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Traces of You

William Manners, Coal Miner (1818-1887)

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William Manners, my 3rd great-grandfather, was born in 1818 and was the fourth son of George Manners (1779-1841) and Margaret Simpson (1783-1862). William and his siblings grew up in Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, and he was one of four sons destined to work in the coal mines.

William makes his first appearance in the census records in 1841 where he is recorded as living with his widowed mother and is employed as a brakeman (someone employed to work the steam engine or other machinery that raises the coal from the mine). On 10 November 1844, William married Mary Carrick, the daughter of John Carrick (1788-1851) and Hannah Hetherington (1792-1868), and a member of another large family on my tree who we will meet again.

William and Mary remained in Coundon where they were soon joined by their daughter, Hannah, my 2nd great grandmother, who was born in April 1845. After Hannah’s birth, the family moved to the Westerton area where they can be found on the 1851 UK Census which shows two more children have been born, George, in 1846, and Mary Ann, in 1848. William is still employed as a brakeman and is likely to have been working for the Westerton Colliery which opened in 1838. For the next decade, William and Mary would remain living in the same area and four more children were born: John, in 1851, Elizabeth, in 1854, William, in 1857, and Joseph, in 1859.

By the 1871 UK Census, William and Mary have moved to Byers Green, however the Coundon births of two more daughters, Isabella, born in 1861, and Jane, born in 1864, indicate the family may have moved back to Coundon in the middle of the decade. The four eldest children are no longer living with their parents as they have all married and started families of their own. Their son, William, who was born in 1857, is also missing from the 1871 records but I’ve been unable to trace his whereabouts.

On the 1881 UK Census, William and Mary have moved back to Coundon with four of their children and are living at No.2 Engine Houses which must have been a familiar address by this time. All of the children are employed, including daughters, Elizabeth and Isabella, who are dressmakers, and Jane, who is a tailor. William and Mary’s second son, John, was also a tailor so Jane probably trained with him.

William and Mary were lucky in that all nine of their children survived into adulthood and their first grandchild, William Clark, eldest son of Hannah, was born in Byers Green in 1867. In 1888, William and Mary lost the first of their children when their third son, William, died, aged 31 years, on 18 November, and he would be followed a year later by his older sister, Elizabeth, who died on 14 June 1889, aged 35 years.

William died in Coundon on 7 January 1887 and Mary died on 7 December 1894.

Children

Who Were They?

Hannah was born in Coundon in April 1845 and married William Clark in Auckland on 30 October 1866. Hannah and William settled in Eldon with their nine children, although the eldest four were born in Byers Green. William was initially employed as a brakeman but he soon became a blacksmith, a trade he would pass on to his sons, including my great-grandfather, Alfred.

William died in Coundon on 8 September 1916 and Hannah died on Jan 1921.

  1. William Clark (1867–1929) married Louise Marion Cole (1874-1929)
  2. Mary Emily Clark (1869–1933) married Thomas Surtees (1866-)
  3. Margaret Jane Clark (1870–1901) married William Henry Davey (1873-1924)
  4. Annie Isabel Clark (1872–1952) married Peter Denton Martindale (1868-1949)
  5. Alfred Clark (1873–1957) married (1) Margaretta Maw (1873-1910) (2) Alice Maud Hare (1887-1955)
  6. Violetta Clark (1875–1922) married Charles Dinsdale Haggie (1870-1929)
  7. Arthur Clark (1877–1949) married Esther Rodgerson (1879-1963)
  8. John George Clark (1879–1950) married (1) Isabel Pybus (1878-1911) (2) Jane Ellen Dunscombe (1885-1937)
  9. Elizabeth Hannah Clark (1884–1950) married Jacob Kell (1880-1959)

George was born in Westerton in April 1846 and he soon followed his father into the mines as an engine man. George married Ann Kirtley on 21 January 1868 and they went on to have nine daughters. George died on 29 September 1931 and Ann died on 25 February 1923.

