Private Allan Hiley

The last post of 2021 features Private Allan Hiley from Leeds who was killed in the First World War aged just 22.

Allan is shown in the 1911 Census living at 3 Cedar Road, Armley, Leeds with his father Charles (a tobacconist), mother Mary Esther, and two older sisters. He was aged 17 and working as a Shop Assistant.

Allan joined the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) 10th Battalion which was formed at Halifax in September 1914 and landed at Le Havre in late August 1915. The Battalion took control of the front line near Armentieres. Allan was killed in action on 1st October 1915 after only a month in France. He was buried at Brewery Orchard Cemetery, Bois-Grenier near Lille in northern France. 

Photo of Allan with a report of his death appeared in

The Yorkshire Evening Post on 7th October 1915

Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive

(www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

Allan's grave at the Brewery Orchard Cemetery
Included with the permission of C. and J. Cosgrove

Brewery Orchard Cemetery
Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

On this day...Jack Highley thanks his customers

The following entry appeared in the Todmorden Advertiser and Hebden Bridge Newsletter on this day in 1867.

Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. 

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive 

(www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

John (Jack) Highley was born in Halifax in 1839. His parents were John and Mary (nee Eastwood). His father John was a Cordwainer or Shoe Maker.

John married Mary Dawson in 1860 and the following year was recorded in the census as living with Mary's family in Todmorden and working as a Boot, Shoe and Clog maker. In 1871 he was described as a Boot and Shoe Maker, employing 2 men.

By 1881 John and his family had moved away from Todmorden and they were living in a house called 'Highley Villa' in Blackpool. He must have been a man of many talents. From starting his working life as a Shoemaker, in 1881 he was a 'Tailor and Draper', in 1891 a 'Pork Butcher', and in 1901 a 'Pig Dealer'. 

Like John, his brother William also followed in his father's footsteps. In 1881 he was a 'Master Clogger' in Todmorden.

John and Mary had two boys and two girls. Their daughter Clara died at age 3 and is buried in the graveyard at Mankinholes on the moors above Walsden and Todmorden. Also buried here are John and Mary. 

Their other daughter Bertha married George Henry Hall in 1894 and Bertha and George's son Clifford was born in 1899 and brought up in St Anne’s. Clifford was a Lieutenant with the Royal Air Force 214th Squadron. He was killed when he crashed in mountains between Lyon and Marseilles, aged 20, on 9th July 1919, while flying a Handley Page bomber with two mechanics and an observer. Clifford was buried at Mazargues War Cemetery in Marseilles but is also named on the gravestone above.

In the 1939 England and Wales Register, Jack Highley is listed, working as a 'Boot Repairer & Clogger own a/c single handed'. Living with him at the time in Todmorden were his brother Clifford and sisters Cora and Mary. Jack was the grandson of William the Master Clogger mentioned above.

Jack Highley's Cloggers shop was a familiar fixture behind the Market in Todmorden until the early 80s. The picture below is from 1973 and, along with the description, is included with the kind permission of Daniel Birch.

Highlee of Highlee, the richest man in Sowerby

Instead of an 'On this day' feature this month we have an 'In this month' post.

In 1886 The Surtees Society published a work in its series of 'Yorkshire Diaries & Autobiographies in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'. It was called 'Some Memoirs concerning the Family of the Priestleys, written, at the request of a friend, by Jonathan Priestley.' It was written in 1696 in the 63rd year of his life.

Jonathan was one of the seven sons of Joseph Priestley and his wife Elizabeth. The family lived at Goodgreave in Soyland, a village near Sowerby and five miles south west of Halifax. Priestleys had lived in Soyland for many generations. Joseph was a yeoman clothier combining cloth-making with farming. The family took some of their cloth to sell at the cloth exchange in London.

The Priestley family suffered at the time of the Civil War between 1642 and 1644. The yeoman farmers and weavers rebelled against King Charles's policies and took up arms against them. Joseph joined the Parliamentarian cause and fled into Lancashire in August 1643 along with his son Samuel when the Royalists occupied Halifax. The Priestley's home and lands at Goodgreave were ransacked and plundered.

