Keith Wilson (2009)
Mathew Wilson 1726-1802
George Wilson 1758-1830
Mathew Wilson 1790-1873
George Wilson 1818-1903
William Wilson 1855-1941

SECTION 3
Title 1
Title 2
Title 3
Title 4
Title 5

William Wilson was born on 3^rd November 1855 at Shipton, a village to the North of York. Apart from his baptism, on 2^nd December 1855, the first recorded fact about him is that in 1861, he was 5 years old , living with his family in Shipton. His father, George, was a 43 year old agricultural labourer, born in Wigginton, and his mother, Ann, was 38, born in Marston. His brothers and sisters were James, 10, Rachel, 8, Elizabeth, 2, and Matthew, ‘under 5 months’.

In 1871, according to the census, William was a servant in the household of Robert Gatenby, a farmer, in Flawith in Yorkshire. By 1881, he had become a butcher, and, as we have seen, was living, or staying, with his brother in York. He married Elizabeth Hodgson later in the same year, on 18^th October 1881 at All Hallows Church in Sutton on the Forest.

By 1891, when William was 35, he and Elizabeth were living at 50, Price Street in York. Also there were their children, Annie, 2 years old, Harry, 1, and Walter, who was just 9 days old. They also had a servant, Annie Holmes, aged 15. Their older children, George, born in 1882, Thomas, b. 1883, and Frederick Hodgson Wilson, b. 1887, were not there. (Charles, b.1885 had died at the age of three.)Perhaps they were staying with grandparents at the time of Walter’s birth.

In 1901, the family had moved to 1, Upper Price Street, where William, now described as a ‘master butcher’, had a butcher’s shop. The family now consisted of George,18, who worked in the shop, Annie, 12, Harry, 11, Walter, 10, Arthur, 8, Edward William, 7, and Harold, 4. The twins, Nellie and Dolly, were born later, on 14^th January 1903, when Elizabeth was 44 years old.

In 1897, William’s empire had grown. He is described in the Trades Directory of North and East Ridings as:
William Wilson, butcher, 1, Upper Price Street & 37, Shambles.” An exciting find, this!

In about 1903, the family moved to a 200 acre farm known as ‘New Parks’, Huby. New Parks has already been mentioned in the account of Thomas and Hannah Wilson. When their daughter, Elizabeth, was christened in 1828, they were referred to as “Thomas and Hannah Wilson of New Parks”. The ordnance survey map for Tollerton shows a large farmhouse called Hunting Lodge Farm, situated between the A19 and Huby. This was ,at one time, a royal hunting lodge, and claims association with James 1. There is also a nearby hamlet called New Parks, and it is here where our various ancestors lived.

At this time, William was both a farmer and a butcher, providing meat for the shop from his own farm.

Harold Wilson remembered New Parks as being quite a lonely place in those days, and, at the age of 7, he had a three mile walk to school, which he attended with two of his brothers, William and Harry. His elder brothers had left school and his sisters were too young. The family did not stay there for long, however. In 1905 they moved to Great Ouseburn, where William went back to butchering again, but the enterprise was not successful as there was already a butcher’s shop in the vicinity. So, in 1906, they moved yet again, to Poppleton Road in York, where William worked for a man called Blake.

The next move was to 33, Blossom Street, which was a sweet shop until very recently. Elizabeth looked after the shop, and William was butchering at 59, Nunnery Lane.

Mr. Blake was in bad health, and left the shop soon after that, so that the family could move there, and William bought the business for£100 in 1907. 

In 1923, William and Elizabeth moved to White Cross House in Bishopthorpe, and William started another business that was to fail. Harold managed the shop in Nunnery Lane for his father, and subsequently bought it from him for £200 in 1924.

William moved to Church Farm in Elvington to take up farming again. He stayed there for about 3 years.

(From about 1924 to 1927). Then he moved to Hollin Farm in Huby. He spent most of the 1930’s there, eventually selling off some of his fields adjoining the main road for building. He built a detached house for himself in Sandy Lane  Huby – ‘Red House’, which is still there today – in about 1935, and he lived there until the 1939 war started.

He was retired by this time, aged over eighty. He must have worked until he was 77, as he sold Hollin Hill in 1932.

William Wilson

1 Upper Price Street

37 Shambles

33 Blossom Street

Nunnery Lane

Red House

William & Elizabeth