HARLE – A family history to date

Harle Surname

Perhaps unsurprisingly there seem to be several possible origins for the surname Harle. The ‘Dictionary of Surnames’[1] suggests it is of English origin and derives from a habitation name from a place in Northumberland, of whose name the second element is the Old English word ‘le`ah’ meaning wood clearing. It is surmised that the first element is perhaps an Old English personal name ‘Herela’ which itself is a derivation of various compound names with the first element ‘here’, meaning army.  The publication offers a second possible explanation, this being that Harle is a variation of the name ‘Earl’ (see below).

It is possible that the Harle name evolved from a corruption of the name ‘Herle’ – one of the earliest references to this ‘surname’ is given as Hugh de Herle (Baron [of] Prudhoe) who in 1240 held what is now known as ‘Little Harle Tower’ a mansion which was the capital seat of the Manor of Little Harle otherwise called East Harle in Northumberland[2]. It is claimed he was a knight whose family came over with William the Conqueror at the time of the Norman Conquest though there is no evidence to justify such a claim. This explanation seems to have appeared first in a letter dated 16 October 1986 from JPP Anderson of Little Harle Tower in Kirkwhelpington, Newcastle upon Tyne to a Harle researcher. He wrote:

‘….the land in this area [Northumberland] was held by a certain Baron de Herle from Prudhoe  [- these last two words appear crossed out]. Presumably Harle is a corruption of his name. Almost certainly the Baron was a Norman Knight whose family came over with the Conquest in 1066’.

It seems everyone can trace their origins back to the Norman invasion!!  AJ Camp[3] categorises and analyses the available records and provides a summary of all those individuals that can definitively be identified as having accompanied William the Conqueror – no Herle/Harle name is mentioned, suggesting that the assumption above is incorrect. The fact that he was referred to as ‘de Herle’ indicates again a habitation source for the surname – ie Hugh of Herle.

The Dictionary of Surnames offers a second possible explanation this being that Harle is a variation of the name ‘Earl’. Indeed, other Harle researchers have noted a link with the surname JARLE which in low German equated to the English derivation ‘EARL/E’  - the ‘J’ and ‘H’ are inter-changeable in low German - and have suggested that the first Harle’s in England were from the first Hugenot migrations into what is now Norfolk and Essex. It is postulated that the English Harle ancestors arrived from abroad and settled in the costal flat-lands some 500 years ago bringing with them a wealth of farming techniques, including animal husbandry, ‘marl’ fertilizer and the concept of laying land away once every third year to allow for its revitalisation.

A further interesting possibility is that there may be an alternative derivation of the Harle surname from a Germanic source[4], and certainly research on the internet suggests that there is a nucleus of Harles in Germany . Indeed there is a German village named Harle which is located at the Eastern edge of the plains of Wabern (‘Wabernsche Ebene’) which is nestled close to the Harle mountain. Research into the history of the village indicates it may have been founded prior to 500 AD and it is suggested that the name Harle probably comes from the old Germanic ‘har’ which means ‘sharp, pointed’ or ‘pointed rock’[5]. 

Whilst it certainly possible or even likely that there may be more than one source of derivation, my own view is that the most likely and relevant explanation is that the Harle surname was indeed a habitation name from North East England evolving to identify an individual to a point of origin – for example, John of Harle.

Certainly there are several Harle parish names and location variants in the Northumberland area and other researchers appear to have traced the Harle family name in this area to the 13^th century which appears to be about the time surnames began to be adopted.  For example, one researcher (Trevor D Harle) has traced his Harle ancestors to the parish of Kirkwelphington which included the townships of West Harle and Little Harle. Similarly the parish to the south of Kirkwelphington is Kirkharle which consists of the townships of Kirkharle and Hawick.

It is also interesting to note that as late as the nineteenth century the Harle family name still appeared to have been heavily concentrated in the North East. An analysis I carried out in 2001/02 of all Harle family surname deaths in England in the period between 1841 and 1851 showed that some 60% died (and therefore presumably lived) in the North East.

In my view therefore, the evidence of this concentration of the surname in this area is sufficient to suggest that the primary source of the Harle surname is domestic.

