Week 21: My ancestor was a weaver

[Jill on the A272]

Week 21: Weaver


Did someone in your tree use a handloom or a power loom?

This is an opportunity to showcase a weaver from your family tree, you might want to offer a short biography and speak about their work eg
Name
Birth location/date
Family background
Where you've found them on the census
Their workplace/employer
Any tips on researching this occupation?

[Next week: Lacemaker]

[Jill on the A272]

I don't know how my 4x great grandmother managed to be a weaver at the same time as having 5 children under 10 but she managed it as well as running the household for her tailor husband (1841). She was born Ann Broughton in Barnoldswick, Yorkshire in 1799, daughter of a stonemason and had married Thomas Atkinson in 1829. By 1851 she had no occupation but her three daughters were power loom weavers.

[Caroline]

I have cotton power loom and handloom weavers from the Glasgow region, but I have done more research on the life and times of my family of carpet weavers of Kidderminster.

William Eli Bradley, the son of Sarah Gamson of my Kidderminster carpet weavers, married Catherine Simpson daughter of Catherine Whitehall, steam loom weaver, herself descended from handloom weavers from Greenock and Paisley. They met in Clerkenwell and were my great grandparents.

• Kidderminster weavers

[PhotoFamily]

Some of my Coverlys were London Weavers. One branch made it big, and funded a retirement home for weavers. More than one was a Liveryman in the Company. One of them left a widow who was also had the Freedom of the Company and was a Weaver. From her will:

I Jane Coverly of the parish of Saint Mary in Aldermanbury
in the City of London/ Widow do make this my last Will and
Testament in manner and form following (that is to say) First
I Will that all my Debts and Funeral charges be fully paid
And I give and bequeath to my Daughter Sarah apart all
my Weaving Apparel and also my Watch and I Give and
bequeath to my Son Charles Coverly all my household
Goods and also my Utensils in the Weaving Trade

[PhotoFamily]

"Yet another source of anxiety had arisen early in the nineteenth century when the Company's almshouses in Old Street Road, Hoxton (built in 1670), were found to be in such a bad state structurally that, obviously, 'something would have to be done' very soon. Therefore the Officers must have been more than thankful when, at the beginning of 1824, a senior member, Mr Charles James Coverley, of Providence Row, Moorfields, who had been Upper Bailiff in 1810-11 and again 1821-2, 'offered to take down the Almshousess at Shoreditch and rebuild the same at his sole charge'."

He's a side branch. My peeps didn't have that kind of wealth...

[Jill on the A272]

Edward Wheatley was a weaver in the Sussex village of West Hoathly, (written as West Hodly in his will) he was my husband's 7x great grandfather, I don't know when he was born but he married Timothea Mills in the village in 1688 and they had ten children.

He made his will on 13th May 1727 and was buried four days later though had been well enough to sign his will quite neatly. He left his "Lome and all my working tooles that belong to the trade of a Weaver" to his eldest son Edward, who was also to pay the other sons John & Ambrose 30 shillings after their mother's death. They had to wait another 23 years as she didn't die until 1750.

Daughters Ann, Mary , Elizabeth, Jane, Sarah and Timothy (the latter was my husband's ancestor) all got 5 shillings apiece. His widow was to enjoy his residual estate during her lifetime but forfeit everything but the feather bed he lay dying in if she remarried. After her death everything would be shared equally between the children.

His will can be seen here

It is possible that he wove linen as flax was a crop locally at the time, I have come across a slightly later wager about flax spinning, and one of the fields on the farm where my son lives a few miles away is called Flax Field.

[Jill on the A272]

Like her mother, my 3x great grandmother Rachel Atkinson was a cotton weaver. Rachel was born in Barnoldswick, Yorkshire where her father Thomas was a tailor while her mother was a weaver, possibly a handloom weaver while she raised Rachel (the eldest) and her siblings.

At the 1851 census she was a power loom weaver living with her parents along with her baby Ann who she had when she was 18, whose father is unknown (though Ann made someone up for her marriage certificate.) Rachel married tailor Thomas Abbott (Habbett on the marriage certificate) in July 1851 and she has no occupation on her marriage certificate but in 1861 she is again a cotton weaver with three small children, her first child was with her parents. She and her son were both weaving in 1871 with three other small children at home. She was widowed in 1873 and had no occupation thereafter and lived with one of her sons until her death.

