Author Topic: Edward William Binney  (Read 5304 times)

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Edward William Binney
« on: Saturday 22 September 12 14:20 BST (UK) »
Edward William Binney 'of Manchester' went into partnership in 1848 with James 'Paraffin' Young and Edward Meldrum. Their Bathgate Chemical Works, in West Lothian, Scotland, was the first to extract and refine oil on a commercial scale. The partnership was dissolved in 1864.

I have plenty of information about James 'Paraffin' Young and about Edward Meldrum, but Edward William Binney is proving rather elusive.

An Edwd Wm Binney, aged 38, solicitor, unmarried, born Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, is listed in Crumpsall, Manchester in the 1851 census, and in 1881 Edward Wm Binney, 68, married, Solicitor and Gas.... (part of the page is missing) is head of a household in Douglas, Isle of Man. The other occupants are Margaret I Binney, visitor, unmarried, 34, spinster and Martha Parks, servant, widow, 69, housekeeper domestic servant (again, the places of birth were on the part of the page which was torn off). Also in 1881, Mary E Binney, wife, married, 54, born Salop and Maude E Binny, daughter, 17 born Crumpsall, are in Crumpsall with three servants, all born in the Isle of Man.

An Edward William Binney was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on 7 December 1812 and baptised on 1 March 1813, parents Thomas and Elizabeth Binney. He was one of at least five sons, the others being Mordecai, baptised 18 October 1805; James Cross, baptised 11 February 1808; and twins Henry Casson and Thomas, baptised 2 April 1811. There may have been an older son, Thomas Casson, baptised 6 May 1795; if so there may be some more children missing from the Family Search web site.

Edward William and Mary Christiana Binney had five children, all baptised in Hope Bagot, Shropshire: Thomas Godfrey and Edward William, 15 September 1861; Maud Elizabeth, 11 May 1864; Alice Hannah, 18 June 1865; Joan Cross, 15 April 1866. There are births in FreeBMD for Thomas, Maud, and Alice in Manchester, but no mention of Edward William, and the original index reads Ivan Cross, not Joan Cross.

Edward William Binney, 69, died in Prestwich in the December quarter of 1881, and there is a very brief obituary in the Manchester Times of 24 December 1881: On Tuesday Mr Edward William Binney FGS, of Cheetham Hill, died of paralysis aged 69. He was an ardent geologist and an enterprising student of nature in many departments

There are several newspaper references to Edward William Binney FRS FGS Hon Mem Geol Socs Edin and Liverpool, and Geol and Polytech Soc West Riding of Yorkshire, who was for a time President of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

In 1842 Edward William Binney, of Manchester, was active in campaigning for action against the employment of women and children in coal mines.

In 1861 Edward William Binney, solicitor, was involved in a court case in Scotland headlined as 'The Yelverton Marriage Case', both as agent for the defender and as a witness in the case. (Why would, and how could, an English solicitor become an agent in a court case in Scotland?)

I have yet to find Edward William Binney in the 1841, 1861 or 1871 census, or any of the family of Edward William and Mary Christiana Binney in the 1871.

Can anyone suggest where I might find any evidence to tie together all these references to Edward William Binney?
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 22 September 12 14:38 BST (UK) »
Anne Secord, ‘Binney, Edward William (1812–1881)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2420, accessed 22 Sept 2012]

Binney, Edward William (1812–1881), geologist and philanthropist
He achieved enormous commercial success in collaboration with James Young and Edward Meldrum in their manufacture of paraffin from bituminous coals at Bathgate, Linlithgowshire,


Stan
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 22 September 12 14:43 BST (UK) »
Thank you, Stan. I'll have a look at that.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 22 September 12 15:07 BST (UK) »
He was born on 7th December 1812, the youngest of seven sons of Thomas Binney, landowner and malster. In 1828 he was articled to a solicitor in Chesterfield, and qualified as a solicitor, taking chambers in Manchester in 1835. In the 1860s, in addition to his home near Manchester, he purchased an estate, Ravenscliff, on the Isle of Man.

Stan
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


Offline mosiefish

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #4 on: Saturday 22 September 12 15:46 BST (UK) »
1871

Humphrey Street, Crumpsall
Edward W Binney, Head, Mar, 58, Solicitor, Lincolnshire Gainsborough
Mary C, Wife, Mar, 44, Salop Burford
Maud E, Daur, 7, Manchester
Alice H, Daur, 6, Manchester
Joan C, Daur, 5, Manchester
James, Son, 2, Isle of Man
plus cook, nurse and housemaid

Mo
Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Lancs: Harrison, Entwistle, Devine, Grundy, Ashworth, Freeman, Jackson, Rushton
Cornwall: Rich, Binney, Peak(e)
Devon: Martin, Walter(s)

Offline mosiefish

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #5 on: Saturday 22 September 12 15:54 BST (UK) »
1861
Humphrey Street, Crumpsall
Edward Wm Binney, Head, Mar, 48, Solicitor, Manufacturing Chemist and Coal Proprietor, Morton Lincolnshire
Mary C, Wife, Mar, 34, Salop Burford
Edward W, Son, U, 3, France
Richard Baxter, Visitor, U, 28, Merchant, Notts Worksop
Rachel Baxter, Visitor, U, 31, Yorkshire Wakefield
Elizabeth Baxter, Visitor, 3 months, France
plus two servants.

Mo
Census information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Lancs: Harrison, Entwistle, Devine, Grundy, Ashworth, Freeman, Jackson, Rushton
Cornwall: Rich, Binney, Peak(e)
Devon: Martin, Walter(s)

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #6 on: Saturday 22 September 12 16:33 BST (UK) »
Thank you, Mo. In the index I have, the 1871 is indexed as Bunney and the 1866 as Mcbinney! No wonder I couldn't find them. Much appreciated. The 1861 occupation, plus the DNB, seem to clinch things satisfactorily.
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Offline stanmapstone

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #7 on: Saturday 22 September 12 16:52 BST (UK) »


In 1861 Edward William Binney, solicitor, was involved in a court case in Scotland headlined as 'The Yelverton Marriage Case', both as agent for the defender and as a witness in the case. (Why would, and how could, an English solicitor become an agent in a court case in Scotland?)



When the Lord Ordinary takes a proof, each party adduces witnesses to prove his statements. In this case in his judgement, 21st Dec. 1861, the Lord Ordinary, in the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh, sustained the objection by the pursuer ( plaintiff) to the competency of adducing as a witness for the defender (Major Yelverton) Mr. Edward W. Binney, solicitor, in respect that Mr. Binney was an agent for the defender in the action.

Stan
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

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Re: Edward William Binney
« Reply #8 on: Saturday 22 September 12 17:37 BST (UK) »
Thanks, Stan. I saw that too, but what I don't understand is how an English lawyer could act as an agent in a Scottish legal case. The Scottish and English legal systems are quite separate from one another. I can see how Binney could appear as a witness, but not as an agent - sort of the converse of the Lord Ordinary's decision.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.