JAMES (1856-1914) and AMELIA SIMPSON (1857-1933)

Henry SIMPSON was always known as HARRY and was the second son of JAMES and AMELIA SIMPSON. 

The 1901 Census shows the family living at 355 Walkley Lane Sheffield (Nether Hallam), PRO Ref RG13/4343 Page No 4 entry 29

No entry was made for James' occupation but the address is the location of a club called the La Plata and so it must be assumed that James and Amelia were the stewards, managers (or even owners) of the club. 

355 Walkley Lane Sheffield - Photograph taken February 2007

The 1901 information ties in with the entry twenty years earlier in the 1881 Census which shows James's occupation as a barman. Craven Street was, and still is, in the Netherthorpe, district of Sheffield.

No 4 Craven Street Sheffield

FHL Film 1342123 PRO Ref RG11 Piece Folio 4647/62 Page Number 27 

For a few years I made very little progress on investigating this side of my wife's family, but in March 2008 I received further information that enabled me to make significant progress. The first piece of information was this entry in the FreeBMD Indexes

Birth Registered in June 1858 quarter FIDDLER Amelia - Ecclesall Bierlow Volume 9C page 229  

but far more importantly was the information I received from a descendent of JAMES and AMELIA and it concerned their respective parents HENRY and SARAH SIMPSON and SAMUEL and AMELIA FIDLER.

The 1911 Census contains the following information

Name Amelia Simpson
Relationship to Head of Household Wife
Condition / Years Married Married / 31 Years
Total Children Born Alive 10 Children Still Living 5
Children Who Have Died 5
Gender Female Age 52 Estimated Year of Birth 1859
Occupation Wife Employed No
Working at Home Yes
Place of Birth Sheffield Yorkshire
Enumerator Information
Address 164 Langsett Road Sheffield Parish Ecclesall Town Sheffield
Type of Building Public House Number of Rooms 12 Rooms
Inhabited Yes
Reference RG14PN27714 RG78PN1587 RD509 SD1 ED14 SN261 Administrative County Yorkshire (West Riding)
Registration District Ecclesall Bierlow Registration Sub District Ecclesall North Enumeration District 14 

164 Langsett Road Sheffield is or rather was known as the CUTHBERT BANK public house. It finally closed a couple of years ago, but the building remains

1921 Census

1921 Census

First name(s) Last name Relationship to head Sex Birth year Age in years Birth place Occupation Employer
Amelia Simpson Head Female 1860 61 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Billard Room Proprietor Employer
Fred Simpson Son Male 1888 33 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Labourer (General) Warda Payne Ltd Spae Out Of Work Makers
Samuel Simpson Son Male 1897 23 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England Labourer (Steel Foundry) Samuel Fox Ltd Steel Foundry
James Simpson Grandson Male 1909 11 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England - -
Kate Amelia Simpson Granddaughter Female 1906 14 Sheffield, Yorkshire, England - -

First name(s) Fred
Street Walkley Lane, Sheffield
Last name Simpson
Address 355 Walkley Lane, Sheffield
Sex Male
Full address as transcribed 355 Walkley Lane, Sheffield
Birth year 1888
Parish Ecclesall
Census date 19 June 1921
Registration district Ecclesall Bierlow
Age in years 33
Registration district number 509
Age in months 4
Sub-district Ecclesall North
Age as transcribed 33 y 4 m
Sub-district number 1
Relationship to head Son
Enumeration district number 20
Marital status Widowed
County Yorkshire (West Riding)
Birth place Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
Country England
Birth town Sheffield
Parliamentary borough or division Sheffield PB, Hillsborough Div.
Birth county Yorkshire
Archive The National Archives
Birth country England
Archive series RG 15
Birth place as transcribed Sheffield, Yorkshire
Piece number 22814
Occupation Labourer (General)
Schedule number 169
Occupation code 970
District reference RD 509 RS 1 ED 20
Occupation code with suffix 970/8
Schedule type code E
Employer Warda Payne Ltd Spae Out Of Work Makers
Schedule type England household, single page, 10 entries
Employer code 213
Other household member's first name(s) Alice, Amelia, James, Kate Amelia, Norah, Oscar, Samuel
Place of work Limbrick Road
Other household member's last name Fox, Simpson
Number of minor dependants 2
House number 355

As for James and Amelia, they were both buried in St Mary's C of E Cemetery in Walkley, Sheffield. The burial registers give the following information

[Name/date of burial/address or place where death occurred/age/ceremony by]

Grave reference B320

SIMPSON James 30 Jul 1895 355 Walkley Lane 9
SIMPSON James 7 Dec 1914 355 Walkley Lane  56 T.M. Archer
SIMPSON Sarah 18 Apr 1886 "Hillsbro',Taplin Rd" 2½ Thomas Smith

