Hi Bendywendy
Firstly can I say a great big thank you for all the help you have given. It is very much appreciated.
The names within the family are being repeated within the different generations and the two sons of Robert Ainger Howman born in Hull – Joseph and George are actual sons and not his brothers. Robert A. did have a brother called Joseph (b. 1839). However, all Joseph’s (b. 1877) grandchildren are still alive - one of which is my dad and another is my uncle who is helping me with this. I am told that at one point he (Joseph) worked on Drypool Bridge and also that whilst away at war was gassed (mustard). I believe he returned from the war, however, died before his time due to the effects of this.
Thank you for your guidance re double checking information and not just accepting it at face value as I can understand how it would be so easy for me to get it wrong.
Joseph married Arabella Buttery from Rillington at St. Marks, Hull in 1905 and George married Louisa Brook at St. Stephens, Hull in 1895.
I have pulled some extracts from publications regarding the farm workers and why/how they migrated to other areas. I hope this puts some meat on the bones for you.
Extracts from Cambridgeshire History – Agriculture and the Labourer
Labourers were in a weak bargaining position due to over-population from which Norfolk was suffering. Wages were usually low and not infrequently paid in the form of goods or food, or the labourer was allowed a small plot of land to raise vegetables and perhaps keep a pig or two.
1820’s and 1830's were a time of low wages within the area because the woollen industry was in a state of rapid decline as the great textile areas of northern England flourished. With alternative employment not readily available, it led to an excess of agricultural workers.
By 1815 the end of the great wars meant many ex-soldiers were unemployed. Grain prices fell and farmers lowered wages. Speculators erected rows of poor cottages and charged exorbitant rents because of the housing shortage.
As the Industrial Revolution hit and mechanisation crept in it was necessary for these workers to seek alternative employment. Migration was at its highest from the mid to the end of the 19th Century. Land grants in America were very attractive and travel to Australia was almost ‘free’ and the wages in foreign lands were vastly improved to England.
Within England itself a further lure was to the new, industrial areas of the Midlands, North West and Yorkshire. Whole families packed up and left for a new life in these areas. There are examples of agents representing the cotton interests of the North actively negotiating with Parish officials to arrange for workers to be shipped to the mill towns which then took them off parish relief. These journeys were made possible by an improved railway network, the push of desperate conditions for the poor and the pull of regular work in the North.
Extract from: A History of Kingston Upon Hull from Bulmer’s Gazetteer (1892)
The Kingston Cotton Mill Co. Ltd., had large works in Cumberland Street. The principle building was a lofty red brick structure, 501 ft. long, 80 ft. wide and five stories high. The chimney was originally 245 high. The diameter inside its base 19ft. When these mills were in full operation, it required about 2,300 tons of raw cotton and about 7,800 tons of coal to keep them going.
This mill’s location was only a short walk from where my relatives where living (Howard’s Row off Chapman Street). It is likely, therefore, putting information from the two extracts together that the mill owners agents paid/negotiated the costs of moving them to Hull to take them off parish relief and provide them with work.
I hope this helps you understand how possibly your GG Grandfather Robert Hall moved into the area.
Once again thanks for all your help - you've been an absolute star.