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MOLYNEUX of UPHOLLAND and AINTREE Introduction This account begins with Edward Molyneux (1856–1922), a hay and straw merchant of Aintree, near Liverpool, husband of Ellen Ledson (1857–1928).1 Edward Molyneux was born at Melling, a farming township adjacent to Aintree: he was a son of William Molyneux (1824–1877), a plasterer (originally from Orrell, near Wigan) and his wife Charlotte Lloyd. William Molyneux’s parents were John Molyneux (1799/1800–1858), a nail-maker from Orrell and his second wife Margaret Hurst. John Molyneux’s father was Peter Molyneux (c. 1761–1830), an Orrell collier. ************************************************************** ORIGINS It seems likely that Molyneux is a locative family name originating in France, perhaps from Molineaux sur Seine, near Rouen. The family is now found most commonly in south-west Lancashire ‘in all classes of society, from the highest to the lowest’.2 The clear descent of this Molyneux family begins only with Peter Molyneux, an Orrell collier (c. 1761–1830). The evidence of family Christian names suggest that Peter may have been the son of John Mollineux, a collier of Whiston (Prescot parish) and his wife Catherine, born on 1 March 1766 and baptised at Prescot on 23 March.3 Thomas Molyneux There is a possible line of descent from Thomas Mullineux of Ditton (in Farnworth chapelry, Prescot), whose son Thomas was baptised at Farnworth on 24 October 17144 and/or from Thomas Molyneux, a claypotter of Eccleston (Prescot) who married at Prescot in 1734/5. Thomases were baptised at Prescot as follows: sons of ‘John Mollynex, Whiston’ (31 December 1665); of ‘Henry Mollineux, Prescot’ (3 December 1674); of ‘Richard Molineux, Whiston’ (28 June 1691). Humphrey Thomas, son of ‘Thomas Mullineaux of Whiston’ was baptised on 3 July 1681. ‘Margaret, wife of Thomas Mulleneux, Whiston’ was buried at Prescot on 12 January 1684/5 and Thomas on 7 July 1685. Thomas Mollinex of Hale was married at Prescot by banns on 28 September 1712 to Easter Smith. ‘Thomas, son of Humpfrey Mollinex’ [a Whiston collier] was buried at Prescot on 28 April 1717. Thomas Molyneux and Margaret Kenyon Thomas Molyneux, claypotter of Eccleston and Margritt Kenyon of Prescot, spinster were married at Prescot after banns on 27 January 1734/5. Their children were John (baptised at Prescot on 22 June 1735) and Thomas (born 4 September, baptised at Prescot 11 September 1737), sons of ‘Thomas Mollinex of Prescot, labourer and Margritt his wife’. ‘Thomas Mollinex, labourer, Prescot’ was buried at Prescot on 22 June 1743 and ‘Margaret Mollinex, widow, Prescot’ on 28 April 1770. John and Catherine Mollineux Peter Molyneux (according to his stated age at death) was born c. 1761. Judging from the evidence of family Christian names it seems possible that he was Peter, son of John 1 Mollineux, a Whiston collier and his wife Catherine, born on 1 March 1766 (c. five years later than might be expected) and baptised at Prescot on 23 March. John Mollineux of Whiston married Catherine Yates of Prescot by banns at Prescot on 10 October 1757: both marked their names and the witnesses were John Holland and Hugh Smith.5 As ‘John Mollineux of Whiston, collier’ and Catherine they had children Alice (born 13 April 1758, baptised at Prescot 30 April); John (10 February, 2 March 1760); Peter (1, 23 March 1766); and Catherine (24 April, 14 May 1773). Richard, son of John Mollineux, collier of Sutton (Prescot) was buried at Prescot on 27 January 1776. John was perhaps John Mollineux of Sutton, collier, buried at Prescot on 4 June 1781 or 9 March 1783. Peter and (?)Elizabeth Molyneux We have seen that the clear descent we follow begins with Peter Molyneux, an Orrell collier (c. 1761–1830), possibly a son of John Molyneux, a collier of Whiston and his wife Catherine. Peter Molyneux, a miner married Betty Turner, spinster at Billinge parochial chapel (Wigan) on 5 March 1792.6 On 23 April 1792 there was an affiliation order against Peter Molyneux, an Orrell collier who fathered Ellen, illegitimate daughter of Ellen Banks: the order was in the sum of £1 17s for the lying-in and 1s a week thereafter.7 [In 1792 there was a miner’s strike at Wigan, in which violence was threatened].8 John, son of Peter Mollyneux, an Orrell collier, was baptised at Upholland parochial chapel (Wigan) on 16 February 1800.9 [Another John Molyneux was born at Orrell on 8 August 1796, a son of John Molyneux and Elizabeth Turner and baptised at Wigan on 27 August].10 The three occasions on which John Molyneux’s age was stated in later life (‘21 and over’ in November 1820, ‘40’ in June 1841, ‘53’ in March 1851, ‘60’ in October 1858) provide no consistent help in identification.11 ‘Peter Mollyneux, collier, Orrell’ also had daughters baptised at Upholland: Elizabeth (27 January 