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Family History Documents and Artefacts => Unwanted Certificates & Artefacts => Topic started by: FamilyPhotoReunion on Monday 09 July 12 17:34 BST (UK)

Title: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: FamilyPhotoReunion on Monday 09 July 12 17:34 BST (UK)
I found a portrait of Sarah Emily Gower-Rees and her children, taken in Bradford in 1918.  Sarah's maiden name was Atkinson-Jowett.  Her husband, Albert Philip Gower-Rees later became an Archdeacon at St. George's in Montreal, Quebec.  Here's a link to my blog post about this photo:

http://familyphotoreunion.blogspot.com/2012/07/sarah-emily-atkinson-jowett-gower-rees.html
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: KennyJ on Saturday 25 August 12 22:07 BST (UK)
I can give you a bit more of Sarah Emily's story from what I've discovered about her own family, the Atkinson-Jowett's of Bradford. One of my great great grandmother's, Fanny Thornton, married Sarah Emily's father after his first wife died, and was Sarah Emily's step-mum.

Sarah's father was Nathan Atkinson-Jowett [abt 1841-1899] (not John as stated in the newspaper clipping), a gentleman,stone-merchant and farmer who lived at the Clock House, Manningham, Bradford. Nathan was the eldest son of James Atkinson-Jowett (1817-1886), who himself was the son of another Nathan. Both Nathans and James were actually born as Atkinsons. They changed their family name to Atkinson-Jowett by Royal Licence in the 1860's in order to claim a large property inheritance that had originally been owned by their Jowett ancestors and passed down another branch of the family until that line died out. That inheritance, collectively known as the Clock House estate, came to them as a result of a famous case in the Court of Chancery (where another descendant branch of the Jowett family was challenging the inheritance). Nathan senior was a farmer and milkman who died not long after his inheritance was confirmed but it made his son James instantly one of the wealthiest individuals in Victorian Bradford. He became one of the growing city's movers and shakers, investing in canals,railways and new universities, buying and selling land for development, building grand houses and churches, serving on the City Council and various charitable trusts as was customary for the leading businessmen of the day. James' eldest son Nathan married Mary Ann Booth in 1865 and they had seven children; Sarah Emily was the last-born circa 1881/2. Her mother died in 1885. Although Nathan and his family lived at the Clock House, Manningham (now part of Bradford Grammar School) he was not its owner. His father owned the property and paid his son an allowance from the estate income, which was vast. Under the terms of James' Will Nathan held the estate in trust until his own eldest surviving son John Atkinson Jowett (1871-1944) reached the age of 21 in 1892. John then inherited Clock House from his grandfather whilst his own father Nathan and his three youngest and unmarried children (Mary Ann, Alice Elizabeth and Sarah Emily) moved to a farm at Bentley, near Doncaster. My great great grandmother became the family's housemaid/nanny in 1886, shortly after Mrs Atkinson-Jowett had died, and moved to Doncaster with Nathan and the girls.

In 1893 Nathan and Fanny married and a son, James Atkinson-Jowett  (Sarah Emily's step-brother) was born. Sarah's two older sisters married in 1894 (Mary Ann) and 1895 (Alice Elizabeth) leaving just Sarah and her step-brother James at home with Nathan and Fanny. Nathan died in 1899 and thereafter Fanny raised the children by herself until Sarah married Rev. Gower-Rees. Sarah and Albert would have met in Anglican Church circles when he was a young preacher in the Doncaster area, but they got married in the Parish Chuch at Bolton, Bradford, that her grandfather had built in the 1870's, and Rev. Gower-Rees then worked in the Bradford Diocese before moving to Canada.

Sarah' step-brother James went to Giggleswick School in 1906, an Anglican public school favoured by wealthy West Yorkshire families, and from there to Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1912 to read Theology with the intention of taking Holy Orders. He never completed his degree. The great war intervened and he was commissioned into the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI). He was killed on the Somme in 1916. By all accounts Sarah and James got on well together and Sarah was a beneficiary of his Will.  Likewise Sarah,who had been raised by her step-mum from the age of four until shortly before her marriage, and her daughters were beneficiaries of Fanny's Will after she died in 1929.

If there are any Atkinson-Jowett's alive today they will be descendants of Sarah's uncle John Hodgson Atkinson-Jowett. Although she had four brothers and one step-brother they all died without issue. James (b.1868) died in an accident when three years old. Nathan (b.1869) died in an asylum in 1903. Samuel (b.1870/1) married and farmed in Nottinghamshire but died in 1909 leaving one daughter. Her step-brother James was killed in WW1. Only her older brother John (and her two married sisters) remained alive after 1918. John mainatained the lifestyle of a wealthy Edwardian gentleman, bred champion bulldogs, travelled the world and died unmarried in 1944.

The death of Mary Gower-Rees last year probably brought the story of this particular Atkinson-Jowett and Gower-Rees line of descent to a close. Sarah's sisters both had children (their married surnames were Sutcliffe and Denby) but I've not researched those lines yet.

