Nellie Catlow 1898-1951

Nellie, the sixth daughter of Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow, was born Nelson in 1898, her birth was registered in the 3qtr under the name of Nellie, as was her marriage, so it seems it was her real name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the 11 Apr 1925 Nellie married Fred Maden in the St John’s Church in Great Marsden, Nelson. They had three children: Joan Winifred 1926-1982, John Christopher 1929-2014 & Kenneth Alan 1936-1944.

Fred & Nellie lived in Nelson all their married lives, Nellie passed away on 24 Jul 1951 and Fred on the 16 Apr 1970, they are both buried in grave 340A in the St Paul’s Churchyard, Nelson.

Here we have a photo of four of the Catlow sisters plus husbands in the garden at Braeside, date unknown.

Next time we have the four youngest daughters.

Millicent Catlow 1896-1978

Millicent, known as Millie, was born 3 Apr 1896, after her parents, Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow, had moved to the town of Nelson in Lancashire where their home ‘Braeside’ was built.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above photo was taken about 1913, Millie on the right with her older sister Lizzie. On the right she is sitting in the living room of her grandparent’s home Braeside.

Millie married Thomas Henry Shackleton in 1925 and they had one daughter. The photo below is them in the garden at Braeside, dates unknown for these two photos.

 

Millie died in 1978 aged 82 and Tom in 1983 aged 87.

Tomorrow we have sixth daughter Nellie Catlow.

Mary Elizabeth Catlow 1893-1919

The fourth daughter of Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow was Mary Elizabeth, known as ‘Lizzie’. She was also born in Bacup, Lancashire, her birth was registered in the 3qtr of 1893. There are only two photographs of Lizzie as she died at the young age of 25 in the Spanish Influenza epidemic, her death is registered in the 1qtr of 1919.

A pretty young girl, seen here with her younger sister Millie with other relatives on what looks like either a ramble in the bush or perhaps a picnic nearby.

It is dated ‘prob 1913’ and in pencil is a calculation of what looks like someone’s birth date and how old they would be in 1913.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn’t seem to be either Lizzie or Millie’s birthday though as their births were registered in 1893 & 1896.

The other photo of Lizzie is the one previously published on her sister Annie’s page, she’s in the middle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll post more on the group photo in a later article. Uncle Dick Dobson was the brother of their mother Millicent Dobson.

 

Next time it’s the turn of fifth daughter Millicent Catlow.

Constance Catlow 1890-1981

Constance Catlow, or Connie to her family & friends, was the third daughter of Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow, born on the 31 Jan 1890 in Bacup, Lancashire. Here we have a photo of her sitting inside the family home ‘Braeside’.

And a couple of her at a younger age, it looks like she was either a member of a theatrical group or was going to a fancy dress party, in the photo on the left she is dressed as Mercia in ‘the Sign of the Cross’ and the other photo looks to be taken in the same studio around about the same time, date unknown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1920 Connie married James Wilkinson, in this photo her father, Thomas Watson, is next to her with her sister Millicent as bridesmaid.

Connie & James had one daughter, Millicent born in 1922, she died in Australia in 2012. There is one last photo of Connie with Libby Wilkinson, on the back is written Auntie Libby Wilkinson (Uncle Tom’s wife), I would say Tom Wilkinson was most probably James’ brother, although Libby seems to be quite a bit older than Connie.

In later years Connie & James went to live with their daughter in Cumbria where Connie passed away on the 1 Mar 1981, James’ date unknown.

Next time we turn to next daughter Mary Elizabeth Catlow.

Martha Ann Catlow 1887-1919

Martha Ann Catlow, or Cissie to her family & friends, was the second daughter of Thomas Watson and Millicent Catlow. Born in Bacup, Lancashire her birth was registered in the 2qtr of 1887.

 

On looking closer at this photo, from the earlier article on her sister Annie, I see now that Cissie is definitely the one on the right. A lovely young woman and look at that tiny waist.

Cissie was living with her parents & siblings in 1891 in Newchurch & 1901 in Nelson. In the 1qtr of 1910 she married Harry Stanley Hartley in the Burnley Registry Office. They had two sons, Stanley and Kenneth.

 

 

 

I’m not sure when her two sons were born but both would have been after the 1911 census because in that she says she’s been married for one year and had no children, they were living in Wickworth St, Nelson, the one for sale on the right.

                                    Stanley                                                    Kenneth

Cissie sadly passed away in the 2qtr of 1919 aged 31, she is buried in the Nelson Cemetery, Walton Lane, Nelson, plot 4 grave 294. Husband Harry died in 1959 aged 71 and son Kenneth in WWII.

Lastly, a photo of Kenneth, a real boy with grubby knees, sitting in what looks like the garden at ‘Braeside’, the home of his maternal grandparents.

