Daniel Ledson III was the youngest son of Henry Ledson ( ) of Spencers Farm, Melling and of his wife Elizabeth Rymer ( ).

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1 LEDSON We begin our history of the Ledsons of Melling with Ellen Ledson ( ), the wife of Edward Molyneux ( ) and we go back first of all as far as we have found possible. 1 Ellen Ledson was the eldest child of Daniel Ledson ( ) (here called Daniel Ledson III), a sewage farm bailiff born in Melling, near Liverpool. Her mother was Daniel s first wife Margaret Shaw ( ). Daniel Ledson III was the youngest son of Henry Ledson ( ) of Spencers Farm, Melling and of his wife Elizabeth Rymer ( ). Henry Ledson was born at Melling, the second son of Daniel Ledson II ), farmer of Melling House and husband of Sarah Aspinwall ( ). Daniel II was also born at Melling, a son of Daniel Ledson I, a brewer and husbandman of that place, who died there in 1764, and of Daniel s wife Margaret (died 1796). The first Daniel, brewer and husbandman and in early life a servant of Lord Derby at Knowsley Hall, was probably a son of Samuel Ledsome, husbandman of Melling and Maghull (died 1728), and of his wife Elizabeth Bradley (died 1723). Origins The history of the Ledson family during the 200 years from 1705 is essentially the history of the adjacent townships of Maghull and Melling, agricultural communities in the parish of Halsall and on the outskirts of Liverpool and especially of three farms in Melling. This history begins with the marriage at Melling in 1705/6 of Samuel Ledsome, a Melling husbandman, whose origins remain obscure. Although an oral family tradition suggests that the first Lancashire Ledsons came from Scandinavia, the name (a corruption of Ledsham) is first found in Cheshire and in the West Riding of Yorkshire and seems to be derived from place names there. 2 The only instance of the name which has been found in Lancashire records before the marriage of Samuel Ledsome in 1705/6 occurs at Prescot where James Ledsham/Leddsom/Ledsome of Whiston had daughters baptised in 1683 and 1688 and was buried in No Ledsons are mentioned in wills from Melling, Maghull, Lydiate, Sefton, Thornton, Aintree, Great Crosby and Bootle for the period to c Ledsons of Bunbury, Cheshire The Melling Ledsons may well descend from a family domiciled at Bunbury, Cheshire by the late sixteenth century. 5 William Ledsome and Katherine Brocke William Ledsome was married to Katherine Brocke at Bunbury on 13 October Jane, daughter of William and Katharine of Beeston (Bunbury) was baptised at Bunbury on 25 January 1598, but Jane, daughter of William of Beeston was buried on 22 May 1600; Cicely, daughter of William of Beeston was buried on 20 April William Ledsom of Beeston was buried at Bunbury on 11 December Edward Ledsom of Bunbury had children baptised at Bunbury: Richard (12 October 1606); and Ralph (12 March 1608/9); and Richard (6 April 1612). William, son of Cicely Ledsome of Beeston was buried on 5 November Katherine, wife of William Ledsome of Beeston was buried on 17 July William Ledsome, senior of Beeston was buried on 28 July

2 William Ledsom William Ledsom, junior of Beeston had children baptised at Bunbury: William (10 September 1626); Mary (18 November 1632); Thomas (24 January 1636); John (23 February 1640); Jane (31 July 1642); ans Sarah/Elizabeth (10 April 1653). William Ledson had children baptised at Bunbury: William (23 February 1651); Sarah and Elizabeth (10 April 1653); Ann (17 November 1655); NXN (1660) Thomas Ledson and Jane Owen had a child born at Bunbury in Thomas Ledson married Jane Owen at Bunbury on 26 February They had children baptised at Bunbury: Thomas (29 March 1661); David (27 February 1662); Martha (1 May 1667); Elizabeth (1668). Morris Ledson and Jane Owen had a son Thomas, baptised at Bunbury on 25 March William Ledson married Mary Hoyer at Bunbury in Their son George was baptised at Bunbury on 24 April Thomas Ledson married Johanna Fryer at Bunbury on 13 April [Children, NXN, of Thomas Ledson and Johanna Fryer were born at Beeston, Bunbury in 1653 and 1657]. William Ledsham of Bunbury was accused at Michaelmas 1675 of committing fornication with Mary Fryer and eventually did penance in Bunbury church on 28 January William Ledson married at Bunbury in He had children baptised at Bunbury: Samuel (2 April 1682); William (6 September 1685); John (3 January 1688); Elizabeth (28 January 1690). A child (NXN) of William Ledson and Ann Robinson was born at Tiverton, Bunbury in Instances of Daniel, Thomas and Samuel Ledson occur at Bunbury in the early eighteenth century. Mary Ledson and Daniel Thornhill were married at Bunbury on 11 November Ledshams are found in Chester from the sixteenth century 8 and Daniel, son of Thomas Ledsham was baptised at St Michael s, Chester in On 11 December 1690 Samuel Ledsham, yeoman of Caldy, Cheshire and Elizabeth Bold of Erbie/Woodchurch were married by licence at Woodchurch 10 and in 1694 Daniel, son of William Ledsham was baptised at Hawarden, Flintshire. 11 Daniel Ledsham married at St Peter, Chester in 1742 and again (as a baker and widower, aged 30) in 17.. One William Ledson (born c. 1752) had children John, William, Ann and Elizabeth baptised at St Nicholas, Liverpool in William Ledsham was buried at Childwall on 7 July 1801, aged 49: his widow Deborah (a shopkeeper) died at Woolton in 1811 and was buried at Childwall on 25 July. 12 John Ledson, a sawyer was married to Alice Hodson at St Peter s, Liverpool in May Their children were Alice and Ann (born c. 1802) and Elizabeth (born 1810). Samuel and Elizabeth Ledsome of Melling and the first of many Daniels We have no evidence of the parentage of Samuel Ledsome. He may well have been baptised at Maghull, a chapelry of Halsall which kept its own registers: those for the period before 1729 have not survived. Samuel Ledsome, a bachelor and husbandman of Melling, married Elizabeth Bradley of Maghull at Melling after banns on 28 January 1705/6. 13 Elizabeth Bradley s family had close connections with malting and beer-brewing at Maghull, as the Ledsons were to have in Melling. There is an obvious possibility that Samuel came from a brewing family. Samuel and Elizabeth seem to have begun their married life at Melling, although they may well then have 2

