Hope
this information is useful to researchers into the
Whiteley family
A
book on the history of Rochdale dated about 1890 by
Henry Fishwick has the following references to the Whiteley family;
In
a charter dated mid 1250. Henry son of Henry de le Weteleye
gave land at Brotherode in Spotland, Rochdale, to Stanlaw Abbey at
Ellsmere
Port near Chester. The Ordnance Survey 6” map for 1851 shows a farm at
White
Lees in Shawfield, close to Brotherod
Hall Road, Spotland. In another charter
c1280 land at Wytelegh in Spotland (Whiteley?) passed from Martin de
Spotland
to Henry Chadwick, it was then given to the abbots of Stanlawe.
De
le Weteleye simply means from Weteleye and is an
early example of a surname being taken from a place name, expressed in
the Norman/French
language of the time.
White
Lee comes from the Old English White Leah or
‘bright woodland clearing’.
Later
in 1540 Sir John Byron of Nottingham was given
Newstead Abbey just north of the town of Nottingham by Henry V111 as
part of
his policy of re allocating monastic lands to his followers. 1565 Sir
John
Byron of made a claim against Cuthbert Scolfield , Robert, Gilbert,
&
Arthur Whitley relating to land at Holleworth, Rochdale (Hollingworth)
where
they had built houses while not holding the correct deeds to do so.
They would
be unable to afford to defend the claim of Sir John and would lose the
homes
and land. Small freeholders were often dispossessed by larger land
owners at
this time.
The
1587 will of Richard Crossley of Scaitcliffe
Todmorden, mentions his brothers in law George & Randle Whitley,
and 1608
Robert Whitely was one of the witnesses who testified to the use of an
ancient
road over the Troughe from Rosendale to Sowerbie and Eland.
Brierley
Manor near Barnsley Yorkshire held many
properties in West Yorkshire. In a rental dated 1662
eight families called Whiteley, all living in
the Rishworth, Barkisland, Soyland area
near Halifax paid rent to Brierley Manor. Jessop and James Whiteley
were at
Barkisland, Joseph, Arthur, John, Roger,
James, and Samuel Whiteley were at Rishworth. It is only five moorland
miles
from Calderbrook to Rishworth and Barkisland but I know of no
connection
between the families. The Yorkshire families may have taken their name
from a
hamlet called White Lee just to the north of Mytholmroyd in upper
Calder Dale.
The 1861 and 1881 census returns confirm that there was still a high
proportion
of Whiteley families living in that area. An Ely Whiteley was an
enumerator for
the 1861 Barkisland area census and Joseph Whiteley aged 29 born in
Rishworth
was a farmer resident at Rishworth Hall farming 25 acres.
On
the 1881 census William Whiteley aged 51 born in
Soyland was at the Shepherds Arms Fence Nook Calderbrook. His wife Jane
was
born in Bury Lancashire as were his children.
A.
H. Smith's place names of the West
Riding of Yorkshire has 24 hamlets and smaller areas
called
Whiteley or Whitley all within the Air, Calder, Don area.
The most
likely Yorkshire source of the surname is the large hamlet of
'White Lee'
to the north of river Calder at Mytholmroyd first recorded in the
Manor
of Wakefield 1371 Court Roll. It is now part of Mytholmroyd but
the name
lives on as a small estate called White Lee Gardens. This is only a few
miles
from Rishworth. There is a White Lee just south of Birstall on Smithies
Moor
first recorded in a Whitley family deed dated 1677.
I
have retained the spellings of Whiteley as they
appeared in the documents.
Richard
Watson.
Mary
Whiteley was born, probably in Calderbrook,
Littleborough, Rochdale, Lancashire in 1781, her husband Samuel
Whiteley had
died by 1841. Her children all born at Calderbrook were James in 1818,
Alice in
1821, George in 1823, and Thomas in 1841. The family were not wealthy
and were
employed at a local bleach works.
Her
son James Whiteley born 1818 moved to Bury
Lancashire he and his
wife Charlotte had three sons all born in Bury, Samuel born 1850,
Thomas born,
1853 and James born 1856.
Samuel
Whiteley, the son of James, born 1850 and his
wife Mary had four children all born in Bury, William born 1875,
Charlotte born
1877, Thomas born 1897, and Sarah born 1883
Sarah
Whiteley, the daughter of Samuel, married John
Driscoll often spelled Driskill which takes the story into another
family
history.
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