Eliza Jane John Wheelhouse

Lance Corporal Joseph Alfred Holt (20th March 1888 – 31st October 1915) Joseph Alfred Holt was born to parents Alfred and Betsey Holt on 20th March 1888. They probably lived in Bradford as Joseph Alfred Holt was baptised at the Otley Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Bradford on 3rd May 1888. Joe Holt is remembered along with his maternal grandfather, John Wheelhouse, on a memorial inscription in St Matthew’s Churchyard, Lightcliffe plot D55 although neither were actually buried there. The inscription reads:- In loving memory of Ann Wells who died September 5th 1879 aged 77 years. Also of ELIZA JANE the beloved wife of JOHN WHEELHOUSE of Bailiffe Bridge who died December 15th 1909 Aged 69 years. Also of the above JOHN WHEELHOUSE who died September 18th 1913 aged 86 years. Also of JOE HOLT the beloved grandson of the above WHO WAS KILLED in FLANDERS October 31st October 1915 AGED 27 years and is interred at Malakoff. The grave was owned by John Wheelhouse when Ann Wells was buried, although who she was and what her link to John Wheelhouse was has not been established. Eliza Jane Wheelhouse, a former school mistress, was in fact the second wife of John Wheelhouse and so not Joseph Alfred’s actual maternal grandmother. The memorial has recently been restored. 1 2 Joseph Alfred Holt was the only surviving child of six born to Alfred Holt and Betsey Wheelhouse by the time of the 1911 census. His parents were married on 21st August 1878 at St Matthew’s Church, Lightcliffe. At that time Alfred was a 22 year old Clerk as was his father Joseph W Holt; the Holts were from Brighouse. Betsey Wheelhouse was from Lightcliffe, the 21 year old daughter of the above John Wheelhouse, a Currier. The young couple, with a 6 month old baby Ernest Arthur Holt, were with Alfred’s parents and a sister on the night of the 1881 census at 3 Haigh St., Brighouse. Again both Alfred and his father Joseph were “Commercial Clerks”. Baby Ernest Arthur only survived a year dying at the end of 1881. Then Constance Wheelhouse Holt was born on 27th October 1882 and baptised on 6th January 1883 again at Otley Road Wesleyan Methodist Church. She was five years old when she died in 1888; by then her brother Joseph Alfred Holt had arrived. Then on 22nd September 1890 Gladys Holt was born and again she was baptised at the Otley Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Bradford on 15th November 1890. She was six months old at the time of the 1891 census when brother Joseph Alfred was three years old. They and their parents lived at 67 Tennyson Road, Bradford with a servant. Alfred Holt was a “Woollen Merchants Clerk”. Sadly Gladys died before she reached her first birthday. This left just thirteen year old Joseph with his parents at the time of the 1901 census. They were still living at 67 Tennyson Road and Alfred was still a “Woollen Merchants Clerk”. On 16th December 1909 Grandfather John Wheelhouse lost his second wife Eliza Jane Wheelhouse. She was 69 years old and was buried in plot D55 owned by John Wheelhouse at St Matthew’s Churchyard, Lightcliffe on 18th December 1909. This no doubt explains why 84 year old John Wheelhouse, a “Retired Tanner” was living with his daughter Betsey Holt, son in law, Alfred, and grandson Joseph Alfred Holt on 2nd April 1911. Although Alfred may well have been in “The Royal Infirmary, Westgate, Bradford” on census night as a 54 year old “Alfred Holt” born Bradford occupation “Wool Warehouseman” was a patient in that hospital then. Husband Alfred Holl [sic] was also recorded as being at 68 Duckworth Terrace, Bradford - occupation “Wool Merchants Clerk” again. Joseph was a “Yarn Merchants Buyer”. Joseph Alfred Holt married Mary Ann Cryer in 1912. They had no children. As the inscription above states Grandfather John Wheelhouse died on 18th September 1913 aged 86 years. Where he was buried or cremated is not known and no probate record has been found. Private Joseph Alfred Holt then joined the West Yorkshire Regiment during WW1. 