Professor Hiley (part 2)

There are a number of mentions of Charles J Hiley in the Todmorden newspapers of the time. A selection is shown below.

Todmorden Advertiser & Hebden Bridge Newsletter
10th March 1876
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) 

Todmorden Advertiser & Hebden Bridge Newsletter
10th January 1908
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

The following appeared in an article entitled 'Some Local Musicians : Remarkable Records', and featured descriptions of organists, choirmasters and musicians who had given many years of service in the local community.

Todmorden & District News
26th September 1913
Newspaper image © The British Library Board. All rights reserved.
With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) 

Hiley's shop in Todmorden
(photo and description included with the kind permission of Daniel Birch)

Professor C. J. Hiley

Charles Joseph Hiley was born on 14th March 1843 and baptised on 16th April that year at Cross Stone Church, Todmorden. He was the 9th and youngest child of John Hiley and Hannah Hiley (nee Bentley). John was a Spinner and the family lived at Midge Hole in Lumbutts. Midge Hole Mill was one of the Fielden group of mills.

Lumbutts c1910
(included with the permission of Daniel Birch)

By the age of 18 Charles was working as a Cabinet Maker. The family was still living at Lumbutts, their address being given this time as Causey. Causey or Causeway Mill was another name for Midge Hole Mill. All the family had worked in the Cotton Mill but by this time only Charles and his sister Emma were still living at home. Emma was a Frame Tenter and father John, now aged 65, a Cotton Packer.

In about 1867 Charles was appointed Organist at Heptonstall Parish Church. He was to hold this post for 43 years.

On 27th February 1869 Charles married Sarah Chaffer at Christ Church, Todmorden. The Census of 1871 showed them living at 3 Fair View in Todmorden along with their first child Fred, aged 1, the first of their 8 children. Charles was still working as a Cabinet Maker.

By the time of the census of 1881 the Hileys had moved to no. 8 The Crescent, Hall Ing. Fred had been joined by Mabel, John Walter and Amy Elizabeth. Two other children had died young - William Campbell had been born in 1878 but only survived for 2 months and Emily, also born in 1878, died at age 2.

The 1881 census described him as a ‘Professor of Music’. He was given this fine title on various documents about this time but there is no evidence to show how he earned it!

By 1891 the family had moved to Pavement, Todmorden. Living there with Charles and Sarah were Fred, a Cornmiller’s Clerk, Mabel, John Walter, Amy Elizabeth and Edith Hannah. Another child Mary Jane had died in 1887, aged 5. Charles’s occupation was again given as Professor of Music.

1891 census entry for Charles and family
(original image obtained from Ancestry.com - used with permission)
https://www.ancestry.com/

The family moved again and in 1901 were living at no 22 Rochdale Road. Charles’s occupation was now ‘Piano & Music Seller’. Fred had moved out of the family home but the 4 remaining children were still living with their parents. Mabel, aged 29, was a Piano Teacher. Charles served as a Town Councillor in Todmorden from 1903 to 1905.

Charles’s wife Sarah died in 1909, aged 66, and was buried at Christ Church. By 1911 the remaining family were living in Fielden Square – Charles, a Pianoforte & Music Dealer, Mabel and Edith Hannah, and a domestic servant.

Charles died in 1922, aged 79, and was buried on the 20th November at Christ Church. In the family grave are buried Charles, his wife Sarah, and children William Campbell, Emily, Mary Jane, John Walter, Mabel and Amy Elizabeth (who had married Sam Baldwin).

Probate was granted the following February to Fred Hiley, pianoforte dealer, and George William Jackman, assistant overseer. Charles left an estate valued at £2712 5s. 10d.

The family grave at Christ Church, Todmorden

More on the Professor in the next Blogpost

In the pink

There have been a lot of posts about soldiers who lost their lives in the First World War. A lot of websites (like the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site) give plenty of information about these men. But we don't always know as much about the men who survived.