Joseph was captured on Blackstone Edge and imprisoned in Halifax but became ill with a fever and died. In November 1643, after the Royalists had fled following the Battle of Heptonstall, Samuel found a Royalist soldier lying in the River Hebden. He waded into the water and rescued the man but died from pneumonia shortly afterwards.

In his memoirs Jonathan referred to his father's dealings with 'Highlee of Highlee'.  

The property Highlee has been mentioned in previous posts. Enter 'High Lee' in the 'Search This Blog' box to read them.

The person called Highlee was James, the son of Michael - see the post of 11 September 2021. His son was also called James - 'young Highlee' in the excerpt above.

The Barkers of Inchfield

In the past this Blog has included posts on families with links to the Hileys - namely the Heaps of Cornholme, the Parsonses of Sabden and the Harrisons of Walsden. This post looks at the Barkers of Inchfield, Walsden.

John Travis

                                                                                                                                                                                    The Blog has already included excerpts from John Travis’s ‘Notes: (Historical and Biographical) mainly of Todmorden and District’, published in 1896.  Among his many other books on Todmorden and Walsden and their inhabitants was 'Walsden families in olden times', the front cover of which is shown below.

The book includes a chapter on the Barkers of Inchfield, reproduced below:

Thomas Barker of Inchfield married Betty Law in Todmorden in 1782. Their 7 children are listed by John Travis above. Their daughter Sally married John Harrison of 'Raked Barn', or Rake Head Barn, and their 9 children are also listed. Sally and John's daughter Betty married Charles Hiley in 1844. The post of 8th February 2021 told about the Harrisons of Walsden.

Thomas Barker died in 1821. The record of his death shows him living at Thornsgreese in Higher Inchfield at the time. John Travis says that Thomas was carried from Inchfield and buried at Cross Stone Church in Todmorden. Records of the cemetery show that there is a grave in the old yard at Cross Stone that was owned by Thomas Barker of Inchfield, but it is now overgrown and there is no record of a headstone. Betty died ten years later.

Thornsgreese in 2018

Another connection between the Barkers and the Hileys arose in 1875 when Mary Barker married Robert Highley in the United Methodist Free Church in Inchfield Bottom. Mary was a great granddaughter of Thomas and Betty Barker of Inchfield and Robert was a great grandson of John and Grace (nee Ogden) Highley. John and Grace's was the first Hiley marriage to take place in Todmorden after the move west from Warley.

The Clog Iron Shop in Walsden

The photo below appeared in the Post of 13th March 2019. It shows workers outside the Clog Iron Shop in Walsden, taken around 1902, and was included with the permission of Ann Kilbey, Pennine Horizons Digital Archive. Harold Hiley is the young man on the middle row third from the left.

The census of 1911 showed Harold and his wife Ethel and son Sam living at 174 Hollins Road. He was a 'Clog Iron Maker for a Clog Iron Sundries Manufacturer'. This part of Hollins Road was known as Hollins Mount at that time. 

The Clog Iron Shop can be seen in the following photo from the 1950s - a view over Walsden taken from Gauxholme Stones. The chimneys in the background, left to right, are those of Hollins Bottom Mill, the Clog Iron Shop and Hollins Mill.

View over Walsden  © Pennine Horizons Digital Archive

The Finance Act of 1910 imposed new duties on land, including a tax on the increase in a property’s value over time. These taxes required that properties be assigned a current value, which led to the creation of tax valuation records from West Yorkshire. Harold's name appeared in the records. He is shown as the occupier of 4 Mount Place, the owner being the Good Intent Lodge. The property is shown with a gross annual value of £5 and a rateable value of £4. Mount Place is a small area between the houses of Hollins Road and Alma Street. The entrance off Hollins Road is shown in the 2015 photo below.

Above the entrance is this engraved stone:

The Good Intent Friendly Society was part of the Independent Order of Oddfellows. The aim of a Friendly Society was to provide financial security to members unable to work due to sickness or injury and to their dependants when they died.

The branch in Walsden, called the Mercy Lodge, was established in 1833, meeting at the Wagon and Horses and later moving to the Trinity Methodist Church. The Lodge closed down around 1980, all of the Lodges in the Todmorden District merging into one in 1989.

