58 - The Bowden Family

The Bowden family originally came from Hayfield in Derbyshire, where William worked as an agricultural labourer. In Romiley he found work as a Machine Printer, probably for a calico printworks.

Joseph Bowden was the son of William and his first wife Sarah, who passed away when Joseph was just 2 years of age. William then married Hannah Gee but they don't seem to have had any more children.
Staying with the family in 1871 was Hannah's niece Matilda (her sister Sarah's daughter).

William Bowden passed away in 1876, aged 46. Hannah took her stepson Joseph to 11 Raven Street in Bury where she found work as a hat trimmer and he worked as a Pupil Teacher. It was common for academically able pupils to train as teachers in this way. Many would go on to study at university but I could find no evidence of Joseph doing this.

Living with the family in 1881 was Elizabeth Ann Hallworth. She was 3 years older than Joseph and also worked as a hat trimmer. They were likely courting at this point as they married in January 1882.

They had 3 children in Bury, William, Erling and Bertha, and then moved to John Shepley Street in Hyde where Joseph worked as an assistant school master. This is where the couple began to face a series of tragedies. Their 4th child Edith died aged 1 then their 5th child John Edward died aged 3. Joseph Hallworth came next and died aged 2, in the same year that his 1 year old sister Sarah Elizabeth passed away. Harry died aged 1 in 1895 followed by Frank, also 1, in 1896. Florence Mary, who had been born in 1893, passed away aged 13 in 1906. Only their final child born in Hyde, Albert, survived until adulthood.

Putting aside the unimaginable pain that the couple must have experienced to have lost 7 of their 11 children, financially it would have been a struggle to pay for 7 funerals in such quick succession.

One positive for the family was that Joseph continued to work as an assistant teacher. They moved to 42 Lumn Street, but then Joseph faced another loss when Elizabeth Ann died in 1915 aged 57.

By the 1921 census Joseph was living with his son Albert and still working as an assistant master for Hyde council school. Albert was listed as "Clerk Traffic Dept" for his occupation, but it seems he had fallen on hard times as his last job had been at a margarine factory and he was out of work.

Joseph Bowden died in October 1932. He bequeathed £1083 12s 11d to his sons William, a cashier for Brandt and Hampson Shipping Merchants, and Albert, a income tax clerk.