The Whiteside family has been traced back to the 16th century and Robert Quyteside of Peel House, in the area around Marton, between Lytham and Blackpool, but the research on this line, connected with Armour and Lupton families in the late 19th century, has so many unanswered questions and dubious sources that the early history is not included here until further extensive checks have been made, especially on Whiteside wills. Unfortunately the idea has been widely promulgated that the 'original' name was 'Quyteside'. No, the answer is much simpler. Early records were in Latin, a language that has no 'W' so this was used by the church in recording names. (The attempt later to do this with Lancashire place-names led to some very odd inventions!). Nor is it particularly Scottish since it has two good old Anglo-Saxon words 'white' and 'side' added together, so it would have the been a description of many places throughout the whole country, not a particular 'place-name' just a dwelling which could be recognised by a white cliff or other landmark nearby. The only 'relationship' between the original holders of the name is that they lived in a similar place, not much more distinctive than Wood or Field!

One particular difficulty with the Whiteside surname is that it is very common and widespread throughout Lancashire. The problems are further compounded by the repetition of the same first names and also similar naming patterns among members of the same, prolific, families! Sometimes it is also difficult to draw a line between Thurnham and Lancaster as there was considerable intermarriage and movement between the two congregations. People from places as far away as Dolphinhome, Wyersdale, Scorton and Garstang were also frequently buried at Thurnham.

This present account begins in the 18th century and the start of Catholic records in Lytham and Westby and then follows two families contemporary with each other. New information obtained from a will by William Whiteside, brewer, of Lancaster, husband of Catherine and father of Thomas, Margaret, John, Richard, James and William suggests a different solution to the origins of Thomas Whiteside than shown here previously, though it is still the case that the oldest certain 'father of the family' is the Thomas who was buried at Thurnham in 1833.

There are two 'contenders' for the parents of Thomas Whiteside, both originating in the Fylde in the mid 18th century. The first proposed here, that of John Whiteside and Margaret Bickerstaff in Lytham is  now looking rather doubtful.  New information makes it more likely that Thomas can be identified with the 'Thomas Whiteside of Thurnham...husbandman', nephew of William Whiteside of Lancaster, brewer who died on 31 Dec 1827 in Lancaster. Thomas of Thurnham was one of the two executors of his will (see the complete transcript) and would have been a beneficiary if none of William's children had survived. All William's children are named and the survivors are easily identified in various censuses, two being benefactors of St Peter's chapel, now the Catholic Cathedral. William was buried there in 1825 in the Whiteside Chantry. It still remains a mystery about Thomas's parents. His uncle William was probably the youngest child of John Whiteside and Alice Gillow, assuming that marriage to be correct (and the subject of research still), Alice being sister of Robert Gillow, founder of the famous furniture firm. Caution is essential as no records are complete and too many vital ones have either not survived or in fact never been made!

Family of John Whiteside and Alice Gillow

John is thought to have been born about 1712 in Moss Side, Marton, not far from Lytham and the area known as 'Mythop'. Alice was born in Singleton, daughter of Richard Gillow, also b. Singleton, who died at Ellel Grange in 1717, and his wife Alice Swarbrick. John and Alice's children were as follows:

1. Henry Whiteside  m. Jane Corney
2. James Whiteside b. Moss Side Marton m. 1764 Mary Wildin(g) of Poulton, he d. in Lancaster
3. John Whiteside b. 1763 m. Catherine Shepherd, d. 27 Jan 1811 at Dolphinlee
4. Elizabeth Whiteside b. 1749 Lytham
5. William Whiteside b.abt.1760 m. Catherine d.1827 d. 31 Dec 1824, Will 1813, proved 1829

Notes on the children:
1. Henry could perhaps be identified with the Henry who served an apprenticeship with the firm of Gillows and became a partner when the firm became Redmayne, Whiteside and Ferguson about 1811-1814. Henry Whiteside and his wife Jane had one daughter, Margaret born in London who married her cousin James Whiteside, son of William (see below) (The firm had opened a branch in London)   That assumes another child here, an Edward, but perhaps there are other 'candidates' among his cousins?
2. James and Mary had four sons, William, Edward, John and Thomas
3. John - see table below William's details
4. Elizabeth - nothing more known
5. William probably married Catherine Smith 13 Jun 1791 in the Catholic chapel at Salmesbury. No other record has been found and this 'fits'. However, the only baptism of a possible Thomas in Lancaster - who we know to have definitely been his son, subject of a stern parental rebuke in William's will and cut off with only five shillings - is that of a Thomas, son of William and Alice, baptised on 26 Oct 1790. It could be that Alice died leaving William in urgent need of a new mother for Thomas. It is obvious, again from his will, that at least some of his children were 'under age', i.e. not 21 in 1813 when he wrote it, but in fact the ages are known from the Catholic records and only the first two would have been 'of age'.. (A common practice was to baptise the baby the day it was born or, if at night presumably, the next day and there seems no reason to assume much delay in this case).

