Introduction

Other articles within the website which relate to particular aspects of this story are noted within square brackets in the text. Links to these articles can be found in the table towards the bottom of column 2

This article is the conclusion of a trilogy outlining the history of the Tilley family first encountered in the Kibworth Beauchamps area around the time of the English Civil War. It follows two of the branches who originated in The Langtons of south Leicestershire ([Article A.]) and migrated into the city of Leicester. Both branches are headed by first cousins, James and John Tilley. Both married first cousins: James to Anne Tilley; John to Catherine Tilley. Both wives were first cousins themselves. All four shared paternal grandparents Joseph Tilley and Sarah Ellis.

That being said, they represent only a tiny fraction of the greater Tilley population who inhabited the city. Indeed Kelly's Directory of 1960 (1) lists 40 such households within its boundaries. Some of these other families are known to us having come from the Welland Valley and Northamptonshire ([Article B.]). Some are not, such as the family whose line stretches back to the Daventry area. The action of part of the story is also well known to one of the authors who grew up in its streets and attended one of the named churches ([Article C.]). It also hosted a branch of another of the families of this extended website, the Beadsworths, in almost the same time frame ([Article D.]).

The family of James Tilley and Ann Tilley

James, the younger son of William Tilley and Mary Ann Swingler was baptised on September 11th 1814. His future bride and first cousin Anne Tilley was baptised just three months after him on December 1st. Anne was the daughter of William's brother, Francis Tilley. The couple were married on August 10th 1835 at St Leonard's Church, Thorpe Langton. They made their home in the village where James initially worked as an agricultural labourer. In all, records suggest the couple had nine children: five sons (Thomas, 1837; Jacob, 1840; William, 1854; James, 1856 and John, 1860) and four daughters (Mary Ann, 1842; Emma, 1845; Comfort, 1848 and Betsy, 1850). One curious observation was the baptism of their fourth son James on May 4th 1856 alongside Edwin Jesse, son of John Tilley and Catherine Tilley and Caroline May, the daughter of Joseph Tilley and Sarah Nichols. Mary Ann was just 15 years old when she died in the summer of 1857. She caught what was probably one of the annual waves of gastroenteritis which led on to a perforation of the bowel. She died on August 28th 1857. Documentation for the family is patchy after 1871. Comfort moved to Leicester and is followed below. James and Anne died within days of each other. Anne was buried in Thorpe Langton on May 16th; James followed eight days later on May 24th 1896.

Thomas (1837 - 1919)

Eldest son Thomas ultimately settled in Uppingham. His family life was, to say the least, confusing and will be told at length in a separate article ([Article E.]).

Jacob (1840 - 1909); William (1854 - )

Second son Jacob moved to Derbyshire where he married Sarah Spooner in 1865. From there they went to Hunslet near Leeds where they were to have nine children. Jacob died in the spring of 1909.

Third son William was baptised in Thorpe Langton on May 28th 1854. In the early 1870s he moved north to Leeds where he married Sarah Gaskin. They had a daughter, Ann, in 1874 and settled into Mariner's Terrace in Hunslet close by brother Jacob's family. William became a shunter for the railway.

Emma (1845 - 1869)

Second daughter Emma had a short but eventful life. She was baptised on March 23rd 1845. In 1862 she gave birth to a son that she named John Charles. She then left Thorpe Langton for Leicester where she married Henry Smith Highton at St Margaret's Church on December 26th 1867. They set up home in Pasture Lane. The marriage was short lived for Emma contracted pulmonary tuberculosis from which she died and was buried in Section cF plot 635 of Welford Road Cemetery on March 21st 1869. Henry married again, to Ann Sharman, on April 10th 1870, also at St Margaret's Church. Ann had two sons: Walter (1872) and Harry (1873) who both died within months of birth and both were buried in the same plot as Emma. Henry died and was buried in Section cO plot 698 on February 17th 1912. Ann joined him on August 1st 1928.

Emma's son John Charles was left to grow up with his Tilley grandparents. He noted that he was Emma's illegitimate son on the record when he married Abigail Lees on October 21st 1880 still in Thorpe Langton. By 1891 when they were living very close to his parents they had produced five sons and two daughters. During the 1890s the family moved to Blaby where John became a farm manager.

