Another John Readman, plumber & joiner, my great, great, great grandfather!

The one thing I have found when researching family history is that the further I go back the less there is to find out about someone. True there are baptism/christening records, a marriage,maybe two, certainly a burial, and between various children, and occupation, but precious little else, unless the person is wealthy & famous. This what I thought when I first started looking at John Readman, father of Thomas Tatterson Readman, not Featherstone as I discovered in the last blog. He was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire in 1798, his baptism/christening was at St Mary's Church, Scarborough, on 16 September 1798, son of William & Mary Readman. Then there is a big gap until he marries Hannah Hudson on 20th June 1818 at St Mary's Church, Scarborough. John's father was a William Readman, and his mother was Mary Tatterson. William married Mary Tatterson at Cloughton Parish Church, just north of Scarborough on 31st December 1789.

In fact yesterday I confirmed that marriage of William Readman & Mary Tatterson:

I have the entry in the Cloughton Chapelry Marriage 1754-1812 fiche as:-
31 December 1789 William READMAN labourer and bachelor of the parish of Scalby to Mary TATTTERSON spinster of the parish of Scalby, by banns, witnesses John OUTHET and Henry BAINES (who seems to witness a fair few marriages), ceremony performed by Thomas Preston, vicar.

So this is the lady, from whom Thomas receives his second forename, which showed me that I was on the right track. Back in 2000, having found this result I then went searching for William's forbears, and found that the only William Readman unmarried in 1789, was a William Readman born in Egton, North Yorkshire, the son of John Readman & Sarah Dowson. John & Sarah had a farm between Goathland & Egton Bridge, seen on the map as Dowson's Garth.  Anyway I will deal with that family in another post, but let's get back to John, the plumber in 1818 & joiner when his eldest son Thomas Tatterson marries Elizabeth Dufton in Selby Yorkshire, in 1845.

John & Hannah between them had 8 children, Thomas, 1818, Scarborough, Elizabeth, 1820, Scarborough, William & John, 1822, Hunslet, Robert, 1830 died 1831 in Hunslet, Mary, 1831, Hunslet, Lydia, 1835, died 1837, in Hunslet, & Jane, 1837, Hunslet, died 1900 in Hull.

 On 6th June, 1841, the first census of any worth, John & his family are living in Hunslet, a parish close to Leeds, Yorkshire, about 60 miles inland from Scarborough. Reference: HO107/1345/6

John and his wife Hannah are living in Pottery Field, Hunslet, with their family. The entry reads:-

John Redman, 40 yrs, Joiner, J, (journeyman), born in Yorkshire

Hannah Redman, 40 years, born Yorkshire

Elizth Redman, 15 yrs, born Yorkshire,

John Redman, 15yrs, Fireman, born Yorkshire,

Willm, 15 yrs, born Yorkshire,

Mary, 10 yrs, born Yorkshire,

Jane, 3 yrs, born Yorkshire.

So on first glance, it would appear that 3 children are 15 years of age, so maybe triplets, whilst Mary is 10 & Jane is 3. But in fact the 1841 census the ages were rounded either up or down, they were never exact, the place of birth was not recorded, and neither were the relationships. Missing from the list is Thomas Tatterson Redman, but we know he was most likely in Selby at this time living in a railway house somewhere. A map of that area (published 1847), shows that Pottery Field was in the vicinity of the North Midland Railway Terminus

In fact John Redman, shown in the census of 1841 to be 15 years, was in fact, 19 years, a "steady lad"!

This article from the Leeds Mercury describes his occupation, age, and company he was employed by & sadly how he died:

The Leeds Mercury (Leeds, England), Saturday, September 11, 1841; Issue 5623

RAILWAY ACCIDENT:- On Saturday evening, an inquest was held at the Court House, before John Blackburn, Esq., on the body of John Redman, a stoker, employed on the York and North Midland Railway. The deceased was the “Fire Fly” engine, and on Friday morning at five o’clock, left Leeds for York with a load of goods; the engine returned with another train to Leeds, at which place it arrived a little before ten o’clock. It appeared from the evidence of an old man who saw the train passing, that previous to entering under the fifth bridge from Leeds, the deceased climbed from the tender to the top of the first wagon, on which he was standing upright, when his head came into forcible contact with the bridge. On being removed to the Infirmary, his skull was found not to have been fractured, but compression of the brain had produced a stupefaction which ended in death in a very short time. The evidence of Mr. Allison, house surgeon to the Infirmary, went to show that the injuries thus described were sufficient to have produced the appearances exhibited by the deceased when brought to the Infirmary. Verdict;-“Accidentally killed”. The deceased was  19 years of age, and a very steady young man.

So if John was 19years on  Friday 10th September, 1841, he was born about 1822. Unfortunately I have been unable so far to find his baptism/christening. 

