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A Family History

Hannah Shorrock 1862-1951

The Shorrocks & The Whittakers

George Taylor married his wife Hannah Shorrock at the United Methodists Church Over Darwen on 12th April, 1884. Hannah was a descendant of one of Darwen's oldest families. There are records relating to this family as far back as the reign of Queen Mary. In 1556 a William Shorrock aged 66 of Eccleshill (an area near Darwen) was a witness in a trial concerning manorial rights in Over Darwen. The Shorrock descendants are legion. Many of them were wealthy, and some Shorrock heirlooms still survive in our family, a Grandfather Clock that once stood in the pub called "The Dog" at Belthorn on the moors above Darwen, and a number of glass tumblers engraved with the name of Y. Shorrock.

Hannah Shorrock was born on the 29th October 1862, she was the daughter of John Shorrock and Jane Isherwood. I know nothing about her mother Jane, save that her father William was a Printer.  Hannah lived a long life, dying on March 2nd 1951 of heart failure and senility. The following details were published in the Darwen News on Friday March 9th of 1951

In her 89th Year
Death of Mrs H. Taylor

"Aged 88 years Mrs Hannah Taylor died suddenly on Friday, at Eventide Home Allerton, Liverpool. Up to December last she had lived at 25, Higher South Street. Together with her late husband Mr George Taylor who died about 15 years ago, Mrs Taylor had a sweet shop and confectionary business in Bridge Street for a number of years. She was connected with Belgrave Independent Meeting House. Two sons survive her. The funeral took place at Charlton Crematorium on Tuesday, Rev G. Farrand officiating. Interment took place at Darwen Cemetery on Wednesday."

John Shorrock, Hannah's father, is shown as having a number of occupations during his life. In 1851 the census shows John and Jane both age 24 living at Punstock (or Pump Stock). John's occupation is listed as a joiner and this corresponds with the details of the marriage entry for John and Jane at Blackburn Parish Church on December 10th 1850. By 1861 John and Jane had produced three sons and were living at 45 Bury Street close to the centre of Darwen. The census record is as follows:

The same year Jane gave birth to another boy - Jim. By 1884 when Hannah married George Taylor, John had turned his hand to that of Provision Grocer.

      Jim Shorrock

Hannah's brothers John Yates, Ralph, and Jim all worked for C & J.G. Potter. Ralph was a printer in charge of one of only two 20 colour wallpaper machines in the world. Jim was foreman of the printing roller-making and engraving department.  His niece Ethel, daughter of John Yates Shorrock, went out to New Zealand to marry a "pen-friend", Roy Fisher. Jim owned one of the first cars to be seen in Darwen and, after his retirement sailed First Class to New Zealand to visit Ethel.

In 1901 John Yates Shorrock was living in Golborne, South West Lancashire at No. 4 School Terrace.  His occupation is Paper Staining Manager and his son Albert is listed as Worker Paper stainer. 

Also shown are sons Harry (9), Yates (4) and Ethel (1) along with nieces Mary and Margaret aged 18 and 12.  This Yates was born in February 1897 on remote moorland at Higher Lomax Cottage in Heywood Lancashire in the middle of a snowstorm.  His birthday was February 6th but the certificate shows the 8th, a consequence of the confusion and delay resulting from the storm. Yates worked at Belgrave Mills, before WWI he worked as a sales clerk.  During WWI the factory was turned over to munitions and Yates worked in the "Bailey Bridge" department.  After the war he took over the wallpaper finishing department and stayed there until he retired.

Ralph and his wife Peggy (née Harwood) were at No. 4 Pinfold in Darwen.  Ralph's occupation is Machine Printer Paper Staining Works.  With them are sons Joseph (22), James (21) and John (20).  Joseph's occupation is hard to decipher - Packer ??????? but James and John were respectively Stone Quarryman and Stone Mason.  Living with them were Peggy's mother Ann a widow aged 78 and a niece Betsy Shorrock aged 7. 

