomed to being sceptical about images and videos online, a huge number of which are now generated by AI but now it seems that I must be even more sceptical about historical research and whether it originates from. AI, it becomes ever clearer, has no moral or ethical context and is not concerned with the truth.
Incidentally, I checked and couldn’t find a burial for Matilda Stringer anywhere in the Rowley Regis area anytime in 1863 or the surrounding ten years. So I checked the GRO Index for death registrations for two years either side of 1863. And there was only one death registration for a Matilda Stringer (aged 43) in 1863 but it was in the Foleshill Registration District – which is in Coventry. But deaths are supposed to be registered in the area where they occur so this can’t have been her. And I found a death notice in the Coventry press for this Matilda which says she was the wife of Mr Thomas Stringer with no hint of anything untoward about her death so that rules that out. So it seems perfectly possible that this murder never happened in Rowley Regis in the first place!
The recommended Genealogical Standard is that you should always have confirmation about any given fact from three different sources. This is not always possible, of course, especially in earlier times, sometimes a baptism or a burial may be the only source of information available. I have, however, in my own research, always followed the practice of checking the original sources when I have seen information on other people’s trees online or anywhere else and if there is no source shown, I do not accept it, other than to check it out in my own resources as a possibility. Now I shall be even more cautious about information online.
So, a cautionary tale – be vigilant and sceptical to check the origins of what you see, especially if it may have been produced with AI. Check the sources, be prepared to discover that you have been told a fairy tale, because AI thought that would please you! Me, I will steer clear of AI for now. If that is possible in this new technological world!
Since writing this piece, it has been drawn to my attention that this ‘problem with hallucinations’ is not limited to genealogy and has potential to do serious damage in many other fields. This is so, particularly in high-stakes industries where a wrong decision can have huge financial, legal or reputational consequences. I recall a judgment a few months ago where totally fictitious legal precedents and cases had been used by a judge which, apparently unbeknown to him, had been created by AI, rendering his judgment severely compromised to say the least. For businesses, these hallucinations are an insurmountable barrier: In sectors like healthcare, finance, legal services, and insurance, mistakes have real consequences. There is apparently a current reported 48% error rate in some models which makes human oversight mandatory which in turn wipes out most of the supposed improved efficiency for businesses and makes such uses highly suspect for genealogy purposes. Only yesterday, I saw a Facebook request for assistance in reading words in a 1680 Will. Suggestions of using AI to transcribe the whole thing were swiftly countered by the experiences of other users that words, phrases, whole paraphs had been invented where the AI could not recognise the word – so use AI if you wish but be prepared to then check the whole document word by word to be sure it is accurate.
New models of AI are apparently being developed which use different mechanisms to overcome these problems but it may be a while before these become apparent to the less technical user. In the meantime, my caution remains fully in place!
Life at Windmill Farm and the village of Rowley may not always have been as peaceful as one imagines. In August 1830 a group of Rowley Regis land owners and occupiers had placed an advertisement in Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, addressed to ‘all qualified and unqualified Gentlemen’ and requiring them to refrain from sporting or trespassing on the Lands in their respective occupations, as they would be deemed ‘wilful trespassers’ after the notice. The signatories were Joseph Downing, Joseph Cooks, Josiah Parkes Jnr, Benjamin Woodhouse, William Clift, Joseph Merries, William Bridgwater, Thomas Smart, Mark Pitt, Benjamin Hadley, William Woodhouse, Benjamin Davis, Edward Alsop, Samuel Smith and John Hodgetts. (There is a useful list of major local landowners! )
I do not know what gave rise to this advertisement, as I have noticed similar notices for other areas. After a long period of war which ended in 1815 with the Battle of Waterloo, demobilisation of the army had led to mass unemployment. At the same time the first of the Corn Laws had been passed, helping farmers but with a disastrous impact on the poor. This was followed by dire harvests due to bad weather in 1816, causing widespread hunger in what was described as a ‘Year without a summer’. This led to a steep rise in the numbers of people who left Britain for good, by the 1830s, in particular those who had been affected by the agricultural depression. So perhaps men were poaching to feed their families.
Or perhaps, now that not so many young men were away with the army, there were more ‘gentlemen’ with the time and inclination to go out hunting and who may not have been particular about trespassing on land belonging to other people. None of the landowners or occupiers listed were gentry so perhaps they had more of a need to assert their rights. And there was no police force to address bad behaviour.
The killing of Richard Hunt
But certainly it appears that of those men, Mary Ann’s father Edward Alsop at least was prepared to defend his property to the death. In December of 1841 and January of 1842, reports appeared in the local papers, of an inquest on a man called Richard Hunt which showed that on 12 December 1841, he had been killed by Edward Alsop of Rowley Regis, a farmer, when he was caught in the act of committing a robbery in an outhouse of the premises. The jury returned a verdict of ‘justifiable homicide’. (This is not a formal verdict now at least in England and Wales, self-defense is now the preferred option). The deceased, it was noted, was about sixty years of age, and “had long been known as a most profligate and notorious thief”. His accomplice Edward Steward pleaded guilty in court in early January 1842 to a charge of stealing three iron punches and a peck of potatoes, the property of Edward Alsop. He was imprisoned for four calendar months. So clearly Edward Alsop was not a man to cross!
So looking at the story of Rhoda, it begins in much the same way as for her siblings. Rhoda was born on 18 November 1821 at the Windmill Farm and was baptised at St Giles on 18 November 1821. For the next three censuses – 1841, 1851 and 1861 she continued to live at the Windmill Farm, with her family, aged 39 and single in the last one.
But life had not been easy for Rhoda over that period. As I noted earlier, Rhoda’s father Edward Alsop was not one to tolerate offence easily and it appears that Rhoda may have been of a similar mindset. I found a whole series of press reports when Rhoda sued a former swain for breach of promise.
Fortunately for us, the newspapers reported in great details on the circumstances of the case. A report in the Staffordshire Advertiser on 21 July 1855 (subsequently similar accounts appearing in newspapers across the country) explained that Thomas Sergeant had broken a promise to marry her. She stated that there had been an engagement between them for two or three years, tht she was always ready and willing to marry him and that he had married another person.
She was, the report said, a “young lady of some 31 or 32 years of age, the daughter of a farmer of considerable respectability, a gentleman whose ancestors had been tenants of Lord Ward for more than a century, of the Mill Farm, at Rowley Regis. Mr Sergeant was a builder, and a person of considerable landed property, living at North Fields, about four miles from Mr Alsop’s house; and was a person of a suitable age for Rhoda, being some 37 or 38 years old. He met Miss Alsop in the autumn of 1852, and paid great attention to her; was received in her father’s house, introduced to her friends, and acknowledged in every way as her suitor. As he lived at so small a distance from her father’s he used to pay continual visits to her and proposed for her to her father, an old gentleman of about 70 who referred her to Miss Alsop, with whom he had already settled matters. For more than two years this engagement continued, and letters passed between them, the only impediment to their union being the illness of Rhoda’s mother.
