2

Preface

This family history is dedicated to the memory of

Wilfred Alexander Atkinson

The author’s father who died suddenly in Auckland

on 30th June, 1958

The author wishes to acknowledge the valuable contribution to this genealogical study

made by members of the family who have supplied much information and answered

numerous queries to enable this story to be completed.

The author’s gratitude is also expressed to those people named below for their

contributions during the seven year period of research.

Rev. M. Allen Vicarage, Kirkoswald, Cumbria

Rev. T. Anscombe Rectory, Kirkheaton, Yorkshire

Mr. Michael Atkinson Auckland, New Zealand

Mr. E. Aubrook Tolson Memorial Museum, Huddersfield

Mr. D. Barron Huddersfield Road, Halifax

Mrs. E. Beattie Carlisle, Cumbria

Mr. H. Busch Genealogical Institute of New Zealand

Mr. S. Dibnah Huddersfield Library & Museum

Mr. B. Jones Joint Archives, Carlisle, Cumbria

Mr. J.H. Love State Library of South Australia

Herr K. Schomaker Schwerin, Germany

Mr. C. Tucker Phillimore & Co. Ltd., Chichester

Herr H. Zimmerman Hanover, Germany

Francis George Atkinson

Auckland, New Zealand

1976

Reprinted January 1977

Re-typed on computer and put on disk by Robyn A. Scott – 2009

(with apologies for poor re-printed quality of some photographs and illustrations and for

any errors).

Many thanks also to Maureen Hazeldine (nee Atkinson) for putting so many of the old

family photographs on CD enabling them to be reprinted in better quality towards the end

of this book and for the enjoyment of future generations.

3

4

THE ATKINSON SAGA

In loving memory of all members of the ATKINSON family named in this history. Some

lived only hours, others in excess of ninety years before passing on to eternity.

“Let us cross the river and rest in the shade.”

- The dying words of General Thomas (Stonewall) Jackson.

*****

No man is an island unto himself. Apart from the irreversible and inescapable

factor of the transmission of hereditary characteristics via the genes, the weight

brought to bear by environmental influence leaves its inevitable mark. The mark

so left may be profound or relatively slight; but it is there. Every impinging

influence from without cannot but help be a contributory factor in forming the

crucible that moulds the individual character.

Alistair MacLean.

*****

As the last bell struck, a peculiar sweet smile shone over his face, and he lifted up

his head a little and quickly said “Adsum” and fell back.

It was the word we used at school, when names were called; and lo, he whose

heart was that of a little child, has answered to his name – and stood in the

presence of The Master.

“The Newcomers IX” – W.M. Thackeray.

5

INDEX

Chapter 1) The Origin of Family Names …………………………………………… 6

Chapter 2) The Earliest Known Atkinson Ancestors ………………………………. 7

The Will of Michael Atkinson 1703…………………………………….. 9

Chapter 3) Kirkoswald and St. Oswald’s Church …………………………………..13

Chapter 4) Renwick and All Saints’ Church ………………………………………..16

Chapter 5) The Family of Joseph Atkinson …………………………………………17

Chapter 6) Milling at the Time of the Huddersfield Atkinsons ……………………..20

Chapter 7) Yorkshire and the Town of Huddersfield ……………………………….21

The Will of Joseph Atkinson ……………………………………………24

Historical Events During the Life of Joseph Atkinson ………………….26

Parish Church of St. Peter, Huddersfield ………………………………..29

Chapter 8) The Family of Joseph II …………………………………………………32

Chapter 9) St. John the Baptist Church, Kirkheaton ……………………………….. 41

Chapter 10) The Family of Joseph Atkinson (cont’d.) ……………………………....44

Chapter 11) Letters From the Rev. Henry Venn ……………………………………..46

Chapter 12) The Family of Richard Atkinson ………………………………………..48

Chapter 13) The Radcliffe Family Connection ………………………………………53

Chapter 14) The Family of Thomas & Mary Ann Atkinson …………………………55

Chapter 15) The Family of Thomas Alfred Atkinson ………………………………..63

Chapter 16) The Family of Frederick and Harriet Atkinson …………………………69

Chapter 17) St. John the Baptist Church, Waimate North ………………………… 89

Chapter 18) George Radcliffe and Amelia Atkinson ……………………………… 95

Chapter 19) The Ancestors of Amelia Atkinson ……………………………………101

Chapter 20) The Family of George Radcliffe & Amelia Atkinson …………………107

Chapter 21) The Family of John Frederick Atkinson ……………………………….115

General Interest Photographs …………………………………………..125

6

THE ATKINSON SAGA

Chapter 1 – The origin of Family names.

The system of having a permanent name for each family linking its members together and

going on from one generation to another is very practical and convenient. But it was

never intended by anyone, never planned or organized or enforced by law. Like many old

customs it simply grew of its own accord because it was needed, and the soil in which it

grew was conversation.

Some surnames originated from Christian names and the title “Atkinson” can be classed

in this group. Originally the English were not in the habit of giving biblical names to their

children, because of the deep feeling of respect for these holy names. However when the

rulers of the land began to use them everyone else followed the new fashion.

Of names that belong purely to the Old Testament by far the most numerous was Adam,

which has given us not only Adams and Adamson but also Addison, Addis, Adcock and

Adkins which nearly always became Atkins or Atkinson.

When we look for the reason for this popularity we think again of the religious plays

which villagers used to act in their churches or market places, of their little towns. The

story of Adam and Eve was the usual beginning for any series of plays, and these two

were the most familiar of all the Old Testament characters.

A natural and useful means of identifying a man in the Middle Ages was to describe him

as the son of his father (a filial name) eg. Willemus Filius Roberti.

Early examples of the name Atkinson are John Adkynsone (Staffordshire 1381) and John

Atkinson (1402 Westmoreland – the neighbouring county to Cumberland).

7

Chapter 2 – The Earliest Known Atkinson Ancestors.

Richard Atkinson

| |

Michael Elizabeth

{m. Elizabeth Hutton 1700

d. Kirkoswald, Cumberland 1703}

The earliest known section of this Atkinson family tree is as above. Research which has

taken over seven years and is ongoing has traced the Atkinson family from the first

Richard, down three centuries and nine generations to the writer of this family history,

Francis George Atkinson of Auckland, New Zealand.

The will of Michael made and witnessed on the 23rd September 1703, only five days

before his burial at St. Oswald’s church, Kirkoswald, Cumberland contains valuable

information of the early Atkinson ancestors. Never in Michael’s wildest dreams could he

have imagined his relatives in countries as distant as Canada and New Zealand, would

have been reading his will over three hundred years later.

The mentioning of his father Richard and his sister Elizabeth plus Michael’s occupation

as a Yeoman gives an indication of the Atkinson of early years, In English history a

Yeoman such as Michael, would be a class intermediate between the gentry and labourers

– usually a landholder. From Michael’s will we know that he owned both sheep and

cattle.

Parish records show that members of the Atkinson family lived in the Renwick and

Kirkoswald parishes of Cumberland, not a great distance from the border with Scotland.

8

Map Showing village of Kirkoswald in relation to surrounding areas.

Kirkoswald of Cumberland.

9

The Last Will and Testament of Michael Atkinson of Kirkoswald. – 23rd September 1703

In the name of God, Amen.

I, Michael Atkinson of Parkhead in the parish of Kirkoswald, in the County of

Cumberland, yeoman; being weak in body, but of sound and perfect memory, as in the

time of my perfect health, praised be to God for it, do make and ordain this my last Will

and Testament, in manner and form following:

First and principally I commit and commend my soul into the hands of Almighty God my

great Creator and Maker, hoping through the alone merits and meditation of Jesus Christ

my only Saviour and Redeemer, to receive free pardon and forgiveness of all my sins and

trespasses, and for my body, I leave it to be decently interred at the discretion of my

Executrix hereafter named. And as for my temporal goods which God in his mercy hath

endowed me with, I do order and dispose thereof as followeth.

First I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph Atkinson the sum of twenty pounds current

English money, to be paid to my dear father Richard Atkinson, for the use of my said son

Joseph, by my executrix hereunder named, within the term and space of two years after

my decease. And my earnest desire is that my said father would be pleased to take care of

my said son, and to see that the abovementioned legacy bequeathed may go forward for

the use and benefit of my said son, being an infant, from the time above specified.

And further my mind and will is that if my said son die before he come to the age of

fifteen years, that the said twenty pounds shall be repaid by my said father unto my

executrix, hereafter named.

Item, I give and bequeath unto my sister Elizabeth Atkinson, two ewes.

All the rest of my goods and cattle (after my debts and legacies paid, and funeral

expenses discharged) I give and bequeath into Elizabeth Atkinson, my wife, whom I do

make sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament, revoking, disannulling, and

making void, all other Wills and Testaments whatsoever, heretofore formerly made by

me whether written or nuncupative.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the Twenty third day of

September, Anno.domini 1703.

Sealed, signed and delivered. Michael Atkinson.

In the presence of viz:

Francis Share, his mark

John Rumney. Jurat

10

At the time of Richard and Michael the population of Kirkoswald parish numbered

around 650. Included in this number were eight tailors, three weavers, sixteen common

labourers, one cooper, three masons, five shoemakers, one officer of excise, two joiners,

one surgeon, five blacksmiths, one butcher, two innkeepers, four carpenters, three

papermakers, one ropemaker, one grocer, three millers, one dyer, one fuller, ten miners,

one schoolmaster and one gardener.

On the 16th February 1700 Michael married Elizabeth Hutton in St Oswald’s Church,

Kirkoswald. Elizabeth was the widow of Richard Hutton whom she had married in 1687,

bearing him four children, Isabel, John, Thomas and William (who died aged three years)

before his death on the 27th May 1699. With four young children to bring up Elizabeth

Hutton married Michael less than two years after Richard’s death.

It should be borne in mind when noting dates from registers prior to the 1st January 1752

that the year began on the 25th March, the Feast of the Annunciation, so that before that

date any dates in January and February and up to the 24th March came after December. It

is therefore bewildering to people who do not know this to find for example that a child

born in December 1700 was baptised in January or February 1700.

Michael and Elizabeth lost no time in starting a new family, a son Joseph being

christened in the family church of St Oswald’s on the 5th January 1701. Alas for

Elizabeth she was to be twice widowed within a period of four years because Michael

died suddenly in 1703. The will of Michael indicates that grandfather Richard at least

shared with Elizabeth the responsibility of Joseph’s upbringing.

At the time of Joseph’s birth, William III, the Prince of Orange, was King of England,

having been crowned in 1689 with his wife Mary II as joint sovereigns – the first and

only such partnership in English history. Mary died in 1694 and in 1702 after the death of

William, Anne daughter of James II ascended the throne. This was the year England

declared war on Spain and France – two years before the Duke of Marlborough was the

victor at the Battle of Blenheim.

The Reverend John Rumney – Vicar of Kirkoswald 1685-1738 – officiated at the

wedding of Michael and Elizabeth, witnessed Michael’s will and conducted his funeral

service. Although he was also Vicar of Renwick he and his family are buried at

Kirkoswald and probably lived here. John Rumney married Isobel Sanderson daughter of

his predecessor, George Sanderson, the living at the time being worth only eight pounds.

This meant his income was no higher than that of a chief hind, ploughman or shepherd in

the same region. There can therefore have been little or no social cleavage between the

Rector and the majority of his flock, and that uncomfortable as life may often have been

for the parson, had one advantage. The villagers could regard their minister as one of

themselves, with a similar practical experience of the difficulty in making ends meet.

Rumney is the “honest curate of Lincoln College, Oxford” named by Bishop Nicolson in

his book. A bell in his name is in St Oswald’s belfry. Several curates served in the parish

11

though none at the time of Michael’s death or marriage, or Joseph’s Baptism. Rumney’s

son John was curate during 1723-29. He died in 1739 a year after the death of his father.

At the time of Michael’s marriage and Joseph’s christening an important function of the

church, in the opinion of many parishioners, was to provide the ceremonies necessary at

the transition from one stage of life to another – on entry to this world, on reaching

manhood, on marriage and on passing to the life hereafter. In these times attendance at

church was not restricted, as in the 20th Century, to the occasions on which these

ceremonies were performed. The guidance of the church, and even its punitive power in

moral matters was not denied or ignored. Its services formed part of a popular culture and

meetings for worship were also social and public occasions.

The services were not vastly different from those of today except there was no surpliced

choir and the congregation was much larger. In most places the singing was lead by the

parish clerk with his pitchpipe. The service consisted of Morning Prayer with litany, ante-

communion and sermon (usually of fifteen minutes duration) though in some of the larger

churches the remainder of the communion service would be celebrated monthly and on

great festivals. In small country churches such as St Oswald’s there were four

celebrations a year. An 18th century service was also occasionally of special interest

because of an excommunication or a public penance.

The Atkinson family saga in and around Kirkoswald, Cumberland came to an end with

the burial of Michael’s widow, Elizabeth on the 27th August 1739.

12

13

Chapter 3 – A Short History of Kirkoswald and St Oswald’s Church

(as adapted from church records).

Tradition has it that the first Christian church on the site was consecrated by St Aiden in

the 7th century. He accompanied King Oswald who came here on a missionary journey

and found the people following a Saxon form of “well” or “spring” worship. He

converted them to Christianity and led them to build the first church over the spring. The

flowing water can still be seen in the Holy Well outside the west window of the church.

The first stone church was built around 1130 but only the base of the chancel arch can

still be seen. In 1160 and twenty years later, aisles were added and the chancel

lengthened. The nave was lengthened in 1240 and two chapels added to the chancel; their

foundations can still be seen outside the church walls.

It is on record that in the year 1305 Bishop Halton held a great ordination in the church

when he consecrated 17 acolytes, 26 deacons and 21 priests.

In 1523 the church became a “Collegiate”. A small community of working parish clergy

lived at the college, consisting of a Provost, the vicars of Dacre and Kirkoswald and six

chaplains. This was a charitable foundation of Thomas, Lord Dacre and his wife

Elizabeth who lived at Kirkoswald Castle. His good intention was interrupted twenty-four

years later when the lesser monasteries were dissolved. An inventory of the property of

the college still exists. The flagged approach to the church is the old “Priests’ Walk”; the

public right of way being in the field below. To make way for the priests of the college,

alterations were made in the church, a clerestory added and the old chapels discarded.

14

The main features of the 1523 building are those of today, but the interior arrangement of

the seating has been altered several times.

The church bells ring from a tower on the hill behind the church, so the people of the

village and those living eastwards can hear them. The Holy Well decided the site of the

church; that of the village was fixed by the mills dependant on the waterpower of the

Raven Beck. This was a busy place in the reign of King John and a Market Charter was

granted.

Church registers date back to 1577. The first recorded burial is that of the vicar who

began them. Interesting graves with emblems can still be seen. The sword denoted a man,

if with arms a nobleman. Shears usually showed the grave of a woman but it may be that

of a wool stapler when the points are blunted. An open book on a grave indicates a rural

dean who was responsible for the correct tonsure of the priests. The chalice denotes a

priest’s grave in which small mortuary chalices were also put, a specimen of which can

be seen in the church near the door, where also is an arm of the old church cross.

In December 1973 the writer of this family history was privileged to visit Kirkoswald and

attend a communion service at St Oswald’s church. It was a wonderful experience to be

in such an old church with an Atkinson family heritage and many thoughts came to his

mind as he walked along the flagged approach to the church where the old priests walked

centuries ago.

15

16

Chapter 4 – A Short History of Renwick and All Saints Church

(adapted from church records).

The name of Renwick was derived from a contraction of Ravenswick. This is the wick or

vike on the Raven which river formed the parish boundary. As this small village had a

mill and there were minerals in the fells; and it was the last town before the ascent of the

Hartside Track over the Pennines before the advent of the tribes from Northern Europe, it

must have been a very important village. It was also a defensive centre for Celtic hamlets

when attacked by Picts or Scots. The centre of the village today is still called the

“Castle”. In 1314 after the Battle of Bannockburn the Scots burned neighbouring

Kirkoswald.

The church owed its foundation to the Celtic missionaries who were operating around the

years 450-600. The manor was first in the hands of the Staveleys in 1124 and was then

forfeited by Andrew de Harcla of Carlisle who was later hung, drawn and quartered in

Carlisle. The church was originally rectorial then Appropriated to St Mary’s, York and

Hexham Abbey. In 1310 the living was not sufficient to support a priest. Queen Elizabeth

I granted the rectorial due to the Earl of Lincoln, but the patronage was reversed to the

crown. Edward III who reigned 1327-77 gave the living to Robert Eaglesfield, Queen

Phillipa’s Confessor, who settled it on his college, Oxford, which since 1341 had held the

Manor.

Bishop Nicolson visiting All Saints in 1724 found the chancel without plaister, floor or

glass. William Nicolson of local origin was an outstanding bishop from 1702-18, eminent

as a scholar, capable as an administrator and diligent as a bishop. He clearly had a more

compelling sense of his Episcopal duty than a neighbouring prelate who from 1782 to

1816 only once set foot in his diocese.

All Saints was rebuilt in 1733, 1845 and 1880. In the vestry is an old mass bell inscribed

“Ave Sancta Maria” (Hail Holy Mary) which dates from the 15th century. The

communion chalice, still in the church, is also very ancient.

The inhabitants of the village of Renwick are called “Renwick Bats” because tradition

says they fled from a cockstrice (crack a Christ) monster flying out at them from the

foundations of the church they were rebuilding in 1733. All fled except John Tallantire,

who armed with a rowantree slew the monster. For this act his estate was enfranchised to

him and his heirs forever.

17

Chapter 5 – The Family of Joseph Atkinson, born Kirkoswald, Cumberland 1701

and died Huddersfield, Yorkshire 1772.

It is not recorded when Joseph Atkinson married but it is known his wife was Elizabeth

Bouyes, a descendant of a Flemish refugee who with many others found protection in

England in the reign of Elizabeth I, and introduced woollen and silk manufacturers into

the country.

In 1564 Queen Elizabeth I had granted a charter to Dutch and Flemish settlers in Norwich

for the production of damasks and flowered silks. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes

in 1685, renewing persecution of French Protestants caused many weavers to move to

England, settling in Norwich, Braintree and London.

Joseph settled at Bradley Mills on the River Colne, situated on the boundary between

Dalton and Huddersfield in the county of Yorkshire. Bradley Mills is said to have taken

its name from a family of Bradley who were dry salters there in the 17th century. In 1679

Bradley of Huddersfield, salter, bought a property with barn, stables and land in Dalton

from Edmund Shaw of Huddersfield.

When Joseph came to Yorkshire in the middle of the 18th century he followed the trade of

a corn and fulling miller. Joseph was described as of Parkhead in the county of

Cumberland, woollen cloth frizer. He leased or rented the King’s Mill and Shorefoot Mill

for corn and bought Bradley Mill for fulling. Close to Bradley Mill he erected a house

which he named Cumberland House and in it set a date stone.

IAE

Parkhead

Cumberland

1754

Joseph prospered in business for when he died his occupation was given as a cloth

merchant and fuller of Bradley, Dalton and a corn miller of King’s Mill, Almondbury and

Shorefoot Mill, Huddersfield. He also owned property in Skircoat, Halifax and

Kirkoswald.

Joseph and Elizabeth had a large family of five sons and four daughters all christened at

the parish church of St John the Baptist, Kirkheaton, Huddersfield. The children and their

years of baptism were: (spread over 26 years)

John(1) Joseph(2) Thomas(3) Elizabeth(4) Mary(5) Michael(6) Richard(7) Hannah(8)

1729 1731 1734 1737 1739 1742 1745 1748

Sarah (9)

1752

18

Parkhead – near Kirkoswald , the home of early 18th century Atkinson family.

19

John(1) the eldest child, bought “Finthorpe” in Almondbury in 1768 and still lived there

in 1800 when he was mentioned in a lease of property. Nothing was known of his family

until this information was kindly supplied by distant relatives of the Atkinson family, Mr.

and Mrs. Basil Slocombe, who live in retirement in Truro, Cornwall.

John married Martha Beckett and had two children, John who remained a bachelor and

Betty who married Rockley Batty, an apothecary of Dewsbury. Children from this

marriage were Martha, who married a merchant James Crossland of Finey (1765-1839)

and died in 1809 at the age of thirty; Sarah who did not marry; Mary Margaret (1789-

1865) who married a second cousin, Thomas Atkinson of Bradley Mills (the son of her

grandfather’s brother Joseph II) in June 1812; Anne, who married a merchant of

Rochdale, John Smith – a son Beckwith being born in 1817; Benjamin North Rockley

who married Ellen Smith of Rochdale, who bore him a son Alan – following the death of

Ellen, Benjamin married Mrs. Pickells the widow of a Royal Navy captain; and Margaret.