[Lin Fisher]

Luke Tether was my 6 x G Grandfather. Baptised 23 Sep 1715 at St James Halloughton Notts To Luke and Dorothy. He married Elizabeth Lawrence in 1739 at Edingley Notts. They had 7 children . He was buried in Halloughton on 28 Dec 1771. He was stated as being a webster on his burial record, also know as a weaver

Luke Tether, the father of above. Don't know where he was born but married Dorothy Salmon in 1707 in Southwell Minster Notts. They had 7 children. He was buried at St James Halloughton on 18 November 1743. Named as a weaver on burial record.

[Lin Fisher]

2 more for the records.

Christopher Carter was baptised 23rd Apr 1714 at All Saints Kirkbymoorside Yorkshire to Christopher and Elizabeth.
He married Ann Sanderson on 27 May 1742 at Christchurch Westerdale Yorks and had 5 children all born in Westerdale.
He was buried 2 June 1802 at Christchurch Westerdale and was a weaver on the parish record.

Anthony Footit was Baptised 6 September 1660 at Elston Chapel Notts. He was the son of Richard and Joan.
He married Ann Marrot at Elston Chapel on 25 Nov 1686 and had 8 children. He was a weaver and the Parish Clerk.
Also had an apprentice weaver in 1718 called Robert Allen.
He is buried in Elston Chapel on 26th April 1727,

Elston Chapel is quite old and it says the oldest Headstone in the Church yard is Ann Footit, wife of above and she was born in the reign of Charles the Second. Not sure why Anthony wasn't on the headstone as well.

[Katarzyna]

Wow, back to Charles the Second and I love that name Footit! Has the name passed down your line to the present day?

[Lin Fisher]

Thanks Katarzyna.

I had to check that it was right about Charles the second. She was born in 1664 according to the burial record.

The last Footit in our family was Jane who was born in 1728 and died 1809. Long way back.

[Jill on the A272]

Richard Pickup (b c1755 Lancashire) my 4x great grandfather was still weaving wool at the age of 86, he was living with his son John (a cotton warper) in Newchurch in Rossendale in Lancashire in 1841. He was buried at St Nicholas, Newchurch in Rossendale on 21 Jun 1843, the burial record says he was "of Waterbarn". I think he would have been a handloom weaver.

[Jill on the A272]

My 3x great grandfather William Bannister (1810-1862) was a cotton weaver at Slack Booth near Trawden in Lancashire in 1841 and so was his wife Mary even though they had children aged 5, 3 and 1.
In 1851 he was at Holling Hall in Trawden, a hand loom weaver, Mary had stopped but the two eldest were power loom weavers, and the 10 year old was a bobbin winder, the three youngest were 8, 6 and 4.
By 1861 he had become a cotton warp dresser, while four of the children between 21 and 14 including Henry my 2x great grandfather (16) were handloom weavers. He died aged 51 on 10 Aug 1862.

His son Henry (b 1844) , my 2x great grandfather lived with his widowed mother in 1871 and supported her by continuing as a weaver at Hollin Hall, Trawden along with his brother James, while sister Mary worked as a bobbin winder. Henry married Sarah Nutter, who had also been a weaver and in 1881 they lived at Greenbank Cottage, Trawden with their four children, Samuel being the eldest. Sarah died in 1885, the family had moved to Nelson at that point, Henry followed her to the grave in 1885.

Samuel Bannister my great grandfather (1872-1950) was a cotton weaver in Nelson, Lancashire employed at Holm Mill. His wife Lily Ann (nee Abbott) was also a weaver.

Albert Bannister my grandfather (1899-1970) was also a cotton weaver and tackler in Nelson, Lancashire. I have one of his technical manuals from which the photo at the head of this page is taken. A neighbour showed us round a mill when we were children, grandad had died by then so early 1970s. The noise was terrific, I was about 10 and could only hear when someone shouted into my ear. There was dust in the air and fluff on the floor. The lady who showed us round had a massive bruise on her upper arm where a shuttle had flown off a loom and hit her, they have metal tips. Some of the men were waring clogs. I was given an old shuttle as a souvenir, they wear down thin on the edge after a time so have to be replaced. The cop (or bobbin) slips onto a rod on a hinge which pulls forward to re-load and the shuttle is lined with rabbit fur to stop it moving too much inside the shuttle. Until recently I still had some cops, children used to make skipping rope handles from them. The shuttle hangs in the corner of my living room as a reminder of my heritage.

My father knew there was no future in the cotton mills and left to seek his fortune London as soon as he finished his National Service, he didn't make a fortune, but met my mother instead.

[Jill on the A272]

My 2x great grandfather Broughton Abbott was the son of a tailor and a weaver, he was born in Barnoldswick, Yorkshire (but currently in Lancashire) in 1855, the family moved to Brierfield around 1864 and it is here living in Church Street that he is first recorded as a weaver in 1871 along with his mother Rachel.

