John Smith's Family Tree Website

Sutcliffe family

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Part 3: Patchett Sutcliffe (1832 - c1896)

Working life and marriage to Sarah Haigh

Patchett Sutcliffe was the second son of William Sutcliffe and Hannah Gibson. He was born 11 November 1832 and baptised at St Thomas Church, Heptonstall, 22 February 1836 along with his brother Charles. Like his siblings he worked in a local cotton mill, first as a piecer and then as a spinner.

He married Sarah Haigh (c1835 - 1919) 31 May 1857 at St John the Baptist Church. Sarah was the daughter of blacksmith Abraham Haigh and Elizabeth Fenton. She was born in Bolton, Lancashire, c1835 but grew up in Sowerby, Yorkshire. Both Patchett and Sarah could sign their names and their children received some schooling, too. They had six children: John, James, Jane, Sarah, Emma and Gibson. The family lived in Sowerby and both Patchett and Sarah worked as cotton spinners, most likely at the nearby Wharf Mill.

Patchett was buried in plot J 299/41 at St Mary’s Church, Sowerby, 03 January, 1896, aged 63. It is possible Sarah had some infirmity and she lived with her youngest son for a time. She was to benefit from the Old Age Pension Act 1908 which gave people over 70 a weekly pension of 5 shillings a week (about £14 in today’s money). Previously, the elderly and infirm had to rely on their family to support them or face the ignominy of going to the workhouse, where conditions were deliberately awful to discourage all but the most desperate. Sarah died in St Luke’s Hospital, Halifax, in 1919 and was buried with her husband.

Children of Patchett and Sarah

John (1858 - ?) was born in June 1858 and was baptised along with his younger brother James 20 March 1862 at St Peter’s Church, Sowerby. By the age of 13 he worked as a piecer and then as an adult as a cotton twiner. He married Welsh-born Mary Ann Mead (c1867 - ?) 12 November 1887 at St John the Baptist Church and they had four children: Arthur, Ethel Maude, Doris Gertrude and Florence May. On the night of the 1911 census, John and his son were living near Huddersfield and his wife and daughters were living just north of Halifax. Both declared they were married but it is not known why they were living apart. John died sometime between 1911 and 1919 but it is not known when Mary Ann died.

More information about James (1861 - 1915) appears in Part 4.

Jane Elizabeth (c1866 - ?) was born c1866. She was a domestic servant in her teenage years and married John Alderson (c1865 - ?) in 1890. John did various work in dye houses and then became a warehouseman in a worsted mill. They had five children: Wilfred, Annie, Edith, Harold and Frank and the family stayed living in the Sowerby area. It is not known when Jane or John died.

Sarah Hannah (c1869 - 1937) was born c1869. It is not known when she left school to work but as an adult she worked as a twiner piecer and cotton reeler. She married mechanic George Swaine (1871 - 1847) 01 June 1895 at St Mary’s Church, Elland, and they had two children: Jessie (who died aged 14 months) and Lily. According to his obituary p3 of the Manchester Evening News (26 March 1947), George was a Northern [Rugby] Union footballer who had played for Halifax and Sowerby Bridge around the turn of the century. The family were living in Blackpool by 1921. Sarah died in 1937, aged 68, and George died at his home in Granville Road, Blackpool, 26 March 1947 on his 76th birthday.

Emma (c1873 - ?) was born c1873. She worked as a cotton twiner and married Fred Lord (c1873 - ?) 17 June 1896 at St George, Sowerby. Fred was a railway guard from Rochdale and the family moved to Manchester and then Blackpool. They had two children: Lily and James. It is not known what happened to the family after 1911.

Gibson (1877 - 1936) was born in 1877. He worked in several different areas, as a doffer, then as a moulder labourer and then back in the textile industry as a worsted packer. He married Elizabeth Ann Turner [1] (c1883 - ?) in 1907 and they had one known child, Elsie. Gibson died in the Royal Halifax Infirmary aged 59 and was buried 07 August 1936 at St Peter and St George Church, Sowerby.

Next: James Sutcliffe

Footnotes

[1] It is unlikely Elizabeth Ann Turner was related to the same Turner family who have a section in this website.