ID: 33-SSM
Towns of Interest:
Lancs - Warrington, Newton
Researcher: Stan Smith
Location: Nottingham, England
Email: s t a n .s m i t h 1 [at]ntlworld.com
Smith Chat Forum Username: Stan Smith
Online Office Pigeon-hole - 33-ssm
Interests submitted:2005/
Updates 2006/2008-9
(Many thanks to Stan for also providing
the included Local History information and
some of his own sonnets)
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Summary of Interests/Message
My g-g-gfather James SMITH,
born 1799 in Newton,
married Mary FORSTER, on 29th Oct 1821
in Warrington, Lancashire.
James witnessed the marriage of his son,
my g-grandfather Isaac Smith.
Isaac was born in 1829 |
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| James Smith on the Census: |
1841 Crossley Street Warrington
(all surname SMITH,
all recorded as "born in County")
James, age 43 Weaver
Mary, age 35 Weaver
Isaac, age 12, Alice, age 9,
Jabez, age 6, Mary Ellen, age 1
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1851 (without young Isaac, who is
just married I guess)
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1861 Isaac and wife Mary located.
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(Further details of the above Census returns are included in the “James Lineage” File, a link provided later in this Column 2.)
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Mary FORSTER,
first wife of James Smith.
(dau of Isaac FORSTER and Hannah GEE)
born in Warrington, and Christened on
11 Jul 1800 in St Elphin Warrington.
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Mary HOLMES,
probable second wife of the same James Smith
(from research update 2008):
St Pauls Warrington Marriages register
1839 24th November:
SMITH James, full age, widower.
Occ: sailcloth weaver.
Address: Crossley Street.
Father's name and Occupation (No entry)
m
HOLMES Mary, full age, widow
Occ: sailcloth weaver.
Address: School Lane
Father's name and Occupation (No entry)
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This would explain discrepancies found in
Census data, for the age of Mary, wife of
James.
There is no doubt that Isaac (b.1829),
my g.g.father, is the son of Mary, nee Forster.
But, now looking for evidence to confirm
maternal parentage of Isaac’s youngest
siblings:
Mary Ellen b:1839/40 (1841 census above)
and
Emma b: c1846 in Warrington,
(included on the 1851 and 1861 Census).
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Marriage details for Isaac Smith
(son of James Smith & Mary nee Forster)
15-4-1851 St Paul's, Warrington:
Marriage by banns.
Isaac SMITH (full age) fustian cutter,
Lygoes Lane (sic)
father: James SMITH, sailcloth weaver.+ Mary HEWITT (full age), spinster,
Lygoes Lane;
father:Joseph HEWITT, pinpointer.
witnesses named are:
Joseph HEWITT, Ellen SHAW
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nb: Isaac's father: James SMITH, a sailcloth weaver – see notes Column 2 “Sailcloth Weaving in Warrington”.
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| FUSTIAN-CUTTING |
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| My g-grandfather Isaac Smith, son of James, had a small fustian-cutting business, in the second half of the 19th century. |
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The family home at that time was
6 Hopwood St. |
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| The fustian-cutting work would have taken place in the attic spaces above the house and the adjoining houses, as long tressle tables were required to stretch out the rolls of cloth. Someone (almost entirely a female work force, my dad said) would then move with a cutting knife along each thread of the cloth in turn, half cutting into it and then fluffing it out at the end of the process, to produce the effect of fustian. It was a very precise business, and very bad on the eyes, particularly in ill-lit attic spaces. |
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| .................................................. |
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| Isaac's son, my grandad, also named Isaac whom I never knew, was born in Warrington in 1872. He met his future wife, Agnes Thomason, while she was working for the Fustian-cutting business. At some point they lived in General St, then no 4 Howley Lane. |
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Marriage of Isaac Smith (Jr)
(son of Isaac Smith & Mary nee Hewitt)
Warrington, St.Elphin (ref C25/16/86)
December 25 1895
Isaac Smith,
23 years, iron worker, 6 Hopwood Street,
and
Agnes Thomason,
20 years, fustian cutter, 48 School Brow.
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| Grandad 'Ike' had the hardware and bicycle shop in the 'Tudor Cottages' in Church St, after WW1, then got turfed out by Rylands, who owned the property, so they could turn it into a managers' canteen |
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He then had a shop in a condemned building on Dial St, which my dad, Stan, took over after he came back from WW2.
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My dad, Stan, moved to 96 Buttermarket St about 1949-50, and the family (I was the only child) moved in above the shop about 1951. He stayed there till he retired about 1973, when they moved to Gainsborough Rd, and the shop became a Chinese chippy
My dad's parents, Isaac & Agnes Smith were buried in the cemetery on Manchester Road, Warrington. (the pub across from the cemetery gates used to be called 'The Cemetery Arms' - not a place full of good cheer, you'd think). |
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| Children of Isaac Smith and Agnes nee Thomason: |
all born at 3 General Street, Warrington:
Mary, b.1896, d.1 Feb 1949
m. Billy Lea & had a son and
a daughter, both still living.
Lilian (Lily), b. 1898, d.1951
m. William (Bill) Flannery.
one son not married, deceased;
daughter Hilda (Warburton)
Arthur, b.1900, d. Warrington 1955.
