17 - The Benson Family

John and Martha Ann Benson headed household 17 and like most of their neighbours, they worked at the Robinson and Schofield hat manufacturers, John as a felt hat blocker and Martha Ann as a hat trimmer. They had 3 young children, Ada, George and Sarah Ellen, and a live in nurse named Hannah Pollitt who was just 13 years of age.

Martha Ann was the daughter of John and Ellen Robinson (household 9) whilst John Benson was originally from Calver, Derbyshire. John's family moved to Romiley in the 1850s, living next door to James Hartley. John and Martha Ann married young in November 1864 and began their family.

The couple would have 11 children in total, but 3 would lose their lives in infancy. John died aged 3 and twins Hester and Minnie both died in their first year. The teenage nurse Hannah Pollitt would remain with the family throughout her life, still living with a 65 year old widowed Martha Ann in 1911. She worked in a cotton factory at this time.

Their son George Benson found himself in court in 1879 when he was just 10 years of age. The newspaper report tells us that George was friends with James Greaves and 12 year old Thomas Ridgway (Household 12) who would later become a Justice of the Peace. The boys were regularly annoying a farmer named Charles Lee who lived on Barrack Hill. They would trample his crops and walk on the walls, causing stones to fall. On this occasion, when 2 women told them to stop, they made faces at the women. Charles found George Benson hitting a calf with his satchel. The court decided that the boys had done no criminal damage, but then another case was heard as George had been beaten with a belt buckle by Charles Lee and kicked, leaving huge bruises and a bleeding wound on the head. Lee was fined 20 shillings plus costs.

Prior to the 1871 census John Benson had worked with his father as a newsagent and stationer next to the railway station but this role was handed to a Mr Addison in 1867. He remained in the job of felt hatter on Romiley Road from this time until around 1885 when the family moved to Hyde. He found work in the same business and they lived on Mottram Road.

By 1901 the family had started their own business, selling tripe from their home at 69 Mottram Road. Daughters Martha Ann and Alice both worked at the shop and John's wife Martha Ann took over the business when he died in 1910. The business can't have been hugely profitable as Martha Ann left just £95 3 shillings when she died in 1916.