Thank you for putting the picture of Sarah and her children on the internet. I can see a distinct family likeness with pictures I've got of her step-brother James. Pictures bring history alive.
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: FamilyPhotoReunion on Wednesday 29 August 12 21:56 BST (UK)
Hi KennyJ! 
Thanks for the great information about the Gower-Rees family. I'm so glad you like the photograph and that you could use it for your family history.  I will put up a link on my blog so that others can find your wonderfully written history on the family. 

It's a shame that there aren't any direct descendants, but sometimes it goes that way.  Many of the photos I find are of those who've died young, or haven't any living descendants.  They usually end up at the antique stores because no one knows who they are.

Thanks again,
~Carol
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: Paterchurch on Thursday 06 September 12 12:00 BST (UK)
Hi Kenny
I was very interested in your story of the Atkinson-Jowett family as Albert Philip Gower-Rees  was my grandfather's youngest brother.  My mother and, latterly, I kept in touch with him and then his daughters until Mary died in 2011.  She visited England in 2000 and stayed with us. As I am the custodian of the Gower-Rees family history we had a lot to talk about and she had brought with her many family photographs which I was able to scan including Sarah Emily Atkinson-Jowett's wedding photograph and one of her as an older woman.  If you are interrested do get in touch directly.

Kind regards
Joy
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: jowettdenby on Tuesday 11 December 12 14:26 GMT (UK)
Sarah Emily Atkinson Jowett was my great Aunt,  as a child we would be sent to the Royal station hotel in York where she would be staying, I would be about 5 years old  my grandmother was Alice Elizabeth Atkinson Jowett, her sister  she had eight children my father William Henry Denby was No 6 his youngest brother James Jowett denby died about 10 years ago. I have photos of the family and a portrait of Sarah and her husband. I have just started this research so every thing is a litte  vague at the moment
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: Paterchurch on Friday 14 December 12 12:34 GMT (UK)
I did start to investigate the family of Sarah Atkinson Jowett but as she is not in my direct line I did not complete it.  The results are somewhere amongst my papers but, at the moment, I cannot trace them.  I do remember that the family were involved in the Clockhouse estate lawsuit see www.jowitt1.org.uk/clockhou.htm    This gives the background and family history.
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: Malcolm33 on Wednesday 26 February 14 06:44 GMT (UK)
  The attached is from the deeds of the land and cottages that my ancestors owned and lived on from around 1711.     Atkinson Jowett owned the adjacent plot of land and my gt.gt.grandfather William Hutton was married to Mary Jowett.     I have overlayed the names of people living in the cottages on this land in 1841.
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: islander99 on Tuesday 17 November 15 03:45 GMT (UK)
Hello KennyJ,

The link on the Family Photo Reunion blog led me to this thread and your very helpful information on Sarah Emily Atkinson-Jowett. I have two photo albums that I've been researching in hopes of identifying an officer who served in the First World War.

The albums contained no surnames and so it took some digging to get this far. When I eventually determined they belonged to the Gower-Rees family it wasn't long before I discovered the Atkinson-Jowett connection and the information on Family Photo Reunion and in this RootsChat topic.

The albums are wonderful and I plan on sharing them via my Military and Family History Research blog. I've just published the first of three articles which I thought you and the others participating in this thread may be interested in. Part one remembers Lt. James Atkinson-Jowett who served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry:  https://doingourbit.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/remembering-lt-james-atkinson-jowett-6th-koyli/ (https://doingourbit.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/remembering-lt-james-atkinson-jowett-6th-koyli/)

Parts two and three will be posted within the next month and will focus on the service of Chaplain A.P. Gower-Rees during the First World War and on his family's visit to France and Flanders in 1926 (and it will include photos from other family holidays as well).

I provided a credit to you in my article as well as a link to this thread.

Thanks again and I hope you find this information interesting.

Cheers,

Steve Clifford
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: Paterchurch on Friday 12 October 18 14:08 BST (UK)
Dear Steve

You mention in your post regarding the Gower-Rees family that you would be writing up the WW1 career of Albert Philip Gower-Rees and I would be most interested in this as he was my great uncle.  This is all the information that I have about that period opf his life and I would be grateful if you could fill in any other details
1914-1918  During the first months of the war he was chaplain to the Sportsmen's Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment.  Early in 1915 he went to France as chaplain of the General Headquarters Staff at St. Omer.  He also held a number of other posts. He was twice mentioned in despatches and won the MC in 1918
November 1918  After the Armistice he was retained by the War Office as assistant chaplain general and preached the official peace service at Cologne
He then returned to his parish at Bradford.

I did meet him and his wfe in about 1947 when he returned to this country on a brief visit. I have also done a lot of research into the various branches of this very large family.

I did reply to the original query under my pseudonym Paterchurch
Title: Re: Found: Gower-Rees Family Photo, from Bradford, Yorkshire
Post by: islander99 on Friday 12 October 18 17:22 BST (UK)
Hello,

Thanks for providing the additional details. Yes, I did in fact post the article in January 2016 and you'll find it here:

https://militaryandfamilyhistory.blog/2016/01/02/remembering-rev-a-p-gower-rees-mc-the-football-parson/

There are links to some newspaper clippings which you might find interesting.

Thanks again,
Steve