SEARCHING FOR JOHN S

SEARCHING FOR JOHN SPENCE – my great-great grandfather on my mother’s side of family.
I knew Richard Henry Spence’s birthplace and date of birth but nothing else.  I searched at the Family History Centre using microfilm of records borrowed for me by them.
Using the 1861 Census of England – Piece No. 3209 (R.G 9)  Folio 28 page 1-2

District of Wetherby – sub-district Wetherby  Enumerator Mr Richard Tate

Description and boundaries of proposed enumeration district and names of places comprised therein

7c Spofforth Parish – part thereof:  [no one believed there could possibly be place with such an unlikely name!]
All that part of the Parish of Spofforth which comprises the whole of the township of Spofforth on the East side of the Main Street of Spofforth (including Stockeld Grange, Newsholme House, Throstle Nest, Crowper Farm, Red Hill, Red Hill School, Red Hill Cottage, Braham Hall, Spofforth Bar, Spofforth Mills, Potters Cottage and Anglers’ Lodge.

Found at no 8 Main Street, Spofforth
John Spence, Head of family, married, aged 34 , Police Constable, born in Leeds  Yorkshire
Mary Ann Spence, his wife  aged 30                born in Sherburn, Y
Robert Spence          son     aged 11               born Barkston Ash, Y
William Spence     son     aged 9                    born Sicklinghall, Y
*Richard Henry     son     aged 7                    born Sicklinghall, Y
Hannah Mary          dau     aged 4                    born Sicklinghall, Y
Thomas          son     aged 1                    born Sicklinghall, Y

Richard Henry Spence is known by his birthday and birthplace, recorded elsewhere, as born 13th November 1953 at Spofforth – but probably recorded at Sicklinghall as shown above. He died 7 May 1920.  Richard Henry is the father of Louis Joseph Spence, grandfather of Malcolm Garrett, and Christopher Spence and their brothers and sisters, and cousins.

John is likely to have been born in c. 1827.  He and Mary Ann were probably married in 1849 Perhaps Barkston Ash, or Sherburn in Elmet, which would be the bride’s birthplace  Their marriage is registered at Tadcaster which is the nearest registration point and is shown as for the June quarter of 1849 – Vol XXIII p. 613).  

He was, at an earlier time, a simple farm labourer, as shown on 1851 census, so he must have shown good character and intelligence to achieve promotion to the newly formed Police Force.

Following on from that research:
Marriage Certificate obtained for John and Ann – now called “Mary” Ann  is detailed as follows:
Date: 8th April 1849 – place: Tadcaster Registrar’s Office.
Name of Husband: John Spence [of full age], farmer, resident of Barkston, father’s name: Robert Spence, servant
Name of wife: Ann Wrightson, aged 19 years, resident of Barkston, father’s name: Joseph Wrightson, Blacksmith
Witnesses: Abigail Wilson and Benjamin Midgley.  John could sign his name, but Ann made her mark.  William Backhouse was Deputy Superintendent of the Registry of Tadcaster at the time.

So, from the above, we learn the name of John’s father – Robert, and that of Ann’s family – and her father’s name and occupation – Joseph Wrightson, blacksmith – a fitting surname meaning son of a smith or Wright.

Their first born son was born at Barkston Ash.  Thereafter, the children are registered as born at Sicklinghall.

Interesting Discovery
Found at 4 Main Street, Spofforth was Rachael Spence aged 12, a scholar, born at Boston Spa, and listed as visiting with John Falkingham (42) and his wife Sarah (31) and their baby son Charles, aged 10 months.

I had  believed that Rachael could be the eldest of John Spence’s children, which puts their marriage in the range shown above (1848-9).  The place could have been Boston Spa.  This is now shown not to be true.  Rachael has to be from a different family, because …………..  

The 1851 Census shows John, aged 26, Mary Ann aged 21 and their first born son ,Robert, aged 1 year living in a cottage [no.27] at Sickinghall village where he was a farmhand. [Kirkby Overblow district – village of Sicklinghall P.10 in piece 601 of the census].

So John and Mary Ann must have lived at Sicklinghall for most of the intervening ten years as their children were all recorded as having been born in Sicklinghall except for Robert, the eldest, who was born near Mary Ann’s birthplace [Sherburn in Elmet] at Barkston Ash.  As their youngest, Thomas, was only 1 year old at the time of the 1861 census, their move to Spofforth most have been recent, as perhaps, was his elevation to constable.  

Location of Birthplaces of the family
Sicklinghall is nearby (see map) in the Parish of Kirkby Overblow, less than 3 km away to the SW of Spofforth.  Kirkby Overblow village is a further 2 km NW from Sicklinghall.  Boston Spa where Rachael was born is just SE of Wetherby town only 5 miles away by road.  Sherburn in Elmet  where Mary Ann was born is in NE Yorkshire halfway between Filey on the coast and Malton-Norton inland.   Robert, their first child, was born at 2 miles away from Sherburn at Barkston Ash, which is a village 5 miles directly South from Tadcaster and 15 miles or from York City.  Most of these places lie between York City to the East and Harrogate to the West.  All these places are in a twenty mile radius from each other.

Spofforth is the site of the holdings of the noble Percy family, well-known protagonists in the Wars of the Roses.  Spofforth Castle is supposed to have been built in the reign of Edward III and at present is in a dilapidated state.   Henry Percy  held the castle Spofforth on behalf of his brother, the Earl of Northumberland until the disastrous defeat at Towton, so fatal to Henry IV, when the Earl and his brother Henry were both slain and their estates plundered by the victors.  The castle and mansion was ruined but today Lord Egremont, a direct descendant of the Percy family still  holds possession of the lands about.

Spofforth is a Parish-town, and the C of E church is a Rectory dedicated to All Saints and is in the Deanery of Ainsty.  Its Patron is the Earl of Egremont.


Another Spence Family?

On that part of the township of Spofforth which lies to the west of the Turnpike Road from Wetherby to Follyfoot, lies the farm where William Spence, aged 13 years,  b. Yorkshire, is recorded in the 1841 census, as being employed as a farm labourer by  William Cussly aged 45, a farmer and his wife, Lydia aged 43.

In the 1841 census at Whixley Village, no more than 12 miles North of Spofforth, Whixley hospital employed Mary Spence, aged 17, as a charwoman. – b. Whixley

By 1951, Matthew Spence, 52,  now a widower, an agricultural labourer and his daughter Mary, 27, were living in Whixley, whilst nearby Thomas, 24 and Joseph, 20, [both b. Whixley]were working as labourers for Farmer Thomas Cass, widower, 72, who worked 173 acres with the help of several other farm workers. Farmer Cass had 2 daughters, Elizabeth, 31, and Harriet 20.

There is nothing to show if, at all, these families are related.