William Ellerby of Lythe

 

William Ellerby 1805 - 1849

 For the most part we have very little idea what our ancestors were really like, having to rely on the bare facts in vital records and censuses. Sometimes, however, evidence comes to light that helps really bring people to life, giving us an in depth view of not just the person in question but people, events and places of the time. Such is the case with William Ellerby of Lythe.

 If I had any mental image of William, it was a vaguely romantic one of a farmer looking out from his farm at Brockrigg, Lythe admiring the view from the cliff tops. Little did I realise that he would turn out to be a violent drunkard who fathered 8 children, only two of whom were legitimate. This is a sorry tale with a large cast of characters who all played their part. With incorrect and fraudulent records coming to light, there will be a lot of question marks placed over some family trees. Want to know more? Read on!

 I first came across William early on in my research in 2001. William’s great grandparents Robert Ellerby (c. 1700 – 1790) and Ann Adamson (c. 1710 – 1786) are my 4 times great grandparents. I am descended from Robert and Ann’s 5^th son Joseph Ellerby (1752 – 1822) whilst William was the grandson of their 2^nd son George Ellerby (1737 – 1813) and his wife Sarah Scott (1743 – 1831). There is a very fine gravestone in the church yard of St Oswald’s Church, Lythe, erected by Lieutenant George Ellerby, of the Royal Navy in memory of George and Sarah, his parents as well as his brother William who died in 1795 in Philadelphia. I also found a rather faded gravestone for William Ellerby and his daughter Ann behind the church against the outer wall. I did not pursue this line for very long although I did establish that another of William’s daughters married George Andrew, grandson of the infamous smuggler John Andrew of Saltburn. I also obtained the records for Lt George Ellerby’s service in the Navy as well as his will.

Early in 2012, having moved back to North Yorkshire I decided to revisit my Ellerby ancestors to verify information and to take things a bit further. By this time a lot more information was available online, most notably the British Newspaper Archives. I also browsed the Cause Papers of the Consistory Court of York at http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/causepapers/.  It was in these two sites that William Ellerby’s name appeared in a case of Separation from Bed and Board, the action being brought by his wife Mary Stephenson Ellerby, because of William’s cruelty and adultery.  To see the papers required a visit to the Borthwick Institute; these papers gave the detail and colour to this story. All of the account below is taken from statements made in January 1848 from people involved in the case as well as the usual vital records and censuses and wills.

 William Ellerby was born on the 19^th January 1805 at Brockrigg House, the son of George and Ann Ellerby. George had married Anne Wilson of Lythe on the 2^nd April 1804 and William appeared to be their only child. George joined the Navy in 1795, became a Lieutenant in 1808 and finished his service in 1813. Brockrigg House actually belonged to Anne’s brother Richard Wilson and Anne and William continued to live there until about 1843. It would appear that George and Anne separated at some point; George’s will of 1833 left all of his goods and money to a cousin Ann Scott who was living with him as his housekeeper at the time of his death in 1834. There was no mention of his wife Anne; I had assumed that she had died so I was rather surprised to find her living with William at Brockrigg in the 1841 census. 

 In about October 1832 William started courting Mary Stephenson of Newbiggin Hall, Egton. Mary was the only child of William Stephenson and Hannah Pressick. She was baptised on the 19^th April 1814 and the whole family came from Brotton but had been living in Newbiggin Hall for some time. On the 21^st January 1833 William Ellerby obtained a marriage licence. The allegation gave William’s age as twenty eight years old which was correct but gave Mary’s age as twenty one; she was not quite nineteen years old. Also her name had been changed to Mary Stephenson Calvert. Clearly false information had been given and Mary must have colluded in this. Why choose the name Calvert? A servant of William and Mary’s, Mary Fletcher née Calvert, suggested that she was a half cousin of Mary’s father so perhaps this seemed a natural choice of name. However, I have since learned that William Stephenson was actually baptised William Stephenson Calvert in 1770, the illegitimate son of Jane Calvert. Sometime before his marriage in 1813 he dropped the Calvert but it would appear that Mary must have been aware of this.The marriage was solemnised at Lythe parish church by the Reverend William Long and the names William Ellerby and Mary Stephenson Calvert were entered in the parish register.  Reverend Long later stated that he knew William well but not Mary; presumably that is why they did not marry in Egton where Mary would have been known. He also said that Mary was over twenty one and married with the consent of her parents; he had obviously forgotten about any details on the license and presumably never saw the allegation. In the normal course of events the parish register would be unlikely to be checked at the time but as it happened, William Stephenson’s lawyer, Robert Breckon, checked the register on the 19^th November 1846 expecting to find Mary Stephenson and was surprised to find the entry included the name Calvert.