Harle family history

To date, ‘our’ Harle family can be traced back to Thomas Harle (my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather) who married Jane Gale in Newcastle in 1780[6]. Jane was descended from the influential and locally well known Gale family, originally from Scruton in North Yorkshire , though she herself had been born in Northallerton in about 1761[7]. They had a son (Thomas) born in 1782[8]. It is not clear what brought the family down to Yorkshire . Possibly, it could have been Jane’s strong family ties in North Yorkshire . It is interesting to note that Thomas Harle seems to have been based for a time in Middleham - which is only some 14 miles from Scruton and 20 miles from Northallerton - before subsequently moving to York [9].

Thomas Harle married Anne Boulton at St Michel le Belfry in York in 1808. She had been born in (New) Malton, North Yorkshire in 1784 into a family of auctioneers. Thomas was an attorney in the City with offices initially in Colliergate which he retained from the early 1820’s to the mid 1830’s at least before moving to 60 Petergate¹³ close to the Minster and Bootham Bar.  At this time, it is interesting to note that Petergate had not been divided into the Low Petergate (the part below Stonegate) and High Petergate (the portion above Stonegate) that we know today.

Thomas and Anne had nine children. Henry Boulton Harle (my great great grandfather) was the eldest, born in 1810.  Exhibit 1 shows Henry’s siblings in order of birth, together with light notes of what we know of them:

Exhibit 1 – Henry Boulton Harle’s siblings

There is little information about Henry Boulton during his early life. It is likely however that being from a middle class family he received some form of schooling and then possibly entered employment as a clerk to his father (as his son was subsequently to do for him). It is not clear as yet where he took his articles – see exhibit 3.

Henry married his cousin Henrietta Jane Boulton in 1834 at St Peter’s parish church, Leeds¹⁵. Their family relationship is illustrated in exhibit 2 below and a full analysis of the research confirming the linkage of the Boulton and Harle families is given in appendix 1.

Exhibit 2 - Linkage of Harle & Boulton families

Henrietta Jane was born in Pocklington a village just outside York in December 1810 and her father Robert was also a solicitor who subsequently practised in Great Driffield.  Before her marriage Henrietta may well already have been living in Leeds as she had been baptised in Holbeck two years earlier. It seems clear that the first years of their marriage were spent in York as their first first three children were born there.

Thomas and Anne moved to Leeds in the late 1830’s as did Henry Boulton and his family. It appears that the full extended Harle family moved from York at this time as a number of Thomas’s children were still living in the family home in 1841[10].

Though the reason for their move is as yet unknown, their occupation as solicitors offers a likely explanation. Henry like his father became an attorney and solicitor and was admitted to practice in the Court of Bankruptcy in 1842 (at the age of 32) a few years after the family moved to Leeds in 1842. Thomas appears to have continued to practice until his death from phthisis (TB) on 6 April 1844 at the age of 62.

Exhibit 3 – Occupations (The Legal Profession)[11]

Economic growth

Opportunities were emerging in the rapidly growing township of Leeds [13]. The professional service sector and particularly financial, commercial and legal services  were developing rapidly and necessarily at this time to facilitate the industrial growth of nineteenth century Leeds .

Although the predominant textile industry declined in relative importance from the mid 1850’s onwards, other industries were flourishing throughout the Victorian period. In particular:

However, industrial growth was not limited to these specific industries and Leeds was noted for the diversity of its industrial expertise. It also became a centre for such varied trades as printing, glass production, paper manufacture.

It was against this background of a rapid growth in enterprise that supporting professional service industries developed in the mid nineteenth century[17]. In 1837 there were 61 attorneys operating in Leeds which by 1850 had risen to 76 attorneys and solicitors and 4 barristers. The legal trade was concentrated in a narrow geographical area. For example;

Insurance companies were also strongly represented in Leeds . The first and largest - the ‘ Leeds and Yorkshire Fire and Life Insurance’ had been established in 1824 with a capital of £1m (had its own fire engines to protect their interests). By 1837 the number of insurance companies had grown to 35 and by 1858 70 insurance companies had branches or were represented in Leeds .

Henry Boulton acted in partnership with William Clarke from 1846 to 1852 operating from 22 Kenyon’s Court just off Briggate. It was during this period that he acted as agent for the ‘Merchant Tradesmen and General Mutual Life Assurance and National Benefit Society’ thereby contributing to the growth in the City’s insurance representation noted above.