Children of William Whiteside and Catherine:  (sps=sonsores, i.e. godparents), all born in Lancaster and baptised at the Catholic chapel.

1. Thomas Whiteside chr.26 Oct 1790 sps
2. Margaret Whiteside chr.12 Jun 1792 m. William Leeming d. 13 Dec 1873, 5 children, details available
3. John Whiteside chr. 9 Feb 1794, m. Anne Kirkham, d. 1 Aug 1856, both bur. Chantry
4. Richard Whiteside chr. 24 Jul 1796 d. of consumption 1 Sep 1815, bur. Chantry
5. James Whiteside twin chr. 26 May 1798 d.13 Jan 1861 m. his cousin Margaret Whiteside of London, dau. Mary Catherine a nun at Princethorpe
6. William Whiteside twin chr. 26 May 1798, d. bef 1800
7. William Whiteside chr. 9 Aug 1800 d. 15 Sep 1818 bur. Chantry

 Who was Thomas Whiteside of Thurnham?

Before extending this family history back several more generations the following is offered for discussion! Your views are welcome especially if you can throw any light on the problems!

Was there another Thomas Whiteside in Thurnham, a 'rival'? None has been discovered. Although Thomas did not live long enough to appear on a census he is there in the Catholic records with no other of that name and both he and Elizabeth are noted by Joseph Gillow, historian, as great-grandparents of the Archbishop. [Registers of Thurnham, publ CRS p.214] There were others further away in the 'parish' of Cockerham though none of the right age and not Catholics. Thomas was given as aged 64 when he died in 1833, which means he was born in 1769 - and Elizabeth as 62, but she had died before Thomas, in 1830, so who knew and could they have been wrong? Several more of the family are identified as being buried in the same grave, Plot 99, at Thurnham, but the birth records are explicit about parentage in any case.

There is one item of circumstantial evidence worth mentioning in view of the will. William Whiteside refers to himself in his will as a 'miller' and would have worked on Damside or nearby in the area now around the northside of the bus station in Lancaster. His son John born 1794 was a corn merchant but died in 1856. Thomas (assuming him to be the nephew) was a farmer, his son John became as a carpenter and then shipwright, but John's son Robert (father of the Archbishop), born in 1830 in Thurnham, moved to Damside by 1851 as a warehouseman, then corn merchant's clerk and eventually by 1891 a corn merchant himself. Robert's son is recorded following the same path from 1871 and by 1901 is shown as a corn miller. If they were cousins this looks more than a coincidence. It may also be quite important that by the first census in 1841 only two sons of William and Catherine were still living, John the corn merchant who died in 1856 (presumably husband of Anne Kirkham who is listed in the Chantry) and James the banker (husband of Margaret Whiteside his cousin ) who died in 1861. Only the latter had a daughter who became a nun so William's line ended there.
N.B. Thurnham was quite a busy port itself, with warehouses and corn mills.

According to a footnote in the Lancaster records by Joseph Gillow, a John Whiteside drowned in the canal at Dolphinlee, a farm and settlement near Lancaster, on 28 Jan 1811, aged 68 and an unidentified Catherine Whiteside, described as a 'paralytic', died at Dolphinlee on 12 Jan 1814. Family stories circulating in several branches of the family include the detail that the death of a grandchild who fell in the canal preyed on John's mind as he blamed himself for the incident. It was claimed by some that the John from Lytham was the one named, though there is some confusion surrounding the name itself, identifying a James as the family ancestor and John as his brother. No James has yet been found to 'fit' this theory unless there were brothers, James and John, at Marton Moss - not positively identified by anyone yet - so the drowning incident could refer to either John the husband of Margaret, from Lytham, or John the husband of Catherine, from Westby. Nor has any inquest or newspaper report of the drowning been found.

It is not known when John Whiteside married Catherine Shepherd but the other John Whiteside married Margaret Bickerstaff on 11 Jun 1769. St Peter's church was not built for another century but baptisms and marriages in this area would have taken place in a domestic chapel, probably that of the Clifton family at Lytham Hall.

