Nathaniel Birtles (my great x 4 grandfather ) was born Dec 29th 1771 died 7 Jun 1831. He was a mariner from Smithfield St, Liverpool. He owned 15 houses in Prescott Row and Pickop Street, Liverpool and was obviously a wealthy man.
He married
Nathaniel and Mary had five children:
- James Sept 10th 1796.
- John May 26th 1799. Died as an infant
- Joseph Nov 23rd 1800. Married Margaret Cannell b 1803/4, Peel, Isle of Man .Children:
- Nathaniel Thomas 1831,
- Elinore Jane 1832,
- Joseph, 1834,
- John 1836,
- Charles 1838,
- Mary 1839,
- James 1841,
- Edward 1843
- Nathaniel 1805. Married Mary Bryan. Died 1833
- John 1810. Married Elizabeth Spencer: Children
- Nathaniel 1829,
- Henry 1831,
- John 1833,
- John 1834,
- Elizabeth 1835,
- Mary 1837
The excerpts following (in italics) are from a privately published family history of the Birtles called Mans’ Yesterdays by Mona Harrison.
“ |
James Birtles
James Birtles 1796 -1881. my great, great, great, grandfather, married Jane Rycroft Mar 29th 1818 in Liverpool.
Children of James and Jane:
- Mary Ann Dec 26th 1820. Married - Thomas Potts. Her children:
- Eliza Ann, 1847
- Mary Jane, 1849
- Emma Jane
- James Aug 16th 1829. Died in infancy
- James Wilson Nov 28th 1831. Died 1868 in IoM.
- Emma Birtles 1859,
- Ada 1863,
- Louisa 1864,
- George Rycroft 1866,
Married (2) William Pointon. Children:
- Bertha 1877,
- William 1879,
- Birtles (female) 1877-1962 m ? George and moved to New Zealand with her daughter and husband ? Forrester in the late 1950s.
Although James and Jane had seven children. Only four survived childhood Mary Ann, Emma Jane, Eliza Jane and James Wilson Birtles my great, great grandfather (b. 1831). In about 1845, James and Jane moved to Douglas in the Isle of Man. James, now nearly 50, rented Ballacubbon a farm in Richmond Hill, Isle of Man, leaving two brothers to carry on the family business in Liverpool.
James Birtles died in Douglas, Isle of Man in1861 leaving his widow Jane (Rycroft) Birtles. In his will it is stated that he owned tea houses in Cazneau Street in Liverpool, so he too was probably wealthy. Interestingly, on the birth record for his son James W. Birtles his father’s occupation is stated as painter and plasterer. In the census records for the Isle of Man in 1851 his occupation is “Farmer”. Jane (Rycroft) Birtles died at Kirk Braddan, Isle of Man, 22nd Sept. 1875 (aged 80).
At the time of James Birtle’s death it appears that two of James and Jane’s daughters are deceased. Although Mary Jane (Birtles) Potts, at the age of 30 was living with her parents in 1851, by 1861 her two children Mary Ann and Eliza Jane are living with their aunt Eliza Jane (Birtles) Muncaster. No further record of Mary Ann or Thomas Potts. Also deceased, daughter Emma Jane Birtles, who married Mathew Heallis and had a daughter, Eliza Jane in 1853. In the 1861 census Eliza Jane Heallis is 8 year’s old and living with cousins. She is later mentioned as a ward of Eliza Ann (Birtles) Maddock. James Birtles did not leave any legacies for his grandchildren.
Will and Probate of James Birtles
Jane (Rycroft) Birtles James Birtles
James Birtles, (minature portrait in a mourning brooch)
Mary Ann, aged 14
“James,
the oldest son, who was my great, great grandfather [i.e.Mona Harrison’s GGGrandfather], married Jane Rycroft at St. Pauls Church in 1818. Jane was probably
the daughter of William Rycroft, a warehouseman of Chapel Alley, and Nancy
Whalley. James and Jane had seven
children, all baptized at “Why
this sudden enthusiasm for |
James Wilson Birtles was born in Liverpool on Nov 28th
1831. He was apprenticed as a seaman in 1847 (aged 16). He was described as having
brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. He was my great, great
grandfather who married 20th June 1852 (aged 21) to Mary Johnson.
