This is the story of one of the many HAWORTH families of Oswaldtwistle. As those of you blessed with a connection with this surname know all too well that HAWORTH with its variations of HOWARTH, HAWARTH, HEYWORTH. HAWWITH, HOWORTH etc. is one of the most common surnames in Lancashire. And with the limited selection of christian names sorting out which one belongs to your family can be a bit of a nightmare.
When I started with this addictive hobby of Family History, all I knew of my Grandmother's family was that she, Dorothy Jane Haworth, had been born in Derby in 1898 to William Pick Haworth and Mary Ann DAYKIN. William was the 'black sheep' of his family whose head was a wealthy doctor in Scarborough, Yorkshire. There was talk of the scandal of a defrauded inheritance, but beyond that no one in the family knew much more. Like most people new to this hobby I plugged a few names into the online IGI database, but grandmother and William did not register and I gave up that line of research. My first breakthrough came in 1999 with the arrival of the 1881 Census on CD produced by the LDS. I did a search on William Haworth on the Yorkshire disk and, amazingly, there he was, but in Filey, not Scarborough. He was 17 years old, seemingly the eldest child of James and Jane Haworth. William and his sisters Mabel and Beatrice had been born in Keighley, but Jane came from Blackburn and James, definitely a doctor, came from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire.
A visit to the GENUKI Yorkshire pages yielded more information. At that time there were online extracts from the Filey Directory for 1892 available, and there, under surgeons, were listed 2 Haworths: James and John Thomas, both practising from the same address. I contacted Filey library and they gave me the phone number of the Filey Archive (The Fisher Crimlisk Archive) run by Eric Pinder. This is housed in the Town Hall in Filey and is a wonderful collection of photographs, newspaper cuttings and many other documents relating to the history of the resort. Mr Pinder knew of the family and told me that James had left a collection of newspaper clippings and other memorabilia that was now in the Archive. He sent copies of some of them to me, and thanks to the Victorian habit of listing all the guests and presents at Weddings I gradually began to build up a picture of who was who in the family. He then gave me an address which was to help to reveal so much more of the family story; he had found a reference to James's brother John who died in Accrington and suggested that I get in touch with the Local Studies Library there.
The Accrington librarian had heard of John Haworth and said that she would send me copies of his obituaries from the local papers. That was the start of a long-distance relationship with Catherine Duckworth and Helen Barratt, the local studies librarians, whose extensive local knowledge and helpfulness has assisted me so much in putting together the story of my particular branch of the Haworth family. They have sent copies of obituaries, census data and book extracts, given advice on books to borrow on inter-library loans and generally pointed me in some of the right directions.
Like most family historians these days I make extensive use of the Internet. The IGI has now given me some data on the family, but the phenomenon of the mailing list has been of great assistance. I am signed up to the LANCSGEN list operated by Rootsweb and this has provided me with contacts who have helped in my search. Through the list I have 'met' George Hargreaves whose great-grandfather was adopted by Henry Haworth; Terry Hughes-Jones, the head of the local Methodist Primary School; Jane Cort who provided some census data; and Sandy Boleware who has been transcribing BMD information from Church (the next village) where many of the family were married. Other Internet contacts include Pat Smith who photographed gravestones and sent census information; Sheila Bayley who gave me BMD information from Filey Parish Church; and Terence Orrell, Nigel Sudders, John Tipping and Phil Sleight and Barbara Watson whose own ancestors were connected with the family. Barbara has kindly filled me in on her branch of her family and sent copies of old photographs. Thanks mustalso go to Mrs Anne Kirman who kindly wrote down all the Haworth MI's from Rhyddings Methodist Chapel and, of course, the members of my own family who have helped so much with their own recollections of 'who was who'; Gladys and Betty Haworth, Thelma Storey , Thelma Jackson and Billy Jones.
I am fortunate in being part of this particular Haworth family for most of them devoted their lives to the Methodist Church and public service and so they are very well documented. N.B. Of the several Churches which are mentioned in this history the naming of the Methodist Church at Oswaldtwistle may be the most confusing. Hippings Methodist moved to new premises in the mid 19th Century and became Mount Pleasant. Following a complete rebuild it is now known as Rhyddings Methodist Church, which is why my Haworth ancestors who were buried at Mount Pleasant are now to be found in the graveyard at Rhyddings!