Peter Hunnisett

Ellen Scott

Ellen Scott was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in about 1857. In 1881 she was working as a domestic nurse looking after the small children of John and Emma Hayes at 3 Sunny Side, Railway Road, Urmston, Lancashire.

Almost 3 years later she had an illegitimate daughter:

When Ellen registered the birth she gave her address as 1 Clarence Street, Lower Broughton, Manchester, and her occupation as a domestic nurse.  Mary Ellen was subsequently adopted by George and Sarah Pearson (see below). What then happened to Ellen has yet to be discovered.

• Mary Ellen married Henry Albert Newns in Stretford in 1905.

George & Sarah Pearson

George Pearson, born Flixton ca.1845, married Sarah Elizabeth Hodcroft, born Stretford ca.1857, at Urmston, St Clement, on 12 May 1875. They lived in Urmston, Lancashire, and had three sons:

In 1881 they were living in Stretford Road and George was described as a farm labourer. George is known to have been a prominent member of the Higher Road Primitive Methodist Chapel in Urmston, taking over from the founder, William Johnson, in 1886. There is, apparently, a photograph of George in a booklet celebrating the golden jubilee (1935) of the Stretford District Methodist Circuit.

In 1891 they were still in Stretford Road and had their adopted daughter, Mary Ellen Scott, living with them. John was a cotton weaver, Sam a plumber’s assistant, and James a grocer’s assistant.

In 1901 George, a yardsman on a farm, and Sarah were still in Urmston, but now at 36 Poplar Grove with sons Sam, a plumber and painter, and James who was by then a landscape gardener. John was a ‘Surreyman’ living at 18 Beecher Street with his wife, Teresa, and daughter, Florence. Mary Ellen was recorded as Nellie Pearson working as a servant for David and Louisa Whittle at 178 Stretford Road.

By 1905 George and Sarah had moved to 30 Victoria Street, which was off Gloucester Road in Urmston, the address given by Mary on her marriage certificate.

In 1911 George and Sarah were living in George Street, Urmston, with their son James who was still single. John and his family were in Levenshulme, Sam and his family were in Urmston. Mary was with her husband in Pendleton.

George Pearson died in 1912, aged 66.

Sarah was apparently still living in Urmston around 1920 and her death appears to have been registered in Barton in the 4th quarter of 1934.

• John, as John Hodcroft Pearson, married Teresa Roche in 1899 and in 1911 he was a drayman living in Levenshulme. By this time they had had 4 children; Florence (1900), George (1902), one who had died young and Ethel (1909).
• Sam married Edith Annie Lingham in 1904 and in 1911 he was a plumber and decorator living in Stretford Road, Urmston. They appear to have had 4 children; James (1906), Thomas (1911), Edith (1913) and Ronald (1921).
• It is not known if James ever married.