Jim was at 7 Kelvin Street with wife Annie aged 39.  Their children Betsy Jane (12) and John (8) are with them along with their grandfather John, a widower, aged 75.  In addition nephews Ralph (21) a Labourer Paper Works, Samuel (11) and niece Hannah (15) a Cotton Weaver are at the same address. 

There was an elder brother called Lawrence, he was born in 1854 at Great Gardens in Over Darwen, and died on June 27th 1898. He had married an Ann Taylor in 1875, she pre-deceased him by 9 days. The nieces and nephews shown living with John Yates, Ralph and Jim are Lawrence and Ann's orphaned children. Of these, Mary found her way to America and settled there, of the others I know nothing.

John Yates Shorrock died on August 19th 1912 by his own hand. The story in the family has it that he had entered into litigation with the Wall Paper Manufacturers Ltd. It is likely that he worked for Mitchell, Arnott & Company in Golborne Lancs. The WPM bought this business around 1901. John Yates, it seems, went into business on his own, making wallpaper. He employed a travelling salesman or "traveller" who, it is alleged, cheated him by selling orders to the competition - Potters and Shand Kydd and this lead John Yates into bankruptcy. Whatever the reason for his despair, he walked into the back yard in the early hours of the morning, and took his own life by holding his head in a washing tub full of water until he drowned. I cannot imagine the courage that this must have required.

The death certificate reads "Dead body found nineteenth August 1912 in back yard of 30 Edge Green Lane Golborne U.D." His occupation is given as Paper Stainer and the cause of death is given as follows: "Found drowned in Dolly Tub of water. Suicide. Unsound mind. Last seen alive a few hours before." An inquest was held on the following day by S. Brighouse, Coronor for Lancashire at the time.

On August 23rd The Leigh Journal published a small article about the tragedy. It confirms all of the details of the Death Certificate, but, the reporter got the name wrong. I don't suppose the family cared about such detail at the time. It seems likely that it was his son Harry that retrieved the body since Albert was married by that time.  Harry died during WWI in Arras in France, there is no grave.

Albert served in WWI as a sniper in the infantry. He survived, but was wounded in the wrist, and wore a glove or perhaps some kind of prosthesis on the injury. Albert's injury prevented him from ever working.  He and his wife Mag lived to a ripe old age.

The father of all of these children was John Shorrock, born on 26th December 1825, one of about ten children of Lawrence Shorrock and Sarah Yates. The details of his baptism and birth were recorded at the Lower Chapel, along with some of those of his brothers and sisters. Missing from this record are the details of Lawrence and Sarah's first child, another John, born in 1822. This first child died on 20th February 1823. Also missing are details of the baptism of Peggy a daughter born about 1828, a Sarah born about June 1839 and a Lawrence born about 1844.

In 1861, just around the corner from Bury Street, we can find Peggy Shorrock living with her brother Lawrence in Greggs Gardens.

By 1871 John & Jane had moved the family to 8 Greggs Gardens.

At number 10 we can find other relatives, including a William H. Shorrock the son of Yates (another child of Lawrence & Sarah of Standish) a widower by now.

Even in 1925 Greggs Gardens looks pretty grim, with no sign of a garden and shared latrines and washing facilities in the back yard,

All of these people were descended from Lawrence Shorrock and Sarah Yates who married on March 6th 1821 at St. Wilfred's Church in Standish. Lawrence Shorrock was a publican. Baines's History of Lancashire published in 1825 shows Lawrence Shorrock at the "Swan" in Lower Darwen. After John's birth the family moved to Standish where Lawrence ran the Boar's Head, close by the railway on the road from Wigan to Standish. Lawrence is listed as publican in the local trade directory for the year 1834. The Boar's Head dates from at least 1271 and has claims to being the second oldest pub in England. For centuries the Boar's Head belonged to the Standishes of Standish, and the crest, the owl and the rat, displayed on the south gable, surmounts a shield, with the arms of Standish impaling those of the ducal house of Howard.   The Boar's Head was also mentioned in the trials of the Lancashire Jacobite gentlemen at Manchester in 1694 (the Lancashire Plot) as the rendezvous of the Jacobites when hatching plots against King William III.

