The Hiley Peach

Hiley peach

Following on from last week's story of a ship named after a notable Hiley, this week's post features a fruit named after another notable Hiley.

Eugene Walter Hiley was a descendant of Georg Heyle who left Germany and arrived in Philadelphia in 1732. Georg's family adopted the surname spelling Hiley.

Eugene was born in Marshalville in Macon County, Georgia in 1860. He developed a strain of peaches known as the Hiley Belle peach. This peach was heavily planted throughout the middle Georgia region for several decades. It is now known as the Georgia Belle peach.

From 'The Peaches of New York' Annual Report 1917:

In spite of keen competition with many other early, white-fleshed peaches, there seems to be  a place for Hiley. Two characters make it notable in its class. It is the earliest commercial freestone, white-fleshed peach and it is rather better in quality than most of its competitors. Well grown, the peaches are large in size and handsomely colored but the fruits are not quite as uniform in either size or color as could be desired for a commercial variety. The trees, while productive, are neither large nor sufficiently hardy and vigorous to make an ideal commercial sort. Still, we must end as we began, with the statement that there is a place for Hiley because of earliness and high quality. The fruits, unfortunately, are easy prey to brown-rot.

Hiley originated with Eugene Hiley, Marshallville, Georgia, about 1886. Seeds of several varieties, including Belle and Elberta, were planted and from these sprang one tree which bore the fruit under discussion. R. A. Hiley, who seems to have first discovered its value, is of the opinion that this variety is a seedling of Belle crossed with Alexander. The new peach was first named Early Belle and the first crops were shipped under this name. Later the name was changed to Hiley. 

From 'Varieties of Peaches' by J.C.C. Price Horticulturist, August 1930

Prunus persica 'Hiley'

The Dredger 'Sir Thomas Hiley'

Sir Thomas Hiley

Today, as a change, we feature a ship which was named after Sir Thomas Alfred (Tom) Hiley (1905-1990), who appeared in the post of 12th May 2020.

The 'Sir Thomas Hiley' was built in 1971. It was a 'Trailing Sucker Hopper Dredger' and was sold and renamed 'Yong Ho 1' in 2001 to the South Korean company Yongho Industrial.

The dredger operated out of the port of Brisbane and spent most of its time in projects on the Sunshine Coast.

Trailing Sucker Hopper Dredgers are oceangoing vessels that can collect sand and silt from the seabed and transport it over large distances. They can be used for the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways as well as land reclamation and coastal defence and riverbank protection.

The 'Sir Thomas Hiley' dredger in Granite Bay
From website 'Heritage Noosa' - use of image permitted

Image from Dredgepoint - used with permission

Mankinholes Chapel (Part 5)

This is the final post in the series about the graveyard at Mankinholes, and looks at the remaining graves of Hileys or those with Hiley connections.

The post of 7th December 2021 told the story of John (Jack) Highley and his family. John, his wife Mary, and daughter Clara are buried at Mankinholes. Also named on their gravestone is their grandson Clifford Hall, who was killed when the bomber he was flying crashed in mountains in France in 1919.

Betsy Hannah was one of Charles and Betty's daughters - see Part 4 of this series. She married Frank Morris, a Picker Maker, in 1888. Pickers were strong leather attachments fitted to each side of a weaving loom to drive the shuttle across the loom.

Betsy and Frank had 3 children, Sam who died as a little boy, Aquilla, and Edgar. Edgar joined the Lancashire Fusiliers and served as a cook in the sergeant’s mess. He married Martha Williams while on leave in 1916 but died of pneumonia shortly afterwards. He was assistant organist at the Wesleyan Methodist church in Walsden.

Sarah and Clara were two more of Charles and Betty’s daughters. They both married but had no children.

Sarah married Fred Crabtree, a Picker Maker, and they lived on Hollins Road. Fred was Secretary of the Walsden Wesleyan Methodist church.

Clara married James Greenwood Stansfield. Clara and James were both Cotton Weavers in Walsden. Henry Hiley remembers ‘Aunt Clara’ occupying one of the single room dwellings in the Top o’ th’ Hill property for a time after James’s death.

The burial records show that all four were buried in the grave shown below but only the Crabtree names appear on the gravestone.

Mankinholes Chapel (Part 4)

Charles and Betty Hiley were the parents of Samuel (see Part 3), the grandparents of Harold and the great grandparents of Agnes (see Part 2). With them in their grave at Mankinholes are their children John, Sarah Ann, Grace and Charles Harrison, and also their grandson Percy. Charles and Betty had 11 children of whom 8 are buried at Mankinholes.

This Blog already contains a number of posts which mention Charles. Type Charles Hiley into the search box to see them, but be aware that other Charles Hileys will appear amongst the results.

