Todmorden List of Paupers 1864

 Today's post looks at the Todmorden Union List of Paupers for 1864.

This document includes lists of persons whose relief was charged to the various townships of the Todmorden Union for the half-year ending March 26th 1864.

The information given was no. of males, no. of females, no. of children, no. of orphans, name, residence, cause of relief, relief given.

There are 4 Hileys/Highleys included in these lists:

M    F    C    O    Name                    Residence                Cause of Relief                Relief             

Township of Todmorden & Walsden

1     1     2           James Highley      Smails                      Rheumatism                    £0    7s  0d

       1                  Samuel Highley    Knowlwood             Old age                              £4  16s  0d

1     1     2           James Highley      Generalwood           Insufficient earnings     £0     8s 0d

Township of Erringden

1     1     6           Joseph Hiley         Jonny-gate               Without work                  £2     0s 0d

James Highley

James was born in 1839, the son of Reuben and Betty (nee Hudson). He married Mary Ann Lord in 1857. By 1864 they had had 2 children, Sarah Ellen and Reuben. They had 7 further children - Haigh, Hannah, Thomas, James, Lord, Emma and Mary Ann. James was a Carter. The census records show a number of residences in Walsden - Nicklety in 1851, Inchfield Fold in 1861, Newbridge in 1871, Strines in 1881 and 1891 and Smails (Smales) in 1864 at the time of this list.

Samuel Highley

Samuel was born in 1797, the son of John and Grace (nee Ogden). He married Mary Mitchell in 1817. The couple had 8 children - Thomas, Sarah, William, Mary Ann, John, Edmund, James, Joseph and George, but by 1864 all the children had left home. Samuel's occupation is given as Cotton Spinner in 1841, Cotton Carpet Weaver in 1851, Twister in Cotton in 1861, and Mule Spinner in 1871, two years before his death.

James Highley

James was the son of Thomas and Betty (nee Mitchell). He was born in 1839 and married Ellen Harrison in 1858. By 1864 they had had 3 children - Alice Ann, who died in infancy, Alfred and Harrison. At this time he was working as a Cotton Scutcher and living at General Wood in Walsden, not far from the Hollins Inn and Top o' th' Hill Road. James and Ellen had 6 further children - John Thomas, Sarah Ellen, Mary Ann, James Thomas, Martha Jane and Betsy. Ellen died in 1876 and James married again the same year, this time to Salome Wearne (nee Northey). He died in 1900.

Joseph Hiley

Joseph was born in Ovenden, Halifax in 1828 and married Eunice Wilcock in Heptonstall in 1852. By 1864 they had had 6 children - William Henry, John, Mary Ann, James, Hannah and Thomas and the document shows Joseph as being without work. Joseph and Eunice had 5 more children - Emma, Clara, Ada, Alfred and Sarah Ellen.

More about Joseph and his family in the next post

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)

On this day... Marriage of Tabitha Highley and James Naylor

Tabitha Highley and James Naylor were married in Halifax Parish Church on this day 27th February 1781.

Tabitha's parents Mark and Mary (nee Law) were married in St Thomas's Church in Heptonstall on 26th March 1754. Their first two children, John and William, were baptised in Heptonstall and their last three children, Tabitha, James and Hannah were baptised at St Mary's Church in Todmorden.

The post of 2nd November 2020 told how Mark and his brother James moved west away from Warley at some time in the 1750s and thus became the first Hileys to take up residence in the Todmorden area. Tabitha was baptised on 7th February 1760 and was the first member of the family to be baptised in Todmorden.

St Mary's Church, Todmorden

Tabitha and James's marriage record shows that they were both from the township of Warley in the parish of Halifax. James was a Comber - his job was to disentangle and straighten out the wool fibres ready for spinning. The couple had several children and grandchildren, one of whom was called Tabitha after her grandmother.

Warley Poor Rate Assessment 1790

An entry for James Naylor appears in the Ancestry catalogue of West Yorkshire Rate Books, Accounts and Censuses, 1705-1893.

Rates were collected in each parish for support of the sick and poor, maintenance of roads and churches, and other parish expenses. The rate payer was the person responsible for paying the local taxes and could be the owner or occupier of the property. Rates were assessed based on a dwelling’s value. 

The Warley Poor Rate Assessment for 1790 shows that James Naylor owned or occupied a property valued at £7 10sh and was required to pay a poor rate of 2sh 11d in the pound, and so had to pay a sum of £1 1sh 10½d.

(In today's money, £7 10sh = £7.50, 2sh 11d = 14½p, £1 1sh 10½d = £1.09)

Warley First Poor Rate for the year 1790

An Assessment for the necessary relief of the Poor and for the other purposes in the several Acts of Parliament mentioned relative to the Poor for the Township of Warley in the West Riding of the County of York made and Assessed the 21st Day of June being the first rates at 2 Shilling and 11 pence in the Pound for the present year.

We having carefully viewed and valued the above said Township of Warley and have Regulated the same in the following manner as contained in this Rate as Witness our Hands

Thos Forster

Wm Horsfall

Wm Bancroft

Entry for James Naylor in the Poor Rate Assessment

Extracts from the Ancestry catalogue included with the permission of West Yorkshire Archive Service
www.wyjs.org.uk/archives