I received [James Lishman's biography] from a woman that Dad ( Robert John Mander ) found on the internet, via RootsWeb. Her name is Noreen Nash . I think she got them from Mrs. Martin in Sussex, England.

My connection to the Lishmans is through James Lishman, .... born 1780 in Staveley-in-Cartmel. His daughter Elizabeth (not in Mrs. Martin's data) was my 3x great grandmother.

The first definite record concerning James Lishman is in the Parish Register of the Priory Church of St. Mary, Cartmel, Lancashire, (now Cumbria), where details of his marriage to Margaret Robinson can be read. The couple were married after banns on 16^th April 1759. Both Bride and groom signed the register in the presence of Margaret Hutton and Walter Cowperthwaite. Cowperthwaite was the parish clerk; it is not yet know who Margaret Hutton was, or what her connection with the young couple might have been. Research as to James's birth is still continuing; there is scant information available for the early years of the 18^th century in the records of Cartmel Priory, as unfortunately the records are incomplete. As spelling was not stabilised at this period and Lishman appears in the records variously as Leshman, Leishman, and Leeshman, it is not possible to be absolutely certain about links between individuals.

The parish of Cartmel included within its boundaries a number of Chapelries, including that of Cartmel Fell, in whose registers appears an entry, (duplicated in the registers of the Priory Chruch) of a marriage on 4^th Marh 1716, between a Jane Harrison and a James Leeshman of Burton-in-Kendal. There is also an entry at Cartmel Fell for a marriage between Nicholas Leish and Agnes Atkinson on 30^th October 1718. Are there any connections between these individuals and James? We may never discover!

According to James' will, written on 19^th March 1791 and proved after his death in 1801, James was an iron founder living at Brow Edge, Staveley-in-Cartmel, Lancashire. He worked for many years at the famous Iron Furnace at Backbarrow, and the Barrow branch of the Cumbria Record Office holds some of the old Journals, or account books, from the latter part of the 18^th century. These have been transcribed in as far as they refer to James' activities at the Furnace, where he seems to have shared the work of iron founding with one other man, as part of a team of seven men in all.

These were heady days for the iron industry in the Furness region, when the iron roduced there was sent far afield, as it had the reputation of being some of the finest iron available at that time. James almost certainly would have known John Wilkinson, the great Iron Master, whose father Isaac had lived close to the Iron Furnace at Backbarrow, prior to moving to Wilson House at Lindale, which lay some three miles S.E. of Backbarrow. There is a reference in the Backbarrow Furnace journals, dated 7^th May 1798, to James having been paid sixpence for a journey to Wilson House. This was John Wilkinson's home. What was the purpose of his errand?

The Journal entries suggest that James was a hardworking man often prepared to increase his income by doing extra tasks beyond the basic job of iron founding. He had a large family to clothe and feed and no doubt any extra income would be welcomed. For example, there is an entry recording payment to him for “363 Bushels of Pig & Mortar Sand dd. (delivered) over the twelve months from 17^th February onwards at 5 pence per bushel – £7:11:3.” He let out his garden at a rent of 4 shillings a year. He sold sacking to the proprietors of the furnace. He supplied rake shafts and assorted baskets for use at the furnace. It would seem that he possibly owned the transport necessary to deliver goods from the furnace for shipment from Haverthwaite. He assisted at times when maintenance work was required and often brought along his son, John, to supply much needed extra manpower.

Wages were paid every three months – it would appear that the beginning of the new century in 1800 was celebrated by giving the men an increase in wages. In James’s case the weekly rate rose from 10/6 to 12/-, which was a fraction above the average weekly wage at that time. The hours worked were often long, especially when a “Blast” was under way, as the workmen would be required to remain at work until the process was complete. When my family used to stay at my grandfather Lishman’s house in the Winster Valley during the 1930’s and 40’s it is quite possible that the cast iron cooking pots and the flat irons that were still in common use at that time, were survivals from the products of the foundry at Backbarrow.