Charles died in 1899, well before Henry Hiley was born. But Henry recalls:

In the Wesleyan Chapel in Walsden there was a ‘rogues gallery’ of worthy founders of the Chapel. One of the pictures was of Charles. 

Either Samuel or Charles changed the (Highley) name to Hiley. I have always believed it was Charles who was born in 1822 and married Betty Harrison. I never knew them but their graves were at Mankinholes. I read the inscriptions on the headstones and have never until recently known that I had any connection with any Harrison.

At the base of the gravestone:

THEY REST FROM THEIR LABOURS
PERCY, THEIR GRAND-SON,
AGED 5 MONTHS
C. HILEY. WALSDEN

Mankinholes Chapel (Part 3)

This post looks at another of the Hiley family graves at Mankinholes.

Samuel and Elizabeth were Henry Hiley’s grandparents. Samuel started his working life as a Cotton Weaver but later became Manager of the Co-operative Store in Walsden. Elizabeth, the daughter of a Cordwainer (Shoemaker), was born in Bradford. They lived at various addresses in Walsden, including, at the end of their lives, part of the property at the junction of Hollins Road and Top o’ th’ Hill Road which Samuel had bought in about 1923.

Henry recalls his grandmother's death in 1931.

.......... Shortly afterwards it was obvious that Grandma was very, very ill because her jaw dropped, her false teeth were sagging and we did what we always did in a crisis, we went next door. Mrs Hoyle would come in, she saw what was going on. Grandma had had a stroke. We sent for the doctor. We children were all ushered out of the house, we went next door to Mrs Hoyle's. I don't know how we got word to Father and Mother, and I don't know how Father managed to get in touch with the Semon's home at Ilkley. Maybe he went to the police station and the police got in contact but Grandfather Hiley came back. Grandmother was already dead and that was it. I remember the funeral tea that time. We went to a little cafe over the Co-op in Walsden and Grandmother's funeral was at Mankinholes again.

Henry’s grandfather, Samuel, died in 1939.

........... I didn't go to that funeral. The War had broken out and I was in two minds whether or not to go back up to Oxford for the Michaelmas term. That would have been my third year but I had already registered. I was 20 years old obviously and I was expecting to go into the Royal Navy, into the Fleet Air Arm, and the Government hadn't made up its mind whether or not men in their last year at university would be allowed to continue their studies and take their degrees, or not. I was liable for a quick call-up. I was of the age, so I cycled to Oxford. I spent a night in college. We decided that I wouldn't start the Michaelmas term and cycled back home. And I think it was in those 2 or 3 days that Grandfather was buried at Mankinholes.

Grave of Samuel and Elizabeth. Agnes, their 3rd child, died in infancy

Henry remembers Samuel:

Grandfather Hiley, living as he did on Hollins Road, only a cock stride away from the pub and bowling green, could be found up there most afternoons and evenings in summer, smoking his pipe and watching the bowlers. He had the whole of one side to himself, nobody else would sit close enough to smell his vile tobacco smoke. For stinginess, he always mixed his thick twist, a poisonous smelling tobacco, with herbs from the chemist's shop to reduce the cost of his smoking.

Mankinholes Chapel (Part 2)

This post looks at one of the Hiley gravestones at Mankinholes.

Ethel was Henry Hiley’s mother and the daughter of Henry and Martha (nee Parsons) Heap. The Heaps lived in Cornholme, a small village on the Burnley road going out of Todmorden. Henry Heap was a partner with James Ashworth in the firm Heap & Ashworth Cotton Manufacturers and they owned the Frostholme Mill in Cornholme.

Sam was the first child of Ethel and Harold. He was born in Walsden but moved with his parents to Victoria Street, Littleborough before the second child Edith was born.

Henry mentions Mankinholes in the very first chapter of his memoirs 'HH remembers', recalling his mother’s death in 1923 when he was just 4 years old.

………. I remember the day that she was buried at Mankinholes. The coffin was standing in our tiny living room and the relatives were standing round. I noticed grown men and women crying and I wondered how it could be that adults could cry. I thought crying was only for children. However I now realise why they were crying. It had been a bad, bad blow for the family.

Then Henry recalls the death of older brother Sam in 1929 when he was 10.

………..It was a great sadness to us when Sam had to go into hospital. He'd not been well but he was diagnosed with what I remember was called Gastric Flu. He went into the Infirmary at Rochdale. He was only in hospital a few days and, a calamity for the family, he died at the age of 21. Useless to speculate but I wonder what would have happened to the business if Sam had lived. He was an enterprising man. I can remember that funeral very well. Off again to Mankinholes, and I think I cried as never before.

Also buried in the grave of Ethel and Sam are Henry and Sam's sister Agnes and Agnes's granddaughter Caroline Emily.

Mankinholes Chapel (Part 1)

There are several generations of Hileys buried in the graveyard of the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Mankinholes, high on the moors above the Calder valley.