1798); Elizabeth (2 December 1804); Margaret (29 March 1807); and Cathrine (13 August 1809): another daughter Alice was buried there on 25 July 1812. ‘Peter Mullineux of Orrell’ was buried at Upholland on 10 January 1830, aged ‘68’ and ‘Elizabeth Mullineux of Orrell’ on 9 December 1832, aged ‘69’. Other Orrell Molyneuxs who died at this time were Ellen, a widow (c. 1733–15 July 1813); Robert (1780–29 July 1834, ‘54, Orrell’); and James (c. 1788–22 September 1839, ‘51, Orrell’). The Orrell coalfield Peter Mollyneux was a collier. Wigan was then the centre of a large coal-mining industry and among its townships Orrell was famous at the end of the eighteenth century for its ‘cannel’ or surface coal. Orrell is situated on what was then a picturesque site on a bend of the river Douglas and mining was concentrated at the southern end of the township. Land tax returns for 1787 and 1798 show five and six separate mining concerns respectively, in Orrell alone.12 In the later eighteenth century horse-drawn tramways greatly facilitated movement of coal: a major network in the Wigan area terminated at various points on the Douglas and the Leeds– Liverpool canal. In July 1793, one John Molyneux, perhaps Peter’s father or kinsman, was one of five people killed in a ‘firing and explosion of foul air at Orrell’: as ‘John Molyneaux, Pemberton [Wigan], collier’ he was buried at Upholland on 10 July. On 26 April 1830 Robert (26), John (15) and Betty Mollineux (17) were killed there: all of them ‘of Pemberton’ were buried on 27 April.13 2 The Roman catholic connection Although Peter Molyneux’s children were baptised at Upholland parochial chapel (Church of England), there was some Roman catholic allegiance in the family, at least for the 50 years from 1824 and Peter’s son John and grandson William both died as Roman catholics. An active Roman catholic mission in the neighbourhod of Orrell and Upholland seems only to have begun c. 1771, under the leadership of an ‘apostolic missionary’ and using from 1789 some converted cottages at Crossbrook, in Orrell township. The Lancashire ‘return of papists’ of 1767 included only two Molyneux families in Orrell and one in Upholland14 and no Peter Molyneux occurs. Peter’s family do not occur in the Crossbrook registers for the early period, but lists of Easter communicants there survive for various years from 1803: these include in 1803 two Elizabeth Molineuxs of Crossbrook and one Betty Molyneux of Lambert Green; a Betty Molyneux also occurs throughout the period to 1825.15 One of these may well have been Peter Molyneux’s wife. John Molyneux (1800–1858) and Mary Gaskell (c. 1800–1821) We have seen that Peter Molyneux’s son John was baptised at Upholland in 1800. On 20 November 1820, aged ‘21’, he married the 20-year-old Mary Gaskell at Wigan: both were resident somewhere in Wigan’s huge parish, which included both Orrell and Upholland. John signed the register, while Mary marked.16 Mary died in childbirth 8½ months later and was buried at Upholland on 8 August 1821. The child Peter was baptised at Upholland on 8 August, son of ‘John Mollineux, collier and Mary, Upholland’, but died six weeks later and was buried at Upholland on 23 September. John Molyneux marries Margaret Hurst On 23 February 1824 John Molyneux made a second marriage at Wigan after banns to Margaret, daughter of James Hurst. Margaret was declared to be a minor and married ‘with consent’, although her stated age at death makes it appear that she was born c. 1800. Both parties marked the register.17 This was the marriage in which all John’s surviving children were born: these were William (born 25 May 1824); Elizabeth (24 August 1826); Peter (c. 1830); and Ann (baptised 4 November 1832). Throughout this time John and Margaret lived at Orrell: he is referred to as a ‘nailer’ of Orrell for the first time in 1832. Nail-making and coal-mining were the chief occupations in Orrell during this period. The record of the baptisms of John and Margaret Molyneux’s children provides an interesting picture of shifting denominational allegiance. Their first child William was baptised on 6 June 1824 at Crossbrook Roman catholic chapel (with James Hurst, probably his grandfather, or an uncle as a sponsor): Elizabeth was also baptised there on 17 September 1826. No record can be found of the baptism of Peter in c. 1830.18 Anne was baptised with Church of England rites at Upholland. It may be that John’s parents were influential in preserving old loyalties, for the elder children baptised at Crossbrook were those born before their grandparents’ deaths in 1830 and 1832. Death of Margaret Molyneux and re-marriage of John with Sarah Melling John Molyneux’s second wife Margaret died at Orrell in 1835 and was buried at Upholland on 11 January (‘Margaret Mullineux, 34’).

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