John Henry Allerton was born on 24 July 1850 (or 1852 – need to check) in the Selby area to Thomas Allerton and Martha. He was baptised on 3 March 1853 at Selby, the register shows that Thomas was a labourer.
In 1861, the Census shows that the family were living on Albert Street in Batley, John Henry was recorded as 9 years old and Thomas was working as a carter.
John Henry must have grown up working with horses and the 1871 Census shows that he was working as a groom at Kippax Park, the home of Thomas Davison Bland, “Justice of the Peace Sandown”.
John married Elizabeth Brown at the church of St Mary Magdalene in Outwood on 16 September 1878. He was living in East Ardsley and working as a “Shunter” – “one who moved rolling stock around the railway yards“. His father was now working as a “Potato Merchant”
John and Elizabeth had the following children:
- Martha (1879-1896)
- Charlie (1880- )
- Walter (1885-1959)
- Kenneth John (1896-1967)
John and Elizabeth were living on Holts Brow in East Ardsley at the time of the 1881 Census with their two oldest children and John was working as a “Railway Shunter”.
By the time of the 1891 Census, John, Elizabeth, Charlie and Walter had moved to 45 Northbrook Street in Chapel Allerton. John was working as a “Coachman Domestic Servant”.
John’s youngest son, Kenneth, was born on 2 March 1896 but sadly his daughter Martha died on 8 August and his wife, Elizabeth, died the following year on 20 September.
John remarried on 11 October 1899 to another Elizabeth in York and by 1901 they were living on Lidget Lane – John was still working as a “Coachman Domestic Servant”. Elizabeth was 25 years younger than John and bore him another son, Henry, in 1905.
By 1910, the West Yorkshire Tax Valuation documents show that John living in the Coachman’s Cottage of Webton Court in Allerton Park, Chapel Allerton. He is still there at the time of the 1911 Census with Elizabeth, Kenneth and Henry and he was working as a “Chauffeur Domestic”
John died in Leeds Infirmary on 15 November 1926 and was buried in the graveyard of St Matthew’s Church in Chapel Allerton. I’ve yet to find his gravestone.