The next few posts will look at the history of the chapel, the Hileys who are buried there and Henry Hiley's memories of burials at the chapel.

From Calderdale Council Lumbutts & Mankinholes Conservation Area Character Appraisal 2008:

There is a long-established and strong tradition of non-conformism in the Upper Calder Valley - people in the area had always fought against outside authority and whilst their faith was very important to them, the community had largely dissented from the established church. A strong core of Quakers, formed in 1653, would meet illegally in each other's houses. Many local people were prosecuted for holding these illegal meetings, and for not paying their church levies. Pilkington Farm on Mankinholes Bank was well known at the time as a Quaker meeting house and was also used as a burial ground.

Other religious dissenters in the area included early Methodists, some of whom were known to and admired by John Wesley. Wesley himself visited Mankinholes in 1755, with the Wesleyan Methodists establishing a congregation there in 1814. A chapel was built to serve the communities of Mankinholes and Lumbutts as well as the surrounding area of Langfield, and a Sunday school was added in 1833. By 1836 the members of the congregation were at odds with each other and an eventual split occurred with a break-away group establishing their own chapel at Lumbutts in 1837.

The original Mankinholes chapel with the Sunday School building on the right
1905-1910
Included with the permission of Daniel Birch

The original Mankinholes chapel was entirely re-built in 1911, leaving the Sunday school as it was. When another chapel closed down in 1954 its stained glass windows were transferred to Mankinholes. The congregation continued to flourish, but the building declined with structural decay and dry rot leading to its demolition in 1979, with the stained glass being moved to the rival chapel at Lumbutts. The burial ground remains together with the Sunday school building which was sold off as a private residence.

Inscription on the old Sunday School building

Many of the Hileys who lived in Walsden in the 1800s and early 1900s were active in the Methodist Church. Henry Hiley wrote 'We were Wesleyan Methodists. My great grandfather, Charles, had helped to start a chapel in Walsden, my grandfather, Samuel, was a big worker there, my Uncle Frank as well.'

The graveyard at Mankinholes

There are 7 graves at Mankinholes with a total of 27 Hileys (or people with Hiley connections) buried in them.

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 4 - Burial in Luddenden)

David's body was brought back from Morton Beck and buried at St Mary's Church in Luddenden with his wife Dorothy who had died 34 years earlier.

St Mary's Church, Luddenden

There is a record of the inscription on the gravestone of David and Dorothy:

Here lieth the Body

of Dorothy the wife

of David Hiley of

Warley who depart

ed this life the (13?)th

day of January Anno

Domini 1733 in the

51: year of her Age.

Also the abovesaid

David Highley who

departed this Life

the 4th Day of Au

gust 1767 in the 68th

Year of his Age.

The grave was in the yard south of the church but there is no sign of it today. We know that some gravestones have been moved and areas grassed over and some have simply been lost over the years. Some have been stolen and used for building purposes, and some have been broken or damaged and removed. It is thought that for most burials the flat slab was the usual graveyard monument.

There were many Hileys/Highleys buried at Luddenden but only a handful of their gravestones can now be seen. Although none of David and Dorothy's 3 children stayed in Warley a number of the descendants of their son David were buried at Luddenden. Many of those buried were descendants of James, son of Henry, who was born in 1694, and some were descendants of Michael, born in 1692. At the moment it is not possible to confirm the relationship between David, James and Michael.

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 3 - Morton Beck)

David Hiley (snr) was buried at St Mary's Church, Luddenden on 12th August 1767. The entry described him as a Weaver from Ovenden, and that

He was drowned in Martin Beck on Rumbles Moor the 4th Instant and found the 11th Instant

(drowned on 4th August and found on 11th August)

Martin Beck is now known as Morton Beck and Rumbles Moor as Rombalds Moor.

Morton Beck is formed by the merging of a number of streams and rivulets on Rombalds Moor. The beck has a huge catchment area and flows for about 6 km before joining the River Aire between Keighley and Bingley.

Rombalds Moor

Morton Beck

In August 1767 disaster struck West Yorkshire following what was described as the greatest flood in living memory.

Below are some excerpts from The Leeds Intelligencer on 11th August:

About three o'clock on Wednesday morning last (5th August), the inhabitants about the bridge in this town, were greatly alarm'd with a sudden and uncommon swell in the river, which rose upwards of two yards perpendicular, in the space of an hour.

The river Wharf was higher than has been known for near 20 years past.

One farmer at Leathley lost about 20 sheep, and two horses.

At Morton Banks near Keighley, part of a house with the furniture were swept away; and a great number of other persons in that neighbourhood are almost totally ruined.

Great numbers of oxen, horses, and sheep in the feeding pastures were taken away by the current, some 3 or 4 miles.

A man, who was bathing at Dewsbury, was so terrified with the lightening on Tuesday night, that he unfortunately got out of his depth, and was drown'd.

