Robert W. Wrathall's Lineage

Robert William Wrathall of Leicestershire, who can be reached at rwrathall(at)talktalk(dot)net, contacted us (James and Derek Wrathall) in July 2001 with information on his branch of the Wrathall family tree. He is a first cousin (once removed) of Robert Wrathall of Marysport (Cumbria) and also shares his lineage with Bill Wrathall of Inuvik (Canada) , Cedric Wrathall of Lancashire and Julie Wrathall of North Yorkshire .
I have started to look at family trees etc. in a very minor way - more because we realised that when the older generation pass on, one is very quickly reduced to only knowing a generation and a half, beyond that it's all a bit grey. A relative has done a lot of work on her genealogy and gave us some internet tips - one of which was the various pages of your database in the Wrathalls. I list below some information that we have and how it ties in with your work. One of my main problems is that everyone in my corner of the Wrathalls is called Robert or William or Robert William!

My father was (you'll never guess) Robert William Wrathall, born in Skipton 4 Nov 1916; he died in Burton-on-Trent in 1979. He had 2 brothers, Tommy and Fred . Tommy (father of Robert Wrathall of Silloth) had a farm in Carlisle, and Fred (who died a couple of years ago in Skipton) lived in Howgates Crest farm (on the unclassified road between the Keighley Road and the village of Bradley standing up from the River Aire valley). I have a pamphlet on the sale of Howgates Crest dated 8 March 1971, which I have now sent to James & Derek on CD. Fred's wife Edna died in June 2001. She was Uncle Fred's second wife, the first being a very elegant lady called Janie. They had a son "Young John" who died in infancy and two daughters, Margaret and Roberta. Margaret took her own life in 1966 at 29 years of age and is buried in Waltonwrays Cemetary, Skipton in the same plot as her Grandmother (Mary Maud Spence) and Grandfather (William Wrathall of The Farm, Skipton) under her married name of Dunne. Roberta lives in the south of England, I think. We had a box of sepia photos and took them to Fred and Edna some years ago, but they were only able to identify a few of them.
In Nov. 2002, Derek Wrathall sent a transcript of The Craven Herald notice of the Silver Wedding anniversary for Robert W.'s Uncle Fred Wrathall and wife Janie Bilbrough; click here to read it.

For a close-up U.K. multimap of The Farm's location, click HERE . For a 1:50,000 scale U.K. multimap showing the vicinity of the The Farm in relation to Skipton and Low Bradley click HERE . For similar maps showing the location of Howgates Crest, click HERE and HERE . In December 2001, Robert sent the 3-CD set mentioned above, which contains high-resolution scans of old family photos and documents. We're preparing a thumbnail index to accompany the text list of photos, and will be posting some of the photos soon.

Derek Wrathall of Skipton sent Edna's obituary notice in July 2001, taken from the Craven Herald and Pioneer, Friday June 29 2001, under DEATHS.
WRATHALL. June 26 peacefully at Carleton Court, Skipton, Edna in her 93rd year, loving wife of late Lawrence Lawson and the late Fred Wrathall and much loved sister of Annie and Jack. The funeral service will take place at Christ Church, Skipton on Monday July 2 at 10.30 am. prior to cremation at Waltonwrays. No flowers please by request but if desired donations in lieu for Christ Church Funds at the service or c/o Howcrofts Funeral Services, Duckett Street, Skipton.
Robert sent a scan of the front page of a letter that may be from "Nannie Wrathall" in Grassington. It is about the purchase of a cow and mentions a man who was a brother of Robert's grandfather William; click here to view the letter . Robert also sent a photo of Nannie Wrathall with a prize cow which was taken in the yard of "The Farm", where Nannie and her son William's family resided. The barn on the left backs onto the Keithley Road (Skipton). Robert continues with his information on his grandfather William:
Robert William's father was (wait for it) William Wrathall (Cattle Dealer of "The Farm" Skipton - on the Keithley Road) born 5 Dec 1883 in Grassington (see St. Catherine's House Index of Wrathall Births 1878 -1884 ). He was married 1906 in Kildwick Parish Church (see St. Catherine's House Index of Wrathall Marriages 1900 -1906 ). The Vicar from Skipton was there but it seemed to be at Kildwick Church.
Robert sent several anecdotes regarding his grandparents William and Mary Maud; click here to read them. Robert also sent a scanned image of the handwritten transcript of a newspaper article from the local paper on his grandparents William and Mary Maud's wedding; click here to view it. In August 2001, Robert photos of the happy couple, on their wedding day and, 50 years later, surrounded by several generations of their family. Coincidentally, in Sept. 2002 Major Chance of Ottawa (who can be reached at majorchance(at)hotmail(dot)com) sent a colorized version of the wedding photo of William Wrathall and Mary Maud Spence at Farnhill Hall, with the following explanation:
Great site and great photos, which I found quite by chance while doing a search on "old family photos." The Wrathall photo of William and Mary Maud, which I send as a little tribute, is a computer-enhanced and colorized version of the black-and-white original you have on your site. I am testing some developing photo-enhancing software (as a hobby - I am not selling anything) and from time to time I search the net for excellent photos to work on. I found your photo quite by chance. The photo was especially interesting given the two individuals, the ivy on the wall and the reflections in the window.
Regarding Farnhill Hall itself, in May 2002 Derek Wrathall sent some information and photos; click here for his discussion. In November 2002, Robert sent the following info about William and Mary Maud's pre-war ship voyages:
Flushed with recent successes (and now having a bit more time as I have been made redundant), I have been plotting Willie & Mary Maud's travelling. I have their last passport and also certificates of their trip on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary in 1936 (now beached in USA of course) and to the New York World's Fair in 1939. I have visited a couple of websites and intend to check W &MM's names on the passenger list, which I can do through the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich (London).