Joseph II (2) and Thomas (3) succeeded to the Fulling Mill at Bradley and the younger

brothers, Michael (6) and Richard (7) to the Corn Mill. In Joseph II’s time the mill

naturally developed into a scribbling mill and in due course it passed to his sons Law,

Joseph III and Thomas II who constituted the firm of Joseph, Thomas and Law Atkinson

of Bradley Mill in 1806. It is recorded in a history of Kirkheaton that in 1792 the firm

gave a donation of ten guineas to the parish church of St. John the Baptist, church organ

subscription.

As merchants the Atkinsons, who were engaged in foreign trade chiefly with America

and Ireland, were buying cloth from the domestic clothiers at Leeds Hall and

Huddersfield, but for the greater part they gave only orders for the material; a significant

fact for it marks the end of the Cloth Hall system. All the cloth was dressed at Bradley

Mill, and though Law Atkinson gave little or no evidence relative to his cropping shops,

the subject was fully discussed by men who had worked in them and had very reluctantly

used there both shearing frames and gig mills.

One employee, John North, stated that the Atkinsons had in 1806 “twelve or fifteen

boards” on which cloth was cropped by frames and that generally they were “increasing

very fast” though there were only two pairs in the district seven years earlier.

20

Chapter 6 – Milling At the Time of the Huddersfield Atkinsons.

It is of interest to note the functions and methods of milling as practised by the earliest

members of the Atkinson family to live in the Colne valley. Primarily the scribbling mill

was a public mill performing a double function for its customers. It first carded the raw

wool brought by small manufacturers of the neighbourhood and slubbed the cardings;

that it drew out and twisted slightly, returning the material to it’s owners or to their jenny

spinners in the form of slubbings wound on to tops. Later the cloth made from this wool

was brought back to the same mill to be scoured and fulled in the stocks. If however a

scribbling mill was started merely to handle the wool of its owner instead of working for

the trade it assumed a new function and produced a very disturbing reaction.

After weaving came the scouring and fulling or milling. Invariably stale urine, under the

name of wash or wheating, was used in place of Fullers earth to cleanse the cloth from oil

and grease, preparatory to milling. Each fulling mill had tanks or barrels for the storage

of the liquid which was collected in the villages until gasworks produced ammonial

liquid. Scouring and subsequent washing was carried out by driving stocks which came

down in a slanting direction, so as not to pound the cloth but to twirl it around.

The cloth was then carried back again to be dried and burled, taking out the knots and

loose threads at home and once more taken to the mill to be fulled. Fulling stocks that fell

more vertically were chiefly used for this purpose and the pieces pounded by men in a

soapy solution until sufficiently soft and felted. It therefore goes without saying why

fulling mills were situated on the banks of rivers and streams. (Environmental societies

had not been thought of in the 18th century!)

The piece was then once more taken home to be dried and stretched on a tenters (a frame

for stretching cloth) after they were duly stretched to restore the length lost in fulling or

milling.

21

Chapter 7 – Yorkshire and the Town of Huddersfield.

Cumberland may be the earliest known home county of the Atkinson family but the West

Riding of Yorkshire where a great number of their descendants worked in the great textile

industry of North England, plays an important part in this family history.

Yorkshire, “the county of broad acres” (6,000 sq. miles) is by far the largest of the

English counties. In fact the West Riding is a little larger than any other county. The

county contains almost one eighth of the area of England and has one tenth of its total

population.

Although Harold was the last Anglo-Danish king of England, the Anglo-Danish strain in

the ancestry of the people of Yorkshire remained, and indeed remains to this day. Traces

of Danish speech are still to be found especially in the dialect of the folk who live by the

Yorkshire coast. The Yorkshire open “a” is Danish, so is the Yorkshire name for a brook,

“beck”, and the Yorkshire use of “gate” for street. Many Yorkshire village names are of

Danish origin, the –thwaites, the –bys and most of the –thorpes, -kirks, and –wicks.

Huddersfield, 26 miles from Manchester, is situated in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The

great industry of this riding is the wool textile trade. Sheep and streams have always

existed abundantly in the county and from these essentials woollen cloth was made by

hand in the workers homes for many centuries and possibly was even exported as early as

796. Towards the end of the 18th century it was discovered that some textile processes

could be performed by simple machines run by water power. This gave the West Riding

with its abundant wealth of tumbling water, a great impetus.

As the result of the development of steam power, the industry grew until the local sources

could no longer satisfy its demand for wool. The building of canals, roads and later

railways, made it possible to distribute large quantities of wool imported from abroad,

through the ports of Hull and Liverpool. The West Riding industrial area was served by

the port of Hull, which imported wool from Australia, and pit props from the Baltic, and

exported the coal and manufactured goods of the Riding. Industry not only grew larger

but changed its character. Certain towns began to specialise in one branch of the textile

trade. Bradford, only a village in 1750, became famous for wool combing and worsted

manufacture, as well as being the business centre of the woollen industry. Halifax

specialised in carpet-making, Dewsbury in re-manufactured cloth known as “shoddy”,

and the Colne valley (Huddersfield) in tweeds.

Most of the Yorkshire canals were built between 1750 and 1830, during the period

known as that of the “canal mania”. These great works required large numbers of

workmen, who were known as “navvies” i.e. navigators, not because they navigated, but

because they were engaged in the making of navigations. This is why to this day a

labourer doing hard manual work in soil removal is known as a navy. The Huddersfield

22

Canal which connects the Humber and Mersey is a very extraordinary piece of work. It is

carried through and over a backbone of hills by stairs of more than thirty locks in nine

miles, and a tunnel three miles in length. At one place it is over six hundred feet below

the surface and at another 656 feet above the level of the sea.

By 1850 all the land in Huddersfield belonged to the Ramsden family, by whom the

Cloth Hall was erected – six hundred manufacturers attending the hall on Tuesdays in

that year.

A committee appointed in 1844 by a public meeting of the inhabitants to investigate

conditions in Huddersfield reported:

“it is notorious that there are whole streets in the town of Huddersfield, and many courts

and alleys, which are neither flagged, paved, sewered, nor drained; where garbage and

filth of every description are left on the surface to ferment and rot…….. this is where

disease is engineered and the health of the whole town imperiled.”

The neighbourhood of Huddersfield was the centre of the Luddite outbreak, when a large

number of people engaged in cloth manufacture, conceiving they were being injured by

the use of certain inventions for dressing cloth, banded together, traversed the country by

night searching for and carrying off firearms and attacking and destroying the factories of

persons reputed to be using the obnoxious machines. These machine wreckers were

named “Luddites” after a half-witted Leicestershire boy named Ludd, who in a fit of

temper once smashed a machine.

Great alarm was excited and at length the rioters were attacked, dispersed and a large

number arrested, tried and seventeen hanged. Since that period not one but scores of

mechanical improvements have been introduced into woollen manufacture without

causing disturbance and with benefit of increased employment to the working classes.

In Yorkshire, as in England generally, the present had grown out of the past. Much of

Yorkshire’s history tells how wealth and power have come from her fields and factories,

her mines and mills. From her churches and cathedrals, her schools and universities, there

has been passed on a still more precious heritage, the legacy of religion and learning.

Such is a part of England from which members of the Atkinson family travelled to set up

their homes in other corners of the world.

23

Map showing the relationship of the Huddersfield and Kirkheaton Parishes to the Halifax

Parish in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

24

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF JOSEPH ATKINSON of Bradley Mill in the

Parish of Kirkheaton in the county of York, Fulling Miller, made 23rd July 1772.

Proved at the Exchequer Court of York, January 1773.

I give to my wife Elizabeth all my messuages, cottages, lands, tenements situated in the

several townships of Halifax and Skircoat in the county of York, and at Kirkoswald in the

county of Cumberland or elsewhere in the county of Cumberland, and also my messuage

(a dwelling house and the adjacent land including adjoining buildings) with the lands and

grounds situated at Moldgreen in Dalton in the Parish of Kirkheaton in the county of

York, now in the occupation or tenure of Nathaniel Townsend; to have and to hold for the

term of her natural life so long as she continues my widow.

After her decease or marriage I give the said messuages etc. situate in Halifax, Skircoat

and Kirkoswald to my three sons John Atkinson, Joseph Atkinson and Thomas Atkinson

and their heirs, in trust, to sell and dispose of the same and to pay the money arising from

such a sale unto and amongst them three selves and my two other sons Michael Atkinson

and Richard Atkinson, and my daughters Elizabeth, wife of Mr. William Firth, Mary wife

of Mr. James Tinker, Hannah Atkinson and Sarah Atkinson…… and the said messuage at

Moldgreen with lands belonging, immediately after the decease or marriage of my said

wife, I give to my two sons Michael Atkinson and Richard Atkinson and their heirs ……

to hold as tenants in common and not as joint tenants ……

I also give my said wife lands and grounds which I am now in possession of at Bradley

Mill aforesaid or elsewhere in the several townships of Huddersfield and Dalton and

which I hold and rent under Sir John Ramsden, Bart., for and during her natural life; and

immediately after her decease or marriage I give all my Right Title and Interest of in and

to the said Houseing at Bradley Mill aforesaid and the fulling mill at Bradley aforesaid

and all engines tools gears and other implements belonging, unto my said son Thomas

Atkinson and his heirs.

I also give all my Right Title and Interest of in and to the Closes, Lands and grounds

above by me given to my said wife except two closes called the Cobles Ing and Water

Royds, and one close (a piece of land held as private property) called the Damhead Close

immediately after the death or marriage of my said wife, to my said two sons Joseph and

Thomas Atkinson but neither of my said two sons Joseph and Thomas Atkinson shall

take any benefit or advantage of survivorship, I give my Right Title and Interest of in and

to the two closes called Cobles Ing and Water Royds and the said close called Damhead

Close immediately after the death or marriage of my said wife unto my two sons Michael

and Richard and neither of my said sons Michael and Richard shall take any benefit of

survivorship.

I give unto my wife Elizabeth if she continues my widow, all my cattle, plate, linen,

china, household goods, horsegears and implements of husbandry and upon her death or

marriage I give the same to my said children equally. I give my said wife in lieu thereof

50 pounds.

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I give all my Right Title and Interest and property at Bradley Mill aforesaid called New

House with all warehouses, workshops belonging now in the occupation of my said sons

John, Joseph, and Thomas Atkinson; and I order that my sons shall not take advantage

thereby of survivorship.

I give to my said sons Michael and Richard Atkinson all my share Tenant Right and other

Title and Interest of in and to the two Corn Mills called the Kings Mill in the township of

Almondbury in the county of York and Shorefoot Mill in Huddersfield aforesaid together

the implements neither of my said two sons Michael and Richard shall take advantage

thereby of survivorship.

I give unto my daughter Sarah Atkinson 300 pounds when she shall attain twenty one

years or marry which ever shall first happen, in the meantime to have interest allowed

after the rate of five pounds per centum per annum towards her maintenance and

education….. I give to my said daughter Sarah 5 pounds for mourning. I give to my three

daughters Elizabeth Firth, Mary Tinker and Hannah Atkinson 5 pounds apiece for

mourning I having given them therefore their several and respective fortunes. All the

residue of my real and personal estate I give to all my said children to be equally divided

amongst them.

I appoint my said sons John, Joseph and Thomas Atkinson, Joint Executors and also

guardians and trustees of my said daughter Sarah until she attains twenty one years or

marries.

Witnesses: Edwd. Dyson (signed) Joseph Atkinson

James Shepherd

Jno. Battye

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Historical Events during the Life of Joseph Atkinson 1701-1772

The lifetime of Joseph Atkinson spanned an interesting period of world history and the

following details will give further insight into Joseph’s life and events he and his family

would have discussed. The events also give the reader a period of history to which to

relate and associate the lifetime of one of the very early Atkinson ancestors.

Joseph’s year of birth, 1701 saw the passing of the Act of Settlement. This was brought

about to ensure a Protestant succession to the throne, in opposition to the exiled Roman

Catholic claimant James, the Old Pretender. The Act made George Louis of Brunswick-

Luneburg third in line for the throne of Britain, after Princess Anne and his mother Sofia,

a granddaughter of James I of England.

Three years later Admiral George Rooke commanding an English and Dutch fleet

captured the stronghold of Gibraltar. In the same year the Duke of Marlborough defeated

the French at the Battle of Blenheim- the first major defeat of the French Army for half a

century.

The parliaments of England and Scotland became united in 1707 by the passing of the

Act of Union. The Scots were allowed to keep their legal system and Presbyterian Kirk

but gave up their parliament. In return they received 45 seats in the English House of

Commons and could elect 16 Lords to the English House of Lords.

When Joseph was thirteen George I became King of England - the beginning of the

Hanoverian dynasty in Britain. This was not to end until the death of Queen Victoria in

1901.

In 1721 Robert Walpole became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the

Exchequer, offices he was to hold until 1742. Although he rejected the title of Prime

Minister, which he regarded as a term of abuse, his leadership gave the stability and order

required for 18th century politics.

Christopher Wren died on February 25th, 1723 aged 91 years. Although he was an

astronomer and geometrician of great distinction, Sir Christopher Wren is remembered

chiefly as the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, 52 parish churches in the same

city, and the Royal buildings of three reigns. The Great Fire of London (1666) gave him

opportunities of unprecedented dimensions. Wren was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral, the

tomb being covered by a simply inscribed slab of black marble. Later his son placed on a

nearby wall an inscription that was to become one of the most famous of all monumental

inscriptions: Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice (if you seek a monument look

around).

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The first of the great textile inventions, the flying shuttle, was invented in 1733 by John

Kay. Using the shuttle one weaver could more than double his production. Kay later died

in France, penniless and in obscurity.

Spain and Britain were at war again from 1739 to 1743. This was named the War of

Jenkins Ear after an English seaman whose ear was amputated by Spanish patrols.

In 1743 at the Battle of Dettingen, George II was the last British monarch to appear on a

battlefield. He maintained a passion for anything military and organised each day with

the precision of a drill sergeant.

The last battle of the forty-five rebellion, Culloden, was fought on 16th April 1746 on the

famous windswept ridge of moorland in the county of Inverness, Scotland. The battle

lasted only forty minutes, the Scots led by the Young Pretender losing 1,000 men and the

English Redcoats under the Duke of Cumberland, only fifty. The flower Sweet William

was named after the Duke but in Scotland it is still known as Stinking William or Sour

Billy.

1750 saw the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig, composer and most renowned

member of a large family of modern North German musicians.

Robert Clive had been sent to Madras in 1743 at the age of 18 for service in the English

Royal India Company. In 1751 with 200 Europeans and 300 Indians he seized Arcot on

the 31st August and then successfully withstood a 53 day siege. Clive later became the

first British Administrator in Bengal and laid the foundation for Britain’s rule over India.

1756 saw the beginning of the Seven Years War between the major European powers –

France, Austria and Russia on one side and Great Britain and Prussia on the other. As a

result of the conflict Great Britain became the undisputed leader in overseas colonisation

and Prussia emerged as a powerful force in Europe.

On June 20th in the same year was the infamous incident known as the “Black Hole of

Calcutta”. Defenders of the city were shut away in a room 18ft by 14ft 10ins. with only

two small windows. Records of the number imprisoned vary from 146 to 164 and the

survivors from 21 to 23.

The canal era in Britain dates from the construction of the Bridgewater Canal to carry

coal from Worsley to Manchester, by the engineer James Brindley. Open for navigation

in 1761, it was extended to the Mersey in 1776. Its success promoted a period of intense

canal construction that established a network of inland waterways serving the Industrial

Revolution and contributing to Britain’s prosperity in the half century preceding the

railway era, which began in the mid-19th century.

In 1764 James Hargreaves, a poor uneducated spinner and weaver living at Standhill near

Blackburn, invented the spinning jenny, the first practical application of multiple

spinning by a machine. He conceived the idea when he observed a spinning wheel which

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had been overturned by his daughter Jenny. With Hargreave’s machine one could spin

wool, cotton or flax into a plurality of threads. He received a patent for the jenny in 1770.

Richard Arkwright began construction of his first spinning machine in 1764 and patented

it in 1769. Arkwright’s waterframe (so called because it operated by waterpower)

produced a cotton yarn suitable for warp. The thread made on Hargreave’s spinning jenny

was suitable only for weft, lacking the strength of Arkwright’s cotton yarn.

In 1728 when Joseph Atkinson was aged 27, James Cook was born in the North

Yorkshire town of Marton, close to the Cleveland Mountains. Captain James Cook

changed the face of the Pacific from the world’s immense abode of myths and mystery to

the map men know today. On 7th October 1769, towards the end of Joseph Atkinson’s

lifetime, his fellow Yorkshireman sighted the North Island of New Zealand. Between that

date and 1st April 1770 Cook sailed around both islands of New Zealand surveying and

charting the coastline. Then he sailed across the Tasman Sea to visit the east coast of

Australia.

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A Short History of the Parish Church of St. Peter, Huddersfield.

The Parish Church of Richard and Elizabeth Atkinson, St Peters Huddersfield goes one

thousand years back into history – ever since Walter de Laci, son of the Norman knight

who had been granted the manors of Almondbury and Huddersfield by William the

Conquerer, fell into a marsh while riding to Halifax. Tradition has it, that in his panic, he

vowed that if he could only escape alive from the clinging mud, he would build a church

in his father’s manor. Certainly the small Norman church was in use by 1100a.d.

The living of the church was in the gift of the monks of Nostell Priory from about 1130

until the dissolution of the Priory by Henry VIII, and all the first vicars were members of

the community at Nostell. Their salary was meagre; all tithes went back to the Priory, and

the vicar was left with the fees for baptisms, marriages and funerals, and with a

parsonage. In return he had to pay the Priory a considerable rent twice a year, which

suggests that the living was anything but profitable for its occupant.

That the church itself was not large is shown by a valuation made in the reign of Edward

I, when the parish church of Huddersfield was assessed at nine pounds 6/8 compared to

that of Almondbury at forty pounds and that of Halifax at ninety three pounds 6/8.

By 1503, when peace had at last descended upon a troubled countryside after the Wars of

the Roses, it was decided to rebuild and enlarge the parish church. The church weathered

without undue damage the religious storms of the Reformation and the political storms of

the Civil War, in which the Vicar, like most of his parishioners, supported Parliament.

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The next Vicar appointed under the Commonwealth, managed to moderate his opinions

successfully enough to retain the living under Charles II, a fairly difficult feat.

The state of the parish in the 18th century (at the time of Joseph Atkinson) is shown in the

answers given in 1743 by the then Vicar to a questionnaire sent by the Archbishop of

York to all clergy of his diocese. From this we learn that in those days there were about

eleven hundred families in the parish, among whom were about a hundred Dissenters

(these already included some Methodists, although it was only four years since the birth

of that movement). The “public service” was read in the church every day and twice on

Sundays, but Holy Communion services were held only on the first Sundays of each

month, and on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Day (not Christmas or

Whitsunday).

In 1757 John Wesley visited Huddersfield, and wrote in his journal: “I rode over the

mountains to Huddersfield, a wilder people I never saw in England. The men, women and

children filled the streets as we rode along and seemed just ready to devour us.”

It must have seemed a savage place, this little township of some five thousand

inhabitants, whose houses clustered around the church, on the river banks or in separate

villages out on the moors and marshes. There was certainly need for a strong Christian

voice to be raised to this “wild people”, and the hour provided the man. In 1759 Wesley’s

friend the Rev. Henry Venn, the great Evangelical preacher, accepted the living. He

stayed for twelve years, but his influence on the town remained for many, many years

after he had departed. People walked week after week from Leeds to hear him preach,

and in 1824 an old man of eighty recollected “He made many weep. I’ve cried many a

lot. When he got warm with his subject, he looked as if he would jump out of the pulpit. I

could have stooden and heard ‘im whole morning.”

By 1830 St. Peters had fallen into such a state of repair that the churchwardens decided to

rebuild. It was not until four years later that actual rebuilding commenced. The architect

estimated the cost of the work at two thousand pounds; the final cost of the new church

was in excess of eight thousand nine hundred pounds. The whole of this debt was paid off

in eighteen months after the church was completed.

The opening services of the third St. Peter’s were held on 27/28th October 1836. On the

first evening the congregation numbered about 3,000 and people had to sit even within

the sanctuary rails. The collections from these services totaled more than 500 pounds.

In the church where Richard Atkinson once worshipped and in whose churchyard he and

members of his family are buried, the life of the parish goes on. Here His word is taught,

His sacraments are celebrated. Here His people continue to worship Him, to thank Him

for His mercies and to receive His comfort. With this long tradition behind it and with the

Cross of Christ ever before its eyes, the church of St. Peter’s, Huddersfield looks forward

with prayer and hope into the future.

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8 – The Family of Joseph II – the second child of Joseph 1701-1772

Joseph II married Anne Law of Bradford and like his father continued to live in Bradley

Mills, for these were the days when the master dwelt on the premises where his business

was conducted. He is known to have lived at Bradley Mills from 1774 until his death in

1807. His mother Elizabeth died in Huddersfield on 26th September 1791 aged 82 years.

Joseph Atkinson m. Ann Law

Law (1) Ann (2) Elizabeth (3) Mary (4) Joseph (5) Harriet (6) Frances (7) Thomas (8)

Charles (9) Sarah (10).