In 1933 centenary celebrations were held and The Todmorden Advertiser published an article about the history of the Lodge. The following excerpts are taken from the article:

During the hundred years of its existence the Lodge has not only rendered valuable help and benefit to its members during times of sickness and bereavement, but it has at all times tended to foster and encourage feelings of brotherhood and self reliance, and to stimulate a sense of civic obligation and social service.

Soon after the establishment of the Lodge it was solemnly enacted '"that any brother of this Lodge who is caught unwashed or uncleanshirted after two o'clock on any Sunday afternoon, upon proof thereof shall be fined 1s., and not less than 6d.", which minute, however, we find was rescinded two years later.

Perhaps the most noteworthy achievement of the Lodge in the early years of its existence was the erection of the Sunday School and Cottages at Bottoms.(Harold's grandparents Charles and Betty and their family lived in a cottage in Bottoms in the 1850s and 1860s)

The Lodge, in December 1861, decided to lend the Co-operative Society £500 at 5 per cent per annum. The Lodge was now in a sound financial position. (Harold's father Samuel was manager of Walsden Co-operative Society for a number of years)

In the late War (1914-1918) practically all the brethren of military age who were physically fit served in one capacity or another.............of the members of this Lodge no fewer than 26 laid down their lives.

With thanks to:

Paul Eyre for information about the Mercy Lodge.

The British Newspaper Archive for the excerpts from The Todmorden  Advertiser, (www.british newspaperarchive.co.uk)

On this day...Death of Cecil Frank Highley

Cecil Frank Highley was born in Willesden, London in November 1886. He is shown as a Telegraph Designer in the census of 1901. In 1909 he married Ethel Minnie James in Wandsworth Registry Office and in 1914 enlisted at Finsbury Barracks, joining the Royal Fusiliers 11th Battalion.

Cecil was killed in action on 23rd October 1917 aged 30, and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial near Ypres in Belgium.

Courtesy of International War Graves Photography Project #46770518 (Find A Grave)

Tyne Cot Cemetery
GaryBlakeley, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The London WW1 Memorial 1914-1918 is a website dedicated to all the Londoners lost in action during the First World War. The entry for Cecil Highley is shown below:

Third Battle of Ypres
This was a campaign fought between July and November 1917 and is often referred to as the Battle of Passchendaele, a village to the north-east of Ypres which was finally captured in November. It was an attempt by the British to break out of the Ypres salient and capture the higher ground to the south and the east from which the enemy had been able to dominate the salient. It began well but two important factors weighed against them. First was the weather. The summer of 1917 turned out to be one of the the wettest on record and soon the battlefield was reduced to a morass of mud which made progress very difficult, if not impossible in places. The second was the defensive arrangements of concrete blockhouses and machine gun posts providing inter-locking fire that the Germans had constructed and which were extremely difficult and costly to counter. For 4 months this epic struggle continued by the end of which the salient had been greatly expanded in size but the vital break out had not been achieved.

18th Division had come into the line near Poelcapelle on 10th October, 1917, and had taken part in the First Battle of Passchendaele two days later. This had not been a success. 54 Brigade had been in reserve then but on 16th October they moved into the front line and 11th Royal Fusiliers occupied Cane Trench, remaining there until relieved on 18th October when they moved back to Canal Dugouts. On 22nd October, 53 Brigade, who had relieved 54 Brigade launched a successful attack from these positions and captured the Brewery east of Poelcapelle as well as the other enemy strongholds of Noble’s Farm, Meunier House and Tracas Farm. 11th Royal Fusiliers then moved up to these new positions and held them for two days in the face of considerable German resistance. They were subjected to constant artillery fire and as there had been little time to consolidate, they were also vulnerable to snipers. By the time they were relieved on 24th October they had suffered nearly 100 casualties. One of these was Cecil Highley who was killed on 23rd October.

Samuel Hiley - soap agent for Lancashire

Samuel Hiley, a great grandfather, has appeared in a number of posts already. Type 'Samuel Hiley' into the Search This Blog box to read them.

The advert below appeared in The Todmorden & Hebden Bridge Historical Almanack for 1876. 

