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April 20th 2024
A Bateman Family History Pamphlet (Updated 19 thFebruary 2009)
Old Wolverhampton
A Family History Pamphlet.
The Bateman family has a long history in Wolverhampton it has been our ancestral home for over a hundred years, and what I have tried to present here in this document is a little about that history, and to trace when we arrived in Wolverhampton and what the family has achieved during those years.
The Bateman family has a long history in Wolverhampton it has been our ancestral home for over a hundred years, and what I have tried to present here in this document is a little about that history, and to trace when we arrived in Wolverhampton and what the family has achieved during those years.
Joe Bateman-In Montreal
This is an attempt to provide some answers to a lot of questions that are being asked in many of our family homes both in this Country and abroad. What is true is that much of our family history has been forgotten and not really been put into written form. I cannot really see the document ever being finished only up dated.
But we have to start somewhere so I start with myself. I am Philip Thomas Alexander Bateman; I am the son of Thomas Henry Bateman and his wife Eileen Gladys Bateman [nee Tilley].
I was born in Montreal Canada in 1950. I have a sister Eileen Lane [nee Bateman] who was also born in Montreal in 1954. We lived for the first years of our lives in Greenfield Park a small township on the South Bank of the St Lawrence River, close to the City of Montreal.
In the early 1950’s we returned from Canada to Wolverhampton where our branch of the Bateman’s set up home again. I believe we made the journey on the SS Scythia to the United Kingdom.
This is a very different form of transport than the transport used by those Bateman’s when they first journeyed to Wolverhampton from Derbyshire at the turn of the 1800’s.
The SS Scythia as I can just recall was a huge ship. I can remember singing ‘Davy Crockett’ in the passenger lounge, and also falling from top to bottom of a flight of huge stairs. But this story is very much about others, and our family history.
After our family’s return from Canada. My father Tom (Thomas Henry Bateman) worked in many of the iron and steel foundry’s within Wolverhampton, before taking up a position as a security officer with British Rail at Herbert Street Goods Yard in Wolverhampton. He remained with British Rail up until his retirement.
Mom also worked at the same place Herbert Street Goods Yard until she retired.
My dad was a great story teller and as I and my sister grew up we heard many stories about life in Canada and dad’s early life in Wolverhampton.
I know that from those tales that my father told. That he went to Causeway Lake School in Wolverhampton. I know that the school was located in Heath Town, it was famous for the visit Queen Victoria made on the 30th November 1866. The school was in the poorer part of Wolverhampton and the children were given a bun and a half day off from school when the royal visitor made an official visit to the town.
Let me make it clear my dad was not at the school at the time! he came along a long time after that..but it is a nice story!
I know that my dad did not enjoy the school experience. He thought it was a very harsh school. I also know that he can remember his father working as a blacksmith at Chubb’s. This company features heavily in our recent history, as both my wife Mary and my sister Eileen had long careers working at this once great company.
But this history story starts with my Grandfather Joseph, and this is what I have found out about his life and those of his family, my very own ancestors.
The family home was at 23 Eagle Street Wolverhampton.
Joseph Lawrence Bateman was my Grandfather he was born in the family home on the East Side of Wolverhampton on the 2nd of November 1878. At that time Wolverhampton was in the County of Staffordshire.
That is not the case now, as Wolverhampton is part of the West Midlands County as per the 1974 Local Government Act.
Joseph mothers name was Ruth and his father’s name was Thomas Bateman. At the date of Joseph’s birth in the family home at 23 Eagle Street Wolverhampton his father Thomas was employed as an “Iron Shingler”.
Iron and ironworks are to feature heavily in the Bateman family history.
Wolverhampton is the real family home of my branch of the Bateman family. Therefore a little bit about this great town which was recently awarded City status by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.
A bit about Wolverhampton in 1878.
Wolverhampton in 1878 was not much like the city it is today in the year 2005. It was a Town of some 70,000 people who lived and worked within its boundaries. At the time of Joe’s birth the Town Council was considering landscaping land that created West Park. Their ideals were that they wanted to create a “peoples park”.
They had bought the land for that purpose to give outdoor leisure opportunities for the people living in Wolverhampton.
West Park today is still very much a “people’s park”; transformed by those Victorians from the “tree less swamp” it was in 1878. It is the City's Premier Park standing in the centre of the Town set in 50 acres. Today it is undergoing considerable investment to enhance its leisure benefits, and to safeguard the vision of the Councillors of the 1878 period.
Wolverhampton's heritage is firmly based in two distinct periods. The period up to the 1700s saw a town with a very rural character, a market town by all description. But after 1700 the raw power of industry set the change that wove the fabric that is Wolverhampton today.
The industrial revolution had started and Wolverhampton was at the front of the revolutionary changes that were being fashioned. Lockmaking, Japanning, Cockfounding [the supply of brass taps for steam engines] were new and dynamic industries.
Industries that attracted migration from rural areas as these jobs were better paid and Towns had more to offer than rural areas.
A Hard Metal and a Hard Career.
The famous Iron master John Wilkinson b1728- d1808 opened the first iron furnace in the Black Country “the mother furnace” as it was termed at Bradley in Bilston.
The reason that the iron master had come to these parts rested firmly with the fact that a very thick seam of coal ran very close to the surface of the earth. This is the South Staffordshire coal seam. It is a legendary seam, and lots of small independent colliers made their living from mining the coal and selling it onto these new and revolutionary industries that were springing up in Wolverhampton and the surrounding Black Country towns.
From the research and old stories that I have heard, up and until the age today.
The Bateman family history is very much tied to iron and iron products. We know that Joe’s father Thomas was an iron shingler in 1878. He would have worked in one of a number of iron furnaces that were now operating all over the Black Country. Joe’s birth certificate clearly states this. It was a heavy and demanding job...
Having looked very hard at the records kept by Wolverhampton Council on the birth record of my grandfather. I noted that it took his father Thomas 46 days to register Joseph’s birth with the Authorities.
If great grandmother Ruth was any thing like my own mother, then you can bet he had more than the odd nagging about the need to register his sons birth with the Corporation. I would like to bet that the saying “Christmas is coming and you haven’t registered Joe’s birthday yet” was more than uttered once! Joseph Lawrence Bateman was finally registered with Wolverhampton Corporation on the 17th December 1878.
The birth certificate also informs us that great grandmother Ruth Bateman was unable to write and witnessed the certificate with an “X”.
A Little More About The Batemans in 1880
The Bateman family was already a large family when Joseph was born; he had five brothers and two sisters. The eldest of the siblings was Ann followed by John, William, Alfred, Thomas, George, and Ruth. As outlined earlier the family at this time lived at 23 Eagle Street. It is not clear how long they had lived at this address.
What I do know is that in the 1881 Census the family was recorded here. Ann was now aged 19 years of age. She is listed as being gainfully employed as a “warehouse girl”. She states her birth as being in Wolverhampton. This takes the family connection back to 1862. I still need to find out where the family was living at the time of Ann’s birth.
The 1881 census also tells us that Joe’s father [Thomas] was 39years of age and Ruth was 37 years of age. Lets just pause here and catch up on Thomas’s life.
Thomas and Ruth got married young they are central characters to our unfolding story about the Bateman’s in Wolverhampton.
Thomas (19) married Ruth Roberts on Christmas Eve December 24th, in 1860 in St Johns Church Wolverhampton; Ruth was (18) the daughter of John Roberts, he was a miner.
She was born in 1842 in Wolverhampton. They got married in what today is one of Wolverhampton’s oldest and finest Church St Johns Church. It is still standing and offering services to this date (update 2009).
Thomas's father was John Bateman he was already deceased and is described on the marriage certificate as being a Furnace Man.
Ruth Roberts was a spinster also living in Steelhouse Lane her father John Roberts occupation was as stated a miner. (We now know that John Roberts was a Welsh miner born in 1818 Wrexham Denbighshire North Wales, his occupation is coal miner and he married Martha Boddis who was born in 1820 in Monmore Green Wolverhampton.
Their children were :- Ann Roberts 1840 Wolverhampton
Elizabeth Roberts 1842 Wolverhampton
Ruth Roberts 1844 Wolverhampton
Martha Jane 1846 Steelhouse Lane Wolverhampton
Emma Roberts 1850 Wolverhampton
Mary Roberts 1853 Wolverhampton
John Roberts 1855 Wolverhampton
Thomas Roberts 1859 Wolverhampton
Ralph Roberts 1861 Wolverhampton
Parents of Martha Boddis (Ruth's maternal grandparents)
were Thomas Boddis 1798 Bilston & Ann Aston 1791
The children of Thomas & Ann Boddis were :-
Martha Boddis 1820 Monmore Green Wolverhampton
Thomas Boddis 1824 Monmore Green
Ellen Boddis 1831 Monmore Green
The Parents of Thomas Boddis (1798)
were John Boddis 1761 Norton Canes Staffs & Martha Oakes 1760 Rushall Staffs
children of John & Martha Boddis:-
William 1783 Staffs
John 1785 ""
James 1788 ""
Elizabeth 1791 ""
Thomas 1798 Bilston Staffs
Sarah 1792 Staffs
Samuel 1800 ""
Daniel 1800 ""
Joseph 1800 ""
Eleanoe 1802 ""
Sarah 1803 ""
George 1804 ""
John 1808 ""
Benjamin 1809 ""
Parents of John Boddis (1761):-
James Boddis 1740 Staffs or Derbyshire & Eleanor ?
children of James & Eleanor Boddis:-
John 1761 Norton Canes
Daniel 1770 ""
We now know that Great grandmother Ruth's parents John Roberts & Martha (nee Boddis) moved , with most of their family,to Yorkshire sometime after 1861 (Ruth was by then married to Thomas Bateman so remained in Wolverhampton)
On the 1881 census John Roberts and Martha were living
at 9 Ct 1 Albert Street, Kimberworth York
John Roberts 63 North Wales Coal Miner his family were listed as Martha 62 Wolverhampton Ralph 19 Wolverhampton Coal Miner)
On the day John Roberts gave his daughter away in Church St John's Church; Both sign with x. The witnesses were George Mincher and Mercy Mincher. We now know that Mercy was Thomas’s sister.
