Aaron Armitage, Miner & Miscreant: 52 Ancestors - Wk 9

“In the Courthouse” is the theme of Week 9 of the "52 Ancestors”  Challenge and research into my husband's Yorkshire born great grandfather Aaron Armitage (1851-1889) revealed  frequent tussles with the law, ranging from poaching, stealing rabbits and a pig,   to obstructing a train and assault, with frequent spells of imprisonment.

Background

The starting point to research was my husband's grandmother Alice Armitage,  whose father,  according to her marriage certificate,  was Aaron Armitage, a miner (deceased).  Basic research established that Alice was born in Silkstone, West Yorkshire in 1888, daughter of Aaron Armitage and Sarah Ann Cuthbert.  Her father had died when she was under three years old.  Her mother remarried  - George Hibbert, also a miner, and they moved from Yorkshire to the County Durham coalfields, settling in South Shields where  Alice grew up with her half siblings.   

Aaron's Daughter, Alice with her husband Matthew Iley White.

The photograph is believed to have been taken to mark their engagement.

Aaron's Early Life 

He was born in 1851, in Silkstone, West Yorkshire, the eldest son of Moses Armitage, also a miner, and Sarah Ann Galloway.  It proved to be a large family.  By 1861 it was a household of parents and six children under 12 years old - Mary Elizabeth 12, Aaron 10,   Moses, 8, William 6, lohn 3 and Ann 6 months.  The two youngest children were born in Dodworth, suggesting a move from Silkstone. around 1858.

The family were still in Dodworth in 1871, at no. 24 (Crown/Town Street ?),  with Aaron now aged 20  and four more siblings on the scene – Sarah Ann 8, Benjamin 6, Ada 5 and Albert 3; a household of eleven with eldest daughter Mary Elizabeth no longer living at home. The three eldest sons  - Aaron 20, Moses 18 and William 16 were all coal miners. 

Beyond the Basic Research Tools
With research I always like to take a look at the British Newspapers Online at FindMyPast, as you never know what you might find.  The results were revealing for both Aaron and his father Moses. 

For by 1864 Aaron had already had a brush with the law.  At the age of 13, he was charged and found guilty  of  causing an obstruction on the railway, with Leeds Assizes sentencing him  to one  month's  imprisonment and six strokes of the birch. 

 

Sheffield & Rotherham Independent:  16th August 1864  

His conviction was recorded in the England and Wales Criminal Register (available on Ancestry).  

This was my first discovery of Aaron's criminal past and at the time, I was sceptical about it being "my" Aaron Armitage, as the surname is quite prevalent in the north of England.  However further findings  confirmed I had the right person. 

Further court appearances followed, as reported in various newspapers in West Yorkshire - The Barnsley Chronicle, Sheffield Independent, Sheffield Daily Telega[p. Driffield Times,  Leeds Times  and Leeds Intelligence.

• 1868  - "The Barnsley Chronicle" of 18th July reported Aaron as being charged wth the pursuit of game.  He was fined 20s plus costs or 14 days imprisonment by default.

• 1869  - Aaron was a witness in the case of three men  charged with breach of the peace . In the witness box, Aaron admitted that " he had been charged many times with various offences". As reported in  "The Barnsley Chronicle".
  
• 1869 -  In this instance Aaron was the victim of "violent intimidation" in a dispute at the coal pit, where reductions in wages resulted in many miners had gone on strike, and violence erupted between-union and non-union members.  Aaron and his brother William were attacked as they left their home at 5am to go to work. The attackers were sent to prison. ("The Sheffield Daily Telegraph"  29th July 1869.)
• 1870  - "The Barnsley Chronicle" : 18th June 1870  reported  Aaron being charged with  trespassing a field and doing damage. 
   
• 1872 - "The Sheffield Independent" of 6th January reported "Two Scrapes" involving  Aaron - for leaving his employment without giving notice and for pursuing rabbits. 