We will never know the circumstances of David's drowning or why he was in that area at the time of the great flood. There were a number of mills built on the banks of Morton Beck over the years so perhaps he had left Ovenden to find work as a weaver there, even though he was aged 67 at the time. There are no records of other members of David's family living in that area at the time so it seems unlikely that he was visiting his family. From Ovenden to Morton Beck is a distance of about 12 miles.

Next post: David's burial

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 2 - David's children and his Settlement)

The parish registers for St Mary's Church in Luddenden record these two baptisms:

Mark Hyley, son of David Hyley of Warley, on 11th September 1720 and David Hyley, son of David Hyley, on 16th January 1725.

David's wife Dorothy died in 1733.

In 1744 David obtained a 'Settlement Certificate' from the parish of Warley regarding his move to the parish of Ovenden.

The Settlement Certificate

At this time every parish was responsible for looking after its own poor. 'Overseers of the poor' were officers who could give out poor relief to those who were unable to support themselves. The money came from a rate which the overseers levied on the better off households in the parish.

In 1662 an Act of Settlement was passed to define which parish had responsibility for providing a poor person with relief. A person's parish of settlement was usually his or her birthplace, but married women took their husbands' settlements and children their fathers'. 

After 1697 the poor were allowed to enter a different parish in search of work, so long as they had a signed Settlement Certificate guaranteeing that their parish of settlement would be responsible for paying their poor relief and would take them back if necessary. Without one, a migrant was liable to be sent back to his or her parish of settlement. An examination could be made if the parish of settlement was uncertain or if the new parish felt that the person was likely to become chargeable to them.

David's certificate

Reproduced by courtesy of Halifax Antiquarian Society, West Yorkshire Archives, Calderdale, HAS:73(236)80

The certificate confirms that David and his children Mark, James and David, have their legal settlement in the township of Warley and that this township will provide for them if they become chargeable to the township of Ovenden. The map below shows that Warley and Ovenden were neighbouring townships.

We have no record of a baptism for James but the order in which the children are listed suggests that Mark was the eldest, David the youngest with James in the middle. So given that Mark was baptised in September 1720 and David in January 1725 it seems likely that James would have been born in about 1722 or 1723. 

At the time of the Settlement, the approximate ages of the 3 children would have been: Mark 23, James 21 and David 19. Mark and James subsequently made the journey west along the Calder valley to Todmorden and became the patriarchs of the Hiley/Highley families who became established in the Todmorden and Walsden areas. David remained in Ovenden and his descendants became one of the leading family lines in the Halifax area.

Next post : Part 3 (Morton Beck)

David Hiley 1700-1767 (Part 1 - David's baptism)

The next few posts will describe what we know about David Hiley who was married in 1720 and died in 1767. David was a 6 x Great Grandfather.

 

Marriages at Halifax Parish Church in June 1720
David and Dorothy were married on the 7th
(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

David married Dorothy Maud in Halifax Parish Church on 7th June 1720. The record of the marriage  shows that he was a weaver and Dorothy was a spinster from Warley.

There is no record of a baptism for David so we do not know when he was born or who his parents were. However the inscription on his gravestone said that he died on 4th August 1767 in the 68th year of his age. This means he was born between 5th August 1699 and 4th August 1700.

At this time there were a number of baptisms for children whose father was shown as Henry Hiley.  Because of the timings of the baptisms it is likely that these were children from two marriages - Henry Hiley who married Maria Whittaker on 2nd February 1685/86 and Henry Hiley who married Sarah  Cockcroft on 20th December 1691.

Sarah was buried on 19th January 1700/01 and there are no more baptisms after this date. There were gaps between the baptism dates of the children where David might have been baptised so it is possible that he was the son of Henry but we can't be sure who his mother was.

Anne Mealia, Genealogist at Evergreen Ancestry writes:

David may not have been baptised: although the majority of children were baptised a few were missed; he may have been baptised but the baptism was not noted in the register; again this was not unusual as clerygmen often noted baptisms on pieces of paper before writing them up and sometimes these pieces of paper were lost. This is often why parish registers and the copies sent to the Bishop each year differ in some of the entries. He may have been baptised in a Non-conformist chapel for which records no longer exist or he may have been baptised a Catholic and registers for Catholics do not survive for this area. He may have been born elsewhere and in a place for which registers do not survive. His name may have been wrongly recorded or he may have been baptised with a name but used either a different first name or a different surname. If his mother was unmarried when he was born and she later married he may have taken his stepfather's name.

Between 1695 and 1706 there was a tax on each baptism and some families decided not to baptise their children. Some children were then baptised later after the law was repealed but there is no record of a possible later baptism.

Next post: David's children and his Settlement

Richard William Hiley

Richard William Hiley was born in Leeds in 1824. He was the son of Richard Hiley and the brother of Alfred Hiley - see previous posts. 

