Information provided by Liz Goldthorpe goldthorpe1@btinternet.com
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Ruth Ashton (mother of Albert Ward) was baptised on 18/1/1829 in Horbury, the daughter of Richard and Ann Ashton (nee Kay). She married John Ward at the Parish Church, Wakefield (now Wakefield Cathedral), on 25/7/1849. On their marriage certificate she was described as 20, a spinster of Horbury and the daughter of Richard Ashton, a tailor. John Ward was 25, a labourer from Horbury, the son of John Ward (a weaver). The witnesses were Robert Emmett and James Heptonstall. Ruth must have been illiterate as she marked her name on the marriage record with a cross. From what I remember being told, she had said that she didn’t want to die until she had a black silk dress and £1000 in the bank, and she achieved these ambitions. There is a photograph of her as an old lady where she certainly looks reasonably prosperous. Another photo, from the same studio and which was probably taken at the same time, is of her daughter Ruth Hannah. At some time after her husband died in 1892 Ruth moved to live with her son John (a widower) and his daughters Florence and Edith in Halifax. Her daughter Ruth Hannah also moved with her. As the photographs were taken in Halifax, it is likely that they were taken after 1892. Ruth died on 1/6/1907. There is a photograph of her husband John Ward which has no indication of where it was taken. He was a railwayman – on census records he was described as firstly a labourer, then a porter and finally a signalman. On 2 censuses he was also recorded as farming 8 acres of land. See Ward genealogy for her information from the 1851 census onward. Richard Ashton (Ruth’s father) was bapt. in Horbury on 15/2/1794 and died in 1866. He was a tailor. Census records, in combination with Horbury baptismal records, indicate that he married twice. His elder children’s mother was Ann Kay, who he married in Wakefield on 18/2/1817 (see later for Kay information). The children of this marriage were: Martha 2/3/ 1818 Ann must have died shortly after Ruth was born and he then married Elizabeth Ramsden (b. 28/12/1804) on 25/12/1830. She may have been a widow - an Ann Ramsden, aged 12, is with them on the 1841 census. Their children appear to be: William baptised 9/9/1846 - age on 1851 census 8 Priscilla baptised 9/9/1846 - age on 1851 census 6 Mary baptised 9/9/1846 - age on 1851 census 12 Several of Richard’s children may have died when young – there are records of their birth but they either don’t appear on any census records or are only on one census record. These children are: Ann (b. 1824) may have been working as a servant (aged 17) for a solicitor in Wakefield at the time of the 1841 census. 1841 census (ages were rounded to nearest 5 years so are not very accurate) Golden Square, Horbury Richard Ashton 45 tailor George Ashton 20 tailor Ruth Ashton 13 Thomas Ashton 12 Mary Ashton 3 Sarah Ashton 18 months Ann Ramsden 12 1851 Census Cluntergate Horbury Richard Ashton Head 56 tailor b. Horbury Elizabeth Ashton Wife 49 tailor “ “ Ann Ashton D 21 “ “ Thomas S 19 carter “ “ Mary D 12 scholar “ “ William S 8 “ “ “ “ Priscilla D 6 “ “ “ “ 1861 census 133 Daw Lane Horbury Richard Ashton Head 67 tailor b. Horbury Elizabeth Ashton Wife 61 “ “ Ann Ashton D 32 tailor’s assistant “ “ William Ashton S 18 cart driver “ “ Priscilla Ashton D 15 house servant “ “ The Ann Ashton who appears on the 1851 census aged 21 (and on the 1861 census aged 32) is probably the Ann Ramsden from the 1841 census (ie the daughter of Elizabeth Ramsden from an earlier marriage) as her age would be wrong for the Ann Ashton who was the daughter of Richard and Ann (Kay). It may seem strange that Richard Ashton appears to have had 2 sons named William. However, it seems to have been quite