For the industrial history that follows, I've relied on Kenneth C Jackson's The Dewhursts of Skipton: a dynasty of cotton masters, 1789 to 1897, Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 75 (2003)
See also information on the Dewhursts of Craven on Rootsweb by Robyn Lynn and David Freeman
John Dewhurst was born in Marton in Craven, a West Riding township in which there were two little villages – East Marton and West Marton. He was baptised at St Peter's in East Marton on 1 April 1787. His father’s farm was seven miles to the west of Skipton. The little market town lay under the shelter of the 11th century castle – which had been built on a limestone outcrop to command the Aire Gap, the ancient way between York and Lancaster – and in a natural amphitheatre with hills to the north and east, Flasby Fell to the west and, to the south, the floodplain of the River Aire.
 |
| Craven Lowlands by Gordon Hatton |
The Dewhursts were farmers in the undulating country of the Craven Lowlands west of Skipton
- the name first appears in the parish registers of Marton in Craven and Thornton in Craven in the last years of Queen Elizabeth I. A John Dewhurst was buried in Thornton in 1598 and a gentleman called Robert Dewhurst lived at Crickle Bridge east of East Marton – but whether John was descended from them, we don’t know
- in the 1630s, the family of a William Dewhurst of Moorber near Coniston Cold appears in the Gargrave registers. They lived at Moorber through the Civil Wars and the destitution and distress inflicted by the armies of both sides trampling crops and looting, while Parliamentarian troops besieged the Royalists holding the castle
K C Jackson suggests that William and John were from the same family.
 |
| Skipton and area. [OpenStreetMap] |
John’s family tree can be traced with certainty from the middle of the 18th century. It begins with his grandfather Isaac.
When Isaac Dewhurst died in 1769 he was a tenant farmer at Varley Field in the township of Horton in Craven in the parish of Gisburn
- he had been a widower since 1758 when his wife Susanna died, leaving him with children who were still young
- Susanna was buried in Bracewell churchyard on 12 June 1758
- the entry in the burial register is spelt phonetically – "Susan Dewarst wife of Isack"
 |
| Approaching Varley Field by Chris Heaton |
Isaac was failing in health when he made his Will:
I, Isaac Dewhurst of Varley Field in the Township of Horton in the Parish of Gisburn and County of York Farmer being weak in Body but of sound mind memory and understanding and considering the certainty and uncertainty of Death as to the time thereof Doth this Sixteenth Day of January in the year 1769 make this my last Will and Testament
He died not long afterwards and was buried at Bracewell with Susannah on 29 January 1769
- he left £10 apiece to his eldest son John and married daughter Mary Roberts, with the remainder to be divided equally between John, Mary, Isaac, William, Thomas and Hannah
- Thomas and Hannah were not yet 21 years old; John and a neighbour were to be their guardians until they came of age
- Hannah died unmarried in 1774
John Dewhurst took over the tenancy at Varley Field from his father. He died there in 1798 leaving a widow but no children, and was buried at Bracewell on 6 August 1798.
The lives of the three youngest sons – and the lives of their children – were intertwined.
