(m5) Elizabeth Mawson , mother of Annie Mary Dent, was born 17 June 1854. Birth Cert, CL the fifth child of John Mawson, a Waller or Stone Mason, and his wife Elizabeth Towers of Lydias Cottages, Brigham Row, off the present Penrith Road in Keswick.
The other children of the family were:-
(m1) Mary Mawson, was baptised 25 June 1843 at Crosthwaite, Keswick. IGI C.03559-1 F90634. At the time of the 1851 census, the family were living at Browfoot, off Penrith Road, Keswick. By 1861, with the rest of the family, Mary has moved to the nearby Lydias Cottages, and she was working in a Woollen Mill. In 1868, Mary married Joseph Birkett, a Sawyer of Hutton Soil, Cumberland. They continued to live in the Brigham area, and had a family growing to 11 children, including a step son. See later.
(m2) John Mawson, was baptised 22 February 1846 at Crosthwaite. IGI On 10 December 1870, John, a Waller & Stone Mason like his father, married 28 year old nurse, Ann Sarah Milligan at Claremont Crescent, Edinburgh. Scotlands People 605/2-307 P154.
The couple returned to the Brigham area of Keswick, and their family grew to 8 children:-
1. William Henry Mawson. b 16th Jan 1872 at Keswick. The census of 1891 describes him as a pencil maker. In October 1894 he married Mary Morgan of Whitehaven, Mar Cert, DAR and they set up home in Wordsworth Street, Keswick. William Henry worked as a Wood Carver and Designer, and later branched out into Metalwork, becoming involved in the Keswick School of Industrial Art. He later opened premises and a showroom on Skiddaw Street, Keswick on his own account.
There are numerous web sites extolling the wares of William Henry and his fellow KSIA colleagues, usually aimed at ‘sales’. Claims seen on at least one site suggest that W H Mawson was related to Thomas Mawson, Landscape Gardener and Architect of Lancaster; this however is incorrect. Research over several years fails to connect the families going back over several generations.
An interesting site by a Keswick dealer, who is endevouring to colate the history of the Keswick School of Industrial Art, with photographs and other documentation is at:- ksia.co.uk
The 1939 Register notes William Henry as living on the Fenton Estate, and his occupation described as Designer, Teacher of Wood Furniture & Metal Work Dealer. In addition, William Henry served with the 4th Battalion, Border Regiment, and became a sharp shooter, winning several competitions between 1902 and 1908.
They had children: 1a) Edith, born 22nd May 1896 at Keswick, Edith attended St John’s Infant School. In 1919 she married John Thomas Miller. On their marriage certificate, he indicates he was 29 years of age, and a Sergeant (regiment not given) at Seaford Camp in Sussex. I have not so far found any record, civil or military, of John prior to this marriage. After the marriage he was for a time, a manager at the Ministry of Labour in Keswick. (FMP, The 1939 Register) John died in 1946 at Keswick. I have not yet established what became of Edith.
1b) Frank was born in 1904 at Keswick. In 1934, Frank married Iva Lillian Brockbank at Keswick. In 1939 the couple were living at Railway Cottage at Dearham. Frank was then working as an Accounts Collector for the Electricity Board. (FMP, The 1939 Register)
There were two further children who died in infancy.
Their parents, Mary died in November 1940 of heart failure at Keswick. Death Cert, DAR. William Henry died in June 1960 at Keswick.
2. Robert Mawson, baptised 2nd March 1873 at Keswick. In 1897 he married Sarah Elizabeth Cameron of Broughton Moor, Cumberland. Robert worked as a bricklayers labourer in the Keswick area. The 1901 census indicates that Robert and Sarah were living near the “Twa Dogs” inn at Brigham. By 1911 they were living at 1 Cross Street with 12 yr old daughter Ethel. Two other children had died in infancy. Sarah died in 1924, and Robert in 1933. Ethel attended Brigham School between 1906 and 1912, FMP: National Schools Admission records but I have not so far traced her further.
3. John Mawson (‘Jack’ to the family) was born in 1876 at Keswick. The 1891 census has John, still living at the family home on Rose Terrace in Keswick, and John working as a bobbin turner, probably at the local mill in Brigham. In about 1896, John signed up as Private 243 in the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards. At the outbreak of the Boer War, the 1st Battalion embarked from Gibralter for South Africa, making to the Orange River Station. On the 11th December 1899, John was injured at the Battle of Magersfontien. He died a few days later. John, and a couple of his comrades, are commemorated on a large brass plaque in Crosthwaite Church, Keswick.
