Life in a County Durham Pit Village in the early Twentieth Century

For those of you not familiar with the pit villages of County Durham in which the Bagnalls and Higginsons lived and worked, here is a video from Beamish Museum showing a typical pit cottage and explaining what life was like for those who worked at the local colliery. The actual cottage shown in the video is from a row which was moved from Hetton-le-Hole (where many of the family lived at one time) and re-erected at the Beamish Open Air Museum.

Update on William Bagnall born c. 1862 posted on November 5, 2011

Just a quick update to the earlier post on William Bagnall. Having accessed the 1911 census we now know that William had at least eight children but only six were still alive by 1911. Despite William stating that he had six children alive in 1911, I can only find five of them and only four living at the family home!


The children I have found are:
Elizabeth Bagnall born 1890 in Hetton, County Durham, possibly married Benjamin Meadows in 1910.
Jane Bagnall born 1893 in Hetton, County Durham
William Bagnall born 1896  in Hetton, County Durham and by 1911, at the age of 14, was working as a pony driver at the local colliery.
Margaret Ann Bagnall born 1905 in Hetton, County Durham
Samuel Bagnall born 1908 in Hetton, County Durham


The family lived at 1 Dean street, Hetton Downs in 1891 with their daughter Elizabeth and William's mother-in-law Elizabeth Burrows and brother-in-law CE Burrows. By 1911 they had moved to 3 rooms in Quarry Row, Hetton Downs.


Update
On the 1901 census Thomas And Susan (Judge) Higginson have a Susannah Bagnall staying with them. Susannah is their 9 year old granddaughter and was born in Hetton-le-Hole. Is it possible that Susannah is the missing sixth child of William?


On the FreeBMD website are the following registrations for the area covering Hetton-le-Hole:
Birth 1889 Arthur George Bagnall - Death 1889 Arthur George Bagnall Age 0
Birth 1898 Thomas Bagnall - Death 1899 Thomas Bagnall Age 1
Are these William's two children who died early?


Original Post

William Bagnall born c. 1862

William Bagnall was born in Ireland ( probably Rahugh, Westmeath) in about 1862 and was the oldest of James Bagnall and Susan Judge’s children.
William married Mary Ann Burrows in 1887 and the couple settled in Hetton Downs where William was employed as a hewer at the local pit.
By 1901 they had three children; Elizabeth 11, Jane 8 and William aged 5. Living with them at 297 Quarry Row, Hetton Downs was William’s unmarried brother Samuel Bagnall who was also employed as a coalminer.
William's son, William, enlisted in the British Army in December 1915 but was not sent to France until 1918. The Army papers are rather difficult to interpret but it appears he spent the second half of 1918 in France and was then posted to Mullingar in Ireland in March 1919 before being demobbed in October of that year. He gave his father's address as 10 Quarry Row, Hetton Downs. William served as a private (Pte. 51592) in the 1st battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment.

Arthur George Bagnall 1863 - 1941

Arthur George Bagnall was born in Rahugh, Westmeath, Ireland in 1863. He died in the United States in 1941. 

Mary 'Doll' Bagnall with sister Sue standing behind

George Bagnall with sisters Sue (left) and Mary 'Doll'

Susan Higginson born 1900 granddaughter of Susan Judge and Thomas Higginson sen.

Susan Higginson, one of 'the girls' mentioned in Anna Mack's letter of 6 April, 1921, the other girl being her sister Hannah.

Mary (Doll) Bagnall and son Robert Charles Baisch approx 1950

For some reason this photograph shouts America - it's a marvellous picture.

Time to spare? Try this!

Arthur George Bagnall and Mary Boyd puzzle on TheJigsawPuzzles.com

George Mathew Bagnall (Army Serial No.1533412) 1896 - 1957

A wonderful portrait of George  in his WW1 uniform. George enlisted in the Ohio National Guard on the 9th May 1917 aged 21 and was assigned to Headquarters Company 1 Cavalry ONG then served with Headquarters Company 2 Field Artillery ONG and was given an honorable (as it was the US Army I have used US spelling!) discharge as Private first class on 11 April 1919.
  

Did Mary Boyd have other family in the USA?

Jeff has found a James Grierson Boyd in Ohio in the 1920's so we are now looking into whether Mary Smith Boyd, wife of Art Bagnall, had other family in the USA. The first thing to establish is whether Mary had any brothers or sisters. The following baptisms for Boyd children with the same parents as Mary are posted on familysearch.org:
Anne Boyd 1853 Lochrutton, Kirkcudbright
Barbara Boyd 1855 Colvend, Kirkcudbright 
John Boyd 1857 Irongray, Kirkcudbright 
William Boyd 1860 Irongray, Kirkcudbright 
Elizabeth Grierson Boyd 1862 Lochrutton, Kirkcudbright 
Robert Boyd 1865 Lochrutton, Kirkcudbright
Mary Boyd 1867 Lambholm Cottage, Kirkmichael, Dumfries
Helen Boyd 1869 Colvend, Kirkcudbright 
James Grierson Boyd 1871 Kelton, Kirkcudbright  
Margaret Boyd 1873 Colvend, Kirkcudbright


It is now a matter of finding out if these children are Mary's siblings. The 1871 Scottish census may provide us with the information we need.
The map here shows the various places of the Boyd baptisms.

Family Photos - The Bagnall family

In London they say that you can wait ages for a bus and then three come along at once. The same can be said of old family photographs. After months, perhaps years, of not knowing what the Bagnall and Higginson ancestors looked like we are now more than beginning to put faces to the names. Thanks to Leanne, Lorre, Jeff and Thelma we now have quite a few photographs to post on the blog.

Standing L to R:

 young girl is Elizabeth (Libb) Bagnall/Cozzens;

unknown family member, could it be Mary Boyd Bagnall's mother?

Helen (Toots) Bagnall/Drensky/Weisner/Bennington?

Mary Boyd/Bagnall.

Kneeling L to R:

Sue Judge Bagnall/Dippel ?

Mary(Doll) Bagnall/Baisch;

George Bagnall;

Arthur George Bagnall ?

Thomas Higginson 1899 - 1918

Thomas Higginson, son of John Charles Higginson and Mary Jane Walton, served in the 1st/6th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment. He died on the 11th October 1918 exactly one month before the end of the war and and is buried in his own corner of a foreign field in Saint Aubert, France. He was 19 years old. Many thanks to his niece Thelma for the photograph. 

Arthur George Bagnall and his wife Mary Smith Boyd

What a wonderful photo! Taken on 20th October 1888, their wedding day.