Ephraim Collins and Family Ephraim Collins, the Eldest Surviving Son of David and Hannah Collins, Was a Blacksmith Like His Father and His Older Half-Brother Ben

Ephraim Collins and family Ephraim Collins, the eldest surviving son of David and Hannah Collins, was a blacksmith like his father and his older half-brother Ben. It is through him that this family story has a Canadian link. He was also the owner of the Lightcliffe grave plot in which his parents and others were buried. Read :- The Collins family of Hove Edge On 12th August 1860 Ephraim Collins married Hannah Brearley.

1861 census Ephraim Collins Head 25 Blacksmith They lived near his parents, David and Hannah Collins Wife 21 Hannah Collins, and his siblings. Address Hove Edge, Hipperholme cum Brighouse

Before the next census ‘Blacksmith’ Ephraim and Hannah Collins of Hove Edge baptised four children at St. Matthew’s Church, Lightcliffe: George Henry on 10th August 1862, Lilly on 21st August 1864, Brearley on 14th October 1866 and Maria on 1st August 1869. And then in the next decade Sowden – it is useful when the maiden names of grandmothers and mothers are used as first names! – on 22nd October 1871, John on 7th December 1873 and David born 5th September 1878 on 5th January 1879. But no baptism record has been found for Edith who was clearly there in the 1881 census. And then there was this death announcement in the Brighouse News of 27th January 1877.

He was buried in plot A53, owned by his father Ephraim Collins, on 23rd January 1877, joining his paternal grandparents. There is no headstone and so obviously no memorial inscription. The plot is the middle one of the three between the two headstones in the image to the right.

1871 census 1881 census Ephraim Collins Head 35 Blacksmith Ephraim Collins Head 45 Blacksmith Hannah Collins Wife 33 Hanna Collins Wife 41 George Henry Collins Son 8 Geo.H. Collins Son 18 Stone [labourer?] Ellen Lillie Collins Dau 6 Lilley Collins Dau 16 Silk spinner Brearley Collins Son 4 Brearley Collins Son 14 Blacksmith striker Maria Collins Dau 2 Maria Collins Dau 12 Silk spinner Address Hove Edge, Hipperholme cum Brighouse Sowden Collins Son 9 Scholar John Collins Son 7 Scholar Again, his parents and by then married sister Edith Collins Dau 4 Betty Carter and family were nearby in Hove David Collins Son 2 Edge. Address 1 Appleyard’s Buildings, Hove Edge, Hipperholme cum Brighouse This is the only time Lillie is referred to as Ellen Lillie.

Eldest son George Henry Collins married Rebecca Horner in 1884 and they had a daughter Elsie on 1st March 1885. Her baptism on 23rd September 1885 was recorded on

Reel Number: Brighouse Trinity, Crimsworth Dean, Hove Edge; CR24

But then the Lightcliffe burial records record two Collins burials on the same day, 8th December 1885. Twenty-three-year-old George Henry Collins died on 5th December followed two days later by his 9-month-old baby daughter Elsie. As you can see, they were buried with his grandparents in plot A53 which his father owned.

Later that year Lillie Collins gave birth to a son Albert who was baptised at St. Matthew’s Church on 20th December 1885 when Lillie – the spelling does vary – was of Hove Edge.

On 11th August 1889 two twenty-year olds, Maria Collins and Willie Booth, married. He was a ‘Carter’ from Norwood Green, the son of ‘Farmer’ George Booth. In 1901 Willie, Maria and family were living at Pear Tree Cottage, Norwood Green whilst his parents lived at Pear Tree Inn, his father being recorded as an ‘Innkeeper & Farmer’. Some of this Booth family were also interred in Lightcliffe churchyard but their story will have to wait. Young Albert Collins was living with his grandparents in Hove Edge at the time of the 1891 census but where was his mother Lily?

