Elizabeth Bramley of Skipton

Elizabeth Bramley, the mother of Thomas Horner was born in Skipton, North Yorkshire 1811 [1] . She was the daughter of James Bramley and Mary Spence. Elizabeth joined her older sister Sarah, and there was at least three years between them [2] .  She was only three years old when her younger brother William arrived, and her younger sisters Martha and Isabella joined the family by the time she was six years old [3] . No doubt Elizabeth would have helped her mother Mary with the household tasks.

Elizabeth was joined by her youngest sisters, Ann and Mary, by the time she was eleven, but at the age of twelve she saw her one-year-old sister Ann buried in Skipton [4] . In her teens now Elizabeth would have seen the birth of her brothers James and John and may even have assisted at their birth [5] . John may have been a sickly child as he was buried in Skipton aged only three months, when Elizabeth was about eighteen years old [6] .

         A year later, when Elizabeth was nineteen, she would have attended the marriage of her sister Sarah to Thomas Wray [7] . She may even have been a bridesmaid with her sisters Martha and Isabella. Sarah and Thomas had three children in Skipton in the 1830s, but appear to have moved from the area by 1841. Two of their three children were left in the care of their grandfather James Bramley.

1837 a Marriage Year

       1837 was a busy year for Elizabeth and her sisters. On 14 December 1837, Elizabeth married George Horner in Skipton Parish Church [8] . Their first daughter Anne was born a day later, on 15 December so it is highly likely that Elizabeth Bramley was heavily pregnant when they married [9] . Their wedding may have been a double celebration, as Elizabeth’s younger sister Isabella Bramley married Thomas Myers on two days later in Skipton parish Church [10] . Again this appears to have been another shotgun marriage as Isabella and Thomas’s son James was born only a month later. Their younger sister Martha Bramley married Thomas Chew that same month on 28 December [11] . December 1837 was a very busy month for weddings for the Bramley family and would have been an expensive time for their father James Bramley.

       George and Elizabeth may have met at the wedding of George Blades and Mary Ann Myers, sister to Thomas Myers, in 1835 [12] . Or they may have met either through both working in Belle Vue Mills, or because they both lived in Millfields [13] . As Elizabeth is recorded as living at Millfields in 1837 and yet her sister Isabella is recorded at the High Street, it is highly likely that Elizabeth and George had been living ‘over the brush’ in Millfields in 1837. On their marriage certificate George was able to write well enough to sign his own name on his marriage certificate, but Elizabeth signed her name with a cross. The witnesses to the marriage were Jane Lambert and Henry Reader [14] . Both marked their names with crosses. Henry Reader’s cousin Jane Reader, daughter of Henry’s uncle George later married a Horner, probably George Horner’s brother John [15] .

Married Life

       In 1841 Elizabeth and George lived in the household of her mother-in-law Esther Horner in Commercial Street, Skipton. Their first daughter, Ann Horner, was born there in 1837, and their eldest son Thomas on 8 March 1840 [16] . Thomas and Ann were probably left in the care of Esther whilst George and Elizabeth worked as cotton weavers in Belle Vue Mill. In December 1841, George and Elizabeth’s son James joined the family, but before he had reached his second birthday Elizabeth’s eldest child Ann died aged five [17] .  George appears to have been promoted during these years from a weaver to an Overlooker in a cotton factory [18] . By the birth of their third son, John in 1845 George was merely described as a mill hand but he may still have been an Overlooker [19] . John Horner died in April before he was four years old in 1848, when George and Elizabeth’s fourth son William was barely a year old [20] .

       In 1841, Elizabeth and George would have worked alongside George’s brother John, aged 20, and George’s sisters Elizabeth, aged 20, Margaret, aged 15, and Harriet, aged 10, who were also Cotton weavers. George’s sister Harriet Horner would have probably started work as a Doffer at the age of nine changing bobbins on the cotton spinners in the Mills and her wage would have been about one shilling and six pence to two shillings a week [21] . She would have worked nine hours a day, and about forty-eight hours a week, but would have been given three hours off a day and spent two hours a day at school [22] . Her sister Margaret would have worked twelve hours a day and sixty nine a week from the age of twelve until she was seventeen without any time for schooling after she had passed her thirteenth birthday. Both Margaret and Elizabeth would have earned six shillings to six shillings and six pence a week. Their brothers, as men, would have earned substantially more for the same work. George and John would have worked the same a seventy-two hour week as their sister Elizabeth, from 6am to 7pm Monday to Friday and 6 am to 5 pm on a Saturday. They may even have worked night shifts, unlike the women. For this they would have been paid about seventeen shillings a week, more than twice the women’s wages.

       George’s brother Mark, who also lived in Commercial Street, was also a Cotton weaver and lived with his bride Mary (nee Oldfield) four doors down Commercial Street from George and his family [23] . Mark Horner was buried on 26 July 1846, leaving his six-year-old son Robert Horner who was soon taken in by Elizabeth [24] .

