DUXBURY OF DARWEN, LANCASHIRE.
The DUXBURY families of Darwen, found in the earliest census returns of 1841 and 1851, are virtually all descended from George DUXBURY, a Yeoman of Upper Darwen, who died in 1704.
Surname dictionaries give D(E)UKESBIRI as an early 13th Century surname, from a place name near Chorley derived from the Old English DEOWUC (or DUC(C) a personal name, plus BURGH = a fort. Early records of Standish show land holdings by DUXBURYs from the late 1100s and, although the family lost their main land through being on the wrong side in the Banastre Rebellion against Edward II in 1315, fragmentary records indicate a continuing presence down to the 1500s.
By the time Parish Registers start (late 1500s), the surname is centred round Great Harwood, Tottleworth near Rishton and at Over Darwen, with only a scattered occurrence in Chorley and Standish which are the nearest parishes to Duxbury. There are also apparently unconnected pockets in Garstang and Liverpool as well as a strong showing in Halifax.
The seminal work for early Lancashire families, the Victoria County History, does not record the medieval migrations which resulted in a DUXBURY family at Upper Darwen. The Great Harwood (later Deane) family, mentioned in Abram's History of Blackburn, use Alexander, Lawrence and Nicholas as forenames. These names are not used in Darwen families which indicates no recent (ie Sixteenth Century) connection between the two families.
DUXBURY OF UPPER DARWEN IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
The earliest Blackburn St Mary's Parish Registers (LPRS Vols 41 & 93), record DUXBURY names unqualified by either trade or residence. The first entry to mention Upper Darwen is the 1635 baptism of Ann daughter of John DUXBURY.
DUXBURY of Upper Darwen are recorded in the 1660 Poll Tax return. There are three Williams; one with an estate of value £5 per annum and others married to a Jane and an Elizabeth. One of them was the Constable of Upper Darwen, assisting in the collection of the tax. Unfortunately there is insufficient parish register data to establish the precise relationship of the three Williams. Three Williams also appear as the sole DUXBURY presence in the 1642 Protestation Roll for Darwen.
1675 PROBATE FOR WILLIAM DUXBURY OF UPPER DARWEN HUSBANDMAN
A William DUXBURY, which one is not clear, died in 1675, owning livestock and husbandry gear. Administration of his estate was granted the same year to an Oliver DUXBURY. Oliver was an exclusively Darwen forename for DUXBURY during the 1700s and this early mention helps to confirm continuity.
George DUXBURY married Katherine FOGG at Bolton in 1678. Son William was baptised at Bolton in 1680. A George DUXBURY of Upper Darwen died in 1703 and Administration of his estate, comprising livestock, husbandry gear and household effects was granted to Catherine, his widow. Catherine died in 1718 and Administration of her estate was granted to William DUXBURY, her son. William DUXBURY of Blackburn Parish married Jennett TAYLOR of Whalley Parish at Blackburn in February 1704.
DUXBURY OF UPPER DARWEN IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
The will of William DUXBURY, made in 1756 and proved in 1765, mentions by name six sons and three daughters; George, Oliver, Thomas, William, Simon, John, Betty (wife of Andrew HOWARTH), Catherine (wife of Moses WHEWALL) and Ellen. These names help to co-ordinate the often fragmentary entries of the Parish Registers of the early 1700s and confirm a second marriage for William, to Ellen (June 1716: Wm "DOSBURY" = Ellen GREENHALGH at Bolton St Peters).
Darwen Higher Chapel, St James, was rebuilt around 1720. A subscription list of 1719 shows William DUXBURY contributing £1. William DUXBURY also witnessed Bishops Transcripts of the Blackburn St Marys Registers in 1704 as one of the Sidesmen. The signature is in a confident educated hand.
