Welcome to the Dunkerley-Tuson Family Website!

This is the story of Richard Tuson and Betty Wilding from the Longton and Hutton areas of Lancashire. They were of farming stock and moved to a farm at  Brindle in the 1860s, where Richard died. Betty continued on her own account until she too passed away at Chorley. They were my great great grandparents. This account continues that of Richard's family, which can be read here and here. Footnotes and references are at the end of the text.

A family tree of the main characters can ge accessed here.

Richard Tuson was born towards the end of the Napoleonic wars at Longton, an extraordinary mediaeval village close to the coast of the Irish Sea and south of the River Ribble. Longton is well named, for in the time of Richard it was a ribbon village stretching for about three miles east-west, yet was only one property deep, the houses backing onto long narrow gardens and fields that closely mirrored the old common-field structure. To the west lay the salt marshes, to the east the old wetlands of the mosses where the villagers could dig peat and harvest rushes or willow for local use. The village life was centred on agriculture and supporting trades, such as that of the smith and wheelwright, but many, if not most, people also took part in cotton hand-loom weaving using yarn provided by the great spinning mills of Preston, Penwortham and other nearby towns. The land was given over to mixed farming, raising cattle, sheep and other animals, and growing oats, some wheat and root crops for human consumption and animal fodder.

Richard was brought up on his father’s farm, the second son of a yeoman family that had been in the area for several generations. He must have acquired all the skills of the farmer, known the hard labour and long hours of work at all times of the year, and taken part in village customs and activities as the seasons changed. In 1835 when he was 24 Richard married Elizabeth (Betty) Wilding a sweet young thing of 18, who was born at Horwich, south of Chorley. She was the daughter of Richard and Ann Wilding^[1] who were also of Longton, so the couple may have known each other for much of their lives before they decided to ‘tie the knot’. The marriage took place at Penwortham parish church and produced, in good Tuson fashion, a numerous family. The youngest child, William, was born when Betty was 44 years old and was my great grandfather. The complete family is listed following:

1. James (12/1/1837 – 29/4/1892)
2. Catherine (16/2/1838 – 26/2/1838)
3. Catherine (24/12/1838 – 1897?)
4. Richard (13/1/1842 – 1/6/1890?)
5. Ann (1/8/1844 – 1914)
6. Margaret (17/7/1846 – 14/4/1847)
7. Margaret (5/6/1848 – 1/4/1910)
8. Margery (8/12/1851 – 1926)
9. Isabella (20/3/1856^[2] – after 1930?)
10. Henry or Harry (27/4/1859 – 1898?)
11. William (5/5/1861 – 1/7/1927)

The surviving children, shown in bold type, comprised four boys and five girls.

It appears likely that after they married Richard and Betty stayed in Longton and that Richard worked on his father’s farm, because their first son was born there in 1837. However when Catherine was born the following year they had moved to neighbouring Hutton and I suspect the family may then have lived in the easternmost of a row of nine cottages, known at the time as ‘Tuson Row’ (see photo) and probably then new-built by Richard’s father, James^iv. The population of the area was then expanding, on the back of rising incomes derived from the widespread adoption of cotton weaving in the villages. The cottages of Tuson Row were tiny – just two rooms upstairs and two down – and must have provided little space for families, although some of them were certainly used for handloom weaving in both 1841 and 1851. By the time of the 1841 census Richard was definitely living there and, surprisingly, was working as a tailor! Why he should have made the transition from farming to tailoring is not known, but perhaps he wanted an easier life. There would have been no shortage of cotton cloth for tailoring because large amounts were being produced locally by the handloom weavers. As both the population and prosperity of the area increased during Richard’s lifetime he perhaps felt it was a job with a future.