  1. Emily Manners (1870–1921) married John Curry (1867-1944)
  2. Mary Ann Manners (1874–1954) married George Daykin (1872-1942)
  3. Kate Manners (1877–1959) married George William Nunn (1874-1936)
  4. Margaret Manners (1879–1880)
  5. Louisa Manners (1882–1961) married Peter Martin McCoy (1874-1952)
  6. Meggie Manners (1883–1966) married Septimus Edwin Scott (1878-1959)
  7. Sarah (Sally) Manners (1885–1974) married James William Kent (1887-1975)
  8. Dorothy Manners (1886–1988) married Charles Henry Cooper (1882-1959)
  9. Deborah Manners (1889–1970) married Thomas Brown (1890-1969)

Mary Anne was born in Westerton in December 1848 and she married John Douglas Palmer, a miner, in January 1868. Mary and John had four children. Mary died in October 1914 and John died in January 1911.

  1. William Douglas Palmer (1868–1912) married Mary Hannah Duncan (1876-
  2. John Thomas Palmer (1874–1954) married Hannah Elliott (1879-1913)
  3. Mary Ann Palmer (1882–)
  4. Stephen Palmer (1885–1942) married Harriet Mary Dennison (1891-1965)

John was born in Westerton on 21 June 1851 and he married Margaret Honoria Pinkey on 10 January 1874. Unlike his father and older brother, John was not destined for the mines and he became a tailor which would also signal a change in livelihood for his descendants. While John and Margaret initially lived in Bishop Auckland, they eventually moved to Gateshead where John died in 1923. Margaret died in Gateshead in 1930.

  1. Mary Ann Manners (1875–1937) married John William Wilson (1872-1927)
  2. Honoria Margaret Manners (1876–1968) married George Lambert (1868-)
  3. William Manners (1879–1946)
  4. John Carrick Manners (1882–1884)
  5. Hannah Manners (1882–1955) married Arthur George Sobers (1879-1962)
  6. Elizabeth Jane Manners (1885–1974) married William Isaac Parr (1883-1965)
  7. Florence Manners (1886–1910) married John Fenton Lamb (1882-1961)
  8. Isabel Manners (1888–1888)
  9. Ella Manners (1890–1974) married Joseph H Stocks (1888-1964)
  10. Violet Manners (1891–1974) married Edward Evans (1891-1920)
  11. John George Manners (1894–1965) married Hannah Ridley (1898-1941)

Elizabeth was born in Westerton in 1854 and she worked as a dressmaker until she married Robert Ridley on 29 July 1884. Robert and Elizabeth had one child, a daughter, Mary Ann, who was born in 1884. Sadly, Elizabeth died, aged 35 years, on 14 June 1889. Robert went on to marry Caroline Madgin with whom he had another daughter, Ethel.

  • Mary Ann Ridley (1884-)

William was born in January 1957 and died, aged 31 years, on 18 November 1888.

Joseph was born on 17 March 1859 and was baptised at the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Bishop Auckland, on 7 April 1859. Joseph, a colliery joiner, married Margaret Wilson in January 1883 with whom he had two surviving children. According to the 1911 UK Census, three children were born but only two survived which probably explains the large gap in the ages of the children.

Joseph died in Sedgefield in December 1935 and Margaret died in 1936.

  1. Lily Firth Manners (1887–1975) married John Petitjean (1890-1963)
  2. William Manners (1898–)

Isabella was born in Coundon on 25 September 1861 and was baptised at the Wesleyan Methodist Church, Bishop Auckland, on 20 October 1861.Isabella worked as a dressmaker until her marriage to Thomas Robson, a policeman, in April 1885. Thomas and Isabella had three children before her death, aged 33 years, in January 1895. I haven’t been able to trace this family any further, mainly because of the number of Thomas Robson’s in that area, and the fact there are more than one Lillie Ada Robson’s born in that year.

  1. Elizabeth Robson (1883–)
  2. Janet Robson (1888–1950)
  3. Lillie Ada Robson (1890–)

Jane was born in Coundon in January 1864 and worked as a tailor until her marriage to Thomas Proudlock, a blacksmith, in January 1887. Thomas and Jane had two children. Jane died in March 1937 and Thomas died in January 1942.

  1. William Proudlock (1887–1951) married Hannah Smith (1889-1984)
  2. Mary Frances Proudlock (1896–1988) married (1) Thomas Wray (1897-1929) (2) Isaac Lonsdale (1895-1958)

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