Y for Yeoman Farmer, Henry Danson: A-Z April Challenge 2020

The  birth certificate of my great grandfather James Danson (1852-1906) first brought to light the names of his parents - mother Elizabeth Calvert and father Henr Danson, described as a "Yeoman Farmer" - with the address Trap Farm, Carleton near Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. 

But who/what was  a "Yeoman Farmer"? The Oxford English Dictionary defines a "yeoman" as "A man holding a small landed estate, a freeholder under the rank of gentleman....a countryman of rspectable standing, especially one who cultivates his own land."


The British Genealogy website defines it:  "A yeoman is generally used to mean a farmer who owns his own piece of land (however small) as opposed to being a tenant farmer. It may have been as simple as him wanting to sound a bit grander than his neighbours."  

Other websites  indicate it was a farmer of the middle classes, who cultivated his own land, often with the help of  family members i.e.  in the social structure of the times, above  a tenant farmer, but below the gentry and nobility. 

[So not to be confused with  the  ceremonial Yeoman of the Guard at the Tower  of London in their Tudor costume] 

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Henry Danson, my g.g.grandfather (1806-1881) - Yeoman Farmer & Tollkeeper Research in the census returns and Parochial Records took me back to  the birth at Carleton of Henry Danson  on 25th July 1806 - baptised a day later in St. Chad's Church, Poulton.  He was the 7th child, born twenty years after his parent's marriage  when his mother must have been 40 years old.   This was the time of  of the Napoleonic Wars,   and nine  months after Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar 

Sole entry on a page in the Danson family bible   reads “January 4 1827 Henry Danson Son of Henry Danson,  Born 25 of July 1806”.  This entry was dated just after the death of Henry' s 15 year old brother James, 

 

 

Henry Danso) married 6th April 1831  at St. Chad's Church, Poulton Elizabeth Calvert of St. Michael's Over Wyre, daughter of Nathaniel and Grace Calvert.

A Growing Family

 It took research in the census records to establish that their  family was an extensive one, with  nine children born in 20-21 years - five girls, Elizabeth, Grace, Mary, Margaret, Ellen, followed by sons John, Henry, then another daughter Jane and finally my great grandfather James.  

With a population in Carleton of just 378, the family was easily traced in the 1841 census to Trap Farm (left)  and a household of 10 including Henry & Elizabeth and family, Henry's brother Peter and two servants. 

It was noticeable that the children were named after family members, with the two eldest daughters taking their grandmothers' names. All the children were baptised at St. Chad's Church, apart from second daughter Grace who was born in the picturesque village of Wrea Green - I have been unable to trace a baptism for her.  

The family were still at Trap Farm10 years later in 1851, with Henry described as a farmer of 31 acres in a household that had grown  to 13,  Grace had left home, but eldest daughter Elizabeth was there with her husband, Thomas Bailey, and Peter was described as unmarried brother and annuitant.

A New Home
With these details found so easily,  it was frustrating to "lose" the family from Trap Farm in 1861 (this was before census returns online).  What had happened to a seemingly prosperous farmer?  Had there been a downturn in agriculture?

Henry, Elizabeth and family were eventually traced to the parish of Layton with Warbreck, near Blackpool, where Henry was a carter.   There seemed to be a trend of married daughters returning to live at their family home with their husbands - this time living with her parents was third daughter  Mary, a laundress and her carrier husband William Henry Gaulter. 

A notice in "The Fleetwood Chronicle" 24th August 1860 stated that "Tuesday 28th August a sale would take place at Leys Farm, in occupation of Henry Danson of 5 acres of wheat, 2 acres of oats and 6 acres of bean and hay".

A New Occupation as Tollkeeper at Shard Bridge
The 1871 census revealed a complete change of occupation as Henry was now  toll keeper at Shard Bridge Toll Bar, Singleton, near Poulton.  The Shard Bridge opened in 1864 across the River Wyre to replace the ferry. 

A search of the newspapers online confirmed Henry's appointment there, wiht a brief report in "The  Preston Chronicle": Saturday 31st August 1867:

"On Saturday 1st the directors of the Shard Bridge Company appointed Mr Henry Danson of Poulton-le-Fylde toll collector, vacant by the demise of Mr Thomas Moore."

On a visit to nearby Marsh Mill, Thornton, now a visitor attraction, I came across a vintage poster  which featured The Shard  Bridge Act of 1862 and stipulated a  list of toll charges including:   

• For EVERY HORSE, OR other BEAST, drawing any coach, stagecoach, omnibus, van, caravan, berlin, landau, chariot, barouche, phaeton, chaise, marine galash,  curricle, chairm, gig, whiskey, hearse, litter, chaise or like  carriages - THREE PENCE
   
• For every ox, cow, bull or neat cattle - ONE PENNY EACH, 1/6 PER SCORE.
   
•  For every calf, sheep, pig or lamb - ONE FARTHING EACH OR FOUR PENCE PER SCORE.
• For every foot passenger, not being the driver, of or engaged in driving or leading any cart of carriage passing over the bridge - ONE PENNY

One can picture Henry having to count each animal crossing the bridge. - and what about that first lengthy listing of vehicles?    What was a "marine galash" or "a whiskey"  and how would you identify "neat" cattle?  Family history research can take you in strange directions!  More work called for here. 


 Continuing the Family Story
 In 1871, returning to the family at this time was youngest daughter Jane with her small daughter Ellen and husband Thomas Cardwell, a groom;  also Jane's sister Ellen with her illegitimate daughter May.  

By 1881 the Danson household was much depleted.  Mother Elizabeth had died in 1879, with daughter Margaret, widowed twice and childless,  returning to act  as housekeeper, with her brother  Henry  and niece May.

Henry Danson senior died a few months later on 27th October 1881 aged 75 years, with Poulton Monumental Inscriptions recording his burial on 1st November in St. Chad's Churchyard.  Sadly the family gravestone was one of many removed in later years.

St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde - A photograph taken by my uncle Harry Danson 

Postscript
Bailey, Cookson, Gaulter, Brownbill, Longshaw and Cardwell were all the surnames of Henry's sons in law.  

Then one edition of the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Magazine gave, in the listings of members' interests, three separate entries for the surnames Cardwell, Cookson and Gaulter. I made contact and amazingly all proved to be connections, adding more information to my family story, with Henry Danson leaving a legacy of 37 known grandchildren. 
 
Ffurther evidence of the extended family came from a page in the Mannex Directory of 1851.  The list of professions and trades in Poulton included: 

Inns & Taverns
Golden Ball, Ball Street.  Wm Gaulter, King’s Arms, Market Pla.  Cornelius Cardwell,
 
Watchmakers

Brownbill, Jas., Market Place

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