Tracing the Archers of Earlsheaton, Chickenley and Ossett

Because Archer is an occupational surname…like Fletcher, Butcher, Smith and so on, it should have arisen in many different areas of the country, in men who were not actually related to each other but had the same occupation. It’s a little surprising, therefore, that, in the 1881 Census, by far the biggest concentration of families of the name “Archer” resided in the woollen towns of the West Riding, with the second largest group in London and the south east.

My Archer family can be traced back to Dewsbury Parish records from 1581 and my branch of the family comes from Chickenley and Earlsheaton (known as Soothill and pronounced “soootil”) and the nearby township of Ossett. They may have migrated from another parish in the Wakefield area or just be hard to find in early incomplete records. Parish records, depending on the priest, could be either highly detailed or not kept at all, and were the source of all birth marriage and death information until 1837, when registration became a requirement. Tracing the family before 1581 has been a challenge. When did the Archers first settle in Dewsbury parish?

We know there were Archers in Wakefield Manor from at least the 13th Century. Before then, it is unlikely that the family had surnames. Of course, the name “Archer” is occupational, and we all know that archers became very prominent in wartime with the adoption of the English Longbow in 1252 so, in England, the surname of Archer may have arisen around this time. In fact, we do find men of the surname “Archer” mentioned in the Wakefield Manor records from 1285 onwards.

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Archers in the Wakefield Manor Court Rolls 1285-1340

There are several references to men and women with the surname Archer/Archur appearing in the Manor Court Rolls of Wakefield…but not in Ossett, Chickenley, Earlsheaton or Dewsbury, where my family lived in later centuries.

• 1285: “Wakefeud – William de Wrydelesforth, for dry wood, 6d; pledge William the Goldsmith. Richard Archur, for the like, 6d. same pledge.”
• 1297: “Wakefeud – A stray coyllard is in John Pollard’s custody and at William Archur’s house.” (A coyllard…is a ram, from the French “coillart”.)
• 1297: “Wakefeud – William Archer (?) gives 12d. for a stray coyllard; pledge, John Pollard.”
• 1298 “Wakefeud The sons of Robert Slenge and Nabbe Brodeye, the like, id. and 2d. Pledges, Walter de Alvirthorpe and Henry Archur.”
• 1298 Stanley (a village near Wakefield): “John Bullok keeps a dog that has strangled two does. He finds pledges for satisfying the Steward therein, viz. William Attebarre, *Hanecok le Nunne, William Archur, and Philip Wlf; fine, 21.”
• 1307 Wakefield pledges “Cicely Archur 4d”
• 1307 Wakefeud: “Henry Archur obstructed the common way through the hayfields [? perfenile] 6d”
• 1308 Wakefeud: “Henry Archur’s wife 2d for dry wood”
• 1308 Wakefeud: “Maggie Archur 4d for dry wood”
• 1308 Wakefeud: “John Cussing v. Robert Archur, for trespass, by William Margeriman. Pledge, Henry s. of German.”
• 1309 Wakefeud: “Henry Archur’s wife 2d for dry wood”
• 1309 Alverthorpe: (a village near Wakefield): “Henry Archur raised the hue on John s. of Sibbe unjustly; 1 2d.”
• 1309 Alverthorpe: Robert Hodde drew blood from the wife of Henry Archur; \2d. And from Juliana Horsse ; 1 2d.
• 1309 Alverthorpe: “An inquisition finds that Robert Archur ousted John Cussing from the crop of a rood of land in the Graveship of Alverthorpe ; damages, 1 2d. ; fine, 6d.”
• 1339 Wakefield 12th March: “For vert in the old park; Alice del Abbay 3d, William Hudelyn 2d, Robert Meggson 2d, William Atteline 2d, William Archer 2d. For trespass in the great wood: Thomas Molle 2d.”
• 1340 Wakefield March: “Order is given to distrain William Couper, Robert Meggeson, William Anot, William Stele junior, William his brother, William son of Robert son of William, John his brother, John Hode, Thomas his brother, John Broun, Thomas son of Robert and John Jose who carried off timber from the mill-pond and bridge of Wakefeld. Also John Herward, Robert Tastard, Robert Walker and William Archer because they bought the said timber from the mill and bridge.”
• 1340 Wakefield 21 April: “The jurors say that John Broun milner took timber from the mill-pond and bridge at Wakefeld to the value of 8d. John son of Robert son of William to the value of 12d. William his brother likewise 4d. William Anot likewise 12d. William Couper likewise 4d. William Stele junior likewise 8d. William his brother likewise 4d. Robert Meggeson likewise 2d. John Jose likewise 2d. Robert Walker likewise 3d. Thomas son of Robert likewise 6d. Thomas Hode likewise 3d. William Archer likewise Id. John Herward likewise 2d. Robert Tastard likewise Id. Fine 6s.”