Isaac Dewhurst of Varley Field (d 1769) married Susanna (probably Shackleton) and had
- Isaac (1745-1823) married Catherine Parkinson and had
- Phineas
- William
- Isaac
- William (1747-1809) married Alice Smith and had
- Susannah
- Hannah
- Ann
- Thomas (1749-1820) married Ellen Thornber (1756-1839) and had
- John
- Nancy
- Isaac
- James
- Eleanor
Isaac (1745-1823) was baptised in 1745 when his father was farming at Kildwick, 4 miles south of Skipton
- he married Catherine Parkinson at Gargrave on 28 January 1771
- they farmed at Bonber near Bell Busk, which is just north of Coniston Cold
- they had a large family, among them 3 sons: Phineas, William and Isaac, who all became operative cotton spinners
 |
| St Michael's, Bracewell |
William (1747-1809) was baptised at Bracewell in 1747 when his father was farming at nearby Stock
- he married a widow, Mrs Alice Smith, in 1785
- when he died in June 1809 they were farming at Slack, less than a mile north-west of Varley Field
William and Alice had 3 daughters
- Susannah was born in 1786
- she married Anthony Hargreaves of Horton Pasture in 1810 – they remained in farming
- Hannah was born in 1789
- she married Robert Johnston, a draper with a shop in the Market Place at Skipton, in 1815
- in 1816 they were admitted as members of the Zion Independent (Congregational) Church in Skipton, apparently the first in the family to do so. Soon Hannah’s cousin John Dewhurst and his wife would become members too – the Zion Independent Church would be an important part of the life of their daughter Alice
- Ann was born in 1791
- she married John Bonny of the parish of Bispham in Lancashire in 1826. He was a farmer and a Blackpool entrepreneur – and the brother-in-law of her cousin John
Thomas Dewhurst (1749-1820) was baptised on 8 October 1749 at St Michael's, Bracewell when the family was living at Stock
- he was 9 years old when his mother died, and not yet 21 at the death of his father
- he was about 33 years old when he married Ellen Thornber on 23 November 1782 at Gisburn parish church
Ellen Thornber (1756-1839) was then in her mid-twenties. She was the fourth child of Henry & Ellen Thornber, born at High Ground farm, which lies a mile outside Hellifield, a village on the floodplain of the meandering River Ribble. On 16 May 1756 she was baptised at the nearby village of Long Preston
- her father Henry Thornber (1723-83) was born in the parish of Gisburn, where his father Henry farmed at Greengates
- Henry married Ellen’s mother Ellen Bulcock on 5 November 1748 at St. Mary le Ghyll, Barnoldswick. The interior of the church, with its Jacobean pews and 3-decker pulpit, can hardly have changed since
- Henry died the year after his daughter's wedding – he was farming at Cotes Hall in the parish of Barnoldswick at the time
- he was buried on 6 April 1783 at Gisburn, where his father and grandfather had been buried before him
 |
| St Peter's, East Marton |
Thomas and Ellen settled in the parish of Marton in Craven. Five of their children survived infancy – John, Nancy, Isaac, James and Eleanor. All were baptised at the parish church of St Peter's.
Perhaps Thomas was more of an entrepreneur than his brothers, or perhaps he hadn't been able to get such a good farm tenancy, but by 1785 – a couple of years before his son John was born – Thomas was not only farming but had diversified into textiles
- in the 1770s, corn production had expanded in the Vale of York and in the face of this competition the farmers of Craven found they could get a better income from the high prices fetched by wool and meat. Many of them moved from arable to pasture
- they then found they could expand their wool production as there was a market for it outside the local area
- by 1785, when he was 36 years old, Thomas was buying yarn to supply local handloom weavers and he was trading in wool
- one of his principal markets was Darlington, where there was a well-established woollen and worsted industry serviced by a successful bank
- so Thomas was riding regularly with his goods across the Pennines – a 55 mile journey if he went by Coverdale, or more like 65 miles if he went by Skipton and Blubberhouses
 |
| A handloom weaver, 1888 |
This was a time of change
- in the 1780s wool began to give way to cotton
- some of the water corn-mills were now underused or no longer needed, and could be converted to cotton-spinning mills
- the move from arable to pasture led to the amalgamation of farms – so fewer farm hands were needed
- so there were people available to work in the new cotton mills – men who already had skills in textiles because the cottage industry had always been a useful addition to family income
- the patents on Arkwright's spinning system had stopped being effective in 1785. High profits were expected and there was a boom in factory building
- the Leeds & Liverpool Canal from Bingley to Skipton and Gargrave opened in 1773, a boost to trade. Its way lies through Marton in Craven, not far from St Peter's.
 |
| Arkwright Spinning Frame |
In 1789 Thomas Dewhurst leased a building at Elslack, about 2½ miles from East Marton. It was probably a former corn mill and he converted it into a water-powered cotton-spinning mill
- he probably had Arkwright-type spinning frames because his yarn is described as "twist" (that is, warp yarn)
- it was very soon up and running and by early 1790 he was selling his yarn in Manchester and Blackburn – this was at the time when the young John Lomax was establishing himself as a cotton manufacturer in Manchester
- by May 1791, his wife Ellen's family had also moved into textiles – Thomas's brothers-in-law John, James and Thomas Thornber had a cotton mill at Runley Bridge at Settle
 |
| Ellen Henlock (1808-85) |
We don't know what Thomas, Ellen or their children looked like – but we do have a portrait of Ellen's niece Ellen, daughter of James Thornber, because she married into the family of my grandfather Hugh Stubbs.
