Riley

Introduction

Joe Riley and Elizabeth Helen McLaren married in Bradford in 1878. These two people were the children of families that had fairly humble beginnings, one side from Yorkshire and the other from highland Scotland. This page tells of the origins of the families that were joined together in that marriage and the changing times they lived in.

Life in a northern town

Upon starting this family history, I had assumed that the Riley family was Irish. They are not. Much of the story of the Rileys and the families they married into takes place in the communities in West Yorkshire in the north of England. Key places in this story are the major industrial towns of Halifax and Bradford. These are communities sit on the northern side of the Pennine hills 

Much of the land in the area was on estates owned by feudal landowners such as the Manor of Wakefield. Outside of the towns, people rented their houses and either took leases on small-holdings or used the common lands for grazing. Going back to the 1400s the combination of hills for grazing sheep and rivers for washing wool and transporting the finished product helped create a woollen industry that provided some prosperity for the area. This industry continued to develop over the next two hundred years. In the 1600s. the distance from London and the long history of semi-feudal land ownership may have been factors in the area siding with the parliamentary side during the English Civil War. Certainly there was the development of a a tradition of non-conformist religious beliefs that contributed to a flourishing of independent chapels and churches.

Technological changes

During the 1700s the technology for the clothing and textiles industries started to rapidly develop. The Flying Shuttle doubled the productivity of weavers from the 1740s and the Spinning Jenny was introduced to the cotton mills of Lancashire from the 1760s. This meant that cloth manufacturing went from cottage industry, with a single person or small business, to the beginnings of factories. From the late 1780s the same technology started being employed for making wool and worsted products. Towards the late 1700s the new machines were further supplemented by water power and, increasingly, steam power.

In the early 1800s steam-powered looms became affordable for families that got together to form small workshops. The products of these small workshops were traded in markets such as the Halifax Piece Hall. Halifax cloth was in high demand and sold in the rest of England, The Netherlands and even as far afield as Turkey. To capitalise on the reputation of the area and the new technology continually developed the production started shifting from small workshops to big industrial woollen mills. By 1841 there were more than 70 worsted mills in the Bradford district and also by 1850 there were 24 large mills in Halifax. This change from small workshops to mills changed the place for the people that lived there, and it took some time for the towns to catch up. The slums of poor accommodation and living conditions that grew up alongside the mills became notorious across Europe.

Right place at the right time

When the northern towns started to catch up, they did so quickly and grandly. In Halifax and Bradford there emerged new architecture to match the development of the towns. The Halifax Town Hall that opened in 1863 was a grand design incorporating classical themes and the designs of Venice. In Bradford buildings such as the Midland Hotel , Wool Exchange and St George's Hall demonstrated the money in the town and the sense of prosperity - at least for the Merchant class. The Public Health Act of 1848 also gave the right for the new towns to create Town Councils and Corporations that introduced regulations to clean up the light, air and water. At the same time a the new merchant classes were trying to impose social values on their workers with people such as Sir Titus Salt building huge villages such as Saltaire

The history of the Rileys and associated families are right in the middle of these exciting times for the north of England.

Origins of families in this branch

The history of the ancestors of Thomas Riley is tied up with the changes that were taking part in this part of England during the 19th century. There are four families that marry up and are the direct ancestors of Lawrence Riley, the father of Thomas Riley, when he was born in the Halifax area in 1881 - The Rileys, Haleys, McLarens and McDougalls.

Links