       Elizabeth’s sisters had also settled into married life and had started families in Skipton by 1841. Martha and Thomas Chew had set up their household in the back of Becks, Skipton [25] . They had no children, but Thomas was an agricultural labourer. Isabella and Thomas Myers had settled in Waller Hill, Skipton, with two children, James aged three and Jane aged one [26] . Thomas Myers had changed occupation from an ‘iron moulder or founder’ in 1837 and is recorded as a Corn Master in 1841 [27] .  It would appear that Thomas had a respectable trade and position in Skipton. Thomas, and presumably his father, both originally iron moulders, had undoubtedly benefited from the growth in factories in the Skipton area at the turn of the century, with the need for metal fitments [28] . This increase in wealth may have enabled Thomas to move into the corn business. However, business would not have boomed for long. The poor corn harvests, and the Irish potato famine caused corn prices to fall. The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1844, which had kept the price of corn artificially high, would also not have helped and the Myers family may have found themselves in real difficulties. Isabella and Thomas’s children emigrated to America and their descendants can be seen on Family Search [29] .

       The rest of Elizabeth’s family also lived fairly close to Millfields in Chamberlain’s Yard in Sheep Street in 1841, and were probably frequent visitors [30] . It appears that the whole of her family were working in Dewhurst’s Mills on Belle Vue Street in 1841. Elizabeth’s father James Bramley, aged 55, was a ‘Carder in a Cotton Factory’, and his sons William, aged 25, was a cotton weaver, and James, aged 15, was a Doffer in a cotton factory [31] . James’s daughter Mary, aged 20, was also a spinner in the cotton factory [32] .  Her mother Mary Bramley, nee Spencer, did not work, but remained at home caring for her grandson John Wray, aged five [33] . John Wray and his sister Marianne, or Ann Wray, lived with their grandparents in 1841. Ann Wray, aged 10, was a Rover in Belle Vue Mills and her wage would have helped to increase the household earnings. In 1841 there is no trace of Elizabeth’s sister Sarah Wray and it is possible the children were with their grandparents because their mother had died. Elizabeth lost her brother William Bramley in 1847 when he died aged only thirty-four years old [34] .

Later Years

       By 1851 Elizabeth Bramley and her husband George Horner had set up their own household at 104 Millfields Skipton. Her mother-in-law Esther Horner had died in 1848, but her sisters-in-law Margaret, aged 26, and Harriet, aged 23, continued to live in his household and contributed their earnings as Power Loom Weavers to the family economy [35] . Elizabeth’s mother Mary had died in 1845 and in 1851 her father James, now widowed, joined her household in Millfields [36] . With four adults earning in the household, Elizabeth was able to stay at home to care for her growing family. Although Anne and John had died in infancy Thomas had been joined by James Horner in 1842 and, William in 1847 [37] . In April 1851, Elizabeth and George and their family were probably grieving for eighteen-month Mark Horner who had just been buried in March of that year [38] . George Horner was now a loom tackler and this may have meant that he was earning more money to feed his ever-growing family [39] . In 1851 her eldest son Thomas Horner was still at school at the age of twelve which implies that the family was comfortably well off. In addition to caring for her three sons still at home, Elizabeth also cared for Robert Horner, her husband’s nephew.

       Esther Horner, the youngest surviving daughter joined the family at Millfields in 1852, and the youngest son George in 1854 [40] . However, George died in 1856 aged 2 and James was buried in 1857 aged 15 [41] . Robert Horner, George’s nephew, the last of Mark Horners family, also died in1856 aged 16 [42] .

               In 1861, George and his family appear to have moved to 120 Westgate Skipton. George, aged 47 still worked as a Cotton Overlooker, probably still in Belle Vue Mills and his sisters Margaret and Harriet continued working as Cotton Power Loom weavers and contributing to the family income [43] . The impact of the earnings of both Harriet and Margaret on the lifestyle of the Horner family can be seen in the aspirations of Elizabeth’s children. Her son Thomas was a watchmaker, and William, aged thirteen, was still at school with his daughter Esther, aged nine. George’s niece Margaret Robinson, aged three, had also joined the family [44] . Elizabeth remained at home to care for her. Margaret remained with George’s family in 1871 when they moved to 96 Millfields [45] . By the age of thirteen Margaret Robinson had joined her cousin Esther Horner, aged 19, as a Winder in a Cotton Factory. George was a Loom Packer and probably worked in the same factory. In complete contrast William Horner, George’s eldest son, aged 24, was a Photographer [46] . George’s sisters were not recorded as part of his household in 1871. Margaret and Harriet may have married, or they may have died between 1861 and 1871.

       The last record of Elizabeth and her husband is in 1881 when they were living at 2, Commercial Street, Westgate, Skipton [47] . George, although now aged 68, was still working as a cotton Overlooker. This was probably in Belle Vue Mills. George and Elizabeth probably died between 1881-1891, as they do not appear in the 1891 census for Skipton.   

Whatever the reason for the move, the Horner family seemed to thrive in the Settle area. Thomas’s eldest brother William Horner