Comfort (1848 - 1869)

Third daughter Comfort was baptised on December 13th 1848. Towards the end of the 1860s she had moved to Leicester where she was in domestic service in the market place with the family of seed merchant Thomas Harrison. His store stood next door to the Lion and Dolphin public house, a building demolished in 1878 to make way for the Royal Hotel. On February 20th 1872 she married pointsman William Tompkins at St George's Church in Leicester. William worked for the railways operating various switches and points. Their son they named James Ernest Conquest Tilley was born at the end of the same year. Comfort had not been well during the pregnancy and did not improve after her confinement. She died of pulmonary tuberculosis on March 24th 1873. William married a second time to Sarah Harris in Biggleswade in the spring of 1874. They had three sons, one of which, Alfred enlisted with the Pioneer Corps during the first World War and died of wounds in France on June 3rd 1917.

Betsy (1850 - 1932)

Fourth daughter was registered as Betsy and baptised on June 2nd 1850. As she approached young womanhood she reverted to calling herself Elizabeth and she became somewhat peripatetic. It was thus she married George Ford, a boot rivetter in Birmingham, in 1872. A son, Frederick (1873) was born in Kidderminster. Two daughters, Edith Ellen (1875) and Ada Emma (1876) and two sons. George (1878 who died the same year) and George William (1879) were born in Northampton. A son, John Joseph was born in 1881 when they were living in St Saviour's Road. George had been suffering from angina for some time. He died of heart disease in Leicester and was buried in Section cF plot 162 of Welford Road Cemetery on January 19th 1883. By 1891 Betsy had moved to Biddulph Street where she was earning a living by taking in washing. She had her three remaining sons with her. Frederick was working as a railway porter. Another move to Upper Brunswick Street by the turn of the century saw Betsy in charge of a grocery shop. Middle son George married Agnes Hunt that year and Agnes became a shop assistant with Betsy. Betsy finally died in the spring and was buried in Section uT plot 916 of Welford Road Cemetery on March 21st 1832 under her baptised name. Her final address was given as Willowbridge Street.

James (1856 - 1911)

Next son James was baptised on May 4th 1856. He too joined the railways as a fireman. He became member no. 1780 of the National Union of Railway Workers in December 1877. He moved to Leicester where he married Mary York originally from Rothwell Northamptonshire, who was seven years older than him, at St George's Church on November 17th 1878. They had a son, John Charles (1879) before they moved to Burton on Trent where a second son, Arthur (1880), was born. The couple had six sons in total. Mary died in Burton on Trent in the spring on 1899. James married again, to widow Emma Ashton from Rothwell on March 25th 1900. She was in fact Mary York's younger sister and had moved to Burton on Trent where she had married Tom Ashton in 1880. Tom had died before the turn of the century. This event in itself was highly irregular because marriage to a dead wife's sister was prohibited under Canon Law although it was not necessarily uncommon in the Victorian era. As church goers both parties should have been aware of the fact as tables of prohibited degrees of marriage could be found in every Prayer Book. Marriage with a deceased wife's sister was prohibited by statute passed in 1835. Historically it only became legal for a man to be able to marry his dead wife's sister in an Act of Partliament of 1907 (7, 8). It was not until 1921 that women were given reciprocal rights, probably because of the huge number of widows with young families left after the first World War (9). James died on December 21st 1911.

John Joseph (1860 - 1936)

Penultimate son John Joseph was baptised in Thorpe Langton on August 5th 1860. Towards the end of the 1870s he moved to Leicester and took up work as a drayman. Initially he lodged with his married sister Betsy Ford in St Saviour's Road. On April 10th 1884 he married Mary Ann Baldwin at St Peter's Church. This was the same church in which Mary Ann's brother, Joseph Edward Baldwin had married Joseph's niece Clara Jane Tilley. By 1901 the couple were living in Evington Street with a brood of four sons (John, 1888; Thomas, 1891; Horace, 1893 and Albert, 1900) and two daughters (Florence, 1885 and Edith, 1887). A fifth son they named Sydney James was born at the end of 1907 but died aged 8 months the following year. He was buried in Sector cO plot 468 of Welford Road Cemetery on June 9th 1908. John lived into the middle of the 1930s. He was buried in the same plot as his infant son on April 28th 1936. Mary Ann survived him by nearly twenty years, finally succumbing in 1955.

