woollright

[trish]

Hello'
        Our Grandfather  Ernest Woollright was born 1st January 1877 in Liverpool. He came to New Zealand i would say in his early 20,s . Our Grandfather died in1958 here in N.Z.
He married our Grandmother Angela Beckmann in June 1910.
Our grandfather has been a mystery we cannot find much about him only he had been married before our grandmother and has a brother. What other families he had we dont know We believe his parents had a drapery shop or something in liverpool. Not much to go on hope someone can help.
Thankyou pat newton.

[Kazza]

Try this link,

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?PAGE=census/search_census.asp

Go to british 1881 census,

 Name  Relation Marital Status Gender Age Birthplace Occupation Disability
 John WOOLLWRIGHT   Head   M   Male   43   Canterbury   Silk Mercer Mercht    
 Eliza B. WOOLLWRIGHT   Wife   M   Female   36   Liverpool        
 Eveline M. WOOLLWRIGHT   Daur      Female   7   Liverpool        
 Norman WOOLLWRIGHT   Son      Male   6   Liverpool        
 Ernest WOOLLWRIGHT   Son      Male   4   Liverpool        
 Percy WOOLLWRIGHT   Son      Male   1   Wavertree, Lancashire, England  

Hope this helps


Good luck.

Kazza.

[trish]

Thankyou for your help. Our Grandfather surname is spelt with no W in wright  but i will look up what you have given me.
   trish.

[Kazza]

Hi Trish,

I realised the spelling is different,  but at the time you are looking at it is not unusual for spellings to differ.  In the 1881 census,  I have ancesters who spell their surname and their childrens surnames differently,  I assume they were registered however the registrar thought the name should be spelt.  Woolwright and Woolright are such unusual names,  that it seemed a big coincidence to find 2 Ernests born in 1877 in Liverpool.  

Rootschat admin (Sarah) has a surname map from the 1881 census (I think),  maybe she could give you the numbers of people with these names in Liverpool.

Happy hunting
Kazza.

[trish]

Thankyou again. Yes you could be right about the surname's .
Granddad was the black sheep of the family so he could have taken the W out of his surname when he arrived here in New Zealand himself anyway.  
Trish.
 

[RootsChat]

In the 1881 Atlas it lists the following !

Woollwright 10 people in all, 6 living in West Derby, Lancashire. These are the Woollwrights Kazza pointed out  

Woolwright 7 people in all, 2 living in Liverpool and 1 in Leigh Lancashire.

I tried other combinations of the name but only found a few living in the South of the Country.

Regards

Sarah
admin

[trish]

Thankyou Sarah.
                         I E.Mailed my brother that maybe Granddad did have a W in Woollright but he asure's me that it doesen't .
Our Granddad Ernest came to N.Z. in 1897 but on what ship and which port it was that he left England we are trying to find.
We'll keep hunting.
trish.

[helen adelsbury]

Hello Trish,

While searching for some information on "Woollwright & Co" Silk Mercers, I came across your post concerning your grandfather Ernest Woollright.  I was interested in your comment that you thought his parents owned a drapery shop or similar in Liverpool.

My great-great-grandfather John MARRISON was listed on the 1861 census at 18-20-22 Bold Street, Liverpool, as a Draper's Clerk.  He was aged 19 years.  There were a number of pages of census entries for this address, with the first page simply stating that it comprised a "Silk Mercers and Carpet Dealers".  I decided to try to find out what the business name was and after posting a message on a Liverpool message-board, received the reply that in the 1906 Gores Directory, 18 Bold Street was "Woollwright and Co Silk Mercers".  This was interesting because in a diary left by John Marrison's mother, she stated that she wished to go to Liverpool (from Yorkshire) as she "longed to see her 2 dear lads who were in Woolrights"...........she left Yorkshire in 1864.

Until I received the reply to my post, I had always wondered exactly what Woolrights(sic) was, but the 1861 census entry together with the diary and the reply, seem to point to it having been a drapery business which was in operation from at least the 1860's.

Not sure if there is a connection to your grandfather's family, but the name "Woollright" is certainly not common and it therefore seems possible that the drapery business at 18-22 Bold Street may be a link.  If this is the case, it was certainly a substantial business at the time of the 1861 census.

Regards,

Helen Adelsbury
Perth
Western Australia

[JAP]

Trish,

What a lot of wonderful information you have been given.

Do forget about the spelling!  If you can even think of a different spelling for a name, then it's more than likely that a given family will have been recorded under that variant at some stage!   I think we'll all happily eat our hats  if the family which Kazza located is not yours!

For example, the census entry has little Percy WOOLLWRIGHT, age 1, born Wavertree.
What is surely his birth, in the Sept qtr 1879 in West Derby (which includes Wavertree) is listed on FreeBMD at:
http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
 - but as Percy WOOLLRIGHT.

Have you looked at the IGI on FamilySearch (the site which Kazza mentioned) - at http://www.familysearch.org/ ?

If you simply enter WOOLLRIGHT (any spelling) in the last name box and select British Isles as the region, you will note how very few entries there are.

Interestingly, your Ernest is one of them!  This is not an entry extracted from Church Registers or Statutory Registers under the controlled extraction program of the Latter Day Saints but is an entry submitted by a member of the LDS.

This submitted entry in the IGI lists Ernest WOOLLRIGHT, born 1 Jan 1877, died 1958.  His place of birth is given as Liverpool and his parents as John WOOLLRIGHT and Eliza Blackstone WAKEHAM.

As you know Ernest's date and place of birth, you should be able to purchase a copy of his birth certificate which will give his parents' names.

A search on e.g. Google for the name (various spellings) brings up several hits.

Here's another mention of a Woollright & Co in Bold St - but as funeral directors?
http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item.php/303.html

And a Woollright attorney is mentioned on the Rootsweb Merseyside List in the 1843 Gore's Directory:
Knapper and Woollwright Attorneys Bretherton Blgs 10 n John St

I notice that Ggpa John's place of birth is given as Canterbury.  Here's a mention of the name in Canterbury (Woollright & Parsons) in the 1840 Pigot's Directory for Kent
Click Here

Interestingly, in the 1901 census at:
http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
a free person search does not seem to find any of the persons listed in the 1881 census entry - perhaps the whole family migrated to NZ?
WOOLLWRIGHT - nil
WOOLLRIGHT - nil
WOOLWRIGHT - 9 results
WOOLRIGHT - 13 results

I see that the NZ online white pages has no listing for the first three spellings above and only 2 for WOOLRIGHT.

I think you will have a very fruitful time ahead in your research given that you are looking for such a very uncommon name.

Good Luck,

JAP