 

Next time will be Cissie’s sister Connie’s turn, the third of Thomas Watson & Millicent’s ten daughters.

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Richard Johnson, Lord Mayor of Bradford 1926-1927

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s photo is one I’ve had for many years and had put into the too hard basket because Richard Johnson is such a common name. This morning I was looking through my photos and for some reason this one caught my eye and on examining the back of it in minute detail noticed some words had been cut through on the edge:-

This was the clue I needed and it all started coming together after I did a bit of searching in Google and the online English newspapers. First I came across the fact that there was a Richard Johnson who was a J.P. and an Alderman on the Bradford City Council from 1896. This is part of the information about the ‘Memorial Institute Building in Esholt’ from the British Listed Buildings website:-

INTERIOR: The main entrance leads into a small porch area with doors to the main hall and the kitchen area to the left. The main room occupies the whole of the main block and has a wooden floor, half height tongue and groove panelling and a suspended ceiling. Above the suspended ceiling is the original roof structure with 4 trusses supporting a boarded roof and lit by the dormer windows. In the wing is a kitchen area, with modern fittings, divided from the main hall by a folding wooden and glazed screen, original. To the right of the kitchen is a cupboard housing the boiler, the original of which is in a display cabinet in the kitchen. At the far end of the hall is a door to the toilet block, rebuilt from a smaller original. On the rear wall is a framed stone inscribed THIS STONE WAS LAID BY/ THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SEWAGE COMMITTEE/ CITY OF BRADFORD./(ALDERMAN RICHARD JOHNSON J P)/ 30th JUNE 1920. Also on the rear wall is a metal plaque reading PARISH OF ESHOLT/ ROLL OF HONOUR/ EUROPEAN WAR/ 1914 1918, with a list of 53 names in 3 columns.

I even found a photo of it but no they weren’t the same steps that Richard Johnson was standing on so I turned to the newspapers and found the following:-

The date was a surprise to me as I had thought the date of 1925 written on the photo was his death date and presumably the 13 Sep 1855 his birthdate. But then I found his obituary in 1931 and realised the photo had most probably been taken by the newspaper when he first announced he was going to stand for office before the elections, well that’s what I’m presuming. This is the closest I can get to the steps at the Bradford Town Hall in Google, but to my eye they look hardly any different to those in the photo:-

 

His obituary finally put me on the path to tracking down the right Richard Johnson in the various census.

It mentioned that he was a shop assistant in Bingley then he moved to Bradford where he was connected with a millinery business. First I searched for a marriage in FreeBMD in either 1876 or 1877 (50 years before his two years in office), there was only one in Bradford but that Richard Johnson had the middle name of Frank and in all the sources for this Richard so far there is no mention of a middle name. So then I tried familysearch.org and found this marriage that looked promising, why I thought it might be the one is that I had found a Richard Johnson in the 1861 census who had been born in Bingley and his father’s name was John. In the 1871 census this Richard was boarding away from home aged 15 and a draper’s assistant, so far so good.

Marriage:
Name: Richard Johnson
Birth Date:1856
Age: 21
Spouse's Name: Sarah Ainsbury
Spouse's Birth Date: 1856
Spouse's Age: 21
Event Date: 04 Apr 1877
Event Place: Dudley, Worcester, England
Father's Name: John Johnson
Spouse's Father's Name: George Ainsbury
Marital Status: Single
Spouse's Marital Status: Single
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M01465-6
System Origin: England-EASy
GS Film number: 1470600
Reference ID: 89 p 45

By 1881 they had settled in Dudley, Worcester and Richard was an Inn Keeper with one daughter Edith Ainsbury Johnson. In 1891 they were back in Yorkshire and settled in Bradford and Richard was now a Draper and they had five children. In 1891 they have six children and Richard is still a Draper, visiting them is Edith Leaf who was a ‘milliner’s saleswoman’ so perhaps it was Edith that Richard later went into business with, maybe she ran the business while he was working for the council. In the 1911 census he was a Milliner with one of his daughters also in the business. So in all the census nothing is ever mentioned about him being an alderman, if it wasn’t for this photograph we might never have known!

There is one little niggle I have about all of the above, according to Richard’s obituary the ex-Mayor only had one daughter and one son when he died but in the 1911 census it tells us that Sarah had given birth to 8 children with 6 of them still living, surely 4 more of them hadn’t died before Richard? Possible I suppose.

 

    © Crown Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London, England. 1911 Census.

The obituary also says his son is Mr H. G. Johnson but none of this Richard’s children have those initials although one of his sons was a town clerk (before he became a solicitor) & lived in Reading.

What do you think? Am I right in thinking this Richard is the one in the photograph or is there a mistake in the obituary? Unless I can find some descendants for this family I guess I’ll never know.