He entered St Mary Hall in the University of Oxford and graduated with a B.A. in 1852 and an M.A. the following year. He taught at the Liverpool Collegiate Institute, was ordained Deacon and licenced to the curacy of St Luke's, and then ordained Priest in 1854.

In 1861 he bought Thorparch Grange, a school with 41 boys aged 10 to 17, from his father. Two years later he succeeded his father-in-law as Vicar of  the nearby village of Wighill, appointing his brother Alfred as curate. In 1885 he became a Doctor of Divinity and a Bachelor of Divinity. He retired from Thorparch in 1891 after 30 years as Principal, and retired as Vicar of Wighill in 1910 after 47 years in that post.

Richard William married Isabella Jessop in 1861 and the couple had 9 children. He died at Boston Spa in 1912 and was buried in the churchyard at Wighill. 

Like his father, Richard William wrote a number of books, including three volumes of  'A Year's Sermons', based upon some of the Scriptures for each Sunday morning, and an autobiography 'Memories of Half a Century'.

Obituary in The Birmingham Post

In his autobiography Richard William stated that his father's ancestors came from Poole in Dorset and that one of them entertained King Charles. Previous posts have featured the 'Poole Hileys' but there is still no confirmation as to where this connection lies.

Richard Hiley

Another post in the occasional series on Notable Hileys.....

The post of 28th September 2020 featured Alfred Hiley (1831-1910), a clergyman, Mathematics teacher and writer of text books. Alfred was the son of Richard Hiley (1798-1872).

Richard Hiley

Richard was born in Hunslet near Leeds and went to Leeds Grammar School. He never went on to have the benefit of a university education but opened and ran a number of his own schools in Leeds, and in 1855 built and opened Thorp Arch Grange School, near Wetherby, which he sold to his son Richard William in 1861.

Richard was a prolific author writing over 30 educational books between 1831 and 1872. The books were published by Longmans and covered a wide range of subjects including Latin Grammar, Arithmetic, Geography, English Grammar and Composition and History. The title page of one of his English books is shown below.

Richard married three times and had a total of nine children including Alfred, see above, and Richard William, who features in the next post. He retired to Scarborough and then moved to Doncaster where he died in 1872.

The Hilileighs of Clifton (Part 6) John Hilileigh b 1698

John was the son of Thomas Hilileigh - see the last post.

He was baptised in St Michael's Church, Spurriergate, York on 15th December 1698. 

There are a number of records referring to John, the last of which is dated 2nd February 1743. However, there is no record of either a marriage or a burial for him, and no records for anyone with the surname Hilileigh (or similar) after 1743.

John Hilileigh's name appears on the UK Register of Duties paid for Apprentices' Indentures. The Register shows the money received for the payment of taxes for an apprentice’s indenture between 1710-1811. The registers kept track of the money paid by masters of a trade to have an apprentice. John is referred to as a 'Milliner', 'Merchant' or 'Mercer'.

A view of York in the late 18th century. Licence obtained

John was listed as a Subscriber to 'Eboracum: or, the History and Antiquities of the City of York, from its original to the present time. Together with the history of the Cathedral Church and the lives of the Archbishops'. He was also listed on the Register of the Freemen of York.

There is an entry for John in 'The Company of Merchant Adventurers in the City of York: Register of Admissions 1581-1835'. It shows that he was a milliner/mercer, apprenticed for 8 years to Samuel Colston of York, merchant, in April 1716 aged 16 years, admitted in February 1725/6 by indenture, and elected warden 1736-8.

We must assume that this Hilileigh family died out with John - a family with its origins in Sowerby which moved to Clifton at the end of the 1300s, a family that became prominent in the village with members who were important landowners in the area.

The Hilileighs of Clifton (Part 5) Thomas Hilileigh 1671-1702

Thomas was the son of Thomas Hilileigh who featured in the last post. He was baptised in St Peter's Church, Hartshead on 31st May 1671.

Thomas married Jane Thomlinson on 16th November 1687 in York Minster. They were recorded as being 'both of Yorke', so at some point before then Thomas must have moved from Clifton to York. 

The couple had children Judith (b 1692), Jane (b 1694), Robert (b 1696) and John (b 1698). 

The West Yorkshire Archives hold a number of records which mention Thomas, including the following:

Deed of assignment by the Commissioners appointed in the bankruptcy of Thomas Hilileigh, late of the City of York, haberdasher, of his real and personal property to Laurence Tomlinson, of York. The real property is in Clifton. With schedule of personal effects and of debts due to the estate.

(12th August 1703)

This indicates that Thomas died some time before August 1703.

Thomas's daughter Judith married Robert Jeeb in 1716 but she died just 2 years later along with her daughter Jane. Judith and Jane, and Judith's brother Robert were buried at All Saints Church, Pavement, York and the plaque in the church to commemorate them is shown below.