1891 census 1891 census Ephraim Collins Head 56 Blacksmith William Stevens Head 29 Coal Miner Hannah Collins Wife 51 Sarah Ann Stevens Wife 28 Brearley Collins Son 24 Gardener’s Teamster Thomas Davies Brother in law 21 Coal Miner Sowden Collins Son 19 Stone Quarryman Lilly ditto N of 20 John Collins Son 17 ditto Teamster Rosina Meaden Lodger 21 Capt Salvation Army Edith Collins Dau 15 Silk spinner [underwritten Preach] David Collins Son 12 Blacksmith Lily Collins Lodger 26 Lieut ditto Albert Collins Son 5 [should be Grandson] [underwritten Preach] Address Address 31 Llanover Terrace, Mynyddyslwyn, Hove Edge Cottages, Hipperholme cum Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales Brighouse

The answer would appear to be that she was a travelling preacher with the Salvation Army. Interesting as we have already had her father’s cousin, William Woodhead, as a travelling Latter-Day Saints preacher in 1861. Soon after in 1862 this William, his parents and most of his siblings emigrated to the USA joining a Mormon community in Utah. Read The Sowdens of Thornhill Briggs and Hove Edge

Brighouse News 9th September 1904

The Sowdens were Methodists in Brighouse as part of the obituary to George Sutcliffe Sowden, Samuel Sowden’s grandson, above notes.

Bethel Chapel, Brighouse also had Salvation Army connections.

Five Collins family marriages took place in the 1890s, three in the Halifax district. St. John’s Church, Halifax was where Sowden Collins married Jannet Window, both of Hove Edge, on 18th September 1893. St. Matthew’s Church, Lightcliffe was the setting for the marriage of Brearley Collins and Sarah Parkinson on 21st February 1894. And then Brighouse News for the 18th April 1896 had this announcement which would seem to indicate that two Collins brothers married two Parkinson sisters.

Lillie Collins met and married fellow Salvation Army member James Peck during Q3 1898

in the Huntingdon district which was where her youngest brother David married Harriet Louisa Arnold originally from Hull Q3 1899. David and Harriet Louisa’s first child, Doris Annie Collins, was born on 6th September 1900 in the Huntingdon district but then baptised on 10th March 1901 in Brighouse with her cousin Eveline, born 20th January 1900, the daughter of Sowden & Janet Collins. Both fathers were delvers of Hove Edge. Another cousin, Fred Collins the son of John and Mary, was also baptised in Brighouse most probably at the Park Chapel on 27th March 1898 but died a few months later, his death being registered in the Halifax district Q2 1898. Meanwhile Lillie and James Peck 1901 census remained in Cambridgeshire at Whittlesey James Peck Head 31 Brick Burner where their son John William Peck [mis Lillie Peck Wife 32 transcribed as Peek] was born during Q2 John William Peck Son 1 1899 followed by Albert Edward in Q2 Address Kings Dyke, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire 1901 and Doris in Q4 1902. 4

Back in the West Riding one of Ephraim’s grandsons, Ernest Collins, the son of ‘Stone Delver’ Sowden Collins and his wife Jan(n)et of Hove Edge was baptised at St. Matthew’s Church, Lightcliffe on 28th June 1896 when his father was a ‘Stone Delver’ of Hove Edge. The Halifax district birth years of the other Yorkshire born grandchildren can be worked out from the subsequent census data and as already noted most of them were baptised at the Methodist Chapel in Brighouse.

1901 census 1901 census Ephraim Collins Head 65 Blacksmith Sowden Collins Head 28 Delver in Stone Quarry Hannah ditto Wife 61 Janet Collins Wife 25 Albert ditto Grandson15 George H Collins Son 6 Stone Quarry Apprentice Ernest Collins Son 5 Benn ditto Lodger 25 Blacksmith Eveline Collins Dau 3/12 [Should be Benn Binns Hannah’s nephew] Willie Bagshaw Relative 18 Labourer in Stone Quarry Address 121 Halifax Rd., Brighouse Address 158 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Brighouse

