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FLETCHER CHRONOLOGY AND DOCUMENT LINKS 1800s LINKS TO DOCUMENTS & PHOTOS RELATED TO FLETCHERS, DIXONS, SUTCLIFFES, ...
The John and Maria Fletcher Story 1824 - 1911 Fletcher documents and photos from the 1900s are here
PHOTOS OF THE FRANK EDWARD FLETCHER CHILDREN AND THEIR WIVES 1896 - 1928
Recent Ancestors (with Portraits) Fletcher / Procter ancestor chart Procter chronology, Photos and Document links all bmd links
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Ancestors of Frank E and Elizabeth Fletcher
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Chart linking four + generations of Fletchers, Procters, Dobsons, Stringers, Dixons, Sutcliffes |
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1810 - William Dixon baptised in
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St Michael and All Angels, Thornhill by Dewsbury. His parents were William and Mary Dixon.
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1811 - Susan Sutcliffe (to be Dixon) born in
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Clough, Stansfield and Baptised in the Heptonstall (?) Baptist Chapel - her parents were John Sutcliffe (cotton carder) and Elizabeth. |
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13 February 1824 - John Fletcher |
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born in Oxenhope
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1831 - William Dixon marries Susan Sutcliffe
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St Michael and All Angels, Thornhill by Dewsbury |
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1837 - Maria Dixon (Fletcher to be) |
baptised in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel (in the Parish of Halifax, possibly Heptonstall - William was recorded as a miller living at Stansfield).
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Other pre-1841 Fletcher, Procter and Stringer events -
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Map of West Yorkshire today (Google) |
Showing Oxenhope (nr Haworth) where the Fletchers came from, and Midgehole, Wadsworth, Heptonstall which was Dixon / Sutcliffe country (the name Sutcliffe is common in Yorkshire). An 1852 map of Oxenhope is shown below.
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The map above and the comments come from the interesting "Oxenhope and Leeming - Conservation Area Assessment" which is easy to find on the web and download as a PDF document. The report includes a large number of photos of the built environment including one of the Brooksmeeting Mill.
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Shaw Lane October 2009 - winding away past Brooksmeeting Mill (the white windowed cottage on the left of the road was home to the William Dixon family including young Maria Dixon in 1851 before she married John Fletcher at the end of the year), then Coldwell / West Shaw (houses on the right and census return below), Shaw and Uppertown (Oxenhope) (where John Fletcher lived with his wool comber brother Thomas in 1851).
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The 1841 census sheets for the Shaw Lane area show 4 Fletcher households (17 people) in West Shaw and Cold Well. In October 2009 the Oxenhope postmaster told us that he did not know of any Fletchers living in the area then.
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1841 - Fletchers at Cold Well (Shaw Lane, Oxenhope) - misleadingly labelled Haworth in the census. See above.
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Includes Thomas Fletcher (woolcomber), son John (17 no occupation stated), father (we think) Old Thomas (stuff (=worsted) weaver) and his wife Grace, and two other Fletcher woolcomber / stuff weaver households. |
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1841 - Sutcliffes and Dixons at Midge Hole and Lower Mill, Wadsworth |
Includes two families...
At Midge Hole (now Midgehole) is John Sutcliffe (50 year old cotton spinner), his wife Elizabeth (also 50), and 6 children (aged 11 to 20).
Lower in the return (at Lower (Town) Mill) is another John Sutcliffe (aged 35 - possibly a son), and William Dixon, 31, power loom manager, living with wife Susan (30 and a daughter of John Sutcliffe) and 4 little Dixons aged between 2 and 8, including Maria (3) who will marry John Fletcher later.
Next to the Dixons is cotton spinner Titus Gawkrodger, his wife, 10 children and servant - not related to anyone here but a fascinating name!
In occupation terms the cotton industry Dixon / Sutcliffes were a higher in the food chain than the wool industry Thomas Fletchers.
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1845 - The railway comes to Scarborough |
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but it takes over 50 years for the town's retail centre to move west to Westborough (where the railway terminus is).
Today's Scarborough steam rail link (link to attribution)
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PROCTER DOCUMENTS ARE ON A SEPARATE PAGE
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1851 - Old Thomas and Grace Fletcher
1851 - Young Thomas
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are still alive (both aged 83) - Thomas described as a "proprietor of houses" - presumably the three next to his in Cold-Well containing other Fletcher families.