His sister, Elizabeth, shown in the census as also  being 15 years of age, was in fact a little older than this. Elizabeth Redman married John Bowser on April 9, 1842, at Leeds Parish Church. The marriage record, shown below, says that whilst John Bowser was of full age, so 21 or over, his bride was a minor, so under 21. 

Number 132: John Bowser, of full age, Bachelor, Plumber/glazier, of Cannon Street, son of William Bowser, a butcher, & Elizabeth Redman, minor, spinster, Hunslet, daughter of John Redman, joiner.

John Bowser signed the register, whilst Elizabeth made her mark. Ann Bowser, was a witness. 

So Elizabeth must have been born around 1822/23, and in subsequent census she states she was born in Scarborough. Mind you her younger brother William, Readman was born around 1822 or 1826, he never seems to know how old he was, but when he died in 1904, he said he was 82, so born in 1822! He says he was born in Leeds, so his baptism will confirm his birthday. In 1841, the family are in Pottery Field, Hunslet and William is 15 in  making him born around 1826, but we know that has been rounded up/down.  I found that William Readman was living in Hunslet in the 1851 census. He is at the the house, aged 26 years,  with his two sisters, Jane aged 14, born Hunslet, and Mary aged 19, born Hunslet. This would mean he was born around 1825. It seems that William stayed in Hunslet with his unmarried sisters Mary and Jane, and his married sister Elizabeth, and his brother-in-law, John Bowser who owned 14, Manby Court, who is listed as a voter in the 1851 burgess rolls.

 No. 148 14 Manby Court, Hunslet St. Judes, John Bowser: Head;Married, 31, Plumber/Glazier, Hull

                                                                         Elizabeth Bowser, Wife, Married, Scarboro, Yorks.

                                                                         Thomas Frederick Bowser, son, 4, Hunslet, Yorks

                                                                         Jane Marie, Daughter, 2, Hunslet, Yorks

                                                                        William Readman, Brother, 26, Engine Driver, Hunslet, Yks

                                                                        Mary Readman, Sister, 19, Hunslet, Yorks

                                                                        Jane Readman, Sister, 14, Hunslet, Yorks 

In fact, the house that this John Bowser owned, was sold in 1853:

Lot 1: IN POTTERY FIELD, HUNSLET. ALL those FOURTEEN several COTTAGES or dwelling houses, adjoining Ivory street, and known by the name of Manby’s court, and now or late in occupations of George Dixon, William Simpson, George Leatherick, John BOWSER, David Hepworth and others. And also all that plot of valuable BUILDING GROUND,, at the corner of, and fronting into, Ivory Street, near to Messrs. Cooper, Field, and Hood’s foundry, and well adapted for the erection of a public house, workshops, or other lucrative concerns.

Leeds Mercury Saturday July 9^th, 1853

All this means is that John Readman, father of all these children isn't living in Hunslet in 1851, but is in Hull then. So, what was his occupation in Hunslet, when did he arrive there from Scarborough, where did he live, where did he work? 

 The census, does not say for whom John senior was working for, but from a chance record in a local newspaper of July, 1838, we know that John was in fact employed as a joiner on the new railway between Leeds and Selby, which had been opened amidst a blaze of publicity on 24^th September, 1834. On the week, 21^st July, 1838, a Mr. VINT, sued the Leeds & Selby Railway Company for damages accrued when he was injured during a derailment on the railway line at Garforth, when the train in which he was being carried, came off the line, and several coaches over-turned. The incident, on 6^th September, 1836, was so minor that the local paper, the Leeds Mercury did not report it, but another paper, the Blackburn Standard did:  

The Blackburn Standard (Blackburn, England), Wednesday, September 21, 1836; pg. 2; Issue 88. 19th Century British Library Newspapers: Part II. 

“One of the carriages on train between Leeds and Selby got off and was thrown over by which a gentleman named Vint had his leg broken and some others received some severe bruises”

The case attracted some attention because of the ruling made at the end of the case by the judge. VINT, who had been carried in a coach, which did not turn over, broke his leg when he left the train after the accident. 

The Leeds Mercury (Leeds, England), Saturday, July 21, 1838; Issue 5454.

 

John Redman, not Readman, but then in the 1841 census, John Readman’s surname is spelt as Redman, so I think that the newspaper reported just spelt it wrong again.The Jury found for the plaintiff and the railway company was fined £400.

So with Elizabeth Readman saying she was born Scarborough, and we know Thomas was, it looks like John & Hannah moved to Leeds between 1820 & 1823. I haven't found the baptisms of Elizabeth, John or William Readman, maybe they were all baptised in Leeds and not in Scarborough, although we know Elizabeth was definitely born there.  

