Exley Chronicle (Typed)

Description

“This is a Chronicle of the direct line of descent from Robert Exley of Halifax, who died in 1647, to Albert Errington Exley of Wellington, New Zealand (1881-1956), largely from notes compiled by Anna Ethel Exley, of Croft Rd, Blenheim, and sent to her sister ‘Lillie’ in New Zealand about 1940.”

This is the foundational genealogical document of the NZ branch, compiled by Edith Ellen Exley (Anna Ethel Exley) from family records, parish registers, wills, and oral tradition. The Error Corrections in Exley Chronicle document corrects several errors in this text.

7 pages, typed with occasional handwritten annotations. 52 MB scan.

Transcription

Page 1 — ROBERT EXLEY of Halifax, Burley and Askwith. Yeoman. d. 1647.

“This Robert Exley was the ancestor of the Rawdon and Manningham Families.”

“It is difficult to decide his parentage as there were several Robert Exleys of Halifax living at that time.”

1541: In March a Robert Exley witnessed lands in connection with Southowram. Another Robert Exley, son of Thomas Exley of Tannery, was born in 1568.
1596: A Robert Exley of Halifax married a Maria Lister. Their children were: Sibyl b. 1596, Robert b. 1597, Maria b. 1598.
1619: A Robert Exley being party to an Indenture of the Yorkshire Fell Courts.
1616: He was a churchwarden at Elland. “One Ellis the Elland Register may give the dates of the births of this Robert’s children.”
1647: A reference to a Robert Exley found in the book of the Pullings: “He Robert Exley, [?] Valleys and others, by Inert Distinction &c., and Mary his wife — one messuage, one garth, one garden, 22 acres of land, three acres of meadow, and a share or portion in Burley, Dened, Hauble Moor and Otley, surrendered to the Right of the said Robert.”
1673: A deed dated 27th June 1673 states that “Robert Exley of Halifax, who had a brother Richard, conveyed to Anthony Foxcroft of Halifax gent., James Foxcroft of Holden Hall, brother of the said Anthony, William Beedon of Ashwood and Nathaniel Waterhouse of Halifax, Yeoman, the land and Messuage etc., in Halifax, Horley and Askwith to the use of himself for life and afterwards to the use of his children.”

The children of Robert Exley of Halifax, Horley and Askwith were:

Robert
Anthony of Burley & Isabella. Wed d. 1647. [Re-married] Elizabeth Thursday, 1st May 1651.
John
Samuel of Halifax & Manningham m. Anne Illingworth of Bradford. [In deed of 1650 he is described as late of Halifax.]
James of Guiseley. d. [?]
Nathaniel of Halifax m. Grace Rooke at Elland.

1647: The Will of Robert Exley of Halifax was proved at York in 1647.

Page 2 — SAMUEL EXLEY of Manningham and Halifax. Yeoman. d. 1673.

First generation from Robert Exley of Halifax who died in 1647. Samuel was the fourth son and second son [sic] of Robert Exley and the one mentioned in the deed of Indenture 1673 as “late deceased.” From the Bradford Registers we learn that Samuel married Anne Illingworth of Bradford, in 1626. Samuel and Anne were to have lived at Manningham; all their children were registered there. Afterwards they removed to Halifax. Their children were:

Ethel b. 1641 [year uncertain]
Dorothy b. 1623. m. John Brooke of Armley, near Col. Fairfax, 1654.
Margaret b. 1626
Samuel b. 1625 m. Mary Harrison of Rawdon, 17th February 1656.
Joshua b. 1629

Page 3 — JOHN EXLEY of Rawdon. Clothier. 1651-1721.

Third generation from Robert Exley of Halifax who died in 1647. John was the second child and third son of Samuel and Mary Exley, born on 6th March 1651. He married Sibyl Harper, daughter of Francis Harper and his wife Sibyl of Calverley and Guiseley, on 1st February 1673. The surname Harper was said to be derived from an early member of the family who was a minstrel or harper at the Dance House. There have been Harper’s living in the Districts of West Riding from the early 17th century. Sibyl Exley’s mother came from a family whose members lived at Baildon and Calverley from very remote times.

Samuel [sic, should be John] and Sibyl Exley’s children were:

Maria b. 27th December 1675. m. Anthony Dowell of Rawdon in 1700.
John b. 25th August 1679. m. Mary Fawcett in 1710. Their children were: Thomas (1710-?), Daniel (1713-), Samuel (1715-), Patience b. 1721, and Hannah; also Elizabeth Swainson [?] and daughter Mary.
Daniel b. 1680. m. Ann [surname unclear] 1741. Children: John b. 1717, Samuel b. 1719.
William b. 1682.
Robert b. 19th August 1686. m. Dorothy Jewell in 1731.

John Exley died on 21st October 1721; his grave is in Rawdon churchyard. His wife Mary [sic; should be Sibyl] died 1716.

