Updated 15 Sep 2007

WIRKSWORTH Parish Records 1600-1900

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Lydia Gould in the 1930s

Taken c1910. William and Lydia GOULD.

Taken professionally in 1910

The identities of the childen are as follows, from left to right:
James Gould (12), Drucilla Gould (13), Mary Elizabeth (Lizzie) Clough, Albert Gould (11), John William (Jack) Gould (17, married Mary Elizabeth in 1916), Elizabeth Gould (18), George Henry Gould (15), Maria Buckley Gould (20) with her left hand on the shoulder of Samuel Gould (5), Annie Gould (7), and Hetty Gould (8)

Taken c1945. Left to right: James, George, Albert, Drucilla, Phylis, Elizabeth, Hetty and John GOULD, children of William and Lydia.

Lydia Gould 1872-1947

Lydia GOULD's last child, Phyllis was interviewed at the age of 90 by Norman Buckley. See the interview below.

Simon Johnson writes:
In the course of my research into the Clough family history, I was recently lent this old photograph. The lady featured in the photograph is not directly connected to the Clough family. Her son, John William (Jack) Gould married Mary Elizabeth Clough of Wirksworth in 1916. I am assuming that the photograph was taken during the 1930s. The photograph features Lydia Gould (nee Buckley).

Lydia Gould (nee Buckley) 1872-1947
Lydia Buckley was born at Cromford in 1872 and was the daughter of Peter and Mary Buckley. Her father was employed as a lead miner. Lydia was raised at Cromford and in 1890 she married William Gould of Greenhill, Wirksworth, who worked as a railway engine driver at a local quarry throughout the majority of his working life.

Lydia gave birth to eleven children between 1890 and 1917. Her first child, Maria, was born out of wedlock and was registered with her mother's maiden name of Buckley. It is unclear as to whether Lydia's husband was the father of Maria though Lydia married William Gould shortly after Maria's birth. The likelihood might be that William Gould was indeed Maria's father, though as he wasn't married to Lydia at the time his name was not listed on Maria's birth certificate. Following her marriage to William Gould, Lydia gave birth to another ten children; Elizabeth, John William (Jack), George Henry, Drucilla, James, Albert, Hetty, Annie, Samuel and Phyllis. It appears that William and Lydia initially spent a period living on Bowling Green Lane at Wirksworth, before moving to live on William's native Greenhill.

By 1910, William, Lydia and their family were resident at 48 The Dale, which appears to have been owned by the Butterley Company, the then owners of the Big Hole Quarry at Wirksworth. Lydia's husband was employed by the Butterley Company as an engine driver on the railway connecting the station of the Midland Railway Company to the Big Hole Quarry. The Butterley Company worked the quarry until 1914, from when the quarry remained closed until February 1925, when it was taken over by the Wirksworth Quarries Ltd. William was employed as an engine driver by the Wirksworth Quarries Ltd until his death on the 2nd of January 1931, aged 61 years. He was interred in Wirksworth Cemetery.

In his book O'er Back And On The Hillock (1989), Jack Doxey recalled that Lydia's husband, William Gould, was the man responsible for driving and maintaining an engine named the 'Coffee Pot'. This engine pulled the loaded wagons from the rock bench in the quarry to the station yard of the Midland Railway Company. Jack Doxey also recalls that from the small yard at the back of 48 The Dale, there was a sheer drop into the quarry bottom, and it was from this point that on many occasions Jack Doxey witnessed Lydia lowering her husband's dinner to him on a piece of string.

Following her husband's death, it appears that Lydia had to vacate 48 The Dale and at some point in the 1930s she moved further up the road to 57 The Dale to live with her daughter, Phyllis Brocklehurst. They later moved to live at 36 West End at Wirksworth where, after a long illness, Lydia passed away on the 9th of July 1947 at the age of 75 years. She was interred in her husband's grave in Wirksworth Cemetery. Lydia's obituary in the High Peak News states that she left behind five sons, five daughters, 51 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren.

Simon Johnson.

Note: In 1901, 48 The Dale had 4 rooms only, and by 1910 Lydia Gould had 10 children. The cottage would have been rather overcrowded.

Taken c1920. William GOULD by Big Hole tunnel, Station Rd.
(train known as the coffee pot).

Taken c1962. Drucilla and Alec Hallows
at 61 Bannisters Yard, Wirksworth.