3 moved to Maghull. They were to have two sons: Thomas and Daniel. Thomas was baptised at Melling on 29 December 1706, but there is no trace of Daniel s baptism: no Maghull chapel registers have survived before 1720, so it may perhaps have taken place there. Samuel Ledsom was appointed executor of the will of his father-in-law Thomas Bradley of Maghull on 2 January 1711/12 and duly acted on 14 February. Elizabeth Ledsom received under her father s will his pair of standing bedstocks, a feather bed, a chast bed, and two pair of sheets and all the bed cloathing to me belonging, together with one long table, one fall table, a dishboard, one chair, a fire grate, rack irons and tongs, together with 1 5s and an annuity of 1 out of his Maghull estate. 14 Elizabeth Ledsom died at Maghull in 1723 and was buried at Melling on 26 July: her husband Samuel died a husbandman at Maghull in 1728/9 and was buried at Melling on 24 January. Samuel and Elizabeth s elder son Thomas Thomas Leadson married Margrett Parr at Halsall on 27 January 1736/7. 15 A son Daniel was baptised at Ormskirk on 10 December 1738, when his father was of Melling : it may well have been this Daniel who was buried at Ormskirk in No more is known about this line. Daniel Ledson I and Margaret We have seen that there is no record of the baptism of Samuel and Elizabeth s son Daniel, who was later to be a brewer and husbandman at Melling. Daniel was first mentioned in the will of his kinsman William Bradley, yeoman of Melling in Daniel, who received 20 was then described as Daniel Ledshome, servant at the Hall, Knowsley. This is all that is known of Daniel s early life. We have seen that his baptism may have taken place at Maghull, but the records are silent about his marriage to one Margaret, in c It is clear that Daniel and Margaret were living in Knowsley village, in Huyton parish from at least Their first child Samuel was born at Knowsley on 7 December 1742 and baptised at Huyton on 13 December. 16 A daughter Martha was born 23 August 1743 (baptised 2 September); and twins William and Elizabeth on 31 August 1746 (the twins were baptised 1 September, but buried later that month). A second Elizabeth was born 2 February 1747/8 and baptised 28 February and a son George on 24 January 1751/2. When George was baptised at Huyton on 14 February Daniel was described as Daniel Ledsom at Knowsley, brewer. Last of the children to be born at Knowsley was Daniel (25 March 1753), baptised at Huyton 18 April. 17 By 1756 Daniel was a brewer in Melling, where another son John was baptised on 29 February. Daniel s young children Daniel and John died the next year and were buried on 21 and 25 March: the register called their father a husbandman. A daughter Margaret was baptised 22 October 1758 and a son Daniel II, destined to be a great Melling patriarch, on 15 August Death of Daniel Ledson I and re-marriage of Margaret Daniel Ledson, yeoman made his will on 4 April 1761, with bequests to his five children then living, all of whom were under 21 ( 45 to Samuel and 40 each to Martha, Elizabeth, George and Margaret), with a 7 annual allowance to his widow. The residue of his estate was to be used for educating and bringing up the children and then divided between them when the youngest achieved majority. His executors were to be William Litherland of Knowsley and Edmund Barlow of Maghull [who both died in 1786]. The witnesses were Richard Barnes, James Bradshaw and Joseph Valentine. The district achieved some notoriety at the beginning of December 1762 when three seamen arrested in Liverpool for leading a strike for a minimum wage were being taken to Lancaster for trial, but were released by a crowd at Maghull. The crowd were engaged in bull-baiting as a part of Maghull wakes. 18 On 20 March 1763 Daniel Ledson of Melling, brewer appeared before a surrogate to consent to the marriage of his 20-year-old son Samuel with Sarah (19), daughter of William Tyrer of Knowsley: the bondsman was Lawrence Holme. In 1764 Daniel met an accidental death at Melling by being scalded in a 3

4 vat of hot brewer s wort. After an inquest, he was buried at Melling on 23 April. The will was proved on 12 June On 11 February 1768 a licence was granted for the marriage of Daniel s widow Margaret Ledsham with Joseph Birch, a Melling husbandman and bachelor: Joseph and his bondsman Henry Aspinwall of Melling both marked the application. The marriage took place at Melling on 13 February. Margaret was to die in 1796 and Joseph in (FOR THE CHILDREN OF DANIEL LEDSON I, OTHER THAN DANIEL II, SEE APPENDIX 1) Daniel Ledson I s sixth and youngest child Daniel II, the patriarch The Daniel whom we have called Daniel Ledson II was actually the fourth Daniel to be born in descent from his grandfather Samuel Ledson. (We have seen that the others were Samuel s younger son Daniel; Daniel, the son of Samuel s elder son Thomas; and an earlier Daniel born to Daniel I, who did not survive infancy). Daniel Ledson II was born less than a year before the death of his father Daniel: he was baptised at Melling chapel on 15 August In 1784 Daniel and his elder brothers and sisters qualified for their share of the residue of their father s estate. Daniel, junior took out a licence on 29 December 1784 to marry Sarah, daughter of Henry Aspin(w)all of Netherton, husbandman. The bondsman for the licence was Robert Birch, husbandman of Melling (perhaps a son of Daniel s step-father Joseph Birch). Both parties were 21 and the marriage took place at Melling on 30 December. 19 Daniel was to die in 1826, aged 63, gored to death by his own bull. By then he was farmer (under Bootle Wilbraham) 20 of Melling House 21 (the township s principal farm), and owner of land at Melling, Halsall and Aughton: he was also the father of six sons and seven daughters. By the time Daniel s widow Sarah died on 5 June 1852 she had, according to the Liverpool Mercury 13 children, 91 grandchildren and 108 great-grandchildren. 22 Daniel II s stepfather Joseph Birch It is clear that Joseph Birch, Daniel Ledson s stepfather, was the first member of the Ledson family to lease Melling House Farm from Bootle: by 1781 he was paying 3 1s 9d land tax for it: 23 in 1783 the assessment was 2 9s 6d, with another 3s 0d for a further piece of Bootle s land. From 1785 there was a single assessment of 3, which stood at 3 8s 3d in In addition, by 1789 Birch held Bootle s land at Kirkby, for which he paid 6s 5d. Daniel Ledson farms the Melling tithes The name Ledson first appears in the Melling land tax returns when Daniel Ledson was one of the collectors in 1789 and by 1792 he became farmer of the tithes, paying 5 7s 9d land tax that year and 6 9s 5d in 1794 and He farmed the tithes jointly with John Aughton in 1798, paying 6 12s 6¼ in land tax for them. 24 Daniel was a chapelwarden in Deaths of Margaret and Joseph Birch Margaret, wife of Joseph Birch of Melling, farmer was left 10 in the will of William Litherland, yeoman of Knowsley in 1786: William had been one of the executors of her late husband Daniel. Margaret, wife of Joseph Birch died in 1796 and was buried at Melling on 3 March: Joseph himself was buried there on 3 February No will is extant. Daniel and Sarah Ledson at Melling House Daniel took over the Melling House tenancy from his step-father Joseph Birch in 1796, paying 3 8s 3d land tax: in addition by 1798 he also held the Melling School land in Maghull (5s 7½d land tax) and Bootle s farm called Stockram in Kirkby (6s). No other Ledsons occur in that part of Lancashire in the land tax returns of In 1808 and 1809 Ledson was co-owner with James Sephton of 19s-worth of land at Halsall, occupied by Henry Sephton. 4

