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Close up of Tijou Screen at Hampton Court Palace

Womersley family

 

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Part 4: Alfred Womersley (1865 - 1939)

 

Working life and marriage to Ada Mitchell

Alfred Womersley was the third child of Noble Womersley and Mary Turner. He was born 23 October 1865 in Salterhebble, Yorkshire. He attended school and was apparently still there aged 15, which was somewhat unusual for the time as it was not compulsory in teenage years.

When he left school Alfred worked as a cotton spinner, like many of his siblings, but at the age of 21 he travelled by himself to the United States on board the SS Catalonia. He arrived in Boston, Massachusetts 18 June 1887 with one piece of baggage. He had travelled in steerage class which was almost exclusively the domain of migrants, being the cheapest fare. It would have cost Alfred about £3 and 5 shillings (about £195 in today’s money). [1] Cotton spinners at the time earned about 10 shillings a week (£30). Alfred might have been able to save his wages (especially as he had five other siblings at home contributing to household earnings) or relatives in the United States may have sent the fare – Alfred’s grandmother Hannah was living in Massachusetts at the time.

According to family stories, Alfred went to the United States for health reasons and spent time in Peabody with his grandmother. It is not known if he worked at all while he was there. Although he travelled during the summer (which was a popular time with migrants as it was easier to find work then) he arrived during a recession (though some consider it to be just a slight economic slowdown). He apparently returned to England within a year or so.

Alfred went back to being a cotton spinner and lived with his parents. After they died he lived in Doncaster Street, Halifax, and became a cotton warehouseman, which he did for the rest of his life. He married Ada Mitchell (1863 - 1932) 14 November 1896 at St John’s Wesleyan Chapel, Halifax (more information about her appears in the Mitchell section). They had two children: Muriel and Harold (more information about them appears in Part 5).

The family moved several times over the next few years, from Beech Street, Halifax (no longer in existence) to 7 Charles Street and then 7 Cliffe Terrace (both terraced housing still standing in Sowerby Bridge). It is at these latter two properties that Alfred appears to have had qualifying property to entitle him to vote.

Alfred’s generation were almost certainly the first Womersleys to have enjoyed male suffrage although it seems only Alfred and his older brother Thomas were entitled to vote, out of the six brothers. Prior to the 19th century, Parliament was not representative and few people had the right to vote (it was estimated that only 3% of the 8 million people living in England and Wales in 1780 could vote). Voters could also be bribed and intimidated as secret ballots were not made law until 1872.

There were three Reform Acts of 1832, 1867 and 1884 and all three were based on property qualifications: the ability to occupy a property which could be valued at or rented for £10 or more per annum (£450-500 today). The two earlier Acts had only enfranchised urban-dwelling men, with some concessions for rural landowners and tenants. The 1884 Act allowed more rural men to vote so that there were now about five million male voters (which represented 70% of the total adult male population of England and Wales, and 29% of the total adult population). However, it seems it took until 1913 for Alfred to meet the qualification to vote. By 1918, all men aged 21 or over who were resident were entitled to vote, regardless of property (extended to all women in 1928). [2]

 

Later life

It is not known when Alfred and his family moved back to Halifax from Sowerby Bridge but by 1932 they were living at 15 Thornton Street (a terraced house which is now no longer standing). Ada died in 1932 and Alfred retired from being a cotton warehouseman 01 March 1934. He received a mantle clock as a retirement present and it is still in the family and keeping perfect time! On the back was this typed citation: “Presented to Mr Alfred Womersley by the Employees of Messrs Mitchell Bros Cotton Co Ltd, Sowerby Bridge, as a mark of esteem and with Best Wishes on his retirement. March 1st/1934 [sic].”

Alfred was luckier than previous generations in that he was entitled to a mean’s tested state pension for those aged 65 or over. It would have amounted to 10 shillings or so a week (about £15 in today’s money). In terms of spending power, the following are some typical prices in 1937: 2 pints milk: 6½ pence; 1 pint beer: 6 pence; 4lb bread: 9½ pence; a dozen eggs: 2 shillings; ‘Halifax Courier’ newspaper: 2 pence. [4]

Alfred died 13 February 1939, aged 73, from cerebral thrombosis and arterio-sclerosis. He was buried three days later at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Halifax, in grave plot 259, section D, where Ada had been buried. The ‘Halifax Courier’ reported his death and burial p20, 18 February, describing Alfred as “the beloved husband of the late Ada Womersley”.

 

Next: Womersley Descendants


Footnotes

[1] Cunard steerage fare Liverpool-New York 1885-1899 (Shipping companies and transatlantic migration costs: the case of Cunard, 1880-1914, Drew Keeling, paper for European Business History Association Annual conference, August 2008) [Fares would vary slightly due to seasonal considerations, special deals, port of embarkation/arrival, and the direction of travel.]

[2] History of British suffrage (http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage; http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_democracy/getting_vote.htm); History of Parliamentary Franchise House of Commons Research Paper 13/14 (http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP13-14/RP13-14.pdf); census population statistics (http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk)

[3] Fielding’s Crown Devon article by Roland Head (
http://www.antiques-info.co.uk/new/pdf/Mar08/4.pdf)

[4] 12 pence = 1 shilling, 20 shillings =
£1. Pensions information: (http://www.pensionsarchive.org.uk/76/); 1937 prices: ‘Real Wages and Labour Productivity in Britain and Germany, 1871-1938: A Unified Approach to the International Comparison of Living Standards’ by Stephen Broadberry and Carsten Burhop (2009), Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods