Some names get remembered because of their manner of death being unusual, or – in this case- spectacularly traumatic for a large part of the town. As with so many of these stories, we start with an offcumden and a local lad or lass. For this story the offcumden is William Livsey, who was born …
If you have a fondness for St. Peter’s in Walsden, then this one of the men to thank. George was born in either 1803 or 1807 – depends which source you trust – in Stansfield. His father was supposedly James Crabtree, he would say later at both his marriages, but there are no baptism records …
Two rows down from his brother John lies Edmund Holt (Jr.) and some of his own family. Edmund Holt was John Holt’s younger brother and so his early life was much the same as John’s – life up at Lumbutts – and also in terms of employment – the Fielden family. While John went down …
Read more “41.i – William, Robert, Sarah and Edmund Holt, and Sarah Ann Ingham”
Poor Eleanor Pennington, who died far from her family and whose story hints at mysteries behind closed doors… Eleanor (sometimes Ellenor) was born Eleanor Royston in 1810 in Leeds, the second daughter (we think) of Luke and Mary (Kay) Royston. Luke was a woollen cloth merchant and Eleanor’s early life was one of relative comfort, …
Sometimes we wonder how many tradesmen in Todmorden weren’t tailors; sometimes we wonder if any of them were native to Todmorden, or if they really were all from “north of the north”. This story will not vary from those seemingly universal conditions! James Tyson Postlethwaite was born in Kirkby Ireleth in 1808, although he would …
Read more “41.4 – William, Sarah, James and Ellen Postlethwaite”
This is a short story, since these two people were brief interludes in the life of someone else who is part of a large double vault grave – the Ratcliffs at V11.8 and V11.9. If it weren’t for Betty here though some of those people would never be born, so even though her entry is …
A father, a son, and a daughter in law – and a telling gap in the engraving that raises a question…where’s Sarah? Abram, or Abraham, Stansfield was born in Todmorden in 1811 to parents whose names we can’t be certain of. There are only 14 Abraham Stansfields on a census return in 1841, and thanks …
Read more “41.7 and 33.20 – Charles, Abram, Betty and Sarah Stansfield”
Here are some more members of the Lord family of Canal Street Works fame, but from a slightly lesser known Lord brother: Abraham. The story here starts with his first wife, Emm. It also covers the lives of two of her sons…one to be proud of (or at least not disappointed by), and one to …
Read more “41.12 – Andrew, Emm, Mary Ellen, Sam, Willie and John Lord”
From a tiny village in North Yorkshire to bustling busy Todmorden, this family’s journey was really something. Hammond Geldard Metcalfe was born in 1777 in Carlton, a little ways southwest of Leyburn. The current population is estimated at about 232 people and is also the largest village in Coverdale, so you can only imagine how …
Read more “41.8 – Jane and Hammond Geldard Metcalfe, and James and Alice Stansfield”
These stones, one in the public area and one in the private, contain most of what was once one of Todmorden’s more well off families; mill owners, teachers, railwaymen, and housebuilders (and that’s just to start). Once upon a time, 1787 to be exact, there was a building at the bottom of Ferney Lee Road …