THE LAIDLER FAMILY
by Elaine Robertson
Despite my many months of searching, the LAIDLER branch of our family is still something of a mystery. I do not know yet even where they came from.
According to the dictionary of surnames which I have consulted, the name LAIDLER is of Scottish origin, localised in the former county of Selkirk and in the vales of Ettrick and Yarrow, where the name was recorded as LODELAWE in 1296
There is however another tradition, that the name originates in LUDLOW in Shropshire.
A Dictionary of English Surnames by P. H. Reaney and R. M. Wilson, shows the name occurring in London as LADEL in 1187, again in London in 1337 as LADYL, as de LADELERE in 1278 in Warwickshire and in the same form in Yorkshire in 1327.
My own researches show that about 70% of LAIDLERS (and the various derivatives such as LAIDLOW, LAIDLAW etc.) occur in the north of England — that is, in the counties of Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Cumbria, which inclines me to accept the theory that LAIDLER is a Border surname.
Earliest Mention
The earliest mention of the name that I have found in Northumberland is in 1630 when Ann LADLER was married at All Saints’ Church, Newcastle. In Durham, the earliest mention (as LADLEY) was in 1579
I have searched such eighteenth century Trade Directories as are available, covering Newcastle and Gateshead, and no mention of the name LAIDLER or any of its forms appears. By 1827 however the Directory of Gateshead (which covers Newcastle as well) contains TEN entries under the name LAIDLER.
The branch or branches of that family that settled in and around Newcastle and Gateshead at sometime around the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries appear to have been entrepreneurs, since there are two tailors and drapers, a shoemaker, a butcher, a wine and spirit merchant, two shopkeepers and a painter and glazier, as well as a George LAIDLER whose occupation is given as a Banker’s Clerk, and a Mrs. Mary LAIDLER who lived at Jessamine Place, Newcastle.
Earliest LAIDLER Ancestor
The earliest of our ancestors about whom we know anything was Thomas LAIDLER, a glass smoother. We know from his marriage certificate that he was the son of another Thomas LAIDLER, a butcher. It is possible that the father was dead before 1841, because I have been unable to find him anywhere in the Census returns for either Newcastle or Gateshead.
The only butcher (mentioned above) was a John LAIDLER, who appears in the 1833 Directory listed as:-
| John LAIDLER | ||||
| Butcher | ||||
| 33 New-Market West | ||||
| 14 Butcher-bank | ||||
I searched the 1841 Census for these addresses: John LAIDLER turned out to be 40 years old with a wife Ann aged 35. He could be our Thomas LAIDLER’'s brother, having taken over the butchery business from their deceased father. This however is speculation.
Turning back to the Directory, I have searched the 1841 census for all the addresses given for the various LAIDLER tradesmen. The results are all shown in a list annexed to this document, in the hope that if I or anyone else ever gets a lead on the correct branch of our ancestors, we can identify the family from the information given.
The list shows all the census and baptismal references, so that they may be consulted quite easily if necessary.
OUR GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER - Thomas Laidler
Going back then to Thomas LAIDLER the glass smoother. He married Elizabeth SCOTT at the Catholic Chapel on 14 November 1838. Both bride and groom were “of full age”: he gave his address as Oakwellgate, Gateshead, while she lived at Saville Row, Newcastle.
The newly-married couple lived first at Churchill Street, Newcastle. This is still extant, but is shorter now than it was in the nineteenth century. It runs diagonally from the south-western corner of Marlborough Crescent through to what is now St. James’s Boulevard. In earlier times it ran right through to Duke Street.
Oakwellgate too still exists: it branches off from Gateshead High Street on the east side to curve down to the river. Saville Row is a turning off Northumberland Street, about half way up on the east side
I have been unable to find where Thomas LAIDLER was born. The first Census entry which shows him and his family (1841) says that he was 30 in 1841 and was NOT born in Northumberland; the next (1851) says that he WAS born in Northumberland.
