Family History in Leeds

Post by **cnosni** » Mon 10 Mar, 2008 6:06 pm

This is for anyone interersted in family research in the Leeds area.Any hints or tips that may be sought or offered are welcome from either those persons just starting out,or in the process of adding to their research. If you have hit a brick wall we may be able to help tooThis is my hobby and i am not a professional so i am unable to do look ups in the archives but i and others will do their utmost.For those of you with an interest in your family history you will find the accompanying threads on Secret Leeds are a great source to expand the depth of your research,and help put flesh on the bones of your Leeds ancestors.The contributors to Secret Leeds have a wealth of information about old Leeds and its various places,institutions,traditions,sayings and most notably Licenced premises.So if you have been attracted to this thread in your research then also take some time to peruse the rest of this site,especially those of you with a love of nostalgia,which of course as we all know isnt what it used to be.

Post by **chameleon** » Mon 10 Mar, 2008 6:34 pm

cnosni wrote: This is for anyone interersted in family research in the Leeds area.Any hints or tips that may be sought or offered are welcome from either those persons just starting out,or in the process of adding to their research. If you have hit a brick wall we may be able to help tooThis is my hobby and i am not a professional so i am unable to do look ups in the archives but i and others will do their utmost.For those of you with an interest in your family history you will find the accompanying threads on Secret Leeds are a great source to expand the depth of your research,and help put flesh on the bones of your Leeds ancestors.The contributors to Secret Leeds have a wealth of information about old Leeds and its various places,institutions,traditions,sayings and most notably Licenced premises.So if you have been attracted to this thread in your research then also take some time to peruse the rest of this site,especially those of you with a love of nostalgia,which of course as we all know isnt what it used to be. (If my wife sees this, I'll never get another chance to be on here... her favourite distraction!)

Post by **cnosni** » Tue 11 Mar, 2008 7:09 am

This site gives me a break from FH!!!!

Si · Post by Si » Tue 11 Mar, 2008 9:45 am

Hi, Cnosni,I have been researching my family tree also. So far, I've found about 700 ancestors. Although I have a Scottish surname, I have traced back as far as 1779, and all the relations with my name lived in Shelf near Halifax. However, in about 1870 the whole family upped-sticks and moved to Hunslet. I have always wondered why. Do you know of any significant event in Hunslet at that time which would have attracted them? They were all mill workers(worsted.)Cheers,Simon

Post by **cnosni** » Wed 12 Mar, 2008 11:24 pm

Si wrote: Hi, Cnosni,I have been researching my family tree also. So far, I've found about 700 ancestors. Although I have a Scottish surname, I have traced back as far as 1779, and all the relations with my name lived in Shelf near Halifax. However, in about 1870 the whole family upped-sticks and moved to Hunslet. I have always wondered why. Do you know of any significant event in Hunslet at that time which would have attracted them? They were all mill workers(worsted.)Cheers,Simon Hello simonSorry for delay in reply.Looking at the population of Hunslet in the previous decades to your family coming to Hunslet reveals a strong and sustained increase in its population over successive census.The population of Hunslet increased from 25,763 in the 1861 census to 37,289 in the 1871 census,thats an increase of 11,526 or nearly 30%,1851 census the population was 19,466,the figure for 1861 shows a 32% increase of 6297.The 1851 census shows a 23% increase in population.Clearly it was the rapid industrial expansion of Hunslet that attracted your family,and the better chance of employment that this expansion brought.To be fair you would have to say that even today that the Halifax area is not as economically important as Leeds was in the 19th century.This is reflected in the number of persons who commute to Leeds for their work on personal and public transport from the area today.In a way its no different now than then ( though Bradford was the larger centre of gravity at the time)except that people could not commute,so your relatives moved lock,stock and barrel to Hunslet to be close to the work.What i have found with my tree is that there is usually one member of the family that has made the move to Leeds,and then eventually the rest ,ie siblings and their partners and families,follow.I have such a probable story with a part of my tree on my mothers side, who came from the Scarborough area to Leeds sometime between 1905 and 1909.he only reason i can come up with this move is that my great great grandmothers brother had settled in Leeds and worked as a coachman.He appeared on the night of the 1891 census in Seamer,his place of birth and that of his parents,at the house of his brother whilst his wife and family remained in Leeds.One can only guess that he had told his brother of the wider opportunities in Leeds and that this filtered through to their sister,my great great grandmother and that his presence in Leeds led to her and her families move to Leeds.

