Margaret
Margaret Beardmore was born in Stoke on March 7th 1901.
In 1911 Margaret was living with her parents and brothers at 11 The Villas, Stoke. By the 1921 census she was a student of physical training, staying in Putney at 37 Clarendon Road with her uncle William Wood Kennerley, the husband of Arnold Bennett‘s sister Tertia.
Margaret married Cyril Shingler in December 1930. They both acted with the Repertory players, where they were remembered by Charles Healey, later Rector of Draycott-in-the-Moors (Olive Dale’s letter of December 20th 1967). We believe that Cyril was born on January 10th 1902. The England and Wales Death Index shows the month as June but we think this is a mistake.
Margaret’s death was registered in Bromyard, Worcestershire in December 1976.
Cyril worked at several Stoke factories including Mason’s Ironstone. At Mason’s he was responsible for the design of some very collectable commemorative pieces. He was evidently a talented artist as shown by this portrait of his father-in-law.
After Cyril joined Royal Worcester he was appointed curator of their Museum, preparing for the opening by Princess Elizabeth in 1951. Eventually Cyril retired to Davenham, where he celebrated his centenary, but at age 99 he was presented to the Queen when she visited the Museum.
Cyril died in Malvern, Worcestershire on February 27th 2002. Many of the family photos on this website were in his collection and were passed on to his nephew Richard shortly before his death.
Olive Dale to George Beardmore, 20 December 1967
Olive’s Christmas letter, with the long-sought record of William and Mary’s marriage. The first page has been joined from two scans.
Transcription
92 Hassam Parade, Newcastle, Staffs. 20th December, 1967.
My dear George,
I am just sending you a few lines to let you know that I have made a little progress regarding your old WILLIAM BEARDMORE, died at Audley. I found at long last an entry in LEIGH Register (of which we now have the original books at the County Record Office) stating that Banns were read for WILLIAM BEARDMORE of the par. of Leigh, and MARY CRITCHLEY of the par. of DRAYCOTT-IN-THE-MOORS, during December, 1780, but no mention of the marriage having taken place. I therefore found out the name of the Rector at Draycott-in-the-Moors, wrote and gave him the exact date Dec. 26, 1780, and asked him please to check if they were married there. I hoped that the entry might give a clue to father’s name. I also asked him to please make any charge necessary. I received the following reply.
“22nd November, 67. Dear Mrs. Dale,
Thank you v. much for yr. letter of yesterday, & I have spent part of this morning in looking up our registers. Your luck is in & I enclose a copy of the entry 107, entered in our Marriage register started 2 Nov. 1754.
The name of your ancestor is clearly CRITCHLEY, like the great majority of people (esp. the women) then she could not sign her name but made her mark & the name of the second witness appears to me to be NEWTON IKIN but the forename is not clear. It may be a family name. We have a Doomsday farm here in Totmonslow called NEWTON.
Strangely enough you live in a Parade called after my father’s cousin (his mother & my grandmother were sisters, BURGESS) and I have his gold pencil & pen (this unserviceable) in my desk at this moment. He died in June 1926 & I came down from University to his funeral at S. George’s, N.C., at my father’s urgent request.
As regards payment, make it what you like & divide it into 2 equal parts, one for me & one for the church of S. Margaret’s, Draycott. Best Wishes, (sd) Charles Healy, Rector.
P.S. The two slips in the copying are mine. Sorry. I will keep the book (a most interesting volume from other points of view) at the Rectory for a week or so, & if you could care to run over you can see it in my study. We are usually in (one of us), but it would be wise to ring first. Many years ago I knew a Miss Beardmore who married Cyril Shingler. They were both in the Repertory players & I remember that she was related to (? niece) Arnold Bennett.
Extract from Marriage Register: “Banns of Marriage between WILLIAM BEARDMORE & MARY CRITCHLEY were published on the 3rd, 10th & 17th of Decr. 1780. No. 107. The said WILLIAM BEARDMORE of the parish of Leigh, Farmer, and MARY CRITCHLEY of this parish, Spinster, were married in this church by banns this twenty-sixth day of December in the year One thousand seven hundred and eighty – by me, J. Bill, Rector. This marriage was solemnised between us, WILLIAM BEARDMORE. The mark X of MARY CRITCHLEY. In the presence of WILLIAM ASTON, NEWTON IKIN. C. W. Healey, 22. Nov. 67.”