The Boar's Head at Standish

From the Boar's Head he moved to Sheaf Row in Standish where he is to be found in 1841 listed as a publican. The house is obviously on the end of Sheaf Row and I speculate that this was in fact The Wheatsheaf public house which closed in 1982 and was demolished in 1985 to make way for a supermarket. Both the Boar's Head and The Wheatsheaf were listed in 1778 amongst property owned by Edward Townley Standish, Lord of the Manor from 1778-1807.

Lawrence's wife, Sarah Yates, born in Coppull about 1798, died on the 25th July 1857. I have found no trace of her ancestors. The Lower Chapel entries for her children are shown below.

Sarah, the youngest child recorded died 4 months after her birth on the 18th March 1837. But by 1841 they had added another Sarah to the list. This Sarah was a bit elusive in 1851 because she was staying with her Aunt Nancy in King Street, Blackburn but she lived to the ripe old age of 76 and is buried with her brother Yates with whom she lived in Lorne Street, Darwen.

With Sarah in 1851 was Lawrence, probably the last child of Lawrence & Sarah Shorrock, he died August 13th 1875 and, based on the monumental inscription, must have been born around 1844. Lawrence married Mary Ann Isherwood an Inn Keeper of Hacking Street and a widow, on November 9th 1870 (father William Hindle - Inn Keeper). Mary Ann must have held the "Dun Horse" in Hacking Street (see 1871 census below) while Lawrence was in the grocery trade. I have looked, so far in vain, for an Isherwood - Hindle marriage.

William Shorrock died on 9th September, 1857 aged 34. In 1851 he was to be found working as a Servant in a farmhouse at New Meadows occupied by Mary Shorrock a widow aged 74. Ralph Shorrock died on 22 January 1844.

Ellen died 17 November, 1896. In 1861 she is shown visiting her cousin Ralph Ibbotson (Innkeeper and son of Aunt Nancy) at 48 King Street in Blackburn.  It seems likely that she married late at the age of 34 to a John Shorrock, widower and Innkeeper of Euxton.  One of the witnesses was Lawrence Whittaker Walmsley and Ellen's father is described as Lawrence Shorrock Publican, while she is shown resident in Over Darwen.  John kept the Bay Horse Inn at Euxton and farmed 22 acres of land.  The marriage cannot have been a happy one because by 1881 she is shown at 10, Greggs Gardens, along with Sarah, Yates and his son William, living as a boarder, described as a dress maker suffering from paralysis.  The census record describes her as unmarried but the other evidence from the marriage record looks secure enough.  Meanwhile, John, by now 52 and retired, is living alone at the Bay Horse Inn

Yates Shorrock married Hannah Heaps in the first quarter of 1857. Sadly he was soon widowed, Hannah died from a Hepatitis infection on 23rd September 1863, at the time Yates was a Publican in Bury Street. Hannah's demise must have created some sort of crisis as by 1871, his occupation is described as General Labourer. Yates himself passed away much later on 4 December 1901.

The Shorrock memorials are spread between the graveyard of the Lower Chapel and Darwen Cemetery. The monument to Lawrence and Sarah was erected at Lower Chapel and was of table type measuring 5'11" x 3'0" inscribed with the following:

"Lawrence and Sarah Shorrock of Standish. Lawrence Shorrock died May 4th 1853 age 55 years. Sarah Shorrock wife of the above who died July 27th 1857 aged 59 years. John their son died February 20th 1823 aged 11 months. Also Sarah their daughter died March 18th 1837 aged 4 months.

Dear to their parents, to their God more dear
Two lovely infants sweetly slumbers here
Blesst is their lot from sin and sorrow free
To us they'er dead but Lord alive to thee.

Also Ralph their son who died January 22nd 1844 aged 13 years. Also of John Shorrock of Lower Darwen who died June 7th 1845 aged 80 years. Also of William Shorrock who died September 9th 1857 in the 34th year of his age. Also in affectionate remembrance of the late Sarah Jane daughter of Peggy Shorrock who departed this life January 28th 1860 aged 1 year and 2 months."