My next task is to transcribe a few letters kept by Mary Maud - mainly to do with my father. There is one super one he wrote to her telling her that he had met this lovely girl called Vera (my Mum) and was it alright? I also have MM's reply - and the rest, as they say, is history - family history! They are so evocative of the times. Can you imagine a present day 21 year old asking is Mum if it's OK to go out with this particular girl?
Click here for the details of the voyages.

In 2002, Robert was also researching information on his grandfather William's brothers Tom and Robert.
We think William had a brother called Robert who never married - he worked for Pye Electrics on the south coast for many years; click here to view a photo of Robert and his sister Nellie as children. William's father was Robert Wrathall of Farnhill Hall, which is located in Farnhill, Keighley, Yorkshire. There our native information stops.

I have some other information - a wedding serviette of a Miss Wrathall in London in 1924 plus the information about me, my father and my late brother.

In June 2003, Roy Wrathall forwarded the following from YORKSGEN-L(at)rootsweb(dot)com:
Craven Household Almanack 1911 [Farnhill]
FARNHILL DIRECTORY
WRATHALL, Robert, Farnhill Hall
In Sept. 2005, there was a similar entry on Colin Hinson's page The Craven Household Almanack Directory of 1911.

In Nov. 2002, Robert sent the following info about William's brothers Robert (mentioned above) and Tom:
My Cousin Roberta Smith (neé Wrathall eldest daughter of my Uncle Fred) discovered a photo that we think is Tom Wrathall's wedding (second son of Robert of Farnhill and brother to my Grandpa William). I have asked if she can help with some identification that is eluding us.

Robert of Farnhill's youngest son was also Robert. I dimly remember him being associated with Harrods - the posh Knightsbridge department store. A new contact from Derek reminded me of this and I wrote to Harrods and received a quick reply.
Click here to read the Harrods data on Robert Jr.

In Apr. 2002, Derek Wrathall sent the following account surrounding a ghost story involving Robert W.'s grandfather William Wrathall (1883 - 1958):
The Craven Herald, our local weekly newspaper, on 1 March 2002 published the photograph of a group taken at the Hellifield Auction Mart in 1936 which included William Wrathall, Robert W. Wrathall's grandfather, under the heading "Snapshot of Craven from bygone years". Mention was made of the ghost story concerning William, which came about as follows.

When looking for information for Robert, I contacted Eric Morrison, whose eldest brother was very friendly with William's sons. Eric's house and the adjoining house are joined to the old farm buildings of The Farm on Keighley Road, Skipton. One day the lady living in the adjoining house asked Eric if anyone had ever died in her house. On querying her why she asked, she said that the previous night she had wakened to find an apparition standing at the foot of her bed. It was clearly a male dressed in a tweed suit with knee breeches and wearing a bow tie, but no head visible. Eric said that the dress described William perfectly, and in fact Robert has given me a photo of William dressed in exactly that way. The lady saw this apparition twice, but hers is the only reported sighting. As William lived in the farmhouse on the other side of the farmyard from this cottage, it is a bit of a mystery as to why he should appear there.

