Who Were my Grandparents?

With Mother's Day last Sunday came lots of memories of Mum, Cicely Hullock, and it seems appropriate to present the little we possess of her origins. Recent posts talked about the Ainsworth family and specifically my Great Grandfather, John Ainsworth and his first daughter Mary Alice, my Grandmother. I don’t want to repeat here the family tree explanation which is covered in the post linked above.

Ainsworth Family Portrait (about 1903/4)

From the apparent ages on display here, and input from my late Mother and Aunt, this is thought to be Chorley Councillor John Ainsworth and family around 1903/4. My Grandmother, Mary Alice is back row, left, then L-R we think Thomas, John and finally Sarah Elizabeth. Unfortunately, long before this photo was taken, John’s first wife, Sarah Alice, my Great Grandmother, died in 1890 and this would have put great strain on John who by the census of 1891 had 4 children much younger than they appear here, was caring for his Mother-in-Law and her daughter living in as boarders and had a Drapery store to run in Chorley.

The Ainsworth Drapery Store Area known as 'Big Lamp', Chorley - my Great Grandfather, John Ainsworth's shop in clear view at No. 5 Bolton Street (now demolished). John's lifetime occupation was as a DRAPER, a dealer in fabrics, chiefly woollen and linen cloth, and sewing needs. Larger dealers also sold ready-made clothes. His first wife Sarah, my Great Grandmother was listed as a Draper too in the 1881 Census. He lived with his young family and with them ran this shop you see here in this very prominent central location of Chorley. T Whittle next door at No. 3 was a General Grocer & Provision store and further left No. 1 was an Umbrella Maker that year. This photo is probably from a later year, is currently undated and estimates run from early 1900s or before.

Not surprisingly, given the pressures of family and business described above, John Ainsworth quickly re-married and we see in the Family Portrait front row L-R, my Great Grandfather John seated, then his youngest son James and also son of my step Great Grandmother, Martha Anne Ainsworth nee Small (by John's second marriage in 1892). It is shown in the 1901 Census that the couple had adopted a daughter Ethel (then 8 months old) who for some reason is not included in this later family portrait.

 

It was about the time of the above Group Portrait that Mary married this next gentleman, my Grandfather William Hullock, Sept. 1906, at St.George's in Chorley.

William Hullock going to war!

(He enlisted 6 Dec 1915 around when this might have been taken.)

The above photo is the earliest I have of William taken almost 10 years into his marriage with Mary, living at 35 Geoffrey Street, Chorley, Lancashire, England, a Wood Sawyer and unfortunately for him and Mary, enlisting for the war effort on 6 Dec 1915. Mary would be 5-6 months pregnant with her second and last child, my Mum, Cicely. The couple had already produced their first child and daughter, Doris, on 9th May 1914

William Hullock was enlisted into the army and war effort on 6 Dec 1915 and started active service at Gosport on 3 Jun 1916 with the 101 Company of the RGA (Royal Regiment of Artillery). His subsequent tour of duty appears to have been in India for the duration of his military engagements.

William was the only Grandparent I met as the rest died before my time. He died around 1956 and I was only 5 then, so didn’t remember much of him, particularly as we lived over 100 miles away and family visits over those distances were few and far between in those days.

A celebratory studio portrait of Mary Alice Hullock (nee Ainsworth) with first daughter Doris and baby Cicely

- abt. June 1916

The photo above shows my Grandmother Mary holding baby Cicely and may have been taken on the occasion of Cicely’s Christening. She was born 29 Apr 1916. As William is not present the event might have been after he started active service in early June.

This second formal mother and baby photo is my mum, baby Cicely with her Mum Mary

About Aug 1916

 

Below are two more of the sisters taken later on that year

Cicely Hullock (est. Aug 1916)	Doris Hullock (est. Oct 1916)

 

And now something of a puzzle…….

William Hullock Family Portrait Painting

(est. Dec 1916)

William Hullock's wife Mary has baby Cicely on her lap and Doris is standing. I find this intriguing as it seems to be a painting based on a photo almost. The appearance of Cicely suggests an age of about 8 months and that could correspond with a Christmas 1916 leave from the army for William…..if that was possible. I think it is very unlikely and therefore my supposition is that it was produced by an artist from one or more photos as a composite with William still stationed in India.

The question remains as to whether he was there at all? Why a painting and not a photo? Would they really allow him leave from India so soon after posting? My understanding is leave was rare and granted maybe if there was a death in the family or some very compassionate circumstance. It's certainly not based on any photo I have (unless it's hiding somewhere)

It is a large portrait and was elaborately mounted in a heavy frame with chain and probably had pride of place at some point. What a tough time for such a young family! There can't have been much father/daughter bonding, particularly for my mother who wouldn't have 'known' her father for quite some time.

The Ainsworth Family Weavers

To take up the story from the previous post, John Ainsworth’s mother, Sarah Ainsworth was a ‘Singlewoman’ by the time of John’s first marriage in 1876 and we knew he was born around 1852.

Having checked the Census for 1861, we discover John living with his family. However, they are not Ainsworths, they are Langtons.

