William Staveley, was baptised in 1819 at Fridaythorpe, He was the son of William Staveley (1784-1857) and Elizabeth Staveley nee Wilson (1791-1849). 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 have their children christened and pay little attention to the requirements of birth registration.

Most of our family are descendants of farmers spread through the East Yorkshire villages. The original Staveleys appear to have been landowners with quite large farms. The farming community however went through considerable turmoil from the 1850’s, leaving several members of the Staveley family to branch out and fend for themselves. They left their own family farms and took up employment as farm labourers, tending to move from village to village as work became available. These were bad economic times. Labour was cheap and life was hard. It was a struggle for survival. More information.

William was a farmer at Reighton when he married Frances Proctor, the daughter of a labourer of Muston on June 2^nd 1844 at Muston Church.

Their first child, Francis, was born at Reighton on the 29th March 1846. It is interesting to note that various family birth certificates the name Staveley is mis-spelt e.g. Stavely and Stavley which would strongly indicate that various family members were unable to read or write leaving this minor detail to the clerks who completed the paperwork to take a guess at the correct spelling.

Francis married Elizabeth Peam at Hunmanby and the couple went on to have five children. Unfortunately we know little about them or what became of them other than their names and dates of birth.

By 1848 the family had moved to Muston where William worked as a farm labourer. Elizabeth was born in 1848 at Muston. Again, I have no information to suggest what happened to Elizabeth or her son. At the time of Williams birth Elizabeth was a domestic servant. Willliam Staveley died in 1849 leaving Frances Proctor a widow. The cause of death was Typhus Fever – a group of diseases caused by bacteria that are spread to humans by fleas, lice, and mites. Whilst common in those days it is very rare in modern times.

1851 Census shows Fanny Staveley living at 5 Hunmanby Street in Muston as head of family living with son Francis and daughter Elizabeth. She is described as pauper under occupation. By 1861 they live at 24 Hunmanby Street and her son Francis is a servant ( Plough Boy ) in the Crowe household in Grindale. Elizabeth is a house servant in Filey with the Crawford household. Fanny, aged 38 has found work as a Laundress.

William appears to have been born out of wedlock. He was christened in Muston on October 13th 1861 where the father is not named on the record. In actual fact, Frances Proctor was now living with a Richard Jenkinson but we have no idea if they were to get married.

This is where our Staveley line is disconnected since John Staveley cannot claim to be a direct Staveley descendent. However, he did keep the Staveley family name which we inherited.

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