Bagnalls Locomotive Train makers Stafford and Pearson family

[Stuart P Pearson]

Does anyone have any information about:- John Pearson Father of William George; Charles; James Henry and Alfred who were working in Bagnalls of Stafford from around 1890, perhaps John earlier. John was a Blacksmith and his sones were all Fitters. My Grandfather was Charles and he moved on to English Electrics perhaps when it was still Simens, later he worked in LMS Crewe.
I have photographs of Charles in Tool Room 24 Shop about 1950's and a wonderful one of my Grandfather infront of the Loco Dempster which is in Allen C. Baker's Book on Bagnals (page 204) I gave Allen the photograph for inclusion in his book, if anyone is interested I would be pleased to let them have a copy.
Thank you for your interest.

[mallosa]

Bringing this back to the top for Stuart

[grangers14]

Do you have any birth dates you can give to help us look?
Jo

[grangers14]

Is it this family?

1901. 8 Burley Ter. Stafford
John Pearson, head, 42, Blacksmith, Weston on Kent?
Martha, wife, 26, Portobeller Dublin, Ireland
William G, son, 19, Engine Fitter Stoke
Charles, son, 17, Engine Fitter,Stoke
James H, son, 13,
Maud A, daur, 11,
Mimmie?, daur, 4
Alfred, son, 1
All others born Stafford

[grangers14]

1891. 22 Peel Street, Castle Church
John Pearson, head, 33, Foreman Blacksmith Weston on Trent
Annie, wife, 34, Nor? Hal? Shropshire
William, son, 9, Stoke on Trent
Charles, son, 7, Stoke on Trent
Alice, daur, 4,
James, son, 2,
Maud, daur, 10? M
All others born Stafford

1881. 1 Bridge Street, Fenton
John Pearson, head, 23, Blacksmith, Weston on Trent
Annie, wife, 24, Muckleton? Shropshire

[grangers14]

?? Possible marriages
freebmd
Marriages Dec 1880
Pearson John Mt. Drayton 6a 1404
Pitchford Annie Mt. Drayton 6a 1404

Marriages Mar 1895
Bailey Martha Sophia Lichfield 6b 492
Bailey Martha Sophia C Lichfield 6b 492
Oldacre David Lichfield 6b 492
Pearson John Lichfield 6b 492
Scragg Martha Mary Lichfield 6b 492

2 possible Marthas though.

Possible death for Annie?
Deaths Sep 1893
Pearson Annie 37 Stafford 6b 9

[grangers14]

Do you have access to Ancestry?
If this is your family I have looked at. Theres a tree on there by zenrabbit. Other names they have,
Pugh in Worthen, Philpott in Pontesbury, Bourne in Stoke-on-Trent,

[mallosa]

Thanks for looking at this Jo..

I think Stuart is gathering his info together and more than likely will reply soon

[mallosa]

Do you have access to Ancestry?
If this is your family I have looked at. Theres a tree on there by zenrabbit. Other names they have,
Pugh in Worthen, Philpott in Pontesbury, Bourne in Stoke-on-Trent,

Hi Jo, it seems that Stuart is having problems posting at the moment but has asked me to reply with the following.........

"I hope I am replying in the correct way but here goes! We are by the way in close touch with zenrabbit who has a vast store of knowledge and we do access Ancestry but no luck yet, we keep hoping!
Many thanks for your interest I will set out firstly the complication we have come across and then how we have addressed and failed to overcome the blockage which has been going on for some years. Our research into the Pearson family history went well and we have located the Pearson line back to mid 1700 as well as the other parentage. My Father who died three years ago had a very good memory of which we had many examples BUT he did not know his Father had an elder brother William George Pearson and also another brother John whose birth was the event which caused the death of his Mother in 1893 John age seven died in 1900. There seems to have been caused by a split in the family after 1900 for some unknown reason which may have been hinted at. We have located the elder brother William and his wife but have had problems following his line. His wife was May Elizabeth Collier and they married 23 Nov 1907 in Stoke on Trent, a witness at the wedding was one of my Grandfather's Sisters. William and May had one child Mabel we know of and have tried to follow that line. To find out more would be interesting as it may discover as to why the family split! May died 1971 in Newcastle under Lyme, have no date of death of William.
However a more interesting question which does concentrate my mind is the fate of a younger brother of my Grandfather, James Henry Pearson born 14 December 1887 in Stafford. The family story about James was that he was killed in WW1 but all the research we have done shows no record of his death or that he actually served in that dreadful war. We have located many other family members who were killed and seen their names engraved in France and on the memorials in Staffordshire, that included James"™s half brother Alfred Pearson who must have enlisted when under age and died 10 September 1918 so sad he almost made it! James is shown in 1911 census living with Fanny Birtles another relation on my Grandmother's side. He was living with her at Lammascote Road Stafford. After that nothing, did he emigrate, was the family ashamed he did not serve in WW1 or was he killed and there is no record. I would so like to know and if needed correct the record / meet up with his descendants. It was a shock to see how many "James Henry Pearsons" were killed in WW1 and we have followed up all in the Commonwealth War Graves site and other documentation with no result.
William, Charles and James were all engineers as was their Father John, a blacksmith, who all worked at Bagnalls the locomotive makers in Stafford and I attach a photograph of my Grandfather and possibly his Father John standing in front of the locomotive "Dempster" which according to experts must have been the first locomotive my Grandfather was in charge of the construction of. [embedright=3979]Grandfather Charles with Dempster[/embedright]