The family circumstances would have been helped when, in 1845, Richard’s father James^iv died leaving a considerable estate for which Richard and his brother George were the executors. Among the assets was ‘Tuson Row’. Although known on the 1841 and 1851 censuses by that name it became ‘Hutton Row’ in 1861 and, curiously, ‘New Row’ in 1871. Today the cottages are known as ‘Hutton Row’. James^iv left his land and farming assets to his oldest son, George but he left the nine cottages, three each, to his sons Richard, William and James. James inherited those in the middle, William those in the west and Richard those in the east. The Hutton tithe schedules of 1846 and 1848 indicate that the easternmost cottage had a significantly larger garden than the others, and Richard also received £110 from his father – then an important sum. The 1851 census tells us that Richard and his brothers William and James, and their families, were all living in the cottages they had inherited from their father, the remaining cottages being occupied by other families, presumably as tenants paying rents to the three brothers. William and James were then agricultural labourers, perhaps working on the farm of their brother, George, but Richard, already with three young children, was still a tailor.

During the next few years Richard’s family continued growing but it was becoming evident that the rural population of Hutton and the other villages of the area had begun to decline. This was caused by increasing mechanisation of cotton weaving such that power-looms were taking over most of the work leading to increasing unemployment among the handloom weavers in the villages. People had little choice but to move where the work was and the rural population both reduced and aged. What weaving still found its way into the villages was more complex and poorly paid. Perhaps it was this combination of factors that persuaded Richard to return to the land. In any case by 1856 at the age of 45 Richard was farming once more. In 1851 his property was a modest 16 acres, located at New House Farm on Lindal Lane (see map above), still in Hutton. In about 1863 Richard and Betty saw their oldest child, James, marry and about a year later they must have been delighted to become grandparents for the first time with the birth of a boy named after his grandfather.

Probably about March 1865 Richard and Betty left Hutton and moved with their family to Brindle where, in 1871, they were leasing 69 acres at Holt Farm from the Brindle Estate, owned by a branch of the Duke of Devonshire’s family^[3]. The fact that they were able to obtain such a lease shows that Richard had a good reputation and could be trusted as a tenant by the local gentry. It appears that their son James and his family also lived with them.

Brindle is a pretty village situated five miles southeast of Preston and about ten miles due east of Hutton. It was well known for handloom weaving and was one of the last bastions against the power loom. Other Tuson families also lived in Brindle. Today Holt farm comprises a stone-built house, which has been extended at least twice, two old stone-built barns that were probably used by Richard, and some more modern buildings as shown in the photos.

The farm land is situated about 150 feet above sea level, is currently hilly pasture used for cattle rearing and may have been very similar in the mid nineteenth century.

While at Holt Farm Richard and Betty saw the birth of four further grandchildren, three for James and his wife Mary Bamford and one for Catherine, who had married George Singleton in 1868. However in October 1870 the family’s fortunes seemed to change. The first event to shake them was the death of James’ wife, Mary, leaving four young motherless children. From then on the family must have relied increasingly on Betty, but worse was to follow, for on March 27th 1871, just six days before that year’s census, young Richard, the first grandchild, died. The census date must have virtually coincided with the boy’s funeral and on that night the whole family, including Catherine and George Singleton and their baby, were assembled at Holt Farm.

Richard did not long enjoy the lease at Holt Farm, for he died there the following year, aged 61. It was probably a painful death (‘stricture of the bowels, 33 or 34 hours’), attended by his family. His youngest son, William, registered the event in Chorley. William was to see plenty of his loved ones into the hereafter before his own time came. Betty was left with six unmarried children at home, plus James, widowed and with three young children of his own. She must have been a strong lady to cope.

After Richard’s death Betty was unable to keep the lease on Holt Farm, but was not prepared to give up farming altogether. We know nothing of the first years of her widowhood but by the time of the 1881 census she was established on a seven acre farm at ‘Bank House’ in Clayton Le Woods^[4]. It is located about two miles west of Holt Farm and the family group, besides Betty, comprised her daughter Margery, her son William, and grandchildren Henry and Margaret (who were the children of Margaret Bamford and James). Elizabeth was then 64 years old, Margery (25) probably helped at home, William (13) was a clogger’s apprentice, Henry (also 13) was a cotton weaver and Margaret (11) a scholar.