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Thu 13 Mar, 2008 12:16 am

[quotenick="cnosni"] Si wrote: Hi, Cnosni,IIn a way its no different now than then ( though Bradford was the larger centre of gravity at the time)except that people could not commute,so your relatives moved lock,stock and barrel to Hunslet to be close to the work. This is true - people moved to where the work was. My mother's parents came to Yorkshire at the begining of the twentieth century from Staffordshire and Shropshire when the Doncaster concealed coalfield was first opened. There many examples of this, especially miners - I believe that there are examples in Leeds of Cornish mining families moving to Yorkshire for the same reason.

Si · Post by Si » Thu 13 Mar, 2008 9:48 am

Thanks for the info, Cnosni.I think you could be right in that one part of the family moves, and then the rest follow. It's interesting to notice the diversification in job titles (via the Census) once my family arrived in Hunslet. Previously in Shelf, they had all been in the mills, but within 10/20 years there were stationers, bottle makers, fitters, engineers and publicans. The latter must have done particularly well - it must have seemed quite a step up the social scale from working a loom to running a pub! My great great great grandad even ran a pub in Douglas IOM for a while before returning to Hunslet, although after death he was buried back in Shelf.CheersSi

Post by **cnosni** » Thu 13 Mar, 2008 12:47 pm

Si wrote: Thanks for the info, Cnosni.I think you could be right in that one part of the family moves, and then the rest follow. It's interesting to notice the diversification in job titles (via the Census) once my family arrived in Hunslet. Previously in Shelf, they had all been in the mills, but within 10/20 years there were stationers, bottle makers, fitters, engineers and publicans. The latter must have done particularly well - it must have seemed quite a step up the social scale from working a loom to running a pub! My great great great grandad even ran a pub in Douglas IOM for a while before returning to Hunslet, although after death he was buried back in Shelf.CheersSi My fathers family were in Woodhouse in the 19th century,they were Stone masons and builders the row of houses at the top of Victoria Road,near the Hyde Park pub,wer built by my 5x great grandfathers younger brother.However as the 19th century progressed their occupations diversified greatly from cloth drapers through to Cordwainers (producers of quality hand stitched footwear) and also publicans to name just a few.Si i hope you will contribute to this thread with any future queries from interested parties.I know i dont have all the answers (unlike some family hitorians who think they do) so as many contributors as possible are welcome.

Si · Post by Si » Thu 13 Mar, 2008 12:58 pm

Thanks, Cnosni,I have a question. As mentioned, my ggg grandfather was a publican, as were two of his sons. I know which pubs they ran, but one of their sons (my great grandfather - are you keeping up?!) also ran a pub, in Hunslet, I think. Is there any way of finding out which boozer it was?Thanks in anticipation,Si

Post by **cnosni** » Thu 13 Mar, 2008 1:08 pm

Si wrote: Thanks, Cnosni,I have a question. As mentioned, my ggg grandfather was a publican, as were two of his sons. I know which pubs they ran, but one of their sons (my great grandfather - are you keeping up?!) also ran a pub, in Hunslet, I think. Is there any way of finding out which boozer it was?Thanks in anticipation,Si What sort of time period are you looking at with the Hunslet pub?If 19th century then it would be an idea to look at the census'though of course i dont think we should view a publican then as we do now.There was much less regulation at the time,and from what i can tell there was a great deal of movement from pub to pub.ive also found that they werent always career publicans,sometimes just trying their arm for a while before going back to their previous or another occupation.As for records of breweries and their tennants of pubs then i would be surprised if any of these records were still in existance.You also have to remember that the breweries in the area were all taken over,and eventually their records were probably pulped when they were of no relevance.Perhaps Drapesy may have some ideas as to how to find out.