Grave of William HALE and his family, at Holy Trinity, Amblecote

This is the grave of William and Mary HALE, my great great great grandparents.

 

William was born in the Kingswood/Bitton area of Gloucestershire on 11th April 1831, the son of Edward Hale and Cecelia (nee Roberts). He was christened at the Kingswood School Methodist Chapel in Bitton on the 29th June 1837 with two of his siblings.

 

William's father Edward was an earthenware pot seller by trade and William followed him in this. In 1851 he was lodging in Butt Street, Minchinhamton, Gloucestershire with a gang of travelling earthenware hawkers, some of whom came from Chesterfield in Derbyshire. In 1852 he married Sarah SHAW, the daughter of another Chesterfield earthenware hawker, in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire. Sadly she died within a few years, but William was remarried in 1856 - to Sarah's younger sister Mary!

 

By 1861 William, Mary and their two children (William and Sarah) were living in Bull Lane, Kingswinford. Both William and Mary were working as licensed hawkers.

 

By 1871 William had become a pub landlord and the family were living at The Swan Inn (latterly The Builder's Arms) in Amblecote. Their children were Sarah Ann, William, John Shaw, Mary Ann, and Cecelia. Also living with them was Mary's mother Mary Ann HOROBIN, who had been born in Nottingham and was a widow by this time.

 

For more info about the Swan/Builder's Arns, please see www.midlandspubs.co.uk/staffordshire/amblecote.htm (I supplied them with the info about William) :-)

 

Cecelia died the following year, at the age of five. She would have been the first of the family to be buried here in Amblecote.

 

1881 saw William as the landlord of the White Hart on Brewery Street in Wordsley. Living with him were his wife Mary, sons Wiilliam (a corn miller) and John (a butcher), daughters Mary Ann (a domestic servant) and Margaret (a scholar) and also a neice, Caroline QUINTON. Caroline was the daughter of Mary's half-sister Elizabeth, who was married to a travelling gypsy called Gehazi QUINTON, and was imprisoned in Shrewsbury Jail at this time for theft!

 

For more info about The White Hart, please see www.midlandspubs.co.uk/staffordshire/wordsley.htm

 

By 1891 William and Mary had moved to Kidderminster, where they ran a pub called the Angel Inn which was situated on the Market Square, at 10 Worcester Street. Their daughter Margaret was still with them, as was Mary HOROBIN, and they also had various grandchildren visiting.

 

Mary HOROBIN died on March 31st 1893 at the age of 77 and was buried with her grandchild in the grave at Amblecote.

 

William and Mary remained at the Angel for the 1901 census, and had various grandchildren living with them, who either worked in the bar or were employed in the local carpet-weaving trade:

 

William HALE, 69 years old, licensed victualler, born in Bristol; Mary HALE, 63, born in Chesterfield; William EDWARDS, grandson, 20, barman assistant, born in Wordsley; Mary EDWARDS, grandaughter, carpet weaver, born in Wordsley; Maggie EDWARDS, grandaughter, barmaid, born in Sheffield; John SPEAR, grandson, 17, worker in the yarn room at a carpet works, born in Wordsley; Cecelia SPEAR, grandaughter, 10, born in Birmingham; Mary SPEAR, grandaughter, 7, born in Dudley.

 

William, Mary and Maggie were the children of Sarah, who had married John EDWARDS in Kingswinford in 1880; John, Cecelia and Mary were the children of Mary Ann, who married Hezekiah SPEAR.

 

William died on August 15th 1907, and was brought back to Amblecote for burial in the family grave with his child Cecelia and his mother-in-law Mary Horobin. Finally, William's widow Mary died the following year, and joined her husband, mother and child.

 

If you have any interest in this family please contact me! I have plenty more information to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Done