The family of Joseph II and Ann Atkinson were all christened at the parish church of

Kirkheaton between 1759 and 1783. They are one of the larger families of the Atkinson

group and because of details obtained from church records and monumental inscriptions

in Tolson’s “History of Kirkheaton”, plus a copy of an old family tree obtained from the

Huddersfield Public Library more is perhaps known of this family than would normally

be found during genealogical research. Five Atkinson memorial tablets were fixed in one

long row on the north wall of the chancel of Kirkheaton church. The inscriptions were not

cut but merely painted upon the stone slabs and were damaged by the church fire in 1886,

so much as to be rendered almost illegible and they were not re-erected. In June 1890,

Mr. Brickwood a barrister of London caused a brass to be placed in the chancel of the

church bearing inscriptions to the memory of Joseph Atkinson and members of his

family.

The eldest son Law (1759-1835) married a cousin Susannah Atkinson (1768-1794)

daughter of Thomas and Susannah Atkinson, who was buried at Bunhill Fields, London.

Children from this marriage were Susannah 1789, who lived only one year, Susannah

1791 who died at the age of eight years and Mary Jane who married Fred Beaumont of

London, a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy who died in 1850. (In 1859 another Mary Jane

Atkinson was to be born – in far away New Zealand). The Beaumont children were

Thomas Atkinson, Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Charlotte.

After the death of Susannah, Law married in 1794 Elizabeth Edwards (1767-1836) the

daughter of John Edwards of Pyenest, Halifax. Children from the second marriage were

firstly Edwards (1797-1861) of Grange Hall, Singleton, who died at the Lockington

Rectory and was buried at the Singleton church in Lancashire. In 1834 Edwards was

listed in a Huddersfield directory as a coal merchant of Leeds Road. He married Agnes

Harrison who died on 26th March 1850 but had no children. Law’s other children were

Charles (1799-1857) who was buried at Buenos Aires, Argentina; Elizabeth (1800-1875);

Charlotte (1803-1862) who died at Clydevilla, London and was buried at Highgate

cemetery; and Lucy (1805-1889). At the time of his death in 1835 Law was living at

Highfield, Huddersfield.

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Joseph’s second child and eldest daughter Ann (2) was born in 1762 and died in 1849.

She married Captain Thomas Ramsden and had two daughters; Harriet who married

Bradley Clay and Emmiline who became the wife of David Gladstone of Liverpool, an

Uncle of W.E.Gladstone who became Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Elizabeth (3) was born in 1764 and married John Addison of Halifax. Children were

George who married Elizabeth Brook and died a merchant in Meltham with the following

family – John, Martha, Mary Ann (who married William Bates of Halifax, a woolstapler

– children Agnes and William Addison), William, George and Eliza, born 1789 who

married Captain Martin Milmere.

Joseph’s next child Mary (4) (1766-1842) married Richard Gill of Millthorpe (1763-

1828) and had a large family of ten children. Ann the eldest, born in 1791 married John

Kernaman, a bookseller and stationer of Devonshire in 1820 and had three children,

Elizabeth Ann, Mary Robinson and John William Duncombe. Elizabeth, born 1793

married in 1815, the Rev. John Bishop (1792) of Newport, Isle of Wight, a descendant of

Baron Zouche. Children from this marriage were John Richard, Elizabeth Mary,

Frederick James, Francis Augusta, Daniel and Jane Catherine. Mary’s eldest son John

Battye was born in 1794 (he would have been named after a family friend, one of three

witnesses to Joseph Atkinson Snr’s will) and his brother Frederick two years later.

Frederick married Hannah Saville of Wakefield and brought up their large family –

Sarah, Richard, John, Mary Ann, Hannah, Law, Frederick and William Wordsworth. The

remaining children in the Gill family were Mary, Sarah, Frances, Harriet, Law (1806-

1830) and Esther 1808.

The fifth child, Joseph (5) born 1771 was named after his father and married Frances

Chamberlain of Shawhill, Halifax (1777-1820). The birth of Joseph meant for the next

two years three generations of Joseph Atkinsons would have been living in the

Huddersfield region. Joseph lived at The Grove, Dalton, parish of Kirkheaton where his

ten children were raised, Children from the marriage were:- Frances (1798-1831); Anne

(1800-1806); Joseph 1802; Henry (1803-1845) whose wife’s names were Emma

Elizabeth – Henry was a merchant of Manchester and buried at St. John’s church in this

city; Thomas, born 1805 who died in Lima, Peru on the west coast of South America, in

1842 and was buried in the English burial ground at Bella Vista; Anne (1806-1807); Eliza

(1815-1833); Chamberlain (1820-1820) who lived only four days and was buried with his

mother at Kirkheaton; Herbert Chamberlain and Charles who lived at Lea Head, Dalton.

Two years before his death Thomas Atkinson was living in Valparaiso, Chile with his

wife Iguaria.

Herbert Chamberlain was another Atkinson who died away from his native Yorkshire. He

married a Spaniard with the Christian names of Maria Gomez, their children being

Enrique, Amalia, Alberta and Augusto. The first named was deleted from his father’s will

before Herbert died at 60 calle Sergano, Madrid on 31st July 1883. Time has not

permitted this branch of the Atkinson family to be researched at depth and it is the

author’s hope another generation of the family may care to follow up the information.

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The youngest son, Charles was described in his will as late of Bradley Mills, woollen

cloth finisher and late of Woodhouse near Huddersfield. His wife’s name was Ann and

their one son, Joseph Beaumont, gentleman, lived at Warrenfield near Huddersfield at the

time of his father’s death.

Joseph II’s sixth child Harriet (6) was born in 1774. She married Olyett Woodhouse a

barrister of Norwich and raised Robert, Anne (1803-1806); Henry; Harriet; Olyett; Mary;

Frances; Laura; Charles and Francis. Anne as a grand-daughter of Joseph I is mentioned

on the memorial plaque in the Kirkheaton parish church.

Joseph’s next child was also a girl, Frances (7) who lived only one year 1776-1777.

The eighth child Thomas (8) of Bradley Mills was one of the better known members of

the family. He was born in 1779 and died in 1838. Thomas was a captain in the

Yeomanry as well as a mill owner and took an active part against the Luddites and the

riots of the time. So much so that he is said to have been the next man intended to be shot

by them after the murder of Mr. Horsfall in 1812. When he married Miss Battye at

Wakefield in that year, he carried a brace of pistols in his coat pockets in case of attack.

Photograph of a painting of Capt. Thomas Atkinson of the Huddersfield Yeomanry

presented to him in 1823. The painting by J.F. Herring in 1822 was in 1972, in possession

of F.M. Berry Esq. Benefield House, nr. Peterborough.

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He was presented with a dress sword by the ladies of Huddersfield as a token of regard

for his valuable services with the Yeoman Cavalry 1795-1815. The sword is now in the

Tolson Memorial Museum, Huddersfield.

The Sword of Capt. Thomas Atkinson in the Tolson Memorial Museum, Huddersfield.

Thomas Atkinson’s Cotton mill at Colne Bridge was the scene of a tragic fire in 1818

when seventeen young girls were burnt to death. Tradition has it that employees were

locked in the building. In memory of the girls whose ages ranged from nine to eighteen

an obelisk was erected in the Kirkheaton Churchyard.

On one side of the monument are the words:-

“Near this place lie what remained of the bodies of seventeen children. A striking and

awful instance of the uncertainty of life and the vanity of human attainments.”

Another side of the monument reads:-

“Stranger if e’er a Mother’s tender fears,

Have watched thy steps from dawn to riper years,

If e’er soft pity for anothers woe,

Has swelled thy breast and caused a tear to flow,

Oh then, will Nature speak in accents mild,

A parent’s anguish for a suffering child,

Then will a sigh escape the pensive head,

A passing tribute to the untimely dead.”

35

36

Thomas’s first wife Mary Eastland (1788-1807) was born in London. Their only child

died with Mary in childbirth. His second wife Mary Margaret Battye (1789-1865) bore

him several children. The first Anne Elizabeth (1814-1847) married a cousin, Charles

Johnson Atkinson (1816-1853) (son of Thomas’s brother Charles)in 1837 - children from

this marriage were Emily (1843-1844) and Louisa Catherine (1839-1844); Mary

Margaret (1815-1832); an infant who died un-named in 1816; Thomas (1818-1844) who

was buried with his wife and two infants in the Portland burial ground at Bristol; Robert

Henry (1819); Louisa (1823-1824) and Frances who was living with her mother in

Victoria Terrace, Clara Street, Fartown near Huddersfield, when Mary Margaret died on

the 11th October 1865.

A Silhouette of Capt. Thomas Atkinson.

Charles (9) (1781-1870) Joseph and Ann’s next child, became an actuary to the

Huddersfield Savings Bank. He married Frances Margaret Lees (1783-1822) who died at

Leeds and was buried at Kirkheaton. Their first child Lees died in 1818 aged six years

and was buried at Trinity Church, Halifax. Ellen was born in 1813 and died in the same

year, while the next girl, Lucy (1815-1899) was another Atkinson to marry a cousin,

Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson (son of Richard and Maria Atkinson) and died at Hemsworth,

near Pontefract. The next child Charles Johnson (1816-1853) was buried at Metham Mills

Church near Huddersfield. Mary Frances, Charles’ next child married Thomas Fosbrooke

Salt, a brewer, and was buried at Burton-on-Trent.

Thomas Salt & Co. were successful brewers in Burton-on-Trent for when Thomas died in

1864 in Stapenhill, Derby, he left an estate of 45,000 pounds sterling. Children of the Salt

marriage were ten in number. The firstborn was named after his father and became a

clerk in holy orders, dying in Glasgow, Scotland but being of Christchurch vicarage,

Sidcup, Kent in 1923. The Rev. Salt’s son was also named after his father and in 1923

lived at 2 Tillebrook Rd., Leytonstone, Essex. Two daughters completed the family –

Helen Frances whose married name was Wood and Nellie who was a spinster in 1922.

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38

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The second Salt child, Edward Dawson, married Emily Jane (d.1922) and lived at

Northolme, Hadley Wood, Middlesex but died on 3rd February 1915 at 21 Station Rd.

Winchmore Hill, Middlesex. Mary Ellen, the eldest Salt girl married a Mr Wardle and

had as issue Frank, Capt. Thomas Livesey Wardle R.N. and Major Fox Wardle. The

fourth Salt child, William Cecil, in 1918 lived at Highfields, Ashby Rd., Burton-on-Trent.

He died four years later on the 21st February.

The next four Salt children were girls, Clara, Susanna Margaret, Marian Emma and

Frances. Charles John Selleck Salt was the ninth child – his wife’s name being Emma. He

died in 1926 at Sunnyside, Mickleover, County of Derby. Children from this marriage

were Alfred Theodore who in 1926 was an apiarist at Mickleover and died on 31

December 1951 at 6 Station Rd. without issue; George Reginald an engineer of 18 Cherry

St. Coventry whose wife was named Daisy – no children; and Charles Ronald whose son

Charles Trotwood Salt was an executor in his Uncle Theodore’s will. Charles Trotwood

Salt died leaving one adopted daughter.

The youngest Salt child was pleasingly named George Atkinson Salt. He died a bachelor

with an estate of six pounds ten shillings on 14th March 1912 at Mayfield, County of

Staffordshire. Buried in the same churchyard is Thomas Moore’s baby daughter, Olivia,

whose death was on his mind when he wrote the second verse of his famous poem

“Those Evening Bells”.

Those joyous hours are passed away

and many a heart that then was gay,

Within the tomb now darkly dwells,

and hears no more those evening bells.

The bells are those of St. Oswald’s church, Ashbourne only a mile or so across the river.

George would not have known of the other St. Oswald’s in Kirkoswald, Cumbria where

his Great-great-grandfather was baptised in the year 1701. George Eliot in her novel

“Adam Bede” describes St. Oswald’s, Ashbourne as “the finest mere parish church in the

Kingdom.” It is recorded that Charles I attended a service in the church after his defeat at

Naseby in 1645.

Returning to the children of Charles and Frances Margaret Atkinson; Ann Law died in

1822 aged fourteen months, four months after the death of her mother, and was buried in

Kirkheaton. Margaret born in 1820 married the Rev. Andrew Hollingworth Frost, brother

of Dr. Percival Frost of Cambridge. Children were Thomas and Catherine. Thomas lived

in Rochester, New York, fathering two sons, Ernest who died as a child and Charles.

40

Chapter 9 – A Short History of the Church of St. John the Baptist, Kirkheaton,

Hudderfield

A church has stood in the grounds of the Church of St. John for a thousand years.

Sculptured stones found in 1886 and 1916 give evidence of a church being in existence in

the 10th century. By 1218 Kirkheaton had been separated from Dewsbury and become a

parish in its own right.

Over the years there have been three actual church buildings. Firstly the one which

developed over the years until 1823, secondly the 1823 product which was burned down

in 1886, and then the rebuilt church as it stands today.

The oldest part of the present building is the Beaumont Chapel, built as a Chantry of the

Blessed Mary in the 14th century. Financed by the local community it remained a chantry

until the disestablishment of the monasteries under Henry VIII, when it became a private

chapel for the Whitley Beaumonts. Around this chantry the rest of the church has been

built. The Tower, completed in the 15th century is the only other part of the church to

escape fire and rebuilding. The present church building was erected in 1886-7 after what

became known as the “Great Fire”.

In 1872 the church paid 228 pounds for a Grundy’s Hot Air Heating System and it was

this system which caused the fire fourteen years later. To heat the entire church the

system had to be stoked to furnace heat. At the Morning Service the children sat with

their feet tucked up under their legs, the floor being so hot. They dared not complain –

experience taught them better – and even the noise of the smouldering timber seems to

have been taken for the noise of naughty children. After the service there was a smell of

burning but parishioners who conducted the search must have been more concerned about

their own dinners being burnt, than the danger to the church. When everyone had left, the

smoke poured forth from the building, but because it was situated in the valley no one

was near enough to notice.

Most ancient parish churches have attached, a churchyard and burial place and the parish

church of Kirkheaton is no exception. In fact St. John’s is set in the midst of a churchyard

of some three and a quarter acres. There are four gates into the grounds now in use. One

opposite the kirkstile is known as the “Wedding Gate”, and another at the kirkvale side,

the “Deadman’s Gate”. By tradition the former is used by the blushing brides to avoid

walking the same path on which the corpse is carried.

In the oldest part of the churchyard, opposite the vestry door, can still be seen the remains

of an ancient Yew tree. A magnificent tree in time past, it was said to have a

circumference of 20ft 9inches in 1816, and when it died in 1865-8 it was believed to be

some 800 years old. Now all that remains is the charred trunk. Another tree was to have

been planted in 1975. The Yew is not the only thing of ancient interest which has faded

from the scene. Up to the middle of the 19th century, stocks were still situated outside the

41

churchyard wall near the Deadman’s Gate. All that remains of them today is one of the

wooden crossbears, made to receive the feet of two offenders at any one time. In 1606 the

punishment for the sin of drunkedness was a fine of five shillings or six hours in the

stocks. The last time stocks were used in Kirkheaton was 1836.

In 1792 an unusual piece of church furniture was added to St. John’s. A three-decker

pulpit was placed on the south wall of the nave. The lowest desk was for the clerk who in

his high pitched voice led the responses and announced the hymns. The second desk was

for the reading of the prayers and lessons; and the top desk was the point from which the

sermon was delivered. Over the whole construction was a huge sounding board and on

the underside of this was an effigy of a white dove.

The first Rector of St. John’s during the Atkinson period was the Rev. John Hopkins who

after 14 years in office died in 1728 aged fifty years. Thomas Clark the next Rector is

probably best known for the rebuilding of the Rectory. Over the front door to this day can

still be seen the inscription:-

Thomas Clark, Anno MDCCXXIX Non nobis.

Before coming to Kirkheaton he had been the afternoon lecturer at the parish church of

Wakefield and Master of the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. He was presented to the

living of Kirkheaton in 1728 and held it until 1756 when he died at the age of eighty.

This was the period in history of the church for holding pluralities. Thomas Clark was no

exception, with Kirkheaton and Swillington being in plurality from 1749.

The Rev. Bryan Allott, Rector from 1756 to 1773 (he would have conducted the burial

service of Joseph Atkinson I) began his ministry as a Curate at Kirkburton. He then went

to York and on to St. John’s.

Following Allot was a cheery person by the name of John Burton who died in office in

1785. His was an eventful and cheery ministry if the diary of his Curate, John Sutherland,

is to be trusted. He had a fox hunt on his birthday which typified his social interests, and

it is alleged his daughter eloped with a Mr. Maude to Gretna Green. Whether they were

married by the blacksmith no one knows, but they were later married in Kirkheaton.

John Smithson the next Rector spent very little time in the parish. A look at the church

registers shows that the signatures for occasional services were always those of his

Curate, William Kettlewell. In fact the Curate lived in the Rectory since Smithson held

the living in plurality with that of Headingly, and it was there he lived. This state of

affairs is probably the reason for the disastrous alterations which took place in the church

in 1823. It is not known who gave, or if instructions were given, to the builders for the

work they carried out. The absence of the Rector explains this; there was no one over-

seeing the work. By the number of baptisms and burials in the parish it would appear that

poor Kettlewell was always at the font or in the churchyard for burials and thus had no

time to worry about the builders.

42

Parish Church – Kirkheaton.

Map showing Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Kirkheaton, Moldgreen, Almondbury and

Meltham.

43

Chapter 10 – The Family of Joseph Atkinson 1701-1772 (cont’d from Chapter 5)

The third son of Joseph and Elizabeth was named Thomas (3) (1734-1813). He lived in

London for a period but returned to Moldgreen where he was the first person in the

district to keep a carriage, from 1795 until his death. History records he was a friend of

the Rev. Henry Venn, Vicar of Hudderfield 1757-1771 and in the “Life of Venn” there

are several letters addressed to Thomas. (refer Chapter 11)

Thomas Atkinson and perhaps either his brother Michael or Richard built two large

Georgian houses at Moldgreen, before the Wakefield turnpike road was made, which

were approached from a lane leading from the bottom of Almondbury Bank to Little Carr

Green, Rawthorpe and Nettleton. There was a fine avenue of elms on each side of the

drive leading up to these houses, which were then quiet country residences and it is

difficult to realise the changes that have taken place in the locality. In 1875 these

mansions were pulled down, the trees felled and the Moldgreen Board School built upon

the site; the place can now only be identified by the name “Avenue Street”.

Houses built by The Atkinsons at Moldgreen, Huddersfield.

44

Joseph’s next child was a daughter Elizabeth (4) born in 1737 and married in 1760 to

William Firth, a merchant of Colgate, Norwich. There were five children from this

marriage, Anne, Margaret, William, Elizabeth and Martha. Margaret married twice;

firstly to Robert Cooper – one son Robert Henry, and secondly to the Rev. James

Gatliffe. Children from this marriage were William Hoey who married Christian

Hamilton of Whitehaven – William Hoey Jnr; James married Jane Hamilton of

Whitehaven – James Reid and James Hamilton; Elizabeth b.1800 married 1823 to John

Bayley of Coventry b.1788 – John Eddowes 1824 and Elizabeth Caroline 1826; Louisa

Ann ; and John who married Eliza Beaumont.

Anne married John Rookes of Norwich and raised seven children – Mary-Ann, John,

Frances, Ellen who married L.D. Roper, Frederick, Joanna and Charles. William married

Ann Watts, their six children having unusual names – Lucy, Roselind Proctor,

Euphrosynr Helen, Harry William, George Warren Watts, Charles Edward and Robert.

The next child was also a girl Mary (5) born in1739 who later married James Tinker, a

merchant of London. Their daughter Elizabeth married John Cartwright and bore two

children, John and James.

In 1742 Michael (6) was born. He married Sarah Hudson (1743-1782) and their children

were Thomas (1767-1775), Jane (1769-1831), Sarah, and William who married Ann

Emmet of Norfolk, their children being Law, William, Ann, and Peter Law. All of

Michael’s family with the exception of William, were buried in the Huddersfield Parish

Churchyard. Michael lived in Moldgreen his father having left him an interest in the

Kings and Shorefoot Corn Mills.

The seventh child of Joseph, Richard (7) was born in Kirkheaton in 1745. Richard

Atkinson is a most important member of Joseph’s family because the writer is Richard’s

Great-great-great-grandson. Richard married Elizabeth Hirst in 1770. Elizabeth was the

daughter of the Rev. John Hirst of Gledholt, incumbent of Longwood and Abigail

Radcliffe (for details of the name Radcliffe which has been passed down through the

Atkinson family, refer Chapter 13). Elizabeth was born in 1754, died in 1818 and was

buried in the Huddersfield Parish Churchyard along with her husband who died on the

21st September 1825. Richard was known as a tenant of Rawthorne Hall in 1783 and had

his own house in Moldgreen, but was afterwards of Aspley.

