Page 158 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

grouping had expanded somewhat. There are now 14 members of this grouping whom all but four were born as a Soothill. Compared with the six youngsters under 21 years in the 1861 census, there are now just three, but rather than just one male being in the reproductive window of 18 to 50 years, there are now two such males. The average age of this grouping is now around 35 years, a substantial rise from the average of 20 years for the 1861 census. Certainly this Soothill grouping seems to be on the rise in terms of numbers, but it is perhaps more fragile than the figures first suggest. The number of youngsters is falling and the average age of the grouping is rising compared to 1861. These are worrying issues in terms of maintaining the numbers, but there is another point to recognise. What is shown is the position in England and Wales but, as we shall see in Chapter 6, this is a grouping where several members are moving to New Zealand. In time New Zealand could be regarded as the centre of gravity for this grouping.
This is the last of the five pivotal Soothill families identified in the 1861 census. This grouping of the Soothill tribe is different in one important respect from the other four families. In brief, they are living in Lancashire – in Rochdale, to be precise – while the other four families are living in Yorkshire.
It has already been noted that John and Ellen (née Whitehead) have one of the larger Soothill families. It is not clear when John and Ellen married, and by the time of the 1861 census they had completed their family of four boys – Robert (1846-1910), Hamlet (1848-?), John Thomas (1852-1915) and Walter (1856-1932) - and two girls – Sarah Jane (1844-?) and Mary Ellen (1851-?). All survived to adulthood and the possibility of procreation.
Of the four boys, Robert (1846-1910) had definitely had died by the time of the 1911 census. It is less clear whether Hamlet (1848-?) was still around, but John Thomas (1852-1915) and Walter (1856-1932) certainly were. But what of their offspring?
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