XBO Ollery Hall Farm Howard – Halsall Family Histories

Ollery Hall Farm - Howard family

Charles Howard and his wife Mary Thompson were the first family to live in the present Ollery Hall Farm, along with their children: William, James, Elizabeth, Thomas, Charles and Jane. The farm was newly built circa 1870-1871; we know this because the adjoining barn (which was once part of the original farm) shows the date 1871. In addition, the census which was taken on Sunday, 2nd April 1871 shows the Howard family living at Ollery Hall Farm and working 28 acres of moss land.

Charles Howard 🌳 was born on 28th April 1823 at Abbey Farm in Burscough – the site of Burscough Priory which was founded circa 1190 and sadly dissolved around 1536. Charles was the only son of Margery Reynolds and William Howard, a farmer. However, he had an older sister, Martha 🌳 (1820-1881) who married William Heaton and a younger sister, Margery 🌳 (1827-1849) who married Robert Aspinwall, brother of Richard Aspinwall, who lived and farmed at Green Kettle Farm which was just down the road from Ollery Hall Farm. The Howard family can be traced back to Burscough to at least the early 1700s.

Follow the links for more information about the Priory (Wikipedia) and for a bird’s eye view of the ruins and surrounding area via drone footage courtesy of Ian Bradley.

Charles moved to Halsall after his marriage to Mary Thompson; their wedding took place at St. Cuthbert’s church on 13th April 1846. Initially the couple lived in the centre of Halsall village with Mary’s parents, Elizabeth and James Thompson, a farmer.

By the time the 1861 census was taken, the couple (and their first 4 children) had moved to their own home, referred to as ‘Little Park House’ in the Bangor’s Green area of Halsall. Ten years later, they were living at Ollery Hall Farm, where the family remained until c. 1921.

Charles Howard died of heart disease at his home, Ollery Hall Farm on 15th September 1885, just two months after his youngest son, also called Charles had passed away. Edward, Charles’ youngest surviving son at that time, was with his father when he died and was the informant on the death certificate. Charles Snr. was buried at St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall, by the rector, Canon Thomas Blundell Hollinshead Blundell.

Mary Thompson

Mary Thompson 🌳 was the tenth and youngest child of Elizabeth Mawdsley 🌳 and James Thompson 🌳 a farmer. Born in Halsall in the summer of 1825, she was baptised at St. Cuthbert’s church on 10th July the same year.

The Thompson family lived in the centre of Halsall village; in addition, Mary’s older brother John was the innkeeper of the Scarisbrick Arms public house, as was his son William and daughter in law Mary (nee Hesketh). You can read more about John Thompson and family on the Scarisbrick Arms page of the website.

After Charles Howard’s death, his wife Mary continued to run the farm along with the aid of her sons,

until she passed away in the summer of 1901.

Mary and Charles had nine known children: Martha, William, James, Thomas (died as an infant), Elizabeth, another Thomas, Edward, Charles and Jane. Some of the children are easier to trace than others; to date we have definite information as follows:

1. Martha Howard

Martha Howard 🌳 was the eldest of the children, having been born in 1847. At St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall on 14th July 1868, she married Thomas Edwardson 🌳 . Thomas was a carter for Thomas Grimshaw, a farmer at Gorsuch Hall in nearby Scarisbrick. However, not long after their marriage, the family moved to Liverpool as Thomas had secured employment on the railways as a porter; their new address was 51 Horatio Street, Scotland Road.

Whilst in Liverpool Thomas and Martha had four children: Charles, James, William and Mary Agnes; their first son, Edward was born in Halsall. Towards the end of the 1870s, the family returned to Halsall and lived with Martha’s uncle, James Thompson on his farm on Cross Lane; this can be verified by looking at the 1881 census. Their second son, Charles was living at Ollery Hall with his grandparents at that time – maybe there was more space there or perhaps he had been working on the farm and slept over the night the census was taken, Sunday 3rd April 1881.

The Edwardsons continued to live in Halsall, eventually moving to Gregory Lane. Martha (nee Howard) died in 1909 and Thomas passed away in 1911; his probate record mentions his address as being Whitecross House, Gregory Lane.