The remaining children of Joseph and Elizabeth Atkinson were both girls, Hannah (8)

born in 1748 who married Thomas Starkey of Huddersfield in 1774 and had one child

William who married Martha Royster; and Sarah (9) born in 1752 completed the large

Huddersfield Family.

45

Chapter 11 – Letters from the Rev. Henry Venn, Vicar of Huddersfield to his friend

Thomas Atkinson.

1. To Mr. Thomas Atkinson, Huddersfield – 10th August 1764.

Dear Sir,

You will be pleased to hear that the work of the Lord prospers exceedingly in many

souls; and that lately we have had some happy and triumphant deaths, which are of great

use, in the hands of God, to awaken and to convince, and to animate, those who do

already believe.

Mr. Ball you have now with you. May you make good improvement of such a talent

entrusted to your care! He is one of those who are described, in God’s word, as burning

and shining lights; by their wisdom, and knowledge of the truth, they point out the path of

life: and by their love and zeal, they warm our hearts, and stir us up to seek, as they do.

I hope you read your bible with much prayer. I can give you a never-failing receipt to

make a complete Christian and an heir of Glory. You will find the medicine described in

the 19th Psalm, 7-11; and the method of taking it, Prov.II 1-6. By the use of this medicine

and this method, you will as certainly improve, and grow in grace, as any sensible

diligent boy ever got any knowledge at school. This is our condemnation; and, alas! this

is the real cause of our being so weak in faith, so cold in our love, so confused in our

notions; - the Bible, and prayer over it for the true understanding of it, is not our exercise,

our constant employment. Any other means of grace than this, which is yet the most

profitable of all, is rather chosen. But as it is written, the kingdom of Heaven suffereth

violence, and the violent take it by force; so in nothing do we offer violence to our evil

nature more than in studying God’s holy word, and earnestly praying that the devine truth

it teaches may sink deep into our hearts, work mightily, and produce all those gracious

effects for which it was of old written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost.

My love to all my dear friends in Christ, who have all of them my daily prayers.

From your very affectionate friend,

H.Venn.

2. To Mr. Thomas Atkinson. Yelling – 3rd January 1792.

My Dear Friend,

Yesterday, with great pleasure, we received your very generous relief for our poor

neighbours; and I now write to return you grateful thanks in my own as well as in the

name of the people.

This festival week we are rejoiced with the prospect; - coals, clothing, and meat are

distributed. To the Parsonage, as to a house of mercy, the poor should resort in their

distresses; and though we see them little more disposed to receive the Gospel by acts of

kindness and love to them, yet their opposition to it dies away; and some are reformed,

46

and restrained from setting the evil example they did. At all events the merciful do

receive mercy, and their own souls are made fat. How often, when my heart has been

cold and dead – when I could not pray or meditate for days together – have I been

quickened by the loving kindness of the Lord, upon doing something kind and loving for

a fellow Christian. This is highly necessary to be noted, and frequently dwelt upon in

Christian conversation, because of the gross selfishness that is interwoven in our fallen

souls. We are very prone to turn the doctrines of grace into poison; not only

predestination and election, final perseverance and particular redemption, but no less,

justification by faith alone, and the pardon of all our sins by the blood of the Lamb.

It is therefore a great comfort when I see and hear from my Christian friends, that they

are glad to distribute and willing to communicate. Were there but one thousand loving

Chistians of great opulence in Britain, like-minded with John Thornton, lately gone to

heaven, the nation would be judged and convinced of the good operation of the gospel.

Indeed I sometimes indulge the joyful hope, that the Philadelphian state is approaching

when Christians shall be as much distinguished by their bowels of compassion, and active

love, as by their creed.

Will you crown your kindness to me by a visit? I am weak and withering away but

content and cheerful. I can read but little – write less; and my intellectual faculties are

benumbed. I seldom stir out. Oh what a change will perfect health, immortal vigour, and

spotless purity, be to my poor soul!

Mrs. Venn and Jane send love to you and all friends; as I do.

Yours,

H. Venn.

47

Chapter 12 – The Family of Richard Atkinson (1745-1825)

Richard Atkinson m. Elizabeth Hirst

Charlotte, Elizabeth, Maria, William Henry, Samuel, Richard, Thomas Radcliffe, John,

and Edward.

The eldest child Charlotte, born in 1772, died in 1822 and was buried in the Huddersfield

Parish Churchyard. Elizabeth, born 1776 at Kirkheaton, married George Macam, and

Maria who was born in 1779, married Charles Trotter an apothecary (pharmacist) of

Huddersfield. William Henry, the third child and eldest son was christened at Kirkheaton

in 1781 and died in Louisville, U.S.A. (It is not known in which of the eight American

towns with this name that William passed away.)

Samuel, born 1783 at Kirkheaton and buried in Huddersfield in 1819 married Elizabeth

Cleck, and Richard born 1784 married Maria Best (b.1775) who died at Scarborough in

1850 but was buried in the Huddersfield churchyard. Scarborough is a North Sea resort

on the Yorkshire coast, which combines a fishing village, a working port, hotels and

boarding houses and castle ruins. Ann Bronte is buried in the hillside churchyard of St.

Mary’s below the castle.

Children of Richard and Maria form an interesting branch of the Atkinson family through

one particular son – Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson. Their children and dates of birth were:

Harriet 1806; Charles Walter (1806-1875, buried in Huddersfield); Thomas Radcliffe

(1809-1866); Ann 1811; Richard 1814, - with children Richard Osborne and Mary Alice;

Elizabeth 1815; Anna Maria 1816; Samuel Walter 1820, with children Jasper, George,

Florence, Edith and Constance - in 1866, Samuel Walter lived at Apperley Bridge near

Bradford; Charlotte Susannah 1822; Emmiline 1824; and Sophia 1827.

Thomas Radcliffe married a cousin, Lucy (1815-1899) a daughter of Charles Atkinson,

actuary to the Huddersfield Savings Bank (Chapter 8) and died at Bankfield, Hemsworth,

Yorkshire in 1866 leaving an estate of under twenty pounds. Children from the marriage

were:- Lees, Louisa (1843-1916), Janet, Ernest, Francis Bairstow who married Ada

Bennett, and Lucy Isabel who married Alfred John Slocombe (1856-1930). Lucy’s

husband was born in Stoke Canon, a small town in Devon between Exeter and Tiverton

and became a clerk to the Huddersfield justices as well as local councils.

Through information kindly supplied by descendants of the Slocombe family many

details are known of this branch of the Atkinson family. In 1975 the author was

corresponding with Mrs. Marjorie Tucker and Mr. Basil Slocombe, children of Lucy and

Alfred Slocombe now living in Devon and Cornwall. Their sister Kathleen Isabel Darby

was at this time aged ninety-one and living in Welland, Ontario. Kathleen’s daughter,

Patricia Promoli of Guelph, Ontario was very interested in genealogy and the author is

particularly indebted to her for the encouragement he received to complete this family

48

history. A son of Charles Harold Atkinson Slocombe, Basil, now living in Maidenhead,

Berkshire after a period in Hamilton, New Zealand also corresponds with the author.

To return to Thomas and Lucy’s children; it is recorded that Lees had no family, Louisa

and Janet did not marry, Ernest was known to be in New York in1899, and Francis

Bairstow had one adopted daughter, Grace Constance Edwards to whom he left his estate

when he died in Bradford in 1917.

In the early part of their lives the Slocombe family lived in the seven room back portion

of Milnes Bridge House near Huddersfield. Later the family moved to the Battyeford end

of Mirfield near Kirklees Park where Robin Hood is reputed to have died and been

buried, then at Madgecroft in Mirfield before moving to Longwood House, later named

Fixby House in Huddersfield. Grandmother Lucy Slocombe lived with her son Francis

and daughters Louisa and Janet at “Cliff Villa” a delightful Italian-style house set above a

terraced garden on Grimscar Road.

In the 1890s Janet died while nursing her Godchild and niece Hilda Radcliffe Slocombe

aged five years, with Scarlet Fever. Hilda died a week later and they were both placed in

the last two niches in the Atkinson tomb in the Kirkheaton Churchyard. Some members

of the Atkinson family had previously been buried under the chancel of the church

building but following the fire of 1886 (refer Chapter 9) water ran into the graves and

they were removed to a tomb in the churchyard. Over the Atkinson tomb was an altar

stone memorial with a recumbent white marble cross.

49

As previously mentioned, in 1975 three of the nine children of Lucy and Alfred

Slocombe were still alive and well. We know that the eldest child, Hilda Radcliffe died at

five years of age and the next daughter lived in 1975 in Welland, Ontario. (She was later

to live with her daughter Patricia in Graham Street, Guelph.) Kathleen Isabel married

Ernest Hargrave Darby (1879-1958) and had twin daughters who were born and died in

1918. The next child Kathleen Patricia Radcliffe, born 1920 married Frederic Carl

Freeman Promoli, who in 1975 was a Social Worker of Guelph, Ontario. Their five sons

all rejoiced in the third name of Radcliffe (refer Chapter 13). The boys were:- Frederic

Carl b.1947 m. Geraldine Masters; Michael John b.1950 m. Katherine Crowe – Adam

Christopher Carmichael b.1975; Stephen Hargrave b.1951; Paul Justin b.1955; Julian

Philip b.1961. Stephen Promoli was drowned while canoeing in the Athabaska River,

Northern Alberta in 1976.

Kathleen and Ernest Darby’s youngest daughter, Audrey Isabel b.1926 married Donald

McTaggart Burgess and lived with their children Christine Patricia b.1952 and Douglas

McTaggart b.1954 in Mississauga, Ontario. Another member of the Darby family, Alfred

Edmund Gladstone b.1922 married Jane Clewlow, an English girl, and raised a family of

two girls and a boy:- James Edward b.1947 m. Beth – a son Christopher William; Ann m.

William Dodd; Corrine Sue m. Gary Welna. The remaining Darby child, James Godfrey

Radcliffe b.1924 married Catherine Weir and in 1975 lived in Moline, Illinois, USA.

Their children were:- James Godfrey Radcliffe m. Marie Gruhewald; Peter Douglas Scott

m. Virginia Colby; Diane Catherine m. Stephen Downing and Stephen Donald b.1960.

It is of interest that in the period 1908-1912 Kathleen Isabel Darby was a pupil of

Professor Martin Krause of Severin Eisenberger, pupil of Leschitizky, another of whose

pupils was Ignaz Paderewski.

The first son of the Slocombe family was Bernard Atkinson who was born in 1887 at

Milnes Bridge House and married Beatrice Emma Taylor. He became a surgeon living at

Keighley, near Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Haworth was famous as the

50

home of the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Ann who often walked to Keighley to

shop and borrow books. Bernard Slocombe died in 1956.

Francis Alfred McKenzie, the next son was born in Mirfield in 1890, his wife’s christian

names being Bertha Elizabeth and his only son’s Geoffrey. Francis died in Huddersfield

on the 19th January 1960. The next child, Charles Atkinson died of pneumonia aged six

weeks.

Charles Harold Atkinson Slocombe born in 1894 at Longwood House, Huddersfield

married Nellie Ruth (surname unknown). He died at Southport in 1969 leaving two sons

and two daughters. The eldest child Graham Atkinson Slocombe married Glenda Prior

and in 1975 lived in Australia with their children Frances Jane, Susan, Lynette Maureen,

and Garry. The eldest daughter Maureen married William Turner – children Simon and

Neil – and in 1975 lived at Otford near Sevenoaks, Kent. Her sister Sylvia Lucille

married Eric Kenyon and raised a family of three – Erica, John and David. The younger

son Basil Atkinson, born 1924 married Barbara Winifred Burgess, their children being

Patricia Anne, Valerie June and Barry John.

The seventh child of Alfred and Lucy Slocombe, Charlotte Isabel was born in

Huddersfield in 1896, married Daniel Robinson and died in Brixham, South Devon on

the 1st March 1968 without a family.

Marjorie Lucy was born in 1898, married William Tucker who died in 1973 and raised

two daughters Pamela Joan and Phillipa Wendy. Pamela married Denis Womersley –

Francesca Louise; Phillipa Wendy married James Hendry – Sarah Marjorie and James

Mark. In 1976 Marjorie Tucker was living in Teignmouth on the coast of Devon.

The youngest Slocombe child was born at the turn of the century (1900). He learned the

clothing trade with Kaye and Stewart of Lockwood near Huddersfield. Basil obtained a

Diploma of Textile Manufacture at Leeds University and joined British Celanese Ltd

where he worked until made redundant at the age of 57. He worked for a further three

years when he retired to live with his wife Molly (Nora Molly Kathleen Marshall b.1909)

in a delightful cottage in Truro, Cornwall. The author was privileged to stay with them

while on a visit to the Old Country in December 1973. Basil and Molly’s only daughter

Victoria Elizabeth married an American serviceman, Frederic William Ploegman, who

she met in Paris, but they later divorced. Her two daughters are Anna Louise and Mandy

Sue. This concludes the Slocombe section of the Atkinson family tree – one that the

author feels has made his research worthwhile.

The next child of Richard and Elizabeth Atkinson, Thomas Radcliffe, christened in

Kirkheaton church on the 1st September 1785 is the writer’s Great-great-grandfather and

Chapter 14 refers to this branch of the family.

John, born three years later (1788) in Huddersfield married Anne Isabella May of

Enfield, Middlesex (1799-1854) in the year 1821. He practiced as a surgeon and in 1818

resided in New Street, Huddersfield. When he died on the 10th October 1833 he left an

51

estate of six hundred pounds. Children from the marriage were John Edwin (1822-1859)

a manufacturer’s clerk and bachelor; Samuel May b.1823 and at the time of his brother’s

death he lived in Fitzwilliam St. Huddersfield; Sophia Elizabeth b.1826; and Anne

Isabella, born 1828 a century before the birth of the writer of this saga; and lastly Emma

b.1832. When John’s wife Anne Isabella died in 1854 she was living in Fitzwilliam St.

which is still on a map of Huddersfield city.

Little is known of the next and youngest child of the Richard Atkinson family. He was

Edward, born 1792 in Huddersfield, married Rose Anne (surname unknown) who bore

him two sons William Henry b.1825 and Frederick b.1827.

The Slocombe Family as descended from Richard Atkinson.

Richard Atkinson (born prior to 1660)

|

Michael (b. prior 1680 d.1703) m. Elizabeth Hutton

|

Joseph (1701 – 1772) m. Elizabeth Bouyes

|

Richard (1745 – 1825) m. Elizabeth Hirst

|

Richard (1748 - ?) m. Maria Best

|

Thomas Radcliffe (1809-1866) m. Lucy Atkinson

|

Lucy Isabel (1856-1944) m. Alfred John Slocombe

|

Kathleen Isabel (1888-1976) m. Ernest Hargrave Darby

|

Kathleen Patricia Radcliffe (1924- ) m. Frederic Promoli

52

Chapter 13 – The Radcliffe Family Connection.

The author’s grandfather rejoiced in the second christian name of Radcliffe and research

has shown the Atkinsons of history liked to be linked with the name of a knight of the

realm, even though such relationship was very remote.

The first Radcliffe of whom anything is known is Henry of Langley Hall who on 11th

February 1604 married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Kaye of Wakefield. Their third son

Edmund was baptized at Middleton on 8th November 1608 and married Catherine who

was buried at Oldham on 26th September 1668.

Edmund and Catherine Radcliffe’s son William married either Martha Beaumont of

Meltham, b.1642, m.1664, d.5th May 1725; or Mary, daughter of Abraham Beaumont of

Meltham. William later became Rector of Dinnington, Co. York and was sometime of

University College, Oxford, dying on 12th September 1727 aged 88 years.

The Rev. William Radcliffe’s eldest son Abraham was born on 21st December 1665 and

lived in Almondbury, Co. York. On 21st September 1693 he married Mary Wright and

after her death, on 11th June 1704, married Abigail Wilson. One of the children by this

second marriage was Abigail Radcliffe who married the Rev. John Hirst who was

ordained Deacon in 1748 and Priest on 4th June 1750 and later became the incumbent of

Longwood. Several of William’s other children emigrated to the United States, where

they owned large estates in South Carolina.

Two of Abraham Radcliffe’s brothers were John, born 6th January 1667 who became

Confessor to the Household and Gentleman of the Chapel to Queen Anne; and William of

Milnesbridge, parish of Huddersfield who was baptized on 20th October 1670 and

married Elizabeth Dawson at Marsden Chapel on 19th September 1706. William was an

attorney, dying on 20th May 1748.

Mary, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Radcliffe was baptized at Huddersfield on

19th November 1707 and married Joseph Pickford of Alt Hill in the parish of Ashton-

under-Lyne, Lancashire. She died on 6th August 1747 and was buried in the chancel of

the parish church.

Joseph and Mary Pickford’s son Joseph was born at Alt Hall on 8th May 1744 (exactly

184 years before the birth of the author) and baptised in the parish church. On 3rd March

1763 he married Catherine, only daughter of Thomas Percival of Royton, Lanc. Catherine

lived only to the age of twenty-five, dying on 15th May 1765 and being buried in her

family vault of Royton. Joseph did not remain a widower for very long as he married

Elizabeth, only child of Richard Sunderland of Croydon, Surrey on 16th November of the

same year. After Elizabeth died on 26th March 1796, Joseph took as his third wife

53

Elizabeth, younger daughter of Richard Creswick of Sheffield whom he married on 8th

April 1807.

Mary Radcliffe who married Joseph Pickford had two brothers, William and Charles

(1718-1768) and a sister Sarah. William (of Milnesbridge) became a Lt. Colonel in the 1st

West Yorkshire Militia and a Justice of the Peace. On 26th September 1795 he died

unmarried and in compliance with a clause in his will his nephew Joseph (son of Joseph

Pickford and Mary Radcliffe) succeeded to the Milnesbridge and other estates subject to

his assuming the surname Radcliffe. This he did by virtue of the Royal Sign Manual

dated 19th December 1795. Joseph Radcliffe was for many years one of His Majesty’s

Justices of the Peace and Quorum for the Counties Palatine of Lancaster and Chester, and

also for the West Riding of Yorkshire. For his distinguished public service he was created

a Baronet by Letter Patent dated 2nd November 1813. He died at Clifton near Bristol 19th

February 1819 and was buried at Royton.

In 1976 the Radcliffe name was perpetuated by Sir Joseph Radcliffe who had sold the

family estates at Rudding Park and lived in retirement in Switzerland.

After reading through this maze of Radcliffe-Pickford family history the reader will

wonder how the Atkinson association came about. Referring back to paragraph 4 of the

preceding page reference is made to Abigail Radcliffe marrying the Rev. John Hirst. It

was their daughter Elizabeth (1754-1818) who on 4th October 1770 married Richard

Atkinson, son of Joseph Atkinson of Kirkoswald, Cumberland.

The exact relationship between the Atkinsons and Radcliffes may be better illustrated in

the abbreviated family tree below:-

Henry Radcliffe

Edmund Radcliffe

William Radcliffe

Abraham Radcliffe John Radcliffe William Radcliffe

m.1.Mary Wright m.Elizabeth Dawson

2.Abigail Wilson

Abigail Radcliffe Mary Radcliffe

m.Rev. John Hirst m.Joseph Pickford

Elizabeth Hirst Joseph Pickford -

m.Richard Atkinson 1795 Joseph Radcliffe

1813 Sir Joseph Radcliffe

54

Chapter 14 – The Family of Thomas Radcliffe and Mary Ann Atkinson.

A 1838 Family Silhouette.

Sarah Hannah, Jane, Mary Ann, Frederick, George Radcliffe, Maria, Thomas Alfred,

Margaret.

Thomas Radcliffe, the fourth son of Richard and Elizabeth Atkinson (Chapter 12) was

christened in the Kirkheaton parish church on the 1st September 1785. He married Mary

Ann Hanson (25.12.1793-16.6.1866) the daughter of Joshua and Hannah Hanson, nee

Clay. They made their family home in Aspley House, Lower Aspley, Huddersfield – a

very large building as shown on following page. The location of Aspley House in St

Andrews Rd. is marked on the map of Huddersfield printed later in this saga.

55

Mary Ann Atkinson (nee Hanson)

Aspley House, Huddersfield , Yorkshire – the Home of Thomas Radcliffe and Mary Ann

Atkinson.

56

57

When Thomas died at the early age of forty-six he left an estate of twelve thousand

pounds sterling, a substantial amount for that period. Special mention was made of his

daughter Sarah Hannah in his will because she was born to Mary Ann Hanson prior to

their marriage. Thomas Radcliffe, his wife and mother-in-law were all buried in the

family plot in the Huddersfield parish churchyard. Details from the headstones were:-

Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson of Aspley, Merchant, died 5th June 1832 aged 46 years

Mary Ann, relict of Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson, died 16th June 1866 aged 70 years

Hannah Maria, widow of Thomas Alfred Atkinson and daughter-in-law of the above,

died 4th December 1851 aged 30 years.