___The Shepherd family could be related to the family from Salwick who were Lupton ancestors via the Hull family on the paternal side. The name also appears as a middle name among the Hayes grandchildren of Thomas Whiteside and Elizabeth Cottam  (next family below) The name 'Hayes or Hayse was sometimes entered as Kaye - whether a misreading, mishearing or other mistake is not clear, but there do not appear to have been two separate families.

Many Catholics were missed in the Return of Papists. It is quite possible that these two families were related but any evidence would be somewhat buried under hundreds of Whiteside names in C of E parishes!

Thomas Whiteside probably married Elizabeth Cotham in St Michael's parish church in Kirkham on 4 Jul 1791.  It is known for sure that his wife was called Elizabeth but althhough there are a couple of other contemporary 'contenders' Elizabeth Cottam (or Cotham) is by far the most likely. She was the right age - cross-checking with a later census - and in the right place. The children then follow on in regular order. The nearest parish church to Salwick where the eldest child Margaret was baptised and also to the hamlet of Bryning was Kirkham. Elizabeth was born in Bryning, a hamlet around a farm, Bryning Hall, on the south side of Kirkham, in about 1768. No more is known of her or her family at present but it is a fairly common name in the area, the village of Cottam (Woodplumpton) being not far away. (The Cottam/Cotham family have not yet been investigated but will be included here later if possible. Bryning, though very small was also the birthplace of Billington ancestors, the Goodier/Goodear's and a connected Tootle family)

St Thomas & St Elizabeth, Thurnham, from 1851,[formerly at Thurnham Hall]

Whether they also had a Catholic marriage ceremony is not known but Catholics had by law to marry in the parish church at that time. Their eldest child, Margaret, was born in Clifton, (near Preston) and was baptised at the domestic chapel which preceded the mission at Salwick and Lea on 29 Jun 1791. They then moved about 1792 to Ashton in the parish of Cockerham, on the coast between Glasson and Lancaster where Thomas became a farmer. The rest of their nine children would have been baptised at the Catholic chapel in Thurnham Hall, not the church!

St Michael's Parish Church, Cockerham records from 1595

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth:

1. Margaret Whiteside chr. 12 Nov 1791 at Salwick sps. Richard Simpson, Else Cottam
2. Catherine Whiteside b. 8 Oct 1793, m. Richard Hayes or Kayes, farmer of Ashton (issue)
3. John Whiteside b. 10 Aug 1795, m. Barbara Shaw Taylor
4. Henry Whiteside b. 3 Sep 1797, d. 1834
5. Richard Whiteside b. 20 Aug 1799 bur. Thurnham 1832 aged 25?
6. Mary Margaret Whiteside b. 22 Oct 1803 m. Henry Verity 15 Oct 1832, d. 22 Jan 1853
7. Thomas Whiteside b. 25 Jun 1805, d. 1832
8. Mary b.abt. 1806 m. 1830 Robert Dowthwaite, 2 children (see notes immediately below)
9. Elizabeth Whiteside b. 6 Feb 1807
10. Edward Whiteside chr. 13 May 1810 m. 1) Elizabeth Thompson 13 May 1828 in Preston, 2) Margaret Threlfall 26 Feb 1843 in Lancaster

In the Thurnham chapel records the parents are given as Thomas and Elizabeth, with Thomas described in order as labourer, then husbandman, then farmer. This is important as it correlates with the 'description' of the nephew of William Whiteside, brewer of Lancaster in his will.