I have searched every record I can find covering Northumberland and Durham, and IGI which covers the whole country, but I cannot find ANY Thomas born around 1810 with a father named Thomas. There are several possibilities and I include them in the list annexed to this paper.
At the time of the 1841 Census, Thomas and Elizabeth LAIDLER had one son, Thomas, aged 2, who was born in Northumberland.
The family continued to live at Church Hill Street, Westgate for another ten years at least, and two more children were born there: — William (our ancestor) and John.
In both the 1851 and the 1861 census, however, Thomas and Elizabeth were recorded as having been born in Northumberland. Because of this confusion, I have searched records for both Northumberland and Durham.
By 1861 Thomas and Elizabeth were living at Sycamore Street, Westgate, with William, by then 15 years old, John and a younger sister Elizabeth aged 6 who were both ‘scholars’. The entry is as follows:
| Thomas LAIDLER | Head | Married | 52 | Plate Glass Smoother | |||||
| Elizabeth LAIDLER | Wife | Married | 46 | Provision Dealer | |||||
| William LAIDLER | Son | Unmarr. | 15 | Millwright | |||||
| John LAIDLER | Son | Unmarr. | 12 | Scholar | |||||
| Elizabeth LAIDLER | Dau | Unmarr. | 6 | Scholar | |||||
The eldest son Thomas was married by that time. The census shows him living with his wife Margaret Jane and three children at No. 3 Churchill Street.
Mrs. LAIDLER has obviously gone into business for herself by this time, and we find that by the time our great grandfather William married - on 8 June 1867 at the Register Office at Newcastle upon Tyne -— his father had given up being a plate-glass polisher and had gone into the business too: he is shown on his son Thomas's marriage certificate as a Provision Dealer.
The 1871 census shows Thomas senior and Elizabeth, still living at 108 Sycamore Street, Elswick with
John, an Iron Moulder, still unmarried at 21 and Elizabeth aged 15.
Sycamore Street no longer exists. It was situated north of and parallel to Scotswood Road, running from opposite where The Sycamores now stands, right through to Rye Hill.
Thomas'’s wife Elizabeth died aged 65 of '“natural decay'” on 21 June 1880 at 108 Sycamore Street. The 1881 Census shows Thomas senior (our ancestor) at the age of 71 still living at the same address, and still a Provision Dealer, with his daughter Elizabeth WOOLRIDGE then aged 25, a widow.
Despite having searched the General Register over the whole period from 1880 to 1910 (when I estimate he would be about a hundred years old) I have been unable to locate Thomas's death. He appears on the Register of Voters for 108 Sycamore Street in 1886/7.
By the time of the 1891 Census, the house at 108 Sycamore Street was occupied by two families, McCARTAN and CARR.
OUR GREAT GRANDFATHER - William Laidler
As mentioned above, our great-grandfather William LAIDLER was born on 1 March 1846 at Churchill Street, in the sub-district of Westgate, Newcastle. His father was THOMAS LAIDLER, a plate glass smoother, and his mother was Elizabeth LAIDLER formerly SCOTT.
He married Mary Jane CURRIE at the Register Office, Newcastle upon Tyne on 8 June 1867. At that time he was an Engine Fitter, aged 21, living at Sycamore Street, Newcastle: she was 19 years old, living at Prudhoe Street.
He signed the register, she made her mark. The names of their fathers were respectively Thomas LAIDLER, a Provision Dealer, and William CURRIE, a Painter
The couple lived first at 67 George Street, Westgate. They were living there at the time of the 1871 Census, with their first child, Lizzie A. LAIDLER.
Our grandmother Ellen LAIDLER (their second child) was born on 25 September 1872 at 52 Prudhoe Street, Saint Andrew sub-district, Newcastle upon Tyne. Maybe her mother moved back to her parents’ home for the birth. George Street still exists: it runs almost due north from what is now Scotswood Road to Westmorland Road.