1901 census 1901 census John Collins Head 26 Stone Labourer Brearley Collins Head 33 Inn Keeper Mary Collins Wife 24 Cotton Reeler Wind Sarah Collins Wife 27 Address 77 Elland Td., Brighouse Frank Collins Son 6 Amy Collins Dau 4 1901 census Elsie Collins Dau 2 David Collins Head 22 Stone Quarryman Jane Parkinson Mother in law 47 Publican Harriet L Collins Wife 23 Address Joiner’s Arms, Halifax Rd., Brighouse Doris A Collins Dau 6/12 Address 116 Harley Head, Brighouse

What cannot be worked out from consecutive census data is whether a child had been born and then died between the two censuses. Although this happened to little Fred Collins, son of John and Mary, his baptism record gave his parentage and his registered death was noted. But this is not the case for little Fanny Collins. Her birth was registered in the Halifax district in Q41893 and then there is a death of a Fanny Collins aged 0 years in Q1 1894. A better clue is the Lightcliffe burial record for a 5-month-old Fanny [mis transcribed as Jenny] Collins for 27th March 1894. She was the last occupant of plot A53 owned by Ephraim Collins. This suggests that she was a relative, a granddaughter (?). But who were her parents? Was her father a Collins or her mother? Ephraim’s eldest son George Henry Collins had already died. Newly married Sowden is therefore, the first possibility, but he and his wife declared that all their children were still alive in 1911. The other sons Brearley, John and David (too young?) Collins were not yet married and then any details of their children as noted on the 1911 census do not account for Fanny. It is, of course, perfectly possible that one of them was her father and the census information given was factually incorrect. But it is perhaps more likely that her mother was one of Ephraim’s daughters. Maria was already married to Willie Booth; Lillie was probably not even in Yorkshire by then which just leaves Edith. Edith Collins does not appear with her parents on the 1901 census and neither has she been found in any other household in Hove Edge. The following newspaper report might explain why.

Brighouse News 31st May 1901

This may have happened before as a 25-year-old Edith Collins, a ‘Silk Worker’ from Halifax born in Brighouse, served a 7-day sentence at HMP Wakefield for being “Drunk” in March 1901. She was to be discharged on 24th March 1901 ie just before the census was taken on the 31st March. There had been one previous conviction for a 24-year-old ‘Mill hand’ Edith Collins in November 1899. This first 7-day sentence for drunkenness had also been served at HMP Wakefield. This may not be Ephraim and Hannah’s daughter but the age, occupation, birthplace, and address in the newspaper report along with a missing 1901 census entry for their daughter Edith, point to the fact that it was probably her. But was she the mother of little Fanny Collins? Without seeing Fanny’s birth or death certificate we will never know. The exact identity of this third infant and sixth occupier of the Collins plot A53 will therefore have to remain a mystery for the time being. Meanwhile Brearley Collins who had previously been innkeeper at the Joiner’s Arms (pictured left), took over as landlord of the Dusty Miller Inn at Hove Edge on 23rd January 1902 as detailed in the Brighouse News 24 December 1902.

A HOVE EDGE BEER HOUSE CASE

OPEN DURING PROHIBITED HOURS

THE BONA FIDE TRAVELLERS NUISANCE

The issue was whether Brearley Collins had had his licensed premises open during prohibited hours on Sunday 7th December 1902 allowing in a group of travellers who were ‘out for a walk’ from Halifax. Seeing the door of the Dusty Miller Inn open the men entered the premises for a drink as they were thirsty! One line of defence was that the door to the premises had been left open after the children of Mr & Mrs Collins had returned from Sunday School. In the end the conviction stood and Mr. Brearley Collins was fined £1 with costs of 16 shillings. By 1905 the Dusty Miller Inn had a new landlord. Presumably, the Collins family moved out and father Brearley Collins took a job labouring in some dye works.

When Lillie Collins’ son Albert married Louie Dainty on 23rd April 1910, he understandably gave his grandfather’s name as his father. His aunt and uncle Sowden and Jannet – that is how she signed her name - Collins were witnesses. As you can see from the 1911 census addresses the extended family continued to live close to one another if not next door.

Albert and Louie had two children, Frank born 7th November 1909 and Dora Leah born 2nd March 1911, before the next census and then a son James on 12th February 1913. 1911 census 1911 census Ephraim Collins Head 75 Blacksmith General John Collins Head 36 Hannah Collins Wife 73 Labourer Pleasure Gardens married 50y 9 children 7 alive Mary Collins 34 Married 14 y 1 child 0 alive Jim Binns Boarder 30 General Labourer Address 196 Halifax Rd., Hove Edge, Lightcliffe [another of Hannah’s nephews the brother of Ben who lodged with them in 1901] Fred Collins Address 40 Wood Top, Hove Edge, Lightcliffe (before 27th March 1898 – 1898]

1911 census 1911 census Brearley Collins Head 44 Labour Dye Works David Collins Head 30 Labourer Platelayer Sarah Collins Sarah 36 Harriet Louisa Collins Wife 32 Married 16y 6 children all alive married 12 y 5 children 2 died Frank Collins Son 16 Silk Dresser William Ephraim Collins Son 8 School Amy Collins Dau 14 Cotton Winder James Collins Son 4 Elsie Collins Dau 12 School part time doffer May Collins Dau 1 Beatrice Collins Dau 10 Address 1 Ct 4 House Joiner St., Sheffield Flora Collins Dau 6 George Herbert Collins Son 4 Doris Annie Collins Address 144 Halifax Rd., Hill Crest, Brighouse (6th September 1900 – before 21st February 1903)

1911 census Alice Collins Sowden Collins Head 38 Delver Quarry (22nd June 1904 – before 9th June 1909) Janet Collins Wife 35 married 17y 5 children all alive 1911 census George Collins Son 16 Silk Dresser Albert Collins Head 24 Stone Delver Ernest Collins Son 15 Silk Dresser Louie Collins Wife 24 Eveline Collins Dau 10 Scholar married 2y 2 children both alive Lily Collins Dau 8 Scholar Frank Collins Son 17/12 Derrick Collins Son 1 Dora Leah Collins Dau 2/12 Address 172 Halifax Road, Hove Edge, Lightcliffe Address 42 Wood Top, Hove Edge, Lightcliffe

The Peck family do not appear on a UK 1911 census form because by then they had emigrated to Canada – yes this is obviously the Canadian connection with the Collinses and the Sowdens. The Peck family sailed from Liverpool arriving in Canada on 28th March 1903. Lillie Peck nee Collins then had two more daughters Mildred and Lilian on 28th June 1905 and 10th November 1905 respectively at Hamiota, Manitoba, Canada before the 1906 Canadian census. That census recorded people and their livestock. The Peck family had 4 horses, 3 milk cows, 2 other cattle, no sheep and 6 pigs in 1906. Here are Lily and her children in 1908 in front of their ‘sod house’.

The Canadian descendant explains: -

“This little house was cut from sod, the "prairie wool." The structure stood for several years because Lillie's husband, who worked in the quarries in England, knew how to cut sod properly and set it, like bricks, into solid walls. Six or eight-inches thick, these walls, along with the cast iron pot belly stove, the chimney and tin roof radiating heat back into the house, kept people very warm in the -40F temperatures of the winter. By December those walls would freeze solid, which meant they could withstand winds of 100 miles an hour or more. In the summer, the prairie wool bricks would come alive with grass shoots, those roots further knitting the structure together. It was a living organism. Even when people were able to build their first wooden houses, they often kept the sod building for winter storage of root vegetables and preserves. One could see them on the Saskatchewan landscape well into the 1960's.”

Stanley Peck was born in April 1909 and so appeared with the rest of the family on the 1911 Canadian census where amongst other data their religion was recorded as ‘Methodist’.