St John’s Church Wolverhampton 24th December 1860
Thomas Bateman age 19 bachelor Forgeman Steelhouse Lane Father John Bateman dec’d Furnace man
Ruth Roberts 18 spinster Steelhouse Lane Father John Roberts miner
Both sign with x. Winesses George Mincher, Mercy Mincher
The witnesses are important as they confirm the 1841 census entry found for Victoria St, Ironville (HO107/192/4/32 p.232:
John Bateman 25 Furnaceman man born in the county of Derbyshire
Eliza – 25 was also born in the County of Derbyshire
Mercy age 2 not born in the county
(ages for adults over 15 were rounded down to the nearest 5 years)
So far I have not found a birth certificate for Mercy. However I have noted a marriage to George Mincher in June quarter 1860, Wolverhampton district. Mercy was therefore Thomas’s sister, daughter of John Bateman and Eliza nee Turner .
We must search again for her birth certificate and/or baptism, as this might lead us to that of Thomas. As the census states she was not born in Derbyshire then we must look further afield.
As Thomas gives his age as 19 in 1860 we can deduce a date of birth c 1841- and as he is not on the 1841 census with his parents and sister Mercy, presumably he was born after June 1841 when the census was taken. This agrees with his age in 1881 census as 39.
The other interesting point is that it confirms that Thomas’s father John was dead by 1860 and that he was also a furnace man by occupation.
Now back to the the family on the night of the census. Ann’s brother John was aged 15. He to is at work and again the iron connection is strong. He is described as an “ironmaker”. William his younger brother who is at the tender age of just 13 is also hard at work. No school for William he has to be making iron! Life for these children must have been hard.
Alfred the next brother in line is recorded as being aged 11. Alfred is still at school, and the census describes him as a scholar. There is a gap of five years between Alfred’s age and his next brother another Thomas. He was six years old and at school on that night in 1881. Younger brother George is five, Ruth aged four, Joseph my grandafther is now three-year-old. He is no longer the youngest as it is recorded that he has a younger brother Nathan who is listed at being just six months old. The census night was a mighty important occasion then, as it is now.
Wolverhampton in the 1880’s
Wolverhampton’s evening newspaper the Express and Star was founded during the 1880’s. The newspaper describes the area between Birmingham and Wolverhampton at that time as “nothing but one vast iron working, coal mining establishment. There is scarcely a blade of grass of any kind to be seen, Oh mills and furnaces and coal pits and all the rest of you, you may be necessary but you are not bonny.”
It is well know fact here in Wolverhampton that when Queen Victoria was travelling north to the Royal estates in Balmoral Scotland. She would close the blinds on the train carriage so that she wouldn’t have to look upon the landscape of coal, smoke and furnaces! Hence the reason that the area is known as the Black Country. Coal dust and smoke and the erie glow of fire lit the sky at night.
For my family in Canada this description should start to conjure up the landscape that our family ancestors were born into. Certainly not a paradise, perhaps hard to imagine in this day and age, even harder to imagine if you are part of the Bateman clan living in the open expanses of Canada.
It was a hard life making iron and I can only be thankful that it was not me that was borne into that industry at that time. Yet there have been three generations to date that were to earn their living from iron in one sense or form.
Certainly my father Thomas Henry Bateman, was trained into the profession of blacksmith. Grandfather Joseph Lawrence was a trained blacksmith, and I have highlighted his father Thomas’s profession as Iron Shingler.
Let me quote a passage from a book I recently read about the making of iron in Wolverhampton. The worker said “the morning shift was the best, but rising at 4.30am on a cold winter’s morning, washing in cold water, then waiting for the kettle to boil on the newly lit fire was not the best way to start the day. We had to wear wooden clogs, usually a cotton shirt with low neck and no sleeves. With thin trousers and a towel as a sweat cloth this was normal dress for iron workers, the work was hard and the conditions hot”.
A Myth Dispelled, But the Past Points To Derbyshire
My dear old dad when talking about the family always told me that we had Scottish blood coursing though our veins. Nice thought but to date just that! All the evidence points to rural Derbyshire as the original family home.
The evidence for this is in the Census information of 1881. Joseph Bateman father Thomas lists his birth as being in Codnor in Derbyshire. So rather than finding ancestors in kilts, it is more likely that they were in farm laborers garb. I am not sure about this. Much more research to do. But the fact is that great grandfather Thomas Bateman was born in Codnor in 1842.
But we have to start somewhere so I start with myself. I am Philip Thomas Alexander Bateman; I am the son of Thomas Henry Bateman and his wife Eileen Gladys Bateman [nee Tilley].
I was born in Montreal Canada in 1950. I have a sister Eileen Lane [nee Bateman] who was also born in Montreal in 1954. We lived for the first years of our lives in Greenfield Park a small township on the South Bank of the St Lawrence River, close to the City of Montreal.
In the early 1950’s we returned from Canada to Wolverhampton where our branch of the Bateman’s set up home again. I believe we made the journey on the SS Scythia to the United Kingdom.
This is a very different form of transport than the transport used by those Bateman’s when they first journeyed to Wolverhampton from Derbyshire at the turn of the 1800’s.
The SS Scythia as I can just recall was a huge ship. I can remember singing ‘Davy Crockett’ in the passenger lounge, and also falling from top to bottom of a flight of huge stairs. But this story is very much about others, and our family history.
After our family’s return from Canada. My father Tom (Thomas Henry Bateman) worked in many of the iron and steel foundry’s within Wolverhampton, before taking up a position as a security officer with British Rail at Herbert Street Goods Yard in Wolverhampton. He remained with British Rail up until his retirement.
Mom also worked at the same place Herbert Street Goods Yard until she retired.
My dad was a great story teller and as I and my sister grew up we heard many stories about life in Canada and dad’s early life in Wolverhampton.
I know that from those tales that my father told. That he went to Causeway Lake School in Wolverhampton. I know that the school was located in Heath Town, it was famous for the visit Queen Victoria made on the 30th November 1866. The school was in the poorer part of Wolverhampton and the children were given a bun and a half day off from school when the royal visitor made an official visit to the town.
Let me make it clear my dad was not at the school at the time! he came along a long time after that..but it is a nice story!
I know that my dad did not enjoy the school experience. He thought it was a very harsh school. I also know that he can remember his father working as a blacksmith at Chubb’s. This company features heavily in our recent history, as both my wife Mary and my sister Eileen had long careers working at this once great company.
But this history story starts with my Grandfather Joseph, and this is what I have found out about his life and those of his family, my very own ancestors.
The family home was at 23 Eagle Street Wolverhampton.
Joseph Lawrence Bateman was my Grandfather he was born in the family home on the East Side of Wolverhampton on the 2nd of November 1878. At that time Wolverhampton was in the County of Staffordshire.
That is not the case now, as Wolverhampton is part of the West Midlands County as per the 1974 Local Government Act.
Joseph mothers name was Ruth and his father’s name was Thomas Bateman. At the date of Joseph’s birth in the family home at 23 Eagle Street Wolverhampton his father Thomas was employed as an “Iron Shingler”.
Iron and ironworks are to feature heavily in the Bateman family history.
Wolverhampton is the real family home of my branch of the Bateman family. Therefore a little bit about this great town which was recently awarded City status by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second.
A bit about Wolverhampton in 1878.
Wolverhampton in 1878 was not much like the city it is today in the year 2005. It was a Town of some 70,000 people who lived and worked within its boundaries. At the time of Joe’s birth the Town Council was considering landscaping land that created West Park. Their ideals were that they wanted to create a “peoples park”.
They had bought the land for that purpose to give outdoor leisure opportunities for the people living in Wolverhampton.
West Park today is still very much a “people’s park”; transformed by those Victorians from the “tree less swamp” it was in 1878. It is the City's Premier Park standing in the centre of the Town set in 50 acres. Today it is undergoing considerable investment to enhance its leisure benefits, and to safeguard the vision of the Councillors of the 1878 period.
Wolverhampton's heritage is firmly based in two distinct periods. The period up to the 1700s saw a town with a very rural character, a market town by all description. But after 1700 the raw power of industry set the change that wove the fabric that is Wolverhampton today.