Charles Pearson is fourth from the left and we think John Pearson is third from right. We have another photograph of the same locomotive in Japan but with no Pearsons in attendance!
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated in finding James or Williams relations."

[grangers14]

Looking at births mothers maiden name Collier, possible other children

George Pearson, Oct-Dec, 1911, Stoke on Trent
Geoffrey W Pearson, Jan-Mar, 1915, Stoke on Trent
Annie Pearson, Jan-Mar, 1917 Stoke on Trent

[grangers14]

Theres this death for a James Henry

Name: PEARSON
Initials: J H
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Private
Regiment/Service: Worcestershire Regiment
Unit Text: 2nd/7th Bn.
Date of Death: 11/04/1917
Service No: 201568
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: O. VIII. J. 7.
Cemetery: ST. SEVER CEMETERY EXTENSION, ROUEN

Name: James Henry Pearson
Birth Place: Brierley Hill, Staffs
Residence: Netherton, Worcs
Death Date: 11 Apr 1917
Death Location: France & Flanders
Enlistment Location: Dudley, Worcs
Rank: Private
Regiment: Worcestershire Regiment
Battalion: 2/7th Battalion
Number: 201568
Type of Casualty: Died of wounds
Theatre of War: Western European Theatre


other than that all I can see is from the medal rolls
Pearson James H Corps. Worc R, Pte, Regt no. 3865, 201568

I havent seen any service records for this person, did you look through this one?

[Jimmy]

?? Possible marriages
freebmd
Marriages Dec 1880
Pearson John Mt. Drayton 6a 1404
Pitchford Annie Mt. Drayton 6a 1404

John Pearson.
Groom's Birth Date: 1857.
Groom's Age: 23.
Bride's Name: Annie Pitchford.
Bride's Birth Date: 1857.
Bride's Age: 23.
Marriage Date: 30 Dec 1880.
Marriage Place: Norton-In-Hales, Shropshire. 1891 Annie born Nor? Hal? Shropshire.
Groom's Father's Name: John Pearson.
Bride's Father's Name: George Pitchford.
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I04369-2.
System Origin: England-EASy.
Source Film Number: 1702122.
Reference Number: item 101 p 51.

[Jimmy]

Marriages Mar 1895
Bailey Martha Sophia Lichfield 6b 492
Bailey Martha Sophia C Lichfield 6b 492
Oldacre David Lichfield 6b 492
Pearson John Lichfield 6b 492
Scragg Martha Mary Lichfield 6b 492

Ireland, Births and Baptisms, 1620-1911.

Name: Martha Sophia Charlotte Bailey.
Gender: Female.
Birth Date: 24 Jun 1873.
Birth Place: Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
Father's Name: Thomas Samuel Bailey.
Mother's Name: Martha S. C. Wakeman.
FHL Film Number: 255884.

[Stuart P Pearson]

Dear "Grangers14".

Thank you so much for your efforts and work it is very good of you. The traces you have had for James Henry Pearson re WW1 are all ones we have followed and sadly they do not fit, there are others also. When we started we thought "James Henry Pearson" was not going to be difficult to find as the name as a whole would be quite unusual, WRONG there were about ten with that name who died in WW1 and that made us think about the huge losses there were in that war "to end all war"!?! So sad.

Now William George Pearson, could you let me know where you located the above three births, Annie is of particular interest as this could be a memory of William G's Mother Annie Pitchford. {My Father was given the middle name Pitchford by his Father Charles who was William G's Brother, my Father gave it to me and I to my Son Richard Pitchford Pearson, sadly Richard did not pass it on to his son!} We have William's Grandfather John Pearson's Will in which he gives Trade Emblems to his Grandson William George Pearson, John was a Blacksmith. These three births, two of which we found but Annie we did not could be a line to follow to locate any living relations. We are also lucky to have located two living relations in the Stoke area on of which is a VERY keen and good researcher, with all this and help form you we should get somewhere, I hope. Again many thanks.


Many thanks.
Stuart

[grangers14]

On free BMD I just put surname as Pearson and mothers maiden name as Collier them results came up.
Jo