He was at
Ballacubbon, Isle of Man., with his parents, at the time of the 1851 census and also
in June, just before he married Mary Johnson, daughter of Samuel, a bookseller, Duke
St., Douglas. The Johnsons had also moved
to the Island, in their case, from Manchester.
After their marriage James and Mary emigrated to Bendigo, Australia where their first
two children were born. After an attempt to make his
fortune in the Australian gold fields James W. and Mary Birtles were
back in
the Isle of Man by 1856 with their two small daughters, and
there
they took over the Pier Inn on the North Quay of Douglas Harbour.
Pier where James Wilson Birtles owned a pub.
Two more children were born, after Mary and James, returned to the Isle of man, both dying in infancy. Only Eliza Ann, my great grandmother, survived to adulthood.
Children:
- Emma Grace 1854-1862. Buried in the Isle of Man aged 8
- Eliza Ann Johnson born 1856 in Bendigo Australia. Christened, 28th December 1856
- Alfred 1861 - 1861(died at 6 months) buried in Braddan 7th May 1861
- James 1862 (died in infancy)
In
1847 the only son James Wilson Birtles became an apprentice seaman. He is described as having brown hair, grey
eyes and a ruddy complexion. I don’t know when James junior went to sea but
he was at Ballacubbon at the time of the 1851 census and also in June when he
married Mary Johnson, daughter of Samuel, a bookseller, Duke St., Douglas. The Johnsons had also emigrated to the ‘They’ll charge you 7/- for
a pint of mouldy peas, six and ninepence farthing
for a pound of rotten cheese. Of going gold digging my
friends, I’ve had my fill. May Devil take All them that like to
emigrate, across the sea may go. But they’ll never catch me
again off to £350
was necessary to buy a dray with horses or bullocks and stores. Flour was £24 a
ton in |
James Wilson Birtles died in 1868 leaving a will.
Isle of Man 1871 Census shows that at 36 Fort St the home of Martha Howarth (age 53) was with her sister Mary (Johnson) Birtles age 43 (born 1828 in Manchester, England.) and Mary’s daughter Eliza A. J. Birtles age 15.
This
portrait is of Eliza Ann Johnson Birtles which hung in her grandson's
home for many years. It is in the same style as the other Birtles
portraits and was probably painted by the same artisit who was believed
to be a Birtles relative.
In Oct 1873 Eliza Ann Johnson Birtles (aged 17 ½), my great grandmother, marries Arthur Maddock in Liverpool, having eloped with him from the Isle of Man. She left Arthur in 1879 and took her two older children (George and Henry) back to the island where she gave birth to Emma.
After the death of her father (1868) and grandfather (1861) it appears that Eliza (Birtles) Maddock was actively involved in the estate in Cazneau St, Liverpool (7 houses and a shop), where she lived with Arthur Hamilton Maddock from the time of their marriage in 1873, until she returned to the Isle of Man in 1879.
1881,
Eliza is living with her mother and her three children at 36 Fort St,
Onchan. Mary Johnson Birtles died in 1881. No further record of
Eliza
Maddock has been found.
Her eldest son, George Frederick Maddock in living at 3 Berkeley St., Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1893, but he appears to be a lodger.
I
searched both Isle of Man and the English censuses for 1901 and 1911
looking for Eliza Maddock but found no-one of that name. However,
I
found an Elizabeth Gawne in Douglas, Isle of Man, who was born in
Bendigo, Australia in 1856 (which is when and where Eliza Birtles was
born). "Elizabeth" married Thomas Gawne in 1891/92 at the age of 36.
Thomas Gawne had
been a master mariner
and in the 1901 census is "retired ". In his obituary of 1917 it
mentions that Thomas Gawne had retired early due to ill health before
the age of 40.
As it is highly unlikely that there was another female living in the Isle of Man who was born in 1856 in Bendigo I can only assume that Eliza Ann decided to call herself Elizabeth. Perhaps this was to mask her true identity as she was still legally married to Arthur H. Maddock, who did not die until 1895. Regretably I can find no record of the marriage for Eliza/Elizabeth and Thomas Gawne either in England or the Isle of Man.