I have three ancestral families associated with these surnames,
which are interchangeable. Interestingly I have one family which
is always called Critchley, one always Crouchley and a third (the
main one) which starts as Crouchley, but becomes Critchley. I
haven't managed to connect them yet, but they all come from three
neighbouring parishes in south-west Lancashire - Lowton, Leigh
and Newton-in-Makerfield.
CRITCHLEY
Alice Ann CRITCHLEY was born in 1867 in Preston, Lancashire,
the daughter of Joseph and Ann (nee COCKERILL).
She married James Henry CRITCHLEY
in 1890 in Bolton, Lancashire.
Joseph was born in Westleigh, Lancashire in 1845. His parents
were Joseph and Mary (nee FARRINGTON),
who married in Bolton in 1844. Joseph (the elder) became a Railway
labourer and moved around south-west Lancashire before stopping
in Lostock (near Bolton). The rest of his family including his
father and mother, Joseph and Alice, were in the silk industry
in the Westleigh area. From the dates of the baptisms of their
children (the eldest found is Edward 1810 in Leigh), I think that
Joseph CRITCHLEY and Alice HEYS were married in Deane by Bolton
in 1810. Joseph was a widower and one of the witnesses was Edward
HEYS. Interestingly in 1801 in Leigh, a Joseph CRITCHLEY married
an Ann HEYS, one of the witnesses being Edward HEYS.
CRITCHLEY/CROUCHLEY
May CRITCHLEY was born in 1896 in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire,
the eldest child of James Henry CRITCHLEY and Alice Ann CRITCHLEY.
May married George TURNER
in 1922 in Oswaldtwistle. May always said that her parents were
not connected and so far I have not found the connection.
James Henry was born in 1863 in Bolton, Lancashire and married
Alice Ann in 1890 in Bolton. His parents were Edward and Elizabeth
(nee BENNETT), married
in 1855 in Newton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire. They moved to Bolton
soon after they were married and most of their children were born
there. Their eldest and youngest children were girls and died
young, but the 8 boys all married and 7 of them had children.
Most of the sons worked at the Locomotive Works in Horwich, Lancashire.
Edward died in 1880 at the Rock Inn, Blackburn of pneumonia -
why he was there I don't know.
Edward was born in 1832 in Newton-in-Makerfield. His parents
were Joseph CRITCHLEY and Hannah (nee LAWSON).
Joseph and Hannah were married in 1829 in the neighbouring parish
of Leigh. She died in 1854, but Joseph lived until 1870. He was
a Railway pointsman and had worked on the railway from its start.
He died when he was struck by a train on his way to work. The
inquest said that he was deaf and probably did not hear the locomotive.
Joseph was born about 1802. There is an entry in the baptism
register at the end of 1802 giving his birthdate, but it is in
a different coloured ink and there is no mention in the Bishop's
Transcripts. Similarly for his brother, James, there is an annotation
at the end of 1804 (and 1805 but crossed out). Both are given
as the sons of John and Ellin CROUCHLEY. The other children of
John and Ellen are included in the normal way, so I wondered if
they were away from the parish between 1802 and 1804 or were non-conformists
during that time.
John and Ellen HART were
married in Warrington in 1802. Although it does not state that
John was a widower, I think he was, as there is a John and Mary
with children in Newton before 1793. Mary died in 1793, 'wife
of John CROUCHLEY jnr'. John and Mary BURROWS were married in
1782 in Warrington. John died in 1830, aged 72; Ellen died in
1853 aged 76.
John was baptised in 1758 in Newton, the son of John and Cybil
CROUCHLEY. There is a marriage of a John CROUCHLEY and Sybil HASTON in 1757 in Winwick,
Lancashire. There are three children baptised in Newton - John,
Margaret (1763) and Henry (1766). There may be more as in 1767
the family were removed from Newton to Pennington as they had
become chargeable to the parish. What had happened and whether
they actually went is unclear as John and Sybil were eventually
buried in Newton in 1799 and 1796. There are no CROUCHLEYs or
CRITCHLEYs in Newton before 1758, so John may have come from Pennington
and therefore may have been baptised in Leigh - there is a baptism
of a John, son of William of Pennington in 1737.
All the CRITCHLEYs and CROUCHLEYs in the parish of Newton can
be related to John and his wives.
CROUCHLEY
Jane CROUCHLEY was baptised in 1805 in Lowton, Lancashire.
Her parents were William and Ellen (nee BANKS).
Jane married Samuel BENNETT
but died in 1842 at the age of 36 of 'Weakness'.
William was born about 1781 in Lowton and was probably the
son of John CROUCHLEY. He and Ellen married in 1802 at Winwick,
Lancashire. They had 9 children and died in 1856 (William) and
1870 (Ellen).
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I have an (as yet) unconnected tree of CRITCHLEY, for whom
I have two correspondents. The people on this tree are descended
from John CRITCHLEY (born about 1777 probably in Ashton-in-Makerfield),
who married Mary Jenkin (1803 in Leigh) and Jane Greenall (1841
in Winwick).
There is also an unconnected tree of CROUCHLEYs, whose daughter
Catherine married into my CRITCHLEY/CROUCHLEY tree.