Later, Mr. and Mrs. LAIDLER lived at 32 Water Street, Elswick, where another two children, John and Sushannah (sic) were born. This is the 1881 Census entry:
| William LAIDLER | Head | Married | 34 | Engine Fitter | |||||
| Mary J. LAIDLER | Wife | Married | 32 | ||||||
| Elizabeth A. Laidler | Daughter | 10 | |||||||
| Ellen (our grandmother) | Daughter | 8 | |||||||
| John Laidler | Son | 4 | |||||||
| Sushannah | Daughter | 2 | |||||||
Water Street runs down to the river, leaving Scotswood Road almost exactly opposite Park Road.
It is likely that William Laidler worked at the Elswick Engine Works of W.G. Armstrong & Co., at this time. The houses near the Works, including those in Water Street, were built mainly to house Armstrong's employees.
The 1891 Census is slightly mysterious. Mrs. Jane LAIDLER was living at 56 Herbert Street with her son John and another daughter Mary J. LAIDLER, aged 9. I have found a William LAIDLER, a Grocer, living at 17 Campbell Street, Westgate, but he is said to be 50 years and single, and is clearly not our ancestor.
I have been unable to find OUR William in any of the indices I have searched - unfortunately there is no national index for the 1891 Census.
Our William LAIDLER was certainly alive then: we know that he did not die until 1912 - we have his death certificate which shows that he died on 17 August of that year at 56 Herbert Street. The following notice appeared in the “Evening Chronicle” : -
| LAIDLER - 56 Herbert Street, Newcastle. 7th inst. Aged 68 years. William Laidler (engineer), dearly beloved husband of Jane Laidler. Interment Elswick Cemetery Tuesday, 2.30 |
Mrs. LAIDLER was present at the death of her husband - she signed as the informant. But I have been unable to find her death, despite having searched the General Register right up to the 1950s (when she would about 100 years old) . I have also searched the records at Elswick Cemetery, hoping to find she was buried alongside her husband, but there is only one occupant of the relevant plot.
OUR GRANDMOTHER - Ellen Laidler
Ellen LAIDLER worked as a domestic servant before her marriage. In 1891, when she was 18 years old, she was living at 67 Cambridge Street, Elswick with a family called SCOTT - Mr. Edward SCOTT and his wife Jane.
By 1901 she had moved to Tynemouth, where she lived at 2 Argyle Street as a cook/domestic.
She married on 23 April 1905 at St. Andrew’s Church, Newcastle upon Tyne. Both she and our grandfather Christopher EMMETT gave their address at 49 Prudhoe Street, Newcastle.
He gave his age as 35, but he would in fact be 37. Ellen was said to be 33 years old, but would in fact be 32.
Prudhoe Street crops up again and again in the LAIDLER family records. It ran through from Percy Street to Northumberland Street, but no longer exists, being covered now by Eldon Square shopping centre.
I have looked at the various Census returns for Prudhoe Street - from the great number of people who lived at each house, it seems to have been made up of rooming houses or hotels
Mr. and Mrs. EMMETT’'s eldest son was Christopher Harrison EMMETT, our father. He was born at 180 Janet Street, Byker on 14 May 1908.
A second son, Herbert arrived there three years later on 28 May 1911. Janet Street, which still exists (although rebuilt) appears for the first time on the 1881 Census, so must have been first built some time in the preceding decade.
Mr. and Mrs. EMMETT continued to live in Janet Street, although the number of the house at which they lived changed several times over the early years of the twentieth century. Maybe new houses were being added at different stages, and they were re-numbered.
Christopher EMMETT senior was a Waterman and spent all his working life on the River Tyne, where he was well-known as an oarsman when skulling was a popular sport. He died at Ponteland Hospital on 16 May 1955, aged 87.
Mrs. EMMETT (Ellen Laidler) died three years before her husband, at 172 Janet Street, on 3 May 1952. She was 79 years old.
