Leeds
Thomas Croft and his wife Isabella did not stay long in County Durham. They had a third child, a girl named Sarah, or Sally as she was known, who was born in 1902 in, County Durham, but by 1904 the family had moved down to Leeds in Yorkshire. In September 1904 they had another child, a son named James. At this time they were living in Norfolk Street, Hunslet. This was an extremely poor area of Leeds, made up of back to back terrace housing with very poor sanitation. On James’s birth certificate, his father’s occupation is ‘Coal Miner’, and I know that he was employed at Waterloo Pit, Temple Newsam. Four years later, in 1908, another child was born, this time a girl named Ann. By this time they had moved house and were living in Giles Street, in an area of Leeds close to the town centre called Quarry Hill. This was one of the worst areas of Leeds around this time, it was an area which had been subject to several cholera epidemics and it shows just how Thomas and Isabella must have been struggling to raise a family in these conditions.
Searching the Electoral Registers of the time shows Thomas having registered to vote only from 1910 onwards. He had been in Leeds from around 1903/04, so it’s interesting that he put off registering himself for so long. Perhaps initially he wasn’t sure if the move to Leeds was going to be a permanent one, but it seems that by 1910, that decision had been made. He appears in the 1910 Electoral Register as Thomas Cooper, living in Hezmalhalch Yard. This address is very close to his previous one in Quarry Hill, and it’s interesting to note that he is still using the pseudonym ‘Cooper’ rather than his real name! Was he still afraid of being caught for the desertion 20 years earlier? It must have been confusing for his family; his children’s births were registered as Croft, but in all other documents he used the name Cooper. I have been told that as a child, his daughter, Ann, was never sure which name to use!
The 1911 census finds the family still at Hezmalhalch Yard under the name Cooper. Thomas is described as “Coal Miner below ground”, while his eldest son Willie (aged 15) is a “carrier to steam hammer – Forge”. The family have four children with them here, Willie, Sarah Ann, James and Ann. They state on the census that three more children have died - their son Thomas died aged two in 1901 while they were still in County Durham (his death registered as Thomas Cooper, not Croft), and another child born while up in County Durham, Bella (Cooper) died as an infant. The third child which had died was a girl, Ann (again Cooper), who was born in Leeds in 1906 but again died as an infant. It's truly curious how they swapped back and forth between the names Croft and Cooper at this time...
In 1912 they had another son and named him Thomas also. Sadly he also did not survive, (again the death in 1914 was registered as Thomas Cooper rather than Croft even though the birth was registered as Croft!) and in early 1915 another son was born and again named Thomas. Thankfully this child did survive. By this time the family were back living in Giles Street, where they continued to live throughout the years of the First World War. A look at the Electoral Register of 1918 shows that the family had moved a couple of streets to Chapel Street. The only person registered at the address was Isabella Cooper, Thomas being absent due to military service (Corporal Thomas Cooper 202272, 20th Rifle Brigade). Also resident, but absent due to military service was their eldest son, Willie. He is listed as Willie Cooper, PTE 103 LTMB Rifle Brigade, although he is Willie Croft on his army registration card.
The 1911 census finds the family still at Hezmalhalch Yard under the name Cooper. Thomas is described as “Coal Miner below ground”, while his eldest son Willie (aged 15) is a “carrier to steam hammer – Forge”. The family have four children with them here, Willie, Sarah Ann, James and Ann. They state on the census that three more children have died - their son Thomas died aged two in 1901 while they were still in County Durham (his death registered as Thomas Cooper, not Croft), and another child born while up in County Durham, Bella (Cooper) died as an infant. The third child which had died was a girl, Ann (again Cooper), who was born in Leeds in 1906 but again died as an infant. It's truly curious how they swapped back and forth between the names Croft and Cooper at this time...
In 1912 they had another son and named him Thomas also. Sadly he also did not survive, (again the death in 1914 was registered as Thomas Cooper rather than Croft even though the birth was registered as Croft!) and in early 1915 another son was born and again named Thomas. Thankfully this child did survive. By this time the family were back living in Giles Street, where they continued to live throughout the years of the First World War. A look at the Electoral Register of 1918 shows that the family had moved a couple of streets to Chapel Street. The only person registered at the address was Isabella Cooper, Thomas being absent due to military service (Corporal Thomas Cooper 202272, 20th Rifle Brigade). Also resident, but absent due to military service was their eldest son, Willie. He is listed as Willie Cooper, PTE 103 LTMB Rifle Brigade, although he is Willie Croft on his army registration card.
