Alfred Hiley

Continuing the series of posts about notable Hileys...

This post features Alfred Hiley, a Clergyman, Mathematics teacher and writer of text books.

Alfred was born in Leeds in 1831. He took a degree in Maths at St John's College, Cambridge from 1857-60. He was ordained in 1860 and became Curate at Boston Spa, near Wetherby in Yorkshire.

In 1863 Alfred became Curate to his brother Richard William Hiley, the vicar at Wighill, and also took charge of the Mathematics department at Thorp Arch Grange school. This school had been founded in 1855 by Alfred's father, Richard Hiley, and was taken over by Richard William in 1861. From 1886 to 1910 Alfred was Vicar at the nearby church of St Peter's, Walton.

Alfred died in 1911 and was buried in the churchyard at Thorp Arch.  The inscription on his gravestone ends with the words: 'The kindest of brothers'.

Alfred Hiley

Alfred wrote a number of Mathematics text books, including:

Explanatory mensuration for the use of schools

Recapitulatory examples in Arithmetic

Key to Hiley's arithmetical companion, mensuration and book-keeping

Pages from two of his books are shown below.

From: Recapitulatory Examples in Arithmetic

From: Explanatory Mensuration for the use of schools

Alfred's brother Richard William wrote in his book 'Memories of Half a Century', published in 1899:

Perhaps ours is the only instance of two brothers co-operating in a private school, and vicars of two adjoining parishes.

Never did two brothers work on more harmoniously.........my brother proved the most unselfish and generous of men.....

Future posts will describe the lives of Alfred's father and brother.

Littleborough Central School

Today's post features a photo from nearly 100 years ago.

This is a class of 42 pupils at Littleborough Central School in the mid 1920s.

Henry Hiley is 6th from the left on the back row and Barbara Kershaw is 4th from the left on the row in front. Henry and Barbara married in 1944.

Littleborough Central School 

In his later years Henry recorded a history of his life - 'HH remembers'. The following excerpt was entitled 'Starting at school, January 1924'. Nearly 80 years afterwards Henry recalled his first days at school:

Now it’s time I told you how I started at school. That would be when I was 5 years old in January 1924. I was well aware of what went on at that school because of course I’d had a brother and 3 sisters who had either been there or were still there, and the routine that was drilled into my mind was that the children would be larking round in the playground, chasing each other, playing their games, and making any amount of noise, when the schoolteacher on duty, whether a man or a woman – it could be Mr Beasant, it could be Mr Forrest, it could be Bob Butterworth, it could be Alice Holden, it could be Clara Rubberneck as we called her, Mrs Riley, Mrs Allerby, Miss Wilson - whoever was on duty would come out with a bell, like a town-crier’s bell. And, clang!, whatever was going on in the playground had to stop, and if any child failed to stop what he was doing in whatever attitude, he or she was sent in to receive the cane. At the second ring of the bell the children would line up in their classes and they would be marched in, in the morning to a full assembly where we sang a hymn and said a prayer, or after playtime directly to the classrooms, and in the afternoon of course directly to the classrooms.

Now then, on my very first day I was in the playground and decided that I needed to go across for a pee. The bell went. I was halfway across the yard. If I were to move I would be sent in to get the cane. If I didn’t go sharp I would wet my trousers. So what did I do? I had a pee there and then in the middle of the playground, and what the lady thought of me, if it was a lady, or a man, whatever the teacher thought of me, well that was it. In the first week or so I remember being sent home because I had dirty trousers but as far as I can remember there was no further such incident.

In the same class were, both boys and girls of course, all of us about 5 years old, no more, but in that same class was Barbara Kershaw. I remember one or two of the other girls as well – Alice Harrison, she was a cheeky thing, there was Matty Hacking, she was rough, and of course I remember a lot more of the boys. Especially on the street, we used to go out and play on the street, there was Geoffrey Collins who’s still alive, Edgar Chadwick, he’s dead now, Leslie and Albert Smith, Leslie's still alive, Albert was killed in a street accident only a few years ago. I’m speaking now in the year 2002. The Smiths’ father was a butcher. Geoffrey Collins’ father was a painter.

We played all sorts of games on the street, played Tig, chased each other. We rolled bullies, those were iron hoops. The girls used to have wooden hoops. We played Relivo - I can’t remember what that game was. Hopscotch, that’s fairly obvious. We even did some skipping but skipping of course was more a game for the girls. We used to play games under the street lamps in winter. I used to like to see the lamplighter come round with his long stick. He had a naked light at the end of it. The pilot lights were left on in the street lamps and it was up to the lamplighter to turn on the gas and light the…… it couldn’t have been the pilot light because he lit it with his long stick.

Heptonstall church

Heptonstall, recorded in the Domesday Book, is a township within the ancient parish of Halifax, set high on the Pennines above the Calder valley.

Heptonstall's original church, dedicated to St Thomas a Becket, was founded in about 1260, and was altered and added to over several centuries. The church was damaged by a gale in 1847 and is now only a shell, but a new church, St Thomas the Apostle, was built in the same churchyard.

Old and new churches 1909

Heptonstall church 2016

The first recorded Hiley baptism at Heptonstall was that of Mary, daughter of John Hylely of Erringden, on 26th July 1601.

Five Hiley marriages took place at Heptonstall, the first in 1605 between James Hileley and Susan Sutclyffe. The last, in 1761, was between James Highley and Martha Greenwood, 5 x great grandparents.

Marriage of James Highley and Martha Greenwood
(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

There were 19 Hiley burials at Heptonstall between 1611 and 1807 but there are now no remaining gravestones to be seen with inscriptions which record these burials.

The only gravestone with a Hiley connection so far established shows members of the Kershaw family, shown below. Henry Hiley married Barbara Kershaw in 1944 and the Kershaws on the gravestone are ancestors of Barbara. The photo was taken by Barbara's brother Derrick who researched his Kershaw ancestors in his retirement.

The Kershaw family grave at Heptonstall

Buried here are Martha Kershaw (nee Greenwood), Mary Farrer (nee Kershaw), Grace Kershaw (nee Farrer), John Kershaw, Abraham Kershaw, Martha Kershaw (nee Howarth), James Kershaw, Thomas Kershaw and Elizabeth Kershaw (nee Baldwin).

Derrick and Evelyn Kershaw cleaning the Kershaw gravestone

Charles J Hiley was the organist at Heptonstall for 43 years. See the post about him on 19th August 2020.

Professor Hiley (part 2)

There are a number of mentions of Charles J Hiley in the Todmorden newspapers of the time. A selection is shown below.

Todmorden Advertiser & Hebden Bridge Newsletter
10th March 1876
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) 

Todmorden Advertiser & Hebden Bridge Newsletter
10th January 1908
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

The following appeared in an article entitled 'Some Local Musicians : Remarkable Records', and featured descriptions of organists, choirmasters and musicians who had given many years of service in the local community.

Todmorden & District News
26th September 1913
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) 

Hiley's shop in Todmorden
(photo and description included with the kind permission of Daniel Birch)