Wales, Yorkshire
These Staveleys are of Wales in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and this line is connected to the Staveleys of North Anston. John Staveley was born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire to parents John Staveley and Millicent Wright. He married Matilda WRIGHT in Harthill, Yorkshire on April 22, 1829 and had the following children in Wales:
| Elizabeth Staveley | b. March 21, 1830 | Wales, Yorkshire |
| Matilda Staveley | b. March 29, 1835 | Wales, Yorkshire |
In 1841 we find the family as follows:
1841: Wales, Yorkshire, England
| STAVELEY | John | 50 | Army | Born Outside Census County |
| STAVELEY | Matilda | 45 | Yorkshire | |
| STAVELEY | Francis | 20 | Druggist | Yorkshire |
| FISHER | Susanna | 40 | F. S. | Yorkshire |
| STOREY | Eliza | 15 | F. S. | Yorkshire |
Francis Staveley is actually John and Matilda's nephew, and is the son of John's brother William and his wife Jane BOWER.
In 1841, John and Matilda's daughters, Matilda and Elizabeth, are both pupils away at school in Cheapside, Worksop, Nottinghamshire. By 1851 they have returned home:
1851: Wales, Yorkshire, England
| John STAVELEY | Head | M | Male | 62 | Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England | Lieutenant Army H. P. |
| Matilda STAVELEY | Wife | M | Female | 57 | Treeton, Yorkshire, England | |
| Elizabeth STAVELEY | Daur | U | Female | 21 | Wales, Yorkshire, England | |
| Matilda STAVELEY | Daur | U | Female | 16 | Wales, Yorkshire, England | |
| William GRATTON | Serv | U | Male | 23 | Handsworth, Yorkshire, England | Groom |
| Mary ELLIOT | Serv | U | Female | 23 | Wales, Yorkshire, England | House Serv |
| Ann HOOLER | Serv | U | Female | 22 | So. Anston, Yorkshire, England | House Serv |
| Emma JACKSON | Serv | U | Female | 15 | Thorpe Salvin, Yorkshire, England | House Serv |
Neither John, nor his wife Matilda could be located in any later census records. However, the following extract from the College of Arms helps to explain why:
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As does this article published in the London Gazette on August 10, 1852
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So we find John and his wife Matilda residing in Wales, now having adopted the surname SHIRT:
1861: Wales Village, Wales, Yorkshire, England
| John S. SHIRT, Esq . | Head | M | Male | 72 | Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England | Lieutenant Army Half Pays |
| Matilda SHIRT | Wife | M | Female | 67 | Waleswood, Yorkshire, England | |
| Martha WIDESON | Serv | U | Female | 26 | Aston, Yorkshire, England | Cook |
| Ann MOODY | Serv | U | Female | 20 | Shirbrook, Yorkshire, England | Housemaid |
| Ann BOALER | Serv | U | Male | 16 | Anston, Yorkshire, England | General Servant |
The following extract is from the notes of Robert Staveley III of Ireland who had visited John Staveleys Shirt's nephew, Francis Staveley, in Liverpool in 1842.
Liverpool, 24 March 1842:
I called today on a young man named Francis Staveley (son of William Wright Bower Staveley), he carries on business as a druggist at Price Street, Liverpool. He served his time in Cork, on the Parade, where I heard of him. He tells me that he is from Sheffield.
He had an uncle killed at the storming of Badajoz, and another who was a Lieutenant in the Army. His uncle John Staveley (John Staveley-Shirt) of Wales, near Sheffield, entered the Army at the age of 17. He got his first commission in the Rifles; afterwards the Lieut Colonel commanding the 4th, or King's Own, in which his brother was serving. John had offered to get his brother Francis into the Regiment, he accepted his kindness and was soon afterwards transferred. John however was in the 2nd Battalion and was not at Badajoz when his brother fell in the assault. The latter had passed thro the breach, amid awful carnage, and was shot just as he entered the town. John served in the Expedition to the Isle of Walcheren, and was afterwards sent to Spain, where he was in retreat under Sir John Moore, which taking place in the midst of a most severe winter, the hardships endured were terrible, terminating in the Battle of Corunna, There was much confusion at the embarkation of the troops and John Staveley, not finding the proper transport for his own regiment, got into one with the 42nd Highlanders. He was in several engagements afterwards in the Peninsula, at the Battle from 9th - 12th December near Bayonne, when he had the command of the Light Company of his Regiment, his Captain having command of 4 Companies in another part of the field. Lieut John Staveley was afterwards ordered to the West Indies, and was in the Army that attacked New Orleans. Having fought throughout the War, and peace having been everywhere established, he did not care for an idle military career and went on half pay. He was wounded 3 times and suffers much from a ball which he still has in his body. He has been often quartered in Ireland. He knew the late General Sir William Staveley. He now lives in the enjoyment of pleasing quiet society in a secluded village, but within short drives of many of his own and his wife's relations. He is also agreeably occupied in farming a portion of his property, of which he holds about 80 acres in his own hand.