5 Melling House is shown as Ledsons on an early map. 27 Leased from E.W. Bootle, Melling House and its 72-acre farm passed eventually to Daniel s fifth son William ( ) and on his death to Thomas Ledson ( ), a son of the third son George. Thomas and his wife Alice were to play leading parts in the life of the community and were frequently to be mentioned in this capacity in the local press. 28 In 1911 Thomas sons George (born 1861) and Thomas ( ) were both single, living at the 9-room Melling House. Thomas bought the house and farm from the Bootle estate in 1920 and it eventually passed from the Ledson family to H. Harrison by purchase in By 1810 the land tax assessment for Melling House was 3 0s 9d and Daniel Ledson was paying a further sum of 1 7s 0d for Rimmers (also owned by Bootle-Wilbraham). From 1820 the assessment of Daniel Ledson, senior (and later of his widow Sarah) was consolidated into one sum of 4 7s 9d. 30 In 1822 Daniel was executor for his nephew John Ledson of Ormskirk. Death of Daniel, the patriarch Daniel Ledson of Melling House died on Sunday 30 July 1826, after being attacked by his own bull. Notice of his death appeared in most of the Liverpool newspapers, amongst which the Liverpool Mercury and Billinge s Liverpool Advertiser had the fullest (and identical) reports of the death which arose from an attack of a bull. 31 The Liverpool Commercial Chronicle reported thus: at Melling, Mr Daniel Ledson, farmer, aged and Gore s Liverpool Advertiser: at Melling, Mr Daniel Ledson, farmer aged Gore s Advertiser, the Mercury and the Liverpool Courier remarked that he has left a wife and 13 children to lament his death. The Mercury added: of him it may truly be said that he was a strictly honest and industrious man. Daniel s widow Sarah Daniel made his will on 24 July, six days before he died. He left all his property in Melling, Halsall and Aughton to his six sons and seven daughters and to his beloved and affectionate wife Sarah. The executors were Robert Webster of Litherland, farmer and Daniel Ledson, junior and the witnesses were James Bennett, William Barnes and John Chadwick. Daniel was buried at Melling on 3 August. The will was proved on 16 December and death duties were paid after his widow s decease in In 1830 Daniel s widow Sarah was continuing to pay 4 7s 9d land tax and 106 rental for Bootle s land in Melling and an additional 2s 4d for her own. She was paying a further 6s and 2s 3d for Bootle s farm and for Rimmers, both at Kirkby. Sarah was to live on into great age. By 1841, already 77, she was living in Burscough Street, Ormskirk, with her grandson Daniel Heaton: they had a police sergeant and a school-master as next-door neighbours. 35 In 1851 she was at 1 Woodyard, a development of nine cottages on the eastern side of Burscough Street, near the Burscough boundary, with her grand-daughter Sarah Berry (11) and a 17-year-old servant. A Chelsea pensioner and a railway porter were next-door neighbours. 36 As Mrs Ledson she occurs in lists of inhabitants of Burscough Street in the manor court books of those years. 37 Woodyard is clearly marked on the 1851 town plan of Ormskirk. 38 From at least 1847 living conditions in the centre of Ormskirk (and especially in the old buildings, courts and yards of Burscough Street (running north towards the Burscough boundary) had become notoriously overcrowded and insanitary. Many Irish had long been seasonal visitors at harvest-time and Irish navvies were employed until 1849 building the Liverpool to Ormskirk railway. In the spring of 1847, after the potato famine, there was a huge influx of Irish into the small town, many already sick with fever. Within weeks typhus was rife, to be succeeded by cholera in The death rate rose to 46.1 per thousand, far higher than in the worst parts of London. An inspection (leading in 1850 to the establishment of a Local Board of Health) revealed a lack of any proper sewerage system. The town boasted no bath and only five water closets and many new dwellings erected in yards behind the main streets quickly became filthy hovels. Raw sewage ran in open gullies in all the streets. Of Burscough Street it was said in 1849 that a sewer from the upper portion opens onto the surface at the lower end into an open drain. All the water for the yards must pass out onto the open street. Like all 5

6 Burscough Street s 11 yards, Wood-yard had an open drain, but unlike all the others, it flowed directly into the fields and not into the main open sewer in the street. It was however emphasised in 1850 that proper sanitary works and regulations are alone required to render Ormskirk and the neighbourhood extremely healthy. 39 Sarah Ledson was 88 when she died of paraplexy at Woodyard on 5 June 1852: according to the Liverpool Mercury she left 13 children, 91 grandchildren and 108 great-grandchildren. Her death was registered that day by Anna Smith, present at the death. Sarah was buried at Melling on 9 June on the south side of the churchyard, just west of the path leading to the east end of the church. The grave bears the inscription: Daniel and Sarah Ledson of Melling, their burial ground. Death duties on her husband s farming business and real estate were paid in December 1852: it was valued at Daniel and Sarah Ledson s sons and daughters Daniel and Sarah Ledson had seven daughters and six sons: Margaret (born c. 1784); Daniel ( ); Ellen (born 1788); Henry ( ); George ( ); Joseph ( ); Richard ( ); Sarah; Ann (born 1799); Elizabeth (born 1801); William (c ); Richard ( ); Mary (born 1807); and Jane (born 1811). (FOR THE CHILDREN OF DANIEL LEDSON II & SARAH, OTHER THAN HENRY, SEE APPENDIX 2) Henry and Elizabeth Ledson Daniel and Sarah s second son Henry Ledson ( ) was baptised at Melling on 19 September 1790 (the year in which his father Daniel served as chapelwarden). On Christmas Day 1816 Henry (a yeoman) took out a licence to marry Formby-born Elizabeth Rimmer ( ), now of Ormskirk. 