1906 Canada Census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, 1911 Canada Census and Alberta James Peck Head 32 Farmer James Peck 36 Lillie Peck Wife 41 Lily Peck 38 John Peck Son 12 John Peck 9 Albert Peck Son 10 Albert Peck 5 Doris Peck Dau 8 Doris Peck 3 Mildred Peck Dau 5 Mildred Peck 1 Lillian Peck Dau 4 Postal District Hamiota Stanley Peck Son 2 District Marquette 8

Back in England John and Mary Collins had a son on 26th April 1911, named Ephraim after his grandfather. Shortly after his birth his grandmother Hannah Collins nee Brearley died in Q3 1911; it is not known where she was buried or cremated. Alice and Harold Collins were born in Q4 1913 and in Q2 1915 in the Halifax district to a mother whose maiden name was Parkinson. Both died within weeks of being born and then 38-year-old Mary Collins nee Parkinson died in Q3 1915 possibly after having given birth to Harold. She was probably Alice’s mother as well. By then, of course, World War 1, the Great War, had started which would involve some of the Collins family with varying outcomes. David Collins was Ephraim and Hannah’s youngest son. In 1911 he was a railway ‘Platelayer’ living with his wife Harriet Louisa and their young family in Sheffield. On 4th August 1915, the 38-year-old enlisted in the York and Lancaster regiment. He landed in Boulogne on 29th August 1916 serving in France until 4th July 1918 with a break back in England from 10th August 1917 to 31st March 1918 after suffering gas shell poisoning. There is another incident record of Private David Collins being wounded in June 1918. It appears that this was a serious injury which resulted in (leg?) amputation. He was brought back from France on 5th July 1918, possibly being admitted to a Rotherham hospital which would have been close to his family in Sheffield. His military record ends with the stamp ‘DISCHARGED virte. para 392 (XVI) King’s regulations” which means that a soldier was no longer physically fit for service; it was dated 25th April 1919. Some of David’s nephews also served. Frank Collins was the eldest son of David’s brother Brearley and his wife Sarah.

Name: Frank Collins Gender: Male Birth Date: 22 Aug 1894 Baptism Date: 7 Oct 1894 Baptism Place: Brighouse, York, England Father: Brearley Collins Mother: Sarah Collins FHL Film Number: 1542123 Reference ID: item 1 p 100

He was a 21-year-old ‘Cloth Finisher’ living at 112 Halifax Road, Brighouse when he enlisted with the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment on 8th December 1915. He went to France on 25th May 1916. On 21st July 1916 the Leeds Mercury reported :- Amongst the Brighouse soldiers who have been wounded …… Pte Frank Collins, son of Mr B Collins Hove Edge

There is a military record dated 2nd July 1916 stating that Private Frank Collins was admitted to St. Johns Ambulance Brigade Hospital, Etaples with ‘Shell Shock Concussion”. He must have recovered because he continued to serve in France until 25th March 1918. Having returned home on 26th March 1918 his service record continues until 9th October 1919 when he was discharged as ‘No longer physically fit for War Service’. The record then says ‘euras hernia attrib, to service during the present war’ 9

George Henry Collins was the eldest son of Sowden and Jannet Collins and therefore another nephew of David Collins and a cousin of Private Frank Collins. Notice that they were almost exactly the same age and living close by presumably knew each other very well.

Name: George Henry Collins Birth Date: 19 Aug 1894 Event Type: Baptism Father: Sowden Collins Mother: Jeanett Collins Baptism Date: 9 Oct 1894 Archive Location: Calderdale Parish or Chapel: United Methodist Free Church, Zion Residence Place: Hove Edge Reel Number: Brighouse Trinity, Crimsworth Dean, Hove Edge; CR24