Notes on the children who now need 're-ordering'. (Your views welcome!)
1. Perhaps 'Margaret' did not survive, though parents' names and her godmother's name prove her place in this family, but see nos.6 and 8!.
2. Catherine and Richard had 4 children, Elizabeth 1819, John 1820, Robert Shepherd, 1822 and Dorothy 1823. Robert's middle name now has special significance as it would seem likely, according to common practice, that his grandmother's name was Shepherd!
3. The main line - go to John Whiteside.
5. Richard was formerly identified as the one who died in Lancaster - '1 Sep 1815, 'a young man of promise, Cable St, unmarried, consumption' (from the CRS Lancaster). This is possible - he could even have been sent to work for William the miller - but not proof.
6. As Henry Verity's wife this daughter 'Margaret' is given as born in 1806 then as 1809, not 1803 as her birth record says, and she died in 1853. (He remarried) A footnote by Joseph Gillow gives the details of Mary Margaret, saying she was 'known as Margaret'. and she is listed only as Margaret, not only in the marriage entry but on the 1881 census as well, which means the elder Margaret must have died. Or did she? (see no.8)
Much more is known about the Verity line than included here, and the family has been researched by direct descendants. A relationship with a branch of the Whiteside line occurred twice over two generations. (See the chart below)
7. Thomas is recorded in the Thurnham burial records in 1832, buried in the family plot (Plot 99) as aged 25. The record for 1805 actually states, unsually that he was born (rather than baptised) on 25th June. Both events might have been on the same day of course.
8. New information from three censuses has placed Mary 'back' in this family though the actual order of the children is still rather confused. Mary is shown on censuses as born in 1806 in Thurnham. The birth/baptismal record for that year only has 2 names in it. This rather approximate date does suggests she could be the Mary Margaret and that the one who married Henry Verity was in fact the eldest child, just Margaret. (The order of this children will be changed if further research makes this conclusion 'safer'!) Whatever the solution Mary married a sea captain, Robert Dowthwaite on 28 Jan 1830 in Lancaster. She had a grocer's shop on Thurnham Terrace and appears on the 1851 census as a widow, with her nephew Richard Whiteside (unfortunately mistranscribed on FindMyPast as 'Pritchard') born in 1828, who must be the son of John Whiteside and Barbara Shaw Taylor.

Unfortunately the name Dowthwaite has been badly misheard, or mistranscribed which confuses the issue, though it's not that uncommon a name. In transcriptions it appeared in 1841 as 'Dowthet', in 1851 as 'Doukwaite' though the enumerator may have written Douhwaite, and in 1861 as 'Doughwaite' though at least in 1861 there seems to be some attempt to make a correction.

In 1841 Mary had four children, Elizabeth 8, Robert 6, Aster 5 and Thomas 1. In 1851 and 1861 only 'Easther/Ester ' and Thomas were at home, Thomas having become really rather predictably a ship carpenter! Elizabeth's godparents were John Whiteside (Thomas Gardner standing proxy) and Barbara Whiteside! Esther's birthplace is variously given as possibly Hamilton (transcribed as 'Haunton'! near the Hamilton Arms?) and later, Fleetwood, Thomas also being given as born in Fleetwood, more of a building site and usually listed as Thornton. By 1871 they all seem to have vanished.
9. Elizabeth is listed in the Thurnham records as daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth. She has not yet been found in marriage or death records or on a census. She could have gone into service before marrying so could be hard to identify unless found with other member(s) of her family (but not her parents as they had both died some time before the 1841 census).
10. Edward became a cabinet maker, still basically using the same skills as so many of the others in shipbuilding!. He had six children from his first marriage to Elizabeth Thompson, Elizabeth 1828, Sarah 1831, Thomas 1833, Henry 1834, Ellen 1837 and Edward 1838. (Ellen is much more likely than 'Helen' which is the version of the name because found in a record written in Latin! Although there were instances of it at that time it was not so popular then as it became later) There were four more children from Edward's marriage to Margaret Threlfall, Isabella 1843, James 1845-1846, Mary Jane 1847 and James 1849. The last named married Elizabeth Chorley and is known to have had three children, Winefride 1872, John E. 1875 and Richard 1878. (Some details of these are available on request and more should be fairly easy to find)

It was common practice among Catholics well into the 20th century to add 'Mary' as a first or second name in honour of Christ's mother sometimes several times in the same family for their daughters. (Even boys in Spain received the name, as in 'Jose Maria'!) If they also had another name they were naturally called by that, so 'Mary Margaret' could be known as 'Margaret'. [Even Burke gets confused about this with regard to Catholic gentry, but perhaps Joseph Gillow has jumped to the wrong conclusion!