41 The bondsman was William Ruffley of Halsall and the wedding took place on 30 December 1816 at Ormskirk: the parties both signed and the witnesses were Sarah Ledson, Wm Southern and J. Hankin. Henry and Elizabeth farmed 29 acres at Spencers Farm, Melling. At least twelve children were born to them from 1818 to 1835: these were Daniel ( ); Thomas ( ); George ( ); Samuel (born 1822); John ( ); Anna (1825); Sarah ( ); Joseph (born and died 1828); Joseph ( ); 42 William ( ); Elizabeth ( ); and Daniel III ( ). Six of the twelve pre-deceased their parents: these were the first Daniel, Thomas, George, Sarah, the first Joseph, William and Elizabeth. Described in 1818 as a farmer, of Melling, by 1819 Henry was paying 2 2s 2¼d in land tax and 46 rental for land, (known as Spencers Farm ) owned by Michael Hughes. This 52-acre farm had been occupied from at least by Nathaniel Pye and his widow Catharine and was still called Pye s in the 1841 census. A son Samuel (later of Maghull) was born there to Henry and Elizabeth Ledson in 1822 and another son John ( ) in Anna was born in 1825 and Joseph in By 1830, in addition to the 2 2s 2¼d tax for the late Michael Hughes house and land, Henry was paying a further 18s 10d and 19 rental for a house and land owned by Mrs Barnes. 43 Henry and Elizabeth s last child, Daniel, was born in 1835 and baptised at Melling on 2 August. Henry and Elizabeth s farm was beside the Leeds Liverpool canal, in the south-east corner of the township, just south of the hamlet of Waddicar. The bridge which carries today s Spencers Lane over the canal is still called Ledsons Bridge: 44 the farm house known as Spencers or Pyes lay on the south side of the lane, just below the present M57 embankment. In the tithe award of 1839 the farm comprised Three Stiles; House; Stable and Meadow; Orchard Meadow; Whalleys Meadow; Big Carr; Big Field; Far Big Field; Three Nook Carr; Long Field; Heads Field; Big Green; Little Green; Long Lee. 45 The 1841 census returns show Henry and Elizabeth Ledson at Pye s Farm, Waddicar 46 with Thomas (20), Samuel, John and Ann (15), Joseph (11) and Daniel (5): the farm was close to the Dog and Gun and next 6

7 door to an agricultural labourer at Swan Nest House. 47 The 1845 electoral register shows Henry at Spencers, as occupier of 26 acres. 48 In 1841 William Ledson was farming at Melling House and Daniel at Halsall s House (described in the electoral register as Bootle House Farm, 32 acres; and Clayton s Farm, 36 acres). In 1845 the proposals to build the Bolton, Wigan and Liverpool Railway, included a possible deviation across the bottom over-canal fields owned by Ellen Hughes and occupied by Henry Ledson. When asked to assent, Henry gave no answer and the line was eventually built south of the Melling boundary. 49 The parliamentary bill for the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston railway (1846) included provision for an alternative line through Waddicar and Melling Mount, which would have taken much of the land at Spencers and at Melling House. At Spencers this would have been the brook on boundary, two meadow fields, two arable fields, a pit and footpath, all owned by Mrs Hughes and occupied by Henry, with another of his fields owned by Sarah Ledson. 50 On the first edition 6-inch map of 1849, Spencers Lane appears as Three Stiles Lane, the bridge is Pyes and the farmhouse Spencers House. 51 The first edition 25-inch map of 1893 (surveyed 1891) shows Spencers Farm and Ledsons Bridge. 52 By 1851 only John (27) and Daniel (15) were living with their parents and four servants on the 29-acre farm. 53 The poor rate books for Halsall parish show Henry Ledson as occupier of land and a building for which Mrs Hughes paid 12s 1½d. 54 Following the death of Henry Ledson s mother Sarah the Liverpool Mercury announced on 3 August 1852 the sale by the devisees of the late Daniel Ledson of various freehold and leasehold properties in Melling, Halsall and Aughton. Amongst these were a 3 acre 2.34 leasehold under Lord Skelmersdale at 3s annual rent, by the lives of Henry (62) and his elder brother Daniel (65); and a 4 acre 0.29 freehold named Moor Hey on the north side of the highway from Melling chapel to Prescot, occupied as tenant by Henry. With a good frontage for building the Hey was 1 mile from Maghull station and ½ mile from Kirkby station. 55 In the 1860 voters list this is clearly identified as the 26-acre Spencers Farm. 56 The 1854 directory showed Henry Ledson as a farmer at Spencers. 57 Elizabeth Ledson died, aged 66, on 20 April 1860, of inflamation of the lungs (11 days) and jaundice (seven days) certified. The death was registered on 23 April by Daniel Ledson, present at the death and Elizabeth was buried at Melling on the 24th. Henry Ledson made his will on 1 June 1861, appointing his son Daniel labourer, of Melling and James Anderton, delf master as executors. 58 His estate was to be sold and the proceeds divided between his surviving children Samuel, John, Anna, Joseph and Daniel. The witnesses were Daniel Barton and John Charnock. Henry Ledson died at Melling, aged 72, 18 months after his wife, on 15 October 1861, of disease of the liver and brain, six months certified : the death was registered the same day by Thomas Chadwick, present, who marked. Henry was buried at Melling. 59 (Curiously, the burial register calls him Daniel and gives his abode as Aintree.) The sale required by the will was duly advertised by the Ormskirk Advertiser 60 and took place on 25 and 26 November This included three draught horses, three in calf cows, a luscious fat pig, farm tools, steaming apparatus, 200 thraves of oats, 100 of wheat, beans, barley, potatoes, turnips, mangold wurtzel, onions, celery, cabbages, dairy vessels and household furniture. The furniture included feather and chaff beds, mahogany desk, drawers and tables, two eight-day clocks (one American) and wine and ale glasses. The will was proved on 8 February 1862 and a further sale of a half share in 5½ acres of excellent and well-fed wheat on Henry Ledson s farm took place on 11 August. 61 The farm was described as ½ mile ( along the footpath by the Railway Inn ) from Kirkby station and 1½ miles from Maghull station. 7

