Henry Speight and Hannah Emmott

Henry Speight was born in East Morton, Yorkshire in 1756 to parents Ratcliff Speight (b ca 1735) and Martha Lambert (1735-1768).

Henry was baptised on 6 June 1756 at nearby Bingley in Yorkshire, 2 miles away.

Henry’s father Ratcliff had married twice – firstly to Martha Lambert on 20 April 1755 at Bingley, and had five children (Henry b 1756, Radcliff b 1761, James b 1764, Judith b 1766 and Thomas b 1768), and then after her death in 1768 he married again.

The second marriage was to Ann Smith by license on 16 November 1769 at Bingley. Ratcliff and Ann had two children – Ann in 1772 and William Ratcliff Speight in 1774.

Ratcliff Speight born around 1735 was most likely the son of Henry Speight 1704-1775 and his wife Martha who died in  1769 in Bingley. (His baptism has not been found, so this is unconfirmed).

Henry and Martha, surname unknown, had several children baptised at Bingley – Elizabeth in 1727, William (baptism not found), Mary in 1730, Ratcliff ca 1735 (baptism not found) and John buried 1740 all in Bingley.

Henry b1704-1775 also appears in the Wakefield Quarter Sessions records dated 17 January 1760.

Henry Speight of Bingley, yeoman, unlawfully at Bingley did use and exorcise the faculty of a common badger lader carrier buyer and seller of corn and grain, the said Henry not licensed to do so. 

Bingley is located on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, just five miles east from the famous Bronte village of Haworth.

In 1820 the village of Bingley had a population of 6000 people.

East Morton, where Henry Speight was born in 1756, is in the parish of Bingley. In 1851 the population was 1200.

 

At the age of 28 years Henry married Hannah Emmott on 22 August 1784 at All Saints, Bingley. His occupation is given as a weaver.

Hannah was born in 1757 at Morton Banks to parents John Emmott and Mary Simpson, one of 10 children born to the couple. Her parents were married on 17 September 1750 in Bingley.  She was baptised on 6 March 1757 at All Saints, Bingley.

Henry Speight and Hannah had six children –

1. William b 1784 Bingley, d 1789 Bingley
2. Thomas b 1785 Bingley married Hannah.
3. Sarah Selina b 1787 Bailden d 1866 Easterly, marr Lawrence Bramley 1815
4. Mary b 1789 Cross Flatts, Bingley
5. Ann b 1792 Crossflatts, Bingley
6. William b 1795 Crossflatts, Bingley

The family lived in Crossflatts, one mile north of the township of Bingley in Yorkshire.

I haven’t been able to find a death or burial record for Henry’s wife Hannah. There is a Hannah Speight that is buried at Bingley on 8 May 1826 aged 65, but she is Hannah Secker, recorded as the wife of James Speight (Henry’s brother) in the burial register.

Sadly Henry died in the Bingley Workhouse in March 1828 aged 72 years.

Bingley’s workhouse was officially formed in 1776 when the church Vestry Committee set up a committee to act as guardians and trustees for the poor of the village and surrounding areas. The workhouse took in the aged, infirm and children and could accommodate 40 people. It was situated in Myrtle Place, Bingley.

Before the Poor Law Account of 1837 the church was responsible to taking care of its parishioners by means of out relief, or payments to help them buy basic needs. Trawling through the Bingley Township Disbursements in the West Yorkshire Select Poor Law and Township Records, I found Henry, along with hundreds of others,  receiving relief payments starting in November 1826. He received several monthly payments as a casual payment, and his address was given as Daisy Hill. On November 1 he received 7 shillings, December 1st 8 shillings, January 1st 7 shillings, February 1st 7 shillings, etc and every month to March 1828.

A lot of comments were made in the book beside people’s names such as “Jane Hind has had an abortion”, “Paid Jane the wife of John Cockshott to take her husband a lunatic to Stockton, her native place”. “Paid John Sugdon of Allerton, coalminer for the purposes of purchasing clothes for Thomas Stow whom he proposes to take apprentice as a coalminer”.

The parish were also paying out a significant amount of money to widows and in bastardy payments (to keep an illegimate child as the father was not known/disappeared, etc).

Daisy Hill, where Henry was living was four miles south of Bingley, in the parish of Allerton.

The last payment made regarding Henry was “Henry Speight’s burial dues, expenses in burying him” which was 10 shillings.

Henry was buried at All Saints, Bingley on 18 March 1828.

NOTE

There is another Henry Speight of Bingley (also a weaver), who was baptised 23 Nov 1760 at Bingley, son of William Speight and Sarah Hobson. This Henry Speight married Miriam Sutcliffe on 22 April 1779 at Bingley. It is believed that he is our Henry Speight 1756-1828 cousin.