The industrial revolution had started and Wolverhampton was at the front of the revolutionary changes that were being fashioned. Lockmaking, Japanning, Cockfounding [the supply of brass taps for steam engines] were new and dynamic industries.
Industries that attracted migration from rural areas as these jobs were better paid and Towns had more to offer than rural areas.
A Hard Metal and a Hard Career.
The famous Iron master John Wilkinson b1728- d1808 opened the first iron furnace in the Black Country “the mother furnace” as it was termed at Bradley in Bilston.
The reason that the iron master had come to these parts rested firmly with the fact that a very thick seam of coal ran very close to the surface of the earth. This is the South Staffordshire coal seam. It is a legendary seam, and lots of small independent colliers made their living from mining the coal and selling it onto these new and revolutionary industries that were springing up in Wolverhampton and the surrounding Black Country towns.
From the research and old stories that I have heard, up and until the age today.
The Bateman family history is very much tied to iron and iron products. We know that Joe’s father Thomas was an iron shingler in 1878. He would have worked in one of a number of iron furnaces that were now operating all over the Black Country. Joe’s birth certificate clearly states this. It was a heavy and demanding job...
Having looked very hard at the records kept by Wolverhampton Council on the birth record of my grandfather. I noted that it took his father Thomas 46 days to register Joseph’s birth with the Authorities.
If great grandmother Ruth was any thing like my own mother, then you can bet he had more than the odd nagging about the need to register his sons birth with the Corporation. I would like to bet that the saying “Christmas is coming and you haven’t registered Joe’s birthday yet” was more than uttered once! Joseph Lawrence Bateman was finally registered with Wolverhampton Corporation on the 17th December 1878.
The birth certificate also informs us that great grandmother Ruth Bateman was unable to write and witnessed the certificate with an “X”.
A Little More About The Batemans in 1880
The Bateman family was already a large family when Joseph was born; he had five brothers and two sisters. The eldest of the siblings was Ann followed by John, William, Alfred, Thomas, George, and Ruth. As outlined earlier the family at this time lived at 23 Eagle Street. It is not clear how long they had lived at this address.
What I do know is that in the 1881 Census the family was recorded here. Ann was now aged 19 years of age. She is listed as being gainfully employed as a “warehouse girl”. She states her birth as being in Wolverhampton. This takes the family connection back to 1862. I still need to find out where the family was living at the time of Ann’s birth.
The 1881 census also tells us that Joe’s father [Thomas] was 39years of age and Ruth was 37 years of age. Lets just pause here and catch up on Thomas’s life.
Thomas and Ruth got married young they are central characters to our unfolding story about the Bateman’s in Wolverhampton.
Thomas (19) married Ruth Roberts on Christmas Eve December 24th, in 1860 in St Johns Church Wolverhampton; Ruth was (18) the daughter of John Roberts, he was a miner.
She was born in 1842 in Wolverhampton. They got married in what today is one of Wolverhampton’s oldest and finest Church St Johns Church. It is still standing and offering services to this date (update 2009).
Thomas's father was John Bateman he was already deceased and is described on the marriage certificate as being a Furnace Man.
Ruth Roberts was a spinster also living in Steelhouse Lane her father John Roberts occupation was as stated a miner. (We now know that John Roberts was a Welsh miner born in 1818 Wrexham Denbighshire North Wales, his occupation is coal miner and he married Martha Boddis who was born in 1820 in Monmore Green Wolverhampton.
Their children were :- Ann Roberts 1840 Wolverhampton
Elizabeth Roberts 1842 Wolverhampton
Ruth Roberts 1844 Wolverhampton
Martha Jane 1846 Steelhouse Lane Wolverhampton
Emma Roberts 1850 Wolverhampton
Mary Roberts 1853 Wolverhampton
John Roberts 1855 Wolverhampton
Thomas Roberts 1859 Wolverhampton
Ralph Roberts 1861 Wolverhampton
Parents of Martha Boddis (Ruth's maternal grandparents)
were Thomas Boddis 1798 Bilston & Ann Aston 1791
The children of Thomas & Ann Boddis were :-
Martha Boddis 1820 Monmore Green Wolverhampton
Thomas Boddis 1824 Monmore Green
Ellen Boddis 1831 Monmore Green
The Parents of Thomas Boddis (1798)
were John Boddis 1761 Norton Canes Staffs & Martha Oakes 1760 Rushall Staffs
children of John & Martha Boddis:-
William 1783 Staffs
John 1785 ""
James 1788 ""
Elizabeth 1791 ""
Thomas 1798 Bilston Staffs
Sarah 1792 Staffs
Samuel 1800 ""
Daniel 1800 ""
Joseph 1800 ""
Eleanoe 1802 ""
Sarah 1803 ""
George 1804 ""
John 1808 ""
Benjamin 1809 ""
Parents of John Boddis (1761):-
James Boddis 1740 Staffs or Derbyshire & Eleanor ?
children of James & Eleanor Boddis:-
John 1761 Norton Canes
Daniel 1770 ""
We now know that Great grandmother Ruth's parents John Roberts & Martha (nee Boddis) moved , with most of their family,to Yorkshire sometime after 1861 (Ruth was by then married to Thomas Bateman so remained in Wolverhampton)
On the 1881 census John Roberts and Martha were living
at 9 Ct 1 Albert Street, Kimberworth York
John Roberts 63 North Wales Coal Miner his family were listed as Martha 62 Wolverhampton Ralph 19 Wolverhampton Coal Miner)
On the day John Roberts gave his daughter away in Church St John's Church; Both sign with x. The witnesses were George Mincher and Mercy Mincher. We now know that Mercy was Thomas’s sister.
St John’s Church Wolverhampton 24th December 1860
Thomas Bateman age 19 bachelor Forgeman Steelhouse Lane Father John Bateman dec’d Furnace man
Ruth Roberts 18 spinster Steelhouse Lane Father John Roberts miner
Both sign with x. Winesses George Mincher, Mercy Mincher
The witnesses are important as they confirm the 1841 census entry found for Victoria St, Ironville (HO107/192/4/32 p.232:
John Bateman 25 Furnaceman man born in the county of Derbyshire
Eliza – 25 was also born in the County of Derbyshire
Mercy age 2 not born in the county
(ages for adults over 15 were rounded down to the nearest 5 years)
So far I have not found a birth certificate for Mercy. However I have noted a marriage to George Mincher in June quarter 1860, Wolverhampton district. Mercy was therefore Thomas’s sister, daughter of John Bateman and Eliza nee Turner .
We must search again for her birth certificate and/or baptism, as this might lead us to that of Thomas. As the census states she was not born in Derbyshire then we must look further afield.
As Thomas gives his age as 19 in 1860 we can deduce a date of birth c 1841- and as he is not on the 1841 census with his parents and sister Mercy, presumably he was born after June 1841 when the census was taken. This agrees with his age in 1881 census as 39.
The other interesting point is that it confirms that Thomas’s father John was dead by 1860 and that he was also a furnace man by occupation.
Now back to the the family on the night of the census. Ann’s brother John was aged 15. He to is at work and again the iron connection is strong. He is described as an “ironmaker”. William his younger brother who is at the tender age of just 13 is also hard at work. No school for William he has to be making iron! Life for these children must have been hard.
Alfred the next brother in line is recorded as being aged 11. Alfred is still at school, and the census describes him as a scholar. There is a gap of five years between Alfred’s age and his next brother another Thomas. He was six years old and at school on that night in 1881. Younger brother George is five, Ruth aged four, Joseph my grandafther is now three-year-old. He is no longer the youngest as it is recorded that he has a younger brother Nathan who is listed at being just six months old. The census night was a mighty important occasion then, as it is now.
Wolverhampton in the 1880’s
Wolverhampton’s evening newspaper the Express and Star was founded during the 1880’s. The newspaper describes the area between Birmingham and Wolverhampton at that time as “nothing but one vast iron working, coal mining establishment. There is scarcely a blade of grass of any kind to be seen, Oh mills and furnaces and coal pits and all the rest of you, you may be necessary but you are not bonny.”
It is well know fact here in Wolverhampton that when Queen Victoria was travelling north to the Royal estates in Balmoral Scotland. She would close the blinds on the train carriage so that she wouldn’t have to look upon the landscape of coal, smoke and furnaces! Hence the reason that the area is known as the Black Country. Coal dust and smoke and the erie glow of fire lit the sky at night.
For my family in Canada this description should start to conjure up the landscape that our family ancestors were born into. Certainly not a paradise, perhaps hard to imagine in this day and age, even harder to imagine if you are part of the Bateman clan living in the open expanses of Canada.
It was a hard life making iron and I can only be thankful that it was not me that was borne into that industry at that time. Yet there have been three generations to date that were to earn their living from iron in one sense or form.
Certainly my father Thomas Henry Bateman, was trained into the profession of blacksmith. Grandfather Joseph Lawrence was a trained blacksmith, and I have highlighted his father Thomas’s profession as Iron Shingler.