 Mary was given away by Thomas Jackson, a childhood friend of William’s and, immediately after the marriage, Mary and William went back to Brockrigg where they consummated the marriage. The very next day Mary returned to her father’s house having been summoned by her mother the night before, her father being in great distress as he did not know she was getting married. I presume that William Stephenson would not have given his consent to the marriage had he been approached. William was well known in the area, notorious even, and I have an image of a young girl whose head was turned by the attentions of a man nearly ten years older than her but who knew what her father’s reaction would have been. Whatever Mary was thinking of at the time it would not be long before she would regret her actions.

 Mary stayed at Newbiggin Hall until about May Day of that year when she went to live at Brockrigg before moving back to Newbiggin about a month or so before the birth of their first child Anne on the 11^th October 1833. William visited her several times at Newbiggin.  It was within weeks of their marriage that William showed his true colours and started to treat Mary in a harsh and cruel manner, swearing at her, striking her with his fists or with a whip and kicking her.  In March, whilst accompanying Mary home, William threw her to the ground, tore off her wedding ring and threatened to be ‘her butcher’ which she took to mean he would kill her. On the 10^th June that year William forcibly pulled Mary off her horse and then deliberately rode over her forcing her to mount her horse immediately afterwards, before whipping her across her shoulders. On arriving home, Mary went straight up to bed which William did not like so he took a pitcher of water upstairs to throw at her. Unfortunately, his mother was sat with Mary and took the brunt of the soaking.

 All instances of violence were witnessed by other people; William was not inhibited by the presence of others. John Hoggarth, a neighbour from Newbiggin had accompanied Mary home after she had visited her sick mother against William’s wishes. He was present when William tried to attack Mary and restrained William. Simpson Weetman, a servant, was present at this incident as well as at the earlier one. Another servant, Mary Fletcher who worked for the Ellerby’s from about 1834 – 1837, witnessed several instances of William’s behaviour. On one occasion he threatened his mother if she would not give him any money and on another she saw William accuse Mary of having another man in the house, going on then to throw her off a chair causing a lump to form on her elbow. Mary had her second child Hannah on the 18^th November 1835; the parish register gives Hannah’s mother’s name as Sarah which is very confusing for researchers and it is only the testimony of Mary and other witnesses that confirms who Hannah’s mother was.

 Probably the most shocking incident reported was on the 15^th August 1836 when William came back to Brockrigg from some races at Lythe at about midnight. He was drunk and found the door locked. His wife Mary, and Mary Fletcher were waiting for him. William got his gun threatening to shoot them. Holding up the loaded gun he fired twice at the two Mary’s much to their terror. Fortunately the gun did not go off and William’s mother came and took the gun from him. Undeterred William went and got two pistols threatening the women using violent and offensive language. After a short while he left and went to an inn in nearby Goldsborough where he remained for several days.

By the Spring of 1837 Mary’s friends had become very alarmed by her delicate and declining health due to William’s cruelty and lack of proper and sufficient food. John Hoggarth went so far as to say that if she did not leave he was sure she would soon be dead. About the 1^st May of that year Mary moved to her father’s house at Newbiggin Hall and had no more contact with William. It is unclear whether she took their daughters Anne and Hannah with her; it would appear not as they were with William in 1841 and also in 1848. Although there is no written evidence, it would appear that William tried to accuse Mary of violence towards him but this was refuted by Mary Fletcher who also said that William only ever abused Mary when he was intoxicated. Indeed all of the witnesses stated that Mary was a woman of very good character, respectful to her husband and an amiable and obliging woman. The only dissenting voice was that of Doctor Loy who said that perhaps Mary was a little ‘indulged’ being an only child.

With Mary gone, William was free to do as he pleased. In about 1838 a young girl named Elizabeth Surr went to work at Brockrigg where she had worked for a short while when Mary was there. After about a year Elizabeth began an ‘improper connexion’ with William and inevitably became pregnant. Her daughter Mary Ann Surr was born in October 1840 and William acknowledged that he was the father, paying the doctor’s fee and some maintenance. When the baby died in March 1841 he paid for the funeral. Elizabeth had gone to live with her mother and the baby was buried at Hinderwell. Elizabeth later married Andrew Toase in 1845 and had more children. In the 1841 census William was at Brockrigg with his mother and daughters as well as some servants. Mary Stephenson Ellerby was at Newbiggin Hall with her parents.