In addition to a business relationship, there appears also to have been some family tie between the Harle and Clarke family. (Sykes material although not totally clear because of some illegibility indicates that there was a marriage between the respective families).

There is an interesting and apparent contradiction regarding Henry Boulton’s business interests in the mid 1850’s and 1860’s. Certainly by middle age he would be expected to be in his professional prime and it is clear that in addition to his practice in Leeds he had offices in both Bradford and York in the period between 1857 and 1867[19]. There is no confirmatory evidence but it is possible if not likely that he was supported in maintaining his network of offices by other family members, particularly his brother Robert, and son Henry Boulton junior both of whom were solicitor’s clerks.

The position of the Victorian middle classes was potentially fragile and comfortable living standards could quickly be jeopardised if the breadwinner, failed in business or died.  It was in early 1860 that Henry Boulton appears to have experienced financial distress and a public notice appeared in the Leeds Intelligencer of 5 May 1860 . He was called to appear before the County Court on 1 June. However, there is no further mention of this case and it is not clear how this was resolved. Perhaps he was ‘assisted’ by other family members or friends as other contemporary sources of evidence do not show a decline in his status or circumstances. For example, trade directories do not show any obvious break in his professional practice and a year later the 1861 census shows he still had several domestic servants.

On moving to Leeds the choice of location by father and son is interesting. Initially Thomas and Anne lived in the centre of the township in Wellington Street before moving to Cobourg Street (Number 30) in what then was a pleasant and relatively ‘well to do’ area just North of the centre of the township[20]. Henry Boulton and his family initially lived in the Holbeck and Hunslet areas – south west of Leeds township - where at least three of his children were born[21]

Why did he choose Holbeck and Hunslet? – there are a number of possible explanations:

Certainly, this area of Leeds was by the start of the Victorian age rapidly becoming industrialised and an increasingly unpleasant place to live. Henry and his family did not stay long in Holbeck and by 1841 was living in the centre of Leeds . The family moved within Leeds several times during the 1840’s including Eldon Terrace, Park Row and North Street .

Sometime during the late 1840’s they moved to Burley which was then a village several miles to the North West of Leeds. The move of the Harle family ‘out of town’ was common of many middle class families in Leeds and other urban areas during the mid nineteenth century.

During the first half of the nineteenth century Leeds township was becoming an increasingly unhealthy and unpleasant environment. As environmental conditions worsened the trend for wealthier classes to abandon the centre of Leeds increased[22]. Burley village was then north of Leeds above and away from the smoke and squalor of industry This trend was well recognised at the time. For example, in 1845 the Select Committee on Smoke Prevention were told that:

‘ Park Place and Park Square which used to be the residences of the best families in Leeds have been gradually desecrated for several years past in consequence of the increasing smoke. They are in the best part of Leeds but the parties are driven out of town; they live a mile or two out of town now; as they have means of omnibuses they can do it. They used to live near their businesses’.

The Committee writer’s reference to the omnibus is important, as it was the introduction of the horse-drawn bus service which now began to allow the middle classes to live in the outlying villages and commute into Leeds . Headingley, bordering Burley village, effectively became the first village to become a commuter suburb in 1837 with the introduction by two operators of a horse drawn bus service to Briggate and the Upper Headrow in the Town centre[23]. Other neighbouring villages including Chapel Allerton and Kirkstall soon followed.

The timing of the Harle move to Burley is interesting. In 1844 the then mayor of Leeds , Darnton Lupton spoke of his own experience:

… ‘Home property is much lessened in Leeds by the smoke, almost 25 to 30 per cent because everyone does as I did a few years ago. I went out. I could not bear it any longer; and everyone who can is going out of town’.

In the 1840’s everyone ‘who can’ generally meant the upper middle class[24]. By the middle of that decade Henry Boulton had qualified as a solicitor and additionally perhaps had also received an inheritance following the death of his father, Thomas in 1844 which perhaps facilitated the move. At this time it was the norm for middle class families to rent property and therefore it was relatively easy for them to move if they wished to. He now had young children and was no doubt keen to bring them up in a more comfortable environment.

