|
A
Lievesley Story |
 |
 |
|
William
Lievesley 1817- 1882 & Anne Allison (No dates known) In his life he will have witnessed the reliance on the Chesterfield Canal that connected his home town to the river Trent (and on to the sea via the Humber) as the only way to move large quantities of goods. The existence of canals allowed the boom of the industrial revolution. This changed in 1829, Stephenson's Rocket won a competition, to find the best locomotive engine. Between 1829 and 1851 6,800 miles of track had been laid in Britain. By the end of William's life the vast majority of goods and increasingly people, travelled by train
William John Lievesley 1848-1911 & Sarah Brammer 1855-1946 In 1848 William John was born in Chesterfield (it says on the 1881 census) the eldest surviving son of William the Innkeeper. In Ireland at the same time The Irish Potato Famine was raging, looking back at history, and to our national shame, it was not big news in England at the time. In the same year Karl Marx also publishes his 'Communist Manifesto.' By the time of the 1881 cencus William John was married to Sarah Brammer( born Shefield), with 3 children at home Harry 5, Mary 3 & Walter 10months & lived Newbridge Street Old Whittington Chesterfield. Also on the census is a John Buxton aged 26... a lodger???Interestingly it shows the two younger children were born in Old Whittington, but Harry was born in Newbold. By the time of the 1901 cencus William John and his wife Sarah , with 6 children had moved a very short distance to 11 Prospect Road Old Whittington Chesterfield On the census it shows his job as Carpenter & Railway Wagon Repairman, which yet again demonstrates how important the railways now were. In 1901 3 of the children that were in employment ....as Sawyer (Walter Lievesley) Iron Moulder ( Fred Lievesley) & Apprentice Joiner (William Brammer Lievesley)...Of the other 6 children 3 had died & I presume some of the girls had married & left home. By 1918 Sarah was a widow & had moved to 5 Broomhall Park Old Whittington (this needs more investigation as the road next to Prospect Road is Broomhill Road, but on the map I see no Broomhall Road) At the age of 63 she had lost a husband & four of her twelve children, one of who, Charles, had died in the first world war. The three others either at birth or early infancy. |
| Charles Lievesley 1890 - 1918
( Known to his family as 'Wag') It is worth recording here the sad fate of one of William John & Sarah's sons who was unfortunate enough to be born at the wrong time & not in a vital trade. It must have been a story that resonated in many families at this time. It is worth recording here because unlike his brothers & sisters (those that survived the first years of life) he has no one outside his immediate family that will remember him. Serving in the misery that was World War l, by the age of 28 he was a sergeant when he won the Distinguished Conduct Medal in France his citation reads... Sergeant Charles Lievesley DCM 240810 6th Bn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts, & Derby Regt.) For
conspicuous gallantry & leadership near RICHEBOURG &(?) ST VAAST on 3rd
Sept 1918. This NCO when in command of a platoon showed great gallantry
& leadership. When the situation was obscure, he was ordered to pass
through the Battalion on his left & capture LANDSDOWN POST & then attack
HENS POST in the rear where the enemy were stoutly resisting our
advance. He succeeded in working round LANDSDOWN POST from which the (6
unreadable words) Sgt Lievesley then attacked HENS POST which he rushed,
killing 6 of the enemy & securing 2 prisoners & 1 machine gun. He then
reorganised & charged EDWARD POST, from which 11 of the enemy retired. 4
of these were shot before they could escape.
In 2006 we visited the Vis en Artois Memorial.... Wag's name is on the wall & in the book.... heaven knows where he is buried, if at all. A sad place to be remembered.
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| Further info required....Picture of house in 11 Prospect Road + 5 Broomhall Park | |
On the
|
|
|