Matters went so far that a church was fixed upon for the performance of the ceremony, Mr Sergeant insisting that it should take place at North-field church, where his fathers before him had been married. He also made arrangements for the festivities that should take place on the occasion; the children at the school were to be treated; there was to be a balloon ascent, and other festivities of a rustic character. He also took from her a ring she usually wore, in order to get one of the same size; in fact every preparation was made for the marriage.”
Quotations from various letters from Thomas Sergeant, referring to his affection for her and many of a religious tone, including one which recommended that Rhoda should read Dr.Hook’s Meditations and put her trust in God.
In July 1854 Rhoda’s mother died “and then that which up to that moment had been all tender affection on the part of Mr Sergeant gradually cooled. He was less frequent in his visits and Miss Alsop was astonished to receive, on the 4th September, the following letter. It had been up to this time ‘My dear Rhoda’ or ‘My dearest Rhoda’ and terms of fond endearment; now the letter came without any heading whatever; it ran thus:
“I assure you I sympathise with you in your troubles, for I have felt the same myself. One above knows how great mine have been the last month, and then, after all anxiety, loss of time and rest, and through that finding my health giving way, to be accused of dishonour and deception and trifling with your feelings, it is certainly very hard. For I must declare, it was never my intention to act dishonourably. Your dear mother’s death caused me to weigh matters over very carefully, and I found that, after all my efforts, I was acting against the will of God. I could no longer stand against the will of Him who sees farther than us sinful creatures, with all our bright hopes of worldly happiness. In all our troubles, we may be sure all things work together for good to them that love him. I would have you to weigh all future affairs now, and I have no doubt you will come to the same conclusion, that I have to appreciate your own home rather than risk your happiness elsewhere. I thank you for all acts of kindness, and shall be happy to reward you, and see you as a friend at any time. Sincerely, T Sergeant”
Oh dear. Poor Rhoda, she was apparently distraught and even sent a cousin to speak to Mr Sergeant and to ask him why he had abandoned her but the only reason he would give was that it was the will of God. He had wept and said that he would never marry anyone else and that if he was to marry at all it should be Miss Alsop. Then he visited her at home and again, wept bitterly and again declaring that it was the will of God, leaving her in ‘a state of despair’.
Mr Alsop, Rhoda’s father, had then written a letter to Mr Sergeant which ran thus:
“In consequence of not seeing you personally for some time, I have taken the liberty of writing to you on a subject, as much as I feel dissatisfied that you have been keeping company with my daughter for about two years, and you do not say what offence any of us have given you, as you stop and slight her. She has fixed her affections on you, and from what you have told her she expected you to be quite a different person and not false. I myself always endeavoured to make you welcome at my house, not expecting that you would treat her in this way. She has not had a day or night’s comfort since, crying and lamenting continually, night and day. She is very ill from your false behaviour, and you have done that you ought not to have done.
I have plenty of living witnesses of your courtship and correspondence and promises of marriage, and so forth, and if you do assign some just reason for your false treatment of conspiracy and delusion against my dear daughter, whom I much adore, my full determination is to enter an action at law of conspiracy and delusion against you, Mr Thomas Sergeant; if you have any defence to make you had better say what you mean to do in this case as you have played the same game with others, and leave them to bear the rubs without defence.
But it will not be so in this case, for Rhoda Alsop has a very close friend that will see her righted.”
Mr Sergeant responded to the allegation that he had ‘played the same game with others’ by saying “I truly say it is the second unfortunate affair of the kind with which I have been concerned’. Hmmm, as Lady Bracknell would say, “to lose one fiancé is unfortunate, to lose two looks like carelessness.” (Oscar Wilde).
More evidence of trifling gifts given to Rhoda by Thomas, commencing with ‘damsons’ and ‘port pies’ and ending with a ‘book with gilt letters’. Evidence was also given by her father, her cousin Miss bates and Mr Alsop’s housekeeper, Mrs Farnell.
However, despite his promises about not marrying anyone else, Mr Sergeant had married Ann Ayre, a spinster aged 33, in February 1855. This had prompted the court action.
The case seemed to cause some amusement in court, and it appears that the counsel for the defendant tried to pass this off as a frivolous matter.
In his summing up, the Judge made it fairly clear that he did not approve of this case, saying that an action for breach of promise was not one upon which, as a lawyer, he looked with remarkable favour but it was part of the law of the land and they must deal with it. He also noted that such cases were rarely brought by parties above a certain rank in society; sensitive persons naturally shrank from bringing such an action; but when the action was brought they must bear with it and do justice between the parties. Well, that makes it fairly clear what the Judge thought about the standing of the Alsop family!
However, despite this, the jury took only a few minutes to find for Rhoda and awarded her £50 damages, worth about £7,000 today so not an inconsiderable sum.
Edward Alsop died five years later in 1860 and Rhoda was still at the farm in 1861 with her brother Thomas who had taken over the farm and her eldest sister Sarah. However, following the death of Thomas in 1865, things changed a lot. Sarah, described in the 1871 census as an ‘idiot’ was living with her sister-in-law Eliza in Mincing Lane. So where was Rhoda?
Rhoda had set up in business as a pawnbroker. Had she used her damages? Possibly. She was living in Lichfield Road, Aston and had two unmarried women described as her cousins, Emma Bates, aged 44, also described as a pawnbroker so perhaps they had gone into business together , and Marian O’Donellan, (also described as a cousin, although I cannot work out how she could be a cousin), a pawnbroker’s assistant.
Well ,well! Two years later the same Marian O’Donellan married Rhoda’s nephew Joseph Vaughan, son of Rhoda’s sister Mary Ann. When I was writing about Joseph and Marian in my previous piece, I had not been able to find Marian in the 1871 Census because, I now realise, her surname had been wrongly transcribed and was therefore not turning up in my searches. And comparing dates, I see that Marian’s father Michael was also a pawnbroker at this time – he is listed as such in trade directories in 1868. So perhaps Marian was getting some experience by working for another pawnbroker. Or perhaps the pawnbroking business was a tight knit community.
Although Rhoda describes Emma Bate as a cousin, (and her father did have Bate half-siblings) and the story of Rhoda’s cousin Emma Bate visiting Thomas Sergeant on behalf of Rhoda, was mentioned in the court reports, I have not been able to find out much more about Emma Bate so far. However, I suspect that it was this Emma Bate who died in 1880 and was buried at Northfield Church.