In the National Roll of the Great War, (produced some years after the end of the war) both of them are listed, and their entries in the book read as follows:
CROFT, T., Corporal, 20th Rifle Brigade.
He volunteered at the outbreak of war in August 1914, and later in that year was drafted to the East. After serving for a time in Egypt he took part in the Advance into Palestine, where he fought in engagements at the capture of Jerusalem and Damascus, and many other places. He returned home for demobilisation in April 1919, and holds the 1914-15 Star and the General Service and Victory Medals. (It’s worthy of note that Thomas was one of the first to volunteer for service at the outbreak of the war – aged 45! He was already an experienced soldier, having served previously in Afghanistan, and was promoted from Private to Corporal during the course of the war).
CROFT, W., Private, 5th Northumberland Fusiliers.
He joined in April 1916, and later in that year proceeded to the Western Front. Whilst in this theatre of war he took part in many important engagements, including the battles of Albert, the Somme and Ypres, and was wounded and taken prisoner. He was held in captivity in Germany until after the cessation of hostilities, and on his return home in December 1918 was demobilised. He holds the General Service and Victory Medals.
A record of Willie Croft's capture and imprisonment survives on his Red Cross card.
From the information of the Red Cross card we can see that Willie Croft was taken prisoner at Juvincourt on 27th may 1918. This would place him at The Third Battle of the Aisne (known as Operation Blucher-Yorck by the Germans forces), which lasted from 27th May to 6th June 1918. The battle, which was one of a series of offensives, known as the Kaiserschlacht, launched by the Germans in the spring and summer of 1918, went as follows:
On the morning of 27 May 1918, the Germans began a bombardment of the Allied front lines with over 4,000 artillery pieces. The British suffered heavy losses, because the French General Duchene was reluctant to abandon the Chemin des Dames ridge, after it had been captured at such cost the previous year, and had ordered them to mass together in the front trenches, in defiance of instructions from the French Commander-in-Chief Henri-Philippe Petain. Huddled together, they made easy artillery targets.
The bombardment was followed by a poison gas drop. Once the gas had lifted, the main infantry assault by 17 German Sturmtruppen divisions commenced, part of an Army Group nominally commanded by Crown Prince Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Kaiser himself came to inspect the progress of the battle.
Taken completely by surprise and with their defences spread thin, the Allies were unable to stop the attack and the German army advanced through a 25 mile gap in the Allied lines. Reaching the Aisne in under six hours, the Germans smashed through eight Allied divisions on a line between Reims and Soissons, pushing the Allies back to the river Vesle and gaining an extra 15 km of territory by nightfall.
Victory seemed near for the Germans, who had captured just over 50,000 Allied soldiers and over 800 guns by 30 May 1918. But advancing within 35 miles of Paris on 3 June, the German armies were beset by numerous problems, including supply shortages, fatigue, lack of reserves and many casualties.
On 6 June 1918, following many successful Allied counter-attacks, the German advance halted on the Marne.
The French had suffered over 98,000 casualties and the British around 29,000. German losses were nearly as great, if not slightly heavier. Duchene was sacked by French Commander-in-Chief for his poor handling of the British and French troops.
So it would seem that Willie was taken on day one of the battle, fortunate not to be one of the many fatalities in that first bombardment and gas attack. He was taken to Friedrichsfeld POW camp in Germany, where he remained for the rest of the war.
On the morning of 27 May 1918, the Germans began a bombardment of the Allied front lines with over 4,000 artillery pieces. The British suffered heavy losses, because the French General Duchene was reluctant to abandon the Chemin des Dames ridge, after it had been captured at such cost the previous year, and had ordered them to mass together in the front trenches, in defiance of instructions from the French Commander-in-Chief Henri-Philippe Petain. Huddled together, they made easy artillery targets.
The bombardment was followed by a poison gas drop. Once the gas had lifted, the main infantry assault by 17 German Sturmtruppen divisions commenced, part of an Army Group nominally commanded by Crown Prince Wilhelm, the eldest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Kaiser himself came to inspect the progress of the battle.
Taken completely by surprise and with their defences spread thin, the Allies were unable to stop the attack and the German army advanced through a 25 mile gap in the Allied lines. Reaching the Aisne in under six hours, the Germans smashed through eight Allied divisions on a line between Reims and Soissons, pushing the Allies back to the river Vesle and gaining an extra 15 km of territory by nightfall.
Victory seemed near for the Germans, who had captured just over 50,000 Allied soldiers and over 800 guns by 30 May 1918. But advancing within 35 miles of Paris on 3 June, the German armies were beset by numerous problems, including supply shortages, fatigue, lack of reserves and many casualties.
