William and Caroline nee Loft

see Family Tree

(generation 20 W&CL William = Caroline)

William Trease was born in Plymouth in 1833, the son of John and Esther Whitehouse and the grandson of William and Martha Uglow. Surviving pages from a handwriting exercise book show that from 1846 to 1847 William was educated at William Dunwell's Day and Boarding Academy in High Street, Burton, a short walk from his parent's house in Horninglow Street and that he had excellent handwriting skills.

William became a commercial traveller in the clothing industry and worked for many years for John Barran & Sons, a Leeds based company that pioneered the “ready to wear” clothing industry.

In 1860, when he was 27 and working as a commercial traveller in Leeds, William married Caroline Loft, whose father was a retired manager of the Bank of England’s Leeds office. They had six children, five girls and one boy. The 1881 census shows that William and Caroline were then living apart. William was with his parents in Burton on Trent with one of his daughters, Caroline was lodging with a tailor’s family in Sheffield, one daughter and one son were serving apprenticeships with tailors, and the remaining children were living with their Aunt Jane in Balsall Heath.

In 1887, when she was only 50 years old, Caroline died in Sheffield.

William stayed at his parents’ in Burton-on-Trent until his mother died in 1896. He then moved to Acocks Green Birmingham, where he had two adjoining semi-detached houses built on a nearby estate to provide accommodation for his two unmarried daughters.

William died aged 70 in 1904 and left £1,800 to his children, a commendable amount for someone who was not in business on his own account. His thrift was to ease the financial burden on his children and grandchildren for over 80 years.

• Daughter Annie Loft was born in Leeds in 1861. After she left school, she served an apprenticeship with a firm of drapers in Birmingham. In 1891 she married a first cousin, Fred Whitehouse in Balsall Heath, Worcestershire. Fred was a beer retailer and had been born in Bloomfield, Tipton, in 1861, the son of Elisha Whitehouse and Eliza Nicklin. His father, who had died in 1882, had jointly owned a brewery in Park Lane, Tipton with his brother George.
  
  In 1902, Annie and Fred moved to Alcester, where Fred got a job as manager of a wine and spirit merchants. In 1904 Fred had a nasty fall and died a few days later in Alcester at the early age of 43. The local newspaper reported how 'his unfailing courtesy and kindness of disposition won the esteem and regard of those with whom he came in contact, both in a business or private capacity'.
  
  In 1909 Annie married again. Her new husband Thomas Pitchford was a commercial traveller. Nothing more is known of his date and place of birth or his parents. He died three years later in Kings Heath, Worcester, aged 63. After his death, Annie went to live with her sisters in Acocks Green. She died in Birmingham in 1934, aged 73, and was buried in Yardley cemetery in the same grave as that of her first husband Fred.
  
  A contemporary observation of her came from one of her Aunt Jane’s grandchildren ‘I remember her (Annie) visiting us several times when I was a child. She was a gay old bird - there's no other way of describing her.’
  
  
• Son William Henry was born in 1862 in Leeds and christened, over a year later, at the Wesleyan Chapel in Burton-on-Trent, where his grandparents and some of his aunts and uncles lived. His Aunt Jane was deeply involved in the work of this chapel and it is conjectured that she may have been his godmother. The 1871 census return shows him living with his grandparents and aunts at Burton–on-Trent. For reasons not currently understood, he may not have been brought up with his sisters in Leeds.
  
  After finishing his schooling, he completed an apprenticeship with a firm of tailors in Leicester but decided not to pursue that career. Instead, in 1884, he signed up for 12 years service with the Royal Artillery at Woolwich, 8 years of which he served in Gibraltar. In 1886 he was promoted to Bombardier but only 4 months later, following a court martial for some offence, he was demoted to gunner which was the capacity in which he served the rest of his military career.
  After completing his 12 years service, he returned to civilian life for three and a half years before rejoining the army for a further 9 years service. Throughout this second period with the Royal Garrison Artillery, it appears he worked as a storeman. In 1908 he was awarded a Long Service and Good Conduct medal. His 1909 discharge papers state “Conduct - Exemplary - No Offence during the last 10 years service - is a hard working and reliable man" and indicate he intended to work as draper and stay with his sister, Polly, at Acocks Green.
  
  It is not known what actually became of him between 1909 and 1934. In 1934 he was admitted into the Royal Hospital Chelsea where he died in 1940. He was buried in Brookwood Cemetery.
  