There is a newspaper report in 1877 that Rhoda Alsop was charged with “taking pledges from a person under 12 years of age” after her assistant Eliza Ann Jones had lent a lad 1s6d, on a pair of boots. The boy, aged 11 years and 2 months, was charged with stealing the boots, valued at 10s, from his employer Mr Oakley and, on the instructions of his stepmother, had pawned them and destroyed the pawn ticket. Rhoda said that the lad had claimed to be 12 and her assistant confirmed that he had told her on a previous occasion that he was over 12, so Rhoda was discharged with a caution. The stepmother who was charged with receiving stolen goods, claimed that she had not known that the boots were stolen but she was committed to the Winter Assizes for trial. The boy was very fortunate that the magistrates considered that he had been led astray by his stepmother and that his employer was willing to take him back provided that the stepmother kept away from him. As a result, the magistrates did not send him away for five years, as they would otherwise have done, but found him guilty and sentenced him to one day’s imprisonment. He was then allowed to leave with Mrs Oakley with the hope expressed by the magistrate that he would be suitably grateful for this kindness.
Lichfield Road, Aston. Copyright unknown. Date also unclear but possibly early 1900s.
In 1881, Rhoda was still at 36 Lichfield Road, Aston, still a pawnbroker, this time with a new assistant boarding with her, Caroline Kent. Rhoda was also shown as a pawnbroker in trade directories at this address in 1876, 1879 and 1884. But, after that, things changed considerably for her.
In the first quarter of 1886, at last, Rhoda got married! At the age of 59, Rhoda married widower David Round who was also a pawnbroker, in Netherton. He had two sons and four daughters by two previous marriages. Rhoda moved to Netherton where the wider Round family had several businesses, including the pawnbroker’s shop at 14 High Street. This was where David and Rhoda were living at the time of the census in 1891. They had one pawnbroker’s assistant (Ada Mitchell, aged 21, born in Birmingham) and a servant in the household. Both David and Rhoda were described as pawnbrokers so Rhoda had clearly not retired from the pawnbroking business on her marriage.
David Round died in December 1891, with probate being granted to his son James, leaving a modest estate of £1203 7s 1d. so poor Rhoda only had five years of marriage.
The census in 1901 shows Rhoda still living in Netherton in St Thomas Street, although she is no longer described as a pawnbroker, her age being given as 79 when she was living with one boarder, Sarah Gill who was 81.
Rhoda died on 28th January 1903 and was buried at Witton Cemetery, the resting place of her sister Mary Ann, and much of her family. Probate was granted to her executors Charles Vaughan, iron-caster – her nephew, son of her sister Mary Ann – and Henry Strange, brass caster. I do not know who Henry was or whether he was related to her. But, as ever, it appeared that the Alsop family had remained close through the years.
So Rhoda was the last of the children of Edward Alsop and Betty Hodgetts. Rhoda was clearly an independent woman who set up and ran a business for a number of years, in what must have been a challenging trade and in a busy and poor area of Birmingham.
Pawn Broking
By what is perhaps a curious coincidence, Rhoda ‘s brother EdwardAlsop was living next to the Bennett/Collard family who had a draper’s business next to the Alsop boot and shoe business in Blackheath Market Place for some years and the Bennetts had pawnbrokers in their family too. There is no apparent direct connection but it is interesting that both families were involved in pawnbroking in this period.
But the pawnbroking connection does not end there. When I researched Lucy Bennett, I was interested to note that she had been born in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire (which is about eight miles from where I live now!) and she had arrived in Blackheath by 1871 when she was Lucy Roberts.
At that time she was 18 and living in High Street, Blackheath with her uncle William Dudley who was – oh, look! – a Pawnbroker but also a draper and a Local Preacher – interesting combination, but I can see that his near neighbour Benjamin Shaw was also listed as a Stationer and Local Preacher in the same census. Another neighbour was a miner and ironmonger and yet another – William Darby – was a Grocer and Maltster. On the following page is a Benjamin Hadley, also a stationer and Methodist Local Preacher while Zachariah Willetts was a Carter and Greengrocer. Multiple occupations seemed to be quite common but clearly being a Local Preacher was a matter of some pride.
William Dudley had previously had a pawnbroker’s shop in Church Street, Oldbury but moved to High Street, Blackheath after his marriage to Mary Collard. Lucy, Mary’s niece, was an assistant in the drapery in 1871. Also living with them was William Roberts, Lucy’s brother, also born in Chipping Sodbury and also a Constantine Lovell, aged 23, born, the census says, either in Gloucester or Somerset –he was a first cousin to Lucy, their mothers were Collard sisters and poor Constantine apparently wasn’t even sure where he had been born. He was actually born in Clifton in Bristol, I was able to confirm with today’s searching resources available to me but later in life he gave his place of birth as various parts of Somerset and Gloucestershire.
Several of the Collards and their extended family appeared to combine pawnbroking with their outfitter’s trade.
Lucy’s brother WilliamRoberts, by 1881, was a pawnbroker in Halesowen Road, Netherton and appears to have stayed in Netherton until his death in 1918, but he was buried in Chipping Sodbury, his birthplace. Was it possible that this business was tied in somehow with David Round who married Rhoda Alsop and who was also a pawnbroker in Netherton? Perhaps or perhaps there was sufficient pawnbroking business in the town to support more than one pawnbroker.
ConstantineLovell was also William Dudley’s nephew, also became a pawnbroker and shipping agent in Harborne. But by the time of his son Frederick’s marriage in 1908, both Constantine and Frederick were shown as tailors, so back to the drapery/outfitters/pawnbrokers connection, it seems. Perhaps unredeemed pawned items were sold on in the drapers or outfitter’s shop? But it seems that pawnbroking could be combined with various other trades.
I had never been aware of any pawnbrokers in Blackheath and they were probably no longer around by the time I was growing up there. But only a couple of weeks ago, I was very interested to see a photograph of Blackheath High Street in 1915, posted on Facebook and there, above the Loan Office, were the three balls which denoted a pawnbroker! Not Rhoda’s shop but definitely in Blackheath so that may at one time have been where William Dudley originally had his shop.
High Street, Blackheath, 1915. Copyright unknown.
Conclusion
So – at considerably greater length than I had originally expected – this concludes the family study for the Alsop family, one time millers of Tippity Green. Like so many local business families, their children took up similar or complementary occupations to their parents and siblings and married into the same sort of families, several of them becoming very prosperous indeed in the fullness of time. But few of them seem to have remained in Rowley Regis and mostly made their lives elsewhere.
The Alsop family was very different from most of the core families who made nails or worked in the quarry or in local foundries and who had lived in the hamlets for so many centuries but it has been interesting to me to explore their ventures through these posts. I hope in particular that these stories will be of interest to Dennis Allsopp and the members of the Allsopp One Name Study.
I have known, for as long as I can remember, that some of my family were nailmakers in Rowley and Blackheath. Both of my parents could remember their parents or uncles making rivets or nails in workshops behind their houses. And both of my parents thought of themselves as Blackheath people, as they were both born and grew up there. It was only as I built our family tree, after they were both dead, that I discovered that their roots were very much in Rowley.