Page 4 — ROBERT EXLEY of High Royds, Rawdon. Farmer. 1686-[?].

Fourth generation from Robert of Halifax who died in 1647. Robert was the fifth child and fourth son of John and Sibyl Exley of Rawdon. He was baptised on 27th June 1686 and was educated to be a clergyman. Robert, who to his friends [had shown promise], had considerable difficulty in taking his ordination exams. His parents then had Robert taught cloth-making.

On the 21st March 1731 Robert married Dorothy Jewell, daughter of Samuel and [?] Jewell of [?]. Shortly after this marriage they became tenants of High Royds (also called High House). There for twenty years they and their son Thomas and grandson Robert lived as tenants of the Walkers of the Dolton [?] Estate. At High House the Exleys carried on the trade of cloth-making on a large scale, forming the top storey of the house with an outside stone staircase. Similar stone arches can still be seen in other parts of the village of Rawdon.

At Larchfield Hill, Shipley, traces of an outside door and stairway can still be seen. Of interest is an Indenture dated 23rd September 1760 which states: “Whereas George Mounsey, citizen and citizen of London, in consideration of £750 [grants, lectures, fences, etc.], do grant Robert Exley [land for] 1,000 years paying yearly a peppercorn.”

Robert and Dorothy’s children were:

[First child] b. c.1732. d. in infancy.
Dorothy b. 3rd May 1733. d. in infancy.
John b. 1735 [?]. d. 1773. m. Ann Harrison of Calverley. He was Innkeeper at Apperley Bridge. His son Daniel was also an Innkeeper.
Hannah b. 6th September 1730 [?]. Was an Innkeeper at Apperley. d. 1753.
Thomas b. 14th June 1732. m. Mary Daly of Rawdon in 1767.
Robert b. 19th May 1734. d. 1770.
Dorothy b. 8th February 1736.
Sibyl b. 17th December 1738.
Anne. [John died 1746 — unclear what this refers to.]

Dorothy Exley’s sister Mary Jewell married Joseph Booth of 219 Main, Bingley, and she was cousin to the first Jewell owners of the Clock House Estate in Bradford.

Robert Exley died at Idle on 9th March [year unclear], and Dorothy died just seven days later, in old Rawdon aged 62 years.

Page 5 — THOMAS EXLEY of High Royds. 1732-1807. / ROBERT EXLEY of Croft House. 1787-1867.

Fifth generation from Robert of Halifax. Thomas was born 14th June 1732 and married Mary Daly of Rawdon in 1767.

The children of Robert and Jane Exley were: [This is Robert (1787-1867), Thomas’s son, 6th generation. Robert m. Jane Gill.]

Thomas b. 14th January 1812. d. unmarried at Rawdon, 29th March 1876 [actually 1895 per Biographical Sketches].
John b. 6th September 1814. m. Anne Steel. [Died at Stonefall, Harrogate, 29th October 1877.]
Wm/Edward — Vicar of Sheffield. Children: Anne, Rosa, Millicent, Frederick.
Robert b. 19th May 1816. m. Mary [?]. Went to New Zealand.
Ethel b. 6th July 1826. m. [?] Masters of Bingley.
Jane b. [?] February 1832. d. 11 September 1833.
Robert b. 17th June 1821. d. unmarried, February 1899.
Anne b. 11th October 1825.
Jane b. 7th February 1826. d. 9th February 1926.
Elfred [Alfred] b. 20th April 1831. m. Elizabeth Exley. d. at Croft House 16 July 1907.
Sibyl b. 1st March 1833. m. Samuel Macchesfield [?] of Bingley, 4th May 1854.
Jane b. 5th August 1835. m. Robert Hopgood of Bolton Hall.
Grace b. [?] December 1837. d. unmarried at Dunnicliffe, 10th April 1936.
Robert b. [?] December [?]. d. unmarried, 17th December 1875.
Sarah b. 17th October 1841. d. unmarried at Pannerman House, 8th December 1921.

In the early twenties of the last century, Robert became concerned about the spiritual conditions of the uncivilised Rawdonians. The parish church of Otley was a long way off. Robert, approved by the Religious Authorities, had reopened and for some time the Vestry meetings were held at Croft House. Robert was described as always the dress of a farmer except on evenings and Sundays. Usually he wore the dress of a farmer… When his brother Joseph re-built Fourcross House in 1875, Thomas and the five sisters removed there from Brockroyd, where he died in May 1890 [referring to Thomas, the eldest son].

Page 6 — WILLIAM EXLEY of Croft House and Temple Nightingale, Warwickshire. d. 1898.