1379 Subsidy Rolls (Poll Tax)

The name of Archer does not appear in the Subsidy Rolls (Poll Tax) for the year 1379 in Ossett, Dewsbury or Soothill…nor in Wakefield, Horbury or Stanley, Sandal or nearby East and West Ardsley.

The 1379 Poll Tax was graded by social class, with the lower age limit changed from the previous 14 to 16, and to 15 two years later. The minimum amount of tax payable was 4 pence. However, tax collectors had to collect an average of 12 pence per head. Payments were therefore variable; the poorer in society would pay the lowest rate (4 pence) with the deficit being met by a higher payment from those able to afford it. So the rich would pay more than the poor. Paupers did not pay at all. “Exemption of the poor” meant that about 40% of inhabitants of any village or town were not counted.

So, if there were any Archers in the Wakefield parishes, they were poor men and not recorded…or perhaps they had been mustered and were away garrisoned with the armies, since 1379 was right in the middle of the second phase of the 100 Years’ War.

The Longbow and the Archery Butts

By 1461, during the reign of the Yorkist king, Edward IV the law required that

“…every Englishman should have a longbow of his own size, and butts should be made in every township, at which the inhabitants should shoot every feast-day, or face a ha’penny fine.”

In Ossett, as in other townships, there would be butts for archery practice. The one acre of land in South Ossett named the Blue Butts was surely that place? My Archer family at one time owned the Blue Butts, which is still named in one of their wills in 1803. The Blue Butts eventually passed to my 5th great-grand uncle, Isaac Archer, and it was mentioned in the Ossett Tithe Award for 1843, in his name. The Blue Butts exists today as a small close with modern houses. It’s very near Runtlings Lane, where my early Archer family also owned the Runting Pighill and Barraclough Shutt among other property.

Even though links back to my earliest Archer family have been impossible, the possession of that piece of land, the Blue Butts, does suggest a tenuous link to the Archers of Ossett in the past. But once the Parish Records began, the family members are a little easier to trace and they are found in a small area of Soothill (Earlsheaton and Chickenley) and Ossett.

Generation 1: Thomas Archer

The first mention of an Archer in the parish records of Dewsbury was in 1581, with the baptism of a child, the daughter of Thomas Archer and his wife Ellen. The child’s name is not in the printed parish records, but she was probably Elizabeth or Ffrauncis (both daughters).

Thomas is estimated to have been born about 1557. He and Ellen are likely to have married before 1580 but there is no record of their marriage to be found.

After the birth of Elizabeth/Ffrauncis in 1581, four more of Thomas and Ellen’s children were baptised at Dewsbury Parish Church, between 1585 and 1595…they were Elline (1585), Richarde (1589), Susann (1592) and Jennet (1596).

Records of Thomas’s life are scant. There is a mention of a Thomas Archer in the Wakefield Manor Court Rolls on 15th January 1585…

“Ossett: Thomas Archer was summoned to answer Edward Bayldon in a plea of debt and did not come: amerced (fined) 2 pence.”

Churchwardens at Dewsbury All Saints:

Thomas is known to have become a Churchwarden at Dewsbury Parish Church in 1602 and in 1608.

Easter daye 4 Aprill ano Dni. 1602: Henrye Robinsonn, Thomas Rodlaye Se, Rychard Marshall, Thomas Archer, Thomas Pickerde, Edward Fayrbarne.

