The following was composed/compiled by Colin Webster
WILLIAM WEBSTER, born 1778, died
1848
And
MATILDA, born
1782, died 1852
(Note: Some of this research is derived only from the I.G.I.
database without any supporting evidence to verify William’s
descendants and, although the lineage of William is reasonably
claimed to be through a father Samuel Webster of Spofforth, absolute
certainty cannot be guaranteed.)
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William Webster was christened in Spofforth in the West Riding
of Yorkshire on 30 August 1778. He appears to be the youngest
of 11 children, the son of Samuel Webster and Mary Wood. Extensive
searches have been made in an attempt to verify this parentage.
That he was born in 1778 in Yorkshire is clear but the specific
location and, from that the identification of his father is not
available from any census. The 1841 census clearly states that
he was born in Yorkshire but this early census does not specify
the village/town location. It is believed that he had died before
the census of 1851 which does list specific birth locations.
The only Yorkshire birth of 1778 listed on the IGI is of a William
Webster born in Spofforth, a village which had a number of family
connections, e.g. Eliza Parker, wife of his son Charles Benjamin,
was born there. A search of Spofforth Parish records confirm that
a William Webster was christened there on 30 August 1778 to parents
Samuel and Mary Webster, William being the youngest of their eleven
IGI listed children. Furthermore, the IGI shows a marriage between
Samuel Webster and Mary Wood at Spofforth on 27 March 1757.
This William Webster therefore is reasonably claimed to be the
correct lineage of my Great Grandfather, Charles Benjamin Webster,
born in 1820. (See CBW’s biographical notes).
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In 1778, when William was born, George the 3rd. was on the throne
and Lord North was the Prime Minister. These were troubled times:
war was declared on France and a year later Spain declared war
on Britain, during which time the American colonists were fighting
for independence. But Spofforth, a small and attractive Yorkshire
village, really must have seemed a long way off, in all respects.
William’s generation was the last of the Websters to live
and work in the countryside because he would, in his lifetime,
experience the beginnings of the industrial revolution. He, like
so many others, would move, with his family, into one of the fast
developing industrialised centres of the West Riding to take advantage
of the new work opportunities.
PIC
Spofforth Castle
Spofforth Castle had been the home of the famous Percy family
(Duke of Northumberland) until they abandoned it to move to Alnwick
Castle in Northumberland.
The castle was already a dilapidated ruin in William’s
time and would have, undoubtedly, provided a great place for play
for William and his friends.
******************************************
William Webster married Matilda (surname not known) who was born
around 1782. The couple set up home in Allerton Mauleverer (a
small village, with an old castle and a large manor house, close
to Knaresborough, on its eastern side, and just off the Great
North Road – could this have been where Matilda lived before
her marriage?). The first seven of their nine known children were
born here as follows:
Isaac Webster, born 30 March 1804 Christened 4 Sept 1804
(Minister: James Neale) George Webster ‘’ 13 January
1807 ‘’ 9 Oct 1807
William Webster ‘’ 7 January 1808 ‘’ 9
Jan 1809 Matilda Lydia ‘’ 14 October 1809 ‘’
28 May 1810
Frances Elizabeth ‘’ 19 May 1811 ‘’ 31
May 1811
Caroline ‘’ 12 February 1813 ‘’ 15 Feb
1813
Sarah (Joaca ?) ‘’ ‘’ 2 April 1815
(Note: The IGI records the mother of Sarah to be Ann, not Matilda.
Therefore she cannot be positively claimed but (a) the 2 year
birth interval from Caroline, (b) a father’s name of William
and (c) the same village, suggests a possible error in recording
the mother’s name of Ann). There is further support for
the claim: in 1841 a daughter Sarah, of the right age, appears
on the census with parents William and Matilda.
**************************************
In or before 1820 the family moved to the village of Killinghall
in the parish of Ripley, about 1 ¼ miles from Ripley village
and just north of Harrogate, where they had two further children:
CHARLES BENJAMIN WEBSTER (my GGrandfather) and, Georgiana Webster.
Both were christened on 28th.August 1825. It has been established
that Charles Benjamin was born in 1820 but his christening was
delayed and done at the same time as his sister in 1825. A case
of ‘’buy one, get one free’’, perhaps!
Certainly, the evidence above is that they were not always in
a hurry to get their children baptised.
The bishop’s transcript (seen at the West Yorkshire Archive
Service in Leeds) records that William was a Cattle Dealer but
Piggot’s Directory of professions and trades shows that
by 1829 he was the village butcher in Killinghall. The two descriptions
may have been compatible.
It is interesting that Horatio Gratton, an uncle of his daughter-in-law
Eliza Parker (wife of Charles Benjamin) was, in1841, a farmer
in Killinghall and by 1851 the village butcher! William had by
this time, moved to pastures new, as recorded below?
MAP PIC
The village of Killinghall in the parish of Ripley, Yorkshire
*************************************************
Then came the move into the industrialised and major woollen area
of the West Riding, because the 1841 census shows that William
and Matilda were living with their son, Charles Benjamin and two
of his siblings in Hall Lane, Bowling, Bradford. William was employed
as a Wool Buyer. (The date of the move to Bowling was probably
before 1834 because Pigot’s Directory of 1834 shows that
the village butcher is no longer William but a Charles Greenhow.).
The census shows the following, with ages rounded to the nearest
5:
William Webster, father. Age 65, a Wool Buyer
Matilda Webster, mother Age 60.
Sarah Webster, dau. Age 25, a Milliner
Charles (B) Webster, son. Age 20 a Butcher
Georgiana Webster, dau. Age 15
The son, young William, 33, was now married to Sarah with children,
including Matilda, named after her grandmother.
Their son George, 35, was also married with a wife, Hannah, and
a family and working as a butcher in the family tradition.
Son, Charles Benjamin, was also working elsewhere in Bowling
as a Butcher.
Their son Isaac was living in nearby Horton and was, at various
times, a Clerk, a Bookkeeper, and later a Commercial Clerk. It
is not clear if he married but in the 1861 census his sister Caroline
was living with him, together with her husband, Robert Midgeley
and their four children.
HALL BOWLI NGPIC
The Hall. Bowling Hall Road, Bowling, Bradford.
It has been difficult to ascertain the date of William’s
death but the date of 3 June 1848 appears to be authentic. The
death certificate correctly matches all known facts except for
the age which is shown as 77 when, in fact, he would have been
around 70. Alternative searches have proved abortive so it is
assumed that this is the right one in which the age has been incorrectly
declared or recorded. The certificate shows that William died
of apoplexy at Wakefield Road, Bowling and that he was a butcher.
The informant was Sarah Webster of Hall Lane, Bowling (where William
and Matilda lived in 1841).
It is interesting that son, Charles Benjamin lived and worked
as a butcher in Wakefield Road in 1841 before moving to Lincolnshire
to work on the Railways. I wonder; did father William take over
the business and premises, leaving daughter Sarah at Hall Lane?
WILLM CERT
Matilda died on 6 July 1852 at Goose Hill in Bowling at the age
of 71. Present at the death was her daughter, 41 year old Frances
Elizabeth Webster.
MATILDA CERT
Colin Webster. Sept. 2007 ( Please note: The certs are not for
publication.)
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