The will of William DUXBURY also mentions property known as Duxbury Tenement, held on lease from George WARREN Esq. There is a Duxbury Fold Farm at present day (1989) Pickup Bank, which could either be the tenement or a later building on the same site. It is high up on Pickup Bank, at the same level as the Independent Chapel, just below the ridge which forms the watershed between the streams of Hoddlesden draining into the River Darwen and those of the Haslingden Grane which feed the River Irwell. Close by is an ancient east-west pack horse route, for carrying mainly lime and coal in the old days between Rossendale and the Port of Preston.
To the west of Duxbury Fold is the broad valley of Waterside Brook and the village of Hoddlesden. On the fringe of the estates of modern bungalows are the old farmsteads of Meadowhead, Stand, Longshaw Head and Scotland, which were occupied by later DUXBURY families who combined husbandry with hand loom weaving. Beyond Hoddlesden is Blacksnape ridge, site of a Roman Road north-south from Ribchester to Manchester. On the ridge are the farmsteads of Hillock, Drummer Stoops and Princes, which again have DUXBURY connections. Out of sight beyond Blacksnape is Pole Lane leading down into the manufacturing town of Darwen, with it's rows of stone fronted terraced houses. These were the homes of DUXBURY families who found work as power loom weavers after the introduction of steam power, first known in Darwen from about 1820 onwards. The top of Darwen Moors and Darwen Tower, which are the far boundary of the township of Darwen, can also be seen from Duxbury Fold. The view illustrates some 250 years of DUXBURY family migration, from yeoman farmers to mill town operatives.
The six sons mentioned in the 1765 will of William DUXBURY of Pickup Bank all appear to have married. Parish Registers record:
I :George DUXBURY with wife Alice;
II :Oliver DUXBURY with wife Elizabeth WARD;
III:Thomas DUXBURY with wife Mary WALSH;
IV :William DUXBURY with wife Susan;
V :Simon DUXBURY with wife Alice WALSH
VI :John DUXBURY with wife Ann FISH.
Their families are summarised in the following paragraphs.
James DUXBURY, assumed birth 1735, married Betty YATES in 1766. He is placed in the family of George and Alice because of his age at burial (75 in 1711 when buried at St James) and the name Alice for his second daughter. His first wife died in childbirth and a second marriage to Betty HINDLE in 1769 is assumed. James used the non-conformist Lower Chapel and is described first "of Hullot Hall, Pickup Bank" (not placed) and then "of Meadowhead", which is near Holker House, Hoddlesden. A son Christopher, born 1774, married Alice HOWARTH and had children baptised both at Darwen Lower Chapel, when they lived at Catleach, off Pole Lane, and later at Blackburn Chapel Street Independent. In 1841, Alice is living in Bolton Street, presumably a widow, with two of her teenage children.
William DUXBURY, born 1739, was married twice; to Mary WADDICOR in 1759 and Hannah, the widow of Thomas FISH, in 1771. Hannah died in 1786 "of Hillock", a farmstead by the Roman Road on Blacksnape Ridge. A son John, born 1761, married Ann COOPER in 1787 and was also "of Hillock" when his first two children were baptised at the non-conformist Lower Chapel. A third child Oliver was baptised in 1791 at Turton Walmsley Presbyterian Chapel, with the family "of Cush House". Cush House is an isolated farmstead on the moors about a mile and a half to the south of Darwen, off the A.666 on the Belmont side. A son Moses was baptised 1811 at Rivington Presbyterian Chapel. No further records have been identified and it appears that the family did not return to Darwen.
Oliver DUXBURY, born 1749, married Peggy ISHERWOOD in 1769. In the Lower Chapel records he is "of Drummer Stoops", a farmstead on the Blacksnape Ridge just a few hundred yards north along the Roman Road from Hillock. The will of Oliver, proved in 1812, has him at Temple, which are cottages on the immediately opposite side of the road from Drummer Stoops. In the will his unmarried daughters get a share of his estate and their bed and looms when they are married. Lucy, daughter of Oliver DUXBURY, according to HUNT, became the wife of William FISH a famous singer of Stand Farm, near Hoddlesden.