In view of the above, I was rather bothered as to what sum to remit to the Rector, but as I had given him the exact date and he had only to consult that book and check the entry, I eventually decided to send him 10s. (Previous parsons have charged say 1s. 6d. per entry if one examines the book oneself.) I have also recently had four entries sent by a friend who paid 3s. 5d. to the Rector there – at that parish I mean. I never heard again from the Rector, even an acknowledgment, so do not know whether he was offended at the smallness of the sum or not. However, this verifies that WILLIAM seemed to be of age on marr. and was evidently living at Leigh at the moment, as their first child Francis was bap. there in July, 1781.
I have studied the pages of the “Staffordshire Advertiser” Births, Marriages and Deaths, and found the following three entries:
1834. Sept. 6. At Burslem, on the 27th ult., George, son of Mr. George Beardmore, builder, aged 21.
1836. Oct. 15. At the Parish Church, Burslem, on Tuesday, Mr. J. Beardmore, blacksmith, to Miss Mary Lea, daughter of Mr. Lea, of the Old Crown, of Burslem. (Presumably “Billy Lear”.) (Entry states “Lea”.)
1839. Feb. 23. On the 17th instant, at Burslem, Mr. George Beardmore, aged 51, late of that place, builder.
If I can get any other information of help, I will write again.
In the meantime, I am busy spending millions with other members of the County Educn. Cttee, and struggling through the horrid fog, working all day and earning nothing.
So cheerio for the moment, – wishing you everything you wish yourself for a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year.
Best Love, Olive
What the letter tells us
The Draycott marriage. After years of searching, Olive found the banns at Leigh and then, through the Rector of Draycott-in-the-Moors, the marriage itself on 26 December 1780. This is the Rector’s transcription quoted on William’s page. It does not name William’s father, but shows him as a farmer of Leigh, of age, and still living at Leigh, where their first son Francis was baptised in 1781.
George the builder. The Staffordshire Advertiser records the deaths of George Beardmore (1787–1839), builder, of Burslem, aged 51, and of his son George, aged 21, in 1834 – matching the entries in George’s Bible.
Margaret and Cyril. The Rector, Charles Healey, remembered Margaret Beardmore and Cyril Shingler from their days in the Repertory players, and that she was related to Arnold Bennett.
The 1836 marriage of “Mr. J. Beardmore, blacksmith” to Mary Lea of the Old Crown, Burslem, is almost certainly that of Thomas Beardmore (1813–1884), who married Mary, only daughter of Billy Lear of the Old Crown – as Olive herself guessed (“Presumably ‘Billy Lear’”). The initial may have been misprinted.
Hassam Parade. Olive’s road was named after the Rector’s father’s cousin, who died in 1926.
Margaret Beardmore’s notes on the family
Four handwritten pages by Margaret Beardmore (born 1901), John and Emily’s granddaughter, written between 1970 and her death in 1976, probably for her nephew Rick. The dates of John and Emily’s children come from the family Bible; the rest is Margaret’s own memory of her uncles and aunts. A note at the top, probably by Rick, says: “Aunt Margaret’s contribution – hard to read but may have useful info.” A few words are hard to make out and are marked [?].
Transcription
The Beardmore Family
George Beardmore. Born ? Died ? [Father of Edward and John]
Edward Beardmore. Born ? Died ? before 1910 (I think)
John Beardmore. Born 1845. Died between 1907 and 1920 (I think)
The above Edward and John were the sons of the above George.
Children of the above John who married Emily Hancock. Emily died in May 1923. She had been the President of the local British Women’s Temperance Assn: and she had been active in affairs of the Swan Bank Wesleyan Chapel, Burslem.
Edward Harry, born Sept. 5th 1869, died 1932
Francis William, born Oct. 19th 1870, died 1936
John Ernest, born Dec. 3rd 1871, died ?
(Maria, still born Dec. 31st 1872, buried Jan. 1st 1873)
(George Harold, born April 12th 1874, died Jan. 12th 1875)
(Charles Edgar, born Feb. 27th 1876, died June 25th 1877)
Emily Mary, born Oct. 29th 1878, died ?