Samuel married Elizabeth Taylor in 1874, two years before this advert appeared. He was a Cotton Weaver living at 9 Alma Street in Walsden. At the time of the 1881 census he was living at 32 Hollins Mount with Elizabeth and children Frank, Annie and Agnes. By 1891 the family (now joined by Harold) were living at 54 Lord Street and Samuel was the Manager of the Walsden Co-operative Store. In 1891 they were living at 172 Hollins Mount.

All these addresses are within a stone's throw of each other. The road names Hollins Mount and the Hollins Terrace in the advert no longer exist. Hollins Mount was the old name for part of Hollins Road. Hollins Terrace may have been what is now called Wharf Street (connecting Hollins Road to Alma Street).

Hollins Mill was situated between Hollins Road, Rochdale Road and the Rochdale Canal. This may have been the mill where Samuel worked as a Cotton Weaver. His venture as agent for Rawson & Bartle's soap could have been a part-time job before he moved on to become the Co-op Store manager.

Samuel Hiley

A musical family

The following report appeared in the Todmorden Advertiser and Hebden Bridge Newsletter on 28th September 1906. 

Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. 

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive 

(www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

The Highley family lived in the same road as Mr and Mrs Craven - Maitland Street in Walsden. Jackson Thomas (J.T.) and Emma had 3 sons, Frank (F.), Walter and Albert (A.) and 2 daughters, Sarah Ann and Edith. At the time of the article Jackson Thomas and his three sons all worked as Cotton Weavers. 

Jackson Thomas, Frank and Albert were all well-known in the Walsden district. Jackson Thomas was an organist at the Methodist chapel at Inchfield Bottom and also a cricketer and later club umpire for the Walsden Cricket Club. Frank was Bandmaster for the Walsden Temperance Brass Band and Albert played the cornet in the Band, often appearing as a soloist in concerts. They both served in the First World War.

The Walsden Temperance Brass Band
No names are available but perhaps Albert is the man holding a cornet on the front row

On this day...Baptism of Michaell Hileley

Michaell Hileley son of William Hileley of Sowerby was baptised on this day 11 September 1554.

The entry in the Parish Registers of Halifax 1538-1593 is: 

Michaell fili Willi Hilyley de Sourby xi Septebr 1554

Michael's forename and surname are spelt in many different ways in the various records where he is mentioned. For example:

Forename: Mychaell, Mychael, Michaell, Michael

Surname: Hilyley, Hileley, Hyleylighe, Hilleley, Highley, Hyleyly

In this post I have used the modern day spelling Michael for the forename and Hileley for the surname.

Michael's father William married Isabell Opkenson in Halifax on 2nd October 1552. They had one son Michael in 1554. Isabell died in 1557 and William then married Elena Norcleff in 1564. He died in 1579.

William left a will. In it he requested that after his debts were paid, the rest should be divided equally into two parts. His wife Elena was to receive one part which was to be made up to £40 if less than that sum. The rest was to go to Michael. Elena and Michael were made executors.

Michael married Isabell Hileley on 16 September 1577. It is not clear whether Isabell was a widow who had previously been married to a Hileley, or whether she was a spinster. She may have been the daughter of James Hileley. In James's will of 1577 (see post of 14 March 2019) he leaves the residue of his estate to his daughters Margaret and Isabell. James married Alice Tatsall in 1542 and they had children George in 1544 and Elizabeth in 1546 so Isabell and Margaret may have been the younger unmarried daughters born around 1550.

Marriage of Michael and Isabell
Michaell Hyleylighe and Isabell Hyleylighe were married on the 16th day of September 1577

(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

In 1579 Michael served as the Sowerby Constable. The post of 6 November 2019 describes the role of the Constable and lists the Hileys who served in this position. It is likely that Michael was a man of some standing in the Sowerby community.

Michael and Isabell had three children - Susan (b 1578), James (b 1582) and Grace (b 1585). The family tree below shows Michael and his descendants. Some assumptions have been made in constructing this tree because there are not enough surviving records to confirm all the relationships. In time it may be possible to extend this tree and connect it to other Hiley trees from the 16th and 17th centuries and later ones.

 

Michael died in 1589 and left a will. He describes himself as 'Michaell Hilleley of the Hilleley in the township of Sowerby'. He made provision for his wife and three children and made Edmond Hilleley responsible for implementing his wishes. Edmond was probably his cousin.

