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

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.

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.

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

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our readers - and welcome to the first post of the year.

A reminder that this Blog is for anyone who is a Hiley (or Highley), or who is related to one, or who has an interest in family history and genealogy. I would be pleased to include anything that others would like to contribute, either about Hileys or about a related topic.

This year, look out for posts featuring some history of  early Hiley families from near Halifax, and of Hiley families from further afield. And also more about Henry Hiley's service in the Royal Navy in WW2.

And a new regular feature:  On this day... An event or story about a family member from a particular day in the past.

This year I will continue to include occasional posts on the following:

Alfred Hiley

Notable Hileys

Already in this series:

Alfred Hiley (1831-1911) - a clergyman, mathematics teacher and writer of text books.

Wilfred Hiley (1886-1961) - a forest economist of world fame.

Thomas Alfred (Tom) Hiley (1905-1990) - an accountant, politician and public servant.

Joseph (Joe) Hiley (1902-1989) - Member of Parliament for Pudsey in Yorkshire from 1959 to 1974.

Hileys killed in WW1

Already in this series:

John Clifford Hiley's grave

Thomas Edward Hiley - his steam trawler struck a mine in the North Sea.

Herbert Hiley - his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German U Boat off the Dutch coast.

Frank Hiley - killed in Italy when an enemy shell he was inspecting exploded.

James Highley - a Rifleman from Halifax, killed in action on the Somme.

John Clifford Hiley - a Bombadier in the Royal Horse Artillery, killed in action in Belgium.

Albert Edward Hiley - an errand lad from Sheffield, Albert was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

James Joseph Hiley's grave

Horace Highley - from Halifax, Horace fought on the Western Front, was wounded and died three days later.

Leonard Hiley - fought with the Salford Pals and was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Norman Hiley - the youngest of seven children from Shipley, Norman was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Joe Hiley - a Lance Corporal with the York and Lancaster Regiment 8th Battalion which suffered very heavy losses including Joe on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

James Joseph Hiley - from Halifax, James was killed in action whilst fighting with the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment.

Families connected with the Hileys

Henry Heap

  Already in this series:

  The Heaps of Cornholme

  The Parsonses of Sabden 

A few reminders

You can contact me directly at christopherhiley@hotmail.com.

Click on an image in a post to magnify it.

Use the 'Search this Blog' feature to search for a particular name or post.

Let me know if you want to include an article or have a suggestion.

Looking from Hathershelf across to High Lee Green and High Lee. In the distance on the left is the Warley hillside across the Calder valley.

The Yorkshire Hileys came from this area.

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.

Wilfred Hiley

Another post on a notable Hiley......this time, Wilfred Hiley (1886-1961), a forest economist of world fame.

Wilfred Hiley occupied the post of manager of the Dartington Hall woodlands from 1931 to 1961. In 1956 he received a CBE in recognition of his services to forestry.

Having obtained a First from the University of Oxford in 1908, Hiley lectured in Forestry Economics from 1926 until 1930 at the Imperial Forestry Institute in Oxford. From 1923 until 1946 he was editor of the Royal Forestry Society and in 1950, he was elected the Society’s President.

Hiley was keen to practise his theories of economic management and operation. After acting as an advisor, he accepted the post of manager of the Dartington Hall woodlands. He was employed to take the estate forestry forward. His ideas of forest economics and species selection are still taught at schools of forestry and his redwood planting has become one of the most impressive parts of the entire estate.

He pioneered forestry management techniques which were used by the Forestry Commission to tackle severe timber shortages following World War I. 

He wrote several books, such as Improvement of Woodlands, 1931 and Economics of Plantations, 1956. A Forestry Venture, his most well-known work, was completed by Leonard Elmhirst, after Hiley’s death in 1961.

With thanks to Catherine Gledhill at Dartington Hall for permission to use the photo and information about Wilfred Hiley.

Wilfred Hiley in the Dartington Hall woodlands

Sir Thomas Alfred Hiley K.B.E.

Today's post continues the series on notable Hileys.

Tom Hiley

Thomas Alfred (Tom) Hiley (1905-1990) was an accountant, politician and public servant who was born in Brisbane in Australia in 1905, and is one of a select group of Hileys to be knighted.

Tom Hiley entered the Legislative Assembly of Queensland in 1944 and represented various districts until his retirement in 1966. He was Treasurer of Queensland from 1957 to 1965 and leader of the Liberal Party of Queensland from 1949 to 1954 and again in 1965.

