Page 45 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

a frequent and unwelcome guest in many Victorian families. The remaining four probably survived until the 1911 census but not necessarily as a Soothill. Colonel (1872-1951), the second eldest, has a long life ahead. Colonel married Annie (1872-1960) in Bradford in 1899 and they, in turn, had two children – Henry Hooper (1899-1983) and Martha Annie (1901-?). Amy (1877-?) married in Bradford in 1909 and so will not be in the 1911 census as a Soothill. In contrast, Clara (1880-1951) does not seem to have married, while Arthur (1882-?) married Alice Smith (1883-1971) in Bradford in September 1910.
Elizabeth – the third eldest and the only other girl in the large Thomas and Elizabeth family - had five girls, all born out of wedlock it appears and, remarkably, all had their second name as ‘Ann’ – Sarah Ann (1850-?), Mary Ann (1853-?), Martha Ann (1855-?), Emily Ann (1857-?) and Elizabeth Ann (1860-1938). Elizabeth and her five girls appear in the 1861 census as living at 4 Club Houses, West End. In 1861 Elizabeth would be around 30 years and she is shown to be acting as housekeeper to a 31-year-old unmarried man named John Whiteley. It is tempting, of course, to consider John Whiteley as the father of Elizabeth’s five girls. His age and the location are strong circumstantial evidence, but why did they not marry? Perhaps John Whiteley had previously been married and there was the spectre of bigamy overshadowing their possible relationship. Nothing much is known of the subsequent history of Elizabeth’s five girls; only Martha Ann of the five girls seems to have married.
Thomas and Elizabeth’s six boys seem to have had a more conventional family life. The eldest boy, William (1826-1866), married Mary Dean (1824-?) and they had four children – George (1848-1925), Martha Ann (1851-?), Alfred (1854-1867) and Arthur (1858-1939). At the time of the 1861 census William and Mary were living in Wakefield. In fact, this is probably the start of how a grouping of Soothills currently see themselves as ‘Wakefield Soothills’. However, tragedy was soon to strike this young family. William, as head of the household, dies in 1866 at the comparatively young age of around 40. How does the family cope? So what happens to them all in the next fifty years after 1861? Of their children, George and Arthur showed the greatest longevity, dying in 1925 and 1939 respectively. Martha Ann (1851-?)
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