Our Schofield Family History
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Edward Hudson

John Edward

George Turner

John Edward's
other children

Philip Edward

Richard Frank

Olive Mary

Scotts & Givens's

Miscellaneous

Edward Hudson Schofield

Edward Hudson was born in 1819. He was a very interesting man. As he grew older, he became an avid gardener. Most of us would grow flowers from the local nursery but he didn't.

He grew tulips.

Tulips were still regarded as rather special. There had been an enormous run-up in prices in the early 1600's - this is looked on as the first economic "bubble", rather like the "internet bubble" or the "housing bubble" more recently when prices went way up and then came crashing down. Tulip Mania.

Edward started off by buying the bulbs from Holland. They cost about $50 per bulb in modern terms which is a lot of money for the son of a clothier. He grew them very well and won competitions.

According to Mary, (but without documentation!!), he competed nationally and won almost every competition he entered including those in the vast new "Crystal Palace" which was the toast of the town in London. Eventually, the other competitors got fed-up of losing, and Edward Hudson was invited to be a judge instead of a competitor. This was a tremendous honour. Imagine someone from a local village being the judge of the most expensive flowers in the national show in the most powerful nation in the world!

There is considerable documentation for a very successful hobby locally and at National Shows in Manchester (40 miles away) in Trafford Park and a tulip named after him. Here is a link to the various documents.

That's your great-great-great-grandfather.

Your great-grandfather, George Turner Schofield who is our major historian, knew Edward Hudson (his Grandfather) quite well. He often remarked how much he liked Edward Hudson; apparently he was a gentle, very well centered person.

In everyday-life he was a Cordwainer.

You know the expression "It was cobbled together"? It means that it was put together in a slip-shod way and wasn't really quality. Well in the mid 1800's, there were Cobblers who created shoes for ordinary people - they "cobbled" them together, and there were "Cordwainers" who put shoes together in the way that would be demanded in CORDoba in Spain - the shoe capital of the world. The Cordwainers were the craftsmen who put together the shoes for the gentry. Edward Hudson was a Cordwainer!

You'll notice that there is a sense of "class" in this. There are the "Common" people and the "Gentry". That's exactly the way it was. There were very distinct class distinctions in England and they have a very direct effect on YOU. We'll talk more about this later.

Here's a picture of Edward Hudson taken in his cottage which was next to Field Side House where his son John Edward lived. Judging by his age, this was taken around 1900.

Edward Hudson was born in 1819 and got married to Ann Turner(1831-4th Dec, 1893). You will notice "Turner" turning up (oops, sorry about the pun) as a middle name in later generations. Ann asked that her maiden name be used for some members of the family. Turner remembered being given a whole shilling by her once because he had her name. Turner's sister Ann was also named after Ann Turner

Ann was the daughter of John Turner (1792-1849) and Sarah (1794-1849). John Turner was a clothier in Wortley which is the next village toward Leeds. "Turner" of course was a surname for someone who "turned" wood, i.e. who shaped it on a lathe. Is it coincidence that John Schofield, in Scotland today, father of Sarah, Rowena, Rufus and Hannah, chose "turner" as his profession in the 1970's?

Ann's brother Joshua Turner (1819 - Sept 1885) was buried at Armley Church and married Miss Wentworth, presumably before his burial. They had a son William Wentworth Turner.

Edward Hudson and Ann had four children:

Olive Mary, your Great Aunt tells a story of a minor crisis the day of Auntie Schofield's funeral. This must have been in the late 1920s: Auntie was to be buried, her brother John Edward Schofield and his whole family including his sons Cyril and Turner were to be at the funeral along with Turner's children Frank, Philip and Mary. Cyril was in Huddersfield (about 40 miles away) that morning and, in a panic, called Turner; Cyril's daughter Marjorie was going to be married that afternoon but he couldn't possibly give her away on the same day as the funeral of his favorite Aunt!!! Well, Turner rose to the occasion. He left his wife Florrie and his son Frank to attend the funeral, took a taxi to Huddersfield with Mary and Philip and found Cyril and wife huddled together at the far end of the garden, Marjorie at the neighbors, probably feeling really deserted, and no preparations for the wedding. Turner ended up getting the house in order (Mary making cups of tea, of course, to cheer everyone up), using the taxi to make three trips to the church to take the family and friends, giving away the bride and making a speech after the wedding. They all got back to the funeral just as everyone was leaving.

