© 2016 David E. Spencer
Notes
(1) West Bradford - The West Bradford that was home to the Baileys is nowhere near the modern city of Bradford in West Yorkshire. Although in the West Riding of Yorkshire until 1974, the nearest town to West Bradford is Clitheroe, Lancashire which sits across the River Ribble from West Bradford. Just to confuse matters further, places in West Bradford simply refer to "Bradford". Parish registers for the events desribed in these pages are those from Waddington, a nearby village whose church served the surrounding villages until relatively recently - there is today a small Anglican parish church in West Bradford.
(2) Sources - The main source for this page is a document prepared by a local solicitor as evidence in a court case between two family members. It documents acquisition and the holding of copyhold propertes by various members of the family and their transfer on the deaths of family members. This document came into my grateful hands from long term family and local historian Reg Postlethwaite who uncovered it during his researches.
The earliest of the Baileys was Robert Bailey, yeoman of West Bradford who died in 1616. His son, Thomas, also yeoman of West Bradford was already in possession of Eaves Hall in 1625 when he acquired a significant share of land granted as copyhold by the Crown to allow the expansion of agriculture further onto Bradford Moor. In addition he was in possession of various houses in (West) Bradford. Thomas's son Robert, described as Yeoman of Great Eaves Hall died in 1649. He left his son, Thomas, now described as a gentleman of Eaves Hall, the possession, largely copyhold, of many small and middle sized tracts of land about the village of West Bradford and on Bradford Moor. Thomas also inherited from Ralph Bailey (assumed to be his uncle), the estate of Hancocks or Lowcocks, near Eaves Hall and still on the modern map. He also inherited more land on Bradford Moor from Ralph. During his lifetime Thomas also acquired more land and the small estate known as Dowsike (today it can be found on the map as Dovesyke). Dowsike was to become the base of a younger branch of the family.
When Thomas died, his son Robert, gentlemen of Eaves Hall inherited in 1676 the large estate of Thomas. Robert passed some of his holdings, notably Hansons (also still on today's maps) to his brother, also called Thomas who inherited the remainder of Thomas's holdings in 1690 after Robert's death. One of these holdings of marginal land is interesting as a piece of social history. The holding was land on "Champion" - large area of what had been common land located by the sides of Smalden Lane to the North of Grindleton. A farm here is still called Champion, but it occupies only a small part of the original Champion.The land lies between the settlements of Bolton-by-Bowland, Grindleton, West Bradford and Holden. In all of these settlements enclosure was taking place and villagers needing the usage of common land were forced onto higher ground. The rate of encroachment was not the same and the villagers of Grindleton became more anxious as the land on Champion was taken over more and more by villagers from Holden and Bolton-by-Bowland.Theses events are described in John Porter's book "The making of the Central Pennines" (1980, ISBN 0 86190 522 9) on pages 33-4 of the paperback edition by Ash Grove Books.
What follows next is commented upon by the solicitor acting in the internecine legal battle over land rights. Thomas who died about 1717 had two sons who survived to inherit. The elder of these became the Yeoman of Dovesyke, the lesser of the two main parts of Thomas's estates whilst younger brother Robert appears to have inherited Eaves Hall, for many years the "flagship" of the family's fortunes. Thomas did apparently leave a will but I have not yet succeeded in locating it - perhaps it contains clues as to what happened. In 1719 John added Hansons to his Dovesyke holdings.
When John died in 1752, his son, Thomas, described as Yeoman of Dovesyke, inherited Hansons and Dovesyke, together with other holdings of land.This inheritance was left to his son John whose will, described in the introduction to the Baileys, set me off in search of the Baileys. John's possessions were extensive and included at least a share of the Clitheroe to Blackburn turnpike road tolls. What happened to the other branch of the Baileys at Eaves Hall is not yet known to me - Eaves Hall had several new owners in the 19th century and early twentieth century.Today I believe it to be a country club.
It is possible that the Calverley and Bailey families share a distant, common descent. To read about this follow the Distant cousins? link.
Two U.S. President were Bailey descendants?. The ancestors of U.S.Presidents are well documented. It seems that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a descendant of one of the Baileys as was George Washington. To read about this follow the U.S. Presidents link.