Easter 27 March 1608 : Jacobi regis scotiae 41: James Sharpe, Nicholas Hirst, Thomas Wurmall, Thomas Archer, Henrie Whitheade, Parcivall Tirrys.

Death of Ellen and Re-marriage

After Thomas’s wife Ellen died in 1630 (Dewsbury All Saints Burials Dec 1630: Ellen wife of Thomas Archer buried the 13th daye Mondaye), Thomas quickly re-married to 57-year-old Elizabeth Maunsfield on 20th Sep 1631. In the 16th century, older men often quickly remarried a younger woman, after being widowed, to maintain a stable household and manage property, sometimes even in the hope of having more children. A wife provided essential labour and support for managing a household. Remarriage also allowed a man to ensure his property and inheritance were properly managed and passed on to his children through his new wife. Thomas was about 74 years old when he remarried, but he died a few months afterwards and was buried in Dewsbury in March 1632. His new wife outlived him by 10 years.

Descent from Thomas

I am descended separately from three of Thomas and Ellen’s children…Ffrauncis, Richarde and Elline, through my Hemingway, Archer and Greenwood lines respectively. We now have strong evidence of the family living in Soothill:

• Richarde married Maria Copley and they lived in Soothill Nether, in Chickenley, where he died in 1668. 
• Ffrauncis and her husband, Richard Hemmyngwaye, lived in Soothill Nether, in Earlsheaton. Richard Hemmingwaye is also a direct ancestor of my mother.
• Elline and husband Abraham Greenwood were recorded as “of Dewsbury”.

Those three families paved the way for my Archer and related ancestors right down to the present. I suspect that most of the Archers in the Dewsbury area are also descended from this couple.

Generation 2: Richard Archer of Chickenley (1589-1668)

Thomas’s son, Richard Archer was baptised at Dewsbury Parish Church on 10^th Aug 1589 and was married at All Saints Wakefield to Maria Copley, on 9th July 1616.  He became known in records as Richard of Chickenley (or of Soothill).

Richard held land In Chickenley, Ossett And Gawthorpe. We know that Richard was a free tenant of the Manor, and that he also had freehold land which was not tied to Manor rules and could be sold. The following relates to a settlement at the time of Richard’s son Thomas’s marriage to Grace Blackburne.

Richard Archer of Chickenley to Edward Nickolls of Shelley Woodhouse and Arthur Blackburne of Dalton (W Yorks). Messuage with buildings, gardens etc in Chickenly. Moiety of a close in Gawkethorp (Gawthorp) and a close called Mooreroyd […] in Ossett to stated uses, in consideration of a marriage between Thomas Archer, son and heir of Richard, and Grace Blackburne, and for providing a competent jointure for Mary, Richard’s wife.

Other records relating to Richard

• Dewsbury All Saints Register of Churchwardens Easter 1619:  Walter Cordinglaye, Joseph Owldroide, John Owldroide, Rycharde Archer, John Forrest, Averio Pickerde.
• WAKEFIELD: the Court Baron of Sir Gervase Clifton kt and bart, Lord of the Manor of Wakefeld, held there on 23 April 1632. Free Tenants including Richard Archer (appeared)…
• WAKEFIELD: the Great Court Baron of Gervase Clifton, knight and baronet, Lord of the Manor of Wakefield, held there on 11 October, 15 Charles [1639]  Richard Archer essoined (made an excuse for not appearing at the appointed time.)
• On 12th October 1639 Richard Archer of Soothill was appointed Constable of Soothill.
• In 1641 Richard Archer of Soothill was recorded in the Protestant Returns.
• Richard is mentioned several times in manor Court Rolls as a free tenant.

Generation 3: Thomas Archer 2nd (senior) and Grace Blackburn

Thomas Archer (senior) and Grace Blackburn married in 1655 had four daughters before Grace died in 1667, aged 46. In 1668, Thomas married a second time to Sybil Wright, who was about 15 years his junior and who bore him 5 more children, including 2 boys, Thomas junior and John. (John died in childhood).

Thomas’s father, Richard Archer died in 1668 and Thomas inherited his property. He then appears at the Wakefield Court, as a free tenant, in place of his father.

