John and Mary Ann Bray Highley and their family (Part 4 - Ernest Jackson)

Ernest Jackson, born in 1879, was two years younger than John Henry.

He worked at Friths Mill in Todmorden. At different times he is described as a Cotton Mill Hand, a Cotton Mill Labourer, a Cotton Warehouseman, and a Cotton Weaver. At one time there were well over 50 mills in Todmorden and Walsden. Most of the big industrial chimneys have now gone and the mills have been demolished, or stand abandoned, or have been converted for other purposes.

Ernest Jackson married Harriet Ann Helliwell in 1907. They had 4 children – Florence, Edith, Frank and Mary. Mary was born in May 1915 and in July that year Edward Jackson enlisted in Halifax with the 8th Battalion Devonshire Regiment. His brother John Henry had died 8 months previously and his parents must have had misgivings about another son going off to fight.

The 8th Battalion had been formed soon after the start of War in August 1914. They embarked for France in July the following year just as Ernest Jackson started his training in Exeter. The Battalion was immediately involved in fighting on the Western Front.

In October Ernest Jackson had 8 days leave away from Exeter and then sailed for France on 15th December 1915. He spent 2 months in hospital suffering from strain but was discharged in February 1916 and sent back to the Firing Line. At this time the Battalion were situated in a village near Albert in the Somme region.

Ernest Jackson had been back with his battalion for only about 4 months when he was killed in action on 1st July 1916. This day was the 1st day of the Battle of the Somme. There were over 57000 British casualties with over 19000 soldiers killed.

The 8th and 9th Devonshires had the task of attacking German trenches below the fortified village of Mametz. They left their assembly trench and reached an area between Mansel Copse and the main road but the Germans had placed a machine gun in the cemetery in Mametz, a place called ‘The Shrine’. The Devonshires were exposed and caught by the machine gun fire and suffered heavy casualties. Ernest Jackson’s battalion suffered 2 officers killed and 47 other ranks killed or missing plus 7 officers and 151 other ranks wounded.

On 4th July surviving comrades of those killed returned to the trench where so many soldiers had been cut down and created an original war cemetery. 163 officers and men from both the 9th and 8th battalions were buried there.

Despite the losses the attack was successful and Mametz was captured.

Ernest Jackson's gravestone

Devonshire Cemetery, Mametz

John and Mary Ann Bray Highley (Part 3 - John Henry)

John Henry was born in 1877, the second of John and Mary's children. By the age of 14 he was working as a Cotton Weaver in a mill in Walsden.

John Henry married Grace Speak in April 1900. A son Jesse was born later that year but died of measles at only 8 months old. They had 2 more sons, Herbert in 1909 and Jack in 1913.

It appears that John Henry and Grace had a stormy relationship, at least early on in their marriage. In December 1900, under a heading of ‘An Ill Matched Walsden Couple’, The Todmorden District News reported on a case where John Henry was summoned for assaulting his wife. Grace had gone to the Conservative Club where John Henry was playing billiards in order to fetch him home. She claimed that her husband had hit her outside the club and then again when they got home, all of which John Henry denied. He claimed that Grace had got her mother, brother and sisters to come and take all their wedding presents away to her mother’s house. The case was dismissed and the Mayor said that they must go home and live together again.

John Henry also appeared in the local paper in connection with cricket. He played for Knowlwood in the Calder Valley League, opening the bowling and batting at no. 3.

John Henry was already a reservist in Walsden with the 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment so when war was declared in 1914 he was ready to serve straightaway. The regiment was part of the 11th Brigade in the 4th Division. They sailed to France on 22nd August. His battalion was involved in the Battle of the Aisne and the Battle of the Marne and then moved north to Flanders in the sector on the French/Belgian border north-east of Armentières. The Battalion was heavily involved in the Battle of Armentieres at the end of October. This action was part of the fighting called ‘The Race to the Sea’ where the Allies fought to prevent the Germans breaking through to the Channel ports.

John Henry died at the 10th Field Ambulance at Le Romarin on 1st November 1914 of wounds received in action. He had been in France for only 2 months.

He was initially buried in a little cemetery at Fortrie Farm in Neuve-Eglise and then reburied after the war at the Trois Arbres Cemetery at Steenwerck.

John Henry's gravestone

Trosi Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck

                           

John and Mary Ann Bray Highley (Part 2 - the children)

John and Mary Ann Bray Highley had 12 children:

Thomas Arthur 1875 - 1952
John Henry 1877 - 1914
Ernest Jackson 1879 - 1916
James Edward 1882 - 1887
Mary Hannah 1885 - 1964
Sarah Alice 1887 - 1890

Charles William 1889 - 1917

Fred 1892 - 1892

Martha 1892 - 1892

Richard 1893 - 1953

Beatrice Annie 1896 - 1974

The 1911 census showed that John and Mary had had 12 children born alive of whom 5 had died. James Edward died at age 5, Sarah Alice at age 3, and the twins Fred and Martha were born prematurely and died after a few hours. There is no record that tells us more about their 12th child.

Nine of the children were baptised in the Inchfield Bottom Methodist Chapel in Walsden. The Chapel closed to worshippers in 2010.