(Ada, born June 28th 1884, died Sept. 1884) twins
Agnes Ethel, born June 28th 1884, died Nov. 17th 1970
The above information is taken from a Bible (weighing 7 lbs) which was presented to John Beardmore in 1856 “Having attended School for at least 2 yrs & having been examined and approved by H.M. Inspector, the Revd. J. P. Norris M.A. etc. etc.” by “The Association for the Advancement of Education in the Mining and Manufacturing District of North Staffordshire”. Note: on the board cover of the Bible, printed in gold, are the words “Presented by the Iron Masters and Manufacturers of North Staffordshire 1856”.
“Children of John and Emily Beardmore” contd.
Edward Harry. His parents always called him ‘Harry’; hence ‘Denry’ of some of Arnold Bennett’s books. He was head of the firm of “Pidduck & Beardmore”, Ironmongers and Iron Manufacturers of Market St, Burslem, with a factory in Longport. He did not marry, though he was once engaged to his brother Ernest’s future wife Pattie, who broke off the engagement in order to marry Ernest. (In a letter from my auntie Agnes she has told me he once said he’d only loved two women and his brothers had married them: you can work out who the other woman was!) He it was who gave me the silver hair brush etc. you now have. He lived in the parental home, Aspley House, 188 Waterloo Rd, Cobridge, where also lived May Marsden after her husband was killed. After the death of his mother, Edward built a house in Woodland Avenue, Wolstanton (in about 1920), which house soon suffered from subsidence for which he was frequently compensated. With him lived May, and they were tended by the wonderful servant Emma, who dated with the family from my childhood at least. After May died I don’t know what happened to the house except that it vanished and on the site is now a garage (or was 10–20 yrs ago). He and A.B. were friendly but of course A.B. left the district.
Francis William, who was always called Frank. He took out his money from Pidduck & Beardmore’s and set up as a potter at the Sutherland Pottery, Fenton, where he failed in, I think, 1914. His business life was more or less a failure but as a man and as a father he was completely successful. He married Fanny Gertrude Bennett and they had four children: Francis Alan born 1899; Margaret born 1901, Roger born 1904 and George Cedric born 1908.
John Ernest married Pattie Dickinson (of Buxton, high class grocers I think). They lived at Rode Heath and at Congleton and had three children: Helen, who died about 10 years ago (I think she was born about 1904); Jean, who is married to Colonel Rigby and lives in Mere, Cheshire – she is nice & has visited us here and with whom I correspond quite a lot; John, perhaps about Cedric’s age: he is head of P. & B.’s & is a very nice man and a very good business man and he married Anne ? and they live at Congleton and have I think three children.
Emily Mary, always called ‘May’. She married Sidney Marsden, who was killed in the 1st war, and they had one daughter, Joan, who is married to Dagnall (can’t spell it) Ellis and lives in Blewbury and in Westminster.
Agnes Ethel, who was always called Agnes. She was the delicate one who was rather expected to die with her twin but who survived 33 years after the last of her brothers and sisters. She married Leonard Arrowsmith, Arrowsmiths being a firm in Moorland Road, Burslem, who made stilts, spurs, thimbles etc. for pottery ovens. They lived first at Wolstanton, then Pipe Gate, then Whitmore and lastly at Swynnerton, Staffs. They had two daughters, Mary and Kathleen. Mary has three sons and one daughter, Pat, Peter, Richard and Madeleine. Kathleen has three sons, Nicholas, Jonathan & Francis.
Note. John Beardmore was a magistrate of Burslem.
Edward Beardmore, brother of John, married Alice ? (his housekeeper, and very nice too). They had one daughter, belatedly, Dorothy, who was born in 1900, who married somebody Green of Newcastle-u-Lyme and who died ages ago, I should think in the 1920s. Edward and Alice lived at The Grange, Barlaston.
Sidney Marsden had at least three sisters & I don’t know about brothers: Maud, who married Septimus Bennett & had two children, Ruth & John; Clare, who married Dagnell Ellis & had I think 3 children; Gladys, who married ? Wright & had some children I think.
What the notes tell us
Margaret’s dates for John and Emily’s children agree with the family Bible as summarised on this page, except that she gives Agnes Ethel’s death as 17 November 1970; we have 19 November. Her sketches add colour that no record holds: Harry the model for Bennett’s “Denry”, his broken engagement to Pattie, the house in Woodland Avenue that sank, the faithful servant Emma, and Frank, whose “business life was more or less a failure but as a man and as a father he was completely successful.”
Her note that Maud Marsden married Septimus Bennett links the two families again: their daughter was Ruth Bennett, whom George called his cousin.