Interest in Pardoe/Brooks/Wooldridge in Lye

[Benody1921]

Was wondering if anyone can help me sort out the Pardoe/Wooldridge families in Lye. I've tried to connect them but they all seem to have intermarried, have the same names, and the same occupations. Also wondering if anyone can give me some insight into the Lye in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I don't live in England so I'm not able to explore like I'd like to.

My line connects me to the Pardoes. My great grandad was George Harry (sometimes Henry) Dunn, born 28th August, 1883 (sometimes listed as 1884) to Edwin Dunn (B. 1850 Kingswinford, Staffordshire) and Betsy Brooks (B. About 1849 Lye, Worcestershire). Betsy was the daughter of Samuel Brooks and Elizabeth Pardoe. I cannot find much on Samuel Brooks. Elizabeth Pardoe was the daughter of George Pardoe and Jemima Wooldridge.

I was hoping anyone with these lines wouldn't mind comparing notes.

[Spidermonkey]

This blog post may give a little insight into Lye/Lye Waste/The Lye

https://uptheossroad.wordpress.com/2015/12/07/slums-of-the-black-country-waste-bank-lye/

Some more recent photos http://www.the-archive.co.uk/lye_photographs_page_1.html

[Benody1921]

Wow. I had no idea life was like that. A very interesting read. Thank you.

[ciderdrinker]

Hello again
I assume you're the same person who was looking for more details on Edwin Dunn a little while ago.
I do have Brooks from Cradley and Mobberleys from Lye in my family tree but at the moment I'm struggling to see a connection.
However a little  digging on Samuel brings up the index for his Will 14.3.1861 £100 Samuel Brooks victualer of Lye Waste.Exe Elizabeth Brooks widow and Joseph Pardoe butcher of Lye.
His wife's Elizabeth seems to have moved up the social scale and is living at Brookland Villa  11.1.1892 and leaves £546 17s .Her executor is daughter Betsey.

Phill Hitchmough's site the Long Pull suggests Samuel Brooks ran the Falcon at upper High St/Halesowen Road Lye Waste.(he was the first licencee and it seems to have remained in his name until 1866).Latter licencees are Brooks and Pardoe.It closed in 1935 and has been demolished.


Black country muse website will give you photos of the area or though I can't spot the Falcon and national library of Scotland has old maps of Lye.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=falcon+inn+lye&biw=1024&bih=671&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcwePG1qDQAhXlDcAKHfNICykQ_AUICCgD&dpr=1.25#tbm=isch&q=lye+waste&imgrc=qrDifD1wrW3Z0M%3A

is a house at Lye Waste.

ps just found it was the Holly Bush Inn not the Falcon that Samuel ran,(there are two Samuel Brooks.)

A newspaper report 24.4.1861 mentions it's a transfer of licence from The Holly Bush, Lye, from the Executors of the late Samuel Brookes to his widow, Elizabeth Brookes. in the Worcestershire Chronicle.
The 1841 census of Lye Waste seems to show the couple living next to Samuel's father John age 50 and brother James  15 .Dad was a Victualler so it could well have run in the family.
That Hitchmough site of Black Country pubs may help.

Ciderdrinker

[Benody1921]

Thank you ciderdrinker. Yes, I am the one looking for Edwin Dunn. That seems to be my biggest challenge.

I wondered if Elizabeth Brooks née Pardoe had come into some money. She seemed to leave a lot to Betsy. I'm from Canada so I don't exactly know how to read the money but it looked like over 500 pounds which is getting close to $1000. That would have been quite the cash back then. And from what I've been reading, that's pretty good for a woman coming from the Lye.

I found difficulty tracing the Brooks side. It looks like Samuel and Elizabeth only had the one child, Betsy. Then I can't seem to find parents for Samuel except for John Brooks. I can't remember his mother's name at the moment. It's probably Ann or Elizabeth.

I suppose on Samuel's Will the Joseph Pardoe is Elizabeth's brother. 

[Spidermonkey]

According to this calculator http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

£546 in 1901 (closest I could get to 1892) would today be the equivalent of over £60,000   

[Benody1921]

According to this calculator http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

£546 in 1901 (closest I could get to 1892) would today be the equivalent of over £60,000   

That's incredible! I'm curious as to what happened to that money. I haven't found a definite death record for Betsy but I would hope she didn't blow through all that money. Part of me wonders if her husband took off with some of it. They didn't seem to live together in 1891 while she's caring for her mom. Then in 1901 she says she is a widow. maybe she is but I haven't found a death record to prove it. It's very mysterious.

[Benody1921]

ps just found it was the Holly Bush Inn not the Falcon that Samuel ran,(there are two Samuel Brooks.)

A newspaper report 24.4.1861 mentions it's a transfer of licence from The Holly Bush, Lye, from the Executors of the late Samuel Brookes to his widow, Elizabeth Brookes. in the Worcestershire Chronicle.

Ciderdrinker

Good to know! I remember reading The Holly Bush Inn somewhere. Thank you!

***just checked the Long Pull website. I can't find Samuel Brookes running The Holly Bush Inn or the Falcon. Maybe it's not updated?

[Spidermonkey]

His wife's Elizabeth seems to have moved up the social scale and is living at Brookland Villa  11.1.1892 and leaves £546 17s .Her executor is daughter Betsey.

This website gives you the figures for 1892 http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/

Looking at the 1891 census, Elizabeth and Betsey are living on Belmont Road in Lye.  They are the first household that the enumerator lists after Pearson Street.  The enumerator then does several houses on Belmont Road before going to King Street, so you can see which direction he was travelling in (historic side by side map here http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sidebyside.cfm#zoom=16&lat=52.4544&lon=-2.1109&layers=6&right=BingHyb ) which makes me suspect that this house here https://goo.gl/ufnJ7s - which looks to have been modernised - was Brookland Villa.  If you look on the google street view and look at the villa on the other side of the Pearson Street junction (called Alma Villa) I suspect that that is closer to what Brookland Villa would have looked like.

ETA - I was wrong about Brookland Villa - this is Brookland Villa https://goo.gl/FPkyWp