William Henry Harrison

William was the son of Herbert and Louisa Harrison (née Lancaster).

His father Herbert was born at Gringley-on-the-Hill in 1866, the son of William and Ann Harrison. His father was a farmer and in 1891 the family, including Herbert's sister, Lavinia, lived at Woods Farm, High Street, Beckingham. Herbert was assisting his father on the farm.

Herbert married Louisa Lancaster (b. 1868, Lea, Lincolnshire) at Beckingham All Saints on 26 July 1894. They had seven children of whom six survived: Edith b. June 1895 bap. All Saints 18 July 1895; William Henry b. 1897 (OND) bap. Lea parish church 7 November 1897; Ernest Godfrey b. January 1900 bap. All Saints 1 March 1900; Winifred b. Aug. 1902; Herbert Oswald b. April 1908 and Ethel Nona b. Aug. 1909. All the children were born in Beckingham.

Herbert, a farmer, his wife Louisa and their three children, Edith, William and Ernest, were living at Woods Farm in 1901. Also in the household were a general domestic servant and a horseman who was employed on the farm. By 1911 Herbert was employing a general domestic servant and two farmworkers.

The eldest daughter, Edith, married Percy Cave (b. 1899), a farmer and the son of a farmer, at Beckingham All Saints in June 1917. They may have had a son William in 1917 (OND) who died the following year (reg. JFM), but a son Frank Reginald was born in 1920 (AMJ) and there may have been a daughter, Barbara, in 1926 (JFM).

The five surviving siblings were recorded on the 1921 Census with their parents at Woods Farm. Ernest, was working with his father and his sister Winifred was assisting her mother with household duties. Their two youngest siblings, Herbert and Ethel, were still at school. Also in the household on the night of the census were four visitors including their married sister, Edith Cave, her husband Percy, a farm produce buyer, and their son, Frank Reginald (11m).

Herbert snr. had retired by 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled. He and Louisa together with their youngest daughter, Ethel, and George Harrison (b. 1870), a works maintenance engineer (foreman), were living in Worksop.

Louisa died in 1949 aged 81 and her husband Herbert in May 1950; he was living at Charity House, Beckingham, at the time of his death. Probate was awarded to his son Herbert Oswald.

The eldest daughter, Edith, and her husband Percy Cave, a wholesale potato buyer/salesman, were living in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, by 1939. Edith died in May 1968 (reg. Gainsborough) and was buried in Cotter Cemetery, Lincolnshire. Her husband Percy died in 1972.

Ernest Godfrey married Alice Mary Gourley, a teacher, at SS Peter & Paul, Gringley-on-the-Hill, in 1929 and in 1939 they were living at 'Southwood', High Street, Beckingham. Ernest was a wholesale vegetables salesman/merchant but also had a wartime role in National Defence Transport (Nottinghamshire County Council). Ernest died in hospital in October 1955; his wife Alice had died in 1951. The couple had still been living at 'Southwood' at the time of Alice's death, but the Probate record gave Ernest's address as Wood (sic) Farm. Administration of his Will was awarded to his brother Herbert.

Herbert Oswald, who had married Elsie Prescott (b. 1900) in 1932 (reg. East Retford), was managing Woods Farm in 1939. He employed a general domestic servant and also a farm worker, Arnold J Podolanski (b. 1912), described on the Register as a 'German Jew refugee.' His sister, Winifred Johnson, who had married Anthony B. Johnson in 1931, was also living with her brother and sister-in-law. Herbert Oswald died in May 2005. Winifred Johnson has not yet been traced after 1939.

The youngest sibling, Ethel, married Thomas Hamill (b. 1899) in 1943 (reg. East Retford). She died in 1978 (reg. Gainsborough) and was buried in Gainsborough Cemetery on 5 July. Her husband had predeceased her (1970).