After the death of his father in 1873 the family returned to Barnoldswick and he married Eliza Garner, a cotton spinner there in 1876. Both were working in the mill in 1881, they had two small children by then so must have had some form of childcare. In 1887 there was a strike over a 1d cut in pay when half the weavers in the 500 loom shed struck, though I don't know if Broughton was involved. Workers elsewhere in cotton mills contributed to a strike fund.

In 1891 the family were living at 17 Butts, which is still there, an end of terrace 2 up 2 down where Broughton and Eliza lived with seven children aged between 14 and 1, the elder two my gt grandmother Lily Ann (14) and her brother Albert (13) were cotton factory operatives. Broughton was an overlooker in the mill. He was fined 5 shillings in 1894 due to the irregular attendance of his children at school.

There was a further strike in 1895, this was a much longer one and Broughton was involved. Management brought in labour from elsewhere and Broughton was one of eight people charged with intimidating one of these workers. The prosecution was funded by the mill management and he was bailed at Leeds Sessions on 30 Dec 1895 and is described in HMP Wakefield records as having brown eyes and being 5 ft tall. Every other man is 5ft so I doubt they actually measured them! He was eventually fined £1.

There was a court order in 1897 evicting them from their house and the family left for Nelson, Lancashire. Here they are in 1901. He was widowed in 1903 and was made voluntarily bankrupt in 1904, and remarried in 1905. He and his first wife had 14 children, though the last 4 died in infancy, he had one son with his 2nd wife

He made it into the papers again in 1909 when he was struck by lightning at Pendle Street Mill while holding his reed hook and his left arm was temporarily paralysed. He and his wife lived with their son Samuel in 1921, Broughton died in 1924.

His daughter, my great grandmother Lily Ann was still working as a weaver after her marriage in 1899, in 1901 and 1911 she was weaving even though she had two children. My aunt once told me the name of the people who looked after her children but I can't remember now who they were though their son grew up to be an artist.

[Jill on the A272]

My 4x great grandfather John Allison (bap 1788 Colne, Lancs) was a handloom weaver, he married Betty Lonsdale (who appears on the 1851 census as a handloom weaver) at Colne in 1811. From baptismal records I know that they lived at Duckhouses, Noyna, Foulridge, and Slack Booth at Trawden. After John died (date unknown) Betty remarried in 1832 to fellow handloom weaver Hargreaves Blackburn and they lived at Hollin Hall, Trawden.

My John & Betty's daughter 3x great grandmother Mary Allison b1815 at Trawden was also a weaver and lived at Slack Booth with her husband William Bannister in 1841, both were cotton weavers even though they had children aged 5, 3 and 1.

[Jill on the A272]

My Nutter ancestors were weavers, first hand loom, then power loom at Briercliffe, Nelson and Burnley in Lancashire. John Nutter (1790-1862) my 4x great grandfather was the first in 1841 and Mary and Susan his teenage daughters were also weavers. In 1851 he and 4 of his children were weavers and by 1861 he was old and infirm and living at Cop Row, Burnley with his son (my 3x great grandfather) Samuel Nutter (1830-1894) who was another weaver as was his wife Ann and all his children. Samuel's daughter Sarah Nutter 1850-1885 (my 2x great grandmother) was also a weaver until her marriage in 1871.

[Jill on the A272]

My Heys ancestors were weavers in Briercliffe, Lancashire. Robert Heys (1776-1847 5x gt grandfather) was weaving at Haggate in 1841, his son James Heys my 4x ggfather (1804-1867) was born at Briercliffe, he and his wife Nancy were living gt Cop Row in Burnley in 1841 and both were weavers, they were still at Cop Row in 1851 though Nancy was not weaving and James was additionally a grocer, he was still combining weaving with his grocer's shop in 1861.

James and Nancy's daughter Ann (1830-1885) my 3x ggmother was also a weaver after her 1849 marriage to Samuel Nutter, here they are in 1851.

[Lin Fisher]

Just found another one!!

John Hewson bap 13 Feb 1779 at All Saints Rise Yorks and married Martha Hawkesly in East Retford on 1 Mar 1802.

John along with all his family were in Sculcoates Workhouse in 1816 but on the baptism of his youngest daughter he was a Weaver

He died on 21 Feb 1863 in The Workhouse. Buried St Marys Sculcoates.

[Lin Fisher]

Following on from #9, Anthony's brother William was also a weaver.

Born 1663 and died 1719 both at Elston Chapel Nottinghamshire.