2. William Howard

William Howard 🌳 , born 1850, was the oldest son of Charles and Martha. He lived and worked on the Ollery Hall family farm until 1884 when he married Ann Shalimar Tonge, daughter of Mary Ann Lythgoe and Robert Tonge, a corn dealer from Southport.

Ann’s parents were originally from Cheshire but had emigrated to Australia; their stay there was short lived however as sadly their first born child had died. They decided to return to England when they were expecting another baby. On the journey back from Australia, Ann was born at sea – this information is recorded on more than one occasion in the census records.

The young Tonge family set up home in Stretford, Manchester. We next see mention of them in the baptism records of the ‘Chapel for Deaf and Dumb and Henshaw’s Blind Asylum in the township of Stretford’ in 1855 on the occasion of Ann’s christening. It has not been possible, as yet, to determine through the records if Ann was blind or deaf. Henshaw’s Asylum/Institution for the Blind, Manchester, Lancashire

Back to the newly married Howard couple – William and Ann moved to Halewood, William having secured employment as a farm bailiff. By 1901 the couple had moved to Bowden, Cheshire and William was a gardener. He died on 29th June 1911 aged 60 years.

3. James Howard

James Howard 🌳 was born in 1852, the third child of Charles and Martha. He worked on the family farm initially.

In 1878 James married Sarah Ann Johnson at St. Nicholas’ church in Liverpool – his occupation given at that time was a carter. The newlyweds lived in Everton where their first daughter, Mary, was born (named after her paternal grandmother, Mary Thompson). After that they moved to Mill Lane cottages in Latham, Lancashire where James worked as a labourer in the local corn mill, eventually settling at Square Lane, Latham.

James and Sarah had two sons, Charles and Edward as well as six more daughters: Sarah, Martha, Belle Mona, Hannah, Margery and Ellen. Some time after 1901, the family moved back to Liverpool – 49 Breck Road, Anfield (which is now known as ‘The Anfield Rooms’ – accommodation for Liverpool FC supporters!).

In June 1909 James Howard passed away, his death being registered at West Derby. Sarah remained at their Breck Road home with three of her grown up children. She died in April 1923.

4. Thomas Howard

Charles and Mary’s next child was Thomas Howard 🌳 who was born in October 1854; sadly he died of consumption on 7th February 1856 and was buried at St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall on Wednesday 13th February 1856. He was only 16 months old.

5. Elizabeth Howard

Elizabeth Howard 🌳 was born later in 1856; she was baptised at Halsall on 5th October that year. Elizabeth married William Tonge, a hay and straw merchant in 1882. William was the brother of Ann Shalimar Tonge who married William Howard, Elizabeth’s older brother. They lived in various addresses throughout Liverpool. Five years later, Elizabeth and William were blessed with a daughter, Mary Ann (also named after her grandmother Mary Thompson!). Unfortunately, William died at the young age of 42 in 1899 leaving Elizabeth with Mary Ann who would have been 12 years old at the time of her father’s death.

If we look at the 1901 census, Elizabeth and Mary Ann are living at 74 Palmerston Drive, Litherland and Elizabeth’s occupation is a coal merchant. She has also taken in 3 boarders which would have given her income a much needed boost.

By the time the 1911 census was taken, Elizabeth was living at 41 Brook Road, Bootle and working as a boardinghouse keeper.

Mary Ann worked at the Kardomah Cafe on Lord Street in Southport. Kardomah was a chain of popular coffee shops around the UK and Paris. Kardomah Cafés – Wikipedia

Elizabeth survived until she was 81 years old, dying in April 1937.

Mary Ann remained single and died in October 1964 at the age of 77.

6. Thomas Howard

In 1858 Mary and Charles had another son, who they named Thomas Howard 🌳 . Thomas lived and worked on the family farm and was very much part of village life as he grew up.