Young Thomas is being looked after by his daughter Sally.
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1851 - John and Elizabeth Sutcliffe still at Midge Hole |
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John (60) is described as a Cotton Spinner employing 14 men, 14 boys, 40 women and 15 girls, and farming 30 acres of land
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1851 - John Fletcher moves up the hill, the Dixon family move a bit west to work at another cotton mill called Brooksmeeting, some of whose buildings are still there in West Shaw Lane. |
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John Fletcher has moved to Uppertown (Oxenhope - see map) with brother Thomas and is working as a Tin and Iron Plate Worker - maybe including in the cotton mill where wife to be Maria works.
The Dixon family has moved west to Brooksmeeting Mill in west Oxenhope (W Shaw Lane). Dad and the girls (including Maria (13)) are all working in cotton power loom weaving. John's cousin Thomas is living nearby.
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1851 (29 December) - John Fletcher (26) marries Maria Dixon (14) (John Sutcliffe's granddaughter). |
in the huge (1600 seat) and newish Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Temple Row, Keighley - a long way from Oxenhope in those pre railway days. The chapel is now a mosque. |
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1852 William Dixon, ex cotton mill manager and father of Maria Fletcher, publishes a tract entitled - |
"The thinking man's friend, or a series of religious dialogues designed as a confutation of infidelity - Halifax, 1852". He also dabbled in poetry.
Source: John Albert Green, "Bibliography of the Town of Heywood", 1902
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1861 - John Fletcher with his new wife Maria (Dixon) and young family at Lowertown / Goose Green, Oxenhope (see map). |
John Fletcher (37, b1824) Tin & Iron Plate Worker & Gas Fitter - with wife Maria (Dixon) (23) and their first 4 children. Also John's apprentice, 19 year old Joseph Heaton, and luckily for us, John's Sister-in-Law Mary Jane Dixon (16 year old cotton weaver) who led us to Maria's maiden name. |
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1861 - John's cousin Thomas Fletcher |
living with wife Mary Ann and lots of kids in west Shaw Lane, Oxenhope. Photo of their gravestone lower in page. |
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1861 - John's dad Thomas Fletcher still at Cold Well (Oxenhope), with grand-daughter Mary (maybe one of John's children). |
Thomas (61 year old widower) is still working as a hand wool comber whilst his only companion, his grand-daughter Mary E Fletcher, aged just 8, is described as a spinner in a worsted factory. |
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1861 - John Sutcliffe (75) at the Prospect Mill, Ovendon |
John Sutcliffe, Maria's grandfather, is now a widower aged 75 (likely to be more accurate than the 1841 census which was rounded to nearest 5 years) and mill proprietor - Prospect Mill, Ovendon (north of Halifax - site still there). John Sutcliffe and Son are recorded as the mill proprietor in other records - the mill employs 63 (pairs of) hands. Still living with him in Prospect Place are son William (42 and "the Son"), unmarried daughters Alice (39) and Harriet (34). Married daughter Susan Dixon is staying with them and it is through our census search for her that they were identified as ancestors - stroke of luck! Note that the mill itself, a "Providence Chapel" and associated day school are also recorded.
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1861 - William Dixon & Family in Heywood (Lancashire)
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except for wife Susan who is staying with dad (above). |
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1863 - John Sutcliffe dies at Prospect Mill
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22 December 1863 |
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1864 - Frank Edward Fletcher born 28 February
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Frank Edward, son of John and Maria, was born on 28 February 1864 in Lowertown (later to be incorporated in Oxenhope by command of a railway company). |
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1867 - Keighley (pron Keefly) and Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) opens. |
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The railway was funded by mill owners and led to the redefinition of the location of its southern station to "Oxenhope", which embraced Uppertown, Lowertown etc, most of which appear on earlier censuses as part of "Haworth".