An article in the times from the War of 1812 makes reference to John's involvement in the capture of Washington DC in 1814:
Published in The Times September 27, 1814 Tuesday Morning 5 o'clock CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON ...Mr. Madison, the President, the Secretary at War, and the Secretaries of State and of the Navy, are stated to have been present, at the beginning, at least, of the action. The British loss in this decisive affair, was about 43 men killed, and 193 wounded. Colonel Thornton, of the 85th; Lieutenant-Colonel Wood and Major Brown, of the same regiment; Lieutenant John Staveley, and Ensign James Buchanan, of the 4th regiment, were wounded; as was Mr. Mac Daniel, midshipman of the Tonnant. Immediately after the action the remains of the American army retreated through Washington and across the Potomac into Virginia, and the British army advanced; and after a slight resistance by a few shot from the first houses of town, took possession of the city of Washington... |
John Staveley Shirt died in Wales in 1869 at the age of 80 years. His wife Matilda Staveley Shirt died in 1871, just shortly before the 1871 census, in Ecclesall Bierlow at the age of 77 years.
John's daughters Matilda and Elizabeth are visiting the JUBB household in Whiston, Lancashire in 1861. Daughter Elizabeth was then married on April 24, 1867 to Charles BOOTH, a lawyer, and son of Lt. Col. Henry Booth.
Matilda married Barnard Platts BROOMHEAD, a Solicitor, of Anston, Yorkshire, on September 12, 1861 in Liverpool, Lancashire. By 1871 are living in Ecclesall Bierlow, Sheffield, Yorkshire where their children Marian, John Staveley, and George were born.
John Staveley Broomhead, following in his grandfather's footsteps, also changed his name!
April 20, 1894 - London Gazette Whitehall, April 12, 1894. THE Queen has been pleased to grant unto John Staveley Broomhead, of Todwick Grange, in the parish of Todwick, in the West Riding of the county of York, Gentleman, Her Royal licence and authority that he may, in compliance with a clause contained in the last will and testament of Mary Benson Fox, late of Todwick Grange aforesaid, Spinster, deceased, take, use, and bear the surnames of Colton-Fox in lieu of and in substitution for that of Broomhead, and that he may bear the arms of Colton and Fox quarterly, and that such surnames and arms may in like manner be taken, borne, and used by his issue; the said arms being first duly exemplified according to the laws of arms, and recorded in the College of Arms, otherwise the said Royal licence and permission to be void and of none effect: And to command that the said Royal concession and declaration be. recorded in Her Majesty's said College of Arms. |
The Charter House Register confirms such a change:
Charterhouse Reg Broomhead, John Staveley, b. 9 Mar 1865 1st son of B. P. Broomhead, of Swaffield; (Hodgsonites); Left . Q. 1883. - Assumed name of Colton-Fox, 1900 - J.P. West Riding of Yorkshire. Married Helen Agnes LONGMAN J.S. Colton-Fox, Esq., Todwick Grange, Sheffield. |
John Staveley Colton-Fox was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Alumni Trinity College Adm. pens. at TRINITY, June 18, 1883. S. of Barnard Platts, of Broomhall Field, Sheffield. B. Mar. 9, 1865, at Sheffield. School, Charterhouse. Matric. Michs. 1883; B.A. and LL.B. 1886. Assumed the surname of Colton-Fox, in lieu of Broomhead, Apr. 12, 1894. Of Todwick Grange, Sheffield. J.P. for the West Riding of Yorkshire. Brother of the above. (Univ. Parl. Reg., 1938.) |