• In 1687, Thomas sold a piece of land to John Wadsworth for £425. That would be worth £100,000 today (calculated by Bank of England Inflation calculator), so he was certainly a man of some means.
• Thomas Archer senior has several mentions in the Manor Court Rolls as a free tenant in 1688-1689.

Another land transaction has been found for 1691:

Conveyance (lease and release) as security for legacies – ref. CM/28-29 – 27-28 Apr 1691: Samual Wadsworth of Horbury and John Blackburne of Dewsbury, with consent from Thomas Archer of Chickenley, to John Wadsworth of Horbury. Messuage in Chickenley with a croft, closes called Three Nooked Heath, the Pooll, the Wheat Close, the Nether Heath, Nether Croft (formerly Mallinson Ing) and the new closes, which John Wadsworth purchased of Thomas Archer for £425, £300 of which is to be secured on the land (with interest to the following persons) having been conveyed to the 1st 2 parties of the deed for that purpose:- £15 p.a. to Thos. Archer and after his death £51.5s to Mary, wife of Joseph White, Alice, wife of John Carr, Grace, wife of Richard Whitley and £30 to James Brighton, son of Martha, late wife of Tempest Brighton, and further legacies.

Note: The noted legacies were made to the daughters of his first marriage. Perhaps the “further legacies” were to be paid to the children of his second marriage and to his wife Sybill ?

Generation 4: Thomas Archer 3rd (Junior)

In 1695, Thomas Archer Junior, of Chickenley, married Anna Greenwood, daughter of Abraham Greenwood of Dewsbury, who was descended from a female branch of the Savile family. It is not certain when Thomas senior died, but Thomas junior would soon become a man of means.

Thomas and Anna had three sons and three daughters, but nothing is known about Emmanuel and Marcus, the younger sons and whether they survived childhood or not. Their known surviving son was John, born in 1696, who became known as John Archer the Elder.

Generation 5: John Archer the Elder, born 19th Feb 1696 – died 1757 – Blacksmith

John Archer, known as “The Elder”, was the son of Thomas Archer (1670-1731) and Anna Greenwood.

By now, Archer families were well established in Dewsbury parish, notably in Ossett and the adjacent villages of Soothill Nether, Earlsheaton and Chickenley.

John Archer the Elder, born 19th February 1696, became a blacksmith and he lived and worked in Ossett. It may be that the occupation of blacksmith was already in the family. The Medieval Chronicles tell us:

“There was only one forge in a medieval village and skills were passed down in the family. Customers included almost everyone from the common people to the nobility. Common people required everyday tools for farming and household use. Monks and clergymen were among the customers of the blacksmith because of the iron required for church door knobs, nails, and such. Weapons were needed by all levels of society in times of war, when the blacksmith also became an important part of the fighting army, forging arrowheads, fashioning new weapons and maintaining both weapons and armour.”

In his book “The History of the Blacksmith”, Simon Grant-Jones wrote the following:

“The role of the Blacksmith was very diverse… not only was he the local toolmaker and “engineer“…he was sometimes called upon to act as Dentist, Doctor, Undertaker, Veterinary surgeon and horse dealer. He would also usually hold important offices in the town such as magistrate or Church Warden. He would be the obvious choice for these positions, as his job demanded a certain level of intellect, numeracy skills and business sense.”

John ‘s biography

John married Sarah Willans in 1721. Sarah and her first child, named John after his father, were both dead within 2 years. John quickly remarried to Susanna Day, who bore him at least four children, Ann, another John, Elizabeth and Sarah. Two of the girls, Ann and Elizabeth, had died in early childhood, leaving only John and Sarah to reach adulthood.

We know a little about John the Elder’s life.

John the Elder died in 1757, aged 60. We know, from his will, that he was a blacksmith and a landowner, so his status would be that of Yeoman.

John was one of the original subscribers to the building of the first Ossett Green Chapel in 1733. He owned Pew No 1 in that chapel, which later became Ossett Green Congregational Church. In his will, he passed that pew to his daughter Sarah.