In a similar way, I grew up respecting the skills of artisan craftsmen. My father was apprenticed and qualified as a Cabinet Maker, although most people thought of him as a simple carpenter and he was proud of his skill. And I have long been conscious that some writers dismissed Black Country folk as uneducated drunkards. This did not tally with my knowledge of the many Methodists in my family who founded, built and worshipped at numerous chapels, in the 1800s and early 1900s, some of the chapels very substantial and who then managed them as Trustees, keeping records, priding themselves on their Sunday schools and chapel communities and – for many of them – never setting foot in a pub in their lives! These people too educated themselves and ensured that their children were brought up in the same way, sober, hard-working, honest.
And many local men worked in foundries – hot, dry, dirty and dangerous with very few health and safety regulations to protect them but nonetheless skilled work. Or in quarries, blasting and shattering the hard Rowley Rag, or in mines – again, dark, dangerous, hard work. I understand that this was true also of the various glass making industries a little further afield from Rowley, another hot dry workplace.
So, it seems to me, if those men went to the pub for a drink when they finished work, that would not be surprising. Beer was considerably safer than water to slake their thirsts. Some of them, no doubt, stayed too long and spent too much but I somehow doubt it was all of them.
Since I have been working on my One Place Study, I have realised that, other than these outside jobs, the overwhelming work in Rowley village and the immediately surrounding area was nail and rivet making, at home and with employers such as the Gadds and Lenches, a specialisation in tube making also developing in later years. I knew also that other local places had their specialisms.
Carl Chinn summed this up beautifully in the first paragraphs of his book ‘One thousand years of Brum’, when he described a gathering of the Unions in Birmingham on 7 May 1832 to demand electoral reform. He listed numerous places where people had come from and referred specifically to those who came from the Black Country:
“tens of thousands of chaps and wenches who’d strode in from the Black Country. There were manufacturers of tubes from Wednesbury, lock makers from Willenhall and saddlers from Walsall. There were hardware workers from West Bromwich, nailers from Dudley and fashioners of metal from Smethwick. And there were puddlers from Bilston, chain makers from Cradley Heath and colliers from Cannock. As these determined folk poured into Birmingham, they were met by a tide of Brummies sweeping out from each street and yard. It seemed that every trade in the town was represented, from button makers and pin workers to smiths and jewellers, and from engineers and minters to gun makers and brass workers.
It was the greatest gathering in brum’s history. No. It was more than that. It was the greatest gathering in the history of England. There they were all assembled, over 200,000 men, women and children, packed into that natural bowl flanked by Summer Hill, Newhall Hill and easy Hill. Many were ragged and barefoot, others were well clothed and shod but the differences between them mattered not. For the bond that joined them overrode all distinctions of status. The poor and the well-off, the able-bodied and the halt, the young and the old had all come together with one intent – to press for reform. United they cried out for all men to have the vote. United they shouted out for each industrial town to be given its own member of Parliament. United they called out for the ending of rule by a few and for the coming of democracy.”[i]
Stirring stuff, isn’t it? It makes me proud to come from Black Country stock. He goes on to describe the meeting and the eventual reforms which followed. The more I read of Carl Chinn’s work, the more I learn. What a gift he has.
So yes, each town and community had a particular skill which was passed from generation to generation, at least until the coming of the industrial revolution and massive expansion of factories.
And we hear a lot about nails and chains in the Black Country and about foundries and blast furnaces. However, I had not appreciated, until I looked into the Vaughan family, how many skilled blacksmiths in the area were engaged in the specialised trade of making tools with sharp edges. While most men in Rowley were nailers, there was an occasional horse nail maker (more usually a Dudley skill) and there was one jobbing smith, living in Cock Green. I wonder where he worked and whether he was also a tool maker? Most blacksmiths could make some tools and nails for use in their communities and probably catches, hinges and fasteners for doors, etc for local use. But obviously some smiths in the Black Country developed the specialised skills needed for edge tools. It was not just in Oldbury, although the Brades Works was founded there quite early. There were, of course, also edge tool makers in the Sheffield area but there was a distinct and versatile industry in the Black Country and Birmingham.
Ned Williams in his book about Netherton[ii] has a photograph of employees of Swindell & Co of Netherton, each holding a different tool produced by the Company. And on the same page there is a 1930 advertisement for another company – Samuel Lewis & Co of Withymoor, near Dudley who listed what they manufactured. Here we go –
“Manufacturers of every description of Wrought Nails, Rivets, Chains, Cables, Anchors, Bolts and Nuts. Chain harrows. Coach screws. Engineers and Plough bolts, etc. Cart Hames, Horse, Mules amd Ox shoes suitable for all markets. Anvils, Vices, Hammers, Pan Bits, Staples etc. Welded iron hinges, Builders’ and General Iron Oddwork etc. Spades, shovels, forks, etc. “ This company, founded in 1750, was one of the oldest in the area. It seems to me that the skills available to Samuel Lewis & Co, meant that they could and would create almost anything made of metal that was needed. I have often seen photographs of the massive chains and anchors produced for ships like the Titanic but these other less obvious skills were also at play in Black Country communities.
I had come across clues about edge tools elsewhere, over the past few years, when I was transcribing parish records of places where edge tools were being made. Sometimes of a specialised nature, sometimes more general. In the baptism records for the Old Hill Primitive Methodist Church, I came across an occupation for a father of the baptised child where he was said to be a ‘tree turner’. This puzzled me until a vague memory surfaced from what passes for my brain that the handle of some garden implements was called the tree – because it branches at the top! So perhaps this man was turning the handles of spades. And in the same register an entry for the same man described him as a ‘spade tree turner’. And looking at where he lived in Wrights Lane, nearby was a works where spades were made. Puzzle solved!
And I had noted that parish registers for Clent showed a number of scythe makers living there. Clent Parish Council note in their brief history of the village that from the 16th Century scythe makers and later wheelwrights, locksmiths and nailers all thrived in the area.
But one sentence in Ned William’s caption of the picture of the workers at Swindell & Co in Netherton stuck in my mind. The photograph of the workers had been shared by George Roberts Jnr. And one man in the photograph was identified as George Roberts (presumably an ancestor of the owner of the photograph) who was holding a hay knife, “one of the edge tools in which he specialised.”
And there it was. These skilled workers, blade workers, and their employers specialised in particular tools, just as the Vaughan brothers later, in Aston, divided their labours and responsibilities between factories producing particular bladed tools, with some tools, such as hoes and rakes or sheep shears, being produced in small specialised workshops and factories.
The toolmakers were innovators, they registered patents for improved ways of producing tools, developed new markets such as sets of gardening tools for ladies. They described themselves almost universally as ‘toolmakers’. So here was another artisan trade which I had not really understood. I knew that some engineers called themselves ‘toolmakers’ who worked in industry but until now, I had not fully appreciated the nuances of their profession, the makers of tools which required particular skills in their manufacture and which enabled endless other workers, all over the world, to carry out their own work. And they turned their enterprise to new areas during war time, producing both tools, such as trenching spades and pick axes but also horse shoes and weapons such as bomb heads.
And in those circles in life which I have written about recently, another of those came full circle for me this week.