Thomas's wife Jane died intestate, and on 26th December 1719, administration of her effects was granted to her son John Hilileigh.

The entry of Jane's burial in the Register of All Saints, Pavement, York is:

December 4th 1719 - Mrs Jane Hilileigh, Widow, buried under the great blew stone in the north Quire, over against ye Quire Door and under the North side of the stone, close to Mrs Judith Jeeb, her daughter, & upon Mrs Thomlinson, her mother.

Other records in the Archives describe various land and property transactions in which Thomas was involved. He was admitted to the Freedom of the city of York.

The Hilileighs of Clifton (Part 4) Thomas Hilileigh 1636-1673

Thomas's signature in the petition for John Briggs

Thomas Hilileigh was one of the 7 children of Robert and Alice Hilileigh - see the last post. Robert died in 1669 and, as the eldest son, Thomas would have inherited the family's estates. 

Thomas married Judith Ellis at Hartshead in 1667. The couple had 3 children - Robert, Thomas and John. Thomas senior died in 1673.

There are a number of references to Thomas Hilileigh of Clifton, including the assessment of his home (Highley Hall) for the Hearth Tax of 1672, and then as a certifier in two Civil War petitions in 1668 and 1670.

Hearth Tax

The Hearth Tax was introduced soon after the Reformation with the object of trying to provide an adequate income for Charles II, and was repealed in 1689. It was an unpopular tax. Occupiers of properties worth 20 shillings or more a year were taxed at the rate of 2 shillings per hearth, paid in 2 instalments at Lady Day and Michaelmas.

In the assessment for Hartshead cum Clifton Thomas Hilileigh ('Hyley' in the records) was taxed on the basis of having 5 hearths. There were 61 properties assessed and only 4 were shown as having more hearths than Thomas, suggesting he was one of the wealthiest men in the area.

Civil War Petitions

During the Civil War of 1642 to 1651, Parliament, and later the restored monarchy, offered war pensions to wounded soldiers, as well as the widows and orphans of those who died in service.

In order to claim a pension, veterans and bereaved family members had to submit a petition detailing their service. These were often written for the claimant by literate acquaintances, who tried to make them appear as deserving as possible, but claimants still had to defend these accounts in person as true in open court.

Thomas Hilileigh served as a 'Certifier' or 'Endorser' on 2 occasions - for John Briggs of Clifton in March 1668, and for Matthew Drake of Hartshead in January 1670. 

Matthew Drake's petition is shown below, with a transcription following it. 

To the Right Worshipful his Majesty's Justices of Peace at their General Quarter Sessions to be held at Wakefield.

The humble petition of Matthew Drake of Hartshead.

Humbly showing to your good worships that your poor petitioner served his late Majesty under the command of Sir Francis Armytage, Baronet. In which service, your poor petitioner was very sore wounded, lost two of his fingers, and was stripped and exposed to very much hardship, by reason whereof your poor petitioner is very much disenabled to labour for his living, having a wife and four poor children.

It would therefore please your good Worships to take premises into consideration and grant an order that your poor petitioner may be entered a pensioner in the stead of one Anthony Hepworth of Mirfield or Robert Ledgard of Durkar?, lately deceased, or any other whom your Worships shall think fit. And your petitioner, as in all duty bound, shall daily pray etc.

We whose names are hereunto subscribed do know the contents of this petition to be true.

John Greene
Christopher Empson
Thomas Nayler
Thomas Hilileigh
Edward Gibsone
John Ramsden
Samuel Drake
Nathan Drak

Ordered that what sum was due to Anthony Hepworth for this last quarter be paid by the Treasurer to the petitioner as a gratuity and that the petitioner be entered into the pension roll in the place of the said Anthony Hepworth and to receive the same pension the said Anthony Hepworth formerly received.

The records show that Matthew's gratuity was 10 shillings and that his annual pension was 40 shillings.

With thanks to the Civil War Petitions project for permission to use material from their site: Civil War Petitions

Next post: Thomas Hilileigh 1671-1702

The Hilileighs of Clifton (Part 3) Robert Hilileigh d 1669

Robert Hilileigh was the younger son of John - see the last post.

The initials over the front door of Highley Hall in Clifton may be those of Robert.

Robert married Alice Naylor in St Peter's Church, Hartshead on 18th February 1633/34. The couple had seven children - Dorothy, Thomas, John, Mary, John, Susanna and Sarah, all baptised in St Mary's.

There are several references to a Robert Hilileigh in the Wakefield Manor Court Rolls and this was most likely the same Robert. Among these are:

1639 Robert Hyley of Clifton sat on a jury at the Wakefield Court Leet
1648 Rob. Hileleigh was on a jury

1652 Robert Hileley sat on a panel of jurors in Brighouse and Northowram

When his father John died in 1615 Robert was left his father's lands in Shafton.

