59 - The Holt Family

At household number 59 on Romiley Road we have a hatter named John Holt, his wife Lucy, their children Edmund (5) and Mary Ellen (3) and a boarder named Henry Johnson who worked on a farm.

The Holt family, and particularly Lucy Holt, were to suffer multiple tragedies.

Lucy was born Lucy Lawton in Ashton under Lyne. Her father Robert was Irish and he passed away when Lucy was just 6 years of age. Lucy's mother worked as a Heald Knitter, making the healds for looms, and Lucy joined her in the role at least as early as the age of 9. By 19 she was working as a cotton weaver, and then she met John Holt, a hatter.

They married in 1864 and moved to Romiley. Their first child was Edmund. He passed away aged 7. They had a daughter Mary Ellen who survived to adulthood. Next came William in 1870, who died the same year. George Thomas survived to adulthood but the youngest son was Joseph, born in 1873. He would not see his 5th birthday.

In February 1876 John Holt, aged 35 years, died. He had for around 10 years been a member of the local Oddfellows group, which had John Schofield (father of James Schofield the hat manufacturer) as the Past Grand Master and James Chappell (of the Duke of York pub) as the treasurer. A procession of 30 men from the friendly society followed the hearse to his grave at Hatherlow Chapel.

John's membership would probably have saved Lucy from destitution. He paid a regular amount into the society, which meant his widow and children were entitled to financial support.

However, Lucy was about to face a shocking ordeal. In November of the same year her 3 year old son Joseph died in horrible circumstances. The foreman of the jury in the inquiry into his death was James Schofield, who had also been John's boss.

Lucy had left home at 9.15am to get some bread for breakfast. She left Joseph with Mary Ellen (8) and George Thomas (4). Lucy had barely made it to the shop when she heard a shout of "Mother, our Joseph's on fire!" Lucy ran home to find Hannah Bowden, her neighbour, with the badly burnt boy. Hannah had heard the screams and put the fire out, which was caused by lighting a stick and setting his pinny (pinafore) on fire. Sadly the burns were too severe and a day and a half later Joseph died.

Lucy's mother died 4 years later. She stayed on Romiley Road, in Foundling Terrace, for around a decade before moving to Hurst in Lancashire with her children.