Saddleworth Historical Society Bulletin Volume 51 Number 1 2021 Bulletin of the Saddleworth Historical Society Volume 51 Number 1 2021 The Whiteheads of Dobcross - A Family of Painters and Congregationalists - Part 1 1 Phil Wild War and Wrecks - Delph Man’s Exciting Seafaring Experiences 25 Neil Barrow Newspaper Extracts 32 Howard Lambert Cover Illustration: Sandy Lane Congregational Church, Dobcross, Architect’s Drawing, c.1869. (SHS Archives, H/D.CONG/1) Edited by Mike Buckley Printed by Taylor & Clifton, Uppermill © 2021 Saddleworth Historical Society and individual contributors and creators of images. i ii THE WHITEHEADS OF DOBCROSS THE WHITEHEADS OF DOBCROSS - A FAMILY OF PAINTERS AND CONGREGATIONALISTS - PART 1 Phil Wild In March 1844 my great (x5) grandfather, John Whitehead, Plasterer, died in Dobcross, at the age of 80. He was baptised on 21st August 1763 in St Chad’s Church, Saddleworth, the son of Robert Whitehead, Clothier, and Sarah his wife of Hill End, Delph. This article explores the background to his family and the several generations of Dobcross painters and plasterers in the firm that he and his son established. THE WHITEHEAD FAMILY BACKGROUND The Whiteheads of Delph were an important Saddleworth family and could trace their lineage back to the era of Henry VIII. The first mention of the Whiteheads in connection with Delph was a survey of Roche Abbey’s property taken by Henry VIII in 1535 where it was recorded that Henry Whitehead was bailiff of the Abbey’s land at Hillbrighthope (Friarmere) and that he was paid 20s annually for his services.1 Another survey taken after the Dissolution in 1539 gives more details of the Friarmere tenants and their holdings. Among these it was recorded that ‘Henry Whitehede holds a tenement in the territory of Hillbrighthope called the Delfe, and a moiety of the stone quarry there called Blackstone Delf ... by indenture under the common seal of the said late monastery dated the seventh day of September, in the year of our lord 1526, for the term of 30 years.’ 2 He paid an annual rental of 23s for his tenement and 8s for his mining rights to half of the Delph quarry. Another member of the family, Ralph Whitehead, paid 10s annually for half of a pasture called Knothill. Quarrying bakestones was an ancient industry centred on Delph.3 Evidence for the industry can be found as early as the fourteenth century in the 1377 Poll Tax return where Robert Lasceles is recorded as constable and William Bakstoneman and Robert Bakstoneman, as ‘honest men’ (probably assistant collectors) of the town of Qwyk.4 It is conceivable that at least one of these men was a distant Whitehead ancestor of Henry Whitehead who had the rights to extract these stones 150 years or so later. Following the Dissolution, Arthur Assheton of Rochdale purchased Friarmere from the Crown 5 and the will of his son, William Assheton, in 1583, mentions his Delph tenants as Rauffe Whitehead, Eliza Whitehead and Robert Whitehead. The Assheton holdings in Friarmere were sold in 1617 by Arthur Assheton’s grandson, Theophilus Assheton, a lawyer of Gray’s Inn, London, and most of the leasehold tenants availed themselves of this rare opportunity to purchase their freeholds. Among them was Henry Whitehead, likely grandson (or great grandson of Henry Whitehead in 1539) who purchased ‘the Delfe’, for £200. See Pedigree A. 1 J. Caley and J. Hunter (eds), Record Commission, Valor Ecclesiasticus, (London, 1825) Vol. 5, p. 41; The National Archives (TNA), E 344/21/7. 2 J. M. Hunt, ‘Henry VIII Grant of Friarmere to Arthur Assheton 5th June 1543’, SHSB, Vol. 16, No. 2, (Summer 1986), p. 22. 3 Delph takes its name from ‘Delf’ - an old English term for a quarry. Bakestones were fired, flat heat-retentive stones, they were placed on fires or in ovens to make traditional oatcakes, muffins or ‘havercakes’, which were staples in Saddleworth diets for centuries. Beckett Whitehead asserts that the expertise for the industry was brought via Roche Abbey, Oldham Chronicle, 21 April 1962. 4 TNA, E 179/206/44/26. 5 J. M. Hunt, ‘Henry VIII Grant of Friarmere to Arthur Assheton 5 June 1543’, Saddleworth Historical Society Bulletin (SHSB), Vol. 16, No. 2, (Summer 1986), pp. 22-5. 1 THE WHITEHEADS OF DOBCROSS In the Almondbury Court Leet of 1632 this Henry Whitehead was appointed as a ‘neighbour’, responsible for presenting misdemeanors to the Court.6 Following his purchase of Delph he added to his holdings by acquiring an adjoining manorial property from Sir John Ramsden in 1636; this was later to become known as Delph Barn and was enclosed pasture land, with a barn, which he had apparently formerly leased. He also acquired the freehold of part of Knotthill (Woodhouse) and possibly the lease on another part (Woodmans). It is also possible that he had leased another manorial tenement adjacent to the Delph Barn estate, then referred to as Brownknotthill, but later known as Dale. Figure 1 illustrates these various properties. Mike Buckley Figure 1. Seventeenth Century Estates in Delph. The birth of Henry’s sons spanned many decades and at least two wives, and when he wrote his will in 1648, he described himself as ‘ancient in years.’ Henry’s eventual death occurred during the Interregnum period after the execution of King Charles I and his will was proved in 1651 in London.7 He left ‘the Delfe’ to his eldest son, Ralph Whitehead, but he stipulated conditions by a codicil to his will, as follows: ‘I Henry Whitehead bynd the said Raphe Whytehead my son and heire by this my last will and testament to buyld as good an house in every respect as hee now dwelleth in for the use of all his brethren for their use for ever.’ He had earlier settled Woodhouse on his youngest son Daniel, then in his infancy, in 1639 8 and Brownknothill (Delph Barn) on his son Richard in 1644.9 The will indicates that he had built ‘one Mancion and dwellinge house standinge and beeinge uppon the premisses’. He had possibly also earlier assigned the lease on Woodmans to another son John. See Pedigree B. 6 P. Hurst (ed), ‘Extracts for Quick and Saddleworth from Almondbury Court Rolls (1627-1760)’, B1/m7 - 23 October 1632, Sadelworth, Garsomes, Rents and Gould, (Privately Printed, 2011), p. 37. 7 TNA, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1651, PROB 10/732. 8 Deed of Feoffment dated 17 September 1639 recited in the will. 9 Deed of Feoffment dated 21 May 1644 recited in Sandbed deeds. See Saddleworth Historical Society Archives (SHSA), H/JH/Delph Barn; Abstract of Sandbed deeds of Mr Williamson, H/JH/Delph Barn. 2 THE WHITEHEADS OF DOBCROSS THE WHITEHEADS OF DELPH BARN Henry’s son, Richard Whitehead died only a few years after his father, his will being proved in 1656. In the will he left all his property to his eldest son Richard (Junior), not least because his other sons had not yet reached adulthood. Under the terms of the will, however, the estate profits were to be charged for ten years for the maintenance and upbringing of all his (unnamed) children and, upon reaching the age of 21, these children were each to be given the sum of £20 by their eldest brother.10 Richard (Junior) subsequently transferred the Delph Barn estate to a younger brother James Whitehead in 1671.11 The leasehold tenement at Dale appears to have been occupied after the father’s death by another son John and Richard’s widow Anne.12 In 1677 the said John Whitehead, husbandman, purchased the freehold of an intake on Harrop Edge, measuring 1 acre, 1 rood and 20 perches, from James Farrer for £2- 15s, to adjoin his neighbouring leasehold tenement at Dale.13 In 1689, described as John Whitehead of Browne-knothill, yeoman, aged 49 years, he deposed in a chancery case concerning bakestone rights.14 His brother, James Whitehead, the inheritor of Delph Barn, earlier in 1675, had also purchased an intake on Harrop Edge which adjoined that purchased by John.15 The two intakes together formed what was to become a new settlement at Sandbed. With his brother John, James was also a witness in the 1689 chancery case concerning bakestone rights and was there described as James Whitehead of Delf, blacksmith, aged 45 years. He testifies that he lived ‘very near to the messuage and lands called Delf.’ The occupation of blacksmith was also followed by his second son Henry who later moved to carry on this trade at Dobcross. James died in 1701 and his will was proved on 24th May of that year. His descendants occupied Delph Barn estate throughout the next century and John Whitehead, the head of the family in 1745, was a prime mover in the building of Delph Independent Chapel on the Delph Barn estate.16 The family remained staunch Congregationalists throughout the eighteenth century. See Pedigree C. THE WHITEHEADS OF DALE As noted above, my great (x6) grandfather, Robert Whitehead, Clothier, and Sarah, his wife occupied one of the cottages at Hill End, which formed part of his second cousin John Whitehead (d.1776)’s estate in Delph Barn. Being the youngest of at least nine children born to his father James Whitehead, the laws of primogeniture meant that Robert had no claim to his father’s freehold land at Harrop Edge or his manorial tenement at Dale, which passed to his eldest brother, John Whitehead. Even though John died without issue in 1780, Robert, as one of his executors, was then bound by the terms of his brother’s will to ensure the land at Dale and the freehold at Sandbed passed to his nephew, Henry Whitehead, the illegitimate son of his sister Anna Whitehead (Pedigree D).17 Henry’s biological father was the infamous 10 TNA, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Will, 1657, PROB 10/868.