Grave Reference B350 [Name/date of burial/address or place where death occurred/age/ceremony by]

SIMPSON Amelia 27 Mar 1933 355 Walkley Lane 72 Guy TS Cook

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

SARAH

The Beloved daughter of James & Amelia Simpson of Hillsboro

who died April 14th 1883 aged 2 years & 6 months

Also of James their son who died July 27th 1895 aged 9

Also of the above named

JAMES SIMPSON

who died Nov 3rd 1914 age 56 years

Peace Peace Peace

Also of the above named

AMELIA SIMPSON

The Beloved wife of the above

who died March 24th 1933 age 72

The information revealed two children that I was unaware of - JAMES and SARAH SIMPSON. Sarah would have been the eldest child, born in late 1883.(GRO REF Ecclesall Bierlow Volume 9C Page310). Her death is registered in the June quarter of 1886 (GRO REF Wortley Volume 9C Page 148). She was just two years of age when she died. Her brother JAMES was born in the same year as she died (GRO REF Wortley Volume 9C Page 265). His death was registered nine years later in the September quarter of 1895 (GRO REF Ecclesall Bierlow Volume 9C Page310).

However in September 2008, I obtained the following information from the Baptismal Registers for St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton, Sheffield

Simpson, Fred (of Taplin Rd, born --). Baptised March 21, 1888, by H. A. Goodwin at St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton, Sheffield Parents name(s) are Amelia & James (Manager).

Simpson, Henry (of Taplin Rd, born --). Baptised January 15, 1890, by H A Goodwin at St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton. Parents name(s) are Amelia & James (Manager).

Simpson, James (of Taplin Rd, born --). Baptised June 30, 1886, by H.A. Goodwin at St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton. Parents name(s) are Amelia & James (Manager).

Simpson, Alice (of 355 Walkley Lane, born --). Baptised December 14, 1892, by H A Goodwin at St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton. Parents name(s) are Amelia & James (Manager).

Simpson, Charles (of 355 Walkley Lane, born --). Baptised February 3, 1895, by H A Goodwin at St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton. Parents name(s) are Amelia & James (Manager).

Simpson, Samuel (of 355 Walkley Lane, born --). Baptised October 20, 1897, by H.A.Goodwin at St John the Baptist Church, Owlerton. Parents name(s) are Amelia & James (Manager).

I or no-one else in the family had ever heard of SAMUEL and so I checked and found the following entry in the FREE BMD Index - Births December 1897 Simpson Samuel Ecclesall Bierlow Vol.9c Page 367

I accessed the 1911 Census and found him living with his family at 164 Langsett Road Sheffield as a 13 year old scholar. I revisited the 1901 Census and then found SAMUEL on the following sheet following that of his family

Name Samuel Simpson Relation to Head of Family Son Age Last Birthday 3 Sex Male Profession or Occupation Juvenile Employment Status Condition as to Marriage Where Born Yorkshire Sheffield Address 355 Walkley Lane Civil Parish Nether Hallam Rural District Town or Village or Hamlet Sheffield Ecclesiastical Parish Owlerton St John The Baptist Parliamentary Borough or Division Hallam County Borough, Municipal Borough or Urban District Sheffield Administrative County Sheffield Ward of Municipal Borough or Urban District Nether Hallam.

A check on the Sheffield Indexers site revealed that Samuel was buried at Crookes Cemetery, Sheffield. He died in October 1955 age 55.

SIMPSON, Samuel (Hospital Porter, age 58). Died at 193 Brook Hill; Buried on October 17, 1955 in Roman Catholic ground; Grave Number 6023, Section H of Crookes Cemetery, Sheffield.  

A further check on the FREE BMD Index showed the following entry - Marriages Sep 1940 Simpson Samuel Mary G Innocent Sheffield Volume 9c Page 2058

This was confirmed by this entry on the Sheffield Indexers site

Simpson, Samuel (~, age ~, ~, residing at 53 Infirmary Rd.).Married Grace Innocent, on September 20, 1940, by Ed. McDonagh (~) at St. Vincent's, Sheffield. Father's name is James Simpson (~). Married in the presence of Joseph Innocent, Winifred Innocent. Notes: Mixtae religionis. Page No: 125 Reg No: ~

In February 2018 I located Samuel's grave in the cemetery at Crookes. His wife Mary is reunited with him, having died on the 29th July 2016 at the remarkable age of 105!. To date, Mary is the longest living person in the family tree and at the time of her death was the oldest person in Sheffield.  

Incidentally the other point to arise from the registers is that it looks as though the family moved from Taplin Road to Walkley Lane sometime between 1890 and 1892

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This page was last updated on 01/12/24 15:54