John Atkinson, surgeon of this town, died 10th October 1833 aged 45 years

Anne Isabella, his widow, died 15th March 1854 aged 55 years

Hannah Hanson, mother-in-law of Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson, died 7th January 1835

aged 66 years.

Sarah Hannah Swallow (nee Atkinson)

Sarah Hannah was baptized in Huddersfield in 1816 the daughter of Thomas Radcliffe

Atkinson and Mary Ann Hanson, singlewoman. The liaison was apparently legalised

before the birth of Thomas Alfred but no record of the marriage has been found (this is

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not to say the wedding did not take place). Sarah married William Swallow, whose father

was listed in a 1818 Huddersfield directory as a cloth drawer and letterer of The Crescent.

William died on the 12th November 1874 at which time the eldest son Luke Henry was a

mill manager of Mirfield. In 1893 Luke was an innkeeper of Farsley near Bradford and

when he died 16.11.1916 he lived at 7a South Street, Huddersfield. The Swallows’ eldest

daughter Elizabeth Ann married James Durrans Taylor an iron and steel merchant who

died in 1891 leaving an estate of seven thousand pounds sterling. Two years later

Elizabeth was living with her brother in Commercial Square, Huddersfield.

The third Swallow child was named William after his father, and the next Radcliffe

Atkinson was named after his mother’s side of the family. Radcliffe remained a bachelor

until his death on 13th March 1893 in Huddersfield, when his occupation was that of a

draper.

The Swallow Children – Luke, Elizabeth, William and Radcliffe.

For detailed information about Thomas Radcliffe’s eldest son, Thomas Alfred refer to

Chapter 15.

Margaret, the third child was christened with her elder brother, Thomas Alfred on the 25th

October 1822. She lived all her life in Aspley House and in the census returns of 1851-

61-71 her occupation was shown as a teacher of music. Margaret did not marry and died

in Aspley House on the 18th October 1901.

Maria Myrtilda, born in 1825 also remained a spinster, living at Aspley House until her

death on 18.8.1912. Census returns show her occupation as a “teacher in school”.

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Jane Nicholson (nee Atkinson)

Jane Atkinson, born two years later, married Marshall Nicholson, a mining engineer. In

1912 the Nicholsons were living at Middleton Hall, Leeds and the colliery proprietor died

there on the 23rd December 1915. Children from the marriage were Clara Louisa, Ethel

Blanche and Marshall.

Ethel Blanche married Thomas Harding Churton who died 30.8.1941 at Allerton Hill,

Chapel Allerton, Leeds. Their eldest child Marshall Edward Harding in 1932 lived at

Inholmes, Todcaster, Yorkshire and in 1941 at Shepherds Close, Compton, Hants. The

eldest daughter, Ethel Marjorie Harding married Reginald Martin Currier-Briggs of

Norwood Hall, Farnley near Otley, a colliery proprietor. Marshall Edward Harding died

7.10.1945 a Lt. Colonel and his wife Mary Angela married William Lewis Clark Kirby

within a year of his passing. The youngest child of Thomas and Ethel Churton, Thomas

Richard Harding in 1943 was a mechanical engineer at Allerton Hill.

60

The Marshall Nicholsons playing tennis outside “Aspley House” Waimate North, N.Z.

George Radcliffe Atkinson

The sixth child of Thomas and Mary Ann Atkinson, George Radcliffe was christened in

Huddersfield 24.7.1829 and lived in the city until his death on the 19th March 1913.

George Radcliffe is listed in the 1861 census as of Aspley House, unmarried aged 31,

Draper. He was present at the time of the death of his sister Margaret in 1901.

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Frederick Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson

The youngest child of the Atkinsons of Aspley House, Frederick Thomas Radcliffe, is the

Great-grandfather of the author of this family history. Details of his family are outlined in

Chapter 16. He was born in Huddersfield, England in 1831 and died in Paihia, New

Zealand in 1925 aged 94 years.

Frederick Thomas Radcliffe and Harriet Atkinson (nee Kenyon)

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Chapter 15 – The Family of Thomas Alfred Atkinson (1820-1903)

Thomas Alfred Atkinson

Thomas Alfred, the eldest son of Thomas Radcliffe and Mary Ann Atkinson was born in

Huddersfield on the 7th July 1820 and christened with his sister Margaret in 1822.

On the 10th February 1842 the marriage took place in Huddersfield between Thomas

Alfred and Hannah Maria, daughter of William Whitely a book-keeper of Aspley. At this

time Thomas Alfred was a frizer of Aspley but four years later he was described as a

clerk of Birkby, Huddersfield.

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Mary Ellen Trummel (nee Atkinson)

Mary Ellen, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Hannah Maria was born on the 20th April

1842 (ten weeks after the wedding!). At the age of twenty-eight she married a

commission agent of Elberfeld, Prussia – Christian Frederick Trummel, son of a

cabinetmaker, Christian Trummel. Their two sons Max and Charles are reported to

having died in the Isle of Man internment camp during the First World War but letters of

administration have been found which prove that Charles died at Crossfield House

Adwalton, Bradford on the 16th July 1915, his estate going to his widow Minnie

May Trummel.

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Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson

The next child, Thomas Radcliffe was born in Aspley, Huddersfield on the 7th October

1843. He married Mary Elizabeth Emily Hirst and died aged forty-three in New York,

U.S.A. Their only child, Edith Radcliffe was born in 1878 and died a spinster 31.12,1965

at the Scotton Bank Hospital, Knaresborough after living at 74 Dragon Road, Harrogate.

Edith Radcliffe Atkinson in 1882

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The younger daughter of Thomas and Hannah Maria, Alice Maude was born in Birkby,

Huddersfield on the 5th April 1846. She married a member of the family of the Thorne

Toffee business, name unknown. In 1924 they resided at 11 Quarry Mount Terrace,

Leeds. Alice Maude passed away on 13.4.1924 at the home of her son, George Radcliffe

Thorne, 22 Hawthorne View, Chapel Allerton, Leeds. Children in the Thorne family were

George Radcliffe a draper’s buyer, William Atkinson a bank cashier who in 1924 lived at

29 Queens Rd. Bradford, 1956 at 46 Pullan Ave. Bradford, dying in the Royal Infirmary,

Bradford on 28.8.1956; Thomas Alfred, Norman Henry and Ellen Mary.

Little is known of Frederick William, the younger son of Thomas Alfred and Hannah

Maria except that in the census of 1851 he was one year old and living at 17 Salem Place.

In 1850 Thomas and Hannah Atkinson lived at 17 Salem Place, Leeds where Hannah

died on the 4th December 1851 aged 30, being buried in the Huddersfield parish

churchyard. At this time Thomas’s occupation was a book-keeper becoming in 1857 a

cashier of Cemetery Place, Leeds.

Christmas Eve 1857 saw the marriage in Leeds of Thomas Alfred Atkinson and

Elizabeth, daughter of John Shann of Brunswick Place, Leeds, cloth manufacturer.

In Thomas Atkinson’s will of 1903 mention is made of a daughter Hannah Maria. She is

named before the other daughters Mary Ellen and Alice Maude and having the same

christian names as her mother it would be logical to assume she was the first born

daughter. However, no record of her birth has been found and she would not have been

born in wedlock if the first child. She is not mentioned in the census of 1851 so must

remain a mystery of genealogical research.

Three years after their marriage Thomas and Elizabeth Atkinson lived at 3 St. Mark

Terrace, Thomas’s occupation being that of a silk salesman. His first son by his second

wife Elizabeth was born on the 2nd April 1860 and christened Percy Shann.

Percy Shann Atkinson married Helena Louisa Tate, daughter of Isaac Tate,

Harbourmaster, deceased, at the Parish Church of St. George, Leeds on the 28th

December 1885. In 1903 he was a canal agent living at 7 Kirkstall Ave., Kirkstall, Leeds.

His other known places of residence were (1924) 1 Cragg Terrace, Horsforth and (1936)

13 Roseville Ave, Scarborough. Percy died on the 24th January 1936 at 8 Hyde Park

Road, Harrogate, his wife Helena Louisa dying at Leeds 9.6.1940. The only child from

the marriage was a son Percival who had two children, Derrick and Valerie.

Percy’s brother, Herbert Shann was born in Leeds on the 23rd June 1861, his godmother

being his aunt, Maria Myrtilda Atkinson of Aspley. His first wife was Mary Ann Nichols.

Two sons were born, Thomas Alfred 1893 and George Radcliffe1895, with Mary Ann

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dying in childbirth when George was born. The young family was cared for from 1895-

1899 by Alice Maud Atkinson, Percy’s step-sister until he remarried to Caroline Briggs.

The first boy married Selina Newhom on the 14th August 1916. At the commencement of

the Second World War Thomas Alfred was a solicitor’s clerk living at Hailey Lodge,

Rutland Rd. Harrogate. He died on the 27th January 1958 leaving a daughter, Edith

Marienne who married a U.S. serviceman, Hank Winget of Louisville, Texas. After

having three children, Earl, Karen and Dale she divorced Hank, remarried and remained

in the U.S.A. In 1976 her mother Mrs.Selina Atkinson was living at 23 Woodlands Drive,

Harrogate and corresponding with the author.

The second son, George Radcliffe Atkinson was born on the 29th November 1895 at

Springbank House, Rothwell, Leeds. He married Dorothy Margaret Walters and in 1939

was a builder’s foreman of Burma, Woodlesford. Children from the marriage were John

Radcliffe b.11.7.1923; Norman Radcliffe b.19.10.1925 and Margaret Elizabeth

b.19.5.1930 with whom the author is delighted to correspond. George Radcliffe died on

7.7.1964 and his wife Dorothy 1.3.1976.

John Radcliffe married Margaret Isabel Manuel and had one daughter – Jane Dorothy. In

1975 they lived at 27 Chelwood Crescent, Leeds and Jane was at university studying

geography. The brother of John, Norman Radcliffe on 5th October 1976 married Shirley

Burrows and lived at 15 Ayresome Ave. Leeds.

Margaret Elizabeth married Duncan McDonald Keith of Aberdeen and raised two sons,

Dougal McDonald 1963 and Angus McDonald 1965. In 1976 the family lived at 11

Lidgett Park Ave. Leeds, Yorkshire.

In 1861 at the time of Herbert Shann’s birth, Thomas Alfred Snr. and Elizabeth lived at 3

St. Mark’s Terrace, Leeds and Thomas had risen to the position of manager of a silk mill.

Nine years later when he lived at The Haigh, Rothwell he was known as a silkspinner.

This was his occupation in1903 when he lived at 5 Montague Terrace, Bridlington, a

small town on the east coast of Yorkshire. He died on the 16th October 1903 at 64 Quay

Road, Bridlington.

In Thomas Alfred Atkinson’s will made just two months prior to his death, from an estate

of five and a half thousand pounds he made the following bequests:-

Edith Radcliffe Atkinson, daughter of my deceased son Thomas Radcliffe Atkinson, 150

pounds.

Herbert Shann Atkinson, 6th portion of the lease at Aspley; 200 pounds; insurance

bonuses from Royal Insurance Co; diamond ring; second best gold watch chain and

hangings; best gun.

Percy Shann Atkinson, 300 pounds; insurance bonuses from Royal Insurance Co; Best

gold watch numbered 47399, chain and seal.

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Hannah Maria Atkinson, household furniture; plate, linen, china, pictures and other

household effects; 30 pounds.

Mary Ellen Trummel, 20 pounds.

Alice Maud Thorne, 20 pounds.

Frederick William Atkinson, income from 200 pounds in monthly payments.

The last resting place of Thomas and Elizabeth Atkinson is the Bridlington Borough

Cemetery, East Yorkshire.

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Chapter 16 –The Family of Frederick Thomas Radcliffe and Harriet Atkinson.

Frederick Atkinson and Harriet Kenyon married in 1852 in the church of St. Matthew’s,

Auckland.

Harriet was the daughter of John Kenyon, born in Halifax who married Sarah Harvey of

Skircoat, Halifax in the parish church on 14th October 1832. Children from the marriage

were Harriet 1834, Mary Ann 1836, James 1838, William Henry 1840, Rose Ann 1841,

and John William 1847.

Sarah Kenyon died in 1848 and John married a widow, Maria J. Priestley with two

children, Isabella 12 and William 6. A daughter Maria was born to the couple in 1850.

The census of 1851 shows John and Maria Kenyon living at Washer Lane Top, Halifax,

as did John’s brothers Joseph, William and their families.

Joseph Kenyon’s wife Elizabeth was aged 31 and their children Rachael 11, Albert 4 and

John 1. William Kenyon’s wife Phoebe was 26 and their son James 8. Other brothers and

sisters of John Kenyon and their dates of birth were:- Mary 1800, Mary 1802, James

1805, Martha 1809, Rachael 1812 and Hannah 1817. The parents of the nine children

were John Kenyon Snr., a dyer of Skircoat, Halifax who was christened on 29th June

1777 son of William Kenyon of Halifax, dresser; and Hannah Appleyard who were

married in Halifax on 15th December 1799.

Tradition had is that Frederick and Harriet went from England to the Solomon Islands but

because Harriet could not stand the climate they came to New Zealand. Frederick was

offered Hobson Street, Auckland by the Maoris for eighty pounds but thought it too dear.

They first settled in the Bay of Plenty where George was born, engaged in sawmilling at

Kennedy Bay and then went on to Auckland. Frederick then built a home in Waimate

North, naming the house “Aspley” after the property in Huddersfield.

Aspley House – Waimate North, N.Z.

69

Harriet Atkinson and Frederick Atkinson

Frederick and Harriet Atkinson with 3 members of their Family

- Sarah, John Frederick, Frederick, Marshall, Harriet.

70

Frederick is listed in a book of early New Zealand settlers as owning in 1882, 130 acres

at Waimate North valued at one hundred and thirty pounds. Frederick’s brother George

Radcliffe of Aspley House, Huddersfield visited Waimate North and in his will of 1913

left Frederick 1000 pounds and his daughter Clara 100 pounds.

Two of Harriet’s sisters came out to New Zealand, married and spent the rest of their

lives in the country. Mary Ann Kenyon married Alfred Alexander a flour miller in St

Matthew’s Church, Auckland on 18th February 1864. One of the witnesses to the wedding

was her sister Rose Ann, then living in Victoria St. Auckland. Alfred Alexander was born

in Kingsclere, a small village in North Hampshire six miles west of Pamber End. Rose

Ann Kenyon married William Cook and died at Waimate North on 11th September 1891

aged 49, her husband living until 2nd June 1919.

Frederick Atkinson, Alfred Alexander and William Cook – each brothers-in-law to one

another – conducted a milling business at Waimate North, having taken over the

Bedggood Mill. The author’s father’s second christian name was Alexander and it is

logical to suppose he was named after his Grandfather’s business partner.

The Old Bedggood Flour Mill at Waimate North.

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Prior to moving to Paihia, Frederick operated the store at Waimate North. The story is

told he sold or loaned so much from his home he felt he should set up in business as a

general storekeeper. This is his occupation shown on his certificate of death.

Waimate North Store then

and in 2007

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Harriet died at Waimate North on the 8th February 1917 aged 83 and Frederick of senile

decay at Paihia on the 24th August 1925 aged 94 years. They are buried together in the

churchyard of St. John the Baptist, Waimate North

The Tombstone of Frederick and Harriet Atkinson.

73

A group of Atkinson Graves in Waimate North Churchyard.

Walter – George – John Frederick Atkinson.

74

The eight children of Harriet and Frederick (as listed below) were born over a period of

twenty-three years.

Sarah 1853-1938

George Radcliffe 1856-1945

Mary Jane 1859-1895

Clara Edith 1863-1959

Walter 1866-1949

John Frederick 1869-1959

Alice Maude 1874-1966

Marshall Nicholson 1876-1960

The average lifespan of Frederick and Harriet Atkinson and their eight children was 83.7

years.

Sarah Wright (nee Atkinson).

The eldest child, Sarah was reputed to be the only child born in England before the

couple came to New Zealand. As no trace of her birth can be found in England it can be

assumed she was born on the long voyage to the colonies. Sarah married Ernest Hamilton

Wright in Auckland in 1870; he was later murdered by natives in the Fiji Islands. Their

three children were born in Waimate North – Hayward 1873, Henry 1874 and Ellen

Charlotte 1875.

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Ellen married Charles Cleal (5.10.1878-13.3.1951) a tailor and lived at 8 Boyle Crescent,

Grafton, Auckland. In later years Charles Cleal was a tram conductor in Auckland and

the author can well remember his portly figure pushing through a crowded Mt. Roskill

tramcar.

Sarah Wright lived with her daughter after her husband’s death in Fiji and died in the

Auckland Hospital on 10th January 1937. Sarah was buried in the Rosebank Road

Cemetery, Avondale, and the Cleal home was demolished in 1975 during the extensions

to the Auckland Hospital School of Medicine.

SARAH ATKINSON

1853-1938 m. Ernest Hamilton Wright.

1) HAYWARD

b.1873 m. Ada Statham

- William 1909-1921

- Hayward 1915-1921

- Ezilda

2) HENRY

b.1874 m. Phoebe Wyatt

- Raymond

- Desmond

3) ELLEN CHARLOTTE

b.1875 m. Charles Cleal 1878-1951

d.1937

- Iris 1913-1976

m. Henry Arthur Holt

- Beverley Ellen b.1944

m. Peter Desmond Wood

- Adrian Charles b.1972

- Joyce Valerie b.1946

m. Walter McKenzie

- Osmund Charles b.1916 (played Cricket for New Zealand)

m. Ailsa Metcalfe

- Osmund Brian b.1945

m. Jane Wylie

- David Phillip b.1952

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For the life and family of the next child of Frederick and Harriet Atkinson, George

Radcliffe, refer to Chapter 18.

Mary Jane (Jenny) Hickton (nee Atkinson).

Mary Jane the second daughter, was born at Whitianga, Bay of Plenty on 22nd July 1859.

On 12th August 1886 she married Henry James Hickton a groom of Russell at All Saints

Church, Auckland. Henry James Hickton was born in Russell on 27.5.1851 to Henry

Thomas Hickton a baker and Elizabeth Hickton nee Robson. Henry Thomas (b.2.4.1811)

and Elizabeth (b.2.7.1816) had married at Maize Hill Chapel, Greenwich, Kent. Children

from the Hickton/Atkinson marriage were Claude, Arnold, Lawrence, Jennie and Olive

(living in 1975 at Hamilton N.Z.).

After the death of Mary Jane at the early age of thirth-six, when Olive was 10 days old,

Henry James Hickton married a Mrs. Williamson around 1900, a widow with a daughter

Evaline Alice. On 5th May 1901 twins were born – Inez and H.E.

Mary Jane is recorded as being buried at the Avondale Cemetery, but no trace of her

tomb has been found.

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Clara Edith Neumann (nee Atkinson) Clara and Otto Rudolph Neumann

Clara Neumann at School Reunion. Frederick Atkinson with his daughter Clara.

78

Clara Edith Atkinson was born in Whitianga in 1863 and it was not until 13th August

1902 that she married a farmer Otto Rudolf Neumann at the Church of St. John the

Baptist, Waimate North. Otto was the son of Christian Frederick Rudolph Neumann a

surveyor and Amelia Neumann nee Coney and was ten years younger than his wife.

There were no children to the marriage and Clara died at Russell on 16th January 1959

and was buried beside her husband three days later at Long Beach, Russell.

The Home of Otto and Clara Neumann as it was in 2007

Whitianga – 2008

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Walter Atkinson. Frances (Julia) Sullivan Clarke Atkinson

(nee Kemp)

The second son Walter was born in Kennedy Bay, Coromandel in 1866 and came to

Waimate North with his parents in 1870.

On 22nd June 1892 he married Frances Sullivan Clarke Kemp (Julia) aged 21 the daughter

of William Papillion Kemp, settler and Joanna Ellen Kemp nee Norris. He farmed at

Waimate until he retired to Paihia. For six years Walter served on the Bay of Islands

Harbour Board.

Children from the marriage were Walter Vernon 1893, Herman Theodore (Dick) 1896,

and Dorothy (1902).

Walter died in Paihia on 21st August 1949 and was buried the following day at Waimate

North.