An analysis of the population of Headingley cum Burley shows that the demographic changes were in fact evident before the 1840’s (see exhibit 4).

Exhibit 4  Population of Headingley cum Burley in the nineteenth century

 *    Harle family moved between these dates

Headingley township (which included Burley) increased its share of the borough population in every census year after 1821. The large growth was predominantly attributable to the ‘flight of the middle classes’. As the 1851 census reported ‘ Leeds was becoming socially segregated , with the middle classes escaping to the suburbs leaving the workers behind in the industrial areas’. The following census in 1861 reported that ‘the sanitary position of Headingley and Burley has induced a large portion of the mercantile community of Leeds to reside in the township’

However, the move of the middle classes to the suburbs did not mean a total physical segregation from the working classes.  All areas of Leeds continued to have a social mix of residents, and Kirkstall which bordered Burley had itself, as stated earlier, experienced growth as a textile and iron founding centre, which in part contributed to the rapid population increase noted above.

The Harle family moved to Burley village sometime in the 1840’s living initially in Burley Grove and then Burley Lodge. Henry Boulton Harle and his family were to remain in Burley for the next 40 years though they moved several times within the village. In the early 1860’s they were living in Burley Lane, 10 years later in 1871 in Burley Mount. The census of 1881 shows the family had moved to St Matthias Street, adjoining the main Burley Road next to the church of the same name (the Church remains but the St Matthias housing complex has been re-built).

As late as 1872 Burley village is described as of ‘somewhat picturesque appearance’ (1872 Directory). At this time, an omnibus travelled between Burley and Briggate ( Leeds ) 8 times a day (except Sunday). Trams ran along Kirkstall round every twenty minutes. By the end of Henry Boulton’s life in 1883, as suggested by the population growth of exhibit 2, Burley had changed beyond all recognition from the village the family had moved to almost half a century before.

Henry Boulton’s wife Henrietta died in November 1857 and shortly after he remarried Marianne Hirst the governess of his children. Marianne was the granddaughter of William Hirst the ‘Father of the Yorkshire Woollen Trade’ from whom we are separately descended also.

It is possible that Henry knew his second wife and the Hirst family generally through other means also.  Although it seems unlikely for there to have been a business relationship as the Hirst ‘star’ had very much fallen by this time. William Hirst was nearing the end of his life in a state of poverty and his two sons Thomas and Henry were dead by this time. However, it is possible that as a specialist in bankruptcy Henry came into contact with William Hirst in a professional capacity [though not at the time of his first bankruptcy in 1830]. Also it should be remembered that the Harle and Hirst families lived in close proximity to each other in Burley and may therefore have known of each other[25].

The status afforded by his occupation is reasonably clear, Burley Lodge appears a sizeable property from contemporary maps, and the various census returns from 1851 onwards show the family enjoyed significant domestic assistance with at least three staff employed at any one time to cook, clean and run errands[26]. (At the beginning of Victoria ’s reign an income of £150 was likely to enable a person to employ a servant for occasional charing at £3 a year. £200 provided a young resident maid servant at a cost of £9 a year and at an income of £250 would provide  an experienced maid servant at £16 enabling the gentleman’s wife to be promoted to ‘lady’).

In fact the only photograph of Henry Boulton in later years appears to show a man of relatively good means, both well dressed, and well-fed!

Henry Boulton seems to have stopped working in around 1875 when he would have been 65. This is when he is last recorded as a practising attorney in a trade directory though he is still recorded as a solicitor in the 1881 census at the age of 70. He died at the age of 72 on 1 April 1883 .

What became of Henry Boulton’s children?

Henry Boulton Harle had a total of at least fifteen children, twelve by his first wife Henrietta Jane and three by his second Marianne. Below briefly is a summary of what we know of the lives of his children. Even from the limited information currently available, a most striking fact appears to be the divergent lives experienced by this group of siblings – in birth date order:

Henrietta Jane Harle (1835-1858)

Henrietta, eldest daughter of Henry Boulton Harle and presumably named after her mother, was born in York. She died unmarried at the family home at the age of 22 in January 1858 just eleven weeks after her mother.

