Phillipson

John & John W, George & Richard WW1 and Turton Quarrymen

Steam Engine taking stone from Phillipson’s Cox Green Quarry, circa 1910 (Bolton Museum archive)

Raised in Withnell, Lancashire the three brothers, John, George and Richard Phillipson were the sons of a quarryman. They followed in their father’s footsteps and became owners and managers of the main quarries in Turton, viz. Round Barn and Hard Rock Quarries, Edgworth; Ouslenest Quarry, and Cox Green Quarry. A fourth brother, William, also moved into the area, running the Crown & Thistle Pub near the Round Barn Quarry. In 1911, John was living at Higher Crow Trees Entwistle (his son John Walmsley Phillipson became a quarryman); George was living at 5 Rigby Lane, Bradshaw (his 3 sons, Richard, Walter and Leonard became quarrymen), and Richard was at Cote Farm, Entwistle (his sons, George and William were quarrymen). The Phillipsons were major employers in the area. John Walmsley Phillipson states in his application for a commission with the Royal Engineers that 180 men were employed (although it is not clear as to which quarries this number relates). During the war John and his son John Walmsley, and brother Richard served with the Royal Engineers operating the huge quarries at Marquise and Rinxint, just south of Calais, and it seems possible that George and his sons and some of the Phillipson’s employees also served there. John was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was in charge of operations, supported by his son, Lieutenant John Walmsley and brother, Lieutenant Richard. John was awarded an O.B.E. for his contribution to the war effort.

The following photo indicates the scale of the French operation:

This photo shows John Phillipson, front right, in the Marquise Quarry WW1. ‘German Prisoners in the Allied Captivity, 1914-1918.’ (© IWM Q 9712) (www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245445)

John and John Walmsley (and perhaps Richard) are in the photo below (© IWM Q 9706) ‘Officers of the Royal Engineers in charge of the marble quarries at Marquise, 25 November 1918.’ (www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245439):

Lt. John W Phillipson (1894-1930)

Lt.-Col. John Phillipson

O.B.E. (1869-1924)

Lt. Richard Phillipson

(1879-1927)

Further information of the family’s quarrying work in Lancashire and France follows the details of their individual family histories.

Family History1,3,4,5

A search of Census Returns and BMD data indicates that the Phillipson family members were as follows: Father: Richard Phillipson b. 1846 Heath Charnock d. 1902 Withnell Mother: Nancy Chadwick b. 1846 Chorley d. 1908 Withnell

(Richard and Nancy were married at St Paul’s Church, Adlington in 1867.)

Children: Johanna b. 1868 Heath Charnock John b. 1869 Heath Charnock d. 1924 Entwistle

George b. 1871 Heath Charnock d. 1925 Turton William b. 1874 Withnell d. 1929 Darwen Elizabeth b. 1875 Withnell Ellen b. 1877 Withnell Richard b. 1879 Withnell d. 1927 SW Bolton In 1871, the family was living at 22 Red Row, Heath Charnock. Father Richard was a ‘Quarryman’. In 1881 they are at 92 Railway Road, Withnell. Johanna, is a Cotton Weaver. In 1891 their address is Railway Road, Withnell. John is a Stone Quarryman, George is a Blacksmith, William is an Apprentice Clogger, Elizabeth and Johanna are Cotton Weavers and Richard jnr is at school. Father Richard’s sister Ellen is living with them.

John Phillipson (1869 -1924)

John married twice:

1st Wife: Mary Walmsley b. 1872 d. 4 June 1894 ((John and Mary were married at St Paul’s Church, Withnell in 1893)

Child: John Walmsley Phillipson b. 1894 Withnell d. 20 Jul 1930 Edgworth

2nd Wife: Alice Ann Berry b. 1877 Chorley d. 1955 Turton

( John and Alice were married at St Peter’s Church, Chorley in 1902.)

Children: Margaret b. 1904 Chorley Nancy b. 1905 Chorley Alice Ann b. 1908 Bolton Elizabeth b. 1910 Bolton William b. 1912 Bolton

The following photo (provided by courtesy of Erica Martin) shows John & Alice with their 5 children. The photo was presumably taken at the end of WW1.

