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Couldn't spot much in the online newspaper archives about them, but I'll have another go over the weekend Looks like the initial partnership was dissolved circa 1903, so possibly the first Armitage died around then? Presumably another Armitage then joined with J.S.H. Grimshaw

I'm in the process of transcribing the bulk of the 1937 Huddersfield Borough Directory:
- table of contents
- street index (nearly up to "E" at the time of writing)

...as it'll take me a couple of months to complete, I'm more than happy to lookups in the interim (just let me know the name or the address).

The transcription is licensed with Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International and can be freely reproduced under those terms. Once completed, I'll also make a raw data file available.

Dave

The Huddersfield Chronicle (21/Aug/1852) has a list of the flood orphans and the amount per week they were to receive from the central relief fund until they reached the age of 16:

• Mary A. Metterick (aged 6 years) 5s. per week
• Wilson Metterick (10 months) 5s.
• Ruth Crosland (6 months) 5s.
• Johnson Cartwright (12 years) 3s. 6d.
• Clement Cartwright (14 years) 3s. 6d.
• A Shackleton Green (girl 12 years) 5s.
• child of A. Earnshaw (22 months) 4s.
• unborn child of A. Earnshaw 4s.

From the wording, the above were being looked after by friends or relatives. The following three girls were to "be placed in that excellent institution", a local "orphan asylum", with part of their 5s. to be paid "to such orphan institution"...

• Emma Cartwright (6 years)
• Ann Maria Cartwright (2½ years)
• Hannah Hartley (10½ years)

The Ashton Weekly Reporter has a couple of articles in Oct/Nov 1871 detailing the "coming of age" of Ruth Crosland and Wilson Metterick. The articles are a tad melodramatic in that wonderfully Victorian way, claiming that one eye-witness saw a "mother clasping her offspring to her breast" being washed away in the "demon" flood. Anyway, both of their fathers had been members of the "Loyal Order of Ancient Shepherds" which apparently had links to the Ashton area, and their members organised their own orphan fund, to be held in trust until Ruth and Wilson came of age. By 1871, that fund had reached just under £150 and a grand ceremony was held at the Miller's Arms, Hinchliffe Mill, Holmfirth, in which they were each presented with their half of the fund.

The newspaper, in a slightly creepy way, suggested that Ruth and Wilson should get married -- "what a happy termination to the course of events would it be to see them united in love and marriage" so that they could "unite their fortunes" and reminisce together about "the events of the Holmfirth calamity"

Despite one speaker telling Wilson that "by care and prudential habits he might raise himself to a high position in the world" and the newspaper predicting that "his prospects for the future are very cheering indeed", it looks like he died a few months later.

From the article, Ruth became the ward of her uncle, George Crosland, following the flood and she later married bricklayer George Mountain (son of cabinet maker Thomas Mountain) in Wakefield on 23 November 1872. It looks like she died in Wakefield in 1927, aged 76.

Wilson's mother appears to have died shortly after his birth and the attending doctor suggested that he should be nursed by a Mrs. Holmes, who (reading between the lines) had just lost her own child and was in a state of depression. For that reason, Wilson wasn't in his father's house on the night of the flood.

Hi David

I'm currently transcribing contemporary newspaper articles about the flood as well as trying to compile an accurate list of those of died. The list of 91 names that appeared in the Manchester Guardian has lots of errors (e.g. Matthew Fearns was rescued from the floods alive by Joseph Barrowclough) and a couple of duplications.

The widely accepted figure of 81 is also probably wrong, and is possibly a misinterpretation from the early 1900s of the numbers recorded by the 1852 inquest. The bodies of 6 children seemingly remained unidentified at the start of the inquest and were then released for burial, but their names remained on the list of 14 people unaccounted for. The figure of 81 is that of those formally identified (61), plus those 6 children, plus the 14 unaccounted for. It seems more likely that the true figure is between 78 and 81.

I'd love to hear more about the story that's been passed down, but I suspect it's probably not true. The flood was incredibly destructive, as it was a wall of water thundering down the valley, rather than a rising river swollen by rain. Rows of houses and even entire mills were swept away in moments. Having said that, a young heifer was recovered alive and unscathed from the roof of a house, so I suppose a baby surviving in a chest of drawers isn't beyond the realms of possibility

I'm still trawling through the newspaper articles, so will shout if I find anything that might support the family story. So far, the only mention of a chest of drawers is this:

In another a child was saved in a manner which we cannot pass over unnoticed. The house is situate in the mill-yard, and the father, hearing the water, got up and opened the door, when the water pouted in, and seeing no hopes of safety but in flight, he immediately set about getting his family out, but, on returning for the last child, be could not get into the house ; of course he became greatly alarmed for its safety. He soon after heard the child call out “Father,” he then got where he could see into the house, and saw the child on the top of the drawers, and inquired how it got there? the poor little thing replied, “the water lifted me up!” The man became agonised with fear for his child, which soon after cried out, “Father, come fetch me.” The poor man then went to another part of the house where there was a higher window, and where he succeeded in snatching his child from the floating drawers.
― Huddersfield and Holmfirth Examiner, 7 February 1852

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