•  1875 - Aaron Armitage was charged with assault and biting a man on the nose  at a Dodworth pub.  He was described as "a bulldog of a man".  Fined £5 which he could not pay so was sentenced to prison for two months. (Barnsley Chronicle: 3rd April 1875.)
   
• 1875 Aaron Armitage "an old offender" was charged with  stealing a pig, value £2 15s.   Committed to Wakefield Prison for six months.  ( Sheffield Daily Telegraph: 9th November 1875. )

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Family Life
In the 1881 census Aaron aged 30,  was living at 82 High Street, Dodworth with his brother-in- law Fergus O’Connor Sykes, his wife Mary E.  and their six children under 15 years of age. Fergus, and his eldest son Robert aged 15 were both working in the mines.  But it was the description of Arron that was most revealing with his occupation given as "Coal Miner, late Soldier".

UK Military Deserters 1812-1907 (found on Ancestry) recorded that Aaron Armitage of Barnsley and the 84th Foot Regiment, deserted at Preston 23rd December 1876. 

1884  - But on June  7th 1884, "The Barnsley Chronicle" reported  that Aaron Armitage was charged with assaulting Fergus Sykes (his brother-in-law)  and was  fined 1s plus costs - total 17s.

1884 - A month later the same newspaper on 5th July reported  that Aaron had been charged with assaulting Charlotte Lawson  and fined 10s an plus costs. 

1885 - A more serous charge was to follow in 1885  when Aaron was accused of  violently assaulting Sarah Ann Cuthbert, and his brother John for stealing a dress to pawn, the property of Sarah Ann Cuthbert - as reported in "The Leeds Times" of 6th June 1885.

Aaron was sent to Wakefield Prison, with the description of him as 5’6” in height with brown hair and with a cut on his forehead and burn marks on his shoulders. 

"The Barnsley Chronicle" gave a particularly detailed graphic, blow by blow  account of this domestic assault.

Yet two years later, 36 year old Aaron  married the same Sarah Ann Cuthbert, (at 21 years old, fifteen years his junior) on the 16^th of May, at All Saints South Kirkby - Sarah's  mother being Charlotte Lawson.

On 3rd of January 1886  Aaron's daughter Alice was born, but before she marked her third birthday, her father was dead.  

Aaron died 26th October 1889 with his certificate giving the cause of death as Fracture of the Lumbar Vertebrae, one year and eight months a Lumbar Abcess"   - which sounds a very painful condition.  Interestingly the name of the informant on his death certificate was given as his mother-in-law C. Lawson. It occurred to me had Aaron's suffered the fracture as a result of a mining accident, but have found nothing to bear this out - or had it resulted from one of his many brawls?  

Postscript
Sarah, 7 months a widow, married on 25th May 1890 George Hibbert, a miner, at St. George's Church, Barnsley, with one of the witnesses Aaron's brother Moses. 

The 1891 census saw the family  at 11 Snowdrop Terrace, Doncaster Road, Barnsley.  One cannot  help thinking that the miner's cottage address would not be as spring-like as the name suggested  

By 1901 they were in South Shields, Co. Durham at 19 Trinity Street.  with 13 year old Alice's half siblings - Robert aged 6  and Violet 4.  Alice and Violet (below)  remained close all their lives.

 Alice married Matthew Iley White in 1908  and they had three daughters - Ivy (my husband's mother),   Alice  (known as Lala), Violet, and one son, also Matthew.  

Further Research

This was my first venture into researching the background of Alice's father's background. and more needs to be done. A quick glance at the newspapers online showed that Aaron's fathe,   Moses too had  frequent altercations with the law - a topic for a further blog post.

I would also like to find out more about mining in the Barnsley area in the late  19th century. - both working  and living conditions must have been harsh,  with regular press reports of  of mining accidents, brawls and breaches of the peace.

So look out  for more revelations on the Armitage family - miners and miscreants.

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