Other memories from Auntie Mary relate to going to Auntie Schofield's house.

Auntie Schofield was a landlord. She owned seven houses on Branch Road (in Armley, just down the road from Farnley) and lived in the middle one. These were a few yards from where Minnie and Maggie (my mother's Aunts) lived, and just a few houses from "Artist's Mount" where Turner and his family lived. Auntie's living room had a horse-hair sofa which had lots of very stiff hair sticking up through the material on the seat. Mary used go visiting when she was a young girl and was very uncomfortable sitting there with a short skirt on. Auntie Schofield was rather strict and would not permit anyone to sit on the cushions (throw-pillows), so it was a bit of an ordeal. Mary would visit with her best friend and cousin Bessie (Grayson, and later, Dancaster) who was a little older but spent a lot of time at Mary's house even to the extent that Mary's mother often made them identical clothes so they were mistaken for twins. They would get a mug of hot chocolate to share and some rock. Rock is a peculiarly British candy, it is a white, peppermint, hard candy in a cylinder about eight inches long and an inch in diameter. It is coated in red peppermint candy and has the name of a sea-side town extruded inside it so you can cut a slice and see the name of the town. This was an on-going ritual.

Auntie was also a bit of a miser (although very lovable). Her house had a large fireplace with a gas jet each side of it for light. Turner, her nephew, bought her a pair of new-fangled gas lights and installed them for her. Eventually she complained that, although they were brighter, they were costing a fortune to keep burning. They were about fourpence a year extra!

Picture of Sarah Ann Schofield

Here's a picture of Sarah Ann 03-05

The picture was taken in Blackpool which is a sea-side resort on the west coast about 50 miles from Farnley. Chances are she got there by train and the photo is probably around 1900. It was taken in a studio with a painted backdrop, but a real donkey, by "THE RADIUM COMPANY" of Pleasure Beach, Blackpool

Picture of Sarah Ann Schofield

Another picture of Sarah Ann at Christmas 1915. 03-06

The picture is taken in the front room of Field Side House. From left to right, The man and woman together at the left are Arnold Toothill and Ann Schofield. In the back are Florrie and George Turner (this is Sarah Ann's nephew, not her brother) who were married six months before. Almost hidden is Ann (Sarah Ann's niece), In front of George Turner is Frank, his son by his first wife. On the other side of the fireplace is Joyce Chase-Carr who married Reginald Schofield, then Sarah Ann, and in front is Philip, GT's other son. There is a picture of John Edward, who had died many years before in the next room, hanging on the wall above Florrie's head

Picture of Edward Hudson Schofield

Picture of Edward Hudson Schofield with his three children. From left to right we have daughter Mary, then John Edward, then Edward Hudson, then Sarah Ann 03-02

Picture of Edward Hudson Schofield

From left to right: Ethel Grace, EHS's daughter, with baby, probably Norman Schofield Price; her husband, William Price; EHS's grand-daughter Ann, about 9 years old to date the picture; Edward Hudson Schofield; EHS's grandsons Harry Schofield and Reginald Schofield 03-03

Edward Hudson Schofield Funeral Card

Edward Hudson Schofield's memorial card. Note that "in his 88th year" indicates that he was 87 years old. These cards were invitations to the funeral 03-04

Edward Hudson is buried in the "Upper and Lower Wortley Cemetery" (not the New Wortley Cemetery) which is off Oldfield Road between Highfield Ave and Waveney Road up a narrow lane. To find the grave from Oldfield Lane, drive up the lane, past the house, to the parking area, then continue in the same direction along a footpath and a quarter of the way to the end and look a couple of rows to the right. There is an ivy bush close by so the grave may be festooned with ivy. Alternately, the grave can be approached from Lynwood Crescent by walking up a footpath then taking a right and a left into the graveyard


Follow this link to the grave... . The cemetery is a little to the left and a little lower than the center of the map.
Picture of Edward Hudson Schofield Grave

The headstone memorialises four people - typical Yorkshire tight-fistedness!

The grave reads:

In memory of
George Turner Schofield ... [First child of Edward Hudson]
Son of Edward and Ann Schofield
... age 23 years...

Also the above Ann Schofield ...[Edward Hudson's wife]
...
Also Edward Hudson Schofield
...
Also Sarah Ann Schofield ...[Auntie Schofield, their third child]

Continue to John Edward Schofield by clicking in the left panel or click here.