Robert's older brother Thomas died in 1629. In his will Thomas left his lands and properties in Clifton to Robert and so Robert inherited all his father's estates.

Robert died in 1669 and was buried at St Peter's but his gravestone is not with those of the other family members and has not been located.

Next post: Thomas Hilileigh 1636-1673

The Hilileighs of Clifton (Part 2) John Hilileigh d 1615

The first entry for a Hilileigh in the St Peter's Hartshead Parish Registers is the following:

15 March 1614/15  John Highlilegh buryed

John's is one of the three Hilileigh graves at St Peter's.

At the top of the gravestone:

Hic Iacet John Hilileigh

De Crose House In Clifton

Qui Obiit Decimo Quinto

Diae Marcii Anno Domini

1614

translated as:

Here lies John Hilileigh

Of Cross House In Clifton

Who Died the 15th

Day of March In The Year Of Our Lord

1614

The remaining lines in Latin are verses from a treatise on grammar by William Lily published in 1548.

(With thanks to David Hiley for his translation and research)

Cross House (or Cross Hall) was the earliest name of Highley Hall in Clifton.

We do not know a birth date or a marriage date for John Hilileigh.

There are references in the Wakefield Manor Court Rolls in 1587 and 1608 to a John Hilileigh, yeoman, who served as a juror in a court. A yeoman owned and cultivated free land which had an annual value of over 40 shillings. This may have been the same John Hilileigh who is buried at Hartshead.

There are two documents relating to John's death - his Will dated 28th February 1614/15 and an Inquisition Post Mortem dated 19th August 1615.

In his Will John bequeathed lands in Shafton, county York, to Robert his younger son, and lands in Clifton to Thomas his elder son. He made provision for his daughter Alice. John appointed his wife Jennet as his executrix and he left his apparel and some money to his brother Robert.

An Inquisition Post Mortem was an inquiry undertaken after the death of a feudal 'tenant in chief'' (a direct tenant of the Crown) to establish what lands were held and who should succeed to them. John's Inquisition suggests he was an important landowner with many acres of land, meadow, pasture and woods mentioned along with houses, cottages, gardens, orchards and other premises. His heir was his elder son Thomas whose age is given as 20 at the time of his father's death.

Next post: Robert Hilileigh d 1669

The Hilileighs of Clifton (Part 1)

The Hilileigh family of Clifton near Brighouse in Yorkshire has already been mentioned in this Blog.

'Highley Hall' on 19th March 2019 told the story of Thomas son of Thomas de Hylelegh of Sowerby who shot John Cockcroft of Wadsworth with an arrow in 1391. After this time a branch of the Hilileighs established themselves at Hilileigh or Hiley Hall in Clifton.

'Hilileigh graves at Hartshead' on 28th May 2019 identified the three family graves at St Peter's Church in Hartshead, the earliest of which was that of John Hilileigh who died in 1614, over 400 years ago.

The posts this month will say more about this family and some of its members. The family appears to have died out with the death of John Hilileigh, some time after 1743.

The family tree below shows all the members of the family I have managed to identify. St Peter's Hartshead Parish Records cover baptisms, marriages and deaths from 1615 to 1684. From 1692 to 1719 events were recorded in the Parish Registers of three different churches in York.

The Hilileighs of Clifton family tree
(Click on the tree to see a clearer magnified image)

After the move from Sowerby to Clifton, the Hilileighs became prominent in the village. There are several references in the Wakefield Manor Court Rolls between 1391 and 1665 showing members of the family serving as Constables and jurors. 

Next post: John Hilileigh d 1615

Sir Ernest Varvill Hiley

Another post in our series of notable Hileys....

Ernest Varvill Hiley was born in Wharfe in North Yorkshire in 1868. He was a 1st cousin of Ernest Haviland Hiley who appeared in the last post.

Originally a solicitor, Ernest was the town clerk for Leicester and Birmingham. 

Sheffield Daily Telegraph 5th November 1908
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. 

With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive 

(www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

He was knighted in the New Year honours in 1918 for work as the Deputy Director of the National Service Department.

In 1922 he was elected as the Conservative M.P. for Birmingham Duddeston but stood down the following year. He later served on two Royal Commissions. Ernest died in 1949.

Sir Ernest Varvill Hiley
(Image and licence obtained from National Portrait Gallery)

Sir Ernest Haviland Hiley

This is the next post in the series on notable Hileys.

Ernest Haviland Hiley was born in 1870 in Richmond, Surrey. His parents were Reverend Walter Hiley and Henrietta Jemima Stuart Forbes. 

He usually went by his middle name of Haviland and worked in railways all his life. He worked for the Great Northern Railway and then the London and North Eastern Railway, and in 1913 became General Manager of the Government Railways in New Zealand. He was awarded the C.B.E. in 1919 for services rendered in connection with the war.