 At some point in 1842 William began a relationship with Sarah Elders (aka Elder), the wife of Joseph Elders a mariner. Sarah was baptised on the 16^th March 1821 in Lythe, the daughter of Matthew and Mary Dobson of Mickleby. On the 24^th June 1841 Sarah married Joseph, son of James and Ann Elder of Whitby.  With Joseph away at sea, Sarah did not stay at home waiting for him. It would appear that Sarah and William would meet in Whitby at the Ship Inn.  On the 9^th March 1843 Henry Armstrong, a decorator, was working in the inn when one of the servant girls told him that something odd was going on in a back room. Henry went and got a gimlet and drilled a hole in the ceiling to spy on the occupants, fetching a bigger gimlet to make a bigger hole when he couldn’t see properly! There he saw William Ellerby and Sarah Elders committing adultery. Henry had known William for about 15 years and had known Sarah before her marriage so there was no doubting the identity of the pair.

 At around that time Sarah moved into Brockrigg farm as ‘housekeeper’ to William. However, they lived openly as man and wife, Sarah accompanying William to fairs and markets and on one occasion staying with William as ‘Mrs Ellerby’ in Northallerton when William went to be a juror there in June 1846. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew what the situation was and Sarah and William were quite open about their relationship.  There were many witnesses who acknowledged this. As with Elizabeth Surr, it was inevitable that Sarah would become pregnant.  In total she had 5 children, all with surname Elders, but all acknowledged by William as his children. There was Mary baptised 10^th November 1843, Emma baptised 7^th October 1844, Sarah Elizabeth baptised 6^th November 1845, William baptised 13^th February 1847 and George Ellerby Elders baptised 15^th April 1849. They were all baptised in Lythe and the father was named as Joseph Elders. Anyone tracing this line would have a bit of a shock if they knew the truth!

 In about 1845 William bought a farm at West Barnby and left Brockrigg, his mother having died in December of that year. Needless to say his behaviour did not improve. The Yorkshire Gazette of June 14^th 1845 tells how William Ellerby of Barnby ‘a person of great notoriety’ was arrested for shooting his servant John Rooks. William had come home drunk and started quarrelling with Sarah Elders. John Rooks went to her aid and William pulled his hands out of his pocket and a small pistol fell out which apparently went off and shot Rooks in the knee. On hearing this William said he would have fired at Sarah if he had another pistol. He did then go to fetch the doctor and was arrested later by the constable although Sarah tried to stop the constable. William admitted being drunk and said he had caught the trigger when pulling his purse out of his pocket. The case was eventually dismissed because of the ambiguity of the witnesses’ evidence but William was severely admonished by the magistrate.

 William clearly had a volatile relationship with Sarah and in late 1845 he talked to his friend John Pearson Linton about how he wanted to part from Sarah but didn’t know how to set about it. John suggested settling some money on her but William said that there were the children to think of. John asked if William was sure they were his to which he replied that there was no doubt. John suggested William talk to his uncle Richard Wilson about it as William had ‘expectations’ of Richard.

 Richard Wilson died in the June Quarter of 1846 and his will, proved in January 1847, showed that, apart from some small bequests, he had left his entire estate in trust for William. It can be no coincidence that on the 5^th December 1846 Mary Stephenson Ellerby brought her case against William. According to the Yorkshire Gazette of May 21^st 1847 Mary claimed that she didn’t want to bring the case whilst William’s uncle was alive and to protect her children. Why else would she have waited 9 years to seek alimony? She must have known that William was his uncle’s beneficiary; perhaps her father encouraged her, feeling that her husband should be supporting her rather than him? Part of William’s defence was the question why had Mary waited so long, a question that was never satisfactorily answered, although there was the suggestion that Mary had not been aware of William’s adultery at first. William also claimed that she colluded with his adultery because she had left him but the judge or ‘Chancellor’ of the court was satisfied that she had had no choice but to leave William and so it was not her fault.

 The process of law took some time but on the 25th June 1847 William’s Proctor  William Hudson was sent the ‘Allegation of Faculties’, questions relating to William’s finances including the value of Richard Wilson’s estate so that alimony could be decided upon. Mary claimed that William was entitled to an income of more than £200 per annum of which she was claiming £100. Needless to say, William refuted this saying that the properties were in poor repair and the land in bad condition. Also he had a lot of debts which had to be paid so the income was much less than Mary was claiming. His responses to these questions had to be returned by the 2^nd November 1847 which was duly done. William also seemed to think that Mary would be entitled to money from her father, obviating the need for her to receive anything from her husband. William Stephenson had written his will on 11^th September 1847 and he died two months later at the beginning of December. His lawyer, Robert Breckon refused to disclose the contents of the will but when it was proved in February 1848 the very short will showed that William Stephenson had left everything to his wife Hannah and nothing to Mary.