common to give a baby the name of a previous child who had died. In the Yorkshire Directory and Gazette (Leeds/Bradford area) of 1853, Richard Ashton is recorded as a tailor in Horbury. Richard Ashton was the son of George Ashton (b. 19/9/1764 in Cawthorne, d. 1851), a tailor, and his wife Ann Kippax (b. 9/9/1765, 69 or 70 depending on version of records , who d. on 25/5/1811). They were married on 15/3/1790 in Wakefield. Their children were baptised in Horbury and were: Martha b. 12/6/1791 d. 9/5/1813 Joseph b. 26/12/1792 Richard b. 15/2/1794 or 1795 (records differ) Ann b. 12/3/1797 George b. 3/2/1799 Hannah b. 25/10/1801 Ruth b. 18/9/1803 In Piggot’s Directory of Wakefield for 1834, George Ashton was recorded as a tailor in Horbury. George Ashton was recorded in 1848 as living in Hodge Lane, Horbury. This was in the published results of an election in 1848 for “a Knight of the Shire for the West Riding of Yorkshire”; at the time, only men who occupied property worth more than £10 per year were eligible to vote, which excluded 6 men out of every 7. There were 2 candidates in the election – Edmund Dennison (conservative) and Sir Eardley Eardley Baronet (liberal). George Ashton voted for the liberal, who lost by 2000 votes. 1851 census 11 Hodge Lane Horbury George Ashton Head 86 Widower, retired tailor b. Cawthorne Betty Burton 44 general servant b. Dewsbury 1841 census High Street Horbury George Ashton 75 tailor Betty Burton 30 Ann Chappel 15 The following information is a description of the ecclesiastical status of Horbury in the 1830s: “HORBURY, in the parish of Wakefield, Agbrigg-division of Agbrigg and Morley, liberty of Wakefield, 2½ miles SW. of Wakefield, 11 from Huddersfield. Pop. 2,475. The Church is a perpetual curacy, dedicated to St. Peter. Patron, the Vicar of Wakefield. The present Chapel at Horbury was built in 1791, by the late Mr. John Carr, a native of this place, and an eminent architect at York, at an expense of £8,000. leaving behind him a monument at once of his skill and bounty. For a critique on this handsome edifice, see Whitaker's Loidis et Elmete." George Ashton was the son of another tailor, Richard Ashton (b. in approx. 1726) and his wife Martha Depledge. Richard and Martha were married on 20/8/1750 and their children were: Richard 27/3/1751 John 12/2/1753 William 3/5/1755 Martha 29/5/1757 Sarah 2/11/1759 Anne 19/7/1761 or 2 George 9/1764 Although born in Cawthorne, at some stage George Ashton left there and moved to Horbury. However, many of his siblings appeared to remain in Cawthorne and there are many subsequent records of Ashtons in Cawthorne. Richard Ashton, George’s father, was the son of another Richard Ashton, b. Cawthorne in 1705, yet another tailor. KAY Ann Kay (m. Richard Ashton on 18/2/1817) was b. in Horbury on 25/12/1795. She was the daughter of Arthur Kay and Mary Fitton, who were married on 3/1/1780. Her siblings were: John (b. 17/10/1780 James (b. 27/12/1782) Sarah (b. 16/5/1785) William (b. 4/6/1787) Mary (b. 4/4/1790) Jane (b. 20/8/1799). Arthur Kay was b. on 8/2/1747 or 8 in Horbury and was the son of Arthur Kaye and his wife Susannah (Knowles, b. about 1722 in Garforth and buried 6/9/1779 in Horbury). The elder Arthur was probably b. on 19/5/1717 in Sandal Magna, the son of John Kay, and was buried in Horbury on 19/11/1796. He was a labourer. Mary Fitton was b. in 1758 in Wakefield. There are two possible Mary Fittons – one was the daughter of Richard Fitton and the other the daughter of Charles Fitton. DEPLEDGE Martha Depledge (m. Richard Ashton on 20/8/1750) was b. in Cawthorne on 29/6/1725, the daughter of Richard Depledge. ( who was probably the son of another Richard Deplege). KIPPAX Ann Kippax( b. 9/9/1770 and d. 25/5/1811) married George Ashton on 15/3/1790 in Wakefield. She was the daughter of Richard