Michael's son James became a rich man. In 'Yorkshire Diaries & Autobiographies in the 17th and 18th centuries - Some memoirs concerning the family of the Priestleys' Jonathan Priestley writes that 'Highlee of Highlee, in Sowerby.........was the richest man in Sowerby, when Sowerby chapel was built, having sixty houses and farms'.

On this day...Death of Herbert Henry Hiley

Herbert Henry Hiley was killed in action, aged 21, on this day 21st August in 1915.

Herbert was born in 1894 in Windsor, Berkshire, the son of John, the Court Postmaster, and Sarah. He attended the County Boys' School in Windsor and was School Captain in 1910-11. He was an all-round sportsman, especially in rowing, and competed in the Windsor and Eton Amateur Regatta on the River Thames in Windsor on 3rd August 1914, the day before war was declared.

Herbert worked for Parr's Bank at its London Threadneedle Street branch. His obituary in the bank's staff magazine noted 'He was a very great favourite with all who knew him, especially so with the members of the Football Club, who regarded him as one of their most skilful players.'

He joined the Berkshire Yeomanry (regimental no. 1967) and was sent to Sulva Bay in 1915 as part of the Gallipoli Campaign. He was killed in fighting that took place on Chocolate Hill and Scimitar Hill. 

Trooper Herbert Henry Hiley

The Eton Excelsior Rowing Club Memorial

The Helles Memorial in Turkey is the main Commonwealth battle memorial for the whole Gallipoli Campaign, and also commemorates the 20,956 Commonwealth servicemen with no known grave who died in the campaign from 1915–1916 during the First World War.

The Helles Memorial

Herbert's name commemorated on the Helles Memorial
Included courtesy of Steve Rogers, The War Graves Photographic Project.

St Mary's Church, Luddenden

St Mary's Church in Luddenden has been in existence since the late 15th century. It was rebuilt in 1600 and then demolished in 1814.

Consecration of the church took place in 1624. This meant that it became a 'parochial chapel' rather than a 'chapel of ease' and so baptisms, weddings and burials could be carried out.

The present church was re-opened in 1817. A new chancel was added in 1866 and the church extended in 1910.

Stoddart's Old Halifax Series No 2
With thanks to Calderdale Libraries
http://www.calderdale.gov.uk/wtw/

Photo taken in 2017

There are a number of baptisms and burials recorded for Hileys and Highleys (and some Hyleys) at Luddenden, and a small number of Hiley marriages.

The first recorded Hiley baptism was that of Martha, daughter of James Hiley of Warley, on 21st March 1668. The first recorded Hiley burial took place the following year on 17th October when Sarah Hiley was buried.

There were four Hiley marriages recorded at Luddenden. The first one was the first recorded marriage at the church and was between Henry Hiley and Mary Swaine on 1st May 1661. Henry was living at the Hileley (Hiley) messuage at the time and went to live at nearby Hathershelf with Mary. These were properties just off Sowerby Lane on the hillside above Luddendenfoot in the Upper Calder Valley.

Marriage of Henry Hiley and Mary Swaine
(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

The other marriages at Luddenden were between Henry Hiley and Sarah Cockcroft in 1691 and Henry Hiley and Sarah Bedford in 1707 (most likely the same Henry), and between Deborah Hiley and Michael Oldfield in 1714. Deborah was the daughter of Henry and Sarah Cockcroft.

The churchyard was closed for burials in 1853 and a public cemetery over the other side of the river was opened in 1860. The earliest surviving gravestone is dated 1625. Research is continuing to establish whether there are any remaining gravestones which bear the Hiley/Highley surname.

Francis E Hiley

The next post in the series about notable Hileys...

Francis Ernest Hiley (1878-1965) was an illustrator of children's books. He was the brother of Wilfred Hiley, the forest economist, who appeared in the post of 18th June 2020.

Francis only had a minimal education but art and literature were his main interests. As a boy he was awarded a number of certificates for drawing, often reported in the local newspapers. In 1899 he was awarded a three year scholarship to the Royal College of Art. He was skilled in several disciplines and held a number of teaching posts in London. In 1913 he was able to abandon teaching in order to work full-time as an illustrator. In the First World War he served with The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force.