Let me quote a passage from a book I recently read about the making of iron in Wolverhampton. The worker said “the morning shift was the best, but rising at 4.30am on a cold winter’s morning, washing in cold water, then waiting for the kettle to boil on the newly lit fire was not the best way to start the day. We had to wear wooden clogs, usually a cotton shirt with low neck and no sleeves. With thin trousers and a towel as a sweat cloth this was normal dress for iron workers, the work was hard and the conditions hot”.
A Myth Dispelled, But the Past Points To Derbyshire
My dear old dad when talking about the family always told me that we had Scottish blood coursing though our veins. Nice thought but to date just that! All the evidence points to rural Derbyshire as the original family home.
The evidence for this is in the Census information of 1881. Joseph Bateman father Thomas lists his birth as being in Codnor in Derbyshire. So rather than finding ancestors in kilts, it is more likely that they were in farm laborers garb. I am not sure about this. Much more research to do. But the fact is that great grandfather Thomas Bateman was born in Codnor in 1842.
St John's Church Wolverhampton
Codnor is a small market town close to Denby, which is famous for its pottery and the use of blue clay. Local industry was listed as lead and coal mining and agriculture. Its possible that Thomas as a young man could have been involved in all or any of these professions. I have recently found out that at this time Codnor Park where Thomas Bateman was born also had a large and famous company operating.
In the Directory 1835 there is a passage that states “The Butterley Company –manufacturers of pig, bar, plate hoop, and rod iron, steam engines Butterley Park and Codnor Park”. Could John Bateman my great,great, grandfather and my great grandfather Thomas started their career working in iron at this once large and important factory?
Now we have found that the Bateman roots are firmly located in Derbyshire. It is worth having a look at the County in which our ancestors lived. Also what the County was like during this period of time and what the geography and trades it had to offer to the family at that time.
The Bateman family was already a large family when Joseph was born; he had five brothers and two sisters. The eldest of the siblings was Ann followed by John, William, Alfred, Thomas, George, and Ruth. As outlined earlier the family at this time lived at 23 Eagle Street. It is not clear how long they had lived at this address.
What I do know is that in the 1881 Census the family was recorded at this address. Ann was now aged 19 years of age. She is recorded as being gainfully employed as a “warehouse girl”. She records her birth as being in Wolverhampton. This takes the family connection back to 1862. I still need to find out where the family was living at the time of Ann’s birth.
The 1881 census also tells us that Joe’s father [Thomas] was 39years of age and Ruth was 37 years of age. Thomas married Ruth Roberts on Christmas Eve December 24th, in 1860 in St Johns Church Wolverhampton; Ruth was the daughter of John Roberts. She was born in 1842 in Glamorgan [Wales].
Ann’s brother John was aged 15. He too is at work and again the iron connection is strong. He is described as an “ironmaker”. William his younger brother who is at the tender age of 13 is also hard at work. No school for William he to be making iron! Life for these children must have been hard.
Alfred the next brother in line is recorded as being aged 11. Alfred is still at school, and the census describes him as a scholar. There is a gap of five years between Alfred’s age and his next brother Thomas. He was six years old and at school on that night in 1881. Younger brother George is five Ruth aged four, Joseph is now three-year-old. He is no longer the youngest as it is recorded that he has a younger brother Nathan who is listed at being six months old.
This is the description of the county taken from Bartholomew’s Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887.
“Derbyshire is a Midland County having Yorkshire on the north, Nottinghamshire to the east Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire to the south and Staffordshire and Cheshire to the west. It is a County of 52 miles in length 85 miles breadth. The soil in the Vale of the Trent is alluvial and very productive. In the hilly districts the land is mostly in pasture; much of its rocky and unproductive. Oats and barley, potatoes and wheat are cultivated; and there are many excellent dairy farms. Warm mineral springs are numerous, the most popular being those at Buxton, Matlock, and Bakewell. Coal is abundant; iron ore and lead ore are being worked; among the other mineral products are zinc, manganese and barytes. These are numerous and an extensive quarry of limestone’s and marble; fluor-spar is found in the caverns, and is manufactured into a great variety of ornamental articles. Silk, cotton, and lace are the chief manufacturers, but malting and brewing are also carried on, and there are some extensive iron foundries.”
*The Bateman’s in later life had a long and history in iron working. Generation after generation of my family has worked with iron. The opportunity obviously existed to enlist them in Iron as the County of Derbyshire had both iron ore and coal as the Bartholomew Gazetteer states. My father Thomas Henry Bateman was a long time iron worker through out the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Not only working as a blacksmith on the Canadian National Railway but also he worked when coming back from Canada to Wolverhampton in a great many iron works. Some I recall as being Guest Keen and Nettlefolds, Rubery Owen, Bayliss Jones and Bayliss but for a few.
In the Directory 1835 there is a passage that states “The Butterley Company –manufacturers of pig, bar, plate hoop, and rod iron, steam engines Butterley Park and Codnor Park”. Could John Bateman my great,great, grandfather and my great grandfather Thomas started their career working in iron at this once large and important factory?
Now we have found that the Bateman roots are firmly located in Derbyshire. It is worth having a look at the County in which our ancestors lived. Also what the County was like during this period of time and what the geography and trades it had to offer to the family at that time.
The Bateman family was already a large family when Joseph was born; he had five brothers and two sisters. The eldest of the siblings was Ann followed by John, William, Alfred, Thomas, George, and Ruth. As outlined earlier the family at this time lived at 23 Eagle Street. It is not clear how long they had lived at this address.
What I do know is that in the 1881 Census the family was recorded at this address. Ann was now aged 19 years of age. She is recorded as being gainfully employed as a “warehouse girl”. She records her birth as being in Wolverhampton. This takes the family connection back to 1862. I still need to find out where the family was living at the time of Ann’s birth.
The 1881 census also tells us that Joe’s father [Thomas] was 39years of age and Ruth was 37 years of age. Thomas married Ruth Roberts on Christmas Eve December 24th, in 1860 in St Johns Church Wolverhampton; Ruth was the daughter of John Roberts. She was born in 1842 in Glamorgan [Wales].
Ann’s brother John was aged 15. He too is at work and again the iron connection is strong. He is described as an “ironmaker”. William his younger brother who is at the tender age of 13 is also hard at work. No school for William he to be making iron! Life for these children must have been hard.
Alfred the next brother in line is recorded as being aged 11. Alfred is still at school, and the census describes him as a scholar. There is a gap of five years between Alfred’s age and his next brother Thomas. He was six years old and at school on that night in 1881. Younger brother George is five Ruth aged four, Joseph is now three-year-old. He is no longer the youngest as it is recorded that he has a younger brother Nathan who is listed at being six months old.
This is the description of the county taken from Bartholomew’s Gazetteer of the British Isles, 1887.
“Derbyshire is a Midland County having Yorkshire on the north, Nottinghamshire to the east Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Staffordshire to the south and Staffordshire and Cheshire to the west. It is a County of 52 miles in length 85 miles breadth. The soil in the Vale of the Trent is alluvial and very productive. In the hilly districts the land is mostly in pasture; much of its rocky and unproductive. Oats and barley, potatoes and wheat are cultivated; and there are many excellent dairy farms. Warm mineral springs are numerous, the most popular being those at Buxton, Matlock, and Bakewell. Coal is abundant; iron ore and lead ore are being worked; among the other mineral products are zinc, manganese and barytes. These are numerous and an extensive quarry of limestone’s and marble; fluor-spar is found in the caverns, and is manufactured into a great variety of ornamental articles. Silk, cotton, and lace are the chief manufacturers, but malting and brewing are also carried on, and there are some extensive iron foundries.”
*The Bateman’s in later life had a long and history in iron working. Generation after generation of my family has worked with iron. The opportunity obviously existed to enlist them in Iron as the County of Derbyshire had both iron ore and coal as the Bartholomew Gazetteer states. My father Thomas Henry Bateman was a long time iron worker through out the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Not only working as a blacksmith on the Canadian National Railway but also he worked when coming back from Canada to Wolverhampton in a great many iron works. Some I recall as being Guest Keen and Nettlefolds, Rubery Owen, Bayliss Jones and Bayliss but for a few.
Mary Ellen Bateman (Nan) and Joe Bateman In Caughnawaga with Friend
1851 Census in Wolverhampton.
The 1851 Census took place on the night of 30th March. I have picked the family up at their home in Willenhall Road Wolverhampton. This is about three miles from their later home in Eagle Street where great grandfather Thomas had settled with his family at the later date of 1881.
This earlier census gives valuable new information. This census was the first to place the areas into town wards the Willenhall Road was therefore placed into the ecclesiastic district of Heath Town.
My Great Grandfather Thomas and his brother John are listed as being 10 and 7 and wait for the shock, he is reported as being at work, and his occupation is listed as being a forge boy! Both Thomas and John were born at Codnor Park in Derbyshire.
The facts are irrefutable, the Bateman family was from Derbyshire, but why did they move from a rural area into an industrial town like Wolverhampton? I suppose the answer is the same, as migrants would give today. They wanted a better life. There was obviously work in Wolverhampton, which was very much at the heart of the industrial revolution taking place.
Census 1851.