I had a number of phone calls following the article, mostly from people who knew William, but I had one from an elderly lady who told me about the Wrathalls of Cowling , the family connected with the school, so it was interesting to then find so much information from the obituaries. Frank and Trudi Wrathall also got in touch as a result of the article, and I have also had a call from John Wrathall, the son of James (Jim) Wrathall of Garstang, Roy's eldest half-brother.
In Nov. 2002, Derek Wrathall sent a transcript of The Craven Herald obituary of Robert W.'s grandfather William Wrathall; click here to read it.

In Jan. 2007, Robert William sent copies of his scans of newspaper clippings: Notices and Obituaries for Nannie, William and Mary Maud Wrathall of Grassington and Skipton (1948 - 1970).

Derek Wrathall's extraction of the 1891 Yorkshire census gives some data for William's father Robert Wrathall:
Robert WRATHALL
The census data tie in with the letter from Nannie (Robert's great-grandmother), the memorial to Nannie's son Fred (who was also commemorated in the Wrathall memorial window ) and the existence of William's brother Robert (Bob). Derek Wrathall's extraction of the 1871 Yorkshire census gives some data for Robert's father William Wrathall:
William WRATHALL
Click here for Robert's photo of his great-great-grandparents' headstone from the Linton churchyard. Robert's great-great-grandfather William WRATHALL was born in 1826/7. Page 52 of the Burnsall Parish register transcript by W. J Stavert, M.A. gives the following marriage and baptism records:
Feb. 22, 1826: John Wrathall, Farmer, & Mary Hall, Spinster, both of Burnsall
July 15, 1826: William, s. of John & Mary Wrathall; Burnsall, Farmer
The British I.G.I. ( http://32.96.111.13/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp ) has the following on the family of John & Mary Wrathall :

John WRATHALL
Spouse: Mary HALL
Marriage: 22 Feb 1826 Burnsall, Yorkshire, England
Derek Wrathall's extraction of Wrathall data from the 1841 Yorkshire Census for Appletreewick, Burnsall, Hetton, Carleton and Boardley confirms the family of John & Mary Wrathall, with the exception of William and Alice. Derek Wrathall's extraction of Wrathall data from the 1841 Yorkshire Census for Starbotton, Steeton, Stirton-with-Thorlby, Grassington , Linton and Skipton has an entry for William Wrathall, age 14, living at Croft House, Grassington , with Ann and Ellen Wrathall, who may have been older relatives of William's father John to whom he "loaned out" his son as a servant.

Burnsall Parish Register (1813-1900) has the following on William's marriage, which implies that William's birth year is 1828/9:

14 May 1850: William WRATHALL, 21, bachelor, farmer of Grassington (father - John WRATHALL, farmer) & Grace PARKER, 21, spinster, of Grassington (father - Robert PARKER, farmer).
Witnesses: John Gill, Thomas Pletts.

Derek Wrathall's extraction of Wrathall data from the 1851 Yorkshire Census Skipton, Berwick, Appletreewick, Linton, Threshfield and Grassington has William, now married, living with his family in Grassington, and his birth year is now back to 1826/7, the same as in the 1871 census:

Derek Wrathall's extraction of Wrathall data from the Kettlewell St. Mary, Marriages - Baptisms - Burials 1813 - 1837 gives the following baptism record:
30 Jan 1831: William, son of John & Elizabeth WRATHALL of Starbotton, Labourer
Based on data like this, Bill Wrathall of Inuvik concluded that William's mother was Elizabeth Atkinson and his father was John Wrathall. Bill admits that the discrepancy between the age of William of Starbotton (19) and the listed marriage age of 21 was problematic. However, it appears that most of the data support John and Mary as the actual parents of Bill and Robert's shared ancestor William. According to the 1841 census, John was born in 1795/6. The Ancient Parish-Church of Linton Volume 4 and 5 shows the following marriage and baptism records to give the likely parents of John:
July 18th, 1791: John Wrathall (24) husbandman, & Elizth. Leech (23) by Mat. Metcalf. Witns. John Harker, James Harker
John, son of John Wrathall of Longlands Bapd. [Mar.] 3rd 1795
The British I.G.I. ( http://32.96.111.13/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp ) has the following on the family of John & Elizabeth Wrathall :

John WRATHALL
Spouse: Elizabeth Leech
Marriage: 18 Jul 1791 Linton In Craven, Yorkshire, England
Descendants of John Wrathall and Elizabeth Leech shows the relationship of Bill Wrathall of Inuvik, Robert William (Bob) Wrathall of Leicestershire and Robert Wrathall of Silloth. This also links their lineage with the Descendants of John Wrathall and Anne Pickersgill.