The family of John Tilley and Catherine Tilley

John was the second son of Francis and Hannah Tilley and was baptised in Thorpe Langton on February 21st 1819. Catherine was the fourth daughter of Joseph Tilley and Catherine Waterfield having been baptised in Thorpe Langton on July 26th 1818. They were married in the village on August 2nd 1841 before her sister Ann. The couple spent their married life in Thorpe Langton where they had three sons and three daughters. Their last born son was baptised John Waterfield Tilley on July 14th 1861. The lad died on November 3rd 1876 from a rare parotid tumour (a cancer of the salivary gland in the cheek (10)) which would have caused pain, swelling and ultimately exhaustion.

For most of his life John was a carpenter but later he turned his hand to grazing on a smallholding. In 1891 the couple were home alone. Neighbours on one side were John's first cousin James Tilley and his wife, and Catherine's sister, Anne Tilley, while on the other side was James and Anne's grandson John Charles Tilley with his wife Abigail and family. John died and was buried in the village on January 11th 1895. After John's death, Catherine went to stay with her now married daughter Celia Hardy at The Langton Arms. Catherine died just before Christmas and was buried on Boxing Day 1905.

Sarah Ann (1844 - 1923)

Sarah Ann, the oldest of the daughters of John and Catherine, was born in Thorpe Langton in 1844. By the early 1860s she had moved to Leicester where she met Nathaniel Moore who was a licenced victualler. They were married at St George's Church on June 14th 1865. Nathaniel was born in 1842, the son of Joseph and Lucy Moore. His parents had been married at St Margaret's Church on July 6th 1837 when the couple were residing in Albion Street. Lucy was the daughter of John Waterfield, a gardener. This immediately raised the question of whether they had originated in The Langtons and therefore were somehow related to Sarah Ann's grandmother, Catherine. However, the issue was complicated by another marriage at St Margaret's Church between Edward Haddon and Lucy Waterfield on November 11th the same year. This Lucy's father was also named John Waterfield and he was a framework knitter. To date, a baptismal record has not been found for either Lucy.

Nathaniel's initial occupation was that of a licenced victualler but ultimately he became a joiner. The first family home was in Bell Lane off Humberstone Road. They were to have four sons: Ernest Albert (1868); Walter George (1872); Frank William (1874) and Lewis (1878) and three daughters: Lucy Kate (1866); Florence Mary (1881) and Gertrude Emily (1886). By the turn of the century they had moved half a mile to the east and settled in Maynard Road. They still had Lucy, Frank, Lewis, Florence and Gertrude at home with them. Nathaniel died at that address and was buried in Sector cO plot 783 of Welford Road Cemetery on February 9th 1903. Sarah Ann continued to live there for another 20 years. She died and was buried with her husband on April 23rd 1923.

Lucy Kate

Lucy was born in Leicester on June 3rd 1866. She married James William Broadwell at St Luke's Church on April 19th 1904. James was the son of William Broadwell and Emily Mary Tilley and was thus Lucy's first cousin. James had originally been a travelling salesman in the flour trade but by the time of the wedding had become a policeman. The couple moved to the vicinity of Ashbourne in Derbyshire. In 1939 they were living in Squashley Bank Cottage Norbury which is where Lucy died in 1949.

Ernest; Walter

Ernest was born on January 7th 1868. He married Rhoda Hextall from Thornton near Coalville in her local parish church of St Peter on June 6th 1897. Their first child, Gerald Ernest, was born and baptised there on November 14th the same year. They moved into Avon Street in Leicester where Ernest was employed as a grocery manager. A daughter, Mildred Pentrill was born in 1907. Ernest died on December 17th 1940 and was buried three days later on Sector uP plot 2649 of Welford Road Cemetry.

