Biography
William Exley of Croft House and Temple Nightingale, Warwickshire (1818-1898). Seventh generation from Robert Exley of Halifax (d.1647). Born 19th May 1818, fourth child and third son of Robert and Jane Exley of Croft House, Rawdon. Founded the firm of W.O. Exley & Co., worsted spinners, Bradford. By the 1850s, Bradford was “Worstedopolis”: around two-thirds of England’s wool was produced there, and the town had over 100 spinning mills (rising to 350 by 1900). William’s firm participated in a globally dominant industry at its peak. The family’s trajectory from 17th-century domestic clothiers at High Royds to 19th-century industrial worsted spinners in Bradford mirrors the broader transformation of the West Riding textile economy. See The Yorkshire Wool and Worsted Trade (1650-1900).
In 1847 he married Elizabeth Errington. After Elizabeth’s death in 1867, William remarried Mary Beulay of Sandhill [Hampshire?], sister of Elizabeth’s [?]. The two families lived in adjoining houses at Sandhill, Bradford, then removed to Temple Nightingale. After William’s death in 1898, Mary Beulay bought Cranbrook House, [?] Park, Shipley — two semi-detached houses where the two families lived until 1917.
The Chronicle notes that Anna Ethel Exley (b.1856) compiled the original family tree and notes that became this chronicle, sending them to her sister “Lillie” (Lillian Louise Wills (1885-1971)) in New Zealand. The Chronicle comments: “No mention is made in the ‘Notes’ that she was Edith to Elizabeth Ellen but the dates are the dates.”
Children (by Elizabeth Errington)
- John b. 1848, d. unmarried 1895
- William b. 1850, d. unmarried 1894
- Albert Edwin b. 1852, emigrated to New Zealand 1875
- George b. 1854, d. unmarried 1871
- Sarah Jane b. 1855
- Elizabeth Ellen b. 1856, went to live with Albert in NZ from 1871 until her death in 1944
- Jane Ethel [Anna Ethel / Edith Ellen] — compiler of the Chronicle
Evidence
- Listed on Meryll’s hand-drawn tree (Meryll’s Hand-Drawn Family Tree)
- Exley Chronicle (Typed), page 6: full biography