By 1897 he was a parish councillor on the recently formed Halsall Parish Council (the first meeting of which was 19th December 1894). His name is engraved on the stone in the wall to the right of the lychgate of St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall. This was to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Looking through the minutes of Halsall Parish Council, we can see Thomas Howard’s name mentioned, one notable entry was on 17th November 1900:

‘17th November 1900

A letter was read from the Scarisbrick Parish Council as to a bridge over a brook leading from Shirdley Hill to Scarisbrick and it was unanimously resolved to take no notice of the letter. (In the presence of R. Aspinwall, E. Threlfall, E. Culshaw, J. Moorcroft, J. Pilkington, T. Howard and E. Banks).’

Halsall Parish Councillors in 1897
Thomas Howard 🌳, Edward Threfall 🌳, Edward Banks 🌳, Job Grimhaw 🌳, Edward Culshaw 🌳, James Moorcroft 🌳, Richard Aspinwall 🌳

In 1899 Thomas married Jane Marshall at St. Phillips church in Litherland; they set up home at 57 Lancaster Road, Ainsdale and had a daughter, Florence. After his mother, Mary, had died in 1909, Thomas took over as head of the household as well as being solely in charge of the farm.

When the 1911 census was taken, Thomas, Jane and Florence were still living at Ollery Hall along with 3 farm servants. Sadly, Jane died in 1919; Thomas remained at the farm and was still living there in 1921 when the census was taken.

However, just a few months later, he retired from farming and an auction was held in the farmyard of Ollery Hall on Tuesday 18th October – farmers from around the district made their way to Ollery Hall for 1 pm to bid for all manner of implements, livestock and even the faithful heavy horses, Duke and Boxer. This marked the end of the Howard era – the family had farmed at Ollery Hall for 50 years.

Thomas and Florence moved back to Ainsdale where life continued; Florence was married to George W. Pye from 1925 until his death in 1965. Thomas lived until he was 79 years old, having died in July 1937, only a few months after his sister Elizabeth. Florence Howard lived a very long life – passing away, aged 91 in the spring of 1991.

7. Edward Howard

Charles and Mary’s next son, Edward Howard 🌳 , came along in 1860. Initially Edward worked for his uncles, James and Edward Thompson, farmers from Gregory Lane, Halsall; however, as he grew up he worked at Ollery Hall Farm with the family. On Christmas Eve 1900, he married Sarah Ellen Cunliffe – their friends, William Edwardson and Elizabeth Aspinwall (from Green Kettle Farm) were witnesses and also went on to marry each other! Marrying on Christmas Eve was not an unusual occurrence as it was probably one of a very few occasions during the year that Edward could take time off work.

Once married, they moved to Liverpool Road, Ainsdale and in subsequent census records, Edward’s occupation was given as produce merchant. At this time Elizabeth, Thomas and Edward all lived in Ainsdale.

The couple didn’t have children. Edward died on 6th March 1931, aged 70 years and Sarah Ellen passed away on 4th January 1942, aged 73. They are buried together at Liverpool Road Cemetery, Birkdale.

8. Charles Howard

Charles Howard 🌳 was the youngest son of Charles and Mary. He was born in 1862. He worked and lived in Everton, his occupation being a bookkeeper. Sadly, he fell ill with tuberculosis at the tender age of 23 years. He died at 41 Lloyd Street, Everton on 24th July 1885. His sister, Elizabeth was with him at his death and was the informant on the death certificate. Charles was buried on Tuesday 28th July 1885 at St. Cuthbert’s church, Halsall.

9. Jane Howard

Charles and Mary’s youngest child was Jane Howard 🌳 , born 1864 and baptised on 18th December the same year. Of all the children, little is known of Jane. We can trace her through the census records easily enough from 1871 until 1901 when she is with her family at Ollery Hall Farm. However, after that time, it becomes more difficult to ascertain which ‘Jane Howard’ she is as there were numerous people with the same name living in the area. Research continues …

Auction at Ollery Hall Farm 1921

This advertisement appeared in the Ormskirk Advertiser on 6th October and 13th October 1921. Note how the horses are described as ‘Both well known good workers’ which underlines the importance of these animals as well as the respect shown towards these gentle giants.