© 2016 David E. Spencer
John Hartley was born in the Spring Lane area in the centre of Colne in 1845.
Spring Lane, Colne today
His family moved from Colne to the Burnley Wood area of Burnley at some time in the 1850's. John started work as a weaver but by 1871 he was an overlooker in the Towneley Brick and Tile Works, a company in association with the Towneley coal mine.
During the 1870's he is described in parish register entries as a "foreman" and a "timekeeper", but by 1881 he was the manager of the tile works and lived at Rock Cottage, the house provided by the Towneleys for the brick and tile works manager on Rock Lane. The Towneleys also provided a house for their coal mine manager - the Old Slate House on Todmorden Road but this no longer stands.
Rock Cottage in the 1980's
By the 1891 Census John was a book keeper living on Hollingreave Road - then a relatively up-market address but by 1893 he had become a shopkeeper at 10 Parliament Street and it was here that he died in 1902.
John married twice. His first marriage in 1866 at St. Peter in Burnley was to Elizabeth Hartley with whom he had four children before Elizabeth's death in 1877. They were :-
- Mary Elizabeth born in Burnley in 1865. She was a cotton weaver who married Paul Dixon at St. Alban's Church, Burnley in 1887. They had four children.
- Margaret Ellen, born in Burnley in 1870. She was a cotton weaver who married Harry Greenwood in Burnley in 1890. They had a daughter called Ethel.
- Alfred, born in 1873 was a cotton warehouseman who married Harriet Hirst at St. Andrew's Church, Burnley in 1897. Alfred, according to family tradition died suddenly after eating cold rice pudding - something which was frequently brought up if eating one's rice pudding too slowly!.They had no children
- Herbert was born in 1875. He was a cotton weaver who then became an insurance agent. He married Minnie Astin in 1896 at St. James Church in Burnley. They had no children.
In 1878 John married again this time at St. Paul which then stood on Manchester Road almost opposite Burnley Town Hall. His second wife was a widow, Susannah Taylor, nee Ashworth who already had a daughter , Mary, from her first marriage. John and Susannah subsequently had two children from this second marriage. Thus the household had three distinct groups of children - "his", "hers" and "theirs".
There were two children from the second marriage between John and Susannah. They were :-
- Arthur, born in Burnley in 1879. He was a cotton weaver who became an overlooker. He married Ada Ann Briggs in 1902 at St. Andrew's Church in Burnley. They had two children - Florence born in 1904 who married Allan Lee and John Robert born in 1908 in Burnley who married Hannah ("Nan") Tatters in 1940 in the Fylde registration district. There are living descendants from both of these marriages.
- Annie, my grandma, born at Rock Cottage Burnley in 1881 was the youngest of the family.She married John Thomas Sellers in 1909 at St. Margaret's, Burnley. She and her husband are pictured below:
Annie and John Thomas circa 1909