Harvest Thanksgivings, Crosthwaite. ‘The annual harvest festival was held on Sunday….. Canon Rawnsley took the morning service, and at the period when the anthem was sung, unveiled the brass tablet (worked at the School of Industrial Arts and paid for by public subscription) to commemorate three Keswick men who served in South Africa.’ Keswick Guardian, 11 Oct 1902.
4. Walter Mawson was born in 1879 at Keswick. Sadly, Walter’s life was short. He died at age 11 years of Meningitis. Death Cert, DAR.
5. Jessie Mawson was born 5th September 1884 at Keswick, and the census of 1891 shows her in the family home at Rose Terrace. School admission records include Jessie in the rolls of St John’s Girls Primary School in 1892. In 1906, Jessie married Thomas Mattinson, a labourer of Brigham Row at St John’s Church, Keswick. Marriage Cert, DAR. Witnesses were C Boustead and her sister Mary Elizabeth Mawson. The census of 1911 has Jessie and family recorded living at Lydia’s Cottages, off Penrith Road, backing on to the River Greta. Thomas is noted as a ‘concrete flag maker’ at Threlkeld Quarries.
In July 1914, the family upped sticks and sailed from Liverpool to Canada aboard the SS Victorian. Ancestry; Shipping Records They settled in Bulyea Street, Regina, Saskatchewan. Regretably, Jessie succumed to the great Flue epidemic of 1918-1920. She was one of many who died at Grey Nun’s Hospital, Regina in November 1918. Ancestry: The Morning Leader newspaper, Regina.
Thomas and at least daughter (Jeannie) returned to the UK from Montreal in 1919. Thomas appears to have married Margaret A L Hodgson in late 1932. GRO Q4 1932 Cockermouth 10b 1181 They appear in the 1939 Register at Wickhams Court, Keswick. Thomas died in the Cockermouth district in 1945.
6. Mary Elizabeth Mawson was born in March 1887 at Keswick. She appears in the rolls of St John’s Infant school starting in 1894. FMP: National School Admissions DS 93067/9 Cumbria Archives. In early 1914, Mary Elizabeth married Robert Bertram, a bobbin worker of Low Briery, Keswick; Robert having been born in 1885 in Paisley, Renfrewshire.
Later that year, Robert signed up as Private 16079 of the 8th Battalion, Border Regiment. Sadly, he was killed on the 10th April 1918. Although not conclusive of the location, on this date his battalion was in action from early morning at Touquet, near Arras.(2nd Battle of Arras) 8th Btn War Diary, IWM. Robert is remembered on the Ploegsteert War Memorial, and that of Brigham School, Keswick.
In December 1923, widow Mary Elizabeth married Charles William Harper Adams at St John’s Parish Church, Keswick. Q4 1923 Cockermouth 10b 1124 Charles, born in 1896 at Barton upon Irwell, Lancashire, son of Robert J H Adams, a gardener, originally born in Keswick, but had moved around the country before returning to Keswick. Charles had served in the Lancashire Fusiliers before marrying Mary Elizabeth. They set up home, amongst the Mawson relatives, appearing in The 1939 Register at Penrith Road, Brigham. Charles was working for the local Co-operative Society.
Mary Elizabeth died in late 1964 in the Cockermouth district; Charles W H died at Blencathra hospital, Threlkeld on the 1st February 1968. FMP: Probate Index
7. Thomas Edward Mawson born 1890 at Keswick. He lived at the family home on Rose Terrace until at least the time of the 1911 census, where he is recorded as a metal worker in ‘Home Metal Industry’. He no doubt spent some time with his younger brother William Henry Mawson, but never rose to the same prominence in the industry. In 1914 Thomas Edward enlisted as Private 16277 in the 11th Lonsdale Battalion of the Border Regiment, but only lasted a month before he was discharged. In 1916 he had another go at the army, enrolling in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Shorncliffe in Essex, but they also had doubts of Thomas Edward’s fitness, due to ‘varicose veins’ but he appears to have been accepted as a ‘Bandsman’. Ancestry: Attestation Records (both).
In June 1926, Thomas Edward married Phemie Walker Ovens at Gateshead, Co Durham. How did they manage to meet? Phemie was born in 1900 at Gateshead. Thomas Edward, and Phemie, continued to live in the Brigham area, the 1939 Register list them at Rose Terrace, with Thomas Edward recorded as ‘labourer in pencil works & art metal worker’. The couple do not appear to have had children. Thomas Edward died in 1966, Q1 1966 Cockermouth 1A 101 and Phemie in 1974 in the Cockermouth district. Q4 1974 Cockermouth 1 0403
8. Jane Mawson born 1891 at Keswick. She is recorded as attending Brigham Infant School from May 1899. In the census of 1911, Jane is listed as a ‘housemaid’ at the home of Dr Duncan Callender in Rose Bank, Lancaster, as Jeannie Mawson, no doubt the good doctors Scottish interpretation of her name.