doing his duty nobly should help you to bear the sad trouble. Along with others of Local War News his comrades your boy has made a great and lasting sacrifice and his reward he will ANOTHER FROM HOVE EDGE find in eternal rest. May I repeat how deeply and really we all deplore this young CORPL:. G.H. COLLINS KILLED hero’s death and may you (his parents and On Tuesday last Mr. and Mrs. Collins, 5 Half relatives) find comfort in knowing that he House Lane Hove Edge received the sad did his duty in the great cause which information that their eldest son, Corpl. Britain is fighting for. George Henry Collins of the Northumberland Corpl. Collins was called up in January last and Fusiliers had been killed whilst fighting for his enlisted at Halifax in the West Riding Regt. He King and country in France. The intimation has trained at North Shields, and went out to been conveyed in the following letter, dated France on July 15th, being afterwards Nov. 15th, from Second-Lieut. J.M.Downend:- transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers. To me falls the sad task of writing to you He had only had one leave since joining. He in reference to your son, who was killed a was 22 years of age, was a smart lad, being a few nights ago. May I hasten to ensure you signaller and sniper, and he gained all his of the very deep sympathy of the officers stripes in France, and was expecting further and men of this battalion. Your dear lad promotion to the rank of sergeant. was very bright and cheerful, keen yet In civil life he was employed as a striker at steady, attentive to all duties, and ready to Messrs. Ramsden, Camm & Co., Ltd., wire carry out any task which fell to his lot. manufacturers, Brighouse. He was well known in These characteristics made him a favourite local boxing circles and had been in the ring with with both officers and men of the company. Kid Eastwood. No words of mine can serve to bring you much comfort in this moment of deep grief, but the knowledge that your son was held Brighouse Echo, November 24th 1916 in such high esteem, and that he fell whilst 10

Mr. and Mrs. Collins, 5, Half House-lane, Hove Edge, Brighouse, have received information that their eldest son, Cpl. George Henry Collins has been killed in action. Leeds Mercury 25 November 1916 Page 4 /6

He was buried in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres and has a CWGC headstone.

Meanwhile back in Hipperholme the blacksmith Ephraim Collins was still working as these newspaper articles from the Brighouse News and the Halifax Evening Courier explain.

Brighouse News 29 December 1917

OCTOGENARIAN WHO IS DOING HIS of the occasion, on Friday, a handsome framed “BIT” photograph of himself was presented to him by the workpeople employed by Messrs. Brookes. The rush and bustle of making the munitions of The older hands and especially the blacksmiths war brings to light many veterans of industry, department were keen in adopting this method who have long ago earned the right to a of showing their respect and appreciation. The peaceful eventide of life, but who are still presentation was made by Mr. T. Mackrill, determined that nothing shall be lacking on who expressed the congratulations of their part to do their bit for their King and everybody connected with the firm and hoped country, and to uphold the sacred principles of the recipient might continue to enjoy good liberty and freedom they have enjoyed in the health for many more years to come. The past. It may be that some have grandsons inscription on the photograph is as follows:- engaged in the terrible conflict. Among such “Ephraim Collins, presented in honour of his must be counted Mr. Ephraim Collins, of Hove eighty-second birthday, and as a token of Edge who, although an octogenarian, is respect, by his fellow workmen at Brookes engaged day by day on war work. It is no easy Chemicals, Ltd., where he is still doing his work that Mr. Collins follows, his task bit.” requiring physical energy, and constant stress. Halifax Evening Courier Mr. Collins has been a blacksmith all his life. 29 December 1917 In that capacity he worked at Messrs. Shepherd and Bentley quarry for about 28 years and for some 15 years he has been employed at Ephraim Collins did indeed have Messrs. Brookes Ltd., Hipperholme. He is by ‘grandsons engaged in the terrible conflict” far, the oldest man engaged on the works, and and a son too. all who are associated with him are proud of By the end of 1917 he had lost his his record. Regular in his attendance, Mr. grandson George Henry. Another Collins is noted for excellence in craftsmanship, and when there is a push on he grandson Frank had suffered shell shock is ready to do his share. On Dec. 4 he concussion and his son David had been celebrated his 82nd anniversary, and in honour gassed; both would be wounded again.

