46.52 – William, Sarah and Charles Edward Whitehead

Meet William and Sarah, who had a very modern relationship indeed…

William Whitehead was born in 1827, the youngest of the three sons of John Whitehead of Todmorden. He and his older brothers George and Henry lived at Hal Ing, where with their father they worked as tinplate workers and metalsmiths. John was smart, and so were his boys, and the three brothers went into business with each other down in what was known then as Crescent, and what we’d now think of as a few straggling remnants of an industrial area but was once packed with shops, houses, and a big reservoir. Todmorden was much more compressed in those days.

William met a young lady named Sarah Lord, nearly five years his senior, and began courting her. Sarah had been born in Todmorden in 1822 as well to a pair of non-conformist parents, Charles and Sally Lord of Stoodley Bridge, and was baptised in 1837 at Myrtle Grove in Eastwood. Sarah stayed home helping out with the family and working. We don’t know exactly when this courtship between the two began but we can date it to around 1851, when William was 24 and Sarah 29. That’s because their first child, Mary Hannah, would be born the following year. She was followed by Lucy in 1855, Frances in 1861, and Othello William in 1865.

The reason we called this a modern relationship is that Othello William was born in October 1865, but William and Sarah didn’t get married until June 1865. And it was a noteworthy marriage for other reasons; it was the first to take place inside St. Mary’s since Christ Church had opened.

Why did William and Sarah wait so long to tie the knot? It isn’t quite the same length of waiting as the 22-year wait William Ackroyd put his future wife Annie through, but it’s still quite a wait for her in those days to be raising three children. Even with financial and emotional support, the protection (social and financial) of marriage was lacking. Maybe William was busy building up the Whitehead Brothers partnership. Maybe Sarah wanted to retain the different sort of protections she had as an unmarried woman to not be shackled to a man whose fortunes could make or break her and who would have total control over her after marriage. Maybe it was a William thing. Why is it always Williams?

After their marriage all three children were baptised at Christ Church.

But – but – now maybe we have a little more context about William’s ways. Because a fourth Whitehead child was baptised that day…18 year old Ann Dougill, the daughter of William Whitehead and Sarah Dougill of Shade. This is not the same Sarah as Sarah Lord! Ann Dougill was indeed born in 1847, five years before Mary Hannah, so William was, uh, putting it about a bit, shall we say.

Sarah Dougill had died in 1856 and was buried at Cross Stone, and Ann had continued living with her aunt Susannah Horsfall all this time, so why she was also included in this mass baptism is unknown. At least William acknowledged her this way – he could have chosen not to.

The Whiteheads continued living at Hall Ing and, as we said, little Othello William was welcomed in autumn 1865 to the family. All three Whitehead brothers continued living next to each other, but in 1873 their partnership was dissolved and the brothers split their businesses into three. As mentioned in George’s story, the business became George Whitehead and Sons. For William he carried on as a lone trader but perhaps his health was one reason the partnership was dissolved…less than a year later, you see, he was dead. He died in January 1874 and was buried here. Sarah had her freedom again, but only for a relatively short time; she died in May 1877 and joined him here.

We won’t go too far into Othello’s story because it’s a long one (which includes him becoming the Mayor of Bury!), but in July 1890 he married Annie Lord (no relation). Othello had been a pupil teacher and graduated with honours and married Annie shortly before accepting a position as the headmaster of an elementary school in Bury. He went first and Annie followed soon after. They had four children all told with Charles Edward being their third, born the day after Boxing Day 1894…and dying on Christmas Day 1895. Othello and Annie must not have been sure yet of their ties to Bury and decided to bury him here, with his grandparents. In the end they stayed there and are buried in the municipal cemetery along with their other son, Norman, and his wife. Charles Edward was the last burial to take place at Christ Church in 1895.