At his death, John bequeathed all his messuages, cottages, closes, lands, tenements and inherited property, in Ossett and elsewhere within the County of York, including the closes named the Runting Pighill and Barraclough Shutt, plus his pew Number 1 at the “Chapel of Ossett on the Green” to his daughter Sarah “as long as she remains unmarried“. All would then pass to his son, John the Younger.

The will was not proved until 17 years later, in 1774. In those days, people mostly made a will “on their death bed”. We are pretty certain he didn’t live another 17 years, so why would the will not be proved until so long after John’s death? Well, one provision of John’s will was that his daughter Sarah could occupy his property until she married. There are two possible marriages for a Sarah Archer in 1772 and in 1773. So maybe Sarah continued to occupy the property left by her father until her marriage in about 1773 and then her brother, John the Younger, had the will proved in order to take possession of his rightful inheritance, which he did in in 1774. (John the Elder’s will transcript here).

Where was the Smithy?

There was a building known as “The Old Smithy” in Ossett on Illingworth Street (which briefly became Victoria Street after Queen Victoria died) and is shown in the map and picture, the latter from a postcard published around 1900. The buildings are thought to date from about 1675 and would have originally had thatched rooves. The population of Ossett was about 450 in 1764, so they would likely need only one smithy when John the Elder was blacksmith. The Old Smithy may, therefore, be the one that was in my family at the time.

However, a second smithy, at Ossett Green, is shown on the OS map surveyed in 1890, published 1893, but I can’t find out how old it was. This second smithy is where South Street meets The Green, as shown below.

Tantalisingly, I also found an even earlier snippet dating from 1888:

Sep 8th 1888: The Ossett Local Board are at the moment actively involved in the widening of Healey Lane. The lane is being made three to four yards wider, it is being made into a road 36 feet wide throughout. The levels will be improved at certain points, and in addition to a flagged causeway on one side, there will be a curbed footpath and channelling laid on the other. The widening is being done mainly on the west side of the lane, and within the last few days an old building nearest the Green end, formerly used as a smithy, has been pulled down for the purpose.

So, where was the Archer Smithy? Perhaps we will never know 🙁

Generation 6: John Archer the Younger (1727-1803) Blacksmith and Whitesmith

John Archer the Younger took possession of his inheritance in 1774, when he was 47 years old, John added whitesmithing to his main occupation of blacksmith. The whitesmith manufactures articles of neater and more delicate form, such as locks, keys, carpenters’ tools, &c. John has added new skills to that of his father and has prospered. John also took possession of copyhold lands from the manor of Wakefield along with freehold property from his father.

John had married a Mary Scott in 1746 when he was 19 years old and she 21. We know that John and Mary had at least 11 children and that Mary died in 1792, aged 67. John re-married three years later, when he was 68 years old to 53 year old widow, Hannah Rigg. John and Hannah had eight years together until he died in 1803.

When John the younger died in December1803, aged about 77, three of his sons and one daughter had predeceased him. When his eldest son, John III had died earlier the same year, in May 1803, he had left the piece of land called the Blue Butts to his own son Benjamin and so the old Butts remained in the Archer family for a couple more generations at least.

John the Younger was survived by his second wife, Hannah, and seven of the children of his first marriage. In his will, John left all his copyhold property, that is property that we would now describe as leasehold, to the second oldest of his surviving sons, Joseph. His remaining freehold estate could be occupied by his wife in her lifetime, but then it went to son Joseph as well. Smaller bequests were made to his remaining sons and daughters and his grandchildren of £20 each, which was worth about £2000 at today’s value…but his oldest surviving son George (the putative heir), would only inherit £20…and then “only if he shall return from foreign parts within two years”. (Will transcript here).

I wondered why he had been cut out of his inheritance and George turned out to be very interesting and is the subject of a feature of his own.

George was my 5^th Great Grandfather and was a textile machine maker. Why was he in foreign parts and did he return to Ossett to claim his inheritance?  If you want to read about George, click the button below, “A Case of Industrial Espionage”.

Joseph, George’s younger brother also thrived and is credited with being the first textile machine maker who made a rag grinding machine for the shoddy industry that actually worked. The story of shoddy and mungo can be accessed below.

…or, go back in time to medieval archery…