Matthew Hiley the Organist

Matthew Hiley was baptised in St Mary's Church, Illingworth on 9th January 1780. He was the son of Matthew, a Weaver in Ovenden, Halifax and Hannah (nee Wilson). Matthew's ancestry can be traced back to Henry Hiley of Warley who died in 1732.

The next record we have of Matthew is his marriage to Nancy Waterworth on 13 May 1832 in Melling, a small village to the east of Lancaster in Lancashire.

The following year their first child James was born. The baptism record shows the family living in Hornby, a village near Melling. Matthew is described as a 'Musick Master'. James was the subject of his own Blogpost on 14 February 2019 entitled 'James Hiley the Boatman'.

Three more children were born while the family were living in the same area - Lydia in 1835, Elizabeth in 1837 and Hannah in 1839. On each baptism record, Matthew is described as an 'Instrument Tuner & Organist'.

St Martin's Church, Bowness-on-Windermere

Soon after Hannah's birth the family moved to Bowness-on-Windermere where Matthew obtained a job as Organist at St Martin's Church. Three more children were born there - John in 1842, Grace in 1845 and Jane in 1848. They lived in the township of Undermillbeck (north end).

From the Kendal Mercury
28 January 1843
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) 

Matthew died in 1854 aged 75. His death was registered in Kendal but his burial place has not yet been established. Nancy went on living for another 30 years. In 1881 she was still in Bowness, living with her son John, a Tailor, and his wife Mary Jane.

A family history trip to Calderdale - 7 Christ Church, Mount Pellon

 This is the last post in this series. 

There are 11 separate references to Highley families in the burial records for Mount Pellon Church. Of these 2 are shown as 'empty plots', 3 are 'unmarked graves', 4 have readable gravestones, 1 has an unreadable gravestone, and 1 shows the names of two Highleys on a WW2 memorial inside the church.

Buried in this grave are Betty Highley and her children James and Ellen.

Betty and her husband John lived in New Pellon and had eight children altogether.

All the family were employed in the weaving industry. The 1861 Census shows that John, Betty and their daughter Mary were all Worsted Weavers, James was a Cotton Piecer, and their sons John and Thomas were Worsted Spinners. In the 1851 Census the older children Elizabeth and Hannah were Mule Operatives and Ann was a Handloom Weaver. Ellen died in 1856, aged 10.

  

In 1931 William Highley married Elizabeth Sutcliffe (nee Tidswell). Elizabeth had previously been married to Fred Sutcliffe who died in 1918.

William first married Mary Tattersall in 1879 and the couple had three children - Frank, Annie and Olive. Mary died in 1930.

In the 1939 Register William and Elizabeth were living at 11 Woodhead Street, close to the church at Mount Pellon. William was described as a Retired Carpet Layer. Elizabeth died in 1941 and William in 1947.

On 1st August 1898 in Halifax Parish Church, Fred Highley, aged 24, a Labourer of Sky Alley, Halifax, married Leah Jowett, aged 25, of Bank Bottom, Southowram. The couple had three children, Annie, Vincent and Ernest. In 1921, Fred, Annie and Vincent were all working for Patons & Baldwins Ltd, Hosiery Manufacturers in Halifax.

The post of 23rd February 2019 was about Horace Highley who was killed fighting in Belgium in WW1. Horace is commemorated on the family gravestone at Mount Pellon.

Also named on the stone are his father Joseph, his mother Lilly (Charlotte Elizabeth, nee Thomas), his sister Clara, and his brother George Thomas.

George Thomas was killed in a railway accident which became the subject of a court case. His story will be told in a future post.

Inside the church, near the altar, is a memorial to the men of the parish who gave their lives in WW2. Amongst the list of names are Fred Highley and Robert Highley. The lives of these two soldiers will be covered in a future post.