Walter, Ernest's younger brother by four years also went into the grocery trade as a warehouseman. He married Florence Hawkins at All Saints Church in Leicester on April 26th 1898. They had two daughters: Ida (1899) and Dorothy (1906). They moved from Nutfield Road in the West End in 1911 to Thurlow Road in Clarendon Park during the first World War. Towards the end of the conflict Walter enlisted for a short time with the Royal Air Force. He died over the Christmas period of 1933 and was buried on January 1st 1934 in the same plot in Welford Road that would accommodate Ernest six years later.

Lewis

Nathaniel and Sally Ann's fourth son's birth was both registered in 1878 and at baptism on August 17th 1879 as Lewis Edwin although for most of his life he was known as Louis. He was born in Leicester but baptised in Thorpe Langton. He entered the grocery trade as a warehouseman as did his brother Frederick. He married Florence Anne Coleman at St Luke's Church on June 29th 1905 witnessed by his sister Florence and his brother Frank.

Florence's early years were particularly tragic. Her father Fred William was a butcher with a shop in Sanvey Gate, Leicester. He was 21 years old, the same age as his bride, when he married Ann Norman at All Saints Church on March 18th 1880. Three children followed in rapid succession. Son Fred William was born in 1881 followed by Florence at the end of 1882. Ann's third pregnancy ensued in the early spring of 1883. She went into labour around Christmas time that year but the delivery appears to have been difficult or complicated. She developed puerpural fever which led on to septicaamia and this was complicated by phlebitis. She died on January 12th 1884. The little girl, who was named Emily, was never well and suffered from recurrent convulsions. She too died on January 17th 1884. Mother and daughter were buried together the next day in Sector cK plot 481 of Welford Road Cemetry. After that Florence and her brother Fred were sent to live with their maternal grandmother in Sibson Road.

Lewis and Florence made their initial home in Worthington Street and had a single son, Douglas in 1906. By the outbreak of the second World War they had moved to St Barnabas Road which lies to the north of Spinney Hill Park. Lewis died there and was buried on May 12th 1943 along side his mother in law. Florence followed him on December 7th 1953 having died following an admission to the Leicester Royal Infirmary.

One further note, in the same plot lay the body of a 12 day old baby girl, Irene Mary, who died on March 12th 1910 and was probably a niece of Florence.

Alfred (1846 - 1916)

The first son of John and Catherine was baptised in Thorpe Langton on November 8th 1846. He became a wheelwright and carpenter and for a time worked in Barrow on Soar in Leicestershire. He married Clara Angelina Willis in Rothwell on December 28th 1868. They were to have seven sons: Frederick (1869); Arthur John (1874); Edwin (1878); Ernest Waterfield (1877); Alfred Edward (1880); Alfred Edgar (1883) and Horace Edgar (1885). The two Alfreds both died in infancy. The family lived in Havelock Street until the 1890s. Clara died in Kettering at the beginning of 1900 after which Alfred went back to the Langtons where he was lodging with his married sister Celia Hardy. He was to marry again, this time in Church Langton on November 30th 1903 to Mary Ann Balm. Two more sons, Cecil Graham (1905) and Alfred William (1909), ensued. They made their final home in Gardiner Street, Market Harborough. Alfred died in the spring of 1916.

Arthur John

Arthur led a chequered existence. He became a clerk and moved to Leicester. In 1898 he was living in Sparkenhoe Street near to the main London Road Railway Station. He married Susan Hall at St Peter's Church on December 1st 1898. At the turn of the century he had taken a job as a house agent and had moved to Fosse Road North. They had three sons (Vernon Hall, 1899; Douglas Hall, 1900 and Arthur Noah, 1903). Vernon died within the first year of life. It does appear that Arthur had a drink problem. At the end of the decade he had moved to Knaresborough in North Yorkshire and had been admitted to the Union Workhouse. He died there on June 10th 1910 of alcoholic neuritis and respiratory failure. Susan remained at home with her two remaining children in Lancaster Road, Leicester after his death. She was admitted to a geriatric facility at Rutland House in Coalville where she died on August 27th 1928.

