Richard Lancaster (abt. 1720 - bef. 1778)

Born about 1720 in England

Husband of Mary (Hargraves) Dearlove — married 5 Nov 1757 in Bolton by Bowland, Yorkshire

Descendants

Died before 19 Apr 1778 before about age 58 in Foulridge, Lancashire, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Andrew Lancaster [send private message]

Biography

Richard Lancaster lived his adult life in Colne in Lancashire, but he apparently came from Gisburn, just to the north, and at the time just over the county border in Yorkshire. In the History of Wesleyan Methodism in Burnley and East Lancashire (1899), Benjamin Moore, wrote:

"Methodism had already been established in several small places in its neighbourhood. The first to provide a home for the Methodist preachers in the town itself was Richard Lancaster, who came originally from Gisburn (Everett, Methodism in Manchester^[1]). Richard Lancaster, in all probability the same man, is recorded to have paid in a contribution from the society at Roughlee on the 19th of October, 1758."

A Richard Lancaster seems to have a house in Colne at an early stage. A researcher has found a tax record for Wilkinsons in Foulridge for 1753, which appears to suggest the Wilkinsons were paying 5/0 on a property lately owned by one Richard Lancaster. This information appears on the “One Guy From Barlick” webpage.

It was evidently the same Richard Lancaster who married Mary or "Mally" and had 6 children baptized between 1761 and 1772, one of whom, also named Richard, is the ancestor of a Lancaster family who went to Australia. For the baptisms of their four eldest children they are named in the parish register as Richard and Mary of Colne. But for the two youngest children they appear in the Colne register as Richard and "Molly" or "Mally" of Mosshouses, just to the north of the modern Colne boundary with Foulridge. Baptisms in Colne:

• Joseph Lancaster. Baptised 25 Dec 1761 (Christmas). Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. Seems to be a weaver by 1811.

• Married Susan Norminton, 2 Feb 1782.

• Benjamin Lancaster. Baptised 25 Dec 1762 (the following Christmas). Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. He possibly had a family in Padiham, based on the name of the first child, the relative rarity of the name Benjamin, and the age at burial: 3 Sep 1838 St Peter, Burnley, whereupon Benjamin was 76 years old and resident in the Burnley Workhouse. Benjamin seems to have married twice. He had many children, but many of them did not survive childhood.

• Ann Sutcliffe - of Habergham Eaves, Banns Read: 6 Dec 1789, 2nd: 13 Dec 1789, 3rd: 20 Dec 1789. Buried 23 Oct 1808 St Peter, Burnley. "Nanny Lancaster - Wife of Benjamin Lancaster".
• Ann Holland Marriage: 23 Oct 1815 St Leonard, Padiham. Both of the chapelry.

• Jane Lancaster. Baptised 2 Mar 1766. Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. Apparently buried 14 May 1769 St Bartholomew, Colne.
• Richard Lancaster. Baptism 16 Sep 1769 in Colne. Son of Richard and Mary of Colne. (An old prayer book in Australia suggests August 12 1770 was his birthday. Became a saddler and moved to Manchester. He appears to have been buried 7 Sept 1834 in St Luke Chorlton (prayer book says 3 October), in what is now Manchester. The burial register indicates that he was a widower resident on Chapel Street Salford by this time, and recorded as being 62 years old.

• Mary Lonsdale. 9 July 1791 in Manchester. She was also from the Colne area.

Richard Lancaster "of Foulridge" appears as an illiterate witness, making his mark on the 1773 will of Robert Hargreaves of Foulridge, a neighbour, and possibly a relative of his wife. The administration rights went to Robert's wife, Grace, who he had apparently married the year before. According to the admon Richard Lancaster was a "shaloon maker". Shaloon is a kind of textile, so Richard was a weaver like many people around him at the time. That the Hargreaves families of the region had weavers amongst them is a well known fact (google "spinning jenny"). Weavers did not need to live in the same place throughout their lifetimes, which appears to be what happened also in this case. It is known that shalloon was woven not only in Moss Houses and Noyna End, but also in Addingham, and the parish between Addingham and Foulridge, Kildwick. Kildwick itself has quite a few Hargreaves in the register.