On 6 June 1918, following many successful Allied counter-attacks, the German advance halted on the Marne.
The French had suffered over 98,000 casualties and the British around 29,000. German losses were nearly as great, if not slightly heavier. Duchene was sacked by French Commander-in-Chief for his poor handling of the British and French troops.
So it would seem that Willie was taken on day one of the battle, fortunate not to be one of the many fatalities in that first bombardment and gas attack. He was taken to Friedrichsfeld POW camp in Germany, where he remained for the rest of the war.
It may be noted at this point that up to the end of the First World War, Thomas had continued using the name ‘Cooper’ in all documentation (census, electoral registers), but following the war this changed (hence the use of his real name in the National Roll of the Great War). I think we can assume that by this time he thought that the authorities were no longer looking for him, and so it was safe to drop the Cooper pseudonym! In April 1919, immediately on returning home from the war, he finally married Isabella and they both started using the name ‘Croft’ again. By this time Thomas was aged 49 and Isabella 48, so it’s safe to say they hadn’t exactly rushed into marriage; their children were aged from 4 to 22 by this time! Thomas and Isabella did not marry in church, however; they married at Leeds Register Office. It would have seemed odd I suppose for a middle-aged couple with grown up children to have married in church!
On leaving the army Thomas resumed working in the coal mines, and he and his family remained living in Chapel Street until 1935 when the whole area around Quarry Hill was cleared for demolition as part of a slum clearance program. They moved a couple of times in the 1930’s and 40’s before moving into a new house in the North Farm Road in the Gipton area of Leeds in 1947. This was an ‘up and coming’ area at the time, and Thomas was evidently very happy to have moved up there. He was around 78 years by this time, and so no longer working down the coal mines, and he and Isabella enjoyed there well deserved retirement there.
Thomas died in 1955 at the age of 86, and Isabella died the following year.
A summary of the fates of Thomas and Isabella’s children is as follows:
1) Willie Croft.
Born around 1896 in Burnley. Fought in the First World War. Married Ellen Craven in 1936, but had no children. He died in Leeds in November 1967. Ellen, his wife, died in 1978.
2) Thomas Croft.
Born in Wakefield in 1899. Died in 1901 in Castle Eden, County Durham.
3) Sarah Ann Croft.
Born in Castle Eden in 1902. Married William Blower, and died in Leeds in November 1956.
4) James Croft.
Born in Leeds in September 1904. My Grandfather - more of him later.
5) Ann Croft.
Born in Leeds in April 1908. Married Joseph Adkin in 1930 and had three children, Douglas, Doreen and James. Ann died in November 1995, still living in Leeds.
6) Thomas Croft.
Born in Leeds in 1912, but died in 1914.
7) Thomas Croft.
Born in Leeds in 1915. Thomas married twice. His first wife was Olwyn Lewis; they married in Manchester and had one child, a girl named Rosemary Isabelle. The marriage didn’t last, and Thomas went to South Africa where he met and married his second wife, Jena, from Krakow in Poland. After returning to England they had two children, again girls, named Cynthia and Alicia. Thomas and his family emigrated to Australia, where Thomas died in 1985.
Moving on now to Thomas and Isabella’s son, James Croft. James was born in September 1904, shortly after the family had moved to Leeds.
In July 1925, at the age of 20, James married Ethel Morley at St. Agnes Parish Church in Leeds.
On their marriage certificate, James’s profession is given as ‘Labourer’, and their address is Shakespeare Street (just round the corner from the church where they were married).
They were lodging in Shakespeare Street at the time, but by the following year when their only child, James William Croft was born, they had a house of their own in Green’s Fold, Hunslet. A little more information about James’s occupation is given on his son’s birth certificate; here his occupation is ‘Corporation Labourer (Waterworks Department)’. James and Ethel stayed in Green’s Fold until 1929 when they moved to Springfield Place in Hunslet Carr, not very far from their previous house.
They stayed at this address for 19 years, moving again in 1950 to Geranium Terrace in Holbeck, a few miles from Hunslet. They stayed in this house for about 18 years, moving on again in 1969 to Colville Terrace, Holbeck. They did not stay long in this house, however, as in 1974 they moved again, this time to Rydall Terrace, Holbeck where they stayed until 1986.
James and Ethel were never what you could call ‘well off’. Throughout his life James was a non-skilled manual worker, either described as ‘Labourer’ or, as on his son’s marriage certificate in 1926, ‘Packer’. All the houses they lived in from the 1920’s through to the 80’s were typical working class terrace houses.