Family of Walter (1866-1949) and Julia Atkinson (1871-1947):-

1) WALTER VERNON

b.1893 m. Eliza McNicol

d.1965 d. October 1978

- John Kemp b.1915

m. Joan Cook

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- Sandra

m. Peter Wood

- Yvonne

- Jeffrey

- Kay

- Francis Walter b.1917

m. Jocelyn (Joy) Hayes b 11/01/1925 d. 02/10/2019 aged 94 yr

- Roger Francis 1950

- Allison Joy 1953

- Wendy Elizabeth 1955

- Lesley Ann 1955-1956

- Phillippa Roseanne 1957

- Verna Marion

m. Graeme Wilfred Kendall

- Robert Vivian

m. Sheryl Baker

- Stephen

- Paula

- Janice

m. Colin Riley

- Scott

- Jason

- Ian

m. Robin

- Adrian

m. Ward Ivy

- Philip

- Adine

- Debra 1963

- Donald Ian 1921

m. Zelma Kettle

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- Elspeth Mary 1949

m. A. Johnson

- Ian Vernon (1951-1972)

- Helen Marion 1953

m. Richard Horobin

- Peter Richard 1971

- Matthew 1974

- Carol Frances 1963

- Alan Clifford 1925

m. Dorothy Colleen Knudson 1927

- Anthony John 1951

- Stuart Michael 1954

- Ronal Wayne 1954

- Suzanne Karen 1959

2) HERMAN THEODORE

b.1895 m. Kate Hirst b.1896

d.1951

- Isobel Elsie 1921

m. Graham Steele Martin 1920

- Paul Steele 1947

m. Maureen Parker 1949

- Cherie Janette 1969

- Sarah Jane 1973

- Elizabeth Janet 1975

- Katherine Anne 1949

m. Colin Ingram 1946

- Mark 1974

- Karl 1975

- Belinda Susan 1951

m. Graham Merall 1950

- Janet Elizabeth 1955

- Patricia Kathleen 1923

m. Alan Murry Beale 1922

- Mary Arundel 1947

m. Robert Parkinson 1946

- James Edward 1975

- Susan Leticia 1950

m. Robert Keith Anderson 1949

- Joanna Margaret 1952

- Sally Jane Elizabeth 1956

- Victoria Louise 1963

- Janet Mary 1930

m.1) Terrence James McHugh (1926-1954)

- Shaun James 1954

2) Carl William Oates 1931

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- Robert Clive (1938-1956)

3) FRANCES DOROTHY

b.1906 m. Joseph Owen Harris b.1899

d. 1973

- Dorothy Geraldeen 1933

m. Arthur Leslie Clark Turner 1922

- Leslie Malcolm 1960

- Bethany Joanne 1962

-Shirley Josephine 1933

m. Barry Houston Steele 1928

- Jane Marie 1958

- Craig Houston 1963

- Brett Maxwell 1964

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John Frederick Atkinson.

John Frederick Atkinson, the third son was born in 1869 and was twice married –

(1) Annie Feaver Rowe (1870-1908)

(2) Sarah Josephine Morris.

He was the first of the family to be born in Waimate North – 1869. He worked as a boy in

Auckland as a draper’s assistant for Macky Logan Caldwell Ltd and in 1897 opened a

Drapers business at Avondale which he conducted for over half a century. He served the

outlying areas as far as Piha when there was no public transport or shopping facilities and

over the years became a familiar figure in homes between Titirangi and Taupaki. In 1884

Frederick was a foundation member of the West End Rowing Club and represented the

club until 1890. He took a prominent part in athletics and rifle shooting, being an officer

in the Auckland Mounted Rifles. At the age of 70 Frederick joined the Balmoral Bowling

Club.

For details of Frederick’s children, eight by Annie and three by Sarah Josephine (Jo) refer

to Chapter 21.

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Alice Maude Drever (known as Maudie - nee Atkinson)

Alice Maude, Frederick and Harriet’s seventh child was born in Waimate North in 1874

and came with her father to live in Paihia in 1923. In this small Northland town, at the

age of 52 she married William George Drever. He died in 1961 at the great age of 93.

Maude lived for forty years in Kings Road, Paihia where she died on the 24th April 1966

aged 92 years.

The Home in Paihia of William and Maude Drever (taken 2008)

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Marshall Nicholson Atkinson Lt. M.N. Atkinson, No1 Company Native

Rifles, Winner of The Championship,

January 1 and 2, 1907 – Auckland Rifle

Assn’s Annual Meeting at Penrose.

Marshall Nicholson, the youngest of Frederick’s children was born at the old flour mill

site at Waimate North in 1876. He was named after Marshall Nicholson of Middleton

Hall, Leeds, Yorkshire, who had married his Aunt Jane (refer Chapter 14).

When Marshall Nicholson Atkinson married, his uncle from Leeds sent him a six drawer

canteen of cutlery, the elaborate silverware being engraved with the letter “A”. The

mahogany case had a shield on the lid engraved with Marshall’s name. Later the nephew

in the colonies received from his uncle a beautiful Damascus twist sporting gun.

Behind the two-stored house built for the Atkinson family in Waimate North is the oldest

oak tree in New Zealand. The house is reputed to have been built from a single Kauri

tree. Young Marshall received his primary education at the Waimate North School with

the intention of becoming a schoolteacher and later attended St John’s College, Auckland

for his secondary education.

In 1892 Marshall was influenced by his brother, John Frederick, also living in Auckland,

that in the 1890s school-teaching was poorly paid and the drapery trade offered more

opportunities for a young man. He was therefore apprenticed to Smith and Caughey Ltd.

Drapers and Outfitters of Queen Street. Auckland. He remained with this firm for 27

years and for some time held the position of Buyer for the men’s and boys’ clothing

department. While with Smith and Caugheys Marshall took a keen interest in the

86

territorial movement and joined the Auckland Rifle Volunteer Company, soon holding

the rank of Colour Sergeant. This company was formed of members of Smith and

Caughey Ltd., and was part of the 1st Battalion, Auckland Infantry.

Around the turn of the century Marshall Atkinson played lacrosse for the Grafton club

and represented Auckland against a touring team from Canada.

Later Marshall became associated with the Eden Cadet unit with the rank of Lieutenant

and around 1904 joined the No.1 Native Rifles. This body later amalgamated with the 3rd

Auckland Regiment (Countess of Ranfurly’s Own) in which he attained the rank of

Major and was Adjutant of the regiment.

Marshall was an excellent rifle shot and won many cups, trophies and championships.

The winning outright of the Auckland District Belt, presented by Sir John Logan

Campbell, gave him the most satisfaction. The belt, a beautiful example of the

silversmith’s art was first presented for competition in 1860 and a marksman was

required to win it three times before it became his personal property. This Marshall did in

1900, 1904 and 1906 – the only times he shot for the trophy. The donor of the belt was

very upset the trophy had been won outright and tried to persuade Marshall to place it in

the Auckland Museum. Sir John then presented a replica for competition but stipulated it

could not be won outright. The second time the new belt was up for competition Marshall

again recorded a win and received a beautiful engraved medal with a scene of Rangitoto

on the reverse side.

In 1904 Marshall married Anne Mewburn and had two sons, Marshall Mervyn Nicholson

1905 and Keith Armstrong 1907.

An Auckland newspaper reporting on the 1914 Auckland Rifle Championships said “This

is the third occasion on which Captain Atkinson has been Auckland Champion. He is

universally considered to be the finest rifle shot in Auckland.”

After working for Smith and Caugheys for 27 years Marshall decided to go into business

on his own account. In 1919 he purchased a drapery business in Marton and later was

joined by his sons. At this time his sporting interests were now bowls and sporting gun

shooting. It is interesting to note that Marshall’s brother John Frederick, was also an

excellent rifle shot and often shot in competition with Marshall. He also retired to bowls

and gardening. Marshall died in 1960, his wife in 1955.

MARSHALL NICHOLSON (1876-1960)

m. Hannah (Anne) Mewburn

- Mervyn Marshall Nicholson 1905

m. Dorothy Leonora Brigham

- John Marshall 1949

- Keith Armstrong 1907

m. (1) Phyllis Carpenter

- Jennifer Gail 1949

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m. Maxwell Till

- David John

m. (2) Hazel Anderson

88

Chapter 17 – Waimate North, the Church of St. John the Baptist, and the early Mission

Station.

The Lychgate, St. John the Baptisit Church.

The picturesque little church of St. John the Baptist, shaded by ancient trees in its quiet

churchyard, is reminiscent of many a village church in England. The present building –

one of the “Selwyn churches” – is the third on the site. The first was erected in 1831

(eight years after the building of the second church of St. John the Baptist in Kirkheaton,

Huddersfield – the parish church of many generations of Atkinson family). It was forty

feet by twenty feet and took six weeks to build. The building was completed on the 24th

June, which is St. John the Baptist Day, hence its name. At first there was no organ and

the singing was led by John Bedggood on his tuning fork.

The second church was built only eight years later, and the present one in1871. Part of

the material of the second church was used in the building of the third, which to that

extent is considerably more than a century old. Near the church, may be seen the famous

Oak, the oldest in New Zealand, grown from an acorn brought from England by Richard

Davis in 1824. It has a girth of over eleven feet and its outspreading branches cover an

area of over two hundred feet.

N.Z.’s Oldest Oak Tree – Waimate North.

89

The Church Missionary Society was founded in London in 1796. The object of the

Society was to carry the gospel to distant lands, particularly Africa, India and New

Zealand. It was an Anglican body, and had an evangelical, low-church cast. The Rev.

Samuel Marsden of the C.M.S. first established a mission in New Zealand in 1814,

preaching the good news at the Bay of Islands on Christmas Day. After founding stations

in Kerikeri in 1820 and Paihia in 1823 the mission station at Waimate North was

established in 1830. It was the fourth of the C.M.S. stations, and the first European

settlement to be established inland, the area being originally known as Te Waimate. New

Zealand’s first road was made to link the new mission with Paihia, a distance of about 14

miles.

In its heyday, during the 1830s and 1840s the mission station was a sizeable village

stretching east and west from the church at one end to the watermill at the other. Beside

these two buildings, it comprised three large houses, numerous small cottages and whares

(Maori houses), a Blacksmith’s shop, a Carpenter’s shop, printing works, and the barns

and sheds belonging to the farm that extended all around it.

When George Augustus Selwyn arrived at Auckland on the 30th May 1842 the whole of

the country was one undivided diocese, so that he became the first Anglican Bishop of

New Zealand. Selwyn established his headquarters at the Waimate Mission Station, and

soon after set out on a six month pastoral visitation by sea, by canoe and on foot

throughout the North Island.

Interior of Church at Waimate North Right-hand section of Stained-glass Window

shows the Bedggood Mill.

The Rev. Samuel Marsden held strongly to the view that general and industrial training

should precede spiritual instruction. He considered that the teaching of English farming

methods, of spinning and weaving, smithing and carpentry, would divert the Maori race

from their fiercer pursuits and wean them from what appeared to him to be their

unhealthy habits of living. Christianity he thought would almost inevitably follow if,

while they taught these useful things, the Christian message was instilled into them by the

precept and, above all, by the example of their teachers. Being of sanguine temperament

and having abundant faith, he ever looked forward eagerly to the day when New Zealand

90

would be a shining example of peace, decency and sober living to the heathens in

darkness. This approach strongly coloured the foundation and development of the

Waimate Mission Station.

The missionaries held the key to the new things to which the Maori looked for salvation.

And only the missionaries could impart the magic of reading and writing and the mana

that these accomplishments gave. At first a little tentatively and then in great numbers

Maoris came to Waimate, to the church and to the schools. The discourses and

discussions on scripture and Christian doctrine appealed to the Maori love of oratory and

debate very strongly, the hymn singing and music were delightful, and the magic letters

and numbers opened great vistas of undreamed knowledge – it was all fascinating.

Unexpected and apparently almost miraculous success crowned the missionaries’ efforts,

at least for some time.

During the early years of the church mission stations, flour had to be shipped from

Sydney, but with the establishment of Te Waimate the mission became self-supporting.

Large areas were sown in wheat and good crops harvested. Even before John Bedggood

arrived, some flour was being produced, but it was he who extended the industry beyond

the borders of the mission stations. The mill that he built about 1850 supplied the flour to

the shipping at the Bay, and to the military when it was quartered there. It was this mill

which was later operated by Frederick Atkinson with his partners, Alexander and Cook.

The Bedggood Flour Mill

91

St. John the Baptist Church at Waimate North.

92

93

Map of Northland.

94

Chapter 18 – George Radcliffe and Amelia Atkinson – Kaingaroa, Northland.

George Radcliffe, the eldest son of Frederick Thomas Radcliffe and Harriet Atkinson was

born in 1856 in the Whitianga district of the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand; being the first

white baby christened in the area. Indicative of the unsettled times is the fact that the

minister who christened young George was later killed by the Maoris. As his birth was

never registered George’s birth certificate was never issued.

Frederick Atkinson was later engaged in sawmilling at Kennedy Bay, Coromandel and

then moved to Auckland where George received his schooling. At the age of 14 George

went to live at Waimate North where he learned Carpentry which was to become his

predominant lifetime occupation. An insurance policy issued in 1888 on George’s life,

permitted him to carry his occupation as Mariner on any steam vessel. This was

necessary when George worked in the Pacific Islands.

George Atkinson, in company with his cousin John Cook, built the Maori church at

Awanui and while he was working on this building he met his future bride – Amelia

Doris Spanhake, daughter of William Henry Spanhake and Wilhelmina Harriette Sophia

Spanhake nee Subritzky.

Amelia Spanhake was born at Houhora on the 21st April 1872 and lived at Hukatere and

Awanui before her marriage. When the marriage took place in 1889, George was aged

thirty-three and Amelia seventeen. Their first home was a shack at the mouth of the

Awanui River.

Later George built a four-roomed house at Mangatete (Kaingaroa) and as the first

children became old enough, had them farming the property.

95

George and Amelia Atkinson on their Wedding Day.

96

He continued building all over the country, being away from home months at a time. As

his family increased, in his spare time he added rooms to his house. Although the family

lived at Kaingaroa for many years it was not until 23rd January 1904 that George

purchased the property of 60 acres plus a further 100 acres for seventy pounds. The

property was originally a crown grant to John Hogan in 1872 and ten years later the

property was transferred to Joseph Evans.

George knew little of farming and left it almost entirely to the family. Behind his back his

children jocularly referred to him as the “gentleman farmer”. When he finally gave up

building he developed a whim to become an orchardist and his orchard of two acres

contained most types of fruit. Buckets of grapes and other fruit were sold during the

Depression to help eke out an existence.

In those days there was no such thing as the wife knowing anything of financial matters

and George always held the purse-strings. He was very proud of his exquisite

handwriting and took all of five minutes to write out a cheque.

George Radcliffe Atkinson

When the elder children were still young, George and Amelia would go off to a dance on

horseback with one child in front and one behind on each animal. The children were

bedded down for the night in the hall and dancing went on all night.

The children looked forward to trips by horsewagon to Mangonui to meet visitors coming

on the “Clansman” from Auckland. Three penny-worth of broken biscuits from Long’s

store in Kaingaroa would keep the children happy on the long trip.

97

Amelia was an excellent cook and never stinted the table. Tradition has it that the only

time the children went without dessert was when they raided the strawberry patch and

would not confess. George preferred potato to kumara and enjoyed mounds of potato

with stewed pigeon and rice. There was never any shortage of food on the farm with

almost everything being homegrown – even Maori taro.

98

Amelia was far happier on the farm than anywhere else, although she always found time

to read the newspapers thoroughly and could converse with anyone on world affairs. She

loved horseback riding and was never happier than when mustering sheep and cattle. She

learned to kill and dress a sheep, and killing and preparing poultry was to her, only

child’s play.

Amelia as a child (standing) with her Mother and sister Mini.

After World War I, Amelia cared for the sick and dying when the Spanish flu hit New

Zealand. This was brought from Europe by the S.S. Niagra and resulted in over six

thousand people losing their lives. Amelia would bathe in strong disinfectant, come home

for a few hours rest and to check all was well, and then return to her long vigil. The

Atkinsons’ was one of the few homes which did not get the dreaded disease.

George and Amelia’s eldest daughter Clarice was working a mile away at Uncle Fred

Spanhake’s when she contracted the influenza. She was left with the use of only one lung

and died at Waitoa in 1926 at the age of twenty-five when she contracted double

pneumonia. Her daughters Naureen and Lorraine were three years and eighteen months at

the time.

99

George and Amelia Atkinson died within ten months of each other; both at Kaingaroa,

and were buried together in the Kaitaia cemetery. George passed to his rest on the 13th

December 1945 and Amelia on the 6th October 1946.

George Radcliffe Atkinson in the twilight of his long life.

100

Chapter 19 – The Ancestors of Amelia Atkinson nee Spanhake.

Johann Hermann Frederick Spanhake Johann Ludolph Subritzky

m. Sophia Dorothea Subritzky m. Maria Sophia Westphal

I I

John Henry Spanhake Wilhelmina Henrietta Subritzky

I___________________________________I

I

Amelia Wilhelmina Elizabeth Spanhake

The abbreviated family tree above shows the Spanhake, Subritzky and Westphal names

as Amelia Atkinson(nee Spanhake)’s immediate ancestors. The manner in which they fit

into the family history is detailed below.

The Spanhake Family:

The first member of the Spanhake family of whom anything is known is Harmen

Spanhake a soldier in the 5th Infantry Regiment living at Morsum, a small town on the

island of Sylt in the North Frisian Islands off the west coast of Schleswig Holstein near

the border with Denmark and connected to the mainland by the Hindenburgdamn. His

date of birth or the name of his wife is not known, but he died prior to 1802.

A son, Johann was born in October 1772 and on 18.2.1802 he married in Verden,

Dorothea Sophia Fischer, daughter of Conrad Fischer of Verden. This German city is

situated 20 miles S.E. of Bremen in Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony, Federal Republic of

Germany. The population regards itself as Lower German, linked by a common ancient

Saxon origin and use of the Lower German language known as Plattdeutsch. The latter a

dialect closely related to Dutch, Frisian and English is quite distinct from the official

High German. The area is geographically dominated by the Great North German plain.

Dorothea bore Johann three children, only one living longer than seven months. They

were Johann Hermann (18.7.1802-21.2.1803); Catharina Margaretha (13.12.1804) and

Johann Hermann (27.3.1807-5.4.1807). Dorothea died in Verden on the 11th January

1808 aged twenty-nine years.

On the 19th April 1814 at the church of St. Johannis, Verden, Johann Spanhake married

Luise Dorothea Marie Knop who on 3.12.1794 had been born to Johann Hinrich Knop a

staff sergeant in the 5th Dragoon Regiment living at Celle (20 miles N.E. of Hanover) and

Anna Maria Helmers – both unmarried. Nothing is known of Johann Knop’s ancestry but

the maternal side of Anna’s family has been traced back four generations.

Anna Maria Helmers was born in Verden on 3.1.1769 and died there on 2.3.1802. Her

father was Diederich Detmer Helmers a citizen of Verden, son of Hermann Helmers who

101

died before 11.11.1768 when Diederich married Anne Marie Martfeld who had been

baptized at St. Johannis, Verden on 15.5.1743.

Anne Marie Martfeld’s parents were Diederich Henrich Martfeld a gardener of Verden,

son of Dierk Martfeld of Daverden (5 miles N.W. of Verden), born about 1708, married

27.4.1738 to Anna Catharina Behrmann and died at Verden 13.8.1790. Anna Catharina’s

parents were married in the Verden Cathedral on the 10th July 1712 but lived in the small

town of Holtum in the Limburg province of S.E. Netherlands, close to the border of

Belgium and Germany.

Anna’s father, Frederich Johann Behrmann (1686-1731) was the son of Cord Behrmann

of Armsen who died after 1721, and Anne Catherine Bostelmann (1659-1721). Anna’s

mother Metje (1678-1757) was the daughter of Hinrich Homann of Holtum (1652-1740)

and Metje Norden (1653-1735).

The first child of Johann and Luise Spanhake was born on 29.12.1814 and named like the

other eight children with two, three and four christian names – Anne Lucie Catharine

Dorothea. The other children of the large family were named:- Dorothea Sophia Marie

(13.11.1816), Johann Hermann Friedrick (1.5.1820), Hermann Friedrick (11.11.1822),

Anna Loise Helene (22.2.1825-12.2.1828), Sophia Catharine Meta (7.10.1827-

17.3.1834), Catharine Maria Elise (11.4.1830), Diedrich Christian (15.1.1833), and

Wilhelm Christoph Johann (16.5.1836).

Catharine (1830) married Hermann Christoph Wilgrod on 16.11.1855, a quarter-master in

the 5th Infantry Regiment, Luneberg who had been born 19.10.1825 to Christian and

Dorothea Wilgrod nee Lakmann.

Wilhelm (1836) on 6.6.1858 married Wilhemine Christiane Melosine Steinhoff, daughter

of Carl Steinhoff and Juliane nee Ebbighausen.

Nothing further is known of Johann Hermann Friedrick Spanhake (1820) until December

1842 when he sailed in the “St. Pauli” of 380 tons from Hamburg. Johann was

accompanied by Sophia Dorothea Subritzky and their twelve month illegitimate son Otto

Frederick Rudolph. The couple married while the ship was still in the River Elbe but the

young child died of convulsions on the 20th January 1843 on the voyage to New Zealand.

