Atkinson

William was born in Yorkshire between about 1801 and 1806 (from the information in the 1841 census).

He married in 1829 in St Peter’s church, Leeds, another ATKINSON, Sarah. (Atkinson is a common name, especially in the North, and this doesn’t have to suggest they were related by birth). Sarah was perhaps up to five years or so younger than him, and was also local, born in Leeds or Hunslet.

William and Sarah had the following known children:
Mary about 1828
John about 1831
Elizabeth about 1837
William about 1841
Samuel 1844

They lived at 21 Little Neville Street, Leeds, at least in 1841 and 1844. They seem to have been the only people in their house in 1841. William worked in the stone industry, being in 1841 a foreman in a stone yard, and in 1844 a stone merchant.

William must have died by 1850, though his name is too common to identify his death registration from the index. He can’t have been older than 50, and little Samuel can’t have been older than 5.

In early 1850, in the Leeds district, Sarah remarried, to a William PYCOCK, a few years older than her and originally from outside Yorkshire (not clear from the handwriting whether he was born in Bolton, Lancashire or Belton, Lincolnshire). He was also a worker and seller of stone, principally blue slate. William had at least five children from a previous marriage(s), all also born in Hunslet. The PYCOCK children were Sophia (aged about 20 when William and Sarah married), Sarah (about 11), Henry (about 10), Alfred (about 9) and Ann (about 8). Sarah’s own children fitted in: William also about 9 and Samuel the youngest at just 5. Mary (probably 21 at the time), John (18), and even Elizabeth (12) either never lived with William PYCOCK or moved out within a year or so of the marriage, as they do not appear with the family in the 1851 census.

Those that do (William, Sarah, Sophia, Sarah, Henry, Alfred, William, Ann and Samuel) lived in 1851 at Brick Field Cottage, Hunslet. In 1861 the family is at 32 Moorsville Place also in Hunslet.

William carried on in the slate business. In 1851 he is stated to be employing 5 men. There is no similar statement in 1861 but living with him are one of his own grown-up sons (Alfred, 19) and Sarah’s two, aged 20 and 17 – the three of them are listed as following their (step) father’s occupation, and presumably worked for or with him.

Sarah’s boys kept their ATKINSON surname, and presumably the older ones did too, at least until the girls married.

In 1867 William married Jane APPLEBY, a woman his own age from nearby Middleton. She seems likely to have had an illegitimate son, Benjamin APPLEBY, aged about 12-18 months at the time of the marriage (order Births Q4 1865 APPLEBY Benjamin. Hunslet 9b 277). He is listed as William’s son and with his surname in the 1871 census, but in 1881 is listed as APPLEBY and described as William’s brother-in-law.

It is clearer that William and Jane had seven children together after their marriage:
George H (or Harry – perhaps George Henry?) in about 1868
Henrietta H about 1871
Emma about 1872
Jane about 1873
William about 1875
Frederick William about 1877 (order Births Q1 1877 ATKINSON Frederick, Knaresbro' 9a 119)
Harold about 1884

George Henry was born in Horsforth, but by 1871 they were living back near where William grew up, in Hunslet at 21 Green Mount Street. Four children (Henrietta through William) were born Hunslet, then Frederick was born in Pannal near Knaresborough. By 1881, however, they were living at 89 Beeston Hill (not far from the address at the last census) and young Harold was also born in the Leeds area. In 1891 they were living on or near Woodview Street, again not far away, but by 1901 they had moved to 283 Roundhay Road, in a different suburb of Leeds.

William (the father) carried on working in slate, and seems to have made a success of it. In the 1871 census he was listed as a master blue slater employing 20 men. In 1881 to 1901 he’s a slate merchant, and an employer though it isn’t stated of how many.

Frederick is found as a visitor in the 1901 census, in Ilford, Essex, with a family all born in Warrington, Lancashire. He’s 24 and an electrical engineer – a trade he followed all his life.