Emily Mary (1850 - 1923)

Daughter number two was baptised on February 3rd 1850. In her late teens she moved to London and became a nurse to the household of the Honorable Major George Charles Mostyn (19) living in Eaton Square, Westminster. By 1872 she had moved back to Leicester where she married William Henry Broadwell, a baker, at the Church of St John the Divine on October 1st that year. Their first home was in East Street in the city. They had three sons in quick succession: James William (1873), Edwin (1874) and Harold Tilley (1875.) The latter two sons both died in 1876. The older son Edwin died first on June 13th 1876 of an unspecified "brain disease". Baby Harold was five months old when he caught whooping cough which caused his death on August 20th the same year. By the turn of the century William had moved the family to Derby where he sought employment as a railway porter. In 1904 son James William married his first cousin Lucy Kate Moore as noted above. In 1911 William and Emily were settled in Empress Road, Derby, and providing lodging for their nephew Sidney Waterfield Tilley. He remained with them until he went off to join the first World War. Emily died in Derby in the first quarter of 1923; William followed her in the spring of 1931.

Celia Eliza (1853 - 1937)

John and Catherine's third daughter was baptised in Thorpe Langton on March 23rd 1853. She married John Potter on February 18th 1880 witnessed by her brother Edwin and sister Sarah Jane. At the time John was railway station master at East Langton which is where the couple settled. Sometime during that decade John took over the licence of The Langton Arms public house in East Langton. John died in the village on April 5th 1891 from bronchopneumonia. Catherine, his mother-i-mlaw, was with him when he died. Their marriage was childless. The census of that year showed Celia to be accompanied by her sister Sarah Ann Moore and her elderly maiden aunt Mary Tilley. Celia married again in Church Langton on November 8th 1894. William Charles Hardy was a farmer from East Langton and was 14 years Celia's junior. They had a daughter, Laura, born in 1896. By the turn of the century William was registered as the inn keeper of The Langton Arms. A move back into farming following and in 1911 William had become the bailiff for the farm owned by Kenneth Lance in Burnaston, a small village on the south western edge of Derby. A decade later the couple took over the running of Stoney Lane Farm in Markfield, Leicestershire. That is where William died on November 21st 1935 and Celia followed in 1937.

Continued in column 2...

The family of John Tilley and Catherine Tilley (Continued)

Edwin Jesse (1857 - 1930)

Second son Edwin was baptised on May 4th 1856 in Thorpe Langhton. Towards the end of the 1870s he moved to Leicester where he established himself as a joiner. At first he lodged at No 10 Bell Lane in the St Margaret's district with widow Lucy Moore and her grandson Albert. She was the mother of Lewis Moore who was living next door with his wife Florence. Edwin married Sarah Elizabeth Pegg at St Saviour's Church on April 20th 1882. For the middle years of the decade the couple lived in Derby where their first three children Edwin Samuel John (1886), Emily Gertrude (1887) and Ada Florence ((1889) were born. By 1890 they had moved back to the West End of Leicester and taken one of the houses in Newport Street in the recently built Newfoundpool development. Initially the houses were not numbered but given rather grand sounding names - in this case Ashford House. Four more children arrived before the turn of the century: Sidney Waterfield (1891), Sarah Ann (1893), Harold and Elizabeth Catherine (1899). Even so Edwin did not forget his Langton roots. Sarah Ann was taken back to Thorpe Langton for baptism on January 5th; Emily and Ada were Emily and Ada were taken there on August 6th and Edwin Samuel and Sidney Waterfield made the same journey on September 3rd 1893. Sarah died at home in Newport Street and was buried on September 11th 1911 in Sector Li plot 216 of Gilroes Cemetery.

Edwin Samuel John

Edwin, born in 1886, became a mechanic after he had moved to Leicester. He married Lucy Smith at St Paul's Church on Kirby Road on December 26th 1907. Lucy had a son prior to the marriage born in 1905 who was named Frank Tilley Smith. They lived in a house towards the lower end of Noble Street off Fosse Road North. Sadly Edwin died on April 15th 1909. He had been admitted to the Leicester Royal Infirmary with a diagnosis of gangrenous gingivitis (a condition of the gums due to poor dental hygiene, poor nutrition and vitamin deficiency) which led to fatal toxaemia. He was buried in Sector Li plot 216 of Gilroes Cemetery on April 19th 1909. After her husband's death, Lucy took Frank to stay with her grandfather's family in New Park Street, earning some money as a yarn and silk winder. She married again at St Paul's Church on February 3rd 1917 to Jim Lord, a shoe hand. They settled at the Tudor Road end of Bosworth Street which ran parallel to Noble Street from Fosse Road North. They had a daughter in the autumn of 1917 but the tot died and was buried in Sector Cc plot 883 of Gilroes Cemetery on May 25th 1918. Another son, James, was born in 1920. The marriage did not last long after that as Jim had been in failing health for some time. He died at home from pulmonary tuberculosis on March 30th and was buried with his infant daughter on April 5th 1924. Lucy lived on in Bosworth Street into the 1960s when she was admitted to the Wyggeston Hospital, a geriatric unit and residential care home on Hinckley Road. She died there on May 11th 1969. Her ashes were scattered on Jim's grave on May 19th the same month.