Inchfield Bottom Chapel, Walsden

Three of the boys were killed in the First World War - John Henry, Ernest Jackson and Charles William. The next few posts will look at their lives before the War, where they fought and where they are commemorated, and what happened to their families afterwards.

Two boys, Richard and Thomas Arthur, took part in the War and survived. They both married and had children. Mary Hannah and Beatrice Annie both lived into adulthood, married and brought up families.

At the time of his marriage to Mary Ann Bray in 1874 John was living at Throstle Terrace in Walsden. His parents Thomas and Sarah had moved there at some time before the 1871 census was taken. From that time until about 1932, a period of over 60 years, there were various members of this Highley family living at Throstle Terrace.

The photo below shows Throstle Terrace and the Lanebottom Wesleyan Methodist Chapel and Sunday School.

The houses on the roadside were 935 - 945 Rochdale Road. At the back was Throstle Street (numbered 8 to 18). The whole block was known as Throstle Terrace.

935 - 945 Rochdale Road

Throstle Street. No. 8 at the end

John and Mary Ann Bray Highley and their family (Part 1 - John and Mary)

This is the first of a series of posts telling the story of a Walsden family of Highleys broken apart by the First World War.

John Highley was born in 1852 and was a direct descendant of David Hiley born in Warley in 1700. His parents were Thomas and Sarah (nee Jackson). The census of 1851 shows the family living on Todmorden Road, Bottoms, Walsden, with Thomas working as a Steam Loom Weaver (Cotton). 

John was one of 7 children. By 1861 the family had moved to Victoria Terrace in Todmorden and John, just aged 9, was already working as a Cotton Throstle Spinner. In 1871 they were back in Walsden, at 2 Throstle Terrace. John was a CottonWeaver.

Mary Ann Bray Wills was born in Cornwall in 1853 and was the oldest of 10 children. Her family, looking for work, made the epic journey to Todmorden at some point between 1871 and 1874. On 17th May 1871 this entry appeared in The Cornish Telegraph:

John married Mary Ann Bray on 4th April 1874 at Cross Lanes Chapel between Hebden Bridge and Heptonstall.

Marriage Certificate of John and Mary Ann Bray

Cross Lanes Chapel
From the Alice Longstaff Collection

Between 1875 and 1896 the couple had 12 children.

Next post - John and Mary's children

The Life of Henry Hiley Part 13 - Family illness, trips to Greenodd, and brother Sam

Today we revisit two previous posts from the Blog.

 

The first one is John Hiley's article "From satanic mills to the roots of heaven" which recounts tuberculosis striking the family and holidays in the Lake District.

The second one is of some of Henry's memories of his older brother Sam, who died in 1929.

Click on the link below:

Hiley Family History Blog: April 2021

The Life of Henry Hiley Part 12 - Henry's stepmother Grace Annie

Today we return to the memoirs of Henry Hiley.

His mother Ethel (nee Heap) died in March 1923 when Henry was 4 years old. His father Harold then married Grace Annie Heyworth in December 1925 when Henry was nearly 7.

Father married again, I think that was in 1926. How on earth he persuaded any woman to take on a husband, five children, do the housework, and help with making the pies, I shall never know. Anyway she did, we all liked her. Perhaps it was better than being what you might call a war widow because so many women who should have got married - there were no men for them. Over a million British men had lost their lives in the 1914-1918 war. Father engaged Mrs Sutcliffe. She lived on the opposite side of the street, and she came in to help with washing up and a little bit of cleaning.

Henry with Grace Annie

Grace Annie, Harold and Henry

Harold and Grace Annie

Edith Hiley - a life dedicated to the welfare of others

This is taken from an obituary of Edith written by her friend Angela McKenzie:

After some time and much thought Edith decided the Probation Service was the career for her. Such was the good relationship she invariably established with clients, that one murderer whom she had on licence, invited her to his wedding. There are countless life stories of those whom she met in her professional life to testify to the esteem in which she was held.

Not only was she highly thought of locally, but she had the opportunity of even greater promotion to the Home Office, but in typical humble fashion, she eschewed this, preferring infinitely the day to day contact with the people around her in the place where she lived and worked - Halifax.

Just as there seemed nowhere in this country she had not visited either on her bicycle or in her car, or through work, so was her journeying into faith via Methodism, Roman Catholicism and finally Anglicanism. Her life was spent searching for truth which she personified.

Edith was a founder member of Relate (known in those days as the Marriage Guidance Council), having trained for this type of work in London. She was also a founder member of the Ludlam Trust which helped the families of men in prison. For many years she was a member of the Supplementary Benefits Tribunal.

As a member of the Halifax Parish Church she took communion to the housebound and visited many parishioners over several decades, giving succour and comfort to those in need, and having fun with the younger members of the congregation.

Beauty, music, books and discussions of deep issues were also among her loves.

Though it may have been said as a joke, she was known as "Miss Halifax" - everyone seemed to know and love her.

It is often said about someone when they die that we will not see their like again. In Edith Hiley's case this is true. Every life she touched was indeed glorified. Her last home was in Trinity Fold. Her active and varied life, with its unique contributions and total integrity, can best be summed up as a dedication to the welfare of others.

Edith at Bolton Abbey

Edith with three of her grand nephews