WASS and WALKER Family History.
Including Horsman, Blakesley, Taylor, Whittingham, Burrows, O'neill and Armstrong surnames.
Photographs and stories added.
Blakesley Descendants.
Starting with the children of Joseph Blakesley and Alice Maria Taylor.
Phoebe Blakesley
Pheobe was born 29th May 1904 in Parkgate, Rawmarsh, during the reign of King Edward VII.
In 1911 she was living with her parents and siblings at 53 Victoria Rd, Rawmarsh, in a three roomed house,
there were six people in the house which suggests there was only one bedroom and no bathroom.
Marriage to William Allsop in 1926 in Skipton. They had two children.
In the 1939 register the couple lived in Essex, William was an ARP warden for East Ham.
William died in 1982 and Phoebe in 1999.
Photo right shows left to right, back Joseph Blakesley, Phoebe, Alice Maria (Taylor) front is Kenneth Allsop.
Joseph Blakesley.
Joseph (Joe) was born 29th April 1907 in Parkgate, Rawmarsh. In 1939 he was at home with his parents and siblings living at 13 Harding Houses next to the railway line. His occupation was a wool wash wool feeder.
Marriage to Mary E Kay in 1948 in Keighley.
Joseph died in Keighley in 1981, Mary in 1974. They had no children.
Photo of Joe on the right.
Samuel Blakesley
Samuel (Sam) was born on 17th February 1909 in Parkgate, Rawmarsh.
In the 1939 register he was living at 13 Harding Houses with his parents and siblings, his occupation was a wool carder.
Marriage to Alice May Atkinson in 1946.
They had no children.
Sam became blind and after the death of Alice in 1979 he became a rude cantakerous man. He went to live in care and was expelled from one home due to his behaviour, he didn't have dementia, he was just bad tempered. When his siblings went to see him he was nasty to them.
He died in 1997.
Photo to add here, have to dig it out.
Thomas Blakesley
Thomas Blakesley (Tom) was born on 4th February 1911 in Parkgate, Rawmarsh.
In 1911 he was living at 13 Harding Houses with his parents and siblings and his occupation was a wool warehouse labourer.
Marriage to Marguerite P Magdeleine Chardon in 1948. We called his wife Aunty Madeleine, a lovely French lady from Rouen.
Tom and Madeleine had two children.
They lived at 13 Harding Houses, we used to visit them regularly, it was a big house.
Thomas died in 1973 and Madeleine moved to Keighley where she died in 1994.
The photo on the right shows Tom and Madeleine outside 19 Starkey Lane with my nanna Alice Elizabeth.
Edith Blakesley
Edith (Edie) was born on 20th November 1917 in Parkgage, Rawmarsh.
Marriage to Irwin Harper 14th May 1939 in Skipton. Banns read at Christ Church.
They had three children. In the 1939 register the couple lived at 56 Starkey Lane, Farnhill (where I was brought up), Irwin was an iron moulder and Edith was a drawing frame tenter and worsted spinner.
The family lived in Ryleland St, Crosshills.
Irwin was the son of Herbert Harper, he was only a toddler when his father was killed in WWI in the battle of the Somme, his mother re-married.
Irwin died in 1980 and Edith died two days after her birthday on 22nd November 2003.
The photo on the right shows Edith outside 13 Harding Houses.
Harry Blakesley
Harry was born 10th June 1921 in Parkgate, Rawmarsh.
In the 1939 register he was a textile machine roller, cloth.
Marriage to Maud Fuller in Keighley in 1947.
They had no children.
Maud died in 1975 and Harry later lived with a lady named Sally, I'm not sure whether they married or not, they lived in Keighley.
Harry died in 2000 and I remember my nanna not being pleased at the will reading as he had left his estate to Sally.
I don't have any photo's of Harry.
Ronald Blakesley
Ronald (Ron) was born in 1923 in Parkgte, Rawmarsh.
Marriage to Dorothy E Mathews
They had no children. In 1951 they lived at Meadow View, Cononley, in 1955 at Crown House, Skipton Rd, Cononley.
The marriage didn't work out and they got a divorce. Ron went on to live in 'Frying Pan Row', Aire View, Cononley. He worked for Horace Green Co. I used to visit him regularly, we got on very well.
He died a day before my birthday in 1978 and I was gutted. Dad and I took nanna to the house and I was disgusted how things were sorted through and taken before he was even cold. I attended his funeral which was very well attended, he was a popular man, a good cricketer and supported the local team.
The photo on the right is Ron.
Lawrence Blakesley
Lawrence (Laurie) was born 11th January 1926, being just a baby when the family moved to Farnhill.
Marriage to Marjorie Sharman in 1959, Marjorie was from Guard House, Keighley and at the time of marriage had a son Alan Sharman who Lawrence adopted. Alan died in 2012.
They had no children together. They were divorced when the marriage broke down.
Lawrence was a good footballer in his youth.
Lawrence lived in Crosshills, he became ill in his 70's and sold everything he owned then put himself into a care home, I used to take nanna to visit him. He was cured of his illness but carried on living in care until he died in Airedale hospital in 2006.
Lawrence loved Donkeys, he would walk every day up on to Farnhill moor to feed Annabelle. He left money to the Donkey sancutary in his will.
Photo of Lawrence on the right. My dad looked quite like his uncle and had the same skin and hair colouring.
The photographs below show Kildwick School in the 1920's. There are some blakesley children on but I can only idenify one.
Above was an article in a local newspaper. Joe Blakesley is third from right front row.
NODDER STREET PARKGATE.
Although the following wasn't a newspaper article it is of interest as it pertains to 21 Nodder Steet where the Blakesley family lived. Courtesy of Mr Derek Littlewood. 21, NODDER STREET. Access to the street was from Victoria Road. It was a small cul-de-sac. Terraced houses erected on each side of the road. NUMBER 21 was located at end of the terrace, at the bottom of the road.
The house was a two up and two down construction. It had no hot water. No bathroom. The toilet facilities were located across the yard, and shared with the next door neighbours. Standards were very basic in nature. But there were a lot of properties like these. Very few working men owned property. Few if any houses were built for the private market. Most building was for the council. Waiting times for a house being 10 years and more. With little or no chance of getting anywhere to live unless a terraced house came up for rent. These terraced houses were always in demand.
I first came across 21 Nodder St in 1960 when my wife and I prior to our marriage, purchased it from Mr and Mrs Stockdale. The time we spent on the street was one of fond memories. It was a friendly place to live. It was very entertaining and full of life. Particularly on a Saturday night when the whole street did not go to bed till 2am. We were the last people to live in the property.
After a major storm in 1963 the whole surrounding area was declared for redevelopment. The entire area was to be demolished. 21 Nodder Street was one of the properties included in the scheme. The house was demolished in 1964.
Many thanks to Mr Dered Littlewood for this.
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