Sarah Jane, who died in January 1860, was born out of wedlock. Her mother Peggy never married. In the non-conformist section "K" of Darwen Cemetery in adjacent graves the following Shorrock memorials were placed.

"In affectionate remembrance of Peggy daughter of the late Lawrence Shorrock who died May 24th 1874 aged 46 years. Also Ellen Shorrock who died Nov 17th 1896 aged 64 years. Also of Yates Shorrock who died Dec 4th 1901 aged 66 years. Also John Shorrock who died Jan 2nd 1905 aged 79 years. Also Sarah Shorrock who died April 20th 1916 aged 76 years."

and in the next plot -

"In affectionate remembrance of Lawrence Shorrock who died Aug 13th 1875 aged 31 years. Also Ernest son of Lawrence and Mary Ann Shorrock who died Feb 5th, 1876 aged 10 weeks. Also Jane the beloved wife of John Shorrock who died January 3rd 1894 aged 67 years. Also Mary Jane the beloved wife of James H. Hindle who died December 13th 1904 aged 42 years."

In this grave we also find Jane Shorrock (née Isherwood) along with Lawrence who died in 1875 who was also a publican. In 1871 he is shown in Hacking Street at the "Dun Horse" along with Mary Ann, his wife, and an adopted child - possibly from Mary Ann's earlier marriage.

John Shorrock who died aged 80 in 1845, and was buried at Lower Chapel, was the father of Lawrence Shorrock of Standish. John may be the original owner of the family Grandfather Clock - manufactured by Wignall of Ormskirk between 1768 and 1785, or it may have been a wedding present perhaps from his father.

John was baptised on the 14th November 1764 son of Ralph and Ann of Blacksnape. A Ralph Sharrock, a weaver of Blackburn Parish, married Nancy (Ann) Fowler, also of Blackburn Parish, on August 12^th 1762, he was born about 1731. One of the witnesses was a church official but the other was one Thurston Briggs. Ralph and Ann must have moved to Blacksnape and then to Lower Hill in Lower Darwen. They baptised their children at Lower Chapel. Ann died on 26th April 1817 and Ralph joined her a year later on 28th September 1818.

Ralph’s father was another Ralph from Eccleshill who married Hannah Harwood of Upper Darwen on June 13th 1728 in Blackburn. They had at least three other boys Michael born around 1748 and a James and a William. Ralph and Hannah's descendants must number into thousands by now.

The Whittaker Connection

The Whittakers and the Shorrocks inter married. Mary daughter of Ralph and Ann married Lawrence Whittaker on 23^rd June 1796. Her brother, John Shorrock (1764-1845), married Lawrence’s sister Margaret Whittaker who was baptised at St James' in 1773. John and Margaret also baptised their children at Lower Chapel..

Margaret Whittaker came from a wealthy family and so we may surmise that John himself was of the same class. Margaret was the daughter of Lawrence Whiteaker (1738-1799) and Mary Hacking, both of Lower Darwen who married at Blackburn in 1758. Lawrence and Mary had a large family and it seems likely that one of their children, Robert (Bd. 1765) was the ancestor of another Margaret Whittaker found elsewhere in our family history as the wife of James Tomlinson.

From the Blackburn St Mary registers and the evidence provided by Lawrence's will and that of his great Uncle John Whiteacre, it is clear that Lawrence Whiteaker was one of the sons of Robert Whiteaker (c. 1718) and his wife Alice. His brothers were James (Bd. 1744) and John.

Robert's father was yet another Lawrence born about 1685, who married Margaret Collenson in 1715. This Lawrence the elder was dead before 1750. His brother John died about 1750 leaving the Blackamoor public house to Robert. An abstract of the will is reproduced below.

John Whiteacre of Lower Darwen, County Lancashire, Yeoman - Infra. Will made 27 August 1750

Executors: wife Ann and Thomas Pickering of Pickering

Witnesses Henry Thompson, Robert Aspenall, John Nevill

Executors sworn 10th September 1750, Probate granted 9th October 1750.

