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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Northumberland => England => Northumberland Lookup Requests => Topic started by: RNS on Friday 02 February 18 08:07 GMT (UK)
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I am looking for any information on William Herdman. He was a witness to a crime in 1826, however he has proved elusive and that is all the information I have on him other than he lived in Wall at the time of the crime and he was a labourer. The local Herdman expert has no record of him in her family genealogy, and there is no one of that family with a different forename that could have been recorded instead of William - I wondered if that was a middle name. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Hello, I am now looking for information relating to a William Herdman buried in St Mungo Simonburn 2 October 1838 aged 27. Is there a Simonburn Parish line of Herdmans out there?
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I have a further three potential William Herdmans that I need to eliminate. Any information greatly received:
Name William Herdman
Gender Male
Burial Date 15 Jul 1839
Burial Place Haltwhistle, Northumberland, England
Name William Herdman
Event Type Death
Registration Quarter Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration Year 1838
Registration District Hexham
County Northumberland
Name William Herdman
Event Type Death
Registration Quarter Apr-May-Jun
Registration Year 1873
Registration District Bellingham
County Northumberland
Event Place Bellingham, Northumberland, England
Age (available after 1866) 85
Birth Year (Estimated) 1788
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Using the new GRO index for deaths the 1838 death registered at Hexham that William was age 27
this would match the age of the one buried St Mungo
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The 1839 death/burial at Haltwhistle was age 68
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Thank you Amondg. I think the 1838 burial is the man I am looking for, though he would have been 15/16 in 1826. Too young to be a labourer in those times?
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Males would have been laborers from about the age of 12 or even younger back then.
Janis
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Thanks 2zpool, of course you are correct. It is startling when you read about mine disasters back then how many boys were among the casualties. The WH I am looking for worked as a labourer in the local paper mill and one newspaper described him as an imbecile! If he had a 'defect' that may explain his death at 27, though that is mere speculation at the moment.
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You would have to get the death certificate to find out the cause of death. Imbecile had a different meaning than what it is today. Even in to the 20th century there were folks in asylums that were merely deaf. He may have had a job that suited his abilities.
Many of the younger boys worked for the company rather than a hewer in the mine...like took care of the ponies, or operated the bellows however some of the jobs took place underground.
Janis
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2zpool, thanks, you may be right on your definition of imbecile. However, the newspaper stated that he was too imbecilic to have murdered anyone without saying why that was the case, but that begs the question of why he wasn't in an asylum. I do need to look into that more.
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19th July 1819,Warden Parish records
William Herdman of Homers House,died he was a 100,not the one you are looking for obviously
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27th April 1817
Isabel Hedley of Homers House
aged 96 years
Warden parish records
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1st Jan 1834
Edward Kirksop of Homers House
aged 16
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Thanks Radcliff. I need to work backwards from 1817 to try and establish when the Hedleys might have moved in to the cottage. The William Herdman you mentioned died in the cottage as a lodger - though why a lodger is 100yo is unclear to me, particularly when this WH was from Wall with family right across the river. The younger WH that I am looking for lived in Wall but was not from Wall.
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Joseph Hedley was murdered – buried 10 Jan 1826 aged 76 years (Joe the Quilter) connection to Herdman by marriage. William Herdman of Homers House buried 19 July 1819 aged 100 years, and Isabel Hedley of Homers House buried 27 April 1817 aged 96 years. (William & Isabel were brother & sister the child of Henry Herdman, a Gentleman/Yeoman & Jane nee Cousins).
On 3 January 1826, a 76-year-old man named Joseph Hedley was brutally murdered in his cottage in the parish of Warden. Joseph’s throat and face were slashed, and multiple stab wounds were inflicted upon his body. He was commonly known as Joe the Quilter due to his skill with needlework. He was a quilter by trade and travelled around the country seeking employment. Joe’s skills in quilting were celebrated, and his handiwork was known in various parts of England, Ireland, Scotland and America.