They stayed at this address for 19 years, moving again in 1950 to Geranium Terrace in Holbeck, a few miles from Hunslet. They stayed in this house for about 18 years, moving on again in 1969 to Colville Terrace, Holbeck. They did not stay long in this house, however, as in 1974 they moved again, this time to Rydall Terrace, Holbeck where they stayed until 1986.
James and Ethel were never what you could call ‘well off’. Throughout his life James was a non-skilled manual worker, either described as ‘Labourer’ or, as on his son’s marriage certificate in 1926, ‘Packer’. All the houses they lived in from the 1920’s through to the 80’s were typical working class terrace houses.
James Croft died in August 1986 at the age of 81. Following the death of James, Ethel moved to a house in Broadgate Drive, Horsforth (North Leeds) to be nearer her nephew. She lived here until 1994 when she died at the age of 91.
As previously mentioned, James and Ethel had only one child, a son named James William Croft. James was born in April 1926 in Green’s Fold, Hunslet.
At the age of four, James and his parents moved to Springfield Place, Hunslet Carr, and this is where James grew up.
Having completed his schooling, he began training to be a Printer, and attended Leeds College of Technology from 1941 to 1944. Having passed all exams, he was awarded a Technical Exhibition (scholarship) for the college for the years 1944-45, but was unable to take this up as he was called into the Royal Navy in the Spring of 1944, where he served until September 1946.
Upon joining the navy, he served initially on the HMS Glendower, spending 4 months on board. Then followed brief spells on HMS Valkyrie and HMS Collingwood where he took exams in Course Plotting and Radar, until in December 1944 he joined HMS Carisbrooke Castle for active duty. He stayed with this ship, performing escort duties, until he was demobilised in September 1946. During his time in the Navy, James was awarded the Atlantic Star (September 1945).
On leaving the Royal Navy, James returned home to Leeds and continued to live with his parents in Hunslet Carr. He returned to his ambition of becoming a Printer, and by the early 1950’s he had started his business, initially called ‘Croft and Thornton’ located in modest premises on Wortley Lane, quite close to where he and his parents had moved in 1950 (Geranium Terrace, Holbeck). Fairly quickly he decided to go it alone, and his business became ‘Croft the Printer’.
In May 1951, at the age of 25, James married Doreen Castle, a dancer from Morley, near Leeds. They were married at St. Pauls Parish Church in Morley.
Once married, they moved into a house on the North side of Leeds, on Easterly Road; a much more middle class area than Holbeck! James and Doreen lived here until 1960 when they bought a house in West Park Road, Roundhay. This was another upwards move, as Roundhay was a leafy suburb of mainly detached middle class houses. Their first house here was a detached bungalow, and it was here that they started a family; in July 1960 James and Doreen had their first child, a son named Gary, born at St. James Hospital. Around this time James moved his business into better premises in Malvern Road, Holbeck, again quite close to where his parents lived. During this period James, with both his parents and wife (and subsequently his children), regularly holidayed in Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast.
In October 1963 James and Doreen’s second child was born, another son, named Stephen, again born at St. James Hospital in Leeds. The family stayed living in West Park Road for quite a few years, the only change being in 1970 when they moved two doors up the road to a larger house. This move was due to the success of James’s business, as in the same year Croft the Printer relocated to larger brand new premises in Norwich Avenue, Hunslet. The success of the business also meant that James could afford to take his family on more ‘exotic’ holidays than Scarborough, and during the 1960’s and early 70’s this included several holidays in Spain (quite a luxury at this time!)
Things were going very well for James up to this point, but unfortunately this did not continue. During the 1970’s James’s marriage started to fail, and at the same time so did his health. By around 1977 James was unable to continue running his business and it was sold to one of his employees. Around the same time James moved out of the family home and he and Doreen divorced. James moved back to Holbeck to be near his parents as his health was increasingly poor, and on 12th July 1982 he died. On his death certificate he is described as “Master Printer (retired), of 33, Recreation Grove, Holbeck, Leeds.” Doreen, Stephen and Gary continued to live in the house on West Park Road until 1980; Doreen remarried in 1981 to Brian Jenner, and died in 2013. James's two sons, Gary and Stephen are in fact my elder brother and myself. Gary now lives in Los Angeles, California with his family, while I live with my family in North Yorkshire, only about 20 minutes from the Croft ancestral home of Claughton and Caton. When we first decided to move from Leeds to the North Yorkshire/North Lancashire area, we were fortunate enough to be able to actually rent part of Claughton Hall Farm (the original unmoved part of Claughton Hall), and we lived there for 2 years before we bought our current house. It was nice to think of another Croft living in the house after a 300 year absence. |
Family Tree of the Crofts of Caton to Present Day (my family tree)