The 1861 Census

The ‘Head of the Household’ is one Aaron Langton, aged 34, a Joiner by trade and his wife Sarah, aged 29, a Hand Loom Weaver. The couple have 3 children, all Scholars, James Langton, William Langton and John Ainsworth. This raises the question of whether Aaron was John’s biological father as he appears to have been born out of wedlock. At some point the birth certificate for John Ainsworth may provide further enlightenment.

Meanwhile, the Birth Registers show a John Ainsworth registered birth in Chorley district in the 3rd Quarter, Jul-Aug-Sep of 1852, almost certainly our John. He is baptised 15 Aug 1852 as per the Parish Register for Leyland, St Andrew below.

At this stage, Sarah Ainsworth is a ‘Singlewoman’ of Ulnes Walton, near Leyland and there is no indication of John’s Father’s identity from this record. Then in the second Quarter, Apr-May-Jun, 1853, Aaron Langton marries Sarah Ainsworth according to the freely available registers of marriage.

To follow back the Ainsworth line from Sarah, the 1851 Census was next consulted for Sarah and shows her living with her Mum and Dad, Mary and Edward and young brother William, at 35 Maltkiln Fold, Ulnes Walton. Wikipedia and other sites such as the extremely useful GENUKI provide further relevant background to this interesting old hamlet and the Maltkiln Fold, now established (2014) as a leisure route for walking, cycling, horseriding, etc. by the side of the Lostock River.

1851 Census

Note that they are all Hand Loom Weavers (Cotton). This lovely elderly gentleman gives us the benefit of history and experience for this occupation as typically established in hundreds of family units of this 19th century revolution.

If You Want to Get Ahead, Get a Hat

Unfortunately, I never met 3 of my Grandparents as they died before I was born. I only fleetingly remember the 4th., my Grandfather HULLOCK, before he too died when I was no more than about 5 years of age, (more about him another time). So I haven’t experienced the ‘Nanny and Granpa’ thing……it was more an Auntie and Uncle thing for me.

This post makes a start to relate the history about my maternal Grandmother’s family, the AINSWORTHs of Chorley, England. Hopefully the topic will also be of particular interest to the present day families descended from them.

 

To begin then, with some orientation, my Grandmother on the maternal side was Mary Alice AINSWORTH.

 

Here’s Mary…and that’s what you call a hat! The title of this post was in fact prompted by my wife’s reaction on first seeing this photo.

The estimated date taken, based on fashion, is maybe somewhere between 1895 and 1905, which would put her between 18 & 28 years old. Looks the younger end of that to me….but I’m no expert in these things. see HERE

My Family Tree website shows our current ancestral line back through Mary to her father, John AINSWORTH. (you will need to register to view details of living individuals), where evidence first suggested that he was born in Leyland, near Chorley, Lancashire in Sept. 1852.

I’m still researching John’s origins and family line going further back. However, we are very fortunate that we still have the Family Bible started by John when he married and this has many entries for the first family that he started in the second half of the 19th century.

 

Together with photos handed down, I can have a good stab at reconstructing the lives of this past generation from at least his family forward.

 

Before describing John’s family and descendants in later posts, I first wanted to delve deeper into his ancestors.
 

(CLICK on the cover to view the Family Pages in the Bible)

 

 

To get back further from John, a first clue was the Marriage Banns for his marriage in 1876

 

 

 

 

These specifically occurred on 6th July 1876 with John claiming age 24. If my maths is right, this would indicate a birth date prior to 6th July 1852.

 

By that date, the Industrial revolution was well under way with this area sporting industries such as coal mining, cotton mills and brickworks to name just three. As with many families from the area, we can see ours worked as weavers in the cotton trade. John’s mother we learn was Sarah, a ‘single woman’ as defined by the census ‘occupation’.

 

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Postscript Edit:-

Well you live and learn! – in the section below, I describe John’s address as John Street, Coppull (near Chorley). It turns out this was erroneous, thanks to a very diligent fellow researcher, who pointed out there was a John St. in Chorley itself, and this was the correct address. It had in fact been demolished and wasn’t showing up on Google searches.

Here is a clip showing the present day road map for the area concerned in Chorley, superimposed with the old map on which John Street appeared.

And below, the Google Earth view of the same area, with now a furnishing store where the street used to be.

The information below is still local to the area and worthy of keeping.

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At the time of his marriage, John is living appropriately enough at 21, John Street, a row of collier’s cottages in Coppull, near Chorley – CLICK for Brief History for more background CLICK here.

 

These properties, known as 'back to back' houses, are situated in Darlington Street and John Street – (Source: Facebook Group  "Chorley Then And Now")

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Collier’s Cottages – John Street, Coppull

 

 

 

 

 

According to one writer, “…By 1830 Coppull was a rather unimportant agricultural area of a few cottages, houses and farms, and a small chapel to the east…….”

 

 

 

 

 

 

When John was born in 1852, significant changes were already underway. The single track railway was established from Wigan to Preston in 1838, workers were flooding in and housing was needed.

These are Mill Stone Platt cottages, Chapel Lane, Coppull, c1900. The Printers' Arms pub on Chapel Lane was the local for handloom weavers who worked at Mill Stone Platt cottages – (Source: Facebook Group "Chorley Then And Now")