Kippax (b. 16/2/1734, d. 23/7/1790), who married Ann Danforth on 26/6/1757 in Wakefield. Ann Danforth died Aug. 1789. Their children were: Jno 16/8/1761 – 20/2/1771 Mary 17/6/1764 Elisabeth 15/2/1767 Ann 9/9/1770 Richard Kippax was the son of Samuel Kippax, who was likely to have been b. on 22/2/1701 in Dinnington, and married Grace Land on 16/10/1732 in Silkstone. The following information on the Kippaxes largely comes from a “pedigree” file on the LDS website; it could be that the compiler came up with an inaccurate pedigree based purely on names, so I need to verify it. Samuel Kippax’s father may have been Thomas Kippax, b. 1661, married to Elizabeth Loaton on 25/6/1682 in Almondbury. If so, Thomas’s father was likely to have been Thomas Kippax, b. 30/10/1631 in Royston, the son of Robert Kippax. Elizabeth Loaten was born in Gainsborough. Thomas and Elizabeth appear to have children baptised in Gainsborough but with the same names as Kippax children baptised in Cawthorne etc. This may be a coincidence; however, I have read of instances of children being baptised twice, once in each of the places their parents came from, so the information may be accurate.LAND Grace Land (b. Horbury 22/11/1699) and married to Samuel Kipppax in 1732 was the daughter of John Land, who was b. in Horbury on 11/5/1670. He was a mason who married Hannah and was the son of Michael Land, b. 25/10/1635. Michael was the son of William Land, who married Ann Wormall on 24/11/1629. Ann Woremall was b. on 13/6/1607 in Horbury, the daughter of Richard Woremall and Ann Walker, who were married in Horbury on 29/6/1604. William Land was the eldest son of another William Land. He was buried on 16/8/1661 and his wife Ann on 23/5/1667. Their children were: Robert (b. 12/9/1630) John (b. 1/1/1632) Michael (b. 25/10/1635) Samuel 3/3/1639 - Aug 1641) William (b. 26/5/1641) Grace (b. 16/7/1643) Ann (4/12/1645 – 9/5/1647) Jane (b. 8/8/1648) Jonathon (b. 26/10/1653). The elder William Land was probably born in Wragby in 1575, the son of Thomas land (spelt Londe in the records). He moved to Ackworth and later to Horbury. He was a yeoman (farmer/freeholder of land) and his wife was named Ann. His will (written in 1639 though he was buried on 1/3/1646, and his wife Ann on 23/5/1667) seems to show a bias towards some of his children – but it’s impossible now to know why this was, and perhaps some had already received money/goods. He left a children’s “porcion” of 12d (12 old pence) to his eldest son William and his sons Valentine, Cuthbert and John and his daughters Elizabeth (Sparling), Ann (Wood) and Sibell. His son James was to receive 5s (5x the “children’s porcion) . He had previously granted Valentine (his 2nd son) a “messuage or tenement” in Horbury – this was a house and the land surrounding it, and in William’s will this was to remain the property of Valentine provided he paid 15s to William the elder and his wife Ann during wither of their lifetimes and also £4 a year to Thomas, William and Ann’s youngest son - after that, Valentine would be the owner. If he defaulted on the payment, Thomas would own it but would have to recompense Valentine with £4, paid within a year. Thomas also received “Broad Ley Close” in Horbury. The rest of his estate was left to his wife Ann. DANFORTH Ann Danforth (m. to Richard Kippax in 1757) was probably b. in Darton on 7/4/1733, the daughter of John Danforth. There is a marriage in Rotherham on 30/12/1712 between a John Danford and a Mary Hinch – this would fit in with the birthdates of John Danforth’s children: John 17/10/1713 Thomas 5/11/1715 Luke 27/4/1717 Elizabeth 6/8/1719 Joseph 1/2/1721 Mary 29/6/1724 d. 1726 James 18/3/1726 Ann 7/4/1733 Mary Hinch may have been born in Owston (between Pontefract and Doncaster)
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