THE WHITTLES

some notes by P John Partington

JAMES WHITTLE (1785 - 1859) AND HIS FOREBEARS

Our earliest Whittle ancestor about whom we know much with confidence was James, baptized at St Peter’s, the parish church of Bolton in Lancashire, on 29 July 1785.  His parents were Thomas and Ellen – but there the difficulties begin, since there were two marriages at St Peter’s between a Thomas Whittle and an Ellen in that period – between Thomas and Ellen Makon on 5 November 1777 and between Thomas and Ellen Ireland on 27 May 1778;  both Thomases were weavers.  Between them the two synonymous couples had five children baptized at St Peter’s:  John on 1 November 1778, Richard on 1 January 1779, Thomas on 5 March 1780, Mary on 19 May 1782 and ‘our’ James on 29 July 1785.

James, a farmer, married Mary Holden at St Peter’s, Bolton on 1 August 1811.  The couple had six children, four of whom died in childhood – James baptized in 1816, Robert born in 1817, Ann in 1821, Mary Ann baptized in 1824, Ralph born in 1827 and Thomas in 1829.  The 1841 census records James & Mary with Mary Ann;  ten years later the couple were at 257 Cannon Street in Bolton.  James died on 18 November 1859 and Mary in 1870.

James’ second child, Robert, was born on 12 September 1817 and baptized with his younger sister at St Mary’s Deane on 29 August 1824.  He died on 16 May 1831.

James’ third child, Ann, was born on 23 July 1821 and died the following day.

James’ fourth child, Mary Ann, was born on 2 March 1823 and baptized at St Mary Deane on 29 August the following year.  In 1841 she was still living with her parents;  all three were recorded as ‘farmers’.  The following year she had a child, Ann, baptized on 23 October at Emmanuel Church, Bolton (and died on 10 November 1843).  Mary Ann herself died on 23 August 1850.

James’ fifth child, Ralph, was born on 12 April 1827 and died the following day.

James’ sixth child, Thomas, was born in October 1829;  he died on 14 March 1832.

THE CHILDREN OF JAMES  (c. 1815 - 1881)

James’ second child, Robert, was born in Bolton in 1837, and baptized at St Mary’s Deane on  3 December that year.  In 1851 he was recorded with the family in Cannon Street, Great Bolton, working as an “errand boy”.  An “iron moulder”, he was married twice.  On 7 September 1856 he married Sarah Collier at St Peter’s, Bolton.  The couple had eight children:  Rosanna born in 1856, James in 1859, Ellen in 1860, Elizabeth in 1864, Mary in 1866, Alice in 1868, Charles F in 1870 and another James in 1873.  Sarah died in 1874, and in 1876 Robert married Mary Yates at Emmanuel Church, Bolton.  He had three further children with her:  Mary in 1877, William Benjamin in 1881 and Lily in 1885. (Details of all eleven children are below.)  That year the census recorded Robert & Mary at 10 Proffitt Street in Bolton:  with them were the four youngest children.  Twenty years later Robert was living at 20 Bowden Street;  there is no sign of wife or children.  He died on 2 April 1919.

James’ third child, Ralph Daniel, was baptized at St Mary’s Deane on 31 January 1840.  He married Elizabeth Moody on 25 October 1859.  At some point he became bankrupt, whereupon he emigrated to the USA, dying there in 1914.  (He apparently married a second time – in which country is not yet clear – a Miss Lanehart, with whom he had children.)

James’ fourth child, Mary Ann, was born in Bolton in 1842 and baptized at Emmanuel Church on 23 October that year.  In 1861 she was living with her family at 58 Cannon Street, and in 1871 in Scowcroft Street, Bolton, on each occasion working as a “cotton weaver”.  On 16 September 1972 she married William Probert, by whom she had three children – Helen J born in 1875, Annie Elizabeth in 1877 and Bertha Alice in 1880.  William died in 1895.