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1871 - John (47) and Maria Fletcher with 7 children at Goose Green / Lowertown. |
As part of the general naming confusion Goose Green was part of a farm overrun by Lowertown - which in turn became part of Oxenhope. There's nothing green about it today - just terrace houses and unsealed roads. |
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1871 - William & Susan Dixon |
and 2 Daughters with a shop at 39 Bridge St, Heywood (Lancashire). |
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1881 - John and Maria Fletcher and 10 of their children at 14 North Marine Road, Scarborough.
LINK TO MAP OF PROCTER AND FLETCHER SCARBOROUGH
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The John Fletcher family has moved east from the windswept moors, bleak mills and impoverished crofters' cottages of Oxenhope and West Yorkshire, to the bracing air of seaside and Victorian spa town of Scarborough, and John (57) is an ironmonger, helped by Frank Edward and no doubt other sons.
The Fletcher's town of Oxenhope is between Hebden Bridge and Haworth
Scarborough is now best known for the song about its 6 week medieval trade fairs which ran from the Feast of the Assumption (15 August) to St Michael's Day (aka Michaelmas - 29 September) every year from 1253 to 1788 - "are you going to Scarborough fair?". Despite the fact that this was a pretty big 535 year deal - how many other commercial institutions have lasted for 500+ years? - even the very helpful Scarborough Library could not tell us anything about it.
From the late 1600s Scarborough became a fashionable spa town (coupled with fully clothed sea bathing from bathing "huts" wheeled into the waves to maximize privacy) for the well-clothed. The coming of the railway in 1845 opened the town to a much wider Victorian seaside going audience, and started the relocation of the "CBD" from the old port to Westborough, where the Procters and the Fletchers located their shops.
The Fletcher Ironmongery had moved in from North Marine Road to North Street, Scarborough, which was as luck would have it but a short walk away from the Procter Drapery in Westborough !
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Number 14 Marine Road, left and above far left, is still (2009) an ironmonger / paint shop. Trams only ran from 1904 to 1931. |
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1881 - William (70) & Susan (69) Dixon
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and grand-daughter Emma living at their shop at 41 Bridge St, Heywood, Lancashire. William dies in February 1887 aged 77 leaving behind a few tracts. |
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1886 - Frank Edward Fletcher is appointed Organist and Choir Master of Christchurch, Folkestone.
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Outside his day jobs of Plumber's Apprentice (Oxenhope) and Ironmonger (Scarborough), Frank Edward had been studying and playing the organ since his Oxenhope days. Fifty years' later he talked about this and how he came to move to Folkestone. |
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1889 - Frank Edward Fletcher (25) marries Elizabeth Procter (23).
One of our "Holy Grails" would be a Procter / Fletcher family group wedding photo ??? !! They would have existed .... Please come in for a glass of champagne if you are out there.......
This earlyish photo of Frank Edward was taken in Glasgow - what was he doing there?
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On Wednesday 24 April 1889 in (a corner of) the huge (1,800 people capacity) Centenary Wesleyan Methodist "Chapel", in Queen Street, Scarborough.
thanks to the Scarborough Library for this image
Today's grim looking and impenetrable chapel is an early 1900s rebuild after a major fire in next door Boyes store.
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1890 - Frank Rex (later Jimmy) Fletcher birth certificate |
Frank Rex was born in Folkestone on 9 January 1890 - his father appears on the certificate as a Professor of Music and had moved to Folkestone some time prior to 1889. |
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1890 - Scarborough
Newborough Bar (Newborough / North St) looking East from Westborough towards Old Scarborough c1885
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The 1890 Scarborough Post Office / Bulmers Trade Directory lists both Procter, Jsph, Draper & Milliner, 108 Westborough, and Fletcher, John, Ironmonger – 20 North Street. In 1890 the Victorian Newborough Gate or Bar, whose predecessor was one of the two gated entrances to the old town, is demolished, the Westborough / Newborough roads are seamlessly joined and North Street is opened up. Mind you, the bar had obviously been no barrier to Frank Edward's romance with Elizabeth Procter. |
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1891 - Susan Dixon (Sutcliffe) living with
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daughter Sarah (Taylor) in Rochdale, where she dies in 1893. |
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1891 - Frank Edward Fletcher is living at 6 Brockman Road, Folkestone.
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Frank and Elizabeth are living with little Frank Rex (1) and a servant - a luxury the older Frank had never known before. |
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1891 - John Fletcher (now 67) and Maria (54) and 6 children are living in 39 North Marine Road, Scarborough.