8 Henry and Elizabeth s son John was to farm Spencers after his father s death. John is shown there (and at Ledson s Bridge in the voters lists of 1868 and 1874: 62 he was succeeded in the tenancy in 1878 by his widow Mary. By 1881 Spencers and Melling House were the only two farms in Melling still held by Ledsons. In 1890 Thomas Ledson, junior was in a cottage on Ledson s Farm, Ledson s Bridge. The farm had been abandoned by 1941: the dwelling was demolished in c and houses were built on the land by (FOR CHILDREN OF HENRY & ELIZABETH LEDSON, OTHER THAN DANIEL, SEE APPENDIX 3) Daniel Ledson III Henry and Elizabeth Ledson s youngest child Daniel, born in 1835 was with the family at Pye s Farm in 1841 and By 1856 he was a labourer, living in Hopwood Street, Liverpool and from here on 21 September he married Margaret Shaw, then of Summer Street, Liverpool, at St. John s, Liverpool, after banns. Daniel was 21 and Margaret 19. The witnesses (who both marked) were William Tyrer and Elizabeth Pye. Margaret Shaw At her marriage Margaret Shaw stated her father to have been one Edward Shaw, labourer, but it is clear that she was the illegitimate daughter of Ellen Shaw, born at Barton, Downholland in 1836 and baptised at Halsall on 4 December. Margaret was brought up by her mother in the household of Ellen s parents George Shaw of Barton ( ) and his Scarisbrick-born wife Margaret ( ). 64 Ellen Ledson born Daniel and Margaret Ledson s first child Ellen was born at Barton, Downholland on 23 April 1857 and baptised at Halsall on 17 May: Daniel declared himself as an agricultural labourer, living at Melling. The evidence suggests that Daniel and Margaret lived at Melling from 1857 until the death of Daniel s father in October 1861: unfortunately the 1861 census returns for Spencers Farm are missing. 65 Two more daughters Elizabeth and Annie were born at Melling on 31 January 1859 and 23 December 1860 and were both baptised there. Daniel and Margaret seem then to have moved on to Simonswood, where their son Henry was born on 24 April 1863: Henry was baptised at Kirkby on 14 June Fazakerley The family then moved to Fazakerley, where William was born to Daniel and Margaret on 3 May 1865: a daughter Margaret was born at Fazakerley on 15 March 1867 and baptised at Melling on 7 April. 67 Death of Margaret Ledson Margaret Ledson ( wife of Daniel Ledson, farm labourer ) died of typhus at Fazakerley on 14 August 1868, aged 31. Daniel ( present ) registered the death the same day and Margaret was buried at Melling, beside the south-east corner of the church, on 16 August. A memorial stone is inscribed: Sacred to the memory of Margaret, wife of Daniel Ledson, who departed this life [14 August] 1868, aged 31. Daniel marries again On 2 February 1870, at St Mary s chapel, Bootle, Daniel (now a Bootle labourer) married his second wife Maria Caroline ( ), daughter of Evan Hughes, a Bootle watch-spring maker. The marriage was after banns and the witnesses were Thomas Cromer and Elizabeth Broomfield. Netherton A son Daniel born to Daniel and Maria at Netherton on 3 December 1870 died at seven weeks and was 8

9 buried at Melling in January In February 1871 Daniel, ploughman to George Woods, Sefton won second prize at the Sefton Ploughing Match and fourth prize (in the fourth class of ploughmen) for the neatest, cleanest turnout at Bickerstaffe. 68 On 2 April 1871 the census returns show Daniel (36, an agricultural labourer), living at The Lodge, Chapel Lane, Netherton, with his wife Maria and his children Annie, Henry, William and Margaret. 69 His second daughter Elizabeth was working at that time as a servant at The Poplars, Sefton. Return to Fazakerley In 1871 and 1872 Daniel was listed for the first times in the Liverpool directories (at Old Lane, Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley ) and in 1873 and 1874 at Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley. 70 We know that by 1876 Daniel was farm bailiff to James Wilton at Elm Grove, between Longmoor Lane and Higher Lane in Fazakerley: Daniel s mother Ellen Smith had been living at Elm Grove in 1871 as a servant to Wilton. A son Daniel, born to Daniel and Maria Caroline on 8 January 1872 was born at Kirkwood according to the birth certificate and 1891 census returns, but at Fazakerley according to the baptism register of 1880 and the 1881 census. There followed Maria (2. September 1873), Evan Thomas (30 April 1875) and Miriam (1 November 1876), all born at Fazakerley. 71 Mr Daniel Ledson, Fazakerley was a judge at the revived Sefton Ploughing Match in February West Derby Sewage Farm In October 1876 the West Derby Local Board confirmed the appointment of Daniel Ledson as bailiff and manager of its sewage farm at Fazakerley: it was to be his most important life s work and he was to remain there for 17 years until Sewage farms were becoming a popular solution to the problem of night-soil disposal. In 1870 the West Derby local government board resolved to acquire land for a similar undertaking. 73 In the event the high price of 50,000 for the 207 acres and associated legal costs, with an additional 50,000 for the development of the farm) were to leave the board crippled with debt which no farm (however profitable) could have met and which would eventually require an act of parliament to resolve. 74 West Derby Sewage Farm opened in 1872 and was approached then, as now, from Clock House Bridge, where the River Alt and Fazakerley Brook (the Tue Brook) separate Copple House Lane (to the north) and Stonebridge Lane (to the south). 75 The board retained as supervisor of the initial works William Hope (a national expert in sewage farm engineering): Hope s principal assistant was James Avis and Avis brother William was to remain to direct the works. 76 William was to be appointed as the first farm bailiff. In May 1873 the Ormskirk Advertiser carried a long description of the farm and of a visit to Clock House by the local board, who were shown round by the manager, Mr William Avis. There were no doubts about the farm s success in sewage purification, but it was an open question whether the venture would make money or lose it. The farm looked at first like any other, but was devoid of hedges, ditches and hillocks. Round the fields (which were divided by wagon roads) ran raised channels (carriers) like open sewers in which ran the dark, muddy sewage liquid. The beds sloped gently from the side of the carriers and were divided by small rills, into which sewage was released through small apertures in the carriers to soak into the ground. Four feet below ground surface were sub-soil drainpipes. In the ground the sewage lost its valuable manurial content and the water thus purified passed into the drains. The first crops grown had been onions, carrots, mangolds, beans, turnips and cabbages on 45 acres. The land had not been in the board s hands for many months, but no expense had been spared. There were steam ploughs (one bought for 1220) and harrows and an enormous levelling shovel powered by an engine, but there was still work for nearly 80 men and about 20 horses. It was explained that crop rotation was unnecessary in this situation. It was also noted that the farm only dealt with the sewage of the western (and most populous) part of the district: that of the eastern part still flowed directly into the Alt, but there were hopes to include this eventually. 