James Taylor and "the Whitworth Doctors"

[Jilly Jelly]

Hi everyone

I'm looking for any information that anyone might have about the Whitworth Doctors who were renowned in the early 1800s and who worked out of the Spread Eagle pub in Whitworth near Rochdale.  They all had the surname Taylor and the most famous one seems to have been a James Taylor.

My partner is descended from their niece Betsy Taylor b.1800 Huddersfield and we are trying to find Betsy's connection with the Taylor doctors and find out who her parents were, but it's proving difficult!  She married John Chadwick b.1796 sometime around the early 1820s and took the name Betsy Taylor Chadwick.

Any information at all about any of the Taylors would be most appreciated.

Best Wishes
Kathie

[alcrighton]

Hi Kathie,

Have a look at this link:

http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/docs/ebooks/RR/ch5.pdf

I also found the death record for the last of the Whitworth Doctors mentioned in the article:

Deaths, June Quarter 1876
TAYLOR, James Eastwood, 53, Rochdale 8e 76

I'll see what I can find in the censuses.

Regards,

Al

[Jilly Jelly]

This is wonderful stuff!  Thankyou very much Al!

Best Wishes
Kathie

[alcrighton]

Hi again!

I've found James Eastwood TAYLOR in the 1851 & 1861 censuses.  Unfortunately the writing is very bad on both entries and the 1851 is almost unreadable.  He's 28 years old in 1851 and 38 in 1861 and is living in Whitworth, Spotland, Lancashire in both cases.  His wife's name looks like Melissa? in 1861 but can make nothing of the 1851 entry and cannot read his profession in either entry.  He was born in Yorkshire and his place of birth looks like "Lockwood" in 1851 and "Almonbury" in 1861.

Here are the references, hoping that other Rootschatters may have a better idea of what the entires say:

1851: H107/2247 Folio 163 Page 36
1861: RG9/3049 Folio 55 Page 42

My suggestion for a next step would be to post a lookup request for the 1841 census in the hope that you may find him with his parents and trace back another generation and hopefully make a link with Betsy.

Regards,

Al

[alcrighton]

I also found this in the IGI (www.familysearch.org):

James Eastwood TAYLOR
Christening: 20 Sep. 1822
Almondbury, Yorkshire
Parents: James TAYLOR, Jane
Batch No. CO17126

Al

[alcrighton]

And......

Also from the IGI

Marriage: 28 MAR 1821
Almondbury, Yorkshire
James TAYLOR
Jane EASTWOOD
(Submitted Record Batch No. 7720936)

Al

[Jilly Jelly]

Thanks again Al!

This fits in well with the information I have about Betsy - as she was born in Huddersfield, but I don't know whereabouts.  This gives me some clues as to which parishes I should look in to try and find Betsy's Christening record too, so that's a great start.

My boyfriend's great great Aunt told the family that Betsy used to make up the salves and bottle up medecines for her doctor uncles and that she inherited the Heights Estate in Spotland from them - although I can find very little information about this.   I'll definitely take your advice and see if I can find out some more.

Many Thanks
Kathie

[alcrighton]

Another link:

http://www.hlminfo.net/fohh/index.php?page=pages&menuid=13

This one mentions Edmund TAYLOR who died in 1853.

Can't find hom in the 1851 census though

Al

[Jilly Jelly]

Hi Al

I've found this link on Cemsearch which seems to be James Eastwood and the other Whitworth doctors:

http://www.cemsearch.co.uk/bartholomewreports/TAYLOR.txt

Looking at the dates I would suspect that James Taylor b.1768 would have been about the right age for Betsy to have worked for him, as he died in 1826.  I think i may have to pay a trip to the records office to do some further investigating.

Kathie