Nat Gould

John Middleton 1811-1892

John Middleton was born in 1811 at Tideswell in Derbyshire, the son of Joseph Middleton and his wife nee Mary Handley. He was baptised there on 3 February 1811

John Middleton was a carrier, and ran a weekly service between Tideswell and Chesterfield.

He married Elizabeth Collis at Disley Chapel in Stockport parish (now Disley parish church) on 15 July 1840. They were then both living in Disley. She was born in 1818 at Crookesmoor in Sheffield (1), the daughter of Peter Collis

They had the following children, all baptised at Tideswell:

Robert Middleton. He was born in 1841, and was baptised on 28 April 1841. He died in 1848 aged seven years, and was buried at Tideswell on 20 September 1848.

Ann Middleton. She was born in 1845. She was married to Samuel Sheldon in 1862. He was born in Bonsall, Derbyshire in 1845. They lived in New Mills in Derbyshire, had seven children.

Mary Ellen Middleton 1848-1926. She was born in 1848, and was married in 1869 to James Adams 1843-1886 at Tideswell church.

Ruth Middleton. She was born in 1850. She died unmarried in 1909 in Bakewell, Derbyshire.

Elizabeth Middleton. She was born in 1852, and died in 1854 aged three years.

Joseph Middleton. He was born in 1855, and died in 1892 aged 38 years.

Martha Middleton. She was born in 1859, and died in 1874 aged fifteen years.

In 1851 John Middleton was living with his wife and family at High Street in Tideswell. He was then working as a carrier, but by 1861 that business had declined to such an extent that he was then employed as a railway labourer, and they had moved to Back Lane in Tideswell (2). The daughters Ann Middleton (aged sixteen), Mary Ellen Middleton (aged thirteen) and even Ruth Middleton (aged only eleven) were cotton factory workers, presumably at one of the large mills established at Litton, Cressbrook or Millers Dale in the nearby Wye valley.

When the Census was taken in 1871 the family had moved to Town Head in Tideswell, and John Middleton was then recorded as being an agricultural labourer (3). They were still there in 1881.

Elizabeth Middleton nee Collis died in 1885 aged 67 years.

Widowed John Middleton was still at Town Head when the 1891 Census was taken, living there with his unmarried children Ruth Middleton and Joseph Middleton.

He died at Tideswell in 1892 aged 81 years.

(1) She was born in Crookesmoor, perhaps in a house called Oak Stones. It lay in that part of Yorkshire known as Hallamshire. Crookesmoor was then just a hamlet in the parish of Sheffield, but is now an inner suburb of the city.
(2) The Midland Railway had reached Rowsley and the extension to Buxton through nearby Millers Dale was being constructed and was opened in 1863. Travel by rail was becoming more convenient, and Tideswell became linked more with Buxton than with Chesterfield.
(3) Railway construction in the district had ceased and did not begin again until the construction of the Hope Valley line many years later.