77 The Clock House farmhouse was repaired and used to house Avis and the horse-keeper. A sitting room and bedroom were furnished by the board, but the sitting room was also to serve as an office for the account books. Bedding provided for the labourers was to be similar to that used by emigrants. There were public concerns about profitability from the start and the local press was to carry reports of disputes and recriminations (not least among the elected members of the local board). 78 It can hardly have 9

10 helped that decisions about cropping methods were taken by the board s farms committee, which had only two farmers in its number. Each new season saw the appointment of a new bailiff (and blame attached to the old). On 21 August 1873 John Yates sought release from his post as manager of the Ormskirk farm, having been appointed to West Derby to succeed William Avis. On 4 November 1874 the board resolved by 11 votes to 8 to dismiss Yates. On 5 August 1875 it was reported that Mr Ferme, bailiff of the farm was to be asked to resign for making a loss of 700: he was replaced by William Avis brother James on 8 September. Ferme s dismissal took place in enormously controversial cirumstances. It was alleged that the farm was in a deplorable condition from mismanagement and that a crop of turnips had been found completely rotten and bursting. In September 1875 Ferme wrote to the Liverpool Mercury complaining about the board s interference and saying that he had been left virtually powerless since June. Others wrote that the quantity of sewage flowing onto the land required a farm four times the size. In fact the farm was nothing but a filter for the Alt and was bound to be a commercial failure. It was unfenced, costly implements were exposed to the weather and the steam plough was useless. The farm was said to be inferior to all those adjacent and that its wild look from the road turned thoughts to Ireland! One of Ferme s defenders wrote that he was a most intelligent, well-educated and thoroughly competent man. The dismissal did not prevent Ferme retaining possession of Plum Tree House and part of Clock House and vacant possession for James Avis was not obtained until May In October 1875 the West Derby board invited tenders for letting the farm, but turned down an offer on December. It was reported that the tanks and pumping engine were still not complete. By now it was estimated that annual costs would exceed In April 1876 George Ferme exacted his revenge by publishing a pamphlet on sewage farming, which was largely an attack on the West Derby board and their methods. The farm, he wrote, has failed in an engineering, physical, chemical, agricultural and financial way, because notoriously impractical persons are allowed to direct and mismanage it : its value was now only 25,500. Meanwhile Avis complained to the committee in May that members visit the farm at all hours from 6a.m. to 8p.m. and at times ridiculing me to the farm labourers and one lot of labourers to another and by saying offensive things to me. In June Ferme wrote to the Mercury pointing out that the work to establish the farm was not yet complete, that the farm buildings had scarcely been touched and were in a disgraceful state, that the eastern sewer (carrying a third of all the waste) was still polluting the Alt and that the prospect of a crop was much worse than for the last two years. Nevertheless extensive improvements of the farmhouse were planned to make it a suitable residence for the bailiff, a committee room and a labourer s dwelling. 80 By now it was known that the previous year s loss had been 4000 and new practical blood was added to the supervising committee. Almost immediately James Avis rose in revolt against the new members looking into the farm s affairs. Accused of late morning starts, Avis insisted that he always began at 6.a.m. He demanded an independent inspection of the farm, but was given three months notice. During that summer the board agreed 566-worth of improvements to Clock House, but also squabbled publically about the sale of produce from the farm to some of its members at wholesale prices. The 12-horse-power steam plough engine and tackle was to be sold for Daniel Ledson appointed On 6 September 1876 the board asked the farm committee to recommend a new bailiff at a salary of 150, with house provided: it also resolved to investigate the management of Avis. Daniel Ledson was chosen (Thomas Ledson of Melling agreeing to provide 100 surety). Daniel s appointment was confirmed at a special meeting of the board in October, but within a week there were complaints that the deed had been done without Daniel appearing and without proof of his qualifications being seen. One of Daniel s first duties was to buy a round of beef and a ham and to have them cooked in readiness for a sale of crops. Daniel s appointment was newsworthy enough for the Nottinghamshire Guardian to include it in its Farm Notes on 22 September. Daniel took possession on 11 October and requested an open range for the kitchen, which he asked to remain flagged. He requested permission to keep ducks and a pig, but was allowed only 12 fowls or ducks. By January 1877 a great improvement in productiveness was noted, but there then began a pattern of 10