James’fifth child, Ellen, was born in Bolton in about 1844 .  In 1861 she was living with her family at 58 Cannon Street, and in 1871 in Scowcroft Street, Bolton, on each occasion working as a “cotton weaver”.  On 23 December 1871 she married Robert Gregory.  She died on 24 March 1894;  there were no children.

James’ sixth child, John, was born in Bolton in 1847 and baptized at Emmanuel Church on 26 September that year.  In 1851 he was recorded with his parents in Cannon Street, Great Bolton;  in 1861 he was still there, working as an errand boy.  In March 1868 he married Sarah Ann Ashworth, with whom he had at least six children – James born in about 1869, Elizabeth Alice in 1874, Thomas in about 1875, John William in 1880, Herbert in about 1881 and Alfred in about 1882 (details below).  In 1871 John, Sarah Ann & James were living in Castleton, near Rochdale; and ten years later in Rochdale Road, Hopwood, Lancs – John was working as a domestic gardener.  John died in 1902 and Sarah in ?1920.

James’ seventh child, Elizabeth, was born in Bolton in 1850 and baptized at Emmanuel Church on 21 July that year.  In 1851 she was recorded with her parents in Cannon Street, Great Bolton;  ten years later she was still there, a ‘scholar’.  On 5 July 1876 she married William Osborne, a dairyman, at Emmanuel Church, Bolton.  In 1891 she was living in Aston upon Trent, Shardlow, Derbyshire with William and three children – thirteen-year old Charles W, ten-year old William D and eight-year old Ethel M.  Ten years later William was dead, and Elizabeth was living with her younger sister Annie in Broughton, Salford.

James’ eighth child, Hannah, was born in Bolton in 1852 and baptized at Emmanuel Church on 14 November that year.  In 1861 she was living with her family at 58 Cannon Street, a ‘scholar’.  Ten years later she was living with her parents in Scowcroft Street, working as a “cotton weaver”.  On 12 July 1877 she married Rupert Holden, by whom she had three children – Helen Ann born in 1878, Frank in 1881 and Millicent May in 1888.  Hannah died, in Russia, on 12 May 1914;  Rupert died on 3 April 1919.

James’ ninth child, Charles F, was born in Bolton in 1855 and baptized at Emmanuel Church on 17 June.  In 1861 he was living with his family at 58 Cannon Street.  He died, aged just fifteen, in 1870.

James’ tenth child, Annie, was born in Bolton in 1857 and baptized at Emmanuel Church on 8 November that year.  In 1861 she was living with her family at 58 Cannon Street.  She married a schoolteacher (and at one point captain of the Bolton Wanderers football team), George Sharples, by whom she had two children, Annie May born in 1881 and George B in 1883.  In 1901 Annie & George were living in Broughton, Salford with thirteen-year old George, a “civil engineering student”;  her widowed sister Elizabeth was also with them.  George died in 1919 and Annie the following year.

THE CHILDREN OF JAMES  (1834 - 1881)

James’ first child, James Frederick Daniel (usually known by his last name), was born in Dalton in 1859 and baptized on 26 June.  In 1861 he was living with his parents at 4 Poolstock Lane, Wigan;  ten years later he was with them at 18 All Saints Street, Bolton, working as an errand boy.  In 1881 he was living with his family at 11 Merehall Street, Little Bolton, and working as a coachman.  On 25 April 1888 Daniel married Sarah Ann Squires, with whom he had three children – James Edward Daniel born in 1888, Robert Ernest in 1890 and Charles Rupert in 1893 (details below).  In 1891 the family were living in 45 Poplar Street, Bolton:  Daniel was working as a “coachman (not domestic)”.  Ten years later the family were at 17 Columbia Road, Daniel working this time as a domestic coachman.  He died, still in Bolton, on 17 December 1913;  Sarah died the following March.

James’ fourth child, Edward, was born in Bolton on 20 January 1870.   In 1871 he was living with his family at 18 All Saints Street, Bolton.  Ten years later he was living with his family at 11 Merehall Street, Little Bolton, a ‘scholar’.  In June 1891 he married Annie Bates, with whom he had at least two children – Charles Edward, born in March 1892, and Ethel, born in 1899.