Betty’s final move followed soon after. She died in 1884 of ‘morbus cordis’ – heart disease^[5], resident at ‘89 Botany’^[6] in the town of Chorley, just a few miles south of Clayton-le-Woods. Once again it fell to William, her son, my great grandfather, to make the registration.

The Context of Richard and Betty’s Lives
Richard and Betty’s lives were lived fair and square in the nineteenth century. They were brought up within the traditions of a rural economy, and farming formed the background to their lives. However, developments in industrial cotton spinning (and printing) provided an additional and important source of income to the villages of the area and the rat-a-tat of the handloom weaver’s shuttle must have been a constant rhythm.

Richard was born into a prosperous family and enjoyed the confidence of his father who appointed him as joint-executor of his will. It is unlikely therefore that he ever experienced hardship in the first half of his life and he must have been a good ‘catch’ for Betty when they married in 1835. About that time he opted, somewhat surprisingly, to become a tailor, a profession he followed for more than ten years, living in the easternmost cottage of Tuson Row in Hutton. Although handloom weaving was soon to go into decline, finally unable to compete with the power loom, Timmins has argued that this did not happen until towards the end of the 1830s^[7]. However the evidence of population figures from Hutton suggests that by 1840 the decline was beginning to make itself felt for rural depopulation had set in. By the time that Richard’s father, James^iv, died in 1845 therefore, and already with a family of four to feed, it is likely that the family’s circumstances were greatly helped by the inheritance of three of the cottages in Tuson Row and a significant cash sum.

Perhaps the family financial position was deteriorating to such a degree that by 1861 Richard had decided to return to farming, first at Lindal Lane in Hutton, later at the larger property of Holt Farm in Brindle, leased from the local gentry. Both farms were probably oriented to animal-rearing, producing meat and dairy products. Irrespective of the increasingly difficult plight of the handloom weavers, the rapidly expanding town populations must have provided a ready market for food products.

Richard and Betty raised nine children, most of whom married and produced the blessing of grandchildren. Their family lives were not, however, unvisited by sorrow. Apart from the deaths of at least two children as infants they also had to cope with the premature death of their first daughter-in-law, followed soon after by the death of their first grandson, Richard, aged seven. This left them to help raise three of their grandchildren. Their efforts were further frustrated when Richard died and Betty had to soldier on at a much smaller property at Clayton-le-Woods. Some years later, in 1884, she too passed away.

Richard and Betty saw various booms and busts and though they probably got through without ever feeling deprivation they must have known times of anxiety as the handloom weavers struggled for work and food, and trade fluctuated. They would certainly have talked of the Irish Potato Famine in the 1840s and the Cotton Famine of the 1860s during the American Civil War, when thousands could find no work and were dependent on soup kitchens and other acts of charity (see figure). It was during their lifetimes too, from the 1840s, that the railways appeared, revolutionizing transport of people and of goods. They must eventually have been aware that England was moving into an age of increasing prosperity and liberalism and felt that their children and grandchildren had the hope of better lives than their own generation had experienced.

Overall, Richard and Betty probably did quite well. They raised a family of nine children off the land by providing the food that the great urban centres of Lancashire needed, whether in times of feast or famine, and they perhaps came through the hard times without experiencing hunger themselves.

The Family
What happened to Richard and Betty’s numerous family? After considerable research, and a little help from friends, I now have at least some information about all the siblings. I shall be delighted to be contacted by descendents of those mentioned below:

James Tuson
William’s oldest brother, James, was brought up in Hutton at his father’s cottage in Tuson Row. He had a comparatively generous education for he was still a scholar at age 14. He then attended Penwortham Sunday School seven years as a scholar and eight as a teacher, leaving in 1865 after being presented with a bible ‘as a token of esteem and regard … and with ‘appreciation of his long and useful service’. The 1861 census described him as a ‘School Master’. In 1863 he married Margaret Bamford at Penwortham church and the following year their first son, Richard, was born.