11 optimistic estimates for the season ahead, which were never quite realised and which provided fuel for the bitter internal disputes about cropping methods amongst the members of the local board, who did not hesitate to write long letters to the press or to project blame onto the bailiff s management methods. There were regular sales of produce, with one in May of good Italian rye grass at less than market price : the grass would be cut and loaded on the buyers carts and applications were to be made to the bailiff. There were also sales of bricks from the brick field on the farm. On 17 May Daniel was sufficiently emboldened to end his fortnightly report to the committee with a special request: I have a boy [Henry] 14 years of age. I beg to ask if there would be any objection to him working on the farm. He would be useful to weigh the grass, so that I could be in the field pushing the carts out. My family is rather large so that I am compelled to have him doing something somewhere. Henry was duly hired at 8s a week. Daniel s satisfaction was short-lived, for in September it was discovered that he had been using the board s coal and it was resolved that 3s per week be deducted from his salary, retrospective to March. Daniel appealed in vain that this was very unfair I never expected to pay, keeping only one fire. By June there had been clear profit (with peas, black and white oats, mangolds, carrots, turnips, cabbages, willow and rye grass as the first season s main crops), but the bailiff was caught in board politics and was admonished for acting very improperly in permitting farm servants to do work for the chairman of the farm committee. In August there was a sale of oats and timber: Mr Daniel Ledson, the farm manager, would show the lots and customers were to meet at Clock House Farm. 82 It was later reported that this sale had been greatly marred by the weather. Grazing for horses and sheep was let that month and in December there were disputes about a proposal to allow shooting over the farm. More losses were reported---and they were more than 2000 greater than the bailiff s estimate. Losses were widespread that season, but many local farmers expressed surprise that they were so great at Clock House. The farms committee chairman (Thomas Carr) now turned on Daniel, suggesting that he should be paid by a small weekly wage, with a premium on results. He was also warned not to leave the farm during working hours without the committee s permission. Needing three more horses, Daniel was granted two. Nothing daunted he made a successful application for a 2s wage increase for my boy, being able to do anything with a horse. A further request to be allowed to keep a pig was denied. By February 1878 Carr wrote to the press of some inexplicable dread of change to a system of cropping which has brought dire results : there had been losses of 20,000 in six years and of more than 3000 that year. Yet better reports began almost immediately. By May the farm was in very favourable condition and in Liverpool there was almost unlimited demand for green fodder : in June the farm s produce was very abundant. From the directories show Daniel as farm bailiff at West Derby Sewage Farm, Clock House. 83 A daughter Emily was born at Fazakerley, Clock House on 18 March 1878 and baptised at the newly consecrated St Peter s, Aintree on 15 August. 84 A daughter Gertrude born to Daniel and Maria on 17 May 1879 died on 25 July aged 9 weeks and was buried at Melling. On 15 May 1879 Daniel asked the board if you would consider if my boy Henry [then 16] is deserving of more wages as he is able to do anything with a horse; his wages is at present 10s weekly. An increase of 2s was granted. On 28 May Daniel described an affray at Clock House when seven or eight mischievous men from Kirkby tried to loose the stabled horses. Damage was done with bricks and a pick and windows were broken. My boys, together with the farm engineer and a police constable gave chase and the latter two were badly injured. It was perhaps some consolation that the keeping of a pig was at last permitted in September. [The minute book covering the next six years to December 1885 is missing]. Daniel Ledson drew up his will at Fazakerley on 18 August 1879, leaving all his property to his wife and appointing her executor, with Benjamin Knight of Waterloo: the witnesses were James Walmesley and Thomas Brockbank. A son George, born at Fazakerley Clock House on 21 July 1880, was baptised at St Peter s on 20 August and nine days later the baby s brother Daniel (aged eight) and his sisters Maria (six) and Miriam (three) were baptised together at St Peter s. Another child Sarah Jane/Alice was born at Clock House on 22 September and baptised at St Peter s on 18 October, but buried at Melling a month later. Alice, together with Daniel and Gertrude (two other infant children of Daniel and Maria) is 11

12 commemorated on the memorial stone in the churchyard. At the 1881 census the family were at Stonebridge Lane, Fazakerley, with all the children except Ellen and Elizabeth. 86 Ellen was now working as a barmaid in Manchester and Elizabeth, a laundress, was living nearby with her grandmother Ellen Smith (formerly Shaw), a 67-year-old widow and shopkeeper at Aintree Lane. 87 In 1879 the farm was in excellent condition. A proposal before the local board that it be let was rejected by 8 votes to 6, but in 1882 it was reported that the board had had 1200 for it this year, when only 300 was offered for it when it was put into the market. The same speaker insisted that the farm had never earned anything and never would. In February 1883 Daniel Ledson was a judge at the Bickerstaffe ploughing match. In July the British Medical Association were meeting in Liverpool and were invited to inspect the West Derby farm, which was in a most satisfactory condition. In August the farm won the Ormskirk, Southport and Bootle Agricultural Society s prize for the best cultivated farm of 150 acres and upwards, for which great credit is due to the bailiff. In 1885 there was controversy about proposals for Wavertree s infectious hospital : one of the sites was at Green Lane: this would require connection to West Derby s sewer, but as this fed into a sewage farm it could not be permitted on health grounds. On 26 February 1886 Daniel informed the committee that my son [Daniel] aged 14 has took to the wheelwright s trade and has been in our shop since Christmas, he also attends the weighing at the machine and will be very useful every morning during grass time. Can I allow him a small wage? He is a very useful boy also in assisting me with the books, etc. A 6s wage was agreed. 88 n August 1886 Daniel Ledson was still a target for disaffected elements on the local board. Information was laid that the bailiff kept horses, a cow, pigs and fowl. Had he permission? Surely his salary of 150 was quite sufficient for a man in his position. He had permission. 