The only son named in the will of Oliver is George DUXBURY, "church organist of Church". George married Betty HINDLE circa 1799 and is first "of Okerhouse" in Darwen, then "of Haslingden", and then "of Church". The registers of Church Kirk have him as the organist from 1807 onwards and witness to a number of weddings which he presumably played for.
Oliver, baptised 1711, married Elizabeth WARD in 1739. No issue is recorded. He supported Susan DUXBURY in obtaining administration of her husband William's estate in 1758. An Oliver DUXBURY, husbandman of Over Darwen, was buried at Blackburn in 1781.
Thomas married Mary WALSH at Blackburn in 1749 and a son William of Thomas DUXBURY, weaver of Over Darwen, was baptised at Darwen Chapel the same year. No other records have been identified. It could be that William is the source of a DUXBURY family at Edge Fold, Entwistle, recorded in the Turton Registers from 1770 onwards.
William was one of his father's executors when the will was made in 1756, but is not mentioned in the 1765 grant of probate. This identifies him as the husbandman of Pickup Bank who died in 1758. The inventory which accompanied a grant of administration to his widow Susan, lists his effects room by room. The house, or living room, has furniture and the main hearth together with stored seed corn (it is February); the parlour has the main bed and personal furniture; upstairs is more bedding and storage furniture, presumably for the family; in the shop is a cheese press and looms; barns and stables can be assumed from listed livestock, cows and horses, and farming equipment. Like his father, William was survived by six sons.
SONS OF WILLIAM AND SUSAN DUXBURY OF PICKUP BANK
John DUXBURY, born 1739, married Jennett WALSH in 1759. Four sons are baptised at Blackburn between 1765 and 1772. No obvious descent from them can be identified, except for Oliver born 1769, who is of the right age to marry Ann ISHERWOOD at Bolton in 1792 and have children baptised at Manchester Cathedral between 1796 and 1802. The eldest is William and the youngest Simon, which strengthens the identification as a Darwen family.
Thomas DUXBURY, born 1744, married Margaret HINDLE in 1766. They lived first at Shorrock Fold on Pickup Bank, then at Hoddlesden, and had children baptised at Darwen Lower Chapel. Thomas, "brother of Roger", died in 1792 age 49. He was survived by four sons; William, Kester, Roger and Oliver. Their families are described later in the section on the nineteenth century.
Roger DUXBURY, born 1746, married Mary HAWORTH in 1768. He became a cotton manufacturer of sufficient prosperity to warrant a grave stone at Darwen St James to record his burial in 1816 age 70. Manufacturing at that time would be the central control of a group of hand loom weavers, issuing yarn and receiving pieces of finished cloth for marketing. His will shared his estate between son Andrew DUXBURY and three daughters. The location of his property is not given in the will, but the name of a co-occupier James SHORROCK suggests it is Princes, on the Darwen side of Blacksnape Ridge.
In about 1790, William SHORROCH, Andrew DUXBURY and Ralph ALMOND went to look for John LYONS, a 7 foot giant rumoured to be living on Darwen Moor. They saw him crawling out of a sod hut and called it Lyon's Den.
Andrew DUXBURY, a machine weigher, and his son Yates, who later purchased a paper mill at Hall i'th'Wood, Bolton, were living in Bolton Street, Darwen in 1841.
Ellis DUXBURY, born 1749, is of the right age to marry Ann WATSON at Ribchester in 1769 and have a son William baptised there in 1771.
Moses DUXBURY, born 1751, married twice; with Nanny LOMAX at Blackburn in 1769 and Esther ENTWISTLE at Manchester in 1793. No descendants are known. A grave stone at Darwen St James recorded burials of Moses in 1819 age 68 and Esther in 1838 age 71.
Oliver DUXBURY, born 1755, married Betty KAY in 1776. They had children baptised at Darwen St James, but as the Registers do not survive for the time between 1776 and 1781 some earlier baptisms may be missing. Their son Oliver, with wife Elizabeth, is at Union Street, Darwen, in 1841 age 60, and son William, with wife Alice (HEYS), at Bolton Road age 57, with John age 8 who is probably a nephew.