As stated above, John first married in 1893 but his wife Mary died soon after the birth of their son John Walmsley Phillipson. The 1901 census shows John as a Widower and Stone merchant living with or visiting John Edward Braithwaite and his wife ‘Eliz’ at Stacksteads, Bacup. Eliz is John’s sister who married John Braithwaite at St Paul’s Church, Withnell in 1895. John Phillipson’s son John Walmsley is living with his grandfather Richard. (Richard’s wife is shown as ‘Mary’ but his wife Nancy was still alive at this time.) John’s presence in Stacksteads is not surprising as there was major quarrying activity in the area and John or a perhaps a relative may have been a part-owner as can be seen in these extracts from the file www.bacuptimes.co.uk/index_htm_files/Quarryaccidents.pdf, which details quarrying accidents: 1906 Lovick & Phillipson at Lee quarries. A man hurt. 1908 Patrick John Moran (32) a quarry man of Taylor Holme, Stacksteads, was working in the mine hole of Messrs. Lord & Phillipson stone quarries Rake Head, Stacksteads, when several tons of stone etc. which comprised the roof of the mine, suddenly collapsed and entombed him. The worse was feared, but a gang of men got to work and after two hours Moran was released in a fainting condition.

Having married Alice Ann Berry at St Peter’s Church , Chorley in 1902, the 1911 census shows John and Alice living at Higher Crow Trees, Entwistle with John Walmsley Phillipson, (who is listed as a ‘Clerk at Quarry’), their 4 daughters, and Alice’s sister Nancy Berry. At some time prior to December 1916, John and his family moved to Holly Bank House, Entwistle. Below is a photo of the house in September 2014.

John died in 1924 and probate was awarded as shown:4,32

John and his two wives are buried in the graveyard of St. Paul’s Church, Withnell.

Alice Ann Phillipson (1877-1955)

(photo courtesy of Erica Martin)

George Phillipson (1871-1925)

The 1901 Census George is living at Baxendale Street, Astley Bridge, Bolton with his wife Minnie. The family details are: Wife: Minnie Murray Walmsley b. 1869

(George and Minnie were married in Withnell in 1894) Children: Richard b. 1896 Walter b. 1897 Leonard b. 1899 In 1911 George was living with his wife Minnie and their 3 children in Bradshaw, Turton. George is described as ‘Manager of a paving Setts Quarry’. An on-line search (http://archives.li.man.ac.uk) revealed the archive of one Edgar Morton a stone analyst which includes this reference: Sandstones from Bromley Cross, Lancashire; dolerite from Midgeholme, Cumbria (1935-1936) Morton acted for Prestwich Urban District Council, Lancashire, in carrying out compression tests on stones provided to the council by George Phillipson & Sons from Bromley Cross sandstone quarries, Bolton, Lancashire………

George died in 1925 and the Probate record for George following his death awards probate to his 3 sons:4,32

Richard Phillipson

(1879-1927) Richard was the only son still at the family home in Withnell in 1901 and living/staying with them are Richard snr’s grandsons John Walmsley Phillipson (son of John) and Walter Phillipson (son of George), and a niece, Mary Clayton. The 1911 census shows a Richard Phillipson who was a Quarryman, born in 1879 in Brinscall, and living with his wife, Sarah and 2 of their 3 sons. This family details are: Wife: Sarah Jane Winstanley b. 1879 Pemberton d. 1929 Farnworth

(Richard and Sarah were married at Bolton Registry Office 7th March 1905) Children: George b. 1907 Bromley Cross, Bolton Ellen b. 1908 Entwistle – died aged 0 John William b. 1909 Entwistle By 1917, when Richard applied for a temporary commission with The Royal Engineers, they were at Round Barn Cottage, Entwistle, as Richard had become the owner of Round Barn Quarries, Entwistle. Richard died in 1927, but no probate record has been found. However the following deaths were found, which seem to fit Richard and perhaps his wife (Sarah) Jane; their son George and perhaps his daughter.12

Edgworth Congregational Church, Lancashire

Index of Monumental Inscriptions 1823-1964

Richard Phillipson 28.11.1927 47

Jane Phillipson 21.3.1929 48

George Phillipson 8.9.1953 47

Joan Phillipson Sept.1931 5 weeks

The Other Phillipson Siblings According to one of John Phillipson’s great-granddaughters (June Bradbury), his other brother William also moved into the Edgworth area and ran the Crown & Thistle pub on the Roman Road from Edgworth to Blackburn, just past the Round Barn Quarries. The same contact also provided the following information regarding John Phillipson’s children: John Walmsley Phillipson died on 20th July 1930, aged 36, of Lymphadenoma (cancer) and was then living at 270 Blackburn Road, Edgworth (see below). Margaret was a teacher at Hob Lane School, Edgworth; Nancy became a Nurse; Alice a confectioner. Margaret and Nancy never married. Alice and Betty did marry but had no children. William moved to London and married and had children. The publication “More memories of the Lancashire village of Edgworth from the 1920s to the 1960s” by Arthur Fairhurst10 contains three references to the Phillipsons, viz.

1. A reference to the fact that ‘Teachers at the school included … Miss Phillipson ….. would walk to school, and so would Miss Phillipson, who lived at Holly Bank.