Ellen, b.1905, d.1974
m. Henry Minshull (no children)
Agnes, born and died between 1901 and 1911
Ernest, b. between 1905 and 1907,
d. Liverpool (n.d.)
(two children, I think, possibly both daughters)
Stanley, (my dad, the youngest) b.1908
d. Warrington 1980;
m. Edith Barlow, 1931 at St Elphins.
I think I'm the only Smith continuing in this line, with two sons Philip (London) and Stephen (Birkenhead) and one daughter (Northants).
Links to Appended files: |
| >> 33-SSM: A-Z List of Smith Ancestors >> |
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| The links below are to 2 x Smith Family Lineages of the Warrington Area.(large html files). These have been compiled from research by several Warrington area researchers. |
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1) The Lineage of James Smith, my g.g.grandfather.
Additional notes from my research on the family of Isaac Snr & Isaac Jnr have been inserted.
33-SSM Lineage of James Smith, Warrington Area |
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2) The Lineage of John Smith
I can't really comment on John Smith's line as I've not been able to establish any connection with them, and this is all the information I have. I put it here for general information, and in the hope that someone can establish a link from their own data. Stan, Nov 2006
Lineage of John Smith, Warrington Area |
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Continue to Column 2 >>>
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Agnes Smith (née Thomason)
Visionary
(by Stan Smith)
‘Ee, but they ’ave some fun on these boats’, said Grandma,
retold in her grown children’s tales
spelling out headlines from the day’s newspaper:
‘Picnic on board ship.’ And yes, the word was ‘panic.’
She was barely literate and her eyes were bad,
but what they loved about her was – innocence,
artless, heart-breaking, a slow-burning taper
in a naughty world. The light that never fails.
For all I know it could have been the Titanic
going down over and over in family fable
with all souls singing, red-faced captain strumming
his ukulele, all hands on deck humming
some minstrel tune, duchesses dancing on tables,
while over them towers the iceberg, white, immense.
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Isaac Smith
b. 6 Hopwood Street, Warrington, 1872;
d. 4 Howley Lane, Warrington, 1947
Patronymics
(by Stan Smith)
My grandad Smith was small and wiry with
a big nose, white moustache. Only tall tales
can summon up that wraith I stand beside
in a single early photo. Once in the ’Twenties
my father had to bail him out of gaol
for throwing a shovel at a navvy who,
drunk speechless, cursed him for a little Jew, slicing his fatted calf. Dad’s dry aside:
he was sensitive about his height. Old Ike,
like all his pious forebears C of E,
rallied to raise his standard on Skoo’ Brew, defending the ancestral land of plenty
against the upstart Irish and their like,
fearing engulfment of the name of Smith.
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SAILCLOTH WEAVING in Warrington
Warrington during the first part of the 19th century supplied over half the canvas for the Royal Navy, and made therefore a major contribution to the defeat of Napoleon and Britannia's subsequent ruling of the waves and her global empire. Rylands Brothers, which later became a wire-works, started out in the first decade of the century as a sailcloth industry, combined with pin-making.
James Smith probably came from Newton to work there, as the houses in which the family lived for the next two centuries all clustered round the Rylands site on Church Street (now demolished). By the end of the 19th century wire-working had completely replaced the earlier industry. Presumably Isaac Jr was working there when he married Agnes. Their son Arthur worked there as a wire-drawer until his death in 1955.
The following poem is an attempt to understand how James Smith must have felt, moving all of ten miles (!) to a new town, following work.
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Hands
(by Stan Smith)
James Smith, sailcloth weaver
(b.1799, Newton, Lancashire;
d.Warrington, between 1861 and 1871)
Admiral Lord Nelson, bless his good left arm,
did all right by me. Never a better time
to have been apprenticed as a sailcloth weaver,
while Warrington supplies half of the Fleet.
The year he took back Naples a’ were born;
when a’ were six folk wept and cheered together
for Trafalgár, him dead, but Froggy beat.
Yet Boney had a big hand in my fortune,
for if he’d not been so boneheaded, vexed
by greed and envy, a’d have empty pockets.
A’ saw the Iron Duke that day the Rocket
ran the unfortunate Mr Huskisson down.
We rule the waves, and the land too. Our town
buzzes with industry. England expects **
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| ** references - external links below |
| At the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, at Newton-le-Willows, near Warrington, on September 15,1830, the Liverpool MP William Huskisson, crossing the line to speak to the Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, was knocked down by George Stephenson’s Rocket, which mangled one of his legs. He died later that day. So as not to disappoint the large crowds all along the line to Manchester, it was decided to continue with the rail procession. At Manchester the passenger carriages of the Duke’s train were pelted with stones by weavers and other artisans, protesting against his role in the Peterloo Massacre, his fierce opposition to the proposed Reform Bill, and the threat to their work of the new steam-driven engine. |
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| The Rocket, Mechanics Magazine (1829) |
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The pictures at the top of this Column, of my grandparents, Agnes and Isaac Jr. are from
my book Family Fortunes.
The image below is featured on the book's front cover.My cousin Hilda Warburton tells me the girls are the Dykes twins, which makes this photo of Church St about 1930, as theywere Hilda's near-exact contemporaries.
Stan, Aug 2008
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Church Street, Warrington c1930 |
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More of Stan's sonnets are to follow on a
new separate page. Link to follow here in
due course.
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>> to p.13a: 34-GWB to 38-JAZ >>
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