  
• Daughter Caroline, "Carrie", was born in 1864 in Leeds. Nothing more is known of her early life. In 1893, she married Charles Henry Taylor, a builder’s clerk, in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire. All that is known of her husband is that he was 23 when they married, and was the son of William Taylor, clerk. They had two daughters, both of whom married, but neither of whom appears to have had surviving children.
  
  Her husband died in Ulverston in 1917, aged 49. It is believed he died of influenza. After his death, Carrie stayed in the Barrow-in-Furness area. In 1934 she married Andrew White, an insurance agent, in Barrow-in-Furness. Her new husband was 65, and a son of the late James White, a farmer. It seems that after a time Andrew and Carrie separated, or possibly he died.
  
  After Carrie’s eldest daughter died in 1946, she moved to her sister Minnie’s in Acocks Green where she died, the following year, aged 82.
  
  
• daughter Minnie Trease was born in 1865 in Leeds. In 1881 she was living with her Aunt Jane and her family in Balsall Heath. In 1900, Minnie married Sidney Smith at Hagley parish Church in Worcester. Sidney was then a bachelor aged 44 and was in the furniture trade. No surviving children have been traced from the marriage. They lived in Handsworth Wood and subsequently moved to Solihull where Sidney died in 1921 aged 65.
  
  After Sidney's death Minnie went to stay at her sister Polly’s house in Malvern Road, Acocks Green, where she continued living until her death in 1955. Contemporary observations of her are from Miss E. Trease of Nottingham who said 'She last stayed with us when she was about 84, which seems to me to be a wonderful age to take a journey by train alone. We liked her very much', and from Marjorie Michell, her niece, who said 'Minnie did a lot of local social work, kept a large dog and that she, Marjorie, had been very fond of her.'
  
  
• daughter, Mary Esther, “Polly”, was born in 1867 in Midland Road Headingley. By 1881 Polly was living at her grandparents in Burton-on-Trent, with her father and her aunts Mary and Anne, who were schoolteachers. In 1899 Polly moved to "Lyndhurst", 16 Malvern Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham which was a house built for her by her father and where she was to stay for the rest of her life. To supplement her income she had paying guests.
  
  In 1913/14, her Aunt Anne came to live with her following the death of Aunt Mary with whom Aunt Anne had been living in Headcorn Kent. In 1916, Polly married her lodger James Arthur Lavell, who was the secretary of a limited company. Her husband had been born in Lambeth in 1869, the son of James Lavell, a gentleman's house porter, and Annie Millburn. Polly was then 48 and there were no children from this marriage.
  
  After Minnie’s husband died in 1921, it appears that Minnie joined Polly, her husband, and Aunt Anne at ‘Lyndhurst’. Polly became quite deaf as she grew older and Aunt Anne became more or less "stone deaf". Visitors related how difficult their visits became. One nephew related how "dead scared" he was as a child when he had to talk to Aunt Anne through an enormous ear trumpet. After Aunt Anne died in 1927, it appears that Polly's sister Louie moved in from next door and stayed there until she died there in 1934.
  
  In 1943 Polly's husband died - he was 74. 6 months later, Polly died - she was 75.
  
  
• daughter Louise, “Louie”, was born at Westfield Terrace, Headingley in 1871. In 1881, Louie was living with her Aunt Jane's family in Kings Norton. She subsequently moved to Burton-on-Trent to stay with her father. In 1899 Louie moved to "Hazelhurst", 14 Malvern Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham which was a house that her father William had built for her. She continued living there until sometime after her Aunt Anne died in 1927, when she moved in with her sister Polly next door. A cousin, Mrs Ethel Whitehouse Adams recalled "...one (of the daughters) married and the youngest Louie lived with her at Acock's Green, Birmingham, both rather deaf ..."
  
  In her later life Louie became housebound and she took great pleasure in her embroidery. Some items of Louie's embroidery have survived - many of them are exquisitely done. In the executor's account drawn up by J.H.Trease for her Aunt Annie's estate there is reference to ordinary and preference shares in a company called 'Louise & Co. Ltd., for which at present there is no market value'. Could this have been a company formed to market Louie's prolific output of embroidery?
  
  Louie's bible is annotated and indicates that certainly at some stage in her life she was an attentive church goer. Louie died in Acocks Green in 1934, three months after the death of her sister Annie. She was 63.