He was a member of a number of Commissions including the Indian Government Commission on Administration and the Royal Commission on the local government of Greater London.

In 1925 he became the Railways Adviser to the Rhodesian Government and then Chairman of the Rhodesian Commission. In 1928 he was awarded the K.B.E. 

Ernest Haviland died in Cambridge in 1943.

Sir Ernest Haviland Hiley 1870-1943

'Railway Hiley'

Ernest Haviland Hiley married Brenda Lee Lord and the couple had two children, including Peter, another notable Hiley who will be the subject of a post shortly.

The family tradition is that Ernest was descended from the 'Poole Hileys', members of which have appeared in recent posts, but the exact connection has yet to be established.

Heptonstall St Thomas the Apostle graveyard

There are no monumental inscriptions naming Hileys in the Heptonstall graveyard.

The first Hiley burial was recorded on 21st April 1611 and was that of 'Joh'es Hilelighe de Ayring' - John Hilelighe of Erringden. There were 13 burials there between 1611 and 1807.

All the early burial entries record the person's abode as Erringden. 

The Parish of Heptonstall was one of the two ancient Chapelries of the Parish of Halifax, the other one being Elland. The Chapelry of Heptonstall contained the townships of Heptonstall, Stansfield, Wadsworth, Langfield and Erringden.

The Parish of Halifax

The Parish Registers for Heptonstall date from 1594. The first four baptisms recorded were for Mary (1601), John (1604), James (1606) and George (1608), all children of John Hylely of Erringden. John had married Alice Acroyd in Halifax Parish Church in 1598. The father John (Hilelighe) may have been the one who was buried in 1611.

Halifax St John the Baptist graveyard

Continuing the series on Calderdale churchyards where Hileys/Highleys were buried but no monumental inscriptions remain ..........

Parish registers were formally introduced in England in 1538 following the split with the Roman Catholic Church, when Thomas Cromwell, minister to Henry VIII, issued an injunction requiring the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials to be kept.

The earliest available registers for West Yorkshire are the Parish registers of Halifax, 1538-1593. These cover baptisms, marriages and burials which took place in the Parish church of St John's, Halifax.

The earliest Hiley burial recorded in these registers was that of Margareta, daughter of Johane Hylyle of Sowerby on 27th April 1540.

The Blogpost of 14th March 2019 showed the will of James Hilaleighe of Sowerby, written in 1577. In common with all the other wills available from this time, he requested that he be buried at Halifax:

.............and my body to be buried in the churchyard of Halifax among the bodies of the faithful there buried expecting with them to have a joyful resurrection...........

All Hiley burials up to 1611 took place in Halifax and up until 1799 Halifax accounted for over one half of all Hiley burials which had taken place in Calderdale up to that time.

A record exists for the burial of Luke Highley:
In memory of Luke Highley of Halifax who departed this life on the 6th day of March 1814 aged 63. Also of Sarah, his wife, who died on 26th Dec 1814 aged 64 years
(Area K, opposite end from D of W chapel)

The plan below shows the lettered areas of the Parish Church tombstones as they were in 1934.

David Glover writes:

Many sections including section K were completely grassed over circa 1950. So, no chance the Luke Highley stone will be visible today. The only sections visible today are E, F, GG, small part of L, M, N, Q, R and S - basically footpaths and walking areas.

There are many ancient tombstones under the grass we have been asked about over the years; they are still there, but inaccessible. Yes - buried, like those beneath! Fortunately The Friends of Halifax Parish Church carried out a full inventory of the inscriptions in 1934, which is why we are lucky enough today to have the MIs (Monumental Inscriptions) in full.

Very few ledger stones survive from the early 17th Century. The earliest are dated around 1630, though of course there may be more grassed over. Even within the building, there are hardly any pre Civil War. We are not clear if it was rare to have stones in the 1600s, or whether some older ones were later removed, broken up, and replaced. Thousands were buried over many centuries in the churchyard, we can tell from the Burials Register, and on more than one occasion rooms under the church were used as a charnel house for bones.

Sowerby St Peter's graveyard

Registers for baptisms and burials at St Peter's begin in 1643. There are five burials recorded in 1643, then a break until 1648.

James Hyleley of Hyley was amongst these first burials. James has already been mentioned in this Blog:

25 March 2020 - early references to the property High Lee in Sowerby

11 September 2021 - his father Michael's baptism and the family tree

19 November 2021 - described as the richest man in Sowerby

St Peter's Sowerby burial records
(with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service)
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives

Also buried at St Peter's were James's son James (buried 1680) and his son's wife Mary (nee Nailor, buried 1662). There were other relations of James buried here as well, including a number of infants.

There are no remaining gravestones bearing an inscription for any of these burials. 

                                                                    The church and graveyard today:

View from Towngate near the church looking across the Calder valley.
Sowerby Lane leading to High Lee is in the top left