James’ fifth child, Ernest, was born in Bolton in March 1872.  In 1881 he was living with his family at 11 Merehall Street, Little Bolton, a ‘scholar’.  In June 1894 he married Florence E Tyldsley, with whom he had at least two children – Sarah Annie, born in 1895, and Harry.  (Sarah Annie was baptized on 17 November 1895.  In 1914 she married Percy Bury, by whom she had a daughter, Constance, born in 1916;  she died in 1922.)  Florence died in 1914 and Ernest on 29 July 1920.

James’ sixth child, Rupert, was born in Bolton in June 1874.  In 1881 he was living with his family at 11 Merehall Street, Little Bolton, a‘scholar’.  He died, unmarried, in December 1920.

THE CHILDREN OF JAMES FREDERICK DANIEL  (1859 - 1913)

Daniel’s first child, James Edward Daniel, was born on 12 July 1888.  On 3 June 1908 he married Annie Southern, with whom he had four children – Basil, born in 1909, Gladys in 1910, Keith in 1913 and Geoffrey in 1917.

Daniel’s second child, Robert Ernest, was born in December 1890.  On 21 June 1915 he married Gertrude Loftos at St Peter’s, Halliwell in Bolton:  he had been serving in Egypt in the war, but was discharged on medical grounds. 

Daniel’s third child, Charles Rupert, was born on 10 April 1893.  On 5 November 1914 he married Esther (‘Hettie’) Parkinson.

THE CHILDREN OF ROBERT  (1837 - 1919)

Robert’s first child by his first marriage, Rosanna (‘Rose’), was born in 1856.  Nothing further is yet known of her.

Robert’s second child by his first marriage, James, was born in 1859.

Robert’s third child by his first marriage, Ellen, was born in 1860.  In 1877 she married Adam Smith in Oldham.

Robert’s fourth child by his first marriage, Elizabeth, was born in 1864;  his fifth, Mary, in 1866;  and his sixth, Alice, in 1868.  All three were baptized at St Luke’s on 3 April 1876.

Robert’s seventh child by his first marriage, Charles F, was born in 1870;  he too was baptized at St Luke’s on 3 April 1876.  In 1881 he was with his family at 10 Proffitt Street in Bolton.

Robert’s eighth child by his first marriage, another James, was born in 1873.  Eight years later he was with his family at 10 Proffitt Street in Bolton.

Robert’s first child by his second marriage, Mary, was baptized at Emmanuel Church, Bolton, on 2 February 1877.  Four years later she was with her family at 10 Proffitt Street in Bolton.  She married Ernest Wilcox, by whom she had six children – James Edward born in 1898, Frank in 1899, George in 1902, Edith Mary in 1905, Helen in 1908 and Steven in 1909.  Mary died in 1915.

Robert’s second child by his second marriage, William Benjamin, was born in early 1881, and was recorded by that year’s census with his family at 10 Proffitt Street in Bolton.

Robert’s third child by his second marriage, Lily, was born in 1885.  Nothing further is yet known of her.

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN  (1847 - 1902)

John’s first child, James, was born in about 1869.  Two years later he was living with his family at Castleton in Lancashire; nothing is known about him beyond that.

John’s second child, Elizabeth Alice, was born in Heywood, Lancs, in 1874.  Seven years later she was living with her family in Rochdale Road, Hopwood.  She married James Hirst, by whom she had a child, Arnold.

John’s third child, Thomas, was born in about 1875.  In 1891 he was living with his family in Bolton.

John’s fifth child, Herbert, was born in Bolton in 1881.  Ten years later he was living with his family in Bolotn.  In 1903 he married Alice Charnley, and in 1911 the couple were living at 299 Lever Street with a three-year old daughter, Irene May;  Herbert was working as a cotton carder.

 John’s sixth child, Alfred, was born in about 1882.  In 1891 & 1901 he was living with his family in Bolton.

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