But what about Ephraim’s other Collins grandsons who were the right - or should that be the wrong - age to be called up? There are military records for Ernest Collins, the second son of Sowden Collins of 5 Half House Lane, Hove Edge, Lightcliffe and therefore the younger brother of Corporal George Henry Collins but as you can see they are not in a good state.

Ernest Collins appears to have been with the 3rd Battalion of Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) in 1916. Then there may have been a transfer to another battalion / regiment in 1917. His various services numbers (29163, 31998 and 61770) associate a Private Ernest Collins with the Border Regiment, the Manchester Regiment as well as the Dukes but this may not be him. The Lightcliffe baptised Ernest Collins was definitely the soldier wounded in early February 1918, but he must have recovered sufficiently to be posted to (possibly) Egypt. It looks as if he arrived back England on 5th March 1920 and was then demobilised from Preston on 2nd April 1920. That just leaves grandson Albert Collins the son of Lillie. As a married man with three young children he would not have been expected to volunteer at the outbreak of war. But aged 30 in 1916 when the Derby Act came into force, he was eligible for conscription. However, no military record has been found that clearly identifies the Hove Edge stone delver as one of the many Albert Collinses who served in WW1. There is a Q4 1918 death in the Halifax district for a 32-year-old Albert Collins which could well be him. But this leaves a number of unanswerable questions. Did he serve, get wounded, return home and then die? Did he die of the Spanish flu that was prevalent at the time? Or did he simply die of natural causes even though he was a relatively young man? Again, the GRO death certificate would be needed to confirm that this was Ephraim’s grandson and to answer the above questions. Forty-two-year-old David Collins, Ephraim’s youngest son, did succumb to his wounds on 7th December 1919. An Ancestry Family Tree suggests that he died in hospital. This was possibly the Red Cross Hospital, Cresswell in the Ecclesall Bierlow district near Sheffield.

Ephraim’s eldest son Brearley Collins died in Q1 1920 in the Bradford district aged 53 just before his son Frank who survived WW1 married Nellie Clegg at the end of the year. Another WW1 survivor Ernest Collins married Elizabeth Ellen Pritchard on 21st May 1923. Over in Canada Lily Peck nee Collins died in 1922 and was buried in Quill Lake Cemetery, Wynyard Census Division, Saskatchewan, Canada. Both Lily and James were respected pioneers and community builders. For years she was the district midwife. Her husband James died in 1955. Back in the U.K. 90-year-old Ephraim Collins died during Q1 1926, his death being registered in the Halifax district. As for his wife Hannah there is no indication as to where he was buried or cremated. The Collins plot he owned in Lightcliffe churchyard had been full for many years with three adults and three babies. Most of Ephraim’s family stayed in the area as recorded in the 1939 register. There are too many John Collinses to work out where that son may have been living in 1939 or indeed if he was still alive.

1939 register Sowden Collins 01 Jun 1870 Male Quarryman Silver (Retired) Married Janet Collins 10 Mar 1876 Female Unpaid D Duties Married Address 5 Half House Lane, Brighouse, Brighouse M.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England

1939 register Frank Collins 22 Aug 1894 Male Textile Dyer - Married Nellie Collins 04 Feb 1897 Female Unpaid D Duties Married 3 closed entries Address 8 Studleigh Terrace, Brighouse, Brighouse M.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England

1939 register George H Collins 15 Jul 1906 Male Petrol Attendant & Garage Storekeeper Married Nellie Collins 28 Oct 1911 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married Douglas Collins 05 Apr 1931 Male At School Single 1 closed entry Joan Cheshire (Collins) 18 Apr 1936 Female Under School Age Single Address 14 Rock Street, Brighouse, Brighouse M.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England

1939 register Ernest Collins 12 Jan 1896 Male Labourer-Gas Works Married Elizabeth E Collins 08 Sep 1903 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Married 2 closed entries Address 51 Green Lane, Brighouse, Brighouse M.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England

1939 register Derrick Collins 14 May 1909 Male Cloth Finishing Cropper Married Eileen Collins 10 Sep 1911 Female Unpaid D Duties Married 3 closed entries Address 1 South Grove, Brighouse, Brighouse M.B., Yorkshire (West Riding), England

1939 register Ephraim Collins 26 April 1911 Male Sanitary Pipe Maker Married Julia Collins 05 Nov 1912 Female Worsted Reeler Married Address 128 Halifax Rd., Hill Crest, Brighouse

Hove Edge couple paid 1s 6d per week rent – sixty years ago!