Thomas Pritchard Harle (1837-1871)

Eldest son of Henry Boulton and born in York before the family move to Leeds . He was living in the family home in Burley in 1851 and was still in schooling (the census notes he was a scholar). Thomas married Isabella Hubbard, daughter of Henry, in Southampton on 11 December 1860 . It is likely that Thomas met his wife through the existing connexion between the Hubbard and Harle familes – his uncle, Conyers Gale (1824-1877) was married to Isabella’s sister Georgiana. Following marriage the couple returned to Yorkshire where their son Thomas Henry Pritchard Harle was born the following year in York .

Thomas Pritchard (father) died in 1871 and Isabella re-married, Thomas Hazeldine and in 1881 Isabella and Thomas Henry were living in London .

Thomas Henry was a vocalist (singer) and married Elsie Emmerson in Leeds in 1886. They had a daughter, Elsie Isabella who was born in Leeds in 1887. Elsie was later adopted and in the 1901 census was found to be living with her adopted family in Scarborough . It is not clear what the reasons were for Elsie’s adoption perhaps the death of either or both of her parents (I have not yet established when they died), or the relationship if any with the family who adopted her.

Although, I have yet to obtain conclusive proof, I am confident beyond reasonable doubt that this Elsie Harle is the ‘Elsie Cox’ that we know within our family and that my father remembers from his childhood days.

[Further information in this section is omitted as it relates to individuals who may still be living] 

Emily Boulton Harle (1838-1883)

Emily was born before the family moved from Holbeck and lived in the family home at least until her early twenties. She was later a schoolteacher but interestingly spent the last years of her life as a pauper in the workhouse in Hunslet before dying shortly after her father in 1883. There is no information which may explain her presence in a workhouse and presumably other family members could have assisted her if they had wished. The fact that they did not suggests that she may in some way have brought ‘shame’ on the family, perhaps as the mother of an illegitimate child? – she never married – however, this is speculation and there is no evidence to support this conjecture.

Henry Boulton Harle (junior) (1839-1901+)

Henry Boulton was born in Hunslet, before the family moved to Burley.  He appears to be the only child to follow his father’s line of work.  After schooling he became a clerk, and the trade directory of 1866 shows that he was still a junior clerk at that time. It is not clear whether he was clerking for his father or when or at what time he entered his father’s employment. Certainly by 1870 he was working as an auctioneer from his father’s offices at 5 Bank Street .

Henry married at a young age, whilst still a teenager, and initially, in the early years of his marriage in the 1860’s, lived in Wortley, West Leeds . They moved frequently within the Leeds area over the next ten years and during this time he and his wife Elizabeth became parents to at least three daughters. Nothing is known of the lives of these daughters, Henrietta Jane (presumably named after Henry’s mother who died the year before her birth), Annie and Florence .

By 1881 Henry and his family had moved to Lancashire (the census records that he was living at 9 Spruce St , Hulme), and remained a law clerk. It is not clear why or exactly when Henry moved to Lancashire though it is interesting that his sister Elizabeth also moved over the Pennines at a similar time. Did one sibling follow the other, if so which one and why?

After some 40 years of marriage, Elizabeth died in 1898 and Henry immediately re-married Jessie Beal, a Scot originally from Glasgow. They had 2 sons (Henry and Robert) who were born within a year of each other at the turn of the century. Henry and his second family were living in Blackpool at the time of the 1901 census after which time no further information is available.

Barnard Boulton Harle (1841–1864)

Barnard was also born in Hunslet and is shown as a scholar living in the family home in 1851, but after this there is no record of him until his death in October 1864 (reported in the Yorkshire press the following January).

Barnard was killed fighting in the American civil war where he was serving as a Sergeant in the 158^th Regiment New York Volunteers. He died from wounds caused by an exploding shell in an attack on Fort Clark in Virgina.

How Barnard came to be fighting in the American civil war is a mystery. When did he travel to the US? Did he go specifically with the aim of fighting and if not, why did he leave England?

Fanny Harriet Harle

Fanny married Walter Firth an accountant in Leeds in February 1869. Fanny and Walter appear to have died by 1881 as neither can not be found on the census of that year. Additionally their son Reginald then 8 years old was living with Fanny’s sister Elizabeth Harle.

Since beginning research of our Harle family history I have been contacted by a fellow researcher. Seeing my family interests on a website he wrote asking if I knew of a Fanny Harriet Harle and we exchanged respective information – what I know of Fanny and Walter’s descendents has been obtained from him.