In 1923 he began contributing to The Strand Magazine. The illustration below was for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's science fiction short story 'The Disintegration Machine' published in The Strand Magazine in 1929.

During the Second World War Francis worked as a draughtsman at the Bristol Aeroplane Company.

Francis signed his work  Francis E. Hiley, F.E. Hiley or simply F.E.H. He was a prolific, accomplished and popular artist.

With thanks to Steve Holland for permission to use some material from his Bear Alley Blog.

Bear Alley: Francis E Hiley

On this day...Death of Joseph Highley

Joseph Highley was killed in action on this day 20th July in 1918.

Joseph was born in Ovenden near Halifax in 1880. His father Joseph was a Stone Quarryman and in 1901 the Census showed him working as a Stone Quarry Dresser.

He joined the Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) 2nd/4th Battalion. The Battalion was formed at Halifax and was involved in various actions on the Western Front. Joseph may have fought in the 2nd Battle of the Marne in July 1918, the last major German offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. He was killed in action on 20th July 1918, aged 38, and was buried at Marfaux British Cemetery near Reims in northern France.

Marfaux British Cemetery

Joseph Highley's gravestone in Marfaux British Cemetery
(Courtesy of Steve Rogers, The War Graves Photographic Project)

Samuel Hiley and his unknown friends

This photo shows Samuel Hiley, a great grandfather, second from the left, with three gentlemen whose names are unknown.

Samuel was born in 1853 and died in 1939. This photo was probably taken towards the end of his life when he was in his 80s. His wife Elizabeth died in 1931. The couple lived in Sunny View, part of the property on Top o' th' Hill Road in Walsden which Samuel had bought in about 1923. Later he moved in to a one room dwelling in the same property.

Embossed in the bottom right hand corner of the photo is the name 'Jesse Bontoft'. Jesse Bontoft was a photographer who had a business in Ilkley. After his death in 1925 his son Francis carried on the business.

In his memoirs 'HH remembers', Samuel's grandson Henry recalled his grandfather's trips to Ilkley: 

Sam Hiley (Grandfather Hiley) had found a nice billet at Ilkley. I think they called it the Semon's Home but it wasn't the sailors, that kind of seamen, it was Semon, and he found that he could have a week's holiday there at Ilkley for very little more than 10/-. That was the amount of his weekly old age pension. Anyway he went off to Ilkley for the week and Grandmother Hiley came to stay with us in Victoria Street...........

Semon's Home, Ilkley (left) Bench at top of drive (below)

The bench shown above looks as though it could be the one in the photo of Samuel and his friends. So it seems likely that the photo was taken on one of Samuel's visits to Ilkley. But who were the other three gentlemen sitting on the bench? They may have been other visitors to the Semon's Home at that time, or maybe friends from Walsden who went there to spend a week together.

Although he started his working life as a Cotton Weaver, by 1891 Samuel had become the manager of the Co-operative Stores in Walsden. The other men in the photo might have been former work colleagues.

Samuel was an influential member of the Lanebottom Wesleyan Chapel in Walsden and one of the Chapel's Trustees for many years. The men in the photo may have been fellow Trustees or other leading figures in the life of the Chapel.

The men look to have been a similar age to Samuel and may have been family members. Two possibilities are a younger brother Joseph and a brother-in-law Frank Morris.

It is unlikely that we will ever know the identity of Samuel's three friends. It is always a good idea to label old photos, or write (carefully) on the back of them, or make a separate note of who is on them and where and when the photo was taken. If the photo has been scanned and a digital copy created, a note can be added to the file information details. This way future generations will not need to guess the identity of unknown people in a photo!

On this day...Birth of Cain Cornelius Highley

Cain Cornelius Highley was born on 11th June 1848. He was baptised four years later at St Peter's Church Walsden on the same day as his sisters Sarah Ann and Mary Jane, and his brother John.

Cain and Cornelius are unusual forenames and I have found no other instances of Hileys with either of these names.

He was the son of Thomas and Betty Highley. Thomas was a Labourer and the family lived at 10 Gauxholme Fold.

