THE HARTS OF STANLEY
(Photos supplied by Barbara Williams, Ken Hart and Norma Duffin)
The HARTS are a well - established family in the village, their ancestors having been there since the early 1700's. It appears likely that some of the HARTSHORNs in Stanley are also related to them, since at one stage the two surnames were used interchangeably by the same people.
This section concentrates mainly on the family of Joseph and Mary HART, which was a large family since it was a second marriage for both of them. Mary was born Mary COTTON in 1825, and had seven children by her first husband, Joseph THOMPSON. Joseph HART had three children by his first wife Eliza, and it would appear that he moved temporarily to Nottingham in the early 1860's. Eliza died there, and he married the widowed Mary THOMPSON in Nottingham (even though both of them had been born and bred in Stanley). They then returned to Stanley and had four more children (all pictured on this page). The extended family was so large that the 1871 census enumerator recorded in the margin "this man Hart occupies three houses."
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| This photo, believed to have been taken in the 1890's, shows Mary HART (wearing the bonnet) with the family of her daughter Mary Maria ("Polly"). Polly's husband Joe DISNEY is on the left, and their eldest six children are with them. The children are Frances Eleanor (standing next to her mother), Mary Augusta (standing next to her father), Ethel Sarah and Clarice Rhoda (seated - I am unsure about which is which - they were very close in age), Ruth (on grandmother's knee) and Eunice Amelia (on her mother's knee). The photo can be accurately dated as 1897 because that was the year Eunice was born. Two more daughters and a son were born later. |
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Frank HART (centre) owned the thatched cottage in
Stanley. He never learned to read or write, having
refused to go to school as a boy.Surprisingly, both his
wives were better educated than him - his first wife was
a teacher. Frank, however, was a astute businessman. A
farmer by trade, it was said that he could buy a cow at
market and sell it for a profit before leaving for home! I cannot identify the other two men on this photo. |
| Frances Amelia HART (my great grandmother) followed her mother in
being a very long - lived member of the family. She was 90 when she
died, and had lived in Stanley all her life. She outlived her husband
Francis CLARK by 25 years, and two of her sons died before her. Her
youngest daughter celebrated her 100th birthday in 2005. It is my opinion that the longevity in this line comes from the COTTONs, since the forebears of Mary Cotton (Frances' mother) were living into their 80's as long ago as the early 19th century. |
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| The youngest son of Mary HART was Joseph. He is seen here at the wedding of his daughter Grace, to Walter FLINT. I cannot positively identify the bridesmaids - two of them could be Grace's sisters Winnie and Amanda. | |
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| The family of Benjamin Henry and Ellen Hart (photograph taken about 1900). Ellen was the daughter of Joseph Hart Snr. and his first wife Eliza Wells Brown. Benjamin may or may not have been a distant relative of his wife. The children, left to right, are Enoch, Emily, Joseph Henry, Eliza Ann, and Mary. | |
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The photograph on the left is of Benjamin Hart, a younger brother of Joseph Hart. He married in Radford, Nottingham, and had four children before dying in 1892 at the age of 40. This photograph was supplied by Norma Duffin (Benjamin's great grand-daughter). |
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