John Staveley was baptised on the 13th October 1861 at Muston. John is the son of Frances ( Fanny ) nee Proctor (1824-1882). I have been unable to locate his birth certificate although the family were Methodists at the time and it is not uncommon for Methodists to christen their children and pay little attention to the requirements of birth registration.

Frances is entered on record as the mother on John’s Birth Certificate but no mention of the father until it appears on John’s marriage certificate as William Staveley. William was a labourer in what were particularly hard times for Yorkshire farmers. Conditions at home would have been cramped in a house with few creature comforts.

William Staveley died in 1849 at the age of 30. His untimely death would have placed a considerable strain on his wife Frances who had to bring up the two young children on her own. It is highly probable that other members of the family rallied round and supported Frances in bringing up young Elizabeth & Francis. We know that the family remained in Muston. Since you will have already deduced the fact that John was born in 1861 the two children of Frances are actually his half brother and sister.

Frances Staveley possibly married again ( or lived with ) a Richard Jenkinson whose name is shown as a witness on the marriage certificate of John Staveley. However he took the Staveley family name and we inherited it!.

John would would have started working life as a farm labourer at an early age to help support the family, He was 23 years old when he married Mary Elizabeth Boynton, a domestic servant, the daughter of George Boynton, a fisherman living at Spring Row in Filey. Mary was 19 year old at the time and the couple got married at the Primitive Methodist Chapel in Union Street, Filey on 6th May 1885.

John and Mary Staveley set up home in Muston and their first child, George William, was born in 1886. Edith Annie was born in 1887, Eliza in 1888 at Kilham ( probably whilst John was working at a farm in Kilham ) and Hilda May, again from Muston, was born in 1890.

The 1891 census shows the family as residing at Hunmanby Street, Muston. I have visited Muston, a small rural village with a few scattered farms, a church and only a few houses. Muston is set at an almost equal distance from Hunmanby and Filey, both of which are within walking distance of Muston.

I have visited the churchyard at St Oswalds Church in Filey and several members of the Boynton Family are buried in the grounds.

The family moved to Scarborough sometime between 1891 and 1893. Ethel May was born in 1893 and the address on the birth certificate is that of 11 Prospect Road, Scarborough ( shown here above to the right of the shop, a very small property which looks like a one bedroom terrace house today ).

John was no longer a farm labourer and had changed his occupation to that of drayman or van man which today would mean delivery driver. He worked for a mineral water manufacturer delivering their products locally by horse and cart. Walter Staveley remembered John, his grandfather, as being referred to as ‘Old John’. He would have been a familiar sight riding his horse and trap from village to village with his mineral water.

Old John would have been out in all weathers with only an old sack across his back as protection from the elements and cover in an attempt to keep his clothes dry and warm as he went about his work. John certainly had a hard life and with a family of six to feed he could not have afforded to be ill or have days off.

Walter Boynton Staveley, my grandfather, was born on the 10th of January 1896 at Prospect Road. Conditions would have been very cramped in a small house such as this. The family later moved to a new address at 1 St James Place in Scarborough, an address which I have been unable to find.

On the 5th April 1903, young George outgrew his strength as they used to say in those days and he passed away at the age of 17. Walter Boynton Staveley would have been 7 years old at the time. Mary Staveley, his mother, was becoming mentally unstable. This may have been exacerbated by the death of young George although although my father ( Walter Staveley ) recalls Walter Boynton Staveley mentioning that his mother once chased the children around the kitchen with a knife, the children finally frightened and cowering under the kitchen table.

Such things were not openly talked about in those days, tending instead to be ignored or brushed away rather than discussed. For this reason we know very little about Mary. For years my had been under the impression that she had died early although we have since discovered that she died in Bradford in 1944 aged 79.

Mary had been living with her daughter Edith Annie, her husband and son John. It is now known that Walter Boynton Staveley paid visits to his mother from time to time but never took his children along when making those trips.

John Staveley died on the 5th October 1909 at 17 Wooler Street, Scarborough at the age of 47 years. He died of the disease tuberculosis which was common in those days. Witness to his death certificate is daughter Hilda May. Walter Boynton would have been 13 years old, Edith Annie was 22, Hilda May 19 and Ethel May was 16 years old. Eilza would marry and move to Durham.

As previously mentioned, Edith Annie married Charlie Hall and moved to Bradford. Hilda married, became Hilda Godfrey and moved to Cornwall. Hilda’s daughter and children still live in Cornwall. Ethel May emigrated to Australia and I am fortunate enough to remember vividly a visit we made to Aunt Ethel in 1969 whilst returning to the UK on the cruise ship “SS Oronsay” after my father’s tour of duty in Hong Kong. I remember this dear lady well, having sat with her looking through album after album of her extensive stamp collection. ( I was 9 years old and had just started collecting stamps myself ).

Aunt Ethel gave me many Australian Stamps to start my collection. I regularly wrote to Aunt Ethel until she passed away and still correspond with her daughter Clarice albeit not as regularly as I should.

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