William, my great-great grandfather, was born on 19 Jan 1860. He was the son of Andrew Higinbotham and Elizabeth Longbottom. He was born at 119 Friargate, Derby, at the home of his great-grandparents.
William seems to have started work as a Marble polisher, but has other occupations later in life, working at an iron works in Rochdale, and later he's a Marine fireman. He's proved difficult to trace on the census returns after his marriage.
William Higinbotham is buried in the family graves in Hull cemetery. He died in 1917, aged 57, too early for my mother or other relatives to remember him. There are no photos of him among the family collection.
Here, of course, William is just a year old. He is the eldest son, and has no siblings as yet. The family are living at 11 Merchant Street, Derby, in St Werburgh parish. William's father Andrew gives his birthplace as Ireland, his occupation as a Bookbinder/Finisher.
The family are living in Derby, at 15 Merchant Street - the same street as ten years earlier, but a couple of doors along. It still exists, according to modern maps. William has siblings now - Anne, Andrew and Thomas.
The Higginbottoms have moved from Derby, and are living at 71 Reuben Street, Leeds. Andrew Higginbottom is still working as a Bookbinder-Finisher. His wife Elizabeth seems to have joined him in this employment, and is a Bookfolder and Sewer (which unfortunately looks like something to do with drains. Obviously it's as in "sewing" - connected with the publishing trade - in the days before books were joined together by glue).
Our William, aged 21, is working as a Marble Polisher. (In case anyone is imagining this as something connected to those round shiny glass things we used to play with as children - it's not that kind of marble, but the kind they made fire surrounds and other architectural things out of. It says "Mason" in brackets as a note alongside).
William married Jane Howarth on 31 March 1888, at the parish church in Rochdale, Lancashire. He was 28, and Jane 22.
His occupation on the marriage certificate is Marble Polisher, and hers is "Winder" (in the textiles industry). He is living at Durham Street, while her residence is Coverdale Square, off Haigh St. The ceremony was witnessed by Joshua Webster and Mary L Howarth.
William is absent from the 1891 and 1901 census returns, though I did find his wife, Jane, with the children, on both. William was obviously around at some point, as the couple had children, including Annie, born in 1890, and Fred, born in 1894. The family headstones also show a son born in 1906, Frank Higinbotham, who died aged 9, in 1915. (My mother thinks there was also a son called Edgar, and we think another son was Albert Ernest Higinbotham, who was a witness at the wedding of my grandmother, Doris.)
See also the page on William's wife, Jane Howarth.
The death certificate states that William Higinbotham died aged 57 on 12 June 1917 in the Royal Infirmary in Hull. Cause of death was a malignant tumour of the chest wall. His wife Jane, present at his death, was the informant. Their address at the time was 8 Ada's Terrace, St Paul's Street, Hull.
His occupation is given as "Marine Fireman". Whether this had been his occupation for some years, and would explain his absence from the last two census returns, I'm not sure at this point.
William Higinbotham - summary of dates, places and occupations