However, on the 6^th November 1847 William upped and went to Dunbar in Scotland taking with him his two daughters Anne and Hannah as well as Sarah Elders and their four children. There is no mention of Sarah in the court papers but she was not called as a witness and her fifth child George Ellerby Elders was born in Dunbar according to his baptism record in Lythe on the 15^th April 1849. On the 8^th November a public auction was held at William’s farm of the farming stock, crops, implements, dairy utensils and furniture and on the 9^th November the farm itself and the land was sold to  William’s friend Thomas Jackson for about £1532. William had deliberately gone to Scotland so that he did not have to submit to the decisions of the court, which he freely admitted to his friends John Cooper and Francis Peirson. The sale of his farm gave William the funds he needed to be able to set himself up elsewhere. On the 4^th December the court ordered William’s assets to be seized, this presumably being the income from his uncle’s estate. In January 1848 the court took the evidence of the witnesses and William’s proctor was ordered to reveal his whereabouts. Notice was served on William in Dunbar that he was required to return to Yorkshire to face the courts which William refused to do. In his absence alimony of £75 per annum was awarded to Mary in June 1848 and the case was closed.

 Of course this wasn’t the end of the story. I have not been able to find out anything so far about William’s time in Dunbar which was not as long as he might have wished. On 18^th March 1849 William died and his remains were brought back immediately to Yorkshire. He was buried in Lythe churchyard on 22^nd March. As civil registration did not start in Scotland until 1855 there is no death certificate so I do not know how he died. He also appears to have left no will and although the terms of his uncle’s will meant that in the event of William’s death his daughters would be the beneficiaries, this does not include the money that he  had from the sale of his farm.

 So what happened to the rest of William’s family?  In the 1851 census Mary Stephenson Ellerby was living in Brotton with her widowed mother and Anne and Hannah were at a school in Northallerton. Sarah Elders with three of her children, Emma, William and George along with a lodger John Easington, were living in a house in East Row, Newholm cum Dunsley. Her other two chldren, Mary and Sarah were living with Sarah’s mother in Mickleby. Also in the house in East Row, but enumerated separately were Hannah Kirk and her sister Elizabeth. Both of these women were beneficiaries of Richard Wilson’s will, William’s uncle who had lived there. It cannot be coincidence that Sarah Elders is living in the same house. Did the trustees of the will take pity on her? Had William given her any money he had left from the sale of his farm or had he made a will leaving her the money?

 On the 21^st March 1854 Anne, daughter of William and Mary Ellerby, died in Brotton of ‘brain fever’.  Her death certificate gives her father’s name as Thomas Ellerby but as the informant was not her mother this might explain the error. She was buried with her father in Lythe and the entry in the burial register gives her place of abode as Brotton.  On the 8^th May 1856, Mary Stephenson Ellerby married her cousin Thomas Pressick Andrew of Skelton. Thomas and Mary’s mothers were sisters. Thomas had been married before but both his wife and child had died and he and Mary had no children. Thomas died in 1870 and Mary in 1871 and I would like to think that their marriage was a much happier one than Mary’s marriage with William Ellerby.  On the 13^th January 1858 Mary and William’s daughter Hannah married Thomas Pressick Andrew’s youngest brother George Andrew making Thomas both her father in–law and her brother-in- law.

And what of Sarah Elder? In 1861 she was living in East Barnby described as a seaman’s wife. Living with her was the same lodger, John Easington, her children Emma, Sarah, William and George as well as two more children, Hannah, baptised as Dorothy Hannah Elders on the 8^th April 1855 in Lythe, and John Elders born about 1857. The Lythe burial register also has a burial for a Hannah Elders of East Row buried on the 13^th April 1854 aged 2. I think that this must be a daughter of Sarah’s and I would also hazard a guess that the lodger, John Easington, was probably the father.  After 1861 I can find no mention of Sarah or of her children apart from some possible marriages for some of the girls. There is a burial of a Sarah Elders in late 1861 but this most likely refers to another Sarah in Whitby who was slightly younger. Joseph Elders, Sarah’s erstwhile husband, who is named as the father of all of her children appears to be living a completely separate life and there is also the possibility that he either married someone else bigamously or said he was married. In 1851 Joseph is living with his widowed father and his sister in Bridge Street, Whitby, described as a mariner and married. In 1861 he is living in Whitby with a wife Hannah and a son William born about 1852. The age and occupation are correct; if it is him he probably married a Hannah Hugle in Hartlepool in 1851/1852 but without getting the marriage certificate I cannot be 100% sure.