All those my messuages, dwelling houses and premises in Lower Darwen now in the several tenures etc of myself, Hugh Smith and John Haworth Innkeeper, unto Ann my beloved wife (during her lifetime).

Debt of £15 to Richard Hodson

Bequests £10 apiece to my two nieces

Mary wife of Henry Catterall of Tocholes

Ann wife of Henry Haworth of Lower Darwen

After payments, all premises called or known by names of Blackamoor unto my nefew Robert Whiteacre son of Lawrence Whiteacre late of Lower Darwen and his heirs.

Item: to John son of Robert Whitacre my large house bible and my wearing apparill.

All remainder to Ann my wife.

The vital information is the passing of the Blackamoor to Robert son of Lawrence.

The Blackamoor

The deed packet of the Blackamoor includes details of the conveyance (shown below) of the Blackamoor to a Mr. J. Whitaker in 1733. The property remained in the hands of the Whittakers for 145 years.

In June 1799 Robert's son Lawrence made a will which included the following arrangements.

Lawrence Whittaker the elder Yeoman of Lower Darwen Will made 19 June 1799

To son John Whittaker: the public house or Ale House known as Black a Moor now in the occupation of son Robert Whittaker, as also the stable, shippen, brew house, garden and appurtenances; subject to yearly payment of £1-6s to Mrs Dewhurst, her heirs & assigns, of Blackburn.

John Shorrock's wife Margaret also benefited from the will:

To daughters Alice, wife of George Whalley at the Hill in Lower Darwen, and Margaret, wife of John Shorrock Innkeeper of Lower Darwen, each £100 to be paid from the rents of certain houses after £20 has been reserved for payment to wife Mary.

And later in the same text:

To daughter Margaret, wife of John Shorrock, the bed in which I now lie.

Thus we can make the connection from Lawrence through his father John to Lawrence the elder via the passing of the Blackamoor through the generations. The reference to John Shorrock Innkeeper is also of interest. It may be that the Inn in question was the "Swan" that was found in the possession of Lawrence Shorrock in 1825.

Margaret had a younger brother Lawrence baptised in 1777. He died in 1844 leaving the following will.

Lawrence Whittaker, farmer of Over Darwen

Will dated 1st September 1844 & codicil dated 21st September 1844. Probate dated 11th December 1845 at Chester Consistory Court.

Named executors Hannah wife of John Walmsley, Lawrence Shorrock of Standish & Eccles Shorrock of Over Darwen. Probate granted to the above. Date of death 20th November 1844. Under £1500

My two houses at Moor Lane in Lower Darwen to my nephew William Whittaker of Buryfold, Over Darwen. The rest of my property held by my niece Hannah wife of John Walmsley shall be divided among her three sons:

Lawrence Whittaker Walmsley shall have all my leasehold houses situated in Duckworth St and Bury St

John Walmsley shall have the freehold house and shop in Bury St & the plot of land.

William Walmsley shall have the White Lion Public House & stable & plot of land.

If all die without lawful issue then I bequeath whole of such property to Lawrence Shorrock of Standish.

Codicil - To pay Lawrence Shorrock of Standish the £500 I owe him.

Hannah Walmsley (b. 1793) was one of the daughters of John Shorrock and Margaret Whittaker. Lawrence had inherited the two houses in Moor Lane under his fathers will made in 1799.  The close connection between the Whittaker and Shorrock families was maintained through the generations and it is possible that John Shorrock and Jane Isherwood in 1861 were living in the house or shop in Bury St. given to Lawrence Whittaker under this will.

It is clear at least, that Lawrence Shorrock of Standish was a wealthy man and probable that the close relationship with Whittakers lasted during his life. Next to the monument to Lawrence Shorrock and his wife Sarah is the grave of Lawrence Whittaker. The inscription reads:

"In memory of Lawrence Whittaker of Over Darwen who departed this life November 21st 1845 aged 72 years. Also of Mary wife of the above who departed this life April 18th 1854 aged 78 years. Also of John Walmsley son of John and Hannah Walmsley who departed this life February 24th 1857 aged 22 years."

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