Ref Y3
When Jane Cotter married John Young (see Ref. Y2) 15.8.1863 at Holy Trinity Church, Hull, she gave an address in Myton Gate in Hull but she did not give a profession. She said she was the daughter of James Cotter, deceased, soldier, and was 25. As we had already seen her at four Censuses, we had little doubt about seeking a birth around 1837/38 in Hull. we duly found Jane’s birth entry for 12.4.1838 at Brook Street, Hull, the daughter of James Cotter, a labourer and Margaret nee Stewart (see The Steward Family story Ref Y4).
The Cotter-Steward family
Fortunately, there seems to have been very few Cotters in Hull or the East Riding of Yorkshire in the middle of 19C. This advantage is offset by the variety of aliases used by registrars and indexers. Indeed, Jane Cotter’s birth is indexed as Cotten at the GRO! At the 1841 Census we found an entry for Chaffers Alley*, Witham, Hull, where one of the two families in the house was headed by James Cotter, a 50+ labourer (actually 53), born in Ireland, and his wife Margaret, 40+ (actually 40). As well as three-year-old Jane, James and Margaret had with them three older children, namely Francis aged 15+, Maria 10 and Margaret 8. Both mother Margaret and Francis were said not to have been born in Yorkshire, implying that the family were incomers to the County in the 1820s. The details of the family are given in Appendix 1. When the daughter Ann was born, Margaret registered the birth, giving her maiden name as Steward, rather than Stewart but, as she made her mark, the spelling of her birth name remained in doubt at that point.
In fact little Ann was only five months old when her father James died aged 56 of a diseased bladder at the Hull General Infirmary 18.1.1845, three days after his wife Margaret’s 44th birthday. The burial entry, at St Mark’s, four days later, has his residence as Chaffer’s Alley, as above. A birth year of 1788 for James Cotter is indicated.
Six years later, at the 1851 Census, we find Margaret “Cottar” in Sculcoates Union Workhouse, with young Ann, 5, and also a son John, aged 7. We think both these ages are wrong. Margaret was said to have been born in Shadwell, Middlesex. Jane, aged 12, was already out earning her living, as a servant in a lodging house in Sykes Street, Hull.
In 1861 Margaret Cotter was at 39 Mary’s Place, Sutton, Sculcoates, as a charwoman, with Ann, aged 16, who is a cotton spinner. Jane Cotter, aged 22, is also a cotton spinner, lodging with Dinah Donkin at 9 Cook’s Place , Sutton, Sculcoates, perhaps not very far from her mother.
In 1871 the widow Margaret was living with daughter Jane and her husband John Young in Vine Court, Edward Street, and she died 16.10.1877, aged 76, of “old age” in Sculcoates Workhouse, (presumably the hospital thereof) being buried in Sculcoates (Sacristy) Cemetery four days later.
So far we have not found the Cotter-Steward marriage.
* Chaffer’ Alley had been constructed on the south side of Witham the thoroughfare that led from the east end the North Bridge to the start of Holderness Road and out into the fertile plain of Holderness. In the 18C the construction of the first bridge across the River Hull had prompted development of housing on the east bank of the Hull. It also led to the practice of accumulating night soil and other waste in “Muck Garths” ostensibly so the waste could be sorted and taken out into the countryside as fertiliser. By the 18C these were accepted to be a danger to health (if not to life!) and they were eventually cleared, Chaffer’s Alley being built partly such land and partly on the old stable-yard of the Bull and Dog Inn. The houses were back to back, not well constructed without running water and reliant on communal privies. The picture book Forgotten Hull Part 2 by Graham Wilkinson chronicles the persistent efforts of the Hull City Health Department at the very end of the 18C to secure demolition orders for Chaffer’s Alley which was said to contain 29 substandard dwellings. At the 1841 Census, the building that housed the Cotter family sheltered 10 souls and Chaffer’s Alley altogether had 150 inhabitants. One can only imagine the life.
James Cotter’s origins
The one Census entry we have for him says that he was Irish. We have only found three baptisms for James Cotter in Ireland in the late 1780s. One at Cork 7.7.1788 fits his the age at death. This is at St Peter & St Paul’s Church 7.7.1788 a son of John Cotter and Eliza Sullivan, with sponsors John Daly and Anne Byron. On Margaret Cotter’s death certificate the informant, C. Colley of Sculcoates Union Workhouse, stated her to be the widow of James Cotter, a private of the 14th Regiment of Foot*.
James Cotter could have been a soldier as early as 1803. We have seen no evidence of any other profession until the 1841 Census when he was in his fifties. With children baptised in Somerset and then Beverley It is possible that he was still serving as late as 1830, i.e. in his forties. We are more inclined to think that he left the army not long after Waterloo (June 1815), i.e. in his early 30s, with marriage and family in mind.