Emily

Edwin Jesse and Sarah Elizabeth's first daughter Emily was born during the family's stay in Derby. Upon her return to Leicester she took up work as a wool winder. On April 7th 1912, she married shoe hand Walter Chapman at St Augustine's Church. Walter who came from a large family of eight siblings lived in Melrose Street, a branch from Melton Road in the St Matthews estate area. After the wedding the couple spent a short time with her parents in Newport Street before heading to Derby. They had three children there: Cyril (1913), Gertrude (1914) and Sydney (1917). The two boys were still at home with their parents in Rosengrave Street at the end of the 1930s. Walter had become an omnibus cleaner whilst Cyril was a chartered accountant and Edward worked as a shop assistant selling seeds and bulbs. Walter died in the winter of 1967. Emily died at the end of 1968

Ada Florence

Ada was born in Derby on June 13th 1888. She returned to Leicester with the family where she became a cardboard box maker. She met cloakroom clerk Ernest William Heath who lived in Conduit Street in 1911. Before the first World War he had become a railway porter and was member number 420845 of the National Union of Railwaymen. The couple were married at St Peter's Church on October 30th 1915.

Within weeks he had signed his attestation papers for Army war service. He became Private 203406 of the 7th Battalion, the North Staffordshire Regiment. In 1918 the Battalion was shipped out to the Middle East. Whilst there Ernest contracted a chest infection. He was transferred to a hospital at Kasvin, Mesopotamia but died from lobar pneumonia on September 10th 1918. He was ultimately commemorated at the Tehran War Cemetery in the grounds of the British Embassy at Gholak, Tehran, Iran. It is noted that Ada received a war pension which amounted to 13/9d (thirteen shillings and nine pence) a week. Towards the end of the 1930s, Ada had become a chronic invalid and before the outbreak of the second World War she went to live with her younger and now married sister, Elizabeth Catherine Tilley. Ada died and was buried in Sector Ii plot 827 of Gilroes Cemetery on November 29th 1939. She was 51 years old.

"Mesopotamia is an ancient desert land, through which run the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It was rich in oil upon which Britain relied to keep its navy at sea and the oilfields and pipeline near Basra were occupied early in the war to protect and defend them from German forces. However conditions in Mesopotamia defied description. Extremes of temperature (120 degrees F was common); arid desert and regular flooding; flies, mosquitoes and other vermin: all led to appalling levels of sickness and death through disease. Under these incredible conditions, units fell short of officers and men, and all too often the reinforcements were half-trained and ill-equipped. Medical arrangements were quite shocking, with wounded men spending up to two weeks on boats before reaching any kind of hospital. These factors, plus of course the unexpectedly determined Turkish resistance, contributed to high casualty rates. During the campaign 3985 troops died of wounds and 12678 died of sickness." - The Long, Long Trail (27)

Sidney Waterfield

Sidney, born January 1891, inherited his great grandmother's maiden name, a name only given once amongst his father's siblings. In his late teens, Sidney moved to Derby and went to live with his aunt Emily Broadwell in Empress Road. He started work as a brass bobbin maker. By 1916 he had graduated to wagon painter. He enlisted for war service on March 30th 1917. He was enrolled as Private 82900 with the 15th Battalion the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (The Sherwood Foresters). Sidney was shipped out to France where he saw action on the Somme. He was involved in desparate fighting along the Western Front in response to the German advance during spring offensive. He sustained injuries and was taken to the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital which was operating from an old citadel near the town of Doullens. Sidney died from his wounds on March 27th 1918. He is commemorated in the Doullens Communal Cemetery Extension No. 1. Sector C Row C 52.