Simon DUXBURY married Alice WALSH in 1753. They were buried at Darwen St James, with Alice being "of Lower Darwen" in 1783 and Simon "of Over Darwen late of Wheelton" in 1787. It is thought that because of later newspaper references to John DUXBURY of Knowle Farm being "John o'Simons", that they are the parents of the character who HUNT calls "Th' Duke o'Darrun".
John DUXBURY, born circa 1762/3, married Gennet BURY. He was buried at St James in 1830 age 68 and she followed two years later age 67.
John DUXBURY of the Knowle, Darwen Chapels, was a cotton manufacturer, being a putter out of pieces to hand loom weavers. His sporting activities earned him the nickname "Th' Duke o'Darrun". Horse racing and cock fighting were his great hobbies and although not a real duke he numbered members of the old nobility, such as the then Earl of Derby, among his associates. On the later site of Duckworth Street Congregational Church he originated the Darwen Horse Races and supported them by his personal patronage and influence among sporting men. A pair of silver spoons won in these local races were known to HUNT.
Cock fighting was a very popular sport in Darwen in the early 1800s and the poultry fanciers of the town trained fighting cocks which became famous all over the county. Jeremy HUNT remembered a main being fought at Chapels at which the Earl of Derby (grandfather of the 1886 Earl) and other sporting characters from Preston were present.
The sons of John DUXBURY and Gennet are identified in 1841 by their proximity to Knowle Fold, Eccleshill: Edward age 50, husband to Nancy, is a weaver of Knowle Fold; Oliver age 40, husband to Mary EDGE, a farmer of Robin Bank and John age 40, husband to Sarah BURROWS, a farmer of Brocklehead.
John DUXBURY married Ann FISH in 1754.
Thomas DUXBURY, baptised 1756 at Darwen Higher Chapel, married Rachael LEACH in 1776. HUNT describes Thomas as "of Stand, near Hoddlesden" and Rachael as "o' Owd Richards". The families of their sons can be assembled from the registers of Darwen St James by assuming that Rachael is used as a forename in memory of the mother. The individual families are not cohesive enough in 1841 to be positively identified in the census return.
William DUXBURY, baptised 1760, married Mary HAYES in 1781. Four sons are baptised at St James; William 1791, James 1795, Richard 1795 and Abraham 1801. Only two of these can be identified in the 1841 census; James who married Jane HEYS in 1816 and was a calico printer of Oswaldtwistle (widow Jane lives at George Street in 1841), and Abraham who married Rachael LIVSEY in 1825 and was a weaver of Foundry Street in 1841.
James DUXBURY, born circa 1764, married Nanny HEAP in 1787. No Darwen descendants have been identified.
John DUXBURY. born circa 1768, married Jane COOPER in 1789 and Sarah DUCKWORTH in 1800. Their seven sons settled in the Pole Lane area of Darwen and are described later in the section on nineteenth century families.
DUXBURY OF UPPER DARWEN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Some of the families in the 1841 census return for Darwen have already been identified in the preceding paragraphs. This section deals with the two most prolific DUXBURY families: from Thomas born 1744, son of William of Pickup Bank, and from John born circa 1768 son of John & Ann (FISH).
SONS OF THOMAS DUXBURY AND MARGARET(HINDLE)
William DUXBURY, born circa 1767, married Martha TOWNEND. Children were baptised at Lower Chapel "of Hoddlesden". William died 1814 "of Stoddarts" (not placed) and left a will which, after providing for the widowhood of Martha, divided his estate of loom shop and farm stock between daughter Peggy WHITTAKER and son Thomas DUXBURY. In the 1841 census there is a John WHITTAKER with wife Peggy at Fratton House, Hoddlesden, but Peggy seems to be a second wife Peggy COOK, married circa 1818, as the first wife Peggy DUXBURY seems to have died after bearing children Robert and Martha in 1810 and 1812. Also in the 1841 census is Thomas DUXBURY age 43, a carter, with wife Alice (ASPDEN) at Top of Meadow, Hoddlesden.