Richard was evidently buried in Colne 19 April 1778, described as "Richard Lancaster of Foulridge". Molly or Mally Lancaster appears to have re-married 31 January 1785, to John Dearlove of Gisburn, stay maker.

Research notes

Marriage

One possible marriage record for Richard and Mary stands out in the records, but it is not in the parish of Colne. Richard Lancaster of Bolton by Bowland married Mary Hargreaves of Addingham 5 Nov 1757 in Bolton by Bowland, in Yorkshire, just near the Lancashire border. Banns had been 16th, 23rd and 30th of October. Banns are also noted in the Addingham register. Also noted in the marriage entry in Bolton is that the rector who performed the marriage was Henry Nowell, and the two witnesses were Richard Walker and John Howgill. Henry Nowell, rector from 1748 until 1773, and John Howgill, are mentioned in numerous entries from the time, but Richard Walker may be a lead because of his apparent connection to methodism, as will be explained below.

The marriage with Mary Hargraves or Hargreaves has long been seen as the only real contender, although it is in a different parish and a few years before the first children appear in records. This was for example the proposal of the late Richard Lonsdale Lancaster, one of the main genealogists of this family in Australia. It is nevertheless difficult to be certain, because it is clear that many people in the region were not staying within their birth parishes in this period, evidently because of the cottage trades they were practicing such as weaving.

Birth

The leading contender to explain Richard is the baptism 16.2.1717/8 in BARNOLDSWICK. baptism. John AND Richard Lancaster, sons of Henry Lancaster of Brockden [Brogden]. This is just north of Colne, and very close to Gisburn.

DNA confirms that this Richard's descendants in Australia are in the male line of the Lancasters of Gisburn and Cliviger (near Blackburn), both close to Colne. Early parish registers and other records show that there was an especially thriving Lancaster family in Gisburn and Gargrave, going back to the end of the Middle Ages, and so that is believed to be where this DNA group dispersed from.^[2]

Methodist records

It is not certain what record is being referred to for 1758 in Roughlee, but it must be one of the records for what was from about that time called the Haworth circuit. Concerning Methodism however, just to the north in Gisburn and Bolton by Bowland, as mentioned on the Gisburn Village website:

"in Gisburn, a Methodist society was established a few years later and from [...] 1758 to 1763, along with societies at Twiston and Newhurst (near Bolton by Bowland), made regular contributions to the funds of the Haworth circuit".

Newhurst is still a farm in Forest Becks, Bolton by Bowland. 1758 is around the same time Richard was married. Richard Walker may have been the owner of Newhurst.

The result of searching in Methodist records so far has uncovered BK15 1/3/1a at Keighley Local Studies Library (Quarterly Accounts of the Stewards of the Societies). It says, under "Cash Received", Jan 22 1756 by "Society of Roughlee by R. Lancaster 7s". But the earliest reference to a meeting house in Colne refers not a Lancaster, but instead to "House of Roger Hartley of Colne Hall".

Not much work has been done on this yet. More efforts may uncover useful information.

Sources

1. ↑ Everett p.52, does mention him very briefly as having come from "Gisbourne". The text is perhaps intended to imply that his house was at Dent Back in Colne.
2. ↑ Andrew Lancaster, "The Earliest Lancasters of Gisburn", https://web.archive.org/web/20210212002842/http://users.skynet.be/lancaster/early%20gisburn.htm

Note the parish records, will admons etc mentioned in the text.

• The first versions of the above was made in 2014 by Andrew Lancaster based upon his webpage about this family, from which he descends. The starting point of the work was the research done earlier by his great uncle, Richard Lonsdale Lancaster.