Mr and Mrs Sowden Collins, of 5 Half House Lane, Hove Edge, Brighouse, today celebrate their diamond wedding. They were married at Halifax Parish Church in the year that Brighouse took in Rastrick and Hove Edge and became a borough. Mrs Collins is the eldest of the eight children of a Barnsley miner but has spent more than 60 years in Hove Edge. Mr Collins, a native of Hove Edge, has never left the district. His grandfather and father were born, lived and died in the village; his His grandfather David was the local four children, 13 grandchildren and six great blacksmith and had a smithy at the corner of grandchildren are still well represented there. Wood Top with the old “wheel soak” adjacent. He is now 82, looks back on a working lifetime In this, wooden cartwheels were dipped after spent as a top delver at the local stone quarries being fitted with the red-hot iron tyre, to cool and can still be found outdoors whenever the and contract the band. opportunity offers. Ephraim, a son of David and father of Sowden was also a blacksmith but turned his attention Top rate 9 ½ d an hour to quarry iron work. He worked until he was 85 and died at the age of 90 at his son’s home. When the couple were married, they set up house in a small building now used as a “Too much Freedom” joiner’s shop, not far from their present house where they have lived for 40 years Mrs Collins has decided views on marriage and The young couple paid only eighteen pence per family life. Children have too much freedom week as rent and two shillings a year rates! now she says. They were better brought up Mr Collins, though getting “top rate” at his job when wages were smaller, and families were was paid only 9 ½ d an hour - and very rarely larger. Now there is more money, but families worked a full week because of the weather. are much smaller. He worked for various employers in the district Mr Collins has a fine head of snow-white hair, until his retirement in 1936 and can recall the thick and plentiful and this is a source of days when some of the now derelict shafts in admiration – and irritation – to his wife. He the district were being worked and others will insist on having it cut very often – “and it actually were being sunk. curls so nicely when it grows” sighs his wife.

5 Half House Lane, Hove Edge appears to have been their home until 1958 when both died; Janet aged 82 in April and 87-year-old Sowden just a few months later in September. He was buried on 24th September 1958, but the record just says in West Yorkshire! Their surviving sons Ernest and Derrick died in 1983 and 1994. COLLINS Ernest of 778 Halifax Rd Hightown Liversedge West Yorks died 11 May 1983 Probate Leeds 17 June £32705 831308084Y

Frank Collins, Brearley’s son, who survived WW1 died in Q3 1973 and his youngest son George Herbert Collins during Q2 1977, both deaths were registered in the Halifax district. But there is one more link to Lightcliffe, appropriately another Ephraim Collins, son of John Collins and grandson of old Ephraim. Before Ephraim junior died, he was living in Holme Street not far from Lightcliffe churchyard. Did he realise how many of his direct ancestors and other relatives were buried there?

Did Ephraim Collins walk from Holme Street along Wakefield Road witnessing the deterioration and then the storm damage to St. Matthew’s old Church? Did he see these men taking down the church building but leaving the tower? He could well have done as the building was demolished in the mid-1970s and he lived until 1978. Sixty-seven-year-old Ephraim Collins died on 10th October 1978. COLLINS Ephraim of 2 Holme St Lightcliffe Halifax died 10 October 1978 Administration with Will Leeds 15 November £8533 [781309945J]

His wife, Julia, survived another 16 years, passing away in 1994. Now read about Ephraim’s younger brother and his wife and their connection with Lightcliffe churchyard. Thomas and Elizabeth Collins and family

D.M.Barker November 2020