Frederick Clitheroe/Clitherow MARGRETT
Ancestral line as currently established: Frederick 1853, Thomas 1812, George 1780, ?................Family Tree number 9/17/24
Born: 15JAN1853 in 2 Southagte Street, Gloucester city, Gloucestershire, England
Eighth of nine children of -
Father: Thomas Margrett
Mother: Elizabeth Cave
Frederick first Married: 30JUN1873 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
First spouse: Emma Augusta Hickman - she died 1887
7 Children: Edward Thomas, 1874
Lilian Annie, 1875
Ellen Maria, 1877
Frederick William 1879
Philip Cave, 1880
Elsie Marjorie, 1882
Ralph Vernon, 1885
Second marriage: 11MAY1898 Moseley, Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Second spouse: Minnie Rosa Annie Moorman
Child: Harold Clitherow 1899
Died: 1939, aged 86 in Birmingham, West Midlands, England
Frederick's birth certificate spells his middle name with a 'w' - Clitherow and his birth was registered by his father, a cabinet maker of 2 Southgate Street, Gloucester where his son was born. As his eighth child he was well practiced in registering births.
Interestingly, an alternative source for births for Family History researchers is baptism registers, since baptism in the 19th century was still a widespread practice but most of the baptism registers do not also record the date of birth. In this case it would have been unreliable as a confirmation of the birth because Frederick Clitherow was not baptised until he was already 9. The event was on the 9th March 1862 at the Congregational Chapel in Southgate Street.
Aged 18, Frederick is living at home in Gloucester and his father has apprenticed him to a slate and marble maker which he must have completed because he is then in this trade with an advertisement of June 1879 in the Birmingham Daily Post. "Chimney pieces, cisterns, baths, sanitary and lavatory slabs; every description of enamelled and plain slate work. FORD & MARGRETT, Enamelled Slate Works, Stratford Street, Camp Hill," which is in Birmingham.
November 1880, and trade looks good because the business is advertising in the Bristol Mercury "Slate masons wanted; constant employment; piece work, good prices, - apply FORD & MARGRETT, Enamelled Slate Works" etc. Then in 1882 the Birmingham Daily Post reports on the Building and manufacturing exhibition at Bingley Hall. "An attractive exhibition of articles with the building trade opened yesterday...some less costly works in enamelled slate, but still of very effective appearance are shown by....Messrs Ford and Margrett of Camp Hill....also showing chimney-pieces in marble."
Then the press columns carry something of a shock. April 1883 the Birmingham Daily Post "Liquidations by arrangement, Lewis Ford of Eaton House, Stratford Road, and Frederick Clitherow Margrett 29 Braithwaite Road, Camp Hill, Birmingham, as enamelled slate manufacturers and builders, ironmongers under the style of Ford & Margrett; also separate estate of Lewis Ford and Frederick Clitherow Margrett." There is a meeting of the creditors advertised a short while later and presumably everything is agreed satisfactorily. In November 1883 the firm is advertising for sanders and polishers of marble so trade continues. But sadness hits this marriage as Emma, his wife dies in 1887, possibly in childbirth.
A few years later in the 1891 census we can see Frederick at 90 Sampson Road, Aston, Birmingham as a widower aged 38 supporting five of his children with the help of a housekeeper, but elsewhere are his two eldest daughters, Lilian aged 16 and Ellen aged 14.
It's another seven years before he meets, courts, and marries Minnie in Birmingham by which time he is aged 45 and immediately they have a child of their own, Harold Clitherow.
The 1911 census records Frederick as having been married now for 12 years with just the one child, Harold aged 11 at school, and Frederick still a slate manufacturer. They must live in a rather grand house at 36 Cotton Lane, Moseley, Birmingham because there are 9 rooms for just themselves and Harold and a domestic servant only 16 years old.
Ten years later, on a Sunday 19th June 1921, life has moved on. He, Minnie and a servant are now living at 10 Clarence Road, Moseley, Worcestershire which is an end-of-terrace house of the tur-of-the-century but having. in addition to any scullery, landing, lobby, closet, bathroom, another eight rooms, for the three of them. Frederick is 68, Minnie is 54 and the general domestic servant is a 23 year-old Ethel Moorman, unmarried and born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Now the interesting thing is that Minnie's maiden name was Moorman, so is this a relative and how is she being described as a domestic servant?
1924 sees Frederick registered as a joint executor with his cousin Arthur Wheeler Margrett (his nephew and son of Henry Cave Margrett) proving the Will of William Margrett (Frederick's half-brother) and obtaining a Grant of Probate. The effects are valued at £4,147 (equal to about £197,000 in 2012).
In 1927, when Frederick is about 74 years old, a Receiver is appointed by a Debenture holder to dispose of all the assets of Ford & Margrett Limited. The Debenture holder suffers a loss of about 3% with proceeds of £483.10/5d (equal to about £19,200 in 2012).
In 1929 Frederick receives a Legacy of £100 (equal to about £4,900 in 2012) from his nephew Arthur Wheeler Margrett with whom he was a joint executor in 1924. His nephew had died aged only 66. In 1931 his second wife, Minnie dies and he has to wind up her estate. He survives her by some eight years living to about 86, a full age.
None of the life of Frederick Clitheroe appears to have been published previously before the above record was created.
None of the Margrett Magazines from 1986 to 2012 included any of his experiences and therefore those experiences were not previously recorded in the public domain through the magazines deposited at the British Library under the I.S.S.N. 0269-0284 in those years.