Kester DUXBURY, baptised 1769, married Jane HOLDEN. This is "Owd Kester" whose family was well known to Jeremy HUNT in 1886.
"Old Christopher DUXBURY of Hoddlesden is the first I know of. He married Jane daughter of Thomas HOLDEN and grand-daughter of "Owd Timothy o' th' Looms." He had a numerous family and I knew them all. Tom was the eldest - "Skriking Tom" - great-grandfather of Thomas DUXBURY gas manager. The nickname descended from father to son for "Skriking Tom's" son Christopher was called "Skriking Kess." "Kess" had a son William, and William had several sons one of whom is Thomas DUXBURY, gas manager, and another John DUXBURY, who was goalkeeper for the Darwen Football Club in it's best days. "Skriking Tom" got his nickname by his noisy and peculiar way of amusing himself as he walked along the country lanes when in a state of exhilaration seventy years ago. He had sons Christopher and William." (the relationships are not however exactly as Hunt remembered them - see family tree sheet 5)
Another of Old Christopher the First's sons was Timothy, who married Betty KIRKHAM. He was killed one terrible winter's night near the Anchor Inn, in Blackburn Road. His cart began to slip along the hard, frosty road and as he was trying to stop it, he slipped too, and, getting under the wheel, was killed. (A Coroners account of 1825 is for Timothy DUXBURY of Over Darwen - ref:QSP).
Another son of Old Christopher was John, and the youngest was called Christopher, after his father. He fell down stairs and broke his neck, in Blackburn, where he had gone to live. A son of his yet (1886) lives towards Furthergate.
Christopher DUXBURY of Hoddlesden, had a daughter Betty, who was the first wife of John HINDLE, son of James. "Peggy o' Owd Kester's" (DUXBURY) married Marsden HINDLE, uncle to John who married Betty DUXBURY".
The sons of Owd Kester in 1841 are identified as Thomas (age 50) & Nancy at George Street, John (age 46) and Mary (HARWOOD) a farmer at Hoddlesden, and Christopher (age 32) and Betty (ALMOND) a farmer also of Hoddlesden.
Roger DUXBURY, baptised 1779, married Alice HOLDEN circa 1801. The non-conformist Lower Chapel register describe them as "of Hoddlesden, Grime Hills, Blacksnape and Longshaw Head".
By 1851 Alice is widowed and living with her eldest son Thomas, Innkeeper of Golden Cross, Oswaldtwistle, and his family. Second son Edmund is also an Innkeeper of Oswaldtwistle, living with his family at Moor Cock. The places of birth of Edmund's children in the 1851 census return show migrations south of Darwen; the sequence runs: 1834 Darwen, 1836 Entwistle, 1840 Darwen, 1842 Bolton, 1843 Blackrod (south of Chorley), 1847 Darwen, 1849 Turton and 1851 Oswaldtwistle.
A third son Roger, of Roger and Alice, has not so far been placed.
Oliver DUXBURY, baptised 1781, married Betty LOMAX circa 1802. The Lower Chapel register has them first "of Cuckoldmans" and thereafter, from 1812, "of Scotland". It is at Scotland, a group of farmsteads by Hoddlesden Moss, that Oliver and Betty are found in the 1841 census.
JOHN DUXBURY, SON OF JOHN & ANN(FISH)
John married Jane COOPER in 1789 and Sarah DUCKWORTH in 1800. Their children were baptised at Darwen St James, the register describes John as a weaver. At this time it would still be hand loom weaving. Eight sons were born to John and appear to be all in the Pole Lane area by 1841.
John DUXBURY, baptised 1790, married Betty COOPER, the widow of Richard HAWORTH, circa 1833. The census record shows John, a weaver of Catleach, off Pole Lane, with HAWORTH step-children who are following their father in the trade.