Sarah Ann

Sarah Ann was born on October 15th 1893. When she was old enough she went to work in a factory as a glove hand. She married Herbert George Evans, who had been born in Lichfield at the beginning of 1899, in the early months of 1920. They made their home at No. 55 Newport Street and had a son they named Edwin George in 1921. Herbert died at home and was buried on January 13th 1936 in Sector Ii plot 941 of Gilroes Cemetery. Son Edwin continued living at home until the outbreak of the second World War and trained as a stone mason. Sarah Ann married again on April 14th 1945 to Samuel Crutchley from Stafford. He was an engineer's planer. For some time they lived in Hunter Road, close by Abbey Park. Sarah Ann died and was buried in Section Qq plot 32 of Gilroes Cemetery on August 19th 1971. Samuel followed just under three years later.

Harold Pegg

Given his mother's maiden name as a second name, Harold was born in Thorpe Langton at the beginning of 1895. When he left school he became a turner in an engineering company. After the end of the first World War he moved to West Yorkshire where he married Frances Emma Burnhill in Dewsbury in the spring of 1920. They had one son, John James, in the first quarter of 1922. The family lived in Yard 7 on Cross Bank Road, Batley. Harold died there in 1930. Frances lived on until her death in Batley on November 23rd 1949.

Elizabeth Catherine

Last born child of Edwin and Sarah Elizabeth arrived on October 23rd 1899. She married George Evans Middleton on July 19th 1924 at St Leonard's Church in Leicester. George, born on June 22nd 1899, was the oldest of the six children of George and Annie Mary Middleton. He had signed up for service (No. 90362) with the Royal Air Force on July 17th 1917.) At the time of their marriage he was working as a motor driver. By the time of the outbreak of the second World War the family were living in Barclay Street in the Westcotes area of the city. George had become as garage mechanic. Elizabeth died on February 26th and was buried on March 2nd 1970 in Sector Ii plot 827 of Gilroes Cemetery. George died and was interred with her on April 29th 1974.

Some final food for thought

As was indicated in the introduction, this article has concentrated on a tiny subset of the Tilley family who settled and lived in the city of Leicester. The following are just a few examples of other Tilley individuals discovered living in the same small area of the West End in the same time frame. Beatrice Edith Tilley, third cousin to Edwin Jesse Tilley, married William Craxford and moved from Cottingham to Leicester after the turn of the century. They lived for many years in Devana Road. Jane Tilley, one of Beatrice's fourth cousins, worked as a maid at Turret House, on the corner of King Richard's Road opposite St Paul's Church in the 1880s. Thomas Lewis Tilley from West Bromwich in Staffordshire was living in Norfolk Street off King Richard's Road when he married Mary Elizabeth Theaker at St Paul's Church in 1896. Richard Tilley, whose family came from Kettering, lived in Tyrrell Street at the turn of the century. In 1911, Lewis Hubbard Tilley who came from Foxton was living in Pool Road. His daughter Carrie Winifred married Ernest Moore at St Augustine's Church on April 24th 1928. Also in 1911 George Edward Tilley, clothing assistant from Grantham in Lincolnshire, lived on Fosse Road North almost opposite Pool Road.

Other families of significance to this website also lived in close proximity to this area. It was a letter from one of Beatrice Tilley's daughters which served as a spur to its development and led to another surprising coincidence found in Flora Street ([Article F.]).

Links to the articles mentioned in the text are in italic capitals below:

Article A: Where the Tilleys started A History of the Tilley family: Origins and alternatives 1: The Langtons, Leicestershire
Article B: The move from Leicestershire to Northamptonshire begins A History of the Tilley Family: Cottingham Part 1, the early generations
Article C: An account of life in the West End of Leicester in the 1950s. Growing up on Fosse Road North, Leicester
Article D: Another family with roots in the West End of Leicester Concerning the Beadsworth family in Leicester: Part 2
Article E: The move from Leicestershire to Rutland A History of the Tilley family: Origins and alternatives 2: Uppingham, Rutland
Article F: Explaining the reason behind the genesis of this website. Paperboy unknowingly delivers newspapers to the granddaughters of his great uncle's murderer

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their thanks for the help, comments and suggestions from the following in the construction of this article: Contributors to the Leicestershire Forum (including Amondg, CaroleW, David (DCB) and Willsy) at RootsChat.Com.