I am sure that this tale will have given people some food for thought – it certainly did me!

Thomas Ellerby 1790 - 1837

Thomas Ellerby
My interest in genealogy was kindled by the family bibles that my late father had. One was a two volume set beautifully bound with a fine red leather label inside with 'Thomas Ellerby Skinningrove' inscribed in gold. As a teenager, I loved looking through these old books, not only for the information inside, but for the feel and smell of those old books. Of course there was a wealth of genealogical information in the front of this bible and the other bible which had the same information written in. Even when I started researching the Ellerby family in earnest in 2001 I knew almost nothing about the provenance of these bibles. The two volume set I eventually realised had almost certainly been given to Thomas Ellerby on the occasion of his wedding and the other had been given to his son on the occasion of his wedding by the Pennyman family of Ormesby Hall, near Middlesbrough. I can surmise this because there is a book plate bearing Sir William Pennyman's name in the front of the bible and further research led me to discover that Thomas' son worked for the Pennyman's.

But of Thomas Ellerby I knew very little and in fact it took several years to find out the basic facts of his baptism, marriage and death. Eventually I discovered that he was baptised on the 1st April 1790 in the parish of Skelton in Clevelandand he married Hannah Foster on the 13th April 1825 by licence in Brotton Chapel. their son, John Foster Ellerby was born on the 6th September in the same year according to the bible although he wasn't baptised until November.

Thomas was the son of Joseph Ellerby and Mary Andrew and was almost certainly a farmer. Certainly his widow was farming in the 1841 census and Joseph appears to have been a small time farmer in the muster rolls. Thomas didn't marry until he was 35.

It look nearly 10 years to find out when Thomas died. I knew that he had died before the 1841 census and also before 1839 as his father-in-law's will left money to his widowed daughter. I couldn't find a reference for his death in the indexes so I guessed that he had died before 1st July 1837. Thomas appeared in the Land Tax records until 1836 so I could narrow down his death to late 1836 to early 1837. The only burial record in the area for a Thomas Ellerby was in St Nicholas' church in Guisborough but this was for someone aged 75 according to the records.

Fate stepped in fortunately. One day I was in Guisborough and had 10 minutes to spare whilst waiting for something to be ready so I wandered along to St Nicholas Church and had a look round the churchyard. It wasn't long before I came across some Foster ancestors and there, next to his father-in-law was Thomas Ellerby, late of Skinningrove, died 3rd February 1837 aged 46. The record in the parish register was wrong! There are still plenty of questions to be answered such as how did he die? Was it an accident or illness? Why was he buried in Guisborough rather than Great Ayton which was his home parish?

Thomas and Hannah lived in Tunstall near Nunthorpe. At that time both these places were in the parish of Great Ayton although there was a Chapel of Ease in Nunthorpe which I believe was later rebuilt as a proper church and Nunthorpe is now a parish in its own right. After Thomas' death Hannah continued farming in Tunstall and in 1847 she married William Barr.

Where does the name Ellerby come from?

The Ellerby's of North Yorkshire

This blog is for all those who have connections to anyone whose surname is Ellerby. It will relate the genealogy of my Ellerby ancestors who lived on the North Yorkshire coast from the parishes of Skelton in Cleveland down to Lythe just north of Whitby. There will be lots of other names in these histories so if you are researching your family history you may well find some useful information for your research.

Where did the name Ellerby come from? Almost certainly from some Danish Viking who arrived here in the 9th century and settled in what is now the village of Ellerby near Lythe. There are also two villages, Old and New Ellerby in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  A 'By' was a farm or village of Viking origin so the village of Ellerby was probably a farm belonging to someone called Alwarde or very similar. In the Domesday book the village of Ellerby was called Alwardebi. I can thoroughly recommend a book called Northern Roots by a journalist called David Simpson which is very informative about, well northern roots!

The village of Ellerby itself is little more than a hamlet in the parish of Lythe to the north of Whitby. When surnames where becoming common Ellerby would have referred to someone who was from Ellerby rather than living in the village itself.

There are variations of the name such as Ellerbe but with my research there is no variation on the surname. There are distinct groups of families in the area around Ellerby, my family who lived between Marske and Whitby, a group centred round Danby and families around the Helmsley/Kirkbymoorside area. I am sure that they would all be connected if we could research far enough back.