In 2007, I went to a small farm near Ypres where my great-uncle John Thomas Hopkins was killed in action in Passchendaele on the 26 October 1917, for the 90th anniversary of his death. That anniversary was marked with reverence and solemnity at the farm that day by visitors and locals alike. This week I was reading again the account I wrote on my return of this visit and was reminded that I had been given by the owner of the farm an item from the ‘iron harvest’ of wartime items recovered from the soil during recent farming work. This was a rusting trenching tool, such as my great-uncle may have used there. This is the tool or what remains of it.
Copyright: Glenys Sykes
And below is a picture of a better preserved trenching tool made by Septimus Vaughan for use in that war. I have been writing about the Vaughan family and their tool making for several weeks recently. Was my trenching tool, retrieved from the Belgian battlefield decades after the war and given into the care of this Black Country girl, made by his company? It probably was, the design is the same and is that the edge of the circular stamped maker’s mark I can see on the right hand side of the damaged tool? Another history circle snapping into place over 100 years and twenty years.
Copyright unknown.
Near where I now live in rural Gloucestershire there is a company which produces some of the most advanced measuring tools in the world, originally developed for use in the Concorde engines being built at Rolls Royce in Bristol. Like the companies started by the Vaughan brothers, this company had started here in this small country town with a few workers in small premises. Before growing into an international leader in the field, employing thousands of people. But the original invention and later ones were subsequently developed so that these measuring devices are now an integral part of almost every machine tool in the world, to aid accuracy in production. So the workers there are also tool makers: some of them will be electronic engineers and various other more modern professions but in essence they are still ‘tool makers’, still enabling others to do their work better, faster, more accurately, just as the edge tool makers of the Black Country did.
I have a new respect for tool makers!
[i] One Thousand Years of Brum by Carl Chinn. Published 1999 by Birmingham Evening Mail. ISBN: 0-9534316-5-7
[ii] Netherton by Ned Williams. Published by Sutton Publishing 2006, reprinted 2009 by the History Press. ISBN: 978-0-7509-4182-2
The Vaughan family, into whom Mary Ann Alsop married, were – at least in 1841 – jobbing-smiths living – presumably fairly humbly – in Rounds Green and my presumption has been that they were employed making edge tools at the Brades Works.
I have mentioned earlier Joseph Vaughan (1795-1851) and his wives Amelia Page and Lucy Nixon.
Joseph’s children were: William James (3rd son of Joseph) had:
Charles Vaughan (1816-1892) Joseph Edward (1845-1909)
Sampson Vaughan (1818-1837) William James (1846-1928)
William James Vaughan (1820-1869) Charles (1849-1912)
Betsy Vaughan (1825-1859) Richard Henry (1851-1928)
Emma Vaughan (1826-1908) Thomas (1853-1886)
Richard Vaughan (1827-1885) Amelia Page (1855-1939)
Mary Anne Vaughan (1828- Mary Anne (1856-1928)
Selina Vaughan (1830-1882) Emma Eugenie (1858-1932)
Joseph Vaughan (1832-1882) Lewis Ralph (1861-1931)
John Vaughan (1833-1896) Septimus (1863-1938)
Septimus Vaughan (1836-1907)
Octavius Vaughan (1837-1838)
As you can see, there is a large crossover of family names with the children of William James, who we have already looked at in great detail, so that has led to ample opportunities for confusion, in researching the family, especially as most of them moved to the Aston area, including their father Joseph. But I suspect, from his second marriage to Lucy Nixon, in 1843, that the family already had links, in the business community at least, there. Also there is a considerable overlap in dates so extra care has been required to check which generation any given piece of information relates to. And I won’t go into all the other brothers in both generations and what they named their children…
Of these brothers, Dix’s General and Commercial Directory of Birmingham dated 1858, lists a generic ‘Vaughan Brothers’ as manufacturers of hoes, rakes, forks, ladies’ fancy garden tools in sets, ship scrapers etc, at the Garden Tool Works, Dartmouth Street which was in the Duddeston/Aston area. But below that, there are entries for the various brothers which appears to show that – in various combinations – they ran factories specialising in various tools – hoes and rakes, etc.
A list in the Birmingham Daily Gazette dated 13 February 1868, shows Charles, of Victoria Road, Acocks Green, as an Edge Tool maker; Septimus, of Birchfields, also an Edge Tool maker. Was that the Birchfields at Oldbury? I suspect it was.
Did they all leave the Black Country?
But, as I worked through the sons of Joseph and the businesses that some of the brothers set up in Birmingham, which tended to result in their children, brought up mostly in Aston and Duddeston eventually settling in the greener suburbs around Sutton Coldfield, there were clues that some of the family had stayed in the Oldbury and West Bromwich area.
There was a newspaper report of an insolvency hearing in March 1846 for a ‘Sampson Vaughan, late of Dudley, Worcestershire, journeyman smith’. My first thought was that this was the Sampson, son of Joseph but he had died in Birmingham in June 1837, buried at St Martin’s, Birmingham and described in the burial entry as ‘son of Joseph and Amelia’, aged 20, although his abode was shown as Oldbury. So there was another Sampson Vaughan not far away, also in the smithing trade!
The Vaughans were certainly active in the local community in Oldbury in 1835 when Joseph Vaughan was listed as the Treasurer of the Oldbury Co-operative Society and Charles Vaughan as the Secretary, so they must have had some public spirited intentions.
And there was a most interesting report of a party for the coming of age of Alfred Vaughan, son of Septimus, in 1896 when ‘Mr Septimus’ hosted a dinner at the Waggon and Horses at Great Bridge for employees of the Staffordshire Edge Tool Works, where 140 employees and family sat down to dinner. The article gives an account of the entertainments and the speeches and shows a family deeply embedded in their company and their employees. So clearly there was still at least one substantial Vaughan edge too-making company in the area, not all of the Vaughan interests were in Aston.
Copyright: Uncertain but gladly acknowledged if known.
Some random searches and what they revealed
Much of my research for this study is done via the usual family history sources with which most family historians are familiar, with plenty of cross checking across sources, plus newspaper articles which often reveal small items of interest. But sometimes I will just type the name I am interested in into a general search engine with a date or a profession to narrow the results and often this brings up some matter of interest.
So when I searched google for Vaughan tool makers 1800s UK, I was fascinated to see that the first result was for Vaughan Brothers (Drop Forgings) Limited at Willenhall, founded in 1874. willenhallhistory.co.uk lists H&T Vaughan amongst the most important lockmaking firms in the town by the end of the 19th century. I had not previously known of any connection with the family and Willenhall and indeed this may not have been the same branch. But they were in a similar metal based industry.
Another article revealed that the firm of Vaughan & Bushnell was founded in Chicago, USA in 1869 by an Alexander Vaughan, who patented an improved auger and who made various hand tools. More edge tool makers, more innovations, more patents! I know this because there is a Vaughan & Bushnell All Metal Hay Hook for sale on ebay!