Tom Hiley opening a Fish Depot in Queensland in 1959

He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.) for service as Deputy Premier of Queensland.

Tom's father William was born in Bradford in 1873, and his ancestry can be traced back to David Hiley, a weaver from Warley near Halifax, who married Dorothy Maud in 1720.


(Photos in the public domain)

Joseph Hiley M.P.

The blogpost today is the first of an occasional series on notable people who had the Hiley or Highley surname.

Joseph (Joe) Hiley (1902-1989) was Member of Parliament for Pudsey in Yorkshire from 1959 to 1974. He was a member of the Conservative party and of the Conservative Monday Club. He became Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1957.

Joseph Hiley Lord Mayor of Leeds 1957

His maiden speech in Parliament was in April 1960. The entry in Hansard is shown below.
(Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.)

Mr Joseph Hiley (Pudsey)

Pudsey, or, as it is familiarly known in Yorkshire, Pudsa', the constituency which I represent, has always enjoyed a wider and greater fame than its Member of Parliament. Nothing happened last October to invalidate the truth of that assertion. Its renown, however, has been gained, not, as it might have been, by the excellence and variety of its products, but rather because it has produced more first-class cricketers than any other place in the world. Herbert Sutcliffe and Sir Leonard Hutton are household names, but the Borough of Pudsey also gave Yorkshire, and, indeed, England, Halliday, Booth and. for those who can remember, Tunnicliffe.

It may not be as generally known that within the constituency of Pudsey is a place called Rawdon, from whence comes Brian Close and from whence came the late Hedley Verity, who performed as valiantly on the field of battle as he did on the cricket field.

The Pudsey constituency, too, has produced Illingworth, who has recently been with the England team in the West Indies. To assure the Committee that we shall not rest on our laurels, I want hon Members to know that in our present No. 1 in Yorkshire, Brian Stott, we have a man who is ready now to take his place as No. 1 for England. Surely, no place in all the land, including Scotland and Wales as well, has ever produced so many great players of England's grandest game.

I thank hon. Members for the indulgence they have shown so far, because they must be wondering what all this has to do with the Budget. The only connection I can think of is that I realise I am indeed batting on a sticky wicket. I hope that the indulgence of the Committee will be extended a little longer. To pursue the simile, I hope that nobody will walk in front of the sight board for another moment or two.

I have mentioned that the fame of Pudsey might have been gained by the excellence and variety of its products— wool textiles, engineering, dyeing, the making of perambulators and the distribution of food—which come from large numbers of small firms which have been built up during the last 50 or 100 years and which, in the main, are still controlled by the descendants of the founders. By comparison with the large concerns in the country today, they are indeed small, but they make a vital contribution to the economy of the country. In fact, I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that they make at least an equal contribution to that which is provided by the industrial giants.

Happily for the wool textile trade, the habits of the people are such that they do not encourage it ever to develop in large units, and unless we all dress in uniform, that is not likely to happen. In order to stress that point, I particularly refrained today from wearing my House of Commons uniform. In matters of taxation, private companies are treated the most harshly. I realise that I must not be controversial today, but when I refer to the ploughing back of profits, I believe I shall secure the support of hon. Members on both sides of the Committee.

I wonder if those hon. Members who advocate the ploughing back of profits realise that the Inland Revenue can, and indeed sometimes does, come along to private companies and make a tax
assessment on the distribution which the tax authorities themselves think ought to have been made. It is quite true that they do not say that the distribution has to be increased, but, by virtue of their authority and their ability to make assessments, it means that a greater distribution will be made, because I have never yet found the human being who, having been taxed, does not make sure that he gets the money on which the tax has to be paid.

The late Sir Stafford Cripps sought to alleviate this evil by restraining the tax authorities from wielding this weapon too vigorously, and I suggest to my right hon. Friend that he, too, might now unfold his umbrella and so consolidate and fortify the resources of private firms. So far as I know—and I am not an economist, but merely one of the little men trying to keep the wheels going round—that is where investment in industry could come from, and that is where those who have been engaged in industry all their lives look for the money with which to fortify their businesses. If the Chancellor takes it all, I cannot see where the investment in industry is to come from.