Dates:
Photo taken:
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GOULD/BUCKLEY families

    
          1838            1840                                         1831              1833
          John            Elizabeth                                    Peter     1855    Mary
          GOULD=====v=====?                                            BUCKLEY=====v=====HERROD
          1880      |    c1909                                         1891?       |     1897
                    |                                                              |
 |-----|-------|----|----|--------|-----|-------|       |-------|-------|-------|--|---|-----|------|------|
 |     |       |         |        |     |       |       |       |       |       |      |     |      |      |
1862  1865    1867      1870     1872  1874    1876    1856    1858    1860    1864   1866  1869   1872   1875
Mary  Martha  Drucilla  William  Job   George  Arthur  Hannah  George  Esther  Maria  Mary  Peter  Lydia  William  
                         |                                                                          |
                         |                                                                          |
                         |                                                                          |
                        1870                                                                       1872
                        William                         1890                                       Lydia
                        GOULD=============================v========================================BUCKLEY
                        1931                              |                                        1947
 1           2          3       4          5         6    |    7          8            9         10        11
 |-----------|----------|-------|----------|---------|----|----|----------|------------|---------|---------|
 |           |          |       |          |         |         |          |            |         |         |
1890        1892       1893    1895       1895      1898      1899       1902         1903      1905      1917
Maria       Elizabeth  John    George     Drucilla  James     Albert     Hetty        Annie     Samuel    Phyllis
BUCKLEY     1983       William Henry       |                             1983                   1979
                       1965                |
                                           |              1900
                                          Drucilla 1920   Alec
                                          GOULD=====v=====HALLOWS
                                          1993      |     1963
                                                    |
                                                    |
                                                   1926              1923
                                                   Maisie    1945    William
                                                   HALLOWS=====v=====CUMMINGS
                                                   1975        |
                                                               |
                                                               |
                                              1954            1957
                                              Jerry   1996    Glenis
                                              SMITH=====v=====CUMMINGS

From 2 photos
above, taken
1910 and c1945
William
Lydia
1.Maria
2.Elizabeth
3.John W
4.George
5.Drucilla
6.James

7.Albert
8.Hetty
9.Annie
10.Samuel
11.Phyllis
marr.1916
Mary

    LYDIA GOULD 1872-1947

    Interview with Phyllis Gould – 4th August 2007

    Reference Birthdays etc.
    William Gould was Born 4th July 1870 and Died 2nd February 1931 (61). Lydia Gould (nee Buckley) was Born 20th June 1872. Phyllis Gould was Born 24th August 1917. (viz: 90 in two weeks time).

    Reference 48 The Dale
    In 1933/34 the Gould family moved from 48 The Dale to 57 The Dale because the Bedroom Ceiling fell in. Maybe the blasting in the Quarry was a possible cause! The Quarry face was on the other side of the wall and fence at the end of the garden. However my personal note of caution; the way that Quarry faces were worked in the days of William Gould was not the same as today's system of working with deep hole drilling and blasting from the top after overburden has been stripped off. A lot of Gunpowder (Black Powder) would be used in "jumpers". Limestone was stripped from the top in a series of benches. The workers worked on the benches getting there by climbing down a rope anchored at the top and working with tools using crowbars to lever off the blocks along the bedding planes. This was verified when Phyllis Gould said that a "lot" died falling off the quarry face as they had no safety ropes, just one thick rope to help them when climbing down. (A retired quarry face worker who worked in the big quarry at Stoney Middleton told me that in winter when the benches were frozen they were very slippery!).

    At 48 The Dale, the end of the garden had a low stone wall topped with a small fence and on the other side was the quarry face. In the photograph of Lydia she was facing the quarry and the photographer was standing with his back to the quarry and vaguely behind her can be seen the houses on the main street.

    Regarding the packed lunch or Snap on a piece of string, Phyllis says it was always a Pork Chop "bought from the Co-op" between two slices of homemade bread. It was wrapped in newspaper and then a big black cloth and tied with string. It was not lowered down it was thrown at the end of a string and being left handed "and not a cricketer" Phyllis once threw it and it landed in a railway waggon and her father, only being a small man, had difficulty in climbing into the waggon to retrieve his lunch. Obviously pulling on the string was not the answer. Phyllis says he was not very pleased.

    Regarding Maria, according to Phyllis it was confirmed within the family that William Gould was in fact her father.

    Lydia had an arrangement with the Sexton at Wirksworth Church, John William Hallows. For one shilling she placed stillborn babies and dead babies from unmarried women in wooden Apple boxes and took them to the Sexton for burial in a row at the foot of a wall in the churchyard. This particular burial spot can still be seen in the cemetery.

    Norman Roy Buckley. 5th August 2007.

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