A Philip Vaughan, I learned, who was an ironmaster in Carmarthen, Wales, invented the Ball Bearing and obtained a patent for it in 1794, to improve ‘axle trees, axle arms and boxes for light and heavy wheel carriages’ Obtaining such a patent in 1794 was a laborious and expensive process costing around £100-120 with no guarantee of success and only covered England and Wales. But this decision to protect and innovative process was repeated by several later Vaughans. There is also a note in the article I found which says that in 1800, Vaughan formalised his business interests through a co-partnership deed with four partners including John Morgan and William Morgan. Morgan is, of course, a common name in Wales but I do wonder whether this is the origin of the Vaughan Morgans I note below.
Septimus Vaughan (1836-1907)
A search for Septimus Vaughan brings up a huge number of results, including information about the company of Septimus Vaughan Limited of Henry Street, West Bromwich which, during the Great War, made trenching tools, pickaxes, Stokes’ bomb heads and horseshoes. There are any number of trenching tools made by this company for WW1 on eBay, too!
There are numerous other Septimus Vaughans popping up in America and in other places – were they all related? Very possibly!
There was a Septimus Vaughan Morgan (1832-1913), the son of a hostel keeper of Abergavenny, who was one of four brothers (including Walter, William and Octavius Vaughan Morgan) who founded the Morgan Crucible Company (more hot metal working!) – and also –lest he be thought single minded, he joined his brothers in a drug and hardware factors business in London (he had qualified as a medical doctor) and also published newspapers ‘The Chemist and Druggist’ and ‘The Ironmonger’. One of his brothers was Lord Mayor of London in 1905-06, his brother Octavius sat as a Member of Parliament for Battersea for some years. A family of many talents and high achievers. Were they related to the Vaughans of the Black Country and Birmingham? I don’t know but there is a certain cross-over of names and of interests so it seems possible and I have mentioned previously my theory that the family had links with Wales.
Black Country Vaughans
But the Black Country Vaughans were no slouches either. An article on the website The Annals of Tipton refers to the Company of Revo. A man called Frederick Reeves went into partnership with one Septimus Vaughan whose father Ernest Vaughan (son of Septimus) had founded Vono, a manufacturer of mattresses and bed fittings.
Revo produced a vast range of products, most designed in-house. Early products included lighting, radios, loudspeakers, cookers, switchgear and fans. By the 1930s the firm became a household name and their electric street lighting was widely introduced thoughout the country, and their traffic lights in the late 1920s and 1930s.
Revo became one of the largest local employers with over 3,000 employed by the late 1950s. The Britannia Works at Dudley Port was alongside the Birmingham Canal and expanded to cover over sixty acres, extending into the boroughs of Dudley and Rowley Regis. I gather that the Company was later taken over and subsequently disappeared, as so often seems to happen.
An industrial accident
A newspaper report on the inquest into the death of an employee at the works of Septimus VaughanLimited appeared in February 1909, after a grinder was caught in machinery. It appeared that the employees, probably unknown to the company, used to put the belt round the drum at night, while the machinery was in motion to save time in the morning. He had been wearing his overcoat, ready to go home which may have got caught. Mr Arnold Vaughan, a director of the company, told the inquest that this was the first accident of the kind in fifty five years, (which seems to be to me to be quite an impressive record, given the nature of the machinery in use) and it was thought that he had gone inside the fence around the machinery intended to protect him. The company representative also expressed willingness to carry out suggestions to prevent such accidents in future.
I was interested also to note that there was a further report at the end of March that year that compensation of £205 5s.9d. had been awarded to the widow and the judge directed that £20 should be paid to the widow forthwith and that the residue should be invested in the Court , to be paid out at the rate of £1 per week for the maintenance of the widow and her five young children. It is not absolutely clear whether the payment came from the company or an insurance company but it is good to know that she was not left completely destitute.
Civic duties
And, like the Vaughan Morgan family, at least some of this part of the Vaughan family also had a sense of civic responsibility. A newspaper article in the Birmingham Gazette in 1914, is about Mr Alfred Vaughan, he of the coming of age dinner mentioned earlier. He was standing as an independent Candidate for the West Bromwich Town Council and was described as a familiar and popular figure in the borough. He had received his training at Messrs Tangye’s works in Smethwick before joining his father in the management of Septimus Vaughan Limited, edge tool manufacturers which he subsequently managed and expanded. Another article in the Evening Despatch in 1917 notes that Mr Alfred Vaughan JP, had been admitted to the Freedom and Livery of the City of London in the Felt-maker’s Company. The article recounts that his father Septimus Vaughan had founded the well-known firm of Septimus Vaughan Limited, makers of plantation and railway tools at West Bromwich.
In addition to his work there, Alfred was also a director of ‘four other important manufacturing establishments in South Staffordshire and Worcestershire’, and Chairman of three sections of trade associations connected with the edge-tool and other industries. His companies had clearly been involved in manufacturing for the war effort but in this ceremony he spoke of the need for the relationship between capital and labour to be put on a better footing after the war, with joint organisations and labour must have a larger share of the results and also of the responsibilities. He was also a member of West Bromwich Town Council and other local committees. A hard-working and industrious but also able man, clearly, and deeply involved in his community.
Final note on the Vaughans
It has been interesting to observe how many and varied companies emerged from this branch of the Vaughan family over a period of 100 years or so, providing many jobs and companies quick to develop new products or innovations as new technologies emerged. From the patents for improving the manufacture of edge tools in the mid-1800s to the developments of radios, street lighting and a vast range of other goods a century later. From jobbing smiths to major industrialists, still in the same area, the Vaughan family were, it seems to me, a dynasty to be reckoned with.
All of this information (which, believe me, has only scratched the surface of the information out there) has emerged during my research into William James Vaughan who married Mary Ann Alsop. While it has proved to be a fairly lengthy side-track into this large and successful local family, I hope my readers have found it of interest, albeit with only the tenuous link to the Lost Hamlets through Mary Ann Alsop.
These four are the last of the children of Mary Ann Alsop and William James Vaughan.
Mary Ann Vaughan 1856-1928
Mary Ann was born in Birmingham on 11 October 1856 and was baptised at St Matthew Duddeston on 25 October that year. She was at home with her family in Poole Street, Aston in 1861 and with her widowed mother and siblings in 1871. In 1881, the family had moved to 117 Albert Road, Aston, no occupation was shown at that time for Mary Ann.
I cannot find Mary Ann in the 1891 Census. Her father had died in 1869, her mother had died in 1882, and her older brother Thomas in 1886. Her brother Richard had emigrated to Denver in 1888, her younger brother Lewis had followed him at some point and her sister Amelia was acting as housekeeper for their widowed brother William. But Mary Ann is elusive. There is a possible M A Vaughan in Edgbaston as a boarder and a sewing machinist but the age is a few years out. However, ages are not always accurately recorded by householders for their boarders and it may be her as she continued to live in Edgbaston after that time.