The “St. Pauli” had been chartered by the New Zealand Company to take 140 settlers to

Nelson, which it reached on the 14th June 1843.

Johann Spanhake and his wife remained only two years in New Zealand, sailing in 1845

in the “Palmyra” for Adelaide, Australia. On the 16th September 1846 their son John

Henry was born; at this time Johann was a police constable living in Stanley St. On

30.11.1848 he resigned from the police force. When Sophia died in childbirth 4.9.1849,

three years after John Henry’s birth, her husband was occupied as a baker. Johann

remarried twice and became the owner of the Union Hotel in Ballarat. In 1885 he visited

his son John Henry in Awanui, New Zealand, and died six months later in Houhora,

being buried at Mt. Camel.

102

Map of Germany.

103

The Subritzky Family:

It can be seen from the family tree that Amelia’s parents John Henry Spanhake and

Wilhelmina Henrietta Subritzy were first cousins.

A family history of the Subritzkys is being complied at the same time as the “Atkinson

Saga” by Mrs. Alice Evans of Pukenui, Northland and the writer of the Atkinson history

does not intend to duplicate material which is covered in the latter story. It is sufficient to

say that Sophia Dorothea was born in Luneberg on 15.7.1818 and Johann Ludolph in the

same German city on 11.2.1825.

The Westphal Family:

The homeland of the Westphal family is in the Schwerin district of northwest East

Germany between the towns of Wismar on the Baltic Sea and Schwerin. The area is

mostly agricultural with livestock and dairying being of most importance. Most of the

towns are really small villages and are not marked on maps of the area. It would seem

that the Westphals and their relatives by marriage had been in the area for many

generations.

The first Westphal of whom anything is known is Hans Friedrick Westphal a farmer of

Kaselow, who on the 2nd November 1787 married Catharina Elizabeth Oldenburg,

daughter of Daniel Oldenburg a farmer of Jassewitz.

A son, Kaspar Heinrich Christain was born in Kaselow 12.7.1801 and immediately prior

to 1824 while a soldier he met a Gressow maid, Dorothea Plath. Their illegitimate

daughter was born on 29.2.1824 and baptized two days later. On the 23rd August in the

same year Kaspar and Dorothea married.

Dorothea was the daughter of Joachim Heinrich Ernst Plath (1769-1836) and Catharina

Dorothea Plath, the daughter of Heinrich Ulrich Bussing, a farmer and Burgomaster of

Ziphusen, who in 1749 married Anna Catharina Oldenburg who died in 1793 at

Ziphusen.

Joachim Plath’s father, Christian Adam Plat was born in Gr. Woltersdorf 6.1.1738 and

married Sophie Schapers in Proseken on 7.10.1763, worked as a tailor and schoolmaster

and died at Gr. Woltersdorf on 16th October 1797. Christian’s brothers and sisters were

Trien Ilsche 1739, Hans Jochen 1741, and Greth Dorthie 1743.

Christian Adam Plat’s father, Johann Plat (1707-1761) was also a tailor-schoolmaster

who on 15.11.1731 had married Dorothea Segebanden, daughter of Heinrich Segebanden

at Wismar.

104

After the marriage of Kaspar Heinrich Christian Westphal to Dorothea Plath in 1824 the

following children were born:- Carolina Catharina Sophia 1827, Anna Sophia Elizabeth

1831, Dorothea Louisa Christiana 1834, Louise Johanne Henriette 1835, twins Carl

Christian Johann and Sophia Maria Anna 1838 and Heinrich Daniel Kaspar 1843. In

1838 Maria was confirmed and at the time her father was employed as a huntsman.

After the Westphal family had been settled in Germany for such a long period it must

have required a major decision before Kaspar and Dorothea agreed to emigrate with their

children to far away New Zealand. On the 21st April 1844 the family with the exception

of Dorothea Louisa who had died at the age of four months, sailed from Hamburg in the

“Skiold”. The ship arrived in Nelson on the 1st September 1844 and before the end of the

year the Westphal family was naturalised. At this time the three elder girls were 19, 16

and 12 years of age. Less than a year later (21st August 1845) the three girls sailed on the

“Palmyra” of 147 tons to Adelaide, Australia. Also on board were 62 British and 30 other

German settlers who had not wished to remain in New Zealand.

On the 22nd December 1845 at St. John’s parsonage, Adelaide in the rites of the Church

of Scotland, the marriage took place between Johann Ludolph Subritzky and Marie

Westphal, farm servant – Marie signing with an X. Witnesses to the ceremony were

Henrie Korber and H. Spanhake.

The first child from the marriage was Sophia Louisa Henrietta, born in 1847. On the 6th

October 1850 Wilhelmina Henriette Sophia Subritzky was baptised by the Rev, Kappler,

a freelance Lutheran pastor in North Adelaide, the sponsors being Heinrich Wilhelm

Subritzky (uncle), Heinrich Dietmann (smith) and his wife Sophie (Mini’s grandmother).

Other children in the family were John William Henry 1852, Louisa Bertha 1856/7,

Dorothy Maria 1857/9, and Henrietta Isabella 1863.

Johann Subritzky died at Houhora in1884 and Marie Subritzky nee Westphal in Houhora

in 1897.

On 1st March 1870 John Henry Spanhake, flaxdresser and Wilhelmina Subritzky were

married in St. Matthew’s church, Auckland, N.Z. their daughter Amelia being born at

Mangonui, North Auckland on the 21st April 1872.

105

106

Chapter 20 – The Family of George Radcliffe and Amelia Atkinson.

1) PERCIVAL RADCLIFFE (1891 - 1957)

m. Nita Alexandria Chuck

- Iris

m. Albert Cowie

- Elva

m. ? Govenlock

Douglas

Marie

Graham

2) GEORGE FREDERICK (1892 - 1975)

m. Tui New

- Laurel

m. Hector Robbie

- Vincent

- Clarence

3) REGINALD LAURENCE (1894 - 1970)

m. Daisy Maria Cooper (1894 - 1966)

- Dorothy 1921

m. Hector Dean

- Alan 1946

m. Ann Riley

- Peter

- Diane

- Colleen 1948

m. 1) Ernest Hughes

- Richard

- Shane

m. 2) Ian Coulter

- Stephen

- Michelle

- Daphne 1949

m. Lloyd Ilton

- Trevor

- Brenda

- Sheryl 1955

m. Martin McGill

- Brian 1964

107

4) CLARENCE CLIFFORD (1895 – 1917)

5) STANLEY GEORGE (1897 -1965)

m. Myrtle Irene Subritzky (d.1973)

- Charles

- Marion

- Elva

6) MARSHALL NICHOLSON (1898 - )

m. Phyllis Georgina Coulter (1908)

108

- Neville Roland 1927 d. 21 Dec 2009 Whangarei

m. 1) Noleen Slade

- Pamela Rae 1952

- Paul Roland 1957

m. 2) Beryl Sowerby

- Julie Ruth 1969

- Melinda Lee 1970

- Stuart Marshall 1973

- Nancye Fay 1928

m. Peter Jones 1925

- Bronwyn Ann 1951

m. Barry Gaylor

- Zane Matthew 1973

- Kylie Glenys 1975

- Glenys Raewyn 1953 – 1972

- Diane Lynn 1956

m. John Hastings 1952

- Gladys Ann 1945

m. Colin Wynstone Carr 1938

- Colin Wynstone 1964

- Rhonda Lynette 1965

- Delwyn Janice 1966

- Craig Andrew 1967

- Sonia Meryl 1970

7) WILFRED ALEXANDER (1899 - 1958)

m. Lilian Kimber (1901 - 14.07.1980)

- Francis George 8.5.1928

m. 1) Delma Lita McMillan (15.2.1937- 19.2.1978)

- Howard Wilfred 24.7.1958

m. 1) Helen Joan De Jaggar 19.4.1961

- James Adam Radcliffe 10.1.1989

- Timothy Howard 15.3.1991

m. 2) Liza Tacorda 11.9.1962

- Geoffrey Francis 29.10.1959

m. Elizabeth Jeanne Evans 6.12.1961

- Rachel Amy 17.6.1995

- Susan Kay 26.4.1961

m. 1) Dennis Bryan McMurtrie 19.5.1958

- Daniel Ray 7.12.1991

- Emma Sue 14.11.1993

m. 2) Unknown

- Diane Rita 24.4.1964

m. Shane Thomas Petterd 8.3.1960

- Danielle Rachel 27.12.1990

- Ashley Delma 23.12.1994

109

m. 2) Mary Frances Theresa (Frances) Murphy (30.7.1929 – 4 9.1987)

- Ronald Wilfred 1932

m. 1) Winsome Helen Sail

- Lynda Lilian 1955

m. Kevin Winters

- Joshua Kevin 1977

- Misty Helen 1979

- Jeremy Ronald 1980

- Paul Ronald 1960

m. Janice Winters

m. 2) Nancy Joan Bell 1940

8) CLARICE WILHELMINA (1901 – 1926)

m. Alfred Robert Skudder 1898

m. Lena Fuller

- Naureen Clarice 1923

m. Frederick John Roberts 1913

- Colleen Clarice 1942

m. Robert William Young

- Shari Denise 1966

- Donna Marie 1968

- Darren Robert 1971

- Michael John 1949

m. Marilyn Ann Trohm

- Tanya Ann 1971

- Craig Michael 1973

- Paul Alfred 1951

m. Marion Ann Kaukas

- Marija Naureen 1975-75

- Glen Clive 1961

Lorraine May 1925

m. Colin Clifford Scott 1923

- Karen Alice 1949

- David Robert 1950

m. Julienne Mary Nisbet

- Jacob 1973

- Rhonda Gaye 1954

Clarice Skudder (nee Atkinson).

110

9) IRENE ADELAIDE (1902 -)

m. Herbert Edward Champion

- Valma (Val)

m. Hugh Errol McLean

- Sherrie Lenore

- Hugh Cranleigh

- Edward Barry (Barry)1934

m. Judith Linley Strang 1936

- Mark Barry 1959

- Deborah Claire 1960

- Fiona Leigh 1962

- Matthew Lindon 1967

- Joyce Beverley (Beverley)

m. Desmond F. Tolhurst

- David John

- Rhonda Gay

- Anne Colleen

m. Trevor Ian Stevens

- Ian

- Joyce

- Kevin

- Karen

- Randall

10) CYRIL VICTOR (1905 - 1991)

m. 1) Gladys Mary Grice (1910 - 1974)

- Owen Leslie 1932

m. Catherine Corkill 1930

- Dawn Elizabeth 1942

m. Keith Robert Murray Peters 1941

- Angela Dawne Maree 1966-66

- Kent Anthony Robert 1967

- Mark Jonathan 1969

- Ryan Timothy 1972

- Bernard Murray 1946-46

- Warren David 1948

m. 2) Iris Smith (nee Nelson)

11) HARRY CLYDE (1911 -)

m. Doris Margaret Johnstone 1912

- Donald George 1937

- Roy Victor 1943

m. Katrina Daphne Goldsmith

- Catherine Maree 1967

- Christopher Roy 1968

111

- Geoffrey Marcus 1971

- Clarice Margaret 1944

m. William James Bond

- Craig Gregory 1968

- Paul Jeffrey 1969-69

- Karen Louise 1971

- Joy Amelia 1946

m. Kevin Andrew Urlich

- Leanne Maree 1966

- Brendon Mark 1970

- Fionna Jaycie 1971

- Heidi Claudine 1972

12) MAUDE HARRIET (!914 - )

m. 1) Archibald William McKenzie – killed in action – Italy 1944

- June Elizabeth 1935

m. Bruce Ian Davis-Goff

- Warren Bruce 1956-56

- Murray Charles 1958

- Christine Elizabeth 1959

- Phillip Ian 1961

- Evan Blair 1967

- Shirley Clarice 1938

m. Tony William Oetgen

- Christopher Paul 1960

- Debbie Irene 1962

m. George Asplet

- Felicia

m. 2) Kenroy Cameron Wright

13) SYDNEY KITCHENER (Sid) (1917 - )

m. Joan Nordstrand

- Leslie Frederic 1940

m. Lyla Violet Stretch

- Angela Maree

- Sydney Lawrence 1942

m. Lynette Hitchcock

- Stefan Andrew

- Darren Brett

- April Tracy

- Faith Racheale

- Laureen Elizabeth 1948

m. Raymond Harvey Colebrook

- Julie Gale

- Ian Raymond

- Shelley Laureen

112

- Mervyn Ross 1951

m. Lorraine Jean Gibbs

- Tony Craig

- Gregory James

- Mark William 1964

Three “Cousins” – Great-grandchildren of Frederick and Harriet Atkinson. - 2008

The Author Frank Atkinson, son of Wilfred Alexander Atkinson, Robyn Scott,

daughter of Annie Vera (Nance) Scott (nee Atkinson), and Shirley Oetgen, daughter

of Maude Harriet McKenzie (nee Atkinson).

113

John Frederick Atkinson.

114

Chapter 21 – The Family of John Frederick Atkinson (1869 – 26.6.1959)

m. 1) Annie Feaver Rowe b.4 or 8.7.1870 in Shortland, Thames, NZ d.6.10.1908 Akld.

1) REGINALD VICTOR (2.5.1894 Akld – 21.1.1971 Akld)

m. 1) Lillie Elizabeth Odlum (1900 -)

- Alan Reginald (Bill) 1922

m. Jane Ngaroata Waetford (1922 – 19??)

- Sharyn 1950 Whangarei

m. Gregory Lynn Woodhouse

- Andrew Blair 1975 Christchurch

- Alan Victor 1951 Kawakawa

m. Valerie Elizabeth Nolan

- Janet Norma 1953 Kawakawa

m. Peter John Mc Phee

- Kimyla Jane 1973 Christchurch

- Toni Gail 1954 Kawakawa

m. Anthony James Parker

- Bryce Arron 1973

- Shannon Willaim 1981

- Joan Kathleen 1925 Akld.

m. 2) Ella Ruby (Ruby) Brebner (nee Bronlund) (1901 – 4.5.1990 Akld)

2) EUNICE PHOEBE (1895 Akld – 26.4.1977 Akld)

m. Claude Clarence Breen (12.6.1891 or 93 Akld – 8.4.1971 Hamn)

- Jack Reginald (25.10.1914 Akld – 10.3.1995 Akld)

m. Erla Rawson 3.10.1913

- Robyn Mary (19.11.1943 Akld – 3.3.2004 Gold Coast, Australia)

m. Jack Holbrook 28.8.1932

- Jeremy 10.11.1966 Akld

m. Cherie (Xaio Ling) Gu 29.1.1964 Shanghai, China

- Jack Ling 2.12.1993 Akld

- George 5.10.1995 Shanghai, China

- Matthew 1968 Akld

m. Dana Ann Day 25.4.1967 Salt Lake City, USA

- Finn Matthew 19.2.2005 Akld

- Rupert Trevor 5.3.1971 Akld

m. Heidi Janet Simmonds 3.8.1972 Napier

- Lola Robyn 10.8.2005 Wgtn

- Gail Diane 6.10.1945 Akld

m. Peter Cyril Urquhart 17.12.1942 Akld

- Paul Leslie 16.4.1966 Akld

- Lisa Diane 17.8.1968 Akld

m. Graham Stephen Elliott 29.7.1960

- Ashlee Gail 4.11.1993 Akld

- Jack Stephen 13.6.1995 Akld

115

- Dean George 21.4.1997 Akld

- Stephen James 24.6.1999

- Amanda Gail (Mandy) 17.8.1968 Akld

m. Andrew John Sinclair 9.6.1965 Akld

- Matthew Greg 8.7.1993 Akld

- Thomas Peter 3.10.1995 Akld

- Adelaide Joy 10.11.2003

- Christopher John 27.4.1952 Akld

m. Anne Clevedon Sadgrove (1953 – 10.10.2004 Akld)

- Nicholas Langdon 17.6.1979 Akld

- Edward David 1981 Akld

3) MURIEL ETHEL (Poll) (22.12.1897 Akld – 18.3.1986 Akld)

m. Brian Andrews Allely (18.5.1897 Tauranga 20.7.1977 Akld)

- Brian Holland (Holland) (7.12.1922 Akld – 27.11.1971 Akld)

m. Noelene Othley Carter 9.8.1931 Hamn

- Nigel Blake (1965 Akld – 25.6.1999 Cape Town, South Africa)

m. Simone Notman b. England

- Judith Margaret 1967 Akld

m. Cameron Wilson Green

- Callum Andrew 1992 Akld

- Jackson William 1995 Akld

- David Atkinson (1925 Akld – 3.2.1979 Te Kuiti)

m. Frances Rhoda Goetz 1929

- Graham Holland 3.10.1950 Akld

m. Judith Denise Little

- Thomas Sebastian 1980 Christchurch

- Abigail Louise (10.8.1984 Chch - 1986 Chch)

- Nicola Rose 1989 Chch

- Robert Frederick 8.2.1952 Akld

m. Elaine Judith Baxter

- Sarah Jane 1976 Akld

- Stephen David 31.7.1979 Akld

- Jesse Matthew 1983 Akld

- Warren David 15.7.1954 Akld

m. Mary Therese King

- Patrick?

- Matthew Joseph Louis 1986 Akld?

- Kenneth Brian 1960 Te Kuiti

m. Delwin Andersen

- Lauren Emmy 1984 Hamn

- Peter Brian 7.6.1988 Hamn

- Yvette Louise 1991 Morrinsville

- John David 1966 Te Kuiti

m. Donna Casey

- Leo 1998

116

- Joseph David 19.5.2000

- Garth Rowe 1927 Akld

m. Shirley Thelma Emmie Matson 1928

- Craig Garth 1953 Akld

m. Irene Julia Carruthers

- Camille Shirley 19.1.1990

- Brian Matson 1956 Akld

m. Jill Anne Gardiner

- Connor Brian ?.9.1994 Rotorua

- Jody ?.1.1998

- Delwyn Shirley 1960 Akld

- Margaret Andrews 4.11.1936 Akld

m. Stanley Noel Hoffman 5.1.1935 Akld

- Brent Stanley 16.8.1958 Akld

m. Margaret Rose Schischka 19.2.1961

- Rosalie Jane 24.8.1985 Akld

- Myra Margaret 9.7.1987 Akld

- Brian Vincent ?.1.1989 Akld

- Maxine Margaret 9.5.1960 Akld

m. Christopher John Pugh 19.4.1957

- David Christopher 23.8.1985 Akld

- Laura Margaret 24.7.1988 Akld

- Lynne Michelle 27.6.1965 Akld

m. Sean David Poidevin LePoidevin 15.12.1965

- Aimee Michelle Poidevin 28.8.1996

- Ryan Sean Poidevin 1.11.1999

- Diana Meredith 7.10.1974 Akld

m. Blair Michael Olliff 15.3.1974

4) DOROTHY LAVINIA (Dods) (17.4.1899 Akld– 3.12.1969)

m. 1) William Vincent Pooch (Vin) (11.9.1900 Akld – 16.12.1960 Akld)

- Vincent John (Digger) (23.9.1919 Akld – 9.2.2007 Cooroy, Australia)

m. 1) Hilda Joyce (Joy) Little (23.3.1927 – 1.3.1995 Whangarei)

- Annette Joy 26.4.1948 Te Awamutu

m. Kerry Robert Sandford 14.7.1947

- Kecia Ann 12.11.1971 Napier

- Duncan Robert 11.6.1974 Akld

- Andrei Paul 2.8.1980

m. 2) Mavis June Rogan (12.6.1928 – 26.10.2004 Q’ld, Aust.)

