Ann Shackleton (1845-1863)

This page is part of the Holmfirth Flood Project which aims to make content available to researchers in advance of the 175th anniversary of the 1852 Flood which will be commemorated in 2027.

Biography

She was born on 8 May 1845, the illegitimate daughter of Mary Shackleton, and was baptised on 27 July 1845 at Holy Trinity, Holmfirth. According to her baptismal record, her father was Jonas Hoyle.

At the time of the 1851 Census, she was living with her mother in the house of her grandfather James at Mill Hill, Holmfirth, on the opposite side of the road to the White Hart Inn.

On the night of the Holmfirth Flood of 1852, flood waters partially destroyed James' house. The landlord of the White Hart, William Dyson, assisted with helping the Shackletons evacuate from their home and later gave the following statement to the Huddersfield Chronicle:[1]

Mrs. Dyson awoke me about one o’clock, and said the water was coming into the house. I immediately jumped out of bed, ran down to a back door on the second floor, intending by that means to let my family out by the back door, which is on a level with the ground behind, though chamber high. At the same moment the water burst in the door, and I with difficulty escaped with my life. The water completely filled the lower rooms, washed down the bread creel, which was affixed to the kitchen ceiling, and swept down everything before it. As soon as I had secured my own family, I ran across the stream in the street to Mr. James Shackleton’s, one side of whose house had fallen. I said, ‘Where are you all?’ and a voice cried out ‘We are here.’ I passed the children over to Jonathan Roebuck, and succeeded in carrying Miss Shackleton on my back, in her night dress, into my own house in safety.

By 1861, she was lodging as a boarder in the home of solicitor's clerk George Lawton at Newtown, Holmfirth.

Ann Shackleton died aged 18 on 25 May 1863 and was buried at St. John's, Upperthong on 28 May in the same plot as her relatives who died in the flood:[2]

In Memory Of

THE FOLLOWING PERSONS,
HUSBAND, WIFE AND CHILDREN,
WHO RESIDED AT MILL HILL, HOLMFIRTH,
all of whom were Drowned in the Flood
caused by the
BURSTING OF THE BILBERRY RESERVOIR
on Thursday Morning,
the Fifth Day of February, 1852.

RICHARD SHACKLETON,
Aged 31 years;
He was found at Ferry Bridge
on Saturday, February 28th.

TAMER SHACKLETON,
Aged 33 Years;
found Feb 5th at Thongsbridge.

HANNAH SHACKLETON,
Aged 8 Years;
found Feb 5th near Thongsbridge.

GRACE HIRST SHACKLETON,
Aged 4 Years;
found Feb 20th, near Thongsbridge.

JAMES SHACKLETON,
Aged 1 Year;
found Feb 5th near Thongsbridge.

ALSO Ann Shackleton Niece of the
above, who died May 25th 1863,
aged 18 Years.

ERECTED BY JAMES SHACKLETON,
FATHER OF THE ABOVE NAMED RICHARD SHACKLETON.

Notes and References

  1. "Mr. William Dyson's Statement" in Huddersfield Chronicle (14/Feb/1852).
  2. Inscription copied from a photograph taken by Elizabeth Lockwood.