89 It was reported that the chairman and ex-chairman had full confidence in the bailiff, but it was still asked whether the farm was being managed in the interests of the ratepayers? Later that year a young member of the board loyal to Daniel arranged for a group of respected local farmers to visit the farm and give an opinion on the bailiff s methods. The various fields were inspected, the carriers explained and the pumping system examined. All was declared satisfactory, to the indignation of those members who had not been consulted. An unnamed complainant informed the board in May 1887 that Daniel had offered two loads of grass for sale in Great Nelson Street after the closing of the Haymarket. In September 1887 one member declared Daniel s salary too high and demanded a report on his management methods. On 26 August 1887 Daniel informed the committee that my son [Daniel] that is assisting the wheelwright and also attends to the weighing of the produce at the machine is only having 6s a week. He is now near 16. Could this be increased by 2s? A 1s increase was agreed. The electoral registers from 1885 to 1894 show Daniel as occupier of a dwelling house at West Derby Sewage Farm. 90 Pollution of the river Alt and its tributary Fazakerley brook became an ever-increasing controversial issue. Daniel Ledson was always insistent that the main problem lay eastwards on the Walton sections of the river and the brook. Indeed he complained to the West Derby committee in December 1887 that the stench from the Fazakerley brook is almost unbearable at night; it fills the house with gas and stench. In October 1888 Daniel reminded the committee that it had been a long time since anything was done to the [Clock] house. I want to make use of the kitchen at the north-east side, the north-west side being so cold and bleak in the winter, but as it is at present it is not very comfortable to live in, being so very dark and short of a window from the back of the house. The bedrooms want papering and painting, also the staircase. It was agreed that such works would be put in hand. By April 1889 the Alt authorities are looking very strictly after us both night and day. The surveyor of the Alt commissioners has sent a man at all times at night with a lantern to try to find [sewage] running into the [Fazakerley] brook. I have been obliged to have the waterman attending to it at night during stormy weather, as it is difficult to keep it from running over the surface of plot 2 as it runs all to one corner and 12

13 there is nothing to prevent it from going into the brook, unless we bank it up. A new controversy arose that month when Daniel sold potatoes to the Alexandra Hotel : this turned out to be a business run by the West Derby board s chairman. The bill remained unpaid and Daniel told the board s account clerk that he scarcely knew what to do. In the event the chairman was declared bankrupt and resigned. On 27 August 1889 Daniel reported to the committee: My son that acts as foreman for me is seeking another situation, on account of wages. He has applied to the Widnes local board for situation as a horsekeeper at 30s. I think that he is worth that wages to the board. I pay him since mowing commenced 24s. It is unclear whether the hint was taken. In November 1889 two carters drew their carts into our road leading from Stonebridge Lane and filled into their carts two load of the soil we had carted for filling up and had got some distance along the highway leading to Longmoor Lane, when my son overtook them and made them bring it back. By 1890 Daniel s son William was bailiff of Walton s sewage farm at Gill Moss (immediately adjacent to the West Derby farm) and in May 1892 Daniel must have taken satisfaction from the press announcement that his son Henry had been appointed bailiff of the Rochdale sewage farm. 91 Daniel s last three years at Clock House were, however, to be a time of ever-increasing stress. On 28 January 1890 Daniel was absent from the regular committee meeting because of illness, submitting a written report. In February the Alt commissioners had sought a permanent injunction in chancery, restraining both the West Derby and Walton boards from allowing anything other than purified water to enter the Alt and its tributaries. In March they were all over the farm and complaining at what they saw. On 22 April their man was over the farm with a lighted lamp about 10p.m. Looking where the sewage was running, but it was alright, none going into the brook. Mr Ledson was one of the West Derby board s officers attending the annual dinner for the board s workmen at the Derby hall, Tuebrook on 6 May 1890 By June domestic crises came to the fore when Mrs [Maria] Ledson took down the window blinds in the front of Clock House: some of them were so rotten that they came totally to pieces. Daniel reported: There being 13 windows it is too much for me to pay for. They ought to be either venetian or oilcloth as the rain drives through and rots the others. There are nine at the back, which I feel are quite sufficient for me to pay for. Daniel concluded magnificently: It is more like a lunatic asylum than a house!! In July the committee approved the emergency purchase of a rat trap for the Irishmen's bothy. In the same month the Alt commissioners won their injunction and the West Derby board had no alternative but to accept it and to pay 375 compensation. Still Daniel was being watched, but he was able to report in November that a man had come to examine the effluent running into the brook, but the drains at the time were all running clear. The same thing occurred in March In February 1891 Daniel reported with some irritation their fourth narrow escape from fire. He reminded the committee of his earlier complaints that the pumps were broken and that too few buckets were available. In March the board received a letter from the Provident Clerks and General Guarantee Association Ltd, requesting information about William Ledson [no doubt Daniel s son, by now bailiff at Gill Moss]. The 1891 census lists Daniel, farm bailiff and Maria at Copple House Lane with Maria (17), their cook, Daniel (19), a farm labourer, and Mariam (14), Emily (13), and George (ten), scholars, together with a domestic servant and twelve other families (eleven of whom were Irish). 92 Concern about pollution went on and on. On 28 April 1891 Daniel described of late very disagreeable smells which comes down the brook with a rush from 10 to 12 [at night]. One night I smelt it very strong in the house and also in Lower Lane. By now Daniel was giving the committee almost weekly warnings about damaged carriers and broken drains and suggesting schemes of improvement. Extraordinarily it was only now that the board agreed to pay 55 for Clock House to be connected to Liverpool s mains water supply. 13