The presentational bible was probably given to James on the occasion of the family’s move to Brindle, where three other children, Jane, Henry and Margaret Elizabeth, were born. In October 1870 Margaret Bamford died and young Richard died six days before the 1871 census. James was then an ‘agricultural labourer’ working for, and living with, his parents at Holt Farm. In 1872 Richard, James’ father, died and James was left as the man about the house.

Two years later James re-married, to Isabella Dewhurst, widow of Joseph Walmsley, with whom she had two children, Robert and Mary. The wedding took place in Whittle-le-Woods and the couple had six children together, the first called Richard after James’ father and as a substitute for the boy who had died. The other children were Edward, Elizabeth, James, William and Harry, all of whom, with the possible exception of Elizabeth, survived into adulthood. At least four married and had children.

On the 1881 census James was shown as an ‘unemployed labourer’ (with five young children at home) and according to one of his grandchildren he had problems with drink. Times were perhaps very hard. He died in 1892 and is buried at St. John’s in Whittle-le-Woods. Isabella died in 1923.

Catherine Tuson
Catherine lived at Tuson Row in Hutton until at least 1851 when at age 12 she was still a scholar. In 1861 she was helping in the home at New House Farm on Lindal Lane in Hutton and probably moved to Brindle with the family in 1865. In 1868 she married George Singleton, about twenty years her senior, who was born at Goosnargh and seems to have been a schoolmaster, later a stationer. By 1881 they were living in Preston, George was a newsagent and they had three children, Elizabeth, George and Alice. In 1891 the whole family still lived in Preston, Elizabeth working as a dressmaker, George as a coachman and Alice, aged 11, still at school. Both Catherine and George seem to have died in Preston, Catherine in 1897, aged 58, and George in 1900, aged 81. By the time of the 1901 census young George was married and had a son; his two sisters were living with their brother’s family.

It appears that someone in the Singleton family, perhaps George, had a daughter, called Annie, who was in contact with my great grandfather’s (William’s) family in 1910. Alternatively this Annie might have been Alice, who, according to the 1891 census, may have been called 'Alice Elizabeth Ann'.

Richard Tuson
Richard appears on the 1851 census at Tuson Row as a scholar, aged nine, and on the 1861 census at New House Farm on Lindal Lane in Hutton as a ‘Farmer’s Son’. I had considerable difficutly finding what happened to him subsequently, but as a result of this website I have now been contacted by a living relative and Richard therefore becomes one of the siblings for whom I can best account.

In 1868 he married Jane Stones at St. Michael with St. John and Holy Trinity church in Blackburn. He was eventually buried in Failsworth cemetery on 1st June 1896. Why he should have gone to Failsworth is not known, but it raises the intriguing possibility that he arrived there before his younger brother, William (see below). He and Jane had four children, James, Elizabeth Jane, Richard and William. James died in 1901; Elizabeth married William Makinson and had at least one child also called William; Richard married Carrie Grindrod and they had three children called Richard, Carrie and William; William married Clara Quirk. By 1915 Richard had been interned as not being of 'sound mind'. His brother William made provision in his will to provide some support for Richard's children, and my gt. grandfather William Tuson also made provision for Richard to live in a house he owned in Failsworth 'so long as he shall desire so to do'.

I have been unable to find Richard Tuson of Holt Farm on either the 1871 or 1881 censuses, but at some time before 1891 he moved to Manchester and became a coal merchant. The business must evidently have thrived because eventually there were operations on three separate sites, one being inherited by each of Elizabeth, Richard and William; James seems to have been excluded, inheriting only his mother's watch and £20!

Richard married Carrie in 1902 and their children were born in  1903, '05 and '07. The first two were born at 'Bucklow', which was later split between Manchester, Trafford and Stockport. Carrie, the mother, died when William was born, the event being registered in Prestwich, and it seems Richard subsequently remained a widower until his death in 1956. His oldest son, Richard, married Winifred May Conry and they had at least one child, called, perhaps predictably, Richard, in 1935. It is this Richard who has contacted me and he too married and has children.