Poulton, Carleton, and Fleetwood

updated 6 Jan 2007

The first known member of this family is James Kirkham who was born, perhaps in Carleton, in or near Poulton-le-Fylde, on 2 Dec 1784. For this information we are indebted to his great-grandson. See James Armour's day-book

On 5 Nov 1811 James married Elizabeth Ball at St Chad's, Poulton, a date obtained through the IGI. James and Elizabeth were both Catholics but Hardwick's Marriage Act of 1754 had not yet repealed and by law they had to marry first in the parish church.

Elizabeth Ball was the daughter of John and Jane Ball of Rossall Grange Farm which is between Thornton and Fleetwood. At that time Fleetwood did not exist, being then no more than a rabbit warren and the occasional cottage, and was technically part of Thornton-le-Fylde. John Ball and his wife, Jane, nee Cornthwaite, came from the Lune Valley and Lancaster and their lines have been traced back several generations further. They arrived in the Fylde with their eight children about the turn of the century. It must have been quite a shock for them coming from the more sheltered dales to experience the fierce westerly winds sweeping across the sand hills.

The plans for the 'new town' of Fleetwood were not even drawn up until some forty years later. The name of the farm is perpetuated in Rossall Grange Road. It was at that time only sandy farmland and rabbit warrens, subject to flooding. Jane died in 1829 and John remarried in old age, dying in 1847 at the age of 84. By then a William Ball had taken over and William's son Richard is listed as the farmer in 1851.

The godparents of the first Elizabeth Kirkham (who died in infancy), daughter of James Kirkham and Elizabeth (nee Ball) were Richard and Jane Ball, this earlier Richard presumably being John and Jane Ball's 5th child and the baby's uncle, aged 26.

James and Elizabeth Kirkham had eleven children and were living at Whitesides, a farm in Thornton by 1841, Elizabeth was not at home at the time and died on 30 Nov 1842. Their children, Jane, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, John, Ellen, George, Thomas, William, Mary, Ellen and Agnes, but three, had not survived infancy and are not listed on the 1841 Census, the first Elizabeth and Ellen, and also Jane who died in 1839. The 2nd Elizabeth was the ancestor of the Armour family. * In 1851 James Kirkham was still at Whitesides, but he died on 30 Aug that year, and Thomas died on 24 Sep. aged 26. All that remains now of the farm is the name of the road - and this pond, which is marked on the old maps. Most of the farmland is now covered by houses.

* On the next page of the 1841 census to Whitesides is another farm, this time occupied by a Thomas Whiteside, and his wife Rebecca, both in their sixties and not identified. Also living on the farm were (with ages rounded down to the nearest 5) James Gill, 20, blacksmith, Anne Gill, 20, and.Thomas Waddington, 15, blacksmith's apprentice. The three names show that the Gills were the James b.1817 who married Elizabeth Kirkham on 20 Nov the same year, and Anne Gill, James's sister. b.1818. As James and Anne's father had married Jane Waddington, Thomas was presumably a cousin, not at present otherwise traced.

The nearest church for both families, Kirkhams and Balls, was the Catholic church of St John's at Poulton, frequently a very difficult journey along muddy lanes, being several miles away. John and Jane's grave can be seen and the inscription is still quite clear though it lies flat, half covered with ivy, in a corner next to the old chapel which is now used as the parish centre. It is possibly the oldest grave there.

As the Armour family descended through three generations with a son called James they have been numbered for convenience from the earliest known as I, II or III. James Armour III recorded the births of the children and most of them are also entered in the baptismal records for the Catholic church of St John the Evangelist.

The following tree shows the relationship of the Swarbrick family. (Numbers refer to their position in the family, which helps to explain the leap across one generation with the Taylor/Swarbrick marriage, first cousins once removed)

The children were of James Kirkham and Elizabeth [Ball] were::

1. Jane Kirkham, b. 19 Feb 1813, d. 23 Mar 1839
2. Elizabeth Kirkham, b. 18 May 1815, chr. 19 May 1815
3. *Elizabeth Kirkham, b. 7 May 1817, chr. 11 May 1817, d. 1 Mar 1899, m. James Gill
4. John Kirkham chr. 13 Oct, 1819
5. Ellen Kirkham b. & chr. 22 Oct 1821, d. 18 Jul 1823
6. George Kirkham b. 13 Feb 1823
7. Thomas Kirkham b. 9 Jul 1825, chr. 10 Jul 1825, d. 24 Sep 1851
8. William Kirkham b & chr. 3 Oct 1827
9. Mary Kirkham b. 5 Dec 1829, chr. 6 Dec. 1829
10. Agnes Kirkham

Christening dates are given by the IGI which originally used the church records. The birth and death dates along with the names of the children and their relationships to him or to his wife are all given in James Armour's daybook.

• 3. Elizabeth Kirkham married James Gill, a blacksmith from a family of blacksmiths. He was born in Myerscough, north of Preston, but moved to the Fylde coast with his brother when new opportunities arose with the building of the new town of Fleetwood (named after one of its founders), and with the rapidly expanding ship-building trade. See the Gill family for further information.
• 4. John Kirkham's wife, Dorothy, was from Ulverston. They settled in Padiham and were living in Guy St in 1881, John, a greengrocer being then 62 and Dorothy 60. Two grandchildren, Dorothy Park 18, cotton winder, born in Ulverston, and Lawrence Park, 17, cotton weaver, born in Barrow in Furness (across Morecambe Bay but still in Lancashire) , were living with them so they had at least one daughter.
• 6. George Kirkham was living in Montague St, Blackburn in 1881. He was 56 and a widower by then but with five children still at home, James, 26 and Mark, 24, both painters, Elizabeth 19, acting as housekeeper, Mary 14, a cotton weaver, and Dorothy 11. James was born in Preston and Dorothy in Blackpool, the rest were born in Carleton (confusingly often rendered as 'Corlton' or 'Corlston' in the census transcription). A granddaughter, Mary Kirkham aged 3, born in Blackpool, was living with them so George had at least one more son though it's not known what had happened to him.
• 8.William has not yet been found other than on the baptismal register. He is not in the burial registers for St John's Poulton up to 1851 and is not on the 1881 census. He could be any one of 5 Williams who died between 1857 and 1860.
• 9. Mary Kirkham never married and in 1891, aged 60, was living with her sister Elizabeth in West St (now Poulton Rd) Fleetwood but Mary was listed as 'servant' and not as 'sister'. Elizabeth was recently widowed, James Gill having died on 19 Jul 1888. Her son James, 39, is described by James Armour III as a 'cripple' though his disability could not have been very great as he was still working as a blacksmith!
• 11. Agnes Kirkham married Thomas Swarbrick, a blacksmith and had 8 children. In 1881 they were living in Mill Rd, Thornton with Elizabeth, 23 who was working as a general servant of the family, Mary 15, John 14, Alice 12, Margaret Ellen 10, and Thomas, 8. Another son, William, b. 1860, was a tailor boarding in Grt Eccleston in 1881 who later married an Elizabeth. It's not known if they had any children. James was 18 and and a railway stoker, lodging with the Gill family in 1881. Thomas Swarbrick junior married Agnes [Taylor], his first cousin once removed and they had three children, Thomas, (William) Stanley and Hilda who were of course in one sense cousins to themselves!

The Armour family

The Gill family