References

1. Tilley: Leicester Private Residents. Kelly's Directory of the City of Leicester, 1960. London
2. St Leonard's Church: photograph from Thorpe Langton Church Leicestershire & Rutland Churches: A Photographic Journal. Reproduced with permission
3. St Margaret's Church, Leicester: The Churches of Great Britain and Ireland. From an old print about 1900 in George Weston's collection.
4 "After life's fitful fever, city's great and good sleep in pleasant spot". Lithograph of Welford Road Cemetery about 1849 Leicester Mercury October 14th 2013
5. Photograph: Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester Friends of the Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester Ancestors
6. Map of the sections of Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester City Council
7. An explanation of The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
8. Text of Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 (7 Edw. 7, c. 47.) Pages 135 - 136 Simongatward.com
9. Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Bill 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. 5. c. 24) Hansard June 28th 1921
10. Bradley A Schiff, MD: Salivary gland tumours University Hospital of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in MSD Manual
11. St George's Church, Rutland Street, Leicester: Photograph: © 'NotFromUtrecht', Wikimedia Commons and licenced for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
12. Photograph: St Luke's Church before demolition: From city place of worship to wartime ministry food store and then pile of rubble" Leicester Mercury
13. Photograph: St Peter's Church, Thornton near Coalville © Mat Fascione, on Geograph and licenced for reuse under this Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence by Creative Commons
14. Photograph of All Saints Church, Leicester © Kris1973; Permission for use granted under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Licence from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
15. Main entrance photograph from "The Leicester Royal Infirmary 1771-1971" by Ernest R. Frizelle and Janet D Martin: The Leicester No.1. Hospital Management Committee (1971)
16. Photograph: Eaton Square, London SW1W © Paul Leonard, on Geograph and licenced for reuse under this Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence by Creative Commons
17. Portrait of George Charles Mostyn; Hubert George Charles Mostyn, 7th Baron Vaux of Harrowden; Mary Mostyn (née Monk) albumen print by Carmille Silvy: August 14th 1861. The Photographic Collection The National Portrait Gallery Ax55458. Reproduced with permission under this Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommerciazl-NoDerivs 3.0 Licence
18. Photograph: St John the Divine, Leicester © Alan Murray-Rust, on Geograph and licenced for reuse under this Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence by Creative Commons
19. Person Page George Charles Mostyn, 6th Baron Vaux of Harrowden The Peerage
20. Photograph: The Langton Arms facebook
21. Lithograph: St Saviour's Church, Leicester from Spencers' New Guide to Leicester, 1888 in Charnwood Street, Leicester ... Memories of Charney
22. Road works at Fosse Road North / Noble Street corner. Photograph about 1902. Source: Leicester Mercury 533146 Leicester, then and now Old Through New Photo Galley: © Jerry Fishenden. Reproduced with permission
23. Photograph: St Paul's Church from Glenfield Road / Kirby Road Corner about 1900. Fifty Years of Church, Men and Things at St Pauls, Leicester 1871-1921: Hextall, John Edward MA and Brightman, Arthur L. BA: John Edward Hextall: Bell & Co. Leicester 1921.
24. Our History and Photograph: Wyggeston Hospital, Leicester, Wyggestons, Leicester.
25. Photograph: North Staffordshire Regiment Cap Badge in the public domain: Wikimedia Commons
26. Tehran War Cemetery Commonwealth War Graves Commission
27. Mesopotamia: The Long, Long Trail The British Army of 1914-1918 for family historians
28. Photograph: Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) Cap Badge : Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediamedia Commons. This image illustrates the badge of a Regiment or other unit of the British Army, which is probably subject to Crown Copyright. It is considered that the use of this image qualifies as fair use
29. Photograph St Augustine Church CHR Source 2659 The Church of England
30. 11-year battle could not save Leicester church from demloition wrecking ball: St Leonard's Church Leicestershire Live

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Last update: July 28th 2021

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