     Henry Verity, 7th of 8 children of Thomas Verity and Elizabeth Cox, was born in 1806. He and 'Mary Margaret' (?) Whiteside were married on 15 Oct 1832 in the chapel which preceded St Peter's, now Lancaster Cathedral, and had five children as far as is known, Thomas (1837), Elizabeth (1838), Henry (1841), Mary (1843), and Helen (1846). Thomas, the eldest, married Mary Ball of Heaton, Lancaster, daughter of William Ball and Margaret Abram and therefore granddaughter of John Ball and Jane Cornthwaite. (See that family, where there is also more about these Veritys).
This produced relationships which can best be explained by a tree (repeated on the Ball page)

The middle name of Shaw occurs in several records and has aroused speculation about whether it refers to a maternal grandmother, but no evidence has yet been found. However the two names make it easier to identify other possible members of this Taylor family. Barbara was born in 1802, probably the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Taylor, in Quernmore, the other side of Lancaster from Thurnham where her husband-to-be was born and grew up. Although her baptism has not yet been found, it seems very likely that a Richard Shaw Taylor, baptised on 8 Dec 1808 in St Mary's, Lancaster (the Priory church) was her brother. Whether or not these Taylors are relevant, Barbara Shaw Taylor was presumably by the time of her marriage in 1825, living at Ashton, across the R.Conder from Glasson. Details about the [Shaw] Taylors are from the IGI

John was born in Ashton on 10 Aug, 1795, as recorded in the Thurnham baptismal records, which unusually only record birth dates, not baptismal dates, his father, Thomas, being listed as a 'husbandman'. John began work as a 'labourer' in Ashton before 1825 . In 1828 he is recorded as a maltster, in 1830 as a clerk, in 1832 as a journeyman maltster and a maltster at Conder Green (between Ashton and Glasson) in 1834 and 1847, but by 1847 he had moved to Damside in Lancaster where he had a warehouse.

John Whiteside married Barbara Shaw Taylor on 10 Apr 1825 in St Mary's. (Lancaster, IGI Batch no.7904531)

They had the following children:

1. Thomas Whiteside chr. 8 Oct 1825, sps John Rogerson, Margaret Whiteside (his aunt) m. Alice Carter, d. 1904 - issue
2. Richard Whiteside b. 16 Feb 1828, chr. 17 Feb 1828, sps Henry & Mary Whiteside, proxies for Helen Whiteside, d.1903 m. Jane (b.1834) - issue
3. Robert Cuthbert Whiteside, b. 20 Mar 1830, chr. 21 Mar 1830, sps Thomas Rogerson, proxy for Henry Verity & Elizabeth Whiteside, m. Isabel Shaw d. 14 Aug 1898 in Lancaster - parents of the Archbishop of Liverpool
4. John Whiteside b. 6 Apr 1832 Ashton, chr. 8 Apr 1832, sps Edward Hayse and Mary Whiteside, d. 1836, bur. Thurnham
5. William Whiteside b. 31 Jul 1834 in Ashton, chr. 2 Aug 1834, sps Thomas Gardner, Elizabeth Lupton, proxies for James Whiteside and Margaret Wilson, d. Aug 1842, in Lancaster, bur. Thurham.
6.. Henry Whiteside b. 5 Jan 1837
7.. John Whiteside b. 1842 chr. 8 Apr 1842, sps Thomas Gardner, Anne Rogerson, proxy for Margaret Leeming, m. Ann Myerscough 19 Nov 1866 Issue
8. George Whiteside b.1843, d. aged six months, bur. Thurnham
9. Edward Whiteside b. 1845

All the children were born in Ashton, across the R. Conder from Glasson, and were all baptised at St Thomas's Catholic church, Thurnham, the details being recorded in the Thurnham records. Those up to 1837 have been published by the CRS but the records of the last two can only be obtained from the originals in the Lancs Record Office.

John lived at 1 Ann St, where he was recorded as a communicant of St Peter's in 1845, but then moved to 2 Adlcliffe St, probably after Barbara's death in 1846. He died on 9 May 1847 and was buried at Thurnham.

The Whitesides seem to have bought their own corner of the graveyard for John was buried in Plot 99 and William and George were buried in Plot 100. Another child, James Whiteside, who died on 5 Mar 1846 aged 10 months is also buried there in Plot 225. [Perhaps he was a grandson - not all decendants have been traced, but many of the family retained an affection for Thurnham and were buried there] Barbara [formerly Shaw Taylor] who died on 13 Aug 1846 was buried in Plot 235 three days later. She had been ill for some months with a diseased liver. John died, apparently in Lancaster the following year on 9 May 1847, having had bronchitis for three weeks, and was buried at Thurnham on 11th May in Plot 256.

John Whiteside was described firstly as a ship's carpenter and then as a shipwright. A new dock had been built at Glasson, the principle trade being in coal, but there were also boatyards where for a time there was plenty of work. The dockyard (left) is still in use although a large part (right) is now a popular marina.

