William Henry Shaw ^{2 3 4}

  Chronology:

In 1793 he was christened in Huddersfield but his father's abode was given as Lane.

Lane is a village about 8 miles south of Huddersfield and on the northern boundary of Heyden Moor. In 1854 it consisted of a few houses strung out along the Huddersfield Rd surrounded by farmland and with the "Rake Mill (Woollen)" and a sandstone quarry the only identifiable industry. Baptism records suggest that William and his two sisters were born in this village of Lane.

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In 1816 he married Isabella Garnet at St John Wakefield (right). The church, still standing in Wentworth Road, was only 20 years old then ... "At the end of the (18th) century, the St. John's area to the north of the town was laid out as a fashionable housing development. St. John's church was opened in 1795, to serve the growing population."
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In 1817 and 1818 two of his children were baptised at St Peter, Huddersfield. On both occasions his occupation was given as Cloth Dresser. In 1817 his abode was given as Huddersfield while in 1818 it was given as Lane.

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In Mar 1841 he was a Woollen Cloth Finisher living with wife and 5 children in Ramsden St, Huddersfield.

Although the evidence is scanty it does seem possible that William may have inherited the Lane Cloth Dying and Dressing business after the death of his father a few years earlier. Did he move to Ramsden Street at that time and continue to run the business from a more central location close by the Cloth Hall? ¹⁷

In May 1843 at the time of daughter Harriet's marriage he was described as a Dyer. ¹⁸

In May 1846 at the time of his wife's death he was living at 5 Ramsden St, Huddersfield. At that time and in Jan 1851 at the time of daughter Frances' marriage he was described as a Cloth Dresser.

The map on the right shows central Huddersfield in 1854. The Huddersfield Railway Station is just north of the red mark and St Peter is in blue. Ramsden St is in yellow about 200 yards south with the likely location of number 5 in orange. The centre of the wool trade, the Cloth Hall, built in 1768, can be seen a block away from his house. It was demolished in 1930 but the original clock tower and cupola can be found in a local park. The following is an extract from Pigot and Co, National Commercial Directory, 1834 ........

"The houses are principally built of a light-coloured stone, in a neat style, and the general appearance of the town, which has of late years wonderfully increased in magnitude, is of a character calculated to inspire the traveller with the impression that its inhabitants are wealthy and respectable.......

The manufactures of Huddersfield and neighbourhood are principally woollens, and consist of broad and narrow cloths, serges, kerseymeres, cords, etc; fancy goods, to a great extent are also made here, embracing shawls and waistcoatings in great variety, besides articles from silk. The cotton trade is also carried on, although nothing to be compared in extent with the other branches already named.

Amongst the principal buildings is the cloth-hall, erected by Sir John Ramsden, in the years 1765. It is a large circular edifice, two stories high, divided, on the one side, into separate compartments or shops, and, on the other, into open stalls, for the accommodation of the country manufacturers of woollen cloths.

There are also two central avenues of stalls, for the same purpose, and the number of manufacturers now attending there on the market-day (Tuesday) is about six hundred. If to this be added, the great number, (particularly in the fancy line) who have ware-rooms in various parts of the town, some estimate may be formed of the immense extent of business transacted weekly in Huddersfield.

The doors are opened early in the morning of the market-day, and closed at half-past twelve o'clock at noon, they are again opened at three in the afternoon, for the removal of cloth, etc.
Above the entrance is placed a cupola, in which is a clock and bell, used for the purpose of regulating the time allowed for doing business. The names of the manufacturers who attend the market at the Hall, may be obtained of the keeper........"
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In Mar 1851 he described himself as a Gentleman and was living with his wife and 4 of his children in Ramsden St, Huddersfield. ²¹

In 1861 he 67 and described as a Woollen Cloth Dresser. He was a widower and was living at Bradford Rd, Dewsbury with daughters Susanna, Amelia and widowed Frances with her two children and servant Sarah. The daughters were all working as Milliners.
The map at the right shows central Dewsbury in 1854 and in orange the likely location of the Shaws in Bradford Road. Based on the 1857 Kelly's Directory entry for Susanna they were in Bradford Rd from at least that as early as that year.

Sometime after March 1861 it is likely they moved a short distance away. In the 1864 Charlton and Anderson's Directory a Miss Shaw and Mrs Crosby, Milliners, are listed in Eightlands Road close by Dewsbury railway station. The road doesn't appear on the 1854 but its approximate location is shown in blue. In the same directory there is also an interesting entry for a Reverend William Shaw living very close by at Eightlands House (in yellow). Is this another William Shaw or did WHS take to lay preaching. There is the precedent with son-in-law a baptist minister after starting out as a joiner. And there is son-in-law Isaac Thrush who acted as informant at the time of WHS' death in 1866. His residence is given as Eightlands and it is interesting to note that when married in 1864 his occupation was given as "attorney's clerk". Interesting because the resident of Eightlands House, Benjamin Chadwick, was a solicitor. Who knows? ^{22 23 24}

In 1866 at the time of his death at Eightlands, Dewsbury he was described as a Woollen Manufacturer. The informant was son-in-law Isaac Thrush.

His wife had died a decade earlier and of the three daughters living with him in 1861, Susanna had died in 1864, Frances had re-married in 1864 and Amelia married earlier in 1866. It seems likely that Frances and her husband Isaac Thrush stayed on at Eightlands after their marriage.

As for his other children, two had died of TB - Isabella in 1846 in Huddersfield and Joseph in 1855 in Melbourne. Alfred had been in Melbourne for over 10 years. Harriet was in Somerset in 1864 but back in Yorkshire by 1871.

Of son John nothing is known. With the younger sons emigrating at a time when William appeared to be at the peak of his career there is a good case for John still being alive but so far I've been unable to identify him in the horde of John Shaws in Huddersfield at the time.

Probably unconnected but worth mentioning is a James Shaw (b 1821 Huddersfield) and family living close by William in 1861.

Nine years later at the time of daughter Harriet's death he was described as a Cloth Finisher and Dyer. ^{11 25}

William married Isabella Garnet, daughter of John Garnet and Alice Woodcock, on 9 Aug 1816 in St John, Wakefield, Yorkshire.¹ (Isabella Garnet was born on 9 Oct 1791 in Hull, Yorkshire ^{26 27}, christened on 16 Nov 1791 in Fish Street Independent, Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire ²⁸ and died on 15 Feb 1856 in Bradford Rd, Dewsbury ^{8 29 30}.)