We cannot be sure where James lived during his working life, though it is hoped that at some time a tithe map may be found which would help to pin point the property. Brow Edge is a straggle of houses above the River Leven, on the opposite side of the river from Backbarrow. Many of the larger properties in the vicinity were owned by some of the wealthier shareholders in the Ironworks Concens of Backbarrow, Penny Bridge and Low Wood. It seems that James lived in a property owned by John Machell, the rent of which was paid by the Backbarrow Furnace Company, at two guineas (£2:2:0 shillings or £2.10pence) per annum. However it is clear from his will that he must have owned property at High Cark, in the parish of Cartmel, as he gave instructions to his executors as to its disposal after his death, as follows, “Also I give and devise unto my said Wife and her Assigns during the Term of her natural Life one Annuity or clear yearly sum of thirty shillings of lawful Money of Great Britain to be issuing from and out of all that my Messuage Tenement Lands and Hereditaments situate at Upper Cark in the parish of Cartmel aforesaid which I purchased from the Trustees of the Late Thomas Muckelt of Backbarrow in the parish of Cartmel aforesaid Yeoman deceased and to be payable clear of all Taxes and deductions whatsoever.” This may have been the same property referred to by his widow, Margaret, in her will, dated 10^th August 1824. This was “Sturdies” which was eventually occupied by John Lishman, James’s son by his first wife.

The site of the old Iron Works at Backbarrow is still accessible (1999), and several of the original buildings still stand, though application has been made to use the land to develop an industrial complex for the 21^st century. There has been considerable opposition to these intentions, there being a large body of opinion that believes that the site is of national importance as an industrial heritage site. (In March 2003, permission was received to develop the site of the Backbarrow ironworks on condition that the most historically important buildings are restored and preserved for posterity.)

The furnace was originally built on this spot because it was ideally situated for the raw materials needed to smelt the iron – namely, iron ore from the mines to the north at Pennington and Whitrigg, carchoal from the coppiced woodlands in the immediate locality and a steady supply of fast running water from the River Leven that flows from the southern end of Lake Windermere. Transport was generally good, with ships available from Haverthwaite, Greenodd and Ulverston to carry the finished products around the coasts of Britain and into the near continent.

It is evident that James had ambitions for his sons, William and John. The former, his second child and eldest son, eventually became a clerk in holy orders and moved to the Eastern side of England to take up the incumbency of Long Framlington, Northumberland. John, born in 1767, was a yeoman farmer at Sturdys, Wood Broughton, near Cartmel. It is through John that my Lishman descent has been traced. He was obviously able to read and write as he signed the Vestry Minute Books of Cartmel Priory during the years when he was one of the “Four & Twenty” men who comprised the Vestry. It is quite likely that the sons attended the “Free School” at Brow Edge, founded and endowed by George Bigland of Bigland Hall in 1685. (See “The Annals of Cartmel” by James Stockdale). Wherever they received their education it is clear that they were literate.

James’s wife, Margaret also bore him three daughters – Betty, with whom she was already pregnant at the time of her marriage, baptized on 21^st August 1759 and buried two days later on 23^rd August; Jane, baptized on 14^th August 1763 and Peggy, Baptised 5^th September 1769. Between 1769 and 1772 Margaret had died leaving James with four young children to rear, so it wasn’t long before he married for a second time. Margaret’s burial record has not been found but it is inconceivable that James could remarry in a small closely knit rural community if his first wife were still alive. It is believed that Margaret (née Robinson’s) burial was entered in the Parish Register of Staveley-in-Cartmel, whose early registers are now missing.

James’s second marriage to Margaret Myers took place in Cartmel Priory in 1772 and was witnessed by William Maxwell and W. P. (probably William Piper, the parish clerk). This second union produced four further children, Susannah in December 1772, Molly (Mary) in March 1774, Agnes in November 1777 and James in March 1780.

James died in 1801 and a copy of his will is held by the Lancashire Record Office at Preston. The will poses several questions that so far remain unanswered. There exists a contemporary will written by a Robert Lishman who lived and died in the parish of Dalton-in-Furness, a parish lying to the north of Cartmel. In this will is a reference to “my brother James”. Was “our” James the brother of this Robert? Until their places of birth can be traced we cannot prove a relationship. The parish of Cartmel is only separated from that of Dalton by the parish of Ulverston, and such relatively close proximity tempts one to believe that there was a blood relationship between the two men.

James died in April 1801 and was buried on 16^th April in the graveyard of Staveley-in-Cartmel Parish Church.

Revised 28 January 2003