The Critchlow’s through houses…
People in this story: Samuel Critchlow · Ann Critchlow (née Shenton) · Enoch Critchlow Sr · Elizabeth Critchlow (née Simcock) · William Critchlow · Alice Mary Critchlow (née Wood) · Annie Lizzie Critchlow · Mary Moreton (née Critchlow) · Enoch Critchlow Jr · Louisa Critchlow (née Holmes) · Stephen Leonard Critchlow · Samuel Herbert Critchlow · May Elizabeth Critchlow
It is quite hard to be systematic in genealogy… detecting children who died very young and are not recorded; finding children born out of wedlock; keeping track of children who grow up and leave home. The best way to be systematic is to track individual families in their various houses captured through the Censuses from 1841 through to the most recently available 1921 Census (Censuses are only released to the public once 100 years has passed to protect the privacy of citizens) and 1939 Electoral Roll.
The second complexity is that everyone has 2 parents and 2 pedigrees to track. If one of the parents is a “Smith” and the other a “Critchlow” then it is easier to track the Critchlow line because it is far, far less frequent in the record – there were only 432 Critchlow’s in the 1841 Census out of 18.5 million citizens across the UK. Below is a comparison of the distribution of Critchlow’s from 1841 to 1921, just slide the comparison bar (or for a video illustrating the spread click here):
Samuel Critchlow (1811-1895) & Ann [née Shenton] (1818-1891)
Samuel was, by trade, a sawyer, a “farmer of 15 acres” and in his 80’s “living on his own means”! He was born in 1811 and in 1838, at the age of 27 years old, he married Ann Shenton when in St Peter’s Church, Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire. She was 20 years old.
They lived in Upper House Farm, Werrington, Caversall, Staffordshire until 1871 when they moved to Cellarhead Road, Caversall in the 1870’s, where they lived for the rest of their lives – Ann dying at 73 and Samuel at 84 years old. Between them, they had a large family of 9 children, most of whom lived into adulthood and married setting up their own households – only their 7th child, Sarah, died in childhood at the age of 10 years old.
Their children were, in order, Enoch (1838), Elizabeth (1840), Ann (1842), William (1844), Emma (1846), Eliza (1847), Sarah (1850), Selina (1852) and Phoebe (1862). The family history will start with the Enoch Critchlow Senior.
Enoch Sr Critchlow (1838-1920) & Elizabeth [née Simcock] (1833-1915)
Enoch and Elizabeth married in 1862 and moved to St Luke Street, Hanley. By 1871, they had moved a third of a mile down the road to 81 Botteslow Street, behind the Trent Sanitaryware Works in an area that was rapidly developing. By the 1900’s, there were 3 separate potteries being within reach for Enoch’s crate making business and by 1881 he was employing 3 men.
Nelson Pottery at the end of Botteslow Street in 1895 and 1960’s is shown in the next photos. The final 3 show the kilns from the Trent Sanitaryware Works behind Botteslow St (now demolished for a new housing estate).
Enoch and Elizabeth had 5 children: Annie Lizzie in 1864; Mary in 1866; Enoch in 1868; and the twins, Stephen Leonard and Samuel Herbert in 1869. Sadly 3 of the children did not survive past their early years. In 1868, Annie Lizzie died at the age of 4; and in 1871, the twins died at the age of 2, not long after the photo below. This left only 5 year old Mary and 3 year old Enoch.
Mary continued to live with her parents, although no occupation was specified in the censuses, until she married a local solicitor’s clerk, Arthur Pollard Moreton, in 1895 at the age of 29 years old. They had their first child, Arthur Norman Moreton, in 1897 but unfortunately he died within 6 months. Gerald Critchlow Moreton was born the next year in 1898 and Mary, Arthur and Gerald Critchlow Moreton continued to live with their parents, first in 81 Botteslow Street and then about a mile further out of Hanley in 225 Werrington Road.
In 1917 Gerald Critchlow Moreton enrolled in the Leicestershire Regiment and after training was sent to the trenches in France to join his cousin, William Harry Critchlow who was in the North Staffordshire Regiment (see “When Two Cousins go to War“).
Elizabeth and Enoch Snr died in 1915 and 1920 respectively, with Mary & Arthur Pollard Moreton moving about 4 miles south to 2 Grangewood Avenue, Stoke-on-Trent. Arthur died in the local hospital in 1938 at the age of 70, but Mary was still living there in 1939 (but her death remains undocumented).
Enoch Jr in contrast completed his schooling before joining his father Enoch Snr in the family crate-making business. In 1892 at the age of 24, Enoch married Louisa Holmes, 22, who lived less than 2 miles away in 30 Granville St. They moved next door to Enoch Snr and Elizabeth and his sister Mary in 79 Botteslow St.
Enoch Jr Critchlow (1868-1912) & Louisa [née Holmes] (1870-44)
Enoch Jr and Louisa had their first child, May Elizabeth, 14 months later in March 1893. Their next child, Gertrude Lilian, wasn’t born until 1895 but died within 6 months. They then had children roughly every 4 years: William Harry (Bill) in 1900; Doris Sarah in 1904; and Kenneth Enoch in 1909.
May was employed as a seamstress for M Huntbach Ltd Drapers in Lamb St, central Hanley about 16 minutes walk from Botteslow St.
Bill was at school when his father died in 1912. He continued his studies until he achieved his School Certificate at 15. He then enrolled in the North Staffordshire Regiment and went off to France arriving at the start of the battle of the Somme, where his cousin, Gerald Critchlow Moreton, joined him in 1917 (see “When Two Cousins go to War“). Further details on Bill’s career can be found here.
Details to be added on Doris Sarah and Kenneth Enoch…
William Critchlow (1844-1918) & Alice Mary [née Wood] (1853-1929)
William was Samuel & Ann Critchlow’s 4th child born in 1844. After school, he started work with his brother, Enoch, as an apprentice crate maker for the potteries but he didn’t take to it. At the age of 22, William took the Queen’s Pound, signing up for 10 years as a Grenadier Guard, stating his profession as “musician”. He headed south to London, being billeted at the Wellington Barracks in St James Park, Westminster.
Alice Mary Wood was born in Colchester, Essex in 1853 and by the age of 18 had moved to London to work. In 1871, Alice and William married in St Mary the Virgin, Vincent Square, Westminster and she lodged about 25 minutes walk from the Wellington Barracks at 5 Lillington Street, Pimlico. Lillington Street was destroyed in the WW2 Blitz bombings in 1941 and redeveloped post war.
In 1876 after 10 years in the Grenadiers, William Critchlow “re-engaged” signing on for a total of 21 years and was posted to the 1st Cheshire Militia of the Grenadier Guards in Chester so the couple moved north to Cheshire to live in the Militia Barracks in