Annie Harle (1844 – 1901+)

Annie was a scholar, aged 7, in the 1851 census. Interestingly she is not recorded at the family home 10 years later at the following census, and it is not clear whether she had indeed left her family or just away on the night of the census.

There is currently a big gap in our knowledge of Annie’s life from that first census in 1851 until her early thirties and her marriage to Arthur Walker in Leeds in 1877. Their son Percy was born two years later in 1879. Annie and Arthur were still living in Leeds (6 Oastler Terrace) in 1881 with Annie’s sister Bertha. Arthur Walker was at this time a Window Ticket writer. Some time later they moved out of Leeds and by 1901 were living (still with Bertha!) in Batley (some 10 miles away) at 6 Stanley Terrace.

Arthur is recorded in both the 1881 and 1901 census as being ‘deaf and dumb’. I have a family ‘heirloom’, in the form of a book of handwritten poems and jottings, which has the scrawled name of Arthur Walker with their same 1901 address in Batley written in almost child-like handwriting onto the front cover, together with other scribblings and markings not contemporary with the original texts. Given that Arthur was almost 60 by the beginning of the century (and must have been at least 40 before moving to this address, as the family were still living in Leeds in 1881), it confirms that he must have suffered from some form of disability even allowing for possible Victorian misdiagnosis! (x) 

This book and its history is of particular interest and it is worrying to think I nearly disposed of it, not realising what it was! I know nothing of the book and it has come into my possession via my Grandmother it had been kept at her house . However, I can conclude the following:

It appears to have belonged to one of the Hirst family members (possibly Marianne Hirst, Henry Boulton’s second wife), and may have been used as an exercise book to practise handwriting. It dates from around the period 1820-1840 (Marianne was born in 1823). This can be determined by the inclusion of a piece of paper with the signature of Jonas Ainley dated 1827, which has carefully been cut from another document, possibly a letter, and affixed into the book. By the time I first saw this, I had already identified Jonas in the extended family tree. He was a solicitor living in Delph, Saddleworth and was the Marianne’s grandfather.  

How did Arthur Walker come to be in at least temporary possession of the book? If it came into the Harle family via Marianne Harle, it is not clear how her step-daughter Annie appears to have got possession. There may be 2 possibilities:

1)      It has actually been passed down from Marianne Harle (Hirst) to her daughter Marianne Tatham (Harle), my great-grandmother and thence forward via my grandparents to me. If so it seems that Arthur Walker may have scribbled in the book on a visit to his sister-in-law (Marianne) which may accord with what we appear to know of Arthur. If so it one might imagine her face on seeing her book so defaced!

2)     It was taken/given to Annie, Marianne’s step-daughter though why this should be the case is not clear. Equally, how it found it’s way back to ‘our’ side of the family is not explained.

On balance it seems explanation (1) may be the more likely. However, there is further possibility to consider, this being that the book has actually been bequeathed from my Grandfather’s family. My grandfather and grandmother were cousins and both were descendents of Jonas Ainley. It is possible that the handwriting may be that of Hannah Ainley (Marianne’s sister) and my grandfather’s  great grandmother!

Notwithstanding his apparent disability, the 1901 census records Arthur as being a missonary preacher and Percy is similarly identified as a preacher!

There is one further mystery to solve in this line of the family. My father remembers from his childhood a Cyril Walker who was a distant relative but is not sure how he was related. At the time of writing July 2004, I have yet to trace Cyril Walker or clearly establish the nature of the relationship with our family. However, it seems likely having found Annie Harle married into a Walker family that Cyril must be in some way descended from Annie and Arthur, possibly he is the son of Percy Walker? (and therefore Annie’s grandson and therefore Marianne’s (half) great-nephew -  unfortunately at present we know nothing of Percy after 1901).

[Further information in this section is omitted as it relates to individuals who may still be living] 

Elizabeth Harle (1845 – 1901+)

Eliabeth grew up in the family home and still appears to have been receiving an education at the age of 16 (she is recorded as a scholar in the 1861 census).