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Between 1855 and 1884 Maria has had 14 children. |
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39 North Marine Rd (left and above right) is now the Thornhurst Hotel |
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1891 - Back in Oxenhope, Thomas Fletcher, |
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John's cousin (and mostly a woolcomber though in 1861 he was a stonemason's labourer), is a widower living in Oxenhope with daughters, a son-in-law and grand children. He is to die in 1895.
Gravestone of John's cousin Thomas (1824-1895 (71)) and Mary Ann (1823-1879 (56)) Fletcher, and two of their daughters Mary Grace and Priscilla, in the Parish Church of St Mary, Oxenhope (built 1849), where the graveyard is perched precipitously above the main road in Uppertown. Nearby (photo below) is the grave of Thomas' father James Fletcher (1802-1862 (60)) and his wife Sarah (1801-1877 (76)). John Fletcher defected to the Wesleyan Methodists before 1850. There are possibly more Fletcher gravestones in the Methodist cemetery in Lowertown, but we did not know of its existence when we visited in October 2009.
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1892 - Hagyards Trade Directory, Scarborough |
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13 ironmongers in Scarborough, including Fletcher, John, 20 North Street – just down the road from the Procters, Draper & Milliners at 108 Westborough – easy courtin' distance.
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January 25 1894 - John Fletcher dies in |
Scarborough aged 69. He is buried with Maria (died 1911) in Manor Rd Cemetery in Scarborough - grave P 18-25.
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PROCTER DOCUMENTS ARE NOW ON A SEPARATE PAGE
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1901 Census - Maria Fletcher and two daughters are |
still in Scarborough - 9 Trafalgar Square (close to previous North Marine Road house - the house with no extra storey in the photo below).
Maria (63) is described as living on own means.
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1901 - Frank Edward and family now at 20 Brockman Road, Folkestone.
20 Brockman Rd (left behind tree, semidetached) Folkestone - the Victorian church at the end of the road is next to the Victorian railway station.
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The support staff has been expanded to include a domestic governess as well as a maid, and one child (Frank Rex, Adrian's Grandfather) is off at boarding school (Kent College, Canterbury). The dapper Frank Edward must have been in reasonable demand as a music teacher and probably Elizabeth the draper's daughter, who also photographs as a striking and simpatico person, came with a reasonable Draper's dowry. |
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1901 Census - Frank Rex (11) |
is a boarder at Kent College (Methodist school - still operating) near Canterbury. In those days there was a railway line between Folkestone and Canterbury.
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1911 census - Maria Fletcher now being looked after |
by one daughter (Susan Annie) at 9 Trafalgar Square, Scarborough, just a stone's throw from 9, North Marine Drive. In 2011 the house had a cared for but unrenovated look - it's the only one that has not had an extra storey added.
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Maria is to pass away a couple of months later on 11 May 1911, aged 73 and survived by 12 of her 14 children. Good strong stock!
She is buried with husband John (and later Susan Annie, the last remaining daughter-carer) in Manor Rd Cemetery in Scarborough - (now horizontal) grave P 18-25.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
EMILY JANE DAUGHTER OF JOHN & MARIA FLETCHER LATE OF OXENHOPE DIED NOV 24 1882, IN HER 17TH YEAR “THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD”
ALSO OF THE ABOVE JOHN FLETCHER BORN FEB 13 1824 FELL ASLEEP JAN 25 1894 “THE ETERNAL GOD IS MY REFUGE”
ALSO OF MARIA WIFE OF THE ABOVE WHO WENT HOME MAY 30 1911 “UNDERNEATH ARE THE EVERLASTING ARMS”
ALSO THEIR DAUGHTER SUSAN ANNIE DIED MARCH 6 1939 AGED 71 YEARS
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1911 Census - Frank Edward and family still at |
20 Brockman Road, Folkestone. |
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1911 Census - Frank Rex (Jimmy by now) lodging at 12 Mildmay Rd, Islington (no longer there). |
Frank R (Jim) (21) has been a student at England's oldest medical school - the London Hospital Medical School - since 1907. He was the United Hospitals heavyweight boxing champion.
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