As for the railway, well when it opened in 1834, it had a passenger & goods yard in Marsh Lane, Leeds. However by 1841 passengers were leaving Leeds to York and beyond from a station in Hunslet, close to where the Readman family were living. The station can be seen on the map above. Railway mania then set in with loads of companies being formed and railways being built at a remarkable speed. It looks John, who had been employed by the Leeds & Selby in 1838, which was taken over by the York & North Midland, which soon owned the Hull & Selby, which opened in 1836. By 1851, John aged 49, and Hannah, aged 50 reside in Railway Depot,  Hull, in the parish of Holy Trinity, according to the census of that year. Staying with them on census day are John & William Bowser, aged 9 and 6 respectively, their grandsons. John is employed as a joiner.

I have included this map so you can see the proximity of Leeds and Hull. 

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT

The Hull Packet and East Riding Times (Hull, England), Friday, August 26, 1853; Issue 3582.

On 22nd August 1853, an accident occurred on the railway line between Hull and  Bridlington, about one and half miles from Cottingham village and station. One third class carriage was completely shattered, and was found lying on top of a second class carriage. Only one woman died in the accident a Miss Margaret Ake, daughter of Mr. Ake of Sykes Street, Hull, aged 25. Her father was a joiner, and identified her. She died when her skull was fractured. One of the tyres on the third class carriage, which was welded to the wheel was found to have shattered and the inquest held at Cottingham Station on the Tuesday afternoon, and later the Wednesday morning brought together many employees of the railway company, engineers, managers and some of the station staff.

John Readman, a porter, was next called but did not know anything of this particular carriage. He however described the process of testing every wheel of every carriage every time it arrived at Hull by sounding it with a hammer. As soon as any fault is discovered the carriage is ordered out and is immediately attended to and not suffered to travel again until it is repaired. William Bailey, another porter deposed that he tested the wheels of all of the carriages that morning before it left Hull to go to Scarborough. James Fenton, engineer in chief of the Low Moor Iron works gave some expert evidence concerning the construction of wheels and tires. Mr. E Wilson, locomotive superintendent for the York District gave evidence "The duty of Readman, Bailey and others is to examine the wheels and test them with a hammer: there is such a person at Scarborough" he confirmed that the railway was made in 1847, and that the carriage itself was made in that year. The jury found that the death was caused by the overturning of the railway carriage caused by the fracture of the wheel on the carriage.

The COTTINGHAM RAILWAY ACCIDENT

The Morning Chronicle (London, England), Friday, September 16, 1853; Issue 27061.

Following the above accident, when Margaret Ake died, another person died, namely a Mrs. Mary Sellars, and John Readman was again called to give evidence at the inquest held at Cottingham railway station on Wednesday September, 14th, 1853. John Readman said that in addition to the evidence he gave at the former inquest that they generally examined the ironwork of the carriage as well as well as the upper portion. Wheels had a variety of "ring" according to as the tire was tight or slack. If the broken part was on the line then it would not be easily discovered. If the tire was broken entirely through he could discover it by the ringing. The wheels of different makers had different sounds. Persons accustomed to it could tell whether it was put into a cast iron or wrought iron shell. William Bailey stated that he had detected one or two bad wheels. They had loose tires but were not broken. Whenever he found a bad wheel he always mentioned it to either Readman or Mr. Rutter.

In 1861, John is still employed as a labourer on the railway, still hanging on in his house, now given the address as the Coal Yard, Myton. According to the 1861 census, John & Hannah Readman born Scarborough, aged 61 & 62 Respectively live at Coal Yard, Myton. They have 2 children with them, Mary aged 24 & Jane aged 21 both born Leeds. The children are both servants and John works on the railway. The Bowser’s are also at this house in Coal Yard. It would appear that Coal Yard and Railway Depot are same area, both close to Collier Street.

Hannah Readman, John's wife died 16 October 1865 at Walker St, Hull, she was buried 18th October at Western Old Grounds Cemetery, Hull. John followed on 28 June 1873, in the same house.

Above is a form I obtained from Hull Bereavement Services as regards John & Hannah. The grave of John, Hannah and Mary Elizabeth(grand daughter) is situated in Spring Bank West, Hull, in the old Cemetery Grounds. These are very overgrown, and the and the grave sites almost obliterated. From the map in the Burial Grounds Service in Chanterlands Avenue, the area 44, is not visible but believed to be close to the junction of Spring bank West & Princes Avenue. I searched in the area but could not find the grave.

In the burial records at Hull, Chanterlands Avenue, John & Hannah are in that part of the cemetery reserved for Dissenters, which I believe must point to them being Methodist as opposed to church of England.

The grand daughter, was Mary Elizabeth Dillons Readman born to their daughter Mary on 5 September 1863, father not named. She lived with John & Hannah & mother Mary up to 1865, then with John to 1871, when she died 24 November 1871 of smallpox, which despite vaccination was still quite prevalent in Hull at that time.

So ended John & Hannah Readman, g, g, g, grandfather & grand mother.