KITCHENMAN CHILD (1772-1838) :From workhouse orphan to gentleman.
How did an impoverished illegitimate child like Kitchenman Child survive and succeed to the magnificent heights he did in the late 18th/early 19th Century?
​
FAMILY AND EARLY YEARS:
​
Kitchenman was born to Susanna Child in Northowram, north of Halifax. She wasn’t married and Kitchenman Child is the only child on the registry page who was registered by his mother rather than his father. There is no evidence of a bastardy case or filiation order and the identity of his father remains a mystery. However, given his unusual name it is tempting to speculate that by christening her child “Kitchenman” Susanna did reveal his father’s surname.
​
The Child family was headed up by John Child and in addition to Susanna, his eldest (1751-1779) there were Joseph (1753-1779), George (1755 -1820) and John the youngest. In 1779 two of John senior’s adult children died (Susanna and Joseph) and were buried in one of the first graves at Mount Zion Chapel, Upper Brockholes. The ledger-stone can still be seen today just at the front of the chapel between the two doors. Aged only 6, Kitchenman went to the workhouse.
In 1781 he was apprenticed to a farmer/weaver till he was 21. On his Indenture papers he was described by the magistrate as “A poor boy of Ovenden”. The famer was his uncle, George Child, who was renting a farm at Blackmires in Ovenden off Shay Lane. It was not uncommon for children to be apprenticed to their own relatives. So Kitchenman was able to live and work with his own extended family.
Indenture of apprenticeship, 9 Mar 1781. West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale, HAS:92(235)448
The family used different chapels at different times including Mount Zion in Upper Brockholes, Illingworth St Mary the Virgin, and eventually, Square Chapel. It is possible that Kitchenman learned to write and count at the school/Sunday school attached to Mount Zion or possibly there was some instruction given at the workhouse. On the registry entry for his first marriage to Betty Wright he is described as a book-keeper living in Boothtown and can sign his own name. They were married in 1810 and had three children who survived till adulthood - Ann Kitchenman Child (1811-1846), John Wright Child (1813-1896) and Sarah Elizabeth Child (1815-1882).
​
WORK AND FORTUNE
Early in his working life, Kitchenman made the jump from farmer’s apprentice/labourer to book-keeper and lived in Boothtown. Although the place where he was a book-keeper is not recorded, it seems highly likely that he worked for the Akroyds whose enormous mill complex was based in this area. Kitchenman and the Akroyds shared a chapel in common with Mount Zion Chapel and Kitchenman’s son John Wright had a stellar career with Akroyds. He was described as an “engineer” which may indicate a more hands-on role at a mill and on his daughter Ann’s wedding certificate he is described as a “gentleman”.
​
Kitchenman’s most visible work was in the Woolshops of Halifax where he maintained an establishment from at least 1819-36. His presence there is recorded in the Select Rate Books and Halifax Highways Compositions. What he sold is a mystery so if anyone knows for sure, please let us know.
​
Kitchenman’s first wife died in 1815 aged only 25. She is buried in Illingworth St Mary’s graveyard suggesting that Kitchenman and/or Betty had more of an affinity with the Illingworth chapel than with Zion.
Kitchenman married again, this time to Mary Illingworth (1790-1833). Mary brought some property to the marriage which is mentioned in Kitchenman Child’s will where “interest and rental” from it will be held in trust as a source of income for the care of their children.
​
Kitchenman had a further three surviving children with her - Anne-Marie (1826-1909), Edward Illingworth (1828-) and Louis Henry (1830-1916). When Kitchenman Child died in 1838, they were quite young – 12,10 and 8. Care of them fell to their big brother John Wright Child – not the workhouse this time.
​
The rent and interest from these properties may also have provided him with capital for business and land acquisition. Two years before his death Kitchenman Child joined together with local businessmen Jonathan Priestley, Rawdon Briggs Esq. and Mr James Riley, to market their combined land in the Holmfield area of Ovenden. The advert in the Leeds Guardian of March 1836 cleverly identifies how good the plot would be for a new mill complex with space, water supply and good roads for transportation. The land for sale is in the area which would become the now defunct Ovenden Junction Railway station and the Holmfield industrial estate where there have been some mills which have been subsequently knocked down. Rawdon Briggs and James Riley were bankers. The sale of this land must have contributed to the £14,000 estate he left in his will.
​
Kitchenman was known and his opinion was respected. In her diary of 1837 Anne Lister quotes 'Kitchinman Childe’s' opinion on installing a steam engine and suggests he would be a good person to value the tenants’ damages implying his evaluation will be acceptable to the disgruntled tenants.
Anne Lister diary page, Oct 1837. West Yorkshire Archive Service Calderdale, SH:7/ML/E/20/0137
ONGOING FAMILY
​
His eldest daughter married John Crossley of Crossleys Carpets at Dean Clough. She was his second wife and died giving birth to their third child, Anne. Kitchenman Child’s eldest son, John Wright Child, went on to great success and is described in different censuses as "A civil engineer", a "Mechanical Engineer" and as the Manager of Akroyd's Copley Mill, even becoming a director of Akroyds Copley Mill. He registered patents for modification of textile processes.
He married Isabel Robins (1835-1916) in 1859 in St Mark's Church, Regents Park, London. He was socially well-placed and performed the role of elector in the West Riding election of the Knight of the Shire. On his Marriage certificate he describes his father, Kitchenman as " A gentleman of Halifax " and he became a retired land owner himself with 9900 shares in Great Western Railways.
​
In his will, Kitchenman made provision for his children’s futures. He requests that his executors, “...My friends Frances Alexander Leyland and John Rhodes Ralph and my son John Wright.” ensure his younger family receive the education and opportunities as good as his first family.
​
Kitchenman Child, lived in Halifax at a time of exceptional industrial growth. The “ poor boy of Ovenden" who was orphaned into the workhouse made a successful life both in business and in family terms. Through the help of his uncle he went on to become an extraordinarily successful man whose opinion on practical matters was sought and valued, who owned farms and property around Ovenden/Halifax and a business in the Woolshops. He left an estate of £14,000, (over a million pounds equivalent in todays money) and was linked by marriage to two major industrial families by the time of his death. Perhaps more than all of that he provided opportunities for his family to thrive and achieve in a spectacular way.
​​​​​​​
Researched by Janice Greenwood
Photograph of gravestone made for exhibition