Seventh generation from Robert Exley of Halifax who died in 1647. William Exley was born on 19th May 1818. He was the fourth child and third son of Robert and Jane Exley, of Croft House, Rawdon. He founded the firm of W.O. Exley & Co., worsted spinners, Bradford. In 1847 he married Elizabeth Errington. Their children were:

John b. 1848. d. unmarried 1895.
William b. 1850. d. unmarried 1894.
Albert Edwin b. 1852. Emigrated to New Zealand 1875. m. Esther Ellen Lomax of Wanganui. Two children born in 1885 [Albert Errington 1881 and George Beulay 1885].
George b. 1854. d. unmarried 1871.
Sarah Jane b. 1855.
Elizabeth Ellen b. 1856. Went to live with her brother Albert in N.Z. from 1871 until her death in 1944.
Jane Ethel [Anna Ethel / Edith Ellen] b. 1875 [?]. “No mention is made in the ‘Notes’ that she was Edith to Elizabeth Ellen but the dates are the dates. It was she who compiled the originals of the ‘Family Tree’ and ‘Notes’ for ‘Lillie’ in N.Z.”

1867: Arthur [William’s first wife Elizabeth] Exley died in 1867 and William remarried. His second wife was Mary Beulay, of Sandhill, Hampshire [?], sister of Elizabeth [?]. The two families lived in adjoining houses at Sandhill, Bradford, but they removed to Temple Nightingale. After William’s death in 1898, Mary Beulay bought Cranbrook House, [?] Park, Shipley, two semi-detached houses. There the two families lived until 1917. Samuel [sic] was as a father to his sisters and nephews.

Page 7 — ALBERT ERRINGTON EXLEY of Wellington, N.Z. Engineer. 1881-1956.

Ninth [sic; eighth] generation from Robert Exley of Halifax who died in 1647. Albert Errington Exley was born on 25th November 1881, at Wanganui, the first son of Albert Edwin Exley and Esther. As soon as he was old enough to travel to Dunedin with his parents; when they returned to N.Z. he was apprenticed to the firm of William Neill & Co., of Wellington in 1900 for five years. For the last twelve months of his outstanding engineering apprenticeship he supervised the erection of a gold dredge at Greymouth. In November he was engineer on the installation of the electric tram cars in Wellington.

In 1903 “Bert” married Lillian Louise Wills, daughter of Frank and Louisa Wills of Wellington. Their children were:

Jack Errington b. 1st November 1905. m. Isabella Robertson of Christchurch; they adopted a daughter, Lesley, now living in Durban, South Africa.
Albert Edward [sic; should be Lionel Edward] b. 23rd May 1907 [sic]. m. Brenda Wills of Wanganui. They had four children: Robert Ross b. 1937, Patricia Louise b. 1938 d. 1958, Meryll Anne b. 1941, John Edward b. 1945.
Joan Miriam b. 3rd November 1910. m. Horace Maxwell, born in Ireland in 1900. Their children: Roger and David.
Dorothy May b. 23rd October 1917. m. [Ivo] Lissaman. Their children: Robert, James, Anne, Jane.
Elizabeth Noeline b. 2nd July 1920. m. Stephen Symon of Wellington. Their children listed.
Beatrice Elaine b. 19th April 1922. m. Basil Didsbury of Wellington.
Shirley Margaret b. 5th April 1930 [?] at Heretaunga.

During 1922-27 “Bert” was engaged as an engineer installing the electric tramway system for the Christchurch City Council. After these 5 years there he came to Lower Hutt, Wellington, where the family lived until Bert bought a farm at Greytown in 1931. The venture proved unprofitable and the family returned to live at Eastbourne, Wellington, in 1937. Subsequently he worked for the Ford Motor Co. After his retirement Bert bought a property at [?] Bay. He built a house there in 1947 and he and his wife lived there until he died in 1951 [sic; 1956]. Lillian [continued on next page, but cut off].

Generation Summary

Gen	Name	Dates	Chronicle Page
—	Robert Exley of Halifax (d.1647)	d. 1647	1
1st	Samuel of Manningham	d. 1673	2
2nd	Samuel of Rawdon	1630-1675	2
3rd	John of Rawdon	1651-1721	3
4th	Robert of High Royds	b. 1686	4
5th	Thomas	1732-1807	5
6th	Robert of Croft House	1787-1867	5
7th	William of Croft House	1818-1898	6
8th	Albert Edwin	1852-1918	—
9th	Albert Errington	1881-1956	7

Significance

This is the core genealogical document of the NZ branch. It provides the generation-by-generation history that Victor Exley was trying to connect to his Southowram/Ecclesley research. The Chronicle begins at Robert of Halifax (d. 1647) and the NZ Pedigree Sheets (Typed) attempt to extend the line back further to the medieval Ecclesley family.

Key contribution: the Chronicle establishes the Robert of High Royds generation (4th gen) between John of Rawdon and Thomas of High Royds, with Robert’s marriage to Dorothy Jewell in 1731.

Exley Family History

Explorer