By 1901, Mary Ann was living at 42 Pershore Road, Edgbaston (also described as Stirchley) where she was shown as a general domestic servant to Miss Blanche Suckling who was aged 22 and living on her own means, ie had no need to work. Mary Ann was still at that address in 1911, shown as a ‘domestic help’ but by this time the Head of the household was Sophia Hambridge who was 68 and also as of independent means. Blanche Suckling was also in the household but as a visitor. And in 1921 the same three women were at the same address, with Blanche this time shown as Sophia’s daughter and Mary Ann as Housekeeper.
Mary Ann Vaughan died on 12 July 1928, aged 71 at 5 Cannon Hill Road, Balsall Heath, of cardiac and bronchial issues. Her death was registered by her sister Amelia Page Vaughan who had been present at her death and who gave her own address as 6 Twyning Road where Amelia was living with her niece Adelaide and her family. Amelia described Mary Ann, in the registration, as a spinster and ‘formerly a Housekeeper/Companion, daughter of William James Vaughan, edge tool manufacturer’. She was buried in the family plot at Witton Cemetery.
Another spinster daughter but not an idle one, like so many of the Vaughans, she remained in employment and looking after other people for most of her life.
Emma Eugenie Vaughan 1858-1932
Emma Eugenie was born in 1858 in Birmingham. She was at home with her family in Poole Street in 1861 and 1871. By 1881 her mother the widowed Mary Ann had moved to Albert Road and Emma, by then aged 21 was listed as a Milliner (maker of hats). Mary Ann died in 1882 and on 3 October 1885, Emma was married by Licence at St Stephen’s Church, Birmingham with her abode shown as Perry Barr. Her groom was Arthur Price, a butcher, living in Newtown Row, Aston. It is not clear why the couple chose to marry by licence, rather than Banns and it was a greater cost but, perhaps for this reason, was apparently sometimes chosen by families who could afford this as a demonstration of their financial status!
Copyright unknown. Apologies for the poor quality!
In 1891, Arthur and Emma were living in Victor Street, Walsall where Arthur was again listed as a butcher and with their first child Mabel who had been born in 1886. Although Mabel was later to give her place of birth as Perry Barr, her birth was registered in the West Bromwich RD. In 1901, the family were living in Tanworth village, Arthur a butcher again. Tanworth, more properly Tanworth in Arden, is South of Birmingham, in a rural area, which must have been quite a change from Aston and Walsall. By this time Mabel was 14 and a son George who was 7 and had been born in Kings Norton so the family did seem to move around. Both children had Vaughan as their second names.
After that, things changed a lot as Arthur died in the last quarter of 1906. There were a lot of men called Arthur Price at that time but it seems probable that this Arthur was the Arthur Price whose death was registered in the Solihull RD in that quarter, aged 44 and that he was buried in November 1906 at Lodge Hill Cemetery which is in the Kings Norton/Selly Oak area.
It appears that Emma moved to Alberta, Canada in about 1910, with both her children and she appears in the 1916 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, in the 1921 Census of Canada, in the 1926 Prairie Census of Canada and the 1930 Census of Canada. In each of these she was living with her married daughter, but George was not present in the latter two. Emma died on 6 September 1932 at Sundance, Alberta, Canada, she was buried at the Sundance Little Volga Cemetery, Seba Beach, Edmonton.
I have mentioned previously about this Vaughan family that I suspected that they had connections to a family of Welsh Vaughans who used very similar Christian names. So I was very interested to see that the Canadian censuses ask about the Racial or Tribal Origin/Ethnicity and that in two of these censuses – the 1916 and the 1926, Emma gave this as Welsh and in the 1921 and 1931 as English, as did her children although all of them gave their nationality, in all the censuses as Canadian, so they clearly took Canadian citizenship quite early. So the family clearly viewed themselves as Welsh by ethnicity, even though they and their parents had been in the Birmingham or Black Country area for at least four generations.
Copyright – Library and Archives Canada . Part of the 1926 Prairie Census of Canada, showing the nationality of Emma and her children as Canadian but their ethnicity as Welsh. Two other members of the household describe their ethnicity as English.
Lewis Ralph Vaughan (1861-1931)
Lewis was born in Aston on the 31 July 1861, although his birth registration has his name as Eli Ralph Vaughan (unless that is a transcription error which is possible). However, he was baptised as Lewis Ralph at St Stephens, Birmingham in September that year and used the name Lewis Ralph all his life. He was born just a few weeks after the 1861 census so his first appearance in the census was in 1871 when he was listed as a scholar and his widowed mother was living in Poole Street, Aston. By 1881, he was living with his brother Charles and his family in Upper Sutton Street and working as a Clerk.
In 1889, Lewis followed his brother Richard, ten years his senior, to Colorado. He became naturalised in 1904. Whilst visiting relatives in Birmingham in 1919, he applied for a USA Passport at the American Consulate in Birmingham, to enable him to return to the USA. His temporary address then was 83 Legge Street, Birmingham which was where his sister-in-law Emmeline, widow of his brother Charles (d.1912) was living. Lewis had lived with Charles and his family at one point so was presumably still close to them.
By the time of the 1930 USA Census, Lewis was living as a Lodger in Cripple Creek, Colorado and divorced, but no occupation was shown so presumably at 70 he had retired. Curiously in the USA censuses from 1900 to 1920, he was in Denver and listed as a Teller, or Clerk and single. So any marriage must have been very late in life and very brief. I have not been able to find any marriage or divorce for him.
Lewis died in September 1931 and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Jefferson County, Colorado, USA.
Copyright unknown. Lewis’s gravestone is decidedly scant with information!
Septimus Vaughan 1863-1938
Yes, Septimus was the seventh son and last child of William James Vaughan and Mary Ann Alsop. He was born in mid-1863, probably late June or July as his birth was registered in the third quarter (Jul-Sep) and he was baptised at St Stephen’s on 2 August of that year. But he was not the first Septimus Vaughan, his father William James had brothers Septimus and Octavius who were – yes, the seventh and eighth sons of that family.
It was perhaps his uncle Septimus Vaughan who was listed as living in Castle Bromwich in Birmingham in Kelly’s Directory for 1868, since our Septimus was living in Poole Street, Aston in the 1871 Census with his mother, his father having died in November 1869. By 1881, now aged 18, he was still living with his family, by now in Albert Road, Aston and was a toolmaker. His mother died in 1882 and his brother Thomas in 1886 so it is not obvious where Septimus was in 1891. Certainly I cannot find him anywhere in the census for that year. Perhaps he was visiting one of his brothers who had emigrated. But wherever he was, he was back in West Bromwich when he married Amy Halladay on 22 September 1899 at Handsworth St Mary, aged 36 and still a bachelor with his occupation given as a manufacturer and his abode as New Hall Hill.