Several of the Whiteside sons of this generation brought up their families, some of them large, in 'two up two down' houses in the four or five streets in Glasson, one of which is shown here, conveniently just a few minutes walk from the dock.

Thomas Whiteside, shipwright, the eldest son of John and Barbara, and his wife Alice (Carter) had seven children, Alice, George (b.1852), Barbara (1857-1930), Isabel (b.1859), Thomas W-, (b.1862), Richard H. (b.1864), John (b. 1869). Barbara m. Thomas Ball of Bulk (adding to the Whiteside family's complicated relationships!) Richard, the 2nd son, a 'ship ... smith' and his wife Jane (from Sunderland, Lancs, surname unknown) were living 'just round the corner' with 2 children still at home, James (1859) and Mary (1864), so there were probably more who had left already. John, a ship carpenter, and Ann had moved with the first three of their seven children to Fleetwood a year or two before. They also had previously lived in a similar house here.

Edward Hayes was perhaps related. John's aunt Catherine Whiteside (see previous generation) married Richard Kaye (or Hayes or Hayse). Both spellings are used in the Thurnham records at different times. Whether this was common or was actually a mistake then or in transcription is not known but does make it rather confusing!. They had 4 known children, Elizabeth (1819), John (1820), Robert Shepherd Kaye (1822) and Dorothy (1823). The first three were given as Ashton and Dorothy as Ellel, which a little further south, but all were baptised at Thurnham. Possibly the Kaye family didn't move but lived on the border between the two areas.

The Family of John Whiteside & Ann Myerscough

John, 7th child and 7th son of John Whiteside and Barbara Taylor was born ten years almost to the day after his namesake, the 4th son, who had died at the age of 4. He was baptised, like his brother John on 8th April. He married Ann Myerscough, (who was not born a Catholic) on 9 Nov 1866 at St Thomas's in Thurnham, the church having been built there, replacing the chapel in Thurnham Hall, home of the Dalton family, in the years between. They had seven children:

1. Alice Whiteside 1865-1941 m. William Boardman. Both d. Aug 1941
2. Barbara Whiteside 1868- m. John Rawlinson, 4 children Ann Ellen (?), Thomas, Joseph Henry (known as Henry), and Simeon, d. in Liverpool
3. Ellen Whiteside 1869 died under one year old
4. Richard Whiteside 1870-1954 m. Alice Ann Robinson, had 3 children, John, Thomas Ervin and Winifride
5. Catherine Whiteside 1877-1964 m. James Armour 3, the boat-builder. They had 14 children.
6. John Whiteside 1882- m. Ruth and emigrated to Canada
7. Henry Whiteside 1884- emigrated to Canada, wife unknown, but they had four children, Muriel, Margaret, Roy and Geral

John and Ann moved with their first four (surviving) children to Fleetwood about 1880. For a ship carpenter there was no shortage of work there, a new town in 1840 but by the 80s becoming a major port for deep sea fishing. By 1881 Ann's mother Alice Myerscough (formerly Bramwell) was living with them in Fleetwood, now aged 77, while her husband James Myerscough, 79, was living with another daughter and son-in-law in Pilling, on the other side of the R.Wyre, not the most convenient arrangement for old people to visit each other very often! Alice and her husband James were unable to afford a house themselves so this was a sad necessity, living space being a problem with the large younger families..John and Ann's eldest daughter, also Alice, was no longer living at home but at the age of 15 was working in Fleetwood as a 'general domestic' for Mary Ann Cowell, a master mariner's wife who ran a boarding house. (Her husband was presumably away at sea for long periods). Alice Whiteside later became matron at Lancaster Royal Infirmary.

Footnote - The Family of William & Elizabeth Bickerstaff

removed here to save confusion as it looks less likely than previously!

Margaret Bickerstaff was the daughter of William Bickerstaff and Elizabeth. Theirs is the earliest known family in this line and their children, all baptised in the parish church at Lytham (probably because there was no Catholic chapel available then) were:

1. Mary Bickerstaff chr. 2 Mar 1740; bur.29 May 1746
2. Anne Bickerstaff chr. 16 Jan 1743; bur.20 May 1746
3. Margaret Bickerstaff chr. 23 Mar 1746; m. John Whiteside 11 Jun 1769
4. John Bickerstaff chr. 24 Jul 1748
5. Mary Bickerstaff chr. 11 Nov 1750
6. James Bickerstaff chr. 26 Jan 1752
7. Mary Bickerstaff chr. 6 Apr 1755