The ploughing back of profits creates another hazard for the private firm, especially the one which is director controlled. Section 55 of the 1940 Finance Act was particularly severe on private companies. I am not quite sure, from the Chancellor's Budget statement on Tuesday, reported at the top of column 61 of the OFFICIAL REPORT, whether the proposed changes in Estate Duty refer particularly to Section 55, but I hope that it is intended by my right hon. Friend to ensure that wives and families will be preserved from the penal and evil effects of Section 55, as it appears in the 1940 Act.

Many small firms continue to be swallowed up into larger organisations, and this is not good for the country. It is brought about almost entirely by this penal system of high taxation. Sometimes, amalgamations take place, but they are not always possible, and when they do not take place, something even worse could often happen, as indeed it does on occasions. Firms controlled by private companies have closed down as a result of Estate Duty and other forms of high taxation.

I welcome the Estate Duty concessions which have been made by the Chancellor, but the levels are still too high and ought to be lowered. I think that the value to the Exchequer of what the Chancellor secures from Estate Duty is quite insignificant compared with the disruption which it causes to family businesses. So long as Estate Duty remains, I would respectfully suggest to the Chancellor that he should help those in private industry to find ways by which they can make payments easier in order to provide for possible assessment of Estate Duty.

Why should not the Chancellor allow individuals to create during their lifetime funds which would not be subject to aggregation in their estates after death, something on the lines of tax reserves? Insurance could probably assist one in this dilemma of providing funds to meet Estate Duty, but it is expensive. Then, of course, there are some lives which could not possibly be acceptable to the insurance companies. I think it is far better for a man to be able to face this problem during his lifetime with some certainty, rather than leave it behind for his wife and family, who in most cases are far less able to cope with that situation than he is himself.

High taxation has a devastating affect on the private company, and, incidentally, on those employed therein, and if it is not remedied, we shall find owner-management and indeed competition gradually being eliminated. These are absolutely vital characteristics of private enterprise, and, therefore, I hope that the Chancellor will take heed. 

A group of mill hands talking to local M.P. Mr Joe Hiley

J B Battye & Co 

Yeadon 1959

With thanks to Aireborough Historical Society for permission to use the photos. They appear on their website http://www.aireboroughhistoricalsociety.co.uk/default.aspx

Notable Hileys

The Oxford English Dictionary defines notable as ‘worthy of attention or notice’. This is a collection of people with the Hiley surname who might be described in this way. Only deceased persons are listed.

Future Blogs will give some more details about these people but please contact me with your own suggestions, and provide a short biography if you wish.

Peter Haviland Hiley 1921-2008

A theatre company manager, Peter Hiley devoted himself to Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, and, after their deaths, to their estates and families. Olivier called Hiley his "fixer of fixers". He was a director of the Olivier Foundation, the Old Vic Trust Ltd and of the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.

Joseph Hiley 1902-1989

A Conservative party politician and M.P. for Pudsey for 15 years and previously Lord Mayor of Leeds.

Sir Ernest Haviland Hiley 1870-1943

Usually went by his middle name of Haviland. Father of Peter above. He was general manager of New Zealand Railways during WW1 and later chairman of the Rhodesian Railway Commission.

Sir Thomas Alfred (Tom) Hiley 1905-1990

Accountant and politician. He was treasurer of the Australian state of Queensland and leader of the Liberal party in Queensland.

Richard Hiley 1798-1872

Author of a number of school books on Arithmetic, English, Latin and Geography. Lived in Leeds and opened his own schools.

Captain Frank Hiley d. 1918

The most highly ranked Hiley killed in the First World War. From Pontefract in Yorkshire. He died in 1918 aged 24. Served in the Yorkshire Regiment and rose from the ranks and became Captain through his own efforts.

Peter Hiley 1598-1675

Twice mayor of Poole, he entertained Charles II at his home in 1665.

Mary Hiley 1722-1778

Great granddaughter of Peter above, Mary married Dr Anthony Addington, a Royal Physician, and was the mother of Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, the U.K. Prime Minister from 1801 to 1804.

Wilfred Hiley 1886-1961

A forestry economist, he received an OBE in recognition of his services to forestry. Manager of the Dartington Hall woodlands, he wrote a number of books and lectured on woodland management.

Sir Ernest Varvill Hiley 1868-1949

Born in Yeadon, Yorkshire, a solicitor and town clerk, and also M.P. and a member of Royal Commissions. Knighted in 1918.