- Leslie Arthur (4.8.1923 Hawera – 14.4.2005 Akld)

m. Gwendolyn Nora (Gwen) Duffus (11.12.1919 – 9.6.2009

Akld)

- David Leslie 29.10.1947 Akld

m. 1) Helen Julia Roach 29.10.1948

- Aaron David 1.9.1973 Akld

117

m. Catherine Ann Moore

- Rachael 12.2.1975

m. 2) Judy Saluper Lagsa 27.6.1949

- Tenzin Lagsa 21.12.1987 Akld

- Wilma Janice 27.11.1950

m. Alan Jardine Currie 31.7.1949

- Amy Erica Pooch 28.5.1981 Akld

- Nicola Mara Pooch 26.2.1984 Akld

- Stephen William 10.4.1991

- Mary-Anne Lynette 17.6.1956 Akld

m. Ian Stewart 17.6.1956

- Jessica 4.9.1984 Akld

- Timothy 31.5.1990 Akld

- Geoffrey Robert 1.5.1959 Akld

m. Christine Kathleen Priestley 25.3.1950

- Ngaere Annie (Anne) 19.10.1930 Akld

m. 1) Albert Edward Bottcher (8.8.1923 Palm Nth – 12.5.1977

Hamn)

- Virginia 8.2.1952 Akld

m. 1) Alfred Page 1944

- Karl William Vincent 10.10.1973

m. 2) Howard Ernest Vincent 30.3.1937

- Russell Andrew 23.3.1955 Palm Nth

m. Sharon Lillian Coombe

- Jessie Anne 3.12.1993

- Amy Joan 25.7.1995

- Kaycee Lillian 25.3.1997 Te Aroha

- Joanne 17.4.1957 Palm Nth

m. Brian Francis Drum 8.4.1950

- Sarah Jody 8.7.1985 Te Aroha

- Jethro Paul 16.3.1988 Te Aroha

- Allanah Rose 22.7.1990 Akld

- Rebekah Annie 4.11.1992 Akld

m. 2) Timothy Wyn-Harris 4.7.1934

- Ivan Russell (19.7.1932 Akld – 7.6.2006 Hamn)

m. Edith Clare Calderwood (Clare) 20.2.1937

- Vincent Hugh 15.9.1960 Ashburton

m. Sandra Mary Edmond 15.9.1959

- Jonathan Vincent 5.3.1983 Chch

m. Lucy Isabel Graham 20.3.1983

- William James 4.1.2010 Chch

- Alexandra Mary 20.9.1985 Chch

- Christopher James 30.10.1987 Chch

- Andrew Arthur 23.7.1962 Kaponga

m. Bronwyn Ann Page 26.10.1962

- Lauren Margaret Ann 11.10.1993 Akld

118

- Matthew Carl Andrew 23.2.1996 Akld

- James Nicholas Anton 26.9.1998 Hamn

- Matthew Russell (25.7.1965 Kaponga – 25.7.1974)

- Alison Clare 18.10.1968 Hamn

m.1) Bernard Hugh Webster 25.7.1966

- Bayley Hugh 17.8.1997 Hamn

m.2) Duncan Robert Gallagher 14.09.1966

m. 2) Alexander James (Alec) Pollock 1896 – 4.7.1976 Akld

5) GORDON HOLLAND (29.10.1900 or 01 Akld – 23.2.1979 Whitianga)

m. Mary Jane Maude (Maude) Davis (20.7.1898 Sydney, Australia –

8.5.1969 Hamn, NZ.)

- Maurice Holland (1925 Hamn – 10.5.1983 Thames)

m. Heather Patricia Joy Winter 1922

- Christine Joy 1948 Hamn

m. 1) John Clarke

m. 2) Lindsay Owen Conn (1945 Te Awamutu –

25.1.2005 Australia)

- Donna Marie 1969 Hamn

- Andrew Scott 1972 Hamn

- Melanie Joy 1973 Hamn

- Marie Elizabeth 1948 Hamn

m. Melvyn Bryan Johnstone 1947 Hamn (Divd. 1999)

- Natasha Marie 1976 Hamn

m. Christopher Wasley 1971

- Travis Bryan 1978 Hamn

m. Laura Bloomfield 1980

- Peter Graham 1951 Hamn

m. Margot Elizabeth Graydon 1952

- David Maurice 31.12.1984 Hamn

- Betty Maude (1927 Hamn – 15.12.1983 Hamn)

m. Robert Morbey Stewart 1924 Hamn

- Raewyn Mary 1950 Hamn

m. Denis Allen Kinzett 1950 Hamn

- Shane Robert (1971 Hamn – 1971 Hamn)

- Shane Brennan 1973 Hamn

m. Lorelle Gwendolyn Pitcher 1972

- Jade Polly 2006

- Jesse Gordon 2008

- Mandy Jane 1975 Hamn

- Lesley Ann 1952 Hamn

m. Ronald James Robertson Cordiner 1950

- Mark Robert 1974 Hamn

m. Megan Lucy Davey 1975

- Terina Louise 1976 Hamn

m. Mark Bazil Jones 1976

119

- Tyler Anne 2001

- Hayden Mark 2003

- Jordyn Louise 2005

- Ross Andrew 1979 Hamn

- Gary Robert 1956 Hamn

m. Diane Judith Shaw 1955

- Kathie Anne 1979 Hamn

m. David James Rooney 1978

- Jake Gary 2007 Sydney, Australia.

- Angela Judith 1981 Tauranga

- John Hugh 1957 Hamn

m. Pamela Ailsa/Anne Middleton 1957

- Michael John 9.8.1982 Hamn

- Steven Robert 1.12.1984 Hamn

- Sandra Joy 1965 Hamn

m. Reese David Jenkin 1961

- Hannah Elizabeth 19.10.1998

6) GWENDOLINE BERTHA (GWEN) (22.4.1903 Akld – 30.12.1986 Akld)

m. 1) Douglas William Ernest (Doug) Monthey (c.1901- 28.12.1934 Akld)

- Muriel Gwendoline (1925 – 21.1.1976 Akld)

m. Walter (Wally) Waddell (c.1924 – 17.10.1967 Akld)

- Colin Walter 29.12.1947 Akld

m. 1) Aileen Lorraine Hughes 1946

m. 2) Lorraine Mary Wilkin 1946

- Christine Jayne 1981 Akld

- Stephen Douglas 1952 Akld

m. 1) Davina Lilian Adams

m. 2) Julie Margaret Rodewyk 1957

- Amy Antoinette 1987 Akld

- Jessica Ann 1989 Akld

- Paul Raymond 7.8.1958

m. Susan Marianne Schrickel

- Dylan Paul Karl 1996

- Constance Annie (1927 Akld – 12.11.2006 Akld)

m. Kenneth Norman (Snow) Miers 1926 – 9.3.1999

- Kenneth Douglas 1948 Akld

m. Kathleen Mary Rowe

- Michelle Kim 1972 Akld

m. Trevor Jones 1969

- Daniel Luke 1990

- Jessica Marie 1992

- Murray Douglas 1973 Akld

- Tracey Kaye 1976 Akld

- Amanda Rachel 1977/78 Akld

- Sherryl Linda 1950 Akld

120

m. 1) Kenneth John Mudford

m. 2) Mervyn Charles Prince 1956

- Kelly Kathleen Prince-Mudford 1985 Akld

- Ashley Claire 1988/89 Akld

- Jannine Maree 1956 Akld

- Donna Gaye 1960 Akld

- Nola Josephine (4.8.1932 – 4.8.1932)

m. George Findlay (c.1897 – 20.4.1981 Akld)

7) JACK KENYON (12.5.1905 Akld – 28.9.1976 Akld)

m. 1) Enid Mabel Bernard (1909 Cambridge – 6.11.1970 Akld)

- Garth Kenyon 3.3.1941 Akld

m. Moira Janet Baxter 9.12.1944 Te Awamutu

- Kim Moira 19.3.1972 Warkworth

m. Bevan Dale Sterling 26.3.1973 Dargaville

- Mitchell Alexander 11.4.2000 Akld

- Harrison Jalen 31.8.2002 Akld

- Toni Ann 13.1.1974 Warkworth

m. Wayne Andrew Godfrey 7.4.1973

m. 2) Marion (Shirley) Edwards Wilson ( ? - 6.2.1995 Akld)

8) ANNIE VERA (NANCE) (7.9.1908 Akld – 17.8.1993 Akld)

m. Alec Martin Diamond Scott (9.9.1908 Hamn – 28.7.1965 Akld)

- Joy Irene (2.10.1930 Hamn – 22.3.2004 Hamn)

m. Richard Andrew (Dick) Dean 19.2.1925 Whanga-

momona

- Scott Bathurst 10.7.1956 Hamn

m. Yvonne Joan Tuck 18.12.1957

- Lauren Joan 15.4.1986 Hamn

+ Patrick Luke

- Ashton Scott Luke 11.5.2009

Hamn.

- Michael Bathurst 31.8.1989 Hamn

- Cherie Karen 20.5.1958 Hamn

m. Mark de Malet Peyton 18.4.1961

Sydney, Australia

- James de Malet 13.5.1987 Sydney

Australia

- Timothy Dean 19.10.1988 Sydney

Australia

- Robyn Anne (20.7.1946 Akld - 15.9.2014 Ruakaka)

Scott Robyn Funeral

Service card 1.pdf

Scott Robyn Funeral

Service card 2.pdf

m. 2) Sarah Josephine Morris b.Jun.1893 Wincanton, Dorset, UK. d.4.4.1969 Akld, NZ.

121

1) PHYLLIS JOSEPHINE (20.9.1912 Akld – 23.1.1993 Akld)

2) DESMOND FREDERICK (20.9.1914 Akld – 13.6.2007 Akld)

m. 1) Ethne Lorraine O’Brien (27.1.1917 Akld - 23.9.1986 Akld)

- Michael Joseph (2.4.1940 Akld – 23.12.1997 Akld)

m. Linda Marie Turner 5.5.1941 Akld

- Mary Louise 5.12.1966 Akld

- Stephen Michael 7.4.1969 Akld

m. Kimberley Ann Bruton 2.12.1969

- Joshua Michael 15.8.1998 Akld

- Kieran Bruce 19.5.2001 Akld

- Ryan Stephen Patrick 6.11.2003 Akld

- Matthew David 29.11.1971 Akld

- Maureen Josephine 30.11.1941 Akld

m. Maurice David Hazeldine 23.7.1933 Feilding

- Michelle Lesley (Mitch) 28.2.1962 Akld

m.1) Christopher David Crabb 29.11.1950

- Mamie Josephine Hazeldine-Crabb

14.9.1991.Akld

m. 2) Rodger David Beck 18.10.19??

- Noah William Hazeldine-Beck

1.7.2000

- Anne-Marie Ellen 15.1.1965 Akld

m. Matthew Joseph (Matt) Dragicevich

23.5.1960 Akld

- Joseph Maurice 24.7.1990 Akld

- Ellen Rose 28.9.1992 Akld

- Ruby Maeve 17.1.1995 Akld

- Brent Maurice 30.6.1966 Akld

m. Andrea Michelle Loza 11.7.1969

Akld

- Tayla Jane 15.12.1993 Akld

- Cameron Maurice 1.12.1995 Akld

- Adam Edward 11.12.1969 Akld

m. Andrea Melissa (Andy) Fitzgerald

6.6.1969 Paeroa

- Nathaniel Christian 1.3.2008 Akld

- Lorraine Mary 8.9.1943 Akld

m. Edward Raymond (Ted) Salisbury 29.1.1940 Akld

- Carmela Marie 19.12.1962 Akld

- David Edward 27.9.1964 Akld

m. Elisabeth Ann Vickers 22.7.1972

Yorkshire, UK.

- Owen Philip 21.3.2006 Akld

- Martyn Scott 17.12.1968 Akld

m. 1) Melissa Jane Bolger

- Liam Martyn 20.9.1993

122

m. 2) Karen Louise Chambers

6.5.1976 Thames

- Maurice Keith 13.1.1945 Akld

m. Robyn Nichols 21.9.1949

- Karen Marie 6.10.1971 Wgtn

- Linda Jane 20.8.1973 Wgtn

- Jennifer Louise 10.4.1975 Wgtn

m. Dion Peat

- Ruby Elaine

- Maurice Allan 23.10.1984 Wgtn

- Judith Anne 6.10.1950 Akld

m. Christof Miltiades Deligeorgis (DELLY) (1946 –

2008)

- Kiri Marie 17.9.1971 Queanbeyan, Australia

- Andrew Christian 17.12 1971/73 Queanbeyan,

Australia

m. Christen Elisabeth Trenberth

3.3.1974 Boston, Massachusetts,USA

- Sophia Betty-Rose 10.8.2005

- Cassandra Rozalie (Cassie) 2.4.1975 Akld

m. Dylan Peter Shaw 16.7.1977

Michigan, USA.

- Clementine Delia 6.2.2008

Melbourne, Australia

- Alexander Joseph 20.6.1980 Akld

- Marcel Peter 29.8.1979 x adoption Dec 1987 Akld

m. Simone Robyne Burnett 8.9.1978

Melbourne, Australia

- Cooper Cameron 6.2.2008

Melbourne, Australia

- Joanne Rose 11.2.1975 x adoption Akld

m. Tani Robert Martin 26.8.1966

Te Kuiti

- Mahela Diane 15.2.2001

Melbourne, Australia

- Moana Te Aroha 3.2.2004

Melbourne, Australia

m. 2) Rosary Frances (Rowey) Swinburne (1913 – 18.3.1997 Akld)

3) LESLIE BRIAN (27.05. 1919 Akld – 22.10.1988 Akld)

m. 1) Iris Mary (Mollie) White (1918 – 26.1.1982 Akld)

- Brian Patrick (9.12.1942 – 29.11.2015 Akld)

m. Catherine Kelly

- John Francis (1968 – 1992 Akld)

- Mark Anthony 1970

123

- Helen Margaret 1973

m2. 16.09.97 Nive Manuokafoa Havealeta 08.04.1975

- Brian Selwyn Malachai 04.07.1998

- Tuiono 12.04.2001

- Josephine 03.05.2004

- Sione (John) 25.01.2006

- Ana Umuafuleva 04.09.2007

- Christine Mary 1946

m. Marin Vlasic

- Paul Daren 1965

- Antonia Marie 1969

- Dominic Marin 1971

- Marina Joanne 1973

- Kristina Therese 1975

- Luke Patrick 1976

- Karin

- Mary Josephine (1947 – 17.6.2008 Rotorua)

m. Karl Madsen

- Paul Henley 03.02.1954

m. Lorraine Price

- Geraldine 23.8.1973 Pukekohe

+ Unknown

- Michael (c.1991 – 30.10.2008 Akld)

- Wendy Ellen 1976

- James Patrick 1978

m2. Christine June Mumby 22.11.1957 Stratford

- Lesley Anne 1960

m. Trevor Murray Cox 1960

- Jeremy Murray 1980

- Jasmine Therese 1986

- Julia

- Jacob

m. 2) Betty Lola Ruth Mannion (1917 – 31.12.2012 Akld)

124

The John Frederick Atkinson Family (Reginald and Jack absent) – July 1954

Back Row: Des, Gwen, Eunice, Nance, Gordon, Les. Front Row: Poll, Dods, John

Frederick, Jo, and Phyllis in front.

Reginald Victor Atkinson as a child and Jack Kenyon Atkinson.

125

Some general photographs of “Places and Faces” (Family Members) which may

be of interest.

Aspley House - Waimate North in 2008

126

View from St. John the Baptist Church, Waimate North to the General Store on

left and Aspley House centre, with red roof. C.2006

The Picturesque Russell Waterfront. 2007

127

Jack Breen Holland Allely Garth Allely Margaret Hoffmann

(nee Allely)

The Pooch Family with John Frederick Atkinson at Anawhata

(favourite haunt of most of John Frederick’s family)

128

Anawhata – courtesy of Geoffrey Pooch

Anawhata – Courtesy of Karen Atkinson?

129

The Family of Les and Gwen Pooch

Mary-Anne, Les, Gwen, Wilma, Geoffrey, David.

Betty Stewart Muriel Waddell Connie Miers

(nee Atkinson) (nee Monthey) (nee Monthey)

Daughter of Gordon Daughters of Gwen Findlay, formerly Monthey

(nee Atkinson)

Joy Dean (nee Scott) & Robyn Anne Scott

daughters of Alec & Nance Scott (nee Atkinson)

130

Children of John Frederick and Sarah Josephine Atkinson.

Phyllis Josephine Desmond Frederick Leslie Brian

Children of Desmond Frederick and Ethne Lorraine Atkinson (nee O’Brien)

Michael Joseph Maureen Josephine Lorraine Mary

Maurice Keith Judith Anne

131

The Children of Leslie Brian and Iris Mary (Mollie) Atkinson.

Brian Patrick Atkinson Christine Mary Vlasic Mary Josephine Madsen

(nee Atkinson) (nee Atkinson)

Paul Henley Atkinson Lesley Anne Cox (nee Atkinson)

132

The Author Francis George Atkinson with the then Prime Minister Helen Clark

- Dominion Road Primary School Reunion

Frank Atkinson and Family -Lisa, Rachel, Elizabeth, Geoff, Frank, Howard and Audrey.

133

Ronald Wilfred Maude Harriet Wright June Elizabeth Davis-Goff

Atkinson (formerly McKenzie nee Atkinson) Elder Daughter of Maude

Ezilda Cummings Neville Roland Atkinson Nancye Fay Jones

Grand-daughter of son of Marshall Nicholson daughter of Marshall Nicholson

Sarah Wright (nee Atkinson)

Elva Govenlock – Grand-daughter of Dorothy Geraldeen (Geraldeen) Turner

Percival Radcliffe (Percy) Atkinson nee Harris, G/d of Walter, Daughter of

Frances Dorothy & Joseph Owen Harris

134

Irene (Rene) Adelaide Champion (nee Atkinson)

Valma (Val) McLean (nee Champion) Edward Barry (Barry) Champion

Daughter of Irene & Herbert Son of Irene & Herbert

Joyce Beverley (Beverley) Tolhurst (nee Champion)

Daughter of Irene & Herbert

Sydney Kitchener (Sid) Atkinson and his daughter Laureen Elizabeth Colebrook

Lorraine May (Pixie) Scott

Daughter of Alfred Robert & Clarice Wilhelmina Skudder (nee Atkinson)

135

Couples L-R: Willie & Maudie Drever, Otto & Clara Neumann, Marshall

Atkinson & Olive Bethell

Unknown Atkinson Soldier – any ideas?

136

Children of Harry Clyde & Doris Margaret Atkinson (nee Johnstone)

Roy Victor Atkinson Clarice Margaret Bond

(nee Atkinson)

Joy Amelia Urlich (nee Atkinson) with her cousin Shirley Oetgen (nee

McKenzie), daughter of Archibald William & Maude Harriet McKenzie (nee

Atkinson).

137

Additional Family Information

Ella Ruby ATKINSON d.4 May 1990. Purewa Crematorium 7 May 1990

David Atkinson ALLELY d.3 Feb 1979 Hamilton Park Crematorium. Ashes

returned.

Gordon Holland ATKINSON d.23 Feb 1979. 6 Rata St, Hamn. Hamilton Park

Crematorium GARDN-J-024

Mary Maud Jane ATKINSON d.8 May 1969. 6 Rata St, Hamn. Hamilton Park

Crematorium GARDN-J-024

Maurice Holland ATKINSON d.10 May 1983. Florence Lane, Pauanui. 13 May

1983 Hamilton Park Crematorium.

Betty Maude STEWART d.15 Dec 1983. Hamilton Park Crematorium GARDN-

J-343

Shane Robert KINZETT d.29 Mar 1971 aged 3 days. Hamilton Park

Crematorium- ashes spread.

Hilda Joyce POOCH d.1 Mar 1995. Cremated. Ashes interred Maunu Cemetery,

Whangarei 12 Feb 2000 Plot 937

Ivan Russell POOCH d.7 Jun 2006. 84 Ruffell Road, RD8, Hamn. Hamilton Park

Crematorium - Ashes buried 26 Oct 2006, WEB-03-12

Matthew Russell POOCH d.25 Jul 1974. Hamilton Park Crematorium – ashes in

Atkinson Family Plot – George Maxwell Cemetery, Rosebank Rd, Avondale,

Auckland.

Albert Edward BOTTCHER d.12 May 1977. Hamilton Park Crematorium 19

May 1977 – ashes returned .

George FINDLAY d.20 Apr 1981. Retired Gas Fitter. Bur. 28 Apr 1981

Waikumete Soldiers Ash K, Row 5a, Plot 128

Desmond Frederick ATKINSON d.13 Jun 2007 bur. 16 Jun 2007 Waikumete

West Berm A, Row 4, Plot 13 (note – 2nd wife was buried with her 1st husband)

Michael Joseph ATKINSON d.23 Dec 1997 bur. North Shore Memorial Park –

Bronze Section 6, Block B, Row 1, Plot 10.

138

Joy (Joeclyn) Atkinson nee Hayes d 02Oct 2019 94 yrs. Bur St John the Baptist

churg cemetary, Waimate North, New Zealand.

139

The Atkinson Family as descended from Richard Atkinson.

Richard Atkinson

(born prior to 1660)

|

Michael m. Elizabeth Hutton

(born before 1680 d.1703) }

|

Joseph m. Elizabeth Bouyes

(1701 – 1772)

|

Richard and Elizabeth Hirst

(1745 – 1825)

|

Thomas Radcliffe m. Mary Ann Hanson

(1785 – 1832)

|

Frederick Thomas Radcliffe m. Harriet Kenyon

(1831 - !925)

|

George Radcliffe m. Amelia Doris Spanhake

(1856 – 1945)

|

Wilfred Alexander m. Lilian Kimber

(1899 – 1958)

|

Francis George m. Delma Lita McMillan

(1928 - )

As we are strangers and pilgrims on earth, help us by true faith and a godly life to

prepare for the world to come, doing the work Thou has given us to do while it is

day before the night comes. And when our last hour comes, support us by Thy

power, and receive us into Thy heavenly kingdom.

- Lutheran Hymnal

140