Some Family Details

1851: Dudley, Worcestershire [now Staffordshire]: [1]

Joseph Rollason, a 52 year old coal miner lived at 41 Wellington Road, Dudley with his 53 year old wife Lucy.  Joseph was born at Dudley and Lucy at Soley Hull [Solihull) Warwickshire.  Their children were:

• Ellen aged 24 bc.1827 at Dudley
• Joseph aged 22 bc.1829 at Dudley

1861: Dudley [2]

Joseph Rollinson aged 32 was married to Martha (aged 29) and worked as a coal miner.  They had 3 children, all born at Dudley:

• Benjamin aged 7 bc.1854
• Obediah aged 3 bc.1858
• Joseph aged 1 bc.1860

Joseph Rowlandson was born 5 September 1859 at Constitution Hill, Dudley on the Worcestershire/Staffordshire border the son of Joseph and Martha Rollinson.[3]

1871: Featherstone, Yorkshire [4]

Joseph now aged 42 and his 39 year old wife Martha lived next to the Dunn Inn, Featherstone.  Joseph still worked as a coal miner.  They now had 4 children:

• Benjamin now aged 17 and working as a coal miner
• Obediah Thomas aged 14 and also working as a coal miner
• Joseph aged 12 and still at school
• Moses aged 3 bc.1868 at Normanton, Yorkshire

It is deduced that the family moved north to Yorkshire from the Black Country about 1868, sometime after 1861.

1881: Willington, County Durham [5]

Joseph Rowlingson aged 22 worked as a coal miner and lodged with Martha Jackson and her family at 7 Chapel Street, Willington.  Martha was a 54 year old widow born in Wensleydale, Yorkshire and was a shopkeeper who lived with her daughter, 23 year old Mary, a general servant and her 18 year old son, Thomas who worked as a coal miner, her niece 12 year old Hannah Colling.  Ann Pickering and her 2 sons George and Henry were other boarders.

1891: Willington, County Durham [6]

Joseph Rowlindson aged 31, his 34 year old wife Mary and their 3 children were visiting Thomas and Hannah Jackson and their 3 children at 51 Albert Street, Willington.  Joseph and Mary’s children, all born at Willington were:

• Thomas aged 9 bc.1882
• Benjamin aged 7 bc.1884 [7]
• Joseph aged 2 bc.1889

Joseph worked as a coal miner.  Mary Rowlandson died 19 February 1893 aged 35.[8]  Joseph married Laura Plummer in 1895 at Hunwick. [9]

1901:  Willington [10]

Joseph Rowlandson now 42 years old and his 29 year old wife Laura lived at 22 Albert Street, Willington with:

• Benjamin aged 17 who worked as a coal miner (putter)
• Joseph aged 12
• Florence aged 9
• Ivy aged 3 bc.1898 at Willington
• Walter aged 5 months bc.1900 at Willington

Joseph worked as a coal miner (hewer).

There is no record of Thomas Rowlandson in the 1901 census.  He served in South Africa with the military. [11]

13 April 1903:

Thomas Rowlandson married Hannah Elizabeth Foster at the Primitive Methodist Chapel, Willington.[12]  Hannah was born 27 April 1882, the daughter of William and Margaret Ann (nee Bainbridge) Foster at Willington.  Hannah’s father William was born 18 April 1847 at Walton, near Brampton, Cumberland, the son of William and Mary (nee Davidson) Foster [13] and he married Margaret Ann Bainbridge 14 November 1874 at Durham Register Office. [14]

1911 census: [15]

Thomas (aged 29) & Hannah (aged 28) Rowlandson lived at 82 Russell Place, Willington with their 2 children, both born at Willington:

• Mary Jackson aged 6 born 6 May 1904 [16]
• Benjamin aged 2

Thomas then worked as a coal miner (hewer)[17] eventually retiring as a “deputy overman.”

Hannah was referred to as “Lily” (not Lizzie) and their daughter Mary was known as “Polly”.[18]

Thomas’ younger brother Benjamin served as a Gunner in the 63^rd Battery Royal Field Artillery.[19]  Benjamin married Maria A. Newcombe in 1915. [20]

5 July 1915: Thomas’ father-in-law, William Foster died aged 68.[21]

4 April 1931: Thomas’ daughter Mary Jackson Rowlandson married Marshall Collinson (born 18 January 1907[22], the son of John George Collinson) of Upper Town, Wolsingham, Co. Durham at the Primitive Methodist Chapel, Willington.[23]

28 December 1956: Thomas Rowlandson died aged 74.[24]

References:

[1] 1851 census

[2] 1861 census

[3] Birth certificate: note the change in spelling of their surname

[4] 1871 census

[5] 1881 census

[6] 1891 census

[7] England & Wales Birth Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.351 1884Q1

[8] England & Wales Death Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.211 Durham 1893 Q1 and Probate 1903

[9] England & Wales Marriage Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.313 1895Q3

[10] 1901 census

[11] He served abroad in South Africa – see Military Record

[12] Marriage certificate

[13] Birth certificate

[14] Marriage certificate

[15] 1911 census

[16] Death certificate

[17] 1911 census

[18] Details on postcards and notes to identify people on photographs – I have checked ancestry, census, births and marriages to see whether there was a Lily and a Polly Rowlandson.  No-one has been identified. See  a family tree at http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/66386327/person/44151542693?ssrc=

[19] 1911 census

[20] England and Wales Marriage Index 1916-2005 Vol.10a p.889 1915Q3

[21] Death certificate

[22] Death certificate

[23] Marriage certificate

[24] Death certificate