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Newbie related to Smiths who lived in Leeds late 1800's

Posted: Sat 13 Feb, 2016 9:06 pm
by EdT
I arrived here via a Google search for Ceres Ridge who was married to my 2nd great aunt Maria Smith. A poster here mentioned that his Great Uncle was Ceres Ridge who ran Ridges Confectionery.

By the looks of the children's birth records records my 2nd Great Grandfather (William John Smith) moved from Liverpool to Leeds between 1886 and 1888.

The 1891 census records list him as a joiner living in 14 queens Terrace.

In 1901 he is listed as living at number 12, he is still a joiner, his eldest son (my Great Grandfather) William Hulme Smith is a Coach Builder, Edward Joshua Smith is an Electrical Engineer and Reuben Jones Smith is also an Engineer though I can't make out the rest of the writing for his occupation.

By 1911 My Great Grandfather has moved out to India to work on the railways. The rest of the family are living at 44 Chandos Place Lidgett Lane Roundley Leeds. William John is now listed as a Coach Builder for Tramways (Electric), Edward Joshua Smith is an Armature Winder Tramways (Electric) and Reuben is a fitter Bidos (Steam pipe) whatever that is.

I can't work out when the family started working on the trams or if William John originally moved to start working as a coachbuilder in which case I guess they would have been involved with the first of the electric trams. I gather there were several independent companies running trams to start with though not so much on the electrical side. Does anyone have any idea which company they likely worked for?

Re: Newbie related to Smiths who lived in Leeds late 1800's

Posted: Sat 13 Feb, 2016 10:42 pm
by jim
They may have worked on the old pre-electric horse and/or steam tram trailer vehicles as a coachbuilder. Some of these continued to run until c1908, and suitable staff would have transferred to work on the new system.

Re: Newbie related to Smiths who lived in Leeds late 1800's

Posted: Sun 14 Feb, 2016 8:29 am
by tyke bhoy
EdT wrote:The rest of the family are living at 44 Chandos Place Lidgett Lane Roundley Leeds.
Chinese whispers. It may have been an error by the census writer, poor handwriting or your interpretation of the changing form of letters but Roundley was surely Roundhay or Roundhey.

Sorry I can't help with any of the rest other than backup Jim's assertion that carriage making would be a transferable skill from the horse drawn type to motorised vehicles which is why the trade still exists today in bus, train and car manufacturing plus the occasional artisan still making the horsedrawn variety.

Re: Newbie related to Smiths who lived in Leeds late 1800's

Posted: Tue 16 Feb, 2016 10:06 pm
by EdT
Thank you both for your replies, it was indeed errors on the census writers part and me missing that correction. The original transcription had them living at Chandos Plean, Roundley and working for the Tramwaps :)