So, on the offchance that Ellen Thornber junior bore a likeness to her aunt Ellen Dewhurst, here she is – Mrs Ellen Henlock of Great Ouseburn.
By 1800 Thomas Dewhurst was doing well and he bought himself a farm – the first property transaction by anyone of his family to be recorded in the West Riding Deeds Registry. He and Ellen moved onto his new farm, which was at Pickhill (sometimes spelt Pighill) in the parish of Thornton in Craven, not far from his mill at Elslack
- at about this time, his business changed its name to Wilson & Dewhurst – he had gone into partnership, possibly with John Wilson, a cotton spinner at Embsay. Probably Thomas was looking to raise extra capital and perhaps bring in extra technical skills. The partnership didn’t last long, but John Wilson’s son later married Thomas’s daughter Eleanor
- by 1803 Thomas had expanded from spinning and set up as a calico manufacturer – so he was either employing local handloom weavers or commissioning work from them – and his mill at Elslack was managed for him by his brother Isaac's son Isaac
Thomas Dewhurst (1749-1820) & Ellen Thornber (1756-1839) had five children:
- John (1787-1864) married (1) Ann Atkinson and (2) Alice Bonny
- Nancy (1789-1854) married Storey Watkinson
- Isaac (1791-1866) married Sarah Sawley
- James (1794-1820) married Elizabeth Shiers
- Eleanor (1801-51) married Henry Wilson
The sons all went into the business. John was the first, being older than Isaac by four years.
Mary Hopkinson could remember her grandfather John Dewhurst, who died when she was 7 years old, and she often talked about him with her mother Alice
So how did Mary describe her grandfather?
- he was quick tempered, impulsive, outspoken and impetuous
- his "transient storms" didn't perturb his daughters Ellen and Alice, who understood him, being like him in temperament
- he was genial, courteous and just
- he was a man of integrity, highly regarded and trusted in the business world
- he loved the country life, especially hunting, and he was a first-rate horseman
On 27 August 1810, when John was 23 years old, he married Ann Atkinson of Skipton at Holy Trinity church in Skipton
- Ann was, he used to tell his children, "as handsome a woman as ever stepped"
- the following year their son Thomas Atkinson Dewhurst was born, and was baptised at Holy Trinity in July 1811
- but on 31 July 1814, Ann died at the age of 24 in childbed
- five days later, the day after Ann’s burial, her baby was christened Sarah Ann
- Ann’s name and the name of her little boy Thomas, who died "in a state of infancy", were added to the gravestone of her father George Atkinson. With them is the name of Ann's sister Sarah Fairbourn, who died only days before Ann. The gravestone now leans against the wall at the back of the church
So John was left a widower with a baby daughter before any of his sisters or brothers were even married.
 |
| Napoleon contemplates defeat 31 March 1814 |
His life had been overturned and so had the world. Britain had been on a war footing since John was a little boy, but Napoleon had been forced to abdicate in May 1814. There would be new challenges to the economy and new opportunities for the family business.
On 5 February 1815, John's sister Nancy married Storey Watkinson, who farmed at Bradley, three miles south of Skipton. Perhaps it was through Nancy that John met his second wife – she was the same age as Nancy and they might have been schoolfriends.
It was a tumultuous year – hardly more than three weeks had passed since Nancy's wedding when the news came from France that Napoleon had left Elba and his troops were flocking to him once more. On 20 June the news reached Britain of Wellington's victory at Waterloo. Perhaps John hardly noticed. He was planning a second marriage and maybe one of his reasons was providing his little daughter with a mother. But by now little Sarah Ann might already have been ailing. She scarcely reached her first birthday – she was buried on 27 July.
John had lost his wife, son and now his daughter. It was a newly bereaved young man who married again on 11 November 1815.
John's new wife was Alice Bonny of the Lancashire parish of Bispham, where she lived with her family in a little coastal village which had been known for some years for its healthy sea-bathing. It was growing into a pleasant little holiday resort – its name was Blackpool.
No comments:
Post a Comment