Cain Cornelius was a Cotton Weaver. It appears that he never married and continued living in the same house until his death in 1914. The records show that he was buried at Cross Stone in Todmorden but there is no gravestone there to remember him.

Baptism of Cain Cornelius and siblings
(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

Gauxholme Fold (left), Todmorden (above left), Knowlwood (above right), Gauxholme viaduct, Rochdale canal.
Walsden is to the right
(photo taken from Naze 2018)

St Paul's Cross Stone in Todmorden (2)

 The Hiley graves

All the nine Hiley/Highley graves were identified and photos and the names shown on the gravestones are shown below.

Willie Hiley 1893-1895

John Hiley 1860-1937

Mary Ann Hiley 1860-1930

Arthur Hiley 1885-1939

Harold Hiley 1891-1918

Arthur, Harold and Willie were the sons of John and Mary Ann (nee Graham). The family lived at Russell Street. Millwood, Todmorden. John and Arthur both worked in a Corn Mill.

Harold, killed in action in France in WW1, featured in the Post of 22 August 2019.

Esther Hiley 1873-1952 Esther Marshall was the second wife of Tom Hiley. They married in 1932. The other people buried here are: Abraham and Mary Marshall (Esther's parents). Grace Marshall (Esther's sister) Willie Crossley (Esther's first husband) Arthur Woodhead (Esther's nephew)

There are two spaces in the graveyard where no gravestone is present but where Hileys are recorded as the owners of the plot.

The photo below shows a plot recorded as 'Owner Hiley Knowlwood'. It is not clear which Hiley of Knowlwood owned this grave since a number of Hileys have lived in Knowlwood over the years. 

The entry for the second one is 'Owner Thomas Edmond Highley, Crossley Street (Dawson erased)'.

Thomas Edward (not Edmond) Highley married Mary Grace Dawson in 1904. The records show that they were both buried at Cross Stone - Thomas Edward in 1939 and Mary Grace in 1933. But there is no gravestone to remember them. Perhaps there was no gravestone made - just a reserved plot which was never used. Or perhaps the gravestone was removed at a later date because it was broken or unstable. Thomas Edward and Mary Grace had two children, Will and Clifford.

Arthur Highley 1871-1949

Annie Mary Highley 1876-1936

Arthur was a brother of Thomas Edward. His father William was a Master Clogger from Halifax but Arthur was born in Todmorden.

The 1911 census showed him working as a Ring Jobber in a Cotton Spinning Mill.

Edith Hiley 1890-1891 Edith was the daughter of Tom Hiley and his second wife Susy Ann (nee Stansfield). The other people buried here are: Richard and Sarah Stansfield (Susy Ann's parents) Martha, Mary and Sam (Susy Ann's siblings) Tom and Susy Ann and Edith's brother Fred are buried at Christ Church, Todmorden.

Sarah Elizabeth Highley 1864-1872 Tom Highley 1871-1872 Betty Highley 1836-1878 Jim Highley 1866-1891 John Highley 1836-1893 Annie Highley 1887-1888 Mary Highley 1843-1900 Sarah Elizabeth, Tom, Jim and Reuben were the children of John and Betty. Mary was Reuben's wife and Annie their daughter. Jim met a sad end when he drowned in a water drain at the Todmorden Union Workhouse. His story was told in the Post of 26th March 2019.

John Highley 1820-1866

Mary Jane Highley 1851-1874

Thomas Highley 1812-1876

Sarah Ann Greenwood 1844-1875

Mary Jane and Sarah Ann were the daughters of Thomas and Betty (nee Mitchell). John was Thomas's brother.

The gravestone has nearly fallen completely over. It was impossible to photograph all of the inscription but the 3 photos below were obtained by crawling under the gravestone and photographing parts of it.

James Highley 1836-1901

James Highley married Ruth Kershaw at St Thomas's Church, Heptonstall in 1866. Their son Edward was born in 1866 and daughters Ruth and Betsy two years later. Ruth and her daughters are all recorded as dying in July 1868 and are buried in the graveyard at Lumbutts near Todmorden.

James remarried the year after - this time to Alice Roberts (nee Smith). Alice's first husband John had died in 1867.

Alice and John's three children, James William, Martha Ann and Fred, along with John, are the other people buried in this grave.