2. In an extract from Tillotson’s Bolton Directory,1932, Mrs Alice A Phillipson is shown to be living at Holly Bank House, Entwistle, and Miss Margaret Phillipson is listed as Mistress at Hob Lane Council School.

John Walmsley Phillipson

(1894-1930)

In 1911 John Walmsley is living with father John and his step-mother Alice at Higher Crow Trees, Entwistle. In 1918 John Walmsley Phillipson married Ada Mather at St. Anne’s Church, Turton. The couple were then living at 455 Blackburn Road, Edgworth. They subsequently had two children: Marion, b. 1920, and James b. 1926. Sadly, JWP died of lymphadenoma (cancer) on 20th July 1930 at the age of 36. He and Ada were at the time living at 270 Blackburn Road, Edgworth. (Information provided by JWP’s grand-daughter, June Bradbury.) John Walmsley Phillipson is remembered on the family gravestone at St. Anne’s Church, Turton.

The Phillipsons Lancashire Quarries

This reference to the local quarries was found in “More memories of the Lancashire village of Edgworth from the 1920s to the 1960s” by Arthur Fairhurst10:

The following was copied from ‘Strategic Stone Study. A building Stone Atlas of Greater Manchester’ published June 2011: Within the Millstone Grit Group, Horncliffe Stone (Lower Haslingden Flags) was used as

parpoints at St Thomas’church, Bury, but the principal use of Upper Haslingden Flags was

reflected in Phillipsons Flag & Stone quarry at Round Barn, Edgworth, from where 40

railway wagon loads of flags per day were despatched to pave the roads and yards of nearby

mill towns.

In John Walmsley Phillipson’s war record he states that, prior to the war, he was the manager of 180 men at these quarries.

Past records of The Barlow, Edgworth14, include a letter headed:

RUDMAN & PHILLIPSON, Ltd. QUARRY MASTERS & QUARRY OWNERS,

ROUND BARN QUARRIES, ENTWISTLE

It has not been possible to identify the Rudman of this quarrying company. No Rudmans have been found around Edgworth at this time, however, there were several Rudman quarrymen working the quarries in the Whitworth Valley to the north of Rochdale. The following telephone directory entry for 1923 shows that quarrying operations for John Walmsley Phillipson had extended to two new quarries in the local area:

And this 1939 entry indicates George’s operation:

The Phillipsons Quarrying Operations in WW1

At the time of writing, the war records for John, Richard and John Walmsley (JWP) had not been digitised but it was found to be held by the National Archives and a copy was purchased via The Barlow WW1 Project Heritage Lottery Funding. (The extracts shown below are © Crown Copyright – courtesy of The National Archives, and are reproduced under the Open Government License.) The three men all enlisted with the Royal Engineers and joined the quarrying operations in the Pas de Calais region of France, with John overseeing the work at the Marquise and Rixent Quarries. Here are the men’s recommendation for a Temporary Commission .31

This page is from John’s record:31

It shows that John returned home on leave on several occasions during the war and in some instances the leave was extended due to ‘urgent private affairs’. It has not been possible to identify specific reasons for the leave extensions. The entry for 26th May 1918 indicates John’s appointment as acting Lt.-Col. in charge of operations at Marquise, and that for 7th June 1918 his being awarded an O.B.E. for his contribution to the war effort. The award of an O.B.E. to John was announced in The London Gazette and the relevant sections are shown below:

The war records show that John was entitled to use the title of ‘Lieutenant-Colonel’ on reliquishment of his commision; Richard and John Walmsley were confirmed ‘Lieutenant’. Interestingly, when Richard was demobilised his address was given as, 13 Li???y Fold, Withnell – a return to the family home? These further photos of the French quarries were downloaded from The Imperial War Museum website. They give an indication of the scale of the operation: (All photos tagged © IWM are reproduced under the conditions of The Imperial Museums Non Commercial Licence and can be accessed via the link provided)

1. ‘Machinery for the mechanical loading into railway trucks of screened marble chips quarried at Marquise, 25 November 1918.’ (© IWM Q9717) (www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245450)

2. ‘The marble quarries at Marquise, 25 November 1918.’ (© IWM Q 9703).

(www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245436) Comment: John Phillipson standing front left.

3. ‘The Royal Engineers staff at the marble quarries at Marquise, 25 November 1918.’ (© IWM Q 9714) (http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245447) Is that John Walmsley Phillipson 2nd from right, front row?

4. ‘Officers of the Royal Engineers in charge of the marble quarries at Marquise, 25 November 1918.’ (© IWM Q 9701) (www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245434)

Researcher: Alan Woodward Standard References: 1,2,3,4,5,10,12,31,32