Eliza CLIFFE

Husband:  CLIFFE, John (1805-1858)

Eliza Cliffe - a Victorian Life

John Cliffe was the son of Richard and Elizabeth Cliffe, christened on 16 March 1806 in Brotherton, Yorkshire. The family are boat builders in Knottingley, then a fast growing town on the Aire. 

Eliza was born Eliza Russell, in Hirst Courtney, Selby, again on the Aire, daughter of Richard Russell in 1820, christened 18 April 1820.

They marry on 24th May 1838 at St Laurence Snaith, Eliza claiming at the altar that she’s of “full age” , but she can’t be much more than 18.  John states that he’s a stone merchant of Goole, and is considerably her senior. 

In the 1841 census the little family is living in ?Listers Place, Goole (can’t find this on any map, possibly same property as later, just with an earlier name?): John, a stone agent, aged 30 (ages are rounded in this census), Eliza , 23, baby Martha, 10 months, and a teenage domestic servant, Eliza Wood. Sadly, they lose little Martha in August 1841, and she’s buried in Hook. No other children, I wonder if they have lost previous babies. 

1851, the family are now established in Prospect Place where they would live for many years to come. This address is now underneath Wetherspoons, the former York City and County Bank, (which was established in Aire Street in 1832). 

John describes himself as a stone merchant, 45, employing one man. He and Eliza now have at least three children living: John R[ussell], aged 4, already described as a scholar, and Sarah, 2, all of whom survive to adulthood. An older daughter, Elizabeth, (born 1842) isn’t listed at home. She’s at a small boarding school in Rothwell, near Leeds. Eliza has another teenage domestic help, Caroline Thornhill, from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. There’s a John Russell Cliffe of Goole listed in Hook burials August 15, 1845, aged in months (illegible to me) so this surviving son may be a second JR. 

Eliza is left a widow in 1858, after only 20 years of married life, and with a family of young children to provide for. The death is announced in the Leeds Mercury 27 February 1858. She’s granted probate of her husband’s estate. How is she going to manage? 

1861 census, Eliza, now widowed,  declares herself to be a stone shipper in her own right in the census returns. Still living at Prospect Place, with daughter Elizabeth, aged 19, single, back home, but not economically active, Sarah, aged 12, and little Mary Ann, aged 6. No servants any more, and I guess Elizabeth is rolling her sleeves up. 

John R is away from home,  visiting his  aunt Jane Lambert, a prosperous widowed farmer in Eggborough, along with Robert Russell Cliffe, seems to be another nephew, but aged 58. Another pair of eyes may puzzle this out better! John is described as a clerk in railway office, though he’s only 14. 

In October 1862, Elizabeth acquires shares (11 shares of the usual 64)  in a 70 foot, 2 masted sailing vessel, the Waterlily, newly built in Sunderland and converted from schooner to ketch, presumably for local conditions. It’s just the right length to use the canal locks. The Goole Shipping Register records several variations in ownership, but Eliza seems to keep her own shares until at least 1899, when after a long and useful life, the vessel is converted into a lighter (an unpowered barge) and deregistered. As far as I can tell, this is the only vessel she had a financial stake in. The Register doesn’t give details of the price of the vessel or the shares. 

1871 census returns, Eliza’s still head of the household in Prospect Place. Her son John R , now 24, is running the stone agent business. Sarah and Mary Ann are still single at home, but presumably kept busy, as Eliza is lodging a couple of smart young bank clerks. 

John leaves home, marries and moves across the Pennines to work, probably not long before the next census. It looks like the stone shipping business has been wound up, but I cant find any insolvency record for it. 

1881, Eliza’s a grandmother. She’s 60, now living on “income from property”, and has her younger daughter, Mary Ann, just married, with her son-in-law Edward England, a solicitors clerk from Howden. They also have a little visitor, grandson Charles A McInnes, Elizabeth’s son, from Hull. Happy days….

1891, Eliza  (living on own means). 70, and the family are now in North Street (it’s possible they’re in the same house, just the address has changed), but Mary Ann is now a widow too, only 36, left with two little children, 9 and 8 . Edward died in 1883, buried in Goole Cemetery. And ladies have another smart young man boarding with them. 

1901, Eliza is now 80, still head of the household, living on own means, and Mary England is still home, presumably caring for her. Also home is her grandson William England, 19, a pupil teacher in elementary school, and another smart young lodger. 

Eliza, married for just 20 years, and 47 years a widow (not unlike Queen Victoria), dies at the grand old age of 84, and is buried with her husband, in Hook. 

(Grateful thanks to J.I. for this amazing piece of research!)