35 - The Chappells at the Duke of York

We have reached the South of Romiley Road and we're starting again in the West at the Duke of York pub. There is a whole chapter dedicated to the Chappell Family in my book The Residents of Romiley Road which will soon be available. I will include some key information about the family here.

The Duke of York pub was built in 1786 and was originally called The King's Head.

The Chappell family took over the running on the pub in the 1840s. James Chappell had worked as a calico printer at Chadkirk Printworks whilst Sarah Tym was the daughter of a farmer and publican named Matthew Tym who ran the Stag and Pheasant at Otterspool.

James and Sarah had five children. Their daughter Mary died at 3 years of age and then, more shockingly, their son Joseph died at 21. Joseph, like James, had been a member of the Oddfellows Friendly Society.

The eldest was then Ellen Chappell, and she took on the role that her brother had performed, helping to run the pub. After Sarah had died in 1883 and James in 1886, Ellen took on the license of the pub at age 38. She ran it single-handedly for 2 years until she married a widower named Stanley Lawton who had a new baby. Due to the etiquette of the time, Stanley took over the license but only 9 years later he passed away, leaving Ellen with her stepson Leonard. In 1906 she left the Duke of York to take over the running of the Craven Heifer (Household 1). She ran it with an all-female staff. Ellen died in 1912.