3 By the time he was killed in action on 31st October 1915 he was a Lance Corporal. First Name: J A Surname: Holt Nationality: British Date of Death: 31/10/1915 Rank: Lance Corporal Service 1727 Number: His probate reads :- HOLT Joseph Alfred of 46 Nearcliffe-road Bradford corporal 1/6th battalion West Yorkshire regiment died 31 October 1915 in Belgium Administration (with Will) London 27 April (1916) to Mary Ann Holt widow. Effects £314 15s 4 His mother died in 1925 with the following probate:- HOLT Betsy of 68 Duckworth-terrace Bradford (wife of Alfred Holt) died 2 December 1925 Probate Wakefield 5 January (1926) to the said Alfred Holt shipping merchant’s clerk. Effects £1548 8s 8d She was not buried at St Matthew’s, Lightcliffe, neither was Joseph Alfred Holt’s father, Alfred Holt for whom neither a death nor probate record has been found. But various other Holt and Wheelhouse relatives were buried at Lightcliffe. In order to link them all we need to go back through maternal Grandfather John Wheelhouse’s family and then look at the paternal Grandfather Joseph Holt’s family. From various sources including Ancestry records, particularly those relating to the West Riding of Yorkshire, the family can be pieced together. THE WHEELHOUSES John Wheelhouse was baptised at Ripponden on 3rd June 1827 son of “Wheelhouse” and Lydia Howard. Samuel Wheelhouse, Corn Miller, married a “Lydia Howard alias Halliday” both of Sowerby on 7th June 1829 at the parish church Halifax. They baptised a daughter Jane Wheelhouse (born 15th June 1830, baptised 29th August 1830) and a son Taylor Wheelhouse (born 11th November 1832, baptised 13th January 1833) at St Bartholomew’s Ripponden with Rishworth. When Jane was baptised father Samuel was a “Miller” from Lightcliffe, by the time of Taylor’s baptisms he was a “Corn Miller” from Rishworth. Sarah Wheelhouse daughter of Samuel and Lydia Wheelhouse was baptised in Ripponden on 30th August 1835 although her parents’ address was Brighouse. They then baptised a son Stephen on 12th May 1839 at Mirfield. These five children, John aged 14, Jane aged 11, Taylor aged 8, Sarah aged 6 and two year old Stephen were living at “Folahead, Mirfield” with their Corn Miller father Samuel and mother Lydia in June 1841. By 1851 John Wheelhouse had left home and was lodging in Clap Lane, Skircoat. He was also then a “Corn Miller”. In fact only 16 year old Sarah, a “Worsted Weaver” and 12 year old Stephen “assisting Corn Miller” were still with their parents at Hill House, Heckmondwike. Jane Wheelhouse had married a William Brook in 1848 and had a daughter Sarah who was with her Wheelhouse grandparents on census night. Granddaughter, Sarah aged 2 years, was amusingly recorded as having been born in “Belly Bridge”! Her father William Brook, a miner, and mother Jane lived in Bailiffe Bridge when Sarah was baptised on 23rd July 1848 at St. Matthew’s Church, Lightcliffe. Taylor Wheelhouse has not been found in the 1851 census. But Taylor Wheelhouse was living in Hipperholme when he married Hannah Collins on 1st May 1854 at the parish church in Wyke. Hannah was a 24 year old “Weaver” from Wyke, the daughter of Christopher Collins, a “Card Maker”. Taylor Wheelhouse was a 21 year old “Currier”. 5 Only Samuel and Lydia were at home in Ray St. Heckmondwike for the 1861 census. 22 year old Stephen Wheelhouse was boarding in Cumberland working as a Stone Mason. John Whitehouse had a wife “Lea Hannah” and two daughters Sarah Ellen, 9, and 5 year old Betsey, the mother of the soldier Joseph Alfred Holt. But no marriage information has been found. The family lived in “Jackson’s Buildings”, Skircoat and John was a “Corn Miller” again. Taylor Wheelhouse and his family, wife Hannah and three daughters; 6 year old Sarah Alice, 4 year old Lydia Ann and one year old Mary were living at Lane Ends, Hipperholme in 1861. Taylor was a “Currier Employ 1 boy”. Two daughters, Sarah Alice and Lydia Ann were baptised at St Matthew’s Church, Lightcliffe on 22 February 1857. No baptism has been found for Mary. In 1867 Taylor Wheelhouse was initiated into the St. James Lodge, Halifax according to the England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers 1751 – 1921. Forty four year old John Wheelhouse, grandfather of WW1 soldier Joseph Alfred Holt, had become a “Tanner & Currier” in Bailiffe Bridge by 1871 living with a wife and his two daughters, Sarah Ellen aged 18 and Betsey, a 14 year old Scholar. Did he work for or with his Tanner, Currier, Farmer brother Taylor Wheelhouse? It also seems that his first wife Lea Hannah and mother of his two daughters had died although no record of her death has been found. He must have remarried as an Eliza Jane, a thirty five (possibly eight) year old “School Mistress” born in Boston, Lincolnshire, appeared as his wife on the 1871 census return. There was a marriage of a John Wheelhouse to an Elizabeth Jane Lambert Q4 1863 in Pateley Bridge. Not far away in Birkby Lane, Clifton brother Taylor Wheelhouse was a “Tanner, Currier Farming 18 acres” at the time of the 1871 census. Also boarding with Taylor, his wife and their children was Taylor and John’s bachelor brother Stephen Wheelhouse, a Stone Mason. The Taylor Wheelhouse family had increased in size, four more children having been born but sadly two had died.

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