 

 

Richard Johnson died on 23 Jan 1931 at 17 Salisbury Gardens, Jesmond, Newcastle on Tyne and on the 26 Jan was buried in the Jesmond Cemetery.

 

 

 

 

 

References: FreeBMD; ancestry.com.au; familysearch.org; British Listed Buildings; Google; FindMyPast

 

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If anyone knows anything about or is connected to this JOHNSON family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

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Annie Catlow 1885-1957

Annie Catlow, the eldest child of Thomas Watson & Millicent Catlow, was born on the 23 Aug 1885 in Bacup, Lancashire, her birth was registered in the 3qtr of 1885, in the Haslingden RD, no baptism found.

This looks like the earliest photo I have of her, her sister Lizzie looks to be about 10 to 12 so probably taken around 1905 or so, Annie would be about 20. Above is what is written on the back but comparing it with the other photos I think Annie is the one on the left although the other sister looks to be older, it’s hard to say for sure. They are standing outside 38 Temple St, Nelson, Lancashire where they were living in 1901 & 1911 before the family moved to ‘Braeside’ in Nelson. Here is what the house looks like today, it hasn’t changed that much, the top of the fence has gone, the front door & windows have been replaced but the downpipe is still there in the same spot and the brick work on the fence is exactly the same!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Annie on the right, which one in the first photo do you think she is?

Annie married Edward Dean Moore, better known as Teddy, in 1919 and they had two sons, Harry Dean 1920-1994 & Thomas Norman 1924-2003, both births registered in the Burnley RD.

Here we have two photos of Edward Moore, one in his cricket gear and another in army uniform, the visible word on his epaulette looks like ‘Rings’, but is most probably ‘Kings’. Interesting to note that the first one was sent as a Christmas card to Annie’s sister Connie, perhaps a little bit of intrigue there?

Finally we have one of Annie taken from a group photograph of her with her friends, I will post about them later.

 

 

Teddy Moore died in 1930 at the young age of 44, his death  was registered in the 4qtr at Burnley RD. Annie died on the 17 Dec 1957, aged 72.

Next time it’s Martha Ann Catlow’s turn, better known as Cissie.

Thomas Watson Catlow 1865 - 1924

Thomas Watson Catlow, son of William & Mary Catlow, was born in 1865 in Trawden, Lancashire. Trawden is a medium sized village in the Trawden Forest parish of Pendle, at the foot of Boulsworth Hill, in Lancashire, England. Agriculture was the main industry of the village and surrounding area, although it did have several mills, most of which have now been demolished for, or converted to, housing.

So far no baptism has been found but his birth was registered in the 2qtr of 1865, in the 1871 census Thomas Watson was aged 5, living with his parents and siblings Richard 14, Martha Ann 11 and baby James 11 mths at 80 Todmorden Rd, Newchurch in Pendle, Lancashire. They were still there in 1881 then in the 2qtr of 1885 Thomas Watson Catlow married Millicent Dobson. Over the next 30 years they lived variously in Bacup, Newchurch in Pendle and finally settling at 39 Moore St, Nelson in a house named ‘Braeside’. Here they are in the 1911 census living at 38 Temple St, Nelson:-

Thomas Watson followed in his father’s footsteps working in the cotton weaving industry, first as a weaver gradually working his way up to a cotton loom overlooker. During this time he & Millicent had ten daughters, Annie, Cissie, Connie, Lizzie, Millie, Nellie & Winnie who all survived to adulthood. Triplets Rose, Lily & Violet were born in August 1900 but tragically Lily & Violet died before their first birthday in the 2qtr of 1901 and Rose soon after in the 4qtr. There were no sons.

Moore St, Nelson as it was in 2009 thanks to Google. I’ve been up and down it but there doesn’t seem to be a #39, it certainly doesn’t look anything like the house in the above photo with Thomas sitting in the garden but I expect that was the garden at the back of the house.

Thomas died at the Swinton Grove Nursing Home, Upper Brook St, Manchester on 20 Sep 1924, aged 59, and probate of his will went to his widow Millicent. Millicent died on the 22 Mar 1931, aged 67, at their Braeside home and the probate of her will went to her son-in-law James Wilkinson, overlooker.

Addendum 2-6-14: My thanks to Julie, a descendant of Thomas & Millicent, who tells me that due to subsidence, ‘Braeside’ was demolished and re-built half a mile away, she doesn’t know when but probably more than 50 years ago, it was originally more or less at the end of Moore St about where the blue arch is in the above photo. The address is now 50-52 Whitwick Rd, Nelson, and this is what it looked like in July 2011. Julie also sent me a copy of Thomas Watson Catlow’s obituary:-

Both Thomas Watson & Millicent were buried in the Nelson Cemetery, plot 4 grave 189, the same grave that daughter Cissie  Hartley was buried in.

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Tomorrow we continue with Thomas & Millicent’s eldest daughter Annie Catlow.