THE CURRY (or CURRIE) CONNECTION
Mary Jane CURRY was one of our great grandmothers. She was born on 21 May 1848 at St. John’s Lane, Newcastle, the daughter of William CURRIE and his wife Ellen, formerly NICHOLSON
It seems that William CURRIE (or CURRY, CORRIE or CORRY as it is variously spelt) came from Wigton in Cumberland. He was baptised on 28 March 1821, the son of George and Mary CORRIE (nee GILBERTSON), who were themselves married at Wigton on 17 July 1815.
I have found the birth of a George CORRY at Wigton on 16 November 1789, “the son of Barbara Barnes”. I do not of course know whether this George CORRY is our ancestor, nor indeed how he got the name CORRY. I shall have to find out where the Wigton Parish records are stored and make a trip to search them.
I hope to do more research into this family in due course: sufficient to say at this stage that the name CURRY (or its derivatives) appears many times in the Newcastle and Gateshead records. Maybe George and Mary CORRIE had several children and they all came to this area at some time before 1841.
William CURRY married Ellen NICHOLSON at St. Mary’s Church, Gateshead on 20 December 1847. Both were said to be “of full age” and William was a painter by trade. I have been unable to find the family in the 1851 Census. The names William and Ellen CURRY do not appear in any index, for either Newcastle or Gateshead, so I searched the actual returns in case they had been indexed under another name, or had been missed out. However, I have been unable to find them.
The 1861 Census shows that they were living at 6 Low Friars Street, Newcastle. The entry is as follows:-
| CURRY (born) William | M | 39 | Painter/Stenciller | Wigton, Cumbria | |||||
| Ellen | W | 38 | Durham | ||||||
| George | Son | 17 | Painter/Stenciller | Newcastle | |||||
| Richard | Son | 14 | Errand Boy | Newcastle | |||||
| Mary Jane | Dau | 12 | Scholar | Newcastle | |||||
| Ellen | Dau | 8 | Scholar | Newcastle | |||||
| William | Son | 2mths | Newcastle | ||||||
Low Friars Street is a narrow road that runs almost parallel with Clayton Street between Fenkle and Newgate Streets. The census entry given above is slightly mysterious. If the ages for George and Richard are accurate, then would mean they were born BEFORE Ellen’s marriage to George CURRY.
I have searched for George and Richard in the General Register, but have been unable to find them registered either under the name CURRY or NICHOLSON. Ellen would have been twenty-five years old when she married George CURRY, so it is possible that she was previously married and had these two boys by her first husband. Their certificate however is against this: it shows her to be a “spinster”.
By 1871 the family was living at 2 Smith’s Court, St. Andrew’s, Newcastle. George and William were still living with them, with another son Thomas, aged 10. Mary Jane (our ancestor) was of course married by that time: perhaps Ellen also was married, or was working away from home
William died in 1876 (I am waiting for his death certificate) and Ellen continued to live at 2 Smith’s Court. The 1881 Census shows her aged 60, a widow, living with her son Thomas, a painter aged 20 and two boarders
Ellen NICHOLSON was born in Gateshead on 9 April 1822, the daughter of Richard and Mary NICHOLSON. She was baptised more than two years later, on 21 November 1824, at the same time as her sister Jane, who was born on 6 October 1824. I should mention here that on the marriage certificate, her father’s name is given as Rodger (sic) Nicholson.
HO 107/843/13 Folio 5
HO 107/2404 Folio 499
RG 9/3816 Folio 58
RG 9/3816 Folio
RG 10/5073 Folio 74
RG 10/5078 Folio 21
RG 10/5088 Folio 18
RG 11/5051 Folio 131
RG 11/5052 Folio 126
RG 11/5054 Folio 36
RG 11/5059 Folio 15
RG 12/4194 Folio 64
RG 12/4195 Folio 93
RG 12/4195 Folio 113
RG 13/4770 Folio 17
RG 13/4804 Folio 71
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