*In the Napoleonic Wars the 1st Battalion of the 14th Regiment went out to India in 1807 and took part in the attack on Tranquebar. On their return they were at the capture of Mauritius in 1810. The 2nd Battalion sailed to Corunna and were part of Sir John Moore’s army that retreated in such terrible conditions in the winter of 1808-9 and then went on to Walcheren. In 1809 the 14th switched its association from Bedfordshire to Buckinghamshire. A third battalion, raised in 1813, fought at Waterloo and despite containing many inexperienced young men, emerged without many casualties. It was disbanded thereafter.
On a visit to Kew we did not find any Cotters discharged to pension in WO97/351, but we did find a John Cotter in the 1812 Muster Book of the 1st Bat. aged 24! With less than 7 years service he was in Capt Eyre Cook’s company 25.12.1811 to 24.1.1812. With over 7 years service he was at Salatiga and at Boyaciellie 25.11.1812 to 24.12.1812. Also in WO12/3140 in 1822 aged 34. Rather tantalising!
March 2023
Appendix 1 to Y3
The Family of James Cotter and Margaret Steward
We do not know, as yet, where or when James and Margaret married. We believe they had the following children:
Francis Baptised 21.5.1826 at Batheaston, near Bath, Somerset. At the 1841 Census with the family in Hull. In 1842 and 1848 he was convicted of larceny. The first time he was whipped and imprisoned for one month. The second time he got three months. Nothing seen thereafter.
Maria Baptised 1.8.1830 St John’s, Beverley, East Yorkshire, when her father was said to be a cotton printer, resident in Lairgate. With family in 1841. She married at St Mark’s Church, Hull, 22.7.1849 William Ralph, sawyer, she being a weaver of Quickfall’s Close, Witham, Hull, and he of Clean Alley, Witham. Both witnesses, i.e. Joseph Ralph and Margaret Cotter made their marks. At the 1851 at Lime Street, Sutton, Sculcoates. We have found nothing more about Margaret but in 1861 we found William lodging in East Lane, Leeds, as a married 38 year-old sawyer.
Margaret Born at Hull 1834 – date not known. 12.12.1853 married at Sutton Church, Hull, Francis Darbyshire, a native of Wigan, aged 20, a maker up (textile worker), when they were both resident at Stoneferry, Hull. He made his mark. Margaret was buried 16.7.1875 at Sutton, having had seven sons and two daughters. In 1881 Francis was still living at Glasshouse Row, Sutton and Stoneferry, with his brother James. The latter was buried 15.2.1887 at Sutton and Frank” likewise 6.11.1890. Family not seen after that.
Jane Born at Hull 12.4.1838 (GRO indexed as Cotten). At the 1841 Census with the family in Hull and at the 1851 Census she was staying with her sister Maria. In 1861, aged 22, a cotton spinner, she was lodging with Dinah Donkin at 9 Cook’s Place, Sutton, Sculcoates. Married John Young at Hull 15.8.1863. See main text and Ref. Y2
John Born at Hull 25.9.1841. In 1851 Jane Cotter was said to have him with her in the Workhouse, even if she said he was 7, rather than 9. Not seen in 1861. In 1871 John was said to be a 28 year old brick labourer, born in Hull, lodging with an Irish born brick labourer Patrick Tohay at 19 Middle Street, Holy Trinity, Hull. In 1881 he was back in the Workhouse as a 38 year old general labourer born in Sutton (i.e. part of Sculcoates, Hull) and ten years later he was again recorded in the Workhouse as a 49 year old pauper, born in Sculcoates. We have nothing after that.
Ann Born at Hull 21.7.1844. In 1851, said to be aged 5, with her mother in the Workhouse. At home in 1861, when she was a cotton spinner. She married at Hull 25.12.1868 John Stephenson, 22, a dock labourer, when they were both living at Arnott’s Square, North Street. Ann said she was only 21 , i.e. three years under-stated, something she kept up in future Censuses. Ann and John both made their mark, although Ann’s sister Jane Young signed her name as one of the witnesses, Ann and John already had a son because there are actually two entries in the GRO index of Sculcoates births 1866 Q4, both with designation 9d 115, for John H. Stephenson and John W. Stephenson, each with mother’s maiden name Cotter. In the subsequent Censuses the eldest child is John H, born 1866-67 with further children Collings 1869 Q4 and James W 1872, although in the latter case the mother’s maiden name is down as English, probably a clerical error by illiterate parents. Altogether a challenge for the family historian!
James Cotter died at Hull 18.1.1845, aged 56, and Margaret Cotter likewise 16.10.1877, aged 76.
March 2023
Young Family History 