On the evening of the murder, Joe obtained a pitcher of milk, a pound of sugar, a sheep’s head and pluck (offal) from farmer’s wife Mrs Colbeck of Warwick Grange. At approximately 6pm William Herdman, a labourer living in Wall called in on Joe on his way home from work at the local paper mill and sat with him for a short time. Joe had a good fire going and was busy preparing some potatoes for his supper. Around 7pm Mrs Biggs, a female pedlar from Stamfordham knocked at the cottage to ask directions to Fourstones having missed the turning due to the excessive darkness of the night. Joe came to the door and gave her the necessary directions. Apart from the murderer(s), Mrs Biggs is said to be the last person to have seen him alive.
The quilt was ordered and bought directly from Joe the Quilter in 1820 by the English family and was passed down to James Herdman of Wall village. It was donated to Beamish in 1972 by William Herdman, who was a descendant of James, of course only one Herdman families left lives at Wall for over 400 years and reputed to be the oldest families in Wall (direct to Cuthbert Herdman who was born in Wall in 1613). To my knowledge of my descendant of the Herdman families. I am unable to find the record of William Herdman in 1826 connection to Wall Herdman. Probably he came from different branch lines and lived in Wall for temporary. There was a William son of Cuthbert & Isabella Herdman of Wall, Cartwright born 1831, ruled out connected. Please, can you supply the name of the newspaper and mentioned he was described as an imbecile? Hexham Courant?
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Thanks for all that effort.
Imbecile reference: Newcastle Chronicle, 21 January 1826.
The Isabel you mention is not the Isabel that married Joseph Hedley, at least according to my research. Isabella Herdman was the daughter of Henry Herdman, but she was born in 1710 and married William Smith in 1727. Even if she later married Hedley that would make her 107 when she died. I'm happy to be persuaded otherwise. I have a better candidate for IH but this familial connection with the Herdmans keeps coming up. I think I know why but it would be good to confirm the source for that from someone else.
I can also find no connection between the William Herdman, aged 100, who died at Homers House, and the William Herdman who visited Hedley on the night of his murder, although that seems counter-intuitive.
I am very curious about the WH who died aged 27 who would have been 15 at the time of the murder.
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I have an Isabel Hedley whose name came up in my direct line of Edward Hirdman (Herdman)'s wills. It's clear she was the daughter of Henry Herdman & Margaret of Simonburn. In his wills mentioned Edward a Weaver of Chismond House (no longer on the map in the Parish of Simonburn and pulled down in the 1800's). He died on 15 July 1790 and left mostly to his nephews and nieces. Isabel one of the name and state she lived of The Kennel (Actually Parish of Falstone) and received 40 shillings. Also, William Herdman mentioned too during that time he resided with his Uncle Edward and received Weavering Apparel, House and sum of Twenty Shillings. Unfortunately, there was no recorded the marriage of Henry Herdman (the 1st son of Andrew & Isabel). It's looking likely in c1725. a few of his children have not appeared in the christening at Simonburn as far I can track were 7 children. No recorded of Henry's burial can be found in North Tynedale churches, I know his wife Margaret died on 10 March 1782, she lived in Stresley in Parish of Falstone, a widow. I know Henry & Margaret lived in the remote place in Parish of Simonburn - Coldcoats (now in Parish of Wark) during the 1750s in the land Tax record. I have a record of William Herdman - He died on 2nd Oct 1838 of Throughgates, Simonburn a Stonemason, aged 27 yrs. He was the son of John & Martha Herdman. I have looked Newcastle Courant at Newcastle library and unable to find William Herdman's recorded. There were no printed of Newcastle Chronicle. Can you please explain more clearly.
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That is some great information, thanks. It will take me a while to get through it all and see how it fits with what I have - looks promising on a scan though.
The Chronicle is out for digitizing, I think, but if you send me a message I will send you my email address then I can send you some scans of the relevant articles.
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Here my email - robinherdman@gmail.com. Thanks.
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Email sent