Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Brooksbanks

Page 1

Eliza Brooksbank was one of my great, great grandmothers. She was born about 1849 in Nottingham, but I have yet to find either a birth certificate or a baptism record for her. The first record I have of her is in the 1851 census, living with her parents at 6 Crosland Street, in Nottingham. She was the eldest daughter of William Brooksbank & Louisa Whitehead who had married in 1849 at Nottingham St Mary. William was described was a Stocking Maker and Louisa was a dressmaker. Living next door to them, at 5 Crosland Street, were William's parents Henry & Hannah Brooksbank. The table below gives the details from the 1851 census. (Ref H0107/2133 folio 129)

By 1861, William, Louisa and family had moved along the road a bit to 33 Crosland Street. William was employed as a Cotton Framework Knitter, and Eliza was already employed, at only 12, as a Silk winder. The table below gives the details from the 1861 census.

At only 17, Eliza married John Shepherd at Nottingham St Mark's on 11th November 1866. John & Eliza went on to have many children, one of whom was my great grandmother Ada Louisa Shepherd. For more information on the Shepherds, please click the following link:

Eliza's father, William Brooksbank died on 8th July 1872 when, after drinking, he went swimming and drowned in the River Trent. An inquest was heard on 10th July and his death was reported in the Nottingham Journal, as shown below in the newspaper cutting that was kindly given to me by fellow researcher and Brooksbank descendant June.

His widow Louisa was still living in Crosland Street in 1881, although by this time she had moved to number 11, with two of her sons, John & Arthur. John & Arthur may never have married, for in 1891 and 1901 they are living, unmarried, with their married sister Emma Aylott. Their mother Louisa died, I think in 1885.

Eliza's father William was the son of Henry & Hannah Brooksbank. Henry was also a frame-work knitter, who lived at Poplar Square, Nottingham in the 1830s. In 1861 Henry & Hannah were also living in Crosland Street, Henry still working as a framework knitter and Hannah as a nurse. The table below gives their details from the 1861 census.

By 1881 Henry was a widower, still in Crosland Street. Hannah had died, I think, in 1873 and Henry was living with his unmarried daughter Mary. On the 1891 census Henry and Mary have been joined at Crosland Street, by Lizzie Parker, who was described as Henry's niece aged 15. I have yet to work out exactly how Lizzie fits into the picture.

Henry and Hannah married in 1829 at Nottingham St Mary's, at which point Hannah gave her name as Roseannah Corp. Hannah was presumably the abbreviation for Roseannah, and it was by Hannah that she seems to have been known for most of her life. I have managed to find out only very little about the Corp family other than a few sparse baptism records.

The family tree below summarises what I know about the above generations of the Brooksbank family. It is hopefully reasonably accurate, but much of the information I have used here has been gleaned from information on the Internet and I have not had the chance to verify its accuracy. So if you do spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page. For earlier generations of Brooksbanks, please click on either the red Henry Brooksbank link, or the link at the bottom of the page.

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry