Professor Stuart Marriott in his information on the houses of the old village of Carlton Husthwaite when referring to the house now known as Oak Lea, then a house in multiple occupation, wrote:
"In 1871 one of the households was headed by Mary Ann Pratt, a 49-year-old widow who worked as a farm labourer to support her three school-age children. The other was headed by John Slater, a joiner, who had a workshop on the premises ".
This article refers to John Slater and his family who lived in the house for the next fifty years or so.
John Kendrew Slater (1846 - 1917) was born in Husthwaite, the eldest son of John Slater (b.1822) of Oulston and brother of William and Thomas Slater of "The Firm and Slater's Yard" in Husthwaite. In 1870 he married Maria Pratt (1849 - 1926), eldest daughter of the Mary Ann Pratt mentioned above. Between 1872 and 1896 ten children, three sons and seven daughters (or granddaughters), were born in the house. The uncertainty about daughters and granddaughters arises from differences in Census records for 1901 and 1911. The two youngest girls living at home in 1901 are listed as daughters and in 1911 the same two are listed as granddaughters. In 1911 the number of children born is given as nine with seven still living. To further confuse matters, only one of the children that had died before 1911 can be identified. I am the son of Ada Melene Slater, seventh of these children.
The business in Carlton Husthwaite can best be described as that of the village joiner. John Slater has been variously described as a carpenter, joiner, wheelwright and undertaker. There is only one picture showing anything of the business and no records of any work done. The picture shows the operation in the house yard of cutting up logs to produce slabs of timber ready for seasoning. It includes John Slater and two of his sons as well as a steam traction engine which was brought in to drive the saw. According to my mother, materials for wheels were bought from Stansfields of Leeds and probably delivered by rail to Husthwaite Gate station. The yard also included a saw pit. At the time of the 1881 Census an apprentice, aged 19, was living in with the family. Subsequently the three sons, Charles Henry (1872 - 1948), William Thomas (1880 -1952) and Owen Kendrew (1891 - 1962), served as apprentices and learned the trade from their father. The undertaking side would most likely involve making coffins. With the population of Carlton Husthwaite being 168 in 1887 and 146 in 1911 the demand for coffins would only be three or four a year.
All the children went to school at Birdforth which was about a one and a half mile walk from the house. Sunday morning attendance at St Marys church was followed by attendance at the Methodist Sunday School in the afternoon.
Girls in the family were Charlotte Maud Mary (1874 - 1945), Eleanor Beatrice Lillian Ann (1877 - 1908), Edith Frances (1884 - 1967), Amelia Adelaide (1886 - 1935), Ada Melene (1888 - 1967), Charlotte Evelyn (b. 1892) and Elsie May (1896 - 1953). When the girls finished schooling all went into service as "general servants domestic" initially with families in the surrounding area. From census records it is possible to trace where most were based. In 1891 Charlotte Maud Mary was with Robert Clayton, a farmer at Thirkleby. By 1901 Edith and Amelia were respectively with Robert Renton and Robert Whitehead, both Wesleyan Methodist Ministers living next to each other in Uppleby South Side, Easingwold. Eleanor had moved farther away and was in Scarborough with William Clegg, a retired grocer. In 1902 Ada went into service with the Rev George Gill and his family in Husthwaite. Edith, Amelia and Ada had all moved to Leeds by 1911 and were in service in that town, Charlotte M. M. had married in 1897 and Eleanor died in 1908. All records which have been traced show they were the only servants in the households which, apart from themselves, consisted of between one and four persons. The only daughter who had a different job was Elsie who worked in Barnbow Ordnance Works, Leeds during the 1914-18 war.
Eight of the children are known to have married.
Charles to Lucy Almond from Coxwold in 1901. Lucy was a housemaid in Carlton Husthwaite in the 1901 Census. Most of their married life was spent in York where she died in 1920 leaving four sons. Charles remarried in 1924 to Mary Almond, a widow, also from Coxwold at Great Ouseburn. The relationship between the two wives is unknown.
Charlotte Maud Mary to Charles Henry Willis, a railway shunter from York in 1897. They had a son and three daughters and lived in York.
William to Rosa F. Lumley from Kilburn in 1913. In the 1911 Census Rosa was listed as a "housekeeper (domestic)" working for her grandparents at their farm at Easingwold. They also lived in York and had a son and two daughters.
Edith to Frederick Earl, (a widower with one son) a gas meter maker from Leeds in 1915. They had a small grocery shop in Castleford which also sold fishing tackle. Their family consisted of two daughters. Edith was widowed in 1941.
Amelia in 1927 married Joseph Skelton a farmer born in South Kilvington and a widower with five children aged between three and sixteen years. I believe Amelia went to help or work with the family when his first wife died shortly after giving birth to the youngest child. Joseph farmed at Thirsk, Bedale and finally at Rectory Farm, Low Catton, near York where Amelia died. They had no children.
Ada to Wordsworth Large (widower twice) a house painter from Wells next the sea, Norfolk in 1919 who had lived, worked and married twice in Leeds from about 1875. Ada was widowed after thirteen years marriage and left with two young children. She subsequently had a small grocery shop in Leeds.
Owen to Florence E. Hare, a farm foreman's daughter, from Sowerby, Thirsk in 1922 where they lived for all their married life. Florence was an older sister of Joseph Skelton's first wife. They had three daughters, two of whom still live in Thirsk.
Elsie to Sydney Matthew Calvert, a steam traction lorry driver from Thirsk in 1920. They eventually settled in Manchester where they raised two sons and a daughter.
No records have been found which show what happened to Charlotte Evelyn who was probably a granddaughter. The reason for this assumption is that there was another Charlotte in the family still living at the time of her birth and there is no evidence of family names being repeated. Searches through records have only revealed her birth. The rest remains a puzzle waiting to be solved.
Charles and William both moved to York to work for the North Eastern Railway in the carriage yards. Owen was called up to the army and was serving in Salonika when his father died in 1917. With no one from the family left in Carlton Husthwaite to carry on the business, I can only presume that it closed down or someone from outside the family took it over. Both Charles and William retired from the railway aged 65. Charles, who was described as a joiner and cabinet maker, then found work repairing antique furniture for one of the large antique dealers in York. William's great passion was gardening. Before retirement he had three standard size allotments with a large greenhouse. After retirement he took on more. Any time we visited him in York we were certain to return home with a lot of his garden produce. Owen worked in the Thirsk area as a joiner until he retired.
Maria Slater continued to live in Carlton Husthwaite after her husband died. Whether this was in the same house is unknown. After her death in 1926 in the village she was buried in Husthwaite Old Cemetery in a plot adjoining those of her husband and their daughter Eleanor.
Cliff Large
April 2011
[All accompanying photos may be seen in the Gallery/miscellaneous]