John Bateman and Eliza Bateman are top of this tree, and they are my great great grandparents. They were born in 1817. John Bateman was born in Derby Akinwurst and Eliza [nee Turner] was born in Duffield Derbyshire.
.
Eliza Turner was a Derbyshire girl as was her mother, she was Mercy Bonington born c1773 Derby. Her parents were Emanuel Bonington and Mary/Mercy Bonington (nee Gladwin).
There Bonnington's had at least two other children Mary and George. This information takes the trek back in history another generation and gives us another maiden name to look and research. ( source-June& Terry Whitehouse)
Eliza's brother Henry, had his sister Ann living with him. Ann was 13 years his senior, Eliza's brother Henry was a flour seller, then became a Telegraph Inspector, his son was also a Telegraph officer.
In the 1851 Census, great, great grandfather John is described as a “heater on a forge” is this the start of the clear family relationship with the making of iron and steel? Eliza on this census night is recorded as being unemployed.
It is clear therefore from the census that they are at this point already married; In fact recent information received informs us that Great great Grandfather John married Eliza in Duffield in Derbyshire on the 26th October 1834.They married before starting a new life in Wolverhampton. These two people who were not aware at the time would be the anchor to the families connection to
Wolverhampton……They were the first of the family connection with Wolverhampton.
I stated that John and Eliza were married in Duffield in 1834, It is believed that John & Eliza were married here. Duffield is an ancient Village it had a settlement in Roman times and it was mentioned in the Doomesday Book. It was also the home of the Danes and was part of Siward Kingdom one of the Danish Earls from Northumberland and an enemy of Macbeth!
Church of St Akinwurst Duffield.
The 1851 Census took place on the night of 30th March. I have picked the family up at their home in Willenhall Road Wolverhampton. This is about three miles from their later home in Eagle Street where great grandfather Thomas had settled with his family at the later date of 1881.
This earlier census gives valuable new information. This census was the first to place the areas into town wards the Willenhall Road was therefore placed into the ecclesiastic district of Heath Town.
My Great Grandfather Thomas and his brother John are listed as being 10 and 7 and wait for the shock, he is reported as being at work, and his occupation is listed as being a forge boy! Both Thomas and John were born at Codnor Park in Derbyshire.
The facts are irrefutable, the Bateman family was from Derbyshire, but why did they move from a rural area into an industrial town like Wolverhampton? I suppose the answer is the same, as migrants would give today. They wanted a better life. There was obviously work in Wolverhampton, which was very much at the heart of the industrial revolution taking place.
Census 1851.
John Bateman and Eliza Bateman are top of this tree, and they are my great great grandparents. They were born in 1817. John Bateman was born in Derby Akinwurst and Eliza [nee Turner] was born in Duffield Derbyshire.
.
Eliza Turner was a Derbyshire girl as was her mother, she was Mercy Bonington born c1773 Derby. Her parents were Emanuel Bonington and Mary/Mercy Bonington (nee Gladwin).
There Bonnington's had at least two other children Mary and George. This information takes the trek back in history another generation and gives us another maiden name to look and research. ( source-June& Terry Whitehouse)
Eliza's brother Henry, had his sister Ann living with him. Ann was 13 years his senior, Eliza's brother Henry was a flour seller, then became a Telegraph Inspector, his son was also a Telegraph officer.
In the 1851 Census, great, great grandfather John is described as a “heater on a forge” is this the start of the clear family relationship with the making of iron and steel? Eliza on this census night is recorded as being unemployed.
It is clear therefore from the census that they are at this point already married; In fact recent information received informs us that Great great Grandfather John married Eliza in Duffield in Derbyshire on the 26th October 1834.They married before starting a new life in Wolverhampton. These two people who were not aware at the time would be the anchor to the families connection to
Wolverhampton……They were the first of the family connection with Wolverhampton.
I stated that John and Eliza were married in Duffield in 1834, It is believed that John & Eliza were married here. Duffield is an ancient Village it had a settlement in Roman times and it was mentioned in the Doomesday Book. It was also the home of the Danes and was part of Siward Kingdom one of the Danish Earls from Northumberland and an enemy of Macbeth!
Church of St Akinwurst Duffield.
Memories of my Grandfather Joseph Bateman
I am greatly indebted to my Aunt Ruth Barker currently living in the Town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia Canada. Ruth kindly jotted down some of her memories in a note to me dated September 1994. At the time of writing this Aunt Ruth was still alive and at the great age of 94. *[Jan2001] sadly Aunt Ruth died in late 2003.
“ I Harriet Ruth Ellen Barker, at this time, September 1994,being the oldest living member of our branch of the Bateman family having been born 15th December 1907 of the union of Mary Ellen Blower and Joseph Lawrence Bateman, February 16 1907 in All Saints Church Wolverhampton Staffordshire England.
Mary Ellen Blower had very dark eyes, black hair, olive skin, delicate fine bone structure, and tiny vivacious, good figure all her life.
I am proud to be her daughter. She had remarkable character and for many years had a Sunday school Class of immense size at Grace Church in Point St Charles, Montreal Canada. During the First World War she worked on building warplanes as part of the war effort the Sunbeam in Wolverhampton England. Although she was Church of England she was educated at a convent, it being the only school near her parent’s home.
My dad Joseph Lawrence Bateman was born on November 2 1878, he had light blue eyes, a fresh complexion, and auburn hair, was of medium height, well built, and had a beautiful tenor voice, handsome, liked to dress well, drink and gamble. He had a handlebar moustache white in later year. He had exceptional mechanical drawing ability and inventiveness but was unsuccessful in promoting his inventions.
He was creative in forge iron works and steel products, made many attractive forged iron and steel objects, and were a blacksmith and later a welder.
His father later apprenticed him to a blacksmith at the age of 13. Later when the Smith beat him with a chain he ran away and claimed to be older than he was to enlist in the British Army. In 1898 he fought in the Boer War in South Africa. He was enlisted in the 3rd Northumberland Fusiliers.
To do this he assumed the surname Lawrence.
At Bloemfontein on the 6th April 1906 he was transferred into the Army reserve at the end of the Boer War.”
I can only imagine why he did this, I have not yet heard why he decided to run away and join up using an assumed name.
I look forward to one of the family members being able to inform me of the reasons for this unusual act. I would like to think that in a romantic way he was brave and wanted some excitement but there is every chance it may be something different.
We shall have to wait and see what turns up.
My Aunt Ruth recalls that she along with the family sailed on the ship ‘Melita’ on the 13th May 1921 from England to Canada. Three years after the finish of the ‘Great War’, the First World War. The family at that time was made up of my grandfather Joseph Bateman, my grandmother Mary Ellen Bateman, who was always known as ‘Nell’, her eldest child Harriet [my dear Aunt Ruth] eldest son Frank, his sister Rose, and my own father Thomas. She recalls that before she sailed to a new life in Canada, that she attended All Saints School in Wolverhampton.
I am greatly indebted to my Aunt Ruth Barker currently living in the Town of Ganges on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia Canada. Ruth kindly jotted down some of her memories in a note to me dated September 1994. At the time of writing this Aunt Ruth was still alive and at the great age of 94. *[Jan2001] sadly Aunt Ruth died in late 2003.
“ I Harriet Ruth Ellen Barker, at this time, September 1994,being the oldest living member of our branch of the Bateman family having been born 15th December 1907 of the union of Mary Ellen Blower and Joseph Lawrence Bateman, February 16 1907 in All Saints Church Wolverhampton Staffordshire England.
Mary Ellen Blower had very dark eyes, black hair, olive skin, delicate fine bone structure, and tiny vivacious, good figure all her life.
I am proud to be her daughter. She had remarkable character and for many years had a Sunday school Class of immense size at Grace Church in Point St Charles, Montreal Canada. During the First World War she worked on building warplanes as part of the war effort the Sunbeam in Wolverhampton England. Although she was Church of England she was educated at a convent, it being the only school near her parent’s home.
My dad Joseph Lawrence Bateman was born on November 2 1878, he had light blue eyes, a fresh complexion, and auburn hair, was of medium height, well built, and had a beautiful tenor voice, handsome, liked to dress well, drink and gamble. He had a handlebar moustache white in later year. He had exceptional mechanical drawing ability and inventiveness but was unsuccessful in promoting his inventions.
He was creative in forge iron works and steel products, made many attractive forged iron and steel objects, and were a blacksmith and later a welder.
His father later apprenticed him to a blacksmith at the age of 13. Later when the Smith beat him with a chain he ran away and claimed to be older than he was to enlist in the British Army. In 1898 he fought in the Boer War in South Africa. He was enlisted in the 3rd Northumberland Fusiliers.
To do this he assumed the surname Lawrence.
At Bloemfontein on the 6th April 1906 he was transferred into the Army reserve at the end of the Boer War.”
I can only imagine why he did this, I have not yet heard why he decided to run away and join up using an assumed name.
I look forward to one of the family members being able to inform me of the reasons for this unusual act. I would like to think that in a romantic way he was brave and wanted some excitement but there is every chance it may be something different.
We shall have to wait and see what turns up.
My Aunt Ruth recalls that she along with the family sailed on the ship ‘Melita’ on the 13th May 1921 from England to Canada. Three years after the finish of the ‘Great War’, the First World War. The family at that time was made up of my grandfather Joseph Bateman, my grandmother Mary Ellen Bateman, who was always known as ‘Nell’, her eldest child Harriet [my dear Aunt Ruth] eldest son Frank, his sister Rose, and my own father Thomas. She recalls that before she sailed to a new life in Canada, that she attended All Saints School in Wolverhampton.
Joe's South African Campaign Medals
They all lived in Gordon Street and at the age of 13 she was informed that they were all to move to Canada. They left Wolverhampton to sail to a new life in the New World of Canada. Aunt Ruth when living in Wolverhampton was living in a period when Wolverhampton was preparing for War. The local newspaper the express and star was caught up with the sense of excitement and expectation that was grabbing the country. In the days before the start of the war it ran headlines such as “We do not believe that you will stand by and do nothing and let your empire perish” .Wolverhampton along with other towns in England suffered the usual shortage of food and other commodities. War work was everywhere.
Chris Upton in his book a “History of Wolverhampton” tells of schoolgirls knitting clothes for Belgian refugees and the Land Army women digging allotments in the flowerbeds of the Parks. At Hobson’s Accuracy Works and at Villiers they were producing components for aircraft. Hobson’s today is called Lucas Aerospace, and my brother-in-law Frank Hill works there as an electrician. They are still producing parts for the aircraft industry.
Real historic names in the new motor car industry like the Clyno and Sunbeam were all producing war work. Those two factories were producing engines for airplanes. As mentioned earlier in this document my grandmother ‘Nell’
Worked at the Sunbeam during this period. A period of time that she was later very proud to relate. I remember her telling me this during one visit to Canada.
With all the industry that was taking place here in Wolverhampton and the other surrounding Black Country towns it was not surprising that it would eventually attract German interest. It is recorded that a Zeppelin air ship attacked Wolver Hampton in 1916. During the attack two people from Bradley in Bilston were killed.
Prime Ministers Speech in 1918.
History informs us that Britain’s Prime Minister at the time David Lloyd George chose Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre to launch his General Election campaign in November 1918. During the course of the meeting he coined that very famous phrase, in that it was “Britain’s task to build a fit Country for heroes to live in”. How many times have I heard that slogan hurled back at me in my time in politics.
My Grandfather Joseph Bateman.
Since I started to put some of the information into this written style, more little snippets have come my way that relates to my grandfather. All his mates called him Joe; the family called him Joe.
I want to devote a little more time to Joe. He was a real character; whether you loved him or hated him he certainly left you remembering him. He was born in Wolverhampton in 1878, he enlisted in the British Imperial Army as an under age recruit, Using his middle name of Lawrence as his surname, he was accepted into the Army as Joseph Lawrence and shipped off to the Boer War taking place in South Africa.
I know from legal records that this is so. I have read the ‘Solemn Declaration’ made 10th May 1932 in the City and District of Montreal, Province of Quebec in front of the Quebec Superior Court. Its not to often that you can quote direct from an ancestors words but in this case Joe’s own words are used and for accuracy I will quote direct from the documentation and leave you to imagine hearing his words from his own lips.
I understand that he made this declaration to receive a pension arrangement that he was entitled to. Joe joined the British Imperial Army and was shipped out to fight in what was thought would be a quick little war with a bunch of farmers. How wrong they were. The Boers were a determined bunch, and were intent on winning. The war started in 1899 and continued through until 1902, it is now recognised as one of the longest and costliest wars –in financial terms-and in terms of casualties, between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. The background to this war is found in the fighting that took place between the British Colonial territories in Southern Africa, and the Boer Republics. The Boers were the descendents of Dutch colonists who had done much to open up Southern Africa.
The word Boer means farmer, Trek Boers in the Dutch colony were people who were farmers looking for farms. The great trek came about as the Boers upped sticks and moved out of the Cape in which they had settled and moved into the interior in search of their own unified Boer Nation.
Solemn Declaration made before the Quebec Superior Court
“I am the son of Thomas Bateman and his marriage to Ruth Roberts, and that I was born on the second day of November in the year of Our Lord eighteen hundred and seventy eight, in the Town of Wolverhampton, County of Staffordshire, England.
That desiring to enlist in the British Imperial Army, I did so enlist on the fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety eight in the regiment of the Northampton Fusilier’s [this is not factually true as he enlisted in the Northumberland Fusilier’s]
That being under age at the time of my enlistment, I was legally Joseph Bateman. That on the seventh day of August in the year of Our Lord. Nineteen hundred and fourteen, I re-enlisted under my regimental name and my army record surname of Lawrence, in the Royal Army Service Corps, and served in the British Expeditionary Force for four years and nine months.
That on February sixteenth, nineteen hundred and seven, I married Mary Ellen Blower, in the Parish Church of the Parish of All Saints, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. That I am still living with the said Mary Ellen Blower, and that my marriage with the said Mary Ellen Blower, nine children has been born, all of whom are living. Seven being resident in my present domicile at 1053 Shearer Street City and District of Montreal.
And I make solemn declaration, conscientiously believing it to be true and knowing it is the same force and effect as if made under oath and by virtue of the Canada Evidence Act.
Signed Joseph Bateman.
Joe’s Military Record
Joe’s military record is a fascinating one. As you can see he used the ‘Lawrence surname not once but twice. First to fight the Boers in South Africa, second to fight the Germans in Europe.
He was first recruited in to the 3rd Northumberland Fusiliers at the age of 20. He then spent that time with the regiment until he was shipped back from Africa and transferred from the Northumberland Fusiliers into the Army Reserve on the
South Coast of England at Gosport on the 4th July 1906...
He was then discharged completely from Army service on the 4th July 1910 in consequence of the termination of the first period of engagement. He is recorded on Army form D 426, 4th July 1910 at York as having “his service towards completion limited engagement Army 8 years and the reserve of four years”.
This gave Joe a total of 12 years in the Army on his first term. Of those 12 years he saw service abroad for 6 years and 124 days. The record office at number 5 districts York recorded him as being a “trained mounted infantryman, passed in Regimental Transport duties.
Qualified as a Shoeing Smith. He is also recorded as being a “farrier in the mounted infantry, 8 months”.
He had no instances on his record of misconduct, and being in possession of 2nd class Certificate of Education”. He finished the term with the rank of Corporal.
Joe’s campaign record reads, South Africa 1899,1900,1901,1902, Medals and Decorations: Queens South African medal with Clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Kings South African medal with clasp, South Africa medal 1901, South Africa1902.
A History of the Campaign Medals.
The Queens South African medal is very much a collector’s item today. It was awarded for service during the Boer War. There were some very large and bloody battles fought, and sieges at Mafeking, Kimberley, and Ladysmith. The medal is Silver and was awarded to combatants. In total about 178,000 QSA medals was awarded.
The Kings South African medal was sanctioned in 1902, nearly two years of hard fighting in guerilla war. The medal was struck in Silver only, it was given to both British and Imperial Army who served in South Africa during the latter stages of the war and who had completed 18 May 1902. He was a brave man.
There is still a lot to put in place about my Grandfather. He was obviously a brave man and he was a veteran soldier. My father told me that he was a very hard man with his family. I only just remember him with his handle bar white moustache.
Here is a picture taken with his wife and my grandmother [Nell] at Caughnawaga an Indian reservation near Montreal Canada. In this picture I am led to believe is their friend who was a member of the tribe. From the picture it appeared to be a rather happy day, and Joe’s favourite pipe is much in evidence.
Grand Fathers Family
Joseph Bateman was born into a big family the house at 23 Eagle Street
Wolverhampton where he lived with his brothers and sisters. It could not always have been a happy place. On the Evening of July 29th 1888 when my Grandfather Joseph would have been 10years old. His older brother Alfred was murdered by Italian Ice Cream vendors. He was stabbed through the heart. Joe’s mother Ruth had the unenviable task of identifying her son at what was called the General Hospital in Cleveland Road now called the Royal Hospital.
Here is a shortened version of what happened taken from Express and Star reports and the Coroners Court. More research is required!
Alfred Bateman aged 19 residing with his parents in 23 EAGLE street was murdered by an Italian named Antonio Fritz or Ferritto The body was identified by Ruth Bateman the mother of the deceased . Alfred was a nut and bolt forger he had gone out because for three weeks he had suffered from a burnt foot . He told his Mom that he wouldn''t be long because his foot hurt him.
She heard nothing more until 11.30pm when she was told he was dead.
She went to the hospital which was not far away and saw him lying dead, he was not insured.
They had been drinking in the pub called the Invincible Inn ,in Duke Street. Twelve or fourteen men were in the Kitchen and turned out at 11.00pm They went along Bilston Street when they met 9 Italians coming from Bilston Each had an Ice Cream Cart John Pickforth one of the group said we''ll all have a penn''orth of ice cream. The Italians stopped and Pickforth placed a penny on the cart. The young man in charge was tall and had dark curly hair ; His name was ''Steve'' something. The Italian picked the penny up and said you wont have the bloody ice cream nor the money''
Chris Upton in his book a “History of Wolverhampton” tells of schoolgirls knitting clothes for Belgian refugees and the Land Army women digging allotments in the flowerbeds of the Parks. At Hobson’s Accuracy Works and at Villiers they were producing components for aircraft. Hobson’s today is called Lucas Aerospace, and my brother-in-law Frank Hill works there as an electrician. They are still producing parts for the aircraft industry.
