💒Hugh Albert Claxton⛪

Back at the end of March I went to the Festival of Cards at JUNCTION 24, Market Way, North Petherton, nr. Bridgewater, Somerset TA6 6DF.

Although principally postcards, the fair also features Cigarette Cards, Paper Collectables (Ephemera), Old Photos and Stamps. Well worth going to, lots of parking and a great cafe.

This is just one of the old photos I bought.

I wonder who wrote on the back of this old photo? I’m glad they did; he was interesting to research.

Meet Hugh Albert Claxton and his family.

I think this name was written in ink, so probably quite a long time ago.

I found Hugh fairly easily in the records to enable me to start a tree. So here’s his family history story.

Early Life in Colonial India (1862–1880).

Hugh Albert Claxton was born on 14 October 1862 in Allahabad, Bengal, India, to Edward Claxton (35) and Jessica Eliza (Jessie) Bradford (25), who had married in Saharunpoor on 18 May 1855. The couple had twelve children.

Hugh grew up in a large family that endured the heavy toll of 19th-century child mortality in India.

His siblings included Edward (b. 1856), Charles Eustace (1859–1859), George Ernest (b. 1860), Robert (b. 1863 in Roorkee), Leslie Bradford (1865–1866), Mary (b. 1867 in Roorkee), James (b. 1870 in Allahabad), Frederick (1873–1887), Emily (b. 1874), Henry (b. 1876–1876), and Caroline Jessie (b. 1882 in Kheri).

Theological Calling & First Marriage (1881–1896)

Leaving India for England, Hugh pursued holy orders.

By 1881, at age 18, he was residing in Hornsey, Middlesex, as a theological student. He later earned his M.A. from Cavendish College, Cambridge.

Yorkshire_Post_and_Leeds_Intel_21_December_1885

In 1885-1889 he worked as a Curate in Batley, Yorkshire.

On 4 May 1895, at St. Luke’s, Hanley (Stoke-on-Trent), 32-year-old Rev Hugh married 25-year-old Edith Nordon.

Edith was born in October 1869 in Leeds. She was previously in the 1891 census, working as a servant in Batley for a borough surveyor, John W Horsefield and his family. It seems likely that Hugh and Edith met at this time.

Great to find this information on The History of Gildersome website: Hugh became Vicar here in 1890.

By 1891, Hugh was serving as a Vicar and head of household in Gildersome.

The couple established their home at Gildersome Vicarage, with brief periods in Wellington, Staffordshire, and London.

The Parish Church as it was in Hugh’s time. From the excellent Gildersome Website.

In 1895 the couple had moved to Keighley, Yorkshire.

Tragedy struck shortly after the birth of their only child, Edward Hugh Claxton, born on 16 May 1896 in Riddlesden/Biddlesden, Keighley. Just 16 days later, on 1 June 1896, Edith died at age 26.

She was buried at St. Mary’s, Riddlesden, on 5 June, where baby Edward was baptized on 21 June.

Losses and Remarriage (1897–1910).

Hugh was still serving in Riddlesden in 1897, before moving to Ratcliff, London.

By 1897, his brother Frederick had already passed away in Landour, India (10 April 1887), followed by his brother Edward in Hissar, India, on 4 July 1900.

Then I found these two records in the newspaper archives.

In the 1901 Census, Hugh’s unmarried sisters Mary (34) and Caroline (18) lived with him in London to help raise young Edward.

Hugh found love again with Louisa Greenhough Mitchell. She was born 14 August 1867 in Kirkstall.

Her father was Jeremiah Mitchell, a farmer/innkeeper, and her mother was Amanda Greenhough. The family lived on Church Street, Gildersome, so I’m thinking they would have known of each other when he was Vicar there.

They registered their marriage in Bramley in the July quarter of 1902, they married at St. Peter’s, Gildersome, on 12 September 1902.

Hugh & Louisa married in St Peter’s Gildersome, where her family lived.

Family losses continued abroad: Hugh’s mother, Jessica, died in Landour on 1 August 1903, followed by his father, Edward, in Landour on 4 October 1908.

Meanwhile, Hugh served at St. James, London, living at 82 White Horse Street by 1905.

Rev Hugh Albert Claxton passed away the London Hospital in Middlesex on 11 June 1910 at age 47.

He was brought back to Yorkshire and buried at St. Peter’s, Gildersome, on 17 June 1910, with probate granted in London on 15 October.

Next Generations & Later Family Life.

Louisa Greenhough Mitchell: Following Hugh’s death, widowed Louisa resided in Ratcliffe, London (1911) with her sister-in-law Caroline, and later visited York (1921).

Her mother, Amanda, died in Brentford in January 1928. Louisa lived out her final years at 104 Cumberland Road, Hanwell, dying in Ealing on 15 December 1951, aged 84, leaving her £5,000 estate to her sister Kathleen.

Here’s the small family tree I have compiled on Ancestry: ClaxtonHughRev Family Tree

Edward Hugh Claxton: Raised by his father, stepmother Louisa, and his aunts

Edward served in World War I with the Army Service Corps (Mechanical Transport, Regimental No. M/303010) from 1915 until his discharge on 16 March 1919.

He studied civil engineering in Gildersome in 1921, later living in Spen Valley (1922) and Ealing (1932).

Edward married Minnie Esther Wilson and had two sons: Brian Hugh (7 November 1935, Battersea) and John Edward (January 1937, West Ham).

Edward died on 6 March 1970 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, aged 73.