Willie Hiley was born in 1874 in Sowerby Bridge near Halifax, one of the 10 children of John and Sarah Hiley. In the 1891 census he was described as a Worsted Tackler, and then a Worsted Spinning Overlooker in 1901 and 1911. In the 1939 register he was listed as a Retired Worsted Mill Manager. At this time he was living with his younger sister Elizabeth. It appears that Willie never married and he died in 1950.

Worsted is a high quality type of wool yarn. Although both are made from sheep's wool, worsted yarns or fabrics, as distinct from woollens, are considered stronger, finer, smoother, and harder than the latter. Worsted wool fabric is typically used in the making of tailored garments such as suits, as opposed to woollen wool, which is used for knitted items such as sweaters.

Willie served in the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) regiment which had its regimental depot in Halifax.

The following article appeared in The Halifax Courier on 21st October 1916.

Permission has been given by The Halifax Courier to include this article.

Croft Mills, Halifax

The following report appeared in The Illustrated London News on 30th April 1853.
(used with permission  - (c) Illustrated London News/Mary Evans Picture Library)

 

Croft Mill in Gaol Lane, Halifax was built in 1847 and owned by the card-makers Messrs. Leyland and Highley. The partnership was dissolved in 1858 and the business carried on by Henry Holt Highley as Henry Highley & Sons. Henry and his wife Frances (nee Sutcliffe) had 6 sons and 4 daughters. Of the sons, George Henry and Thomas Sutcliffe went into the family business.

Carding was a stage in the clothmaking process. Cotton fibres had to be untangled and straightened out. Carding involved getting all the fibres running in the same direction. This was a skilled process involving the use of a brush with spikes, originally done by hand and later by a carding machine. A carder was normally an experienced worker.

The postcard below dates from 1897.

The 1901 census recorded Albert Birkby as a self-employed leather merchant, the son of John Birkby, a card-setting machine tenter.

Albert Edward Hiley

This post is the next one in the series about Hileys who lost their lives in WW1.

Albert Edward Hiley was born in Sheffield in 1897. His father William Henry was a Sheet Steel Roller and he had 5 brothers including Ernest. In 1911 Albert was working as an Errand Lad.

He joined the York and Lancaster Regiment 8th Battalion. 1st July 1916 marked the start of the Battle of the Somme and the 8th Battalion began its assault near the village of Ovillers. Immediately after leaving their trenches they came under heavy machine gun fire and most of the men were killed or wounded. Only 68 out of 680 men returned and the Battalion had effectively ceased to exist. Albert was one of those killed in action.

His younger brother Ernest had been killed near Ypres in Belgium the previous November.

Albert was buried at Blighty Valley Cemetery, Authuille Wood, near Albert in northern France.

Alexander Hiley made a cycle trip to Blighty Valley to visit Albert's grave, almost 104 years to the day since his death. Some of his photos are shown below.

Walsden's cricketing Hileys

At the end of the 1890s and the beginning of the 1900s the pages of the Todmorden & District News contained a number of cricket reports and scorecards featuring appearances by Hileys. As many as six different Hileys played for some of the local teams.
                         

These excerpts are from the Todmorden & District News of 18 September 1908.


Knowlwood's opening batsman was J H (John Henry) Highley. Killed in WW1 in November 1914, he was featured in the post of 16 January 2019 when his 'Dead Man's Penny' was sold at an auction.

John Henry Highley

The Highley opening the batting for Inchfield Bottom was W (Walter) Highley, a cousin of John Henry.












Walter was joined by his younger brother Albert for this match against Walsden Wesleyans, reported on 13 May 1921.











                                                                                         

Walter Highley scored 36 out of a total of 131 in a match against Cloughfoot, reported on 14 May 1909.

Whilst only a modest effort in today's village cricket, 36 would have been an impressive individual score in 1909, and 131 a huge total for the team.

In the same paper that day, scorecards showed whole sides dismissed for less than 36. Eastwood made 23, Unitarians 24, Cornholme 32, and Mytholmroyd Wesleyans could only manage a total of 12!

All content on this page is included courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive 

Newspaper images © The British Library Board. All rights reserved. With thanks to The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

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