Real historic names in the new motor car industry like the Clyno and Sunbeam were all producing war work. Those two factories were producing engines for airplanes. As mentioned earlier in this document my grandmother ‘Nell’
Worked at the Sunbeam during this period. A period of time that she was later very proud to relate. I remember her telling me this during one visit to Canada.
With all the industry that was taking place here in Wolverhampton and the other surrounding Black Country towns it was not surprising that it would eventually attract German interest. It is recorded that a Zeppelin air ship attacked Wolver Hampton in 1916. During the attack two people from Bradley in Bilston were killed.
Prime Ministers Speech in 1918.
History informs us that Britain’s Prime Minister at the time David Lloyd George chose Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre to launch his General Election campaign in November 1918. During the course of the meeting he coined that very famous phrase, in that it was “Britain’s task to build a fit Country for heroes to live in”. How many times have I heard that slogan hurled back at me in my time in politics.
My Grandfather Joseph Bateman.
Since I started to put some of the information into this written style, more little snippets have come my way that relates to my grandfather. All his mates called him Joe; the family called him Joe.
I want to devote a little more time to Joe. He was a real character; whether you loved him or hated him he certainly left you remembering him. He was born in Wolverhampton in 1878, he enlisted in the British Imperial Army as an under age recruit, Using his middle name of Lawrence as his surname, he was accepted into the Army as Joseph Lawrence and shipped off to the Boer War taking place in South Africa.
I know from legal records that this is so. I have read the ‘Solemn Declaration’ made 10th May 1932 in the City and District of Montreal, Province of Quebec in front of the Quebec Superior Court. Its not to often that you can quote direct from an ancestors words but in this case Joe’s own words are used and for accuracy I will quote direct from the documentation and leave you to imagine hearing his words from his own lips.
I understand that he made this declaration to receive a pension arrangement that he was entitled to. Joe joined the British Imperial Army and was shipped out to fight in what was thought would be a quick little war with a bunch of farmers. How wrong they were. The Boers were a determined bunch, and were intent on winning. The war started in 1899 and continued through until 1902, it is now recognised as one of the longest and costliest wars –in financial terms-and in terms of casualties, between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. The background to this war is found in the fighting that took place between the British Colonial territories in Southern Africa, and the Boer Republics. The Boers were the descendents of Dutch colonists who had done much to open up Southern Africa.
The word Boer means farmer, Trek Boers in the Dutch colony were people who were farmers looking for farms. The great trek came about as the Boers upped sticks and moved out of the Cape in which they had settled and moved into the interior in search of their own unified Boer Nation.
Solemn Declaration made before the Quebec Superior Court
“I am the son of Thomas Bateman and his marriage to Ruth Roberts, and that I was born on the second day of November in the year of Our Lord eighteen hundred and seventy eight, in the Town of Wolverhampton, County of Staffordshire, England.
That desiring to enlist in the British Imperial Army, I did so enlist on the fifth day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety eight in the regiment of the Northampton Fusilier’s [this is not factually true as he enlisted in the Northumberland Fusilier’s]
That being under age at the time of my enlistment, I was legally Joseph Bateman. That on the seventh day of August in the year of Our Lord. Nineteen hundred and fourteen, I re-enlisted under my regimental name and my army record surname of Lawrence, in the Royal Army Service Corps, and served in the British Expeditionary Force for four years and nine months.
That on February sixteenth, nineteen hundred and seven, I married Mary Ellen Blower, in the Parish Church of the Parish of All Saints, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. That I am still living with the said Mary Ellen Blower, and that my marriage with the said Mary Ellen Blower, nine children has been born, all of whom are living. Seven being resident in my present domicile at 1053 Shearer Street City and District of Montreal.
And I make solemn declaration, conscientiously believing it to be true and knowing it is the same force and effect as if made under oath and by virtue of the Canada Evidence Act.
Signed Joseph Bateman.
Joe’s Military Record
Joe’s military record is a fascinating one. As you can see he used the ‘Lawrence surname not once but twice. First to fight the Boers in South Africa, second to fight the Germans in Europe.
He was first recruited in to the 3rd Northumberland Fusiliers at the age of 20. He then spent that time with the regiment until he was shipped back from Africa and transferred from the Northumberland Fusiliers into the Army Reserve on the
South Coast of England at Gosport on the 4th July 1906...
He was then discharged completely from Army service on the 4th July 1910 in consequence of the termination of the first period of engagement. He is recorded on Army form D 426, 4th July 1910 at York as having “his service towards completion limited engagement Army 8 years and the reserve of four years”.
This gave Joe a total of 12 years in the Army on his first term. Of those 12 years he saw service abroad for 6 years and 124 days. The record office at number 5 districts York recorded him as being a “trained mounted infantryman, passed in Regimental Transport duties.
Qualified as a Shoeing Smith. He is also recorded as being a “farrier in the mounted infantry, 8 months”.
He had no instances on his record of misconduct, and being in possession of 2nd class Certificate of Education”. He finished the term with the rank of Corporal.
Joe’s campaign record reads, South Africa 1899,1900,1901,1902, Medals and Decorations: Queens South African medal with Clasps: Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Kings South African medal with clasp, South Africa medal 1901, South Africa1902.
A History of the Campaign Medals.
The Queens South African medal is very much a collector’s item today. It was awarded for service during the Boer War. There were some very large and bloody battles fought, and sieges at Mafeking, Kimberley, and Ladysmith. The medal is Silver and was awarded to combatants. In total about 178,000 QSA medals was awarded.
The Kings South African medal was sanctioned in 1902, nearly two years of hard fighting in guerilla war. The medal was struck in Silver only, it was given to both British and Imperial Army who served in South Africa during the latter stages of the war and who had completed 18 May 1902. He was a brave man.
There is still a lot to put in place about my Grandfather. He was obviously a brave man and he was a veteran soldier. My father told me that he was a very hard man with his family. I only just remember him with his handle bar white moustache.
Here is a picture taken with his wife and my grandmother [Nell] at Caughnawaga an Indian reservation near Montreal Canada. In this picture I am led to believe is their friend who was a member of the tribe. From the picture it appeared to be a rather happy day, and Joe’s favourite pipe is much in evidence.
Grand Fathers Family
Joseph Bateman was born into a big family the house at 23 Eagle Street
Wolverhampton where he lived with his brothers and sisters. It could not always have been a happy place. On the Evening of July 29th 1888 when my Grandfather Joseph would have been 10years old. His older brother Alfred was murdered by Italian Ice Cream vendors. He was stabbed through the heart. Joe’s mother Ruth had the unenviable task of identifying her son at what was called the General Hospital in Cleveland Road now called the Royal Hospital.
Here is a shortened version of what happened taken from Express and Star reports and the Coroners Court. More research is required!
Alfred Bateman aged 19 residing with his parents in 23 EAGLE street was murdered by an Italian named Antonio Fritz or Ferritto The body was identified by Ruth Bateman the mother of the deceased . Alfred was a nut and bolt forger he had gone out because for three weeks he had suffered from a burnt foot . He told his Mom that he wouldn''t be long because his foot hurt him.
She heard nothing more until 11.30pm when she was told he was dead.
She went to the hospital which was not far away and saw him lying dead, he was not insured.
They had been drinking in the pub called the Invincible Inn ,in Duke Street. Twelve or fourteen men were in the Kitchen and turned out at 11.00pm They went along Bilston Street when they met 9 Italians coming from Bilston Each had an Ice Cream Cart John Pickforth one of the group said we''ll all have a penn''orth of ice cream. The Italians stopped and Pickforth placed a penny on the cart. The young man in charge was tall and had dark curly hair ; His name was ''Steve'' something. The Italian picked the penny up and said you wont have the bloody ice cream nor the money''
The Italian then kicked Alfred Bateman ....poor Alfred said “who do you think that you are getting onto “? At the same time he struck the Italian , but missed him. All the Italians then run off with their carts up the Cleveland Road. They were altogether . When they got to 20-30 yards up the road they threw ice cream glasses at Alfred and his friends. A couple of Alfreds friends were struck by the glasses. One Sam White was struck and cried out that his wrist was broke. he then ran after the Italians.
The Coroner then asked what the deceased had done. The reply was that he didn''t do anything.
The Italian rushed from the horse road, turned around upon him and the deceased shouted ''ive got it''.
Alfred was struck in the breast he fell on his back the Italian ran off. The Italian was wearing a white slop One of his friends called White the witness said he shouted ''why he''s been stabbed and I ran after the man and catched him about fifty yards away. ''
The Italian is reported to have said at the police station where he was charged
" Is he dead? I will kill myself....Oh Jesus"
Witness had heard that the Italian that had been called Steve bolted early the next morning . I have still some research to do on the Adjourned Coroner Court.