As we have noted so often, the Vaughans and Alsops usually married into other families in business and this was the case here. Amy’s father Henry Halladay was a manufacturer of buckles, in the 1881 Census he and his family were living in Burbury Street, Lozells and he employed 17 hands.
In 1901 Septimus and Amy were living at St George’s Crescent, Brearly Street, Birmingham where Septimus gave his occupation as ‘manufacturer of small stamped goods in metal’ – including such small things as buckles, perhaps? Their first child Clifford Ernest was born on 15 April 1902 and was baptised on 7 September at Birchfield Holy Trinity but sadly died aged only 5 months and was buried on 4 October 1902 at Handsworth .
Their next son Howard Hallaway Vaughan was born in September 1903, followed by his sister Ida Kathleen in 1906, both in Handsworth and Constance Amy in 1909 in Aston. In 1911, the family were living in Sutton Coldfield where Septimus again gave his occupation as Stamper and Piercer of sheet metal’. Another son Donald was born and died in the first quarter of 1918 in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Finally their last child Bryan James was born in 1920, also in Aston. Which I thought was slightly odd, as the family were at Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield in the 1921 Census and the place of birth of both Constance and Bryan is shown in that census as Sutton Coldfield. But Familysearch tells me that Sutton Coldfield came at that time under the Aston Poor Law Union and was in the Aston Registration District which I found slightly surprising but looking at the map, it is North of Aston and Erdington and Wylde Green where several of the Vaughan family settled is between Erdington and Sutton Coldfield.
Septimus, in a death notice published in the Evening Despatch in April 1938, was described as ‘late of Vaughan and Williams’ and a notice in the London Gazette of the dissolution on 31 July 1931 of the business partnership of ‘Septimus Vaughan and Frederick James Williams, carrying on business as Stampers and Piercers at Brearley Street, Birmingham’, by mutual consent. Frederick Williams then continued the business under the name of Vaughan and Williams.
Septimus Vaughan died on 2 April 1938 and was buried at Sutton Coldfield Cemetery. His Probate record gives an address of Acacia Road, Bournville and his son Howard, a ‘stamper and piercer’, so clearly also in the family business, and his daughter Ida who was at that time unmarried were the executors. The remaining family were living at 1 Mayfield Road, Sutton Coldfield in the 1939 Register. His wife Amy died in 1953 and was also buried at Sutton Coldfield Cemetery.
Septimus and Amy’s children:
Clifford Ernest Vaughan 1902-1902
Born in Birmingham, and died in Handsworth, aged 5 months. Buried at Handsworth St. Mary.
Howard Halladay Vaughan 1903-1975
Howard was born in Handsworth on 2 September 1903. In 1911 he was living with his parents and two younger sisters in Sutton Coldfield, and in 1921 he was still with the family in Wylde Green, Sutton Coldfield, when no occupation was given for him and he was described as undertaking home duties. Howard may have been an active young man as I found a newspaper report in the Derbyshire Times in June 1932 which reported that he had slipped and fallen some distance while climbing Cratcliff Rocks, near Youlgreave, Derbyshire and had fractured his wrist and had other minor injuries, but had been able to return home after treatment by a local doctor.
It appears that Howard married Claire Holloway in 1937 in Sutton Coldfield and she was living there in the 1939 Register, marked as married and with her parents in the same household. But of Howard there is no sign in the 1939 Register. He may have been travelling or with the armed forces but he was not with his wife or with his mother and siblings. A son Richard was born in the third quarter of 1942 but he appears to have been their only child.
As tends to happen with later 20th century records, there is very little to be found about him after that until his death on Christmas Day 1974 at his home in Troutbeck, Windermere, a death notice in the Birmingham Post referring to him as the ‘dearly loved husband of Claire and father of Richard. No flowers or letters please.’ I have been unable to find any details of his burial. His probate record showed that he left a relatively modest £11,404 at that time. His widow Claire died in 1992, also in Windermere.
Ida Kathleen Vaughan 1906-1984
Ida was born on 3 August 1906 in Handsworth but by the time of the 1911 Census, the family were living in Jockey Road, Sutton Coldfield. Another ten years on and they had moved to Highbridge Road, Wylde Green. The 1939 Register shows Ida living at 23 Mayfield Road, Sutton Coldfield with her mother and younger siblings, with no occupation given but ‘living on private means’.
In the early part of 1947 Ida married widower Charles Lightfoot in Sutton Coldfield, and they appear from Voters Lists to have moved to Erdington. Birmingham Voters Lists shows her living with her husband in Erdington until at least 1956. Charles died in 1973, Ida in 1984, both in Sutton Coldfield. They appear not to have had any children.
Constance Amy Vaughan 1909-1993
Constance was born in Aston in 1909 and in the 1911 Census, the family were living in Jockey Road, Sutton Coldfield. Another ten years on and they had moved to Highbridge Road, Wylde Green. The 1939 Register shows her living with her mother, older sister Ida and younger brother Bryan at 23 Mayfield Road, Sutton Coldfield. Like her sister Ida she was at that time ‘living on private means’. I have been unable to find Constance after that date, until her death in 1993 in Lichfield, Staffordshire. She never married. A Death notice in the Birmingham Daily Post notes that she was buried in Sutton Coldfield but there is no mention of any surviving family.
DonaldVaughan was born and died in the first quarter of 1918 in Tamworth Registration District, Staffordshire. At that time the Tamworth Registration District included Sutton Coldfield so it seems likely that he was born there.
Bryan James Vaughan 1920-2003
Bryan was born on 2 June 1920 in Sutton Coldfield, when his mother was 44. In 1921 and in the 1939 Register he was living with his family in Sutton Coldfield, in the latter listed as a student. In 1950 he married Betty McCormack in Sutton Coldfield. He died in Suttton Coldfield in 2003, aged 83 and I have been unable to find him anywhere in between! However, a Death Notice for his wife Betty in 1994 (published in the Birmingham Post) shows that she and Bryan were living in Lichfield, not even a mile from Bryan’s sister Constance and that they had two children Paddy and Jackie.
Summary
So these were the last children and grandchildren of Mary Ann Alsop and her husband William James Vaughan. The Vaughans were part of a vigorous, enterprising and ambitious family who developed numerous businesses and provided employment for many people. They began as jobbing smiths but took their expertise to found companies elsewhere. At the same time, they were a close family who often worked together, across generations and cared for each other’s children, their children also marrying into other business families and almost all ending their lives miles from sleepy Rowley Regis and in relative prosperity, sometimes in very real prosperity.
So, like her sister Hannah who had married into the Mallin family, Mary AnnAlsop had ended up as the matriarch of a large and successful family.
Mary Ann and William James had ten children, all of whom lived into adulthood, but the relatively modest number of twenty-five grandchildren, partly due to two unmarried daughters and one or possibly two unmarried sons. Three of their children emigrated to the USA and Canada.
But not all of the Vaughan family had moved away from the Black Country. Some remained and they were an interesting branch of the family so merit an short diversionary post of their own! Soon…