In April 1873 she married Thomas Harle in Hunslet, Leeds . It seems highly improbable given his surname, that Thomas was not a relative of Elizabeth . I have yet to prove a relationship conclusively but suspect that Thomas was the son of Thomas Harle, Henry Boulton’s brother, and therefore Elizabeth’s cousin. Evidence is circumstantial and limited to the following:

Elizabeth and Thomas were still living in Hunslet  (4 Smeaton Street) at the time of the 1881 census. Interestingly, they appear to have fallen in the social hierarchy. Elizabeth was a packer and drysalter whilst Thomas was a warehouseman. Their nephew, Reginald (Fanny’s son) was living with them at this time.

Sometime afterwards, Thomas and Elizabeth moved to Blackpool (where Elizabeth’s brother Henry Boulton Junior had also moved). They had at least one child, Jack who was born there in 1893. It is not clear why they moved from Yorkshire to Lancashire, though it seems a little too coincidental that this is also where her brother Henry Boulton (junior) moved, probably at about the same time.

Thomas and Elizabeth were both still alive at the time of the 1901 census and still living in Blackpool where Thomas was a house painter. Nothing is currently known about either of them or Jack after this date.

Sydney Harle (1846-1871)

After completing his schooling, Sydney trained to be a surgeon and in the 1861 census is recorded as a surgeon’s pupil. He died in Burley in 1871.

Bertha Harle (1848-1901+)

Bertha was a dressmaker and appears to have lived for much of her adult life with her sister Annie (they are recorded in the same household in both the 1881 and 1901 census). As far as I can tell she never married and to date have no knowledge of when and where she died.

Arthur Harle (1851-1874)

Little is known of Arthur. He is recorded as a scholar at the age of 9 and was living at the family home in Burley at the time of the 1861 census. His location and occupation are unknown subsequently but he died in Leeds in 1874.

Robert Wellington Harle (1852-1853)

Robert died in infancy, though the cause of his death is unknown (I have not obtained his death certificate). Of interest is the use of Wellington as a middle name, this is likely to be a tribute to Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington who died in the year of Robert’s birth.

Children of Henry Boulton Harle’s second marriage

Perhaps unsurprisingly as we are descended from a child of Henry Boulton’s second marriage, much more is known in terms of personal history, about the lives and descendents of the three children of Henry and Marianne.

In considering the interaction between the siblings of the respective marriages it is important to remember the wide age ranges involved (up to 30 years between the first-born (Henrietta in 1835) and last born (Jessie in 1863). Invariably individuals were at different stages of their lives and in some cases had moved away before others had been born. Although there appears to have been varying degrees of contact between the siblings of the two marriages, it is clear that the three children of the second marriage, Marianne, Jessie and William Henry were very close.

[NB - Subsequent sections have not been included as they relate to living family members or in some cases individuals that might reasonably be expected to be still living.  If you are interested in further information please contact me] 

Appendix 1 Linkage between Boulton and Harle families – note of evidence

I am satisfied that the relationship between Henrietta Jane Boulton and Henry Boulton Harle has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt from the evidence accumulated to date. The relationship shown in the family tree extract in exhibit 2 indicates that they were first cousins as well as husband and wife.

My conclusion is based upon the following analysis:

The relationships involving Robert Boulton (brother to Anne - Henry's mother) and Margaret Luccock and Robert (son) are built up from the IGI entries (original parish records have not been checked at the date of writing). The IGI itself shows some discrepancies:

The key point is that the relationships set out here are consistent with the known facts and provide the link between the Boulton’s of Malton and Pocklington:

The parents of Henrietta Jane are Robert and Margaret the same as for Robert who was baptised in Pocklington in 1805 (not shown in exhibit 2) - Henrietta Jane BOULTON was born in Pocklington per the 1851 census). A review of all Boulton entries on the IGI suggests that there were no other contemporary Boulton families in Pocklington.

Final proof for me was secured on finding from the original parish entry that the baptism referred to in the IGI of the Henrietta Jane in Holbeck in 1832 was an adult baptism which gave her birth date of 7 December 1810 . This is consistent with other information about the age of Henry Boulton’s wife from the 1851 census return. Also, note the location – Holbeck - this was the area of Leeds to which Henry Boulton moved from York in the late 1830's (a coincidence?).

Appendix 2  Henry Boulton Harle’s admission letter (1842)