The express and Star the newspaper had called it a most deliberate Murder when reporting on it on the 31st July 1888.
They described the fracas as a "dispute into a heated altercation and the short temper so characteristic of the Italian race soon made itself manifest . Antonio Fritz its said to have made a vicious kick at Bateman , but by a manoeuvre the latter managed to escape the full force of the blow. It is not the nature of Englishmen to tolerate the assaults of foreigners in any place or at any time whatsoever.''
The Express and Star clearly were reporting on what side they were on!
The Coroner then asked what the deceased had done. The reply was that he didn''t do anything.
The Italian rushed from the horse road, turned around upon him and the deceased shouted ''ive got it''.
Alfred was struck in the breast he fell on his back the Italian ran off. The Italian was wearing a white slop One of his friends called White the witness said he shouted ''why he''s been stabbed and I ran after the man and catched him about fifty yards away. ''
The Italian is reported to have said at the police station where he was charged
" Is he dead? I will kill myself....Oh Jesus"
Witness had heard that the Italian that had been called Steve bolted early the next morning . I have still some research to do on the Adjourned Coroner Court.
The express and Star the newspaper had called it a most deliberate Murder when reporting on it on the 31st July 1888.
They described the fracas as a "dispute into a heated altercation and the short temper so characteristic of the Italian race soon made itself manifest . Antonio Fritz its said to have made a vicious kick at Bateman , but by a manoeuvre the latter managed to escape the full force of the blow. It is not the nature of Englishmen to tolerate the assaults of foreigners in any place or at any time whatsoever.''
The Express and Star clearly were reporting on what side they were on!
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Tom Bateman ( My Dad)
So we know that Bayliss Jones and Bayliss was where Alfred worked because in The Coroners Court it was said that he worked there all his life and we know he was working at a tender age because the earlier census tell us so. So could the rest of the family his father work there also it is a very strong chance that he did.
I know that my father Thomas Henry Bateman worked for a brief period at this great old firm. I wonder if he knew that his ancestors had also been employed at this same and very famous black-country firm.
The founder of the firm, William Bayliss, was born in 1803. William Bayliss''s father was a blacksmith with a shop at the junction of Bilston Road and Ettingshall Lane. The shop served the nearby miners, sharpening their picks and shoeing their horses. The story is told of how terrified William used to be when he had to take the night turn stoking a pumping engine. The engine was located on dark, dismal ground that was a notorious hiding place for criminal and thieves escaping the Bow Street Runners.
As he got older, William gradually took over his father''s business. He was an efficient lad and when he started keeping records and introduced "pay on the nail", it excused his dad the Saturday journey around the public houses trying to get his mining customers to pay their bills.
William saved hard and whilst still in his teens bought a large plot of wasteland in Cable Street, Wolverhampton. He established a firm there some years later in 1826. The Cable Street premises were named the Victoria Works and a small rolling mill foundry was installed.
William married a young woman who was a regular member of the Wesleyan Chapel in John Street, Ettingshall, where he was class leader of the weekly prayer meetings. They moved into a house in George Street, Ettingshall and had two sons William and Samuel, who later joined the firm.
Eventually his brother Moses (1816-1894), who had been a nut and bolt maker in Darlaston, joined him in the venture. The two firms were amalgamated as W. & M. Bayliss of Monmoor Green and Darlaston, and they had a London office at 43 Fish Street Hill, Eastcheap. In 1859 an iron trader from South Wales, Edwin Jones (1833-1904), who had married William''s daughter, Jane, joined them and Bayliss, Jones and Bayliss Ltd was born.
The company were very successful and Mr Jones became resident in London, running an office at 84 Cannon Street E.C.
I know that my father Thomas Henry Bateman worked for a brief period at this great old firm. I wonder if he knew that his ancestors had also been employed at this same and very famous black-country firm.
The founder of the firm, William Bayliss, was born in 1803. William Bayliss''s father was a blacksmith with a shop at the junction of Bilston Road and Ettingshall Lane. The shop served the nearby miners, sharpening their picks and shoeing their horses. The story is told of how terrified William used to be when he had to take the night turn stoking a pumping engine. The engine was located on dark, dismal ground that was a notorious hiding place for criminal and thieves escaping the Bow Street Runners.
As he got older, William gradually took over his father''s business. He was an efficient lad and when he started keeping records and introduced "pay on the nail", it excused his dad the Saturday journey around the public houses trying to get his mining customers to pay their bills.
William saved hard and whilst still in his teens bought a large plot of wasteland in Cable Street, Wolverhampton. He established a firm there some years later in 1826. The Cable Street premises were named the Victoria Works and a small rolling mill foundry was installed.
William married a young woman who was a regular member of the Wesleyan Chapel in John Street, Ettingshall, where he was class leader of the weekly prayer meetings. They moved into a house in George Street, Ettingshall and had two sons William and Samuel, who later joined the firm.
Eventually his brother Moses (1816-1894), who had been a nut and bolt maker in Darlaston, joined him in the venture. The two firms were amalgamated as W. & M. Bayliss of Monmoor Green and Darlaston, and they had a London office at 43 Fish Street Hill, Eastcheap. In 1859 an iron trader from South Wales, Edwin Jones (1833-1904), who had married William''s daughter, Jane, joined them and Bayliss, Jones and Bayliss Ltd was born.
The company were very successful and Mr Jones became resident in London, running an office at 84 Cannon Street E.C.
Back to Derbyshire
At this point it would be sensible to move into another phase of the family history, a lot of research has been done now and the true roots of the Bateman clan are definitely in the County of Derbyshire.
History being what it is, I have taken another leap backwards and beyond even John and Eliza who were born in Derbyshire, and travelled to Wolverhampton to make their new home.
John and Eliza Bateman are the fourth generation of Bateman’s. My great great great great grandfather, and yes today on the 5th October 2004 we take another step back in time to discover John Bateman born in 1782/83 he was married twice. The first time at about 17 years of age to a Mary Allsop we think.
The search suggests that she died and John then married a Mary Wass in 1807 in All Saints Church Derby. John Bateman was a tradesman he was a Stonemason. I know that he lived on Nottingham Road
We also know that he had his son John who later married and traveled to Wolverhampton was baptised in 1816 and he was living in St Alkmund’s parish Derby.
A lot of research is still going on, but it is hard now as there is no civil registration taking place. But it looks like the head of the clan John Bateman died by himself.
At this point it would be sensible to move into another phase of the family history, a lot of research has been done now and the true roots of the Bateman clan are definitely in the County of Derbyshire.
History being what it is, I have taken another leap backwards and beyond even John and Eliza who were born in Derbyshire, and travelled to Wolverhampton to make their new home.
John and Eliza Bateman are the fourth generation of Bateman’s. My great great great great grandfather, and yes today on the 5th October 2004 we take another step back in time to discover John Bateman born in 1782/83 he was married twice. The first time at about 17 years of age to a Mary Allsop we think.
The search suggests that she died and John then married a Mary Wass in 1807 in All Saints Church Derby. John Bateman was a tradesman he was a Stonemason. I know that he lived on Nottingham Road
We also know that he had his son John who later married and traveled to Wolverhampton was baptised in 1816 and he was living in St Alkmund’s parish Derby.
A lot of research is still going on, but it is hard now as there is no civil registration taking place. But it looks like the head of the clan John Bateman died by himself.
A death certificate of John Bateman 29th December 1854 age 70 pensioner of Thorntree Lane, St Peter’s Derby exists. Could it be that Great, great, great great grandfather John died a widower alone. as his son’s were now living in my home City of Wolverhampton at that time? It looks that way and of course we will try and find out.
Family history is fascinating and a real life drama, but it is also slow and has to be taken so, as we work to authenticate the evidence. I do not think that I will find much more so I am going to close this family history pamphlet at this point.
I am keen to write up other ‘snaps’ in time about the family history. But I think that I have taken the lineage about as far back as I can. It is wonderful to note that we as a family started out in Derbyshire. That we have a rich working class history in stone and impressively in Iron. That our Bateman family were at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.
That our family history is connected to Wolverhampton for 150 years. In this year of 2005-
Our connection with the City is strengthened even more as I and my wife Mary will be invested as the Mayor and Mayoress of the City of Wolverhampton on May 18th 2005.
Phil Bateman MBE
Close 14Jan 2005
Family history is fascinating and a real life drama, but it is also slow and has to be taken so, as we work to authenticate the evidence. I do not think that I will find much more so I am going to close this family history pamphlet at this point.
I am keen to write up other ‘snaps’ in time about the family history. But I think that I have taken the lineage about as far back as I can. It is wonderful to note that we as a family started out in Derbyshire. That we have a rich working class history in stone and impressively in Iron. That our Bateman family were at the heart of the Industrial Revolution.
That our family history is connected to Wolverhampton for 150 years. In this year of 2005-
Our connection with the City is strengthened even more as I and my wife Mary will be invested as the Mayor and Mayoress of the City of Wolverhampton on May 18th 2005.
Phil Bateman MBE
Close 14Jan 2005
Author: Phil Bateman
Article Date: 26th November 2006