By 1920, Dr Callender had moved to Sidcup in Kent, and the recently released census for 1921 reveals that Jeannie had headed back north to Keswick, finding a housemaids position with Sir John S Randles MP., at his Edwardian pile, Bristowe Hill at Crosthwaite. Shortly after this move, Jane somehow met up with Charles Willan, born in November 1883 in Manchester. Charles had had a varied life, starting work with his father’s business as a decorator and builder. In WW1, in 1916, Charles had progressed from a Private in the Cycle Corps, a Serjeant in the South Wales Borders, to receiving a commision as a 2nd Lietenant in the Labour Corps, being demobbed in 1918 (Ancestry, Forces War Records). By 1921 he was a Poultry Farmer in Marsden, West Yorkshire. (FMP: CR1921)
How ever they met, Jane and Charles married on the 12th July 1927 at St John’s Church, Keswick when Charles gave his occupation as ‘builder’. The 1939 Register has the couple living at a house, appropriately named ‘Keswick’ in Lower Road, Gipping, Suffolk. This did not last long, their next move being back to Cumberland; to Branthwaite between Workington and Cockermouth. Charles passed away at Cockermouth Cottage Hospital in June 1944. FMP: Probate Index Jane returned to her roots in Keswick where she lived up to her passing in 1975. Death Cert, DAR
Parents – Ann Sarah died 13 January 1909, and John died 3 December 1922 at Keswick. Ancestry; Probate Index. Both lie in St John’s Churchyard, Keswick.
(m3) Jane Mawson, baptised 3 December 1848 at Crosthwaite, IGI C.03559-1 F90634. By 1861, at age 13 years, Jane had followed her elder sister, working at one of the many mills in the area as a ‘Piecer’. I orginally thought the mill would have been a woollen mill, but further research suggests it was more likely to have been one of the several ‘pencil’ mills located in this part of Crosthwaite at the time, powered by the adjacent River Greta. CR 1861 RG9/3932 F48 P6 So far, it has not been possible to locate Jane with any certainty after this date.
(m4) William Mawson, was born in 1852, and baptised 5 February 1854 at Crosthwaite Church,IGI I107165-8 F1472290. William made his home on Shorley Croft on Penrith Road in his twenties, but later moved, with his parents, to Banks Court off Station Street, near to his cousin’s, the Dent’s. CR 1881. RG11/5170 F54 P25. He remained ‘unattached’ until his late 40’s, when in December 1900, he married widow Margaret Bowes, formerly Thompson. The following year they were living at 4 Low Brigham. In the 1901 census, William is recorded as a Gardener – non domestic. Family members related that William was involved in the initial layout of Fitz Park, just across the River Greta from his Brigham home. William and Margaret do not appear to have had children. William died 1 December 1937, Ancestry: Probate Index. and Margaret in 1938 in Keswick.
(m5) Elizabeth Mawson was baptised 3 September 1854 at Crosthwaite Church, IGI C03559-1 90634. The 1861 Census shows Elizabeth, at age 6 years, with her family at Lydia’s Cottages on Penrith Road, Keswick. By the time of the 1871 census, the family had moved further west along Penrith Road to Shorley Croft. Elizabeth married James Dent, 12 October 1872 at Crosthwaite Parish Church. Mar Cert, DAR. (Continued on Dent pages.)
(m6) Henry Mawson was born in late 1857. Sadly, he died in December 1862 at Brigham Row, of acute gastritis. Death Cert, DAR,
(m7) Sarah Ann Mawson was baptised 6 November 1859 at Crosthwaite Church. The 1861 census includes her with the family at Lydia’s Cottages, and later, in 1871 at Shorley Croft. By 1891, Sarah Ann and others of the family have moved ‘up town’, to live in what would have been cramped area of Banks Court, off Station Road. CR 1891. RG12/4200 F60 P52. In 1897, Sarah Ann married Christopher Murray Boustead, a Highways Labourer and widower. Sarah Ann appeared to already have a daughter prior to this marriage, Mary Elizabeth Mawson, born in 1891. Christopher and Sarah Ann went on to have about six sons, several unfortunately were killed in the Great War.
Parents of Elizabeth and her siblings
Elizabeth’s baptism record of the 3rd Sept 1854 at St John’s, Keswick gives her parents as John Mawson and Elizabeth.
John Mawson was a Waller or Stone Mason, babtised 31st Jul 1814 at St John’s in the Vale. FHL 90659 In May 1842 he married Elizabeth Towers, born 1822 in Grasmere, WES, by then living with her family at Fornside Head, St John’s in the Vale.
Under Development, Dec 2023.
