I am the direct descendant (gg grandson) of James Birchenough. James was born the First child of James Birchenough (c1818 ? after 1881) and Ellen Hussey (c1818 ? after 1881) in 1841. He was born in a small town of Worsley, near Salford, which is in Eccles, Lancashire. It was a small town in 1841, being famous as the home of the first canal in England - the Duke of Bridgwaters Canal, built by James Brindley in 1761. James may have been born there, because of this. His father was a stone carver, and the growth of the nearby city of Manchester may have lured the family from the ancestral roots (Wildboarclough) in Staffordshire/Derbyshire.

James was baptised on October 03, 1841, at the Cathedral, Manchester. Thought it was not technically a cathedral until 1847, but the ornate gothic Parish church of St Mary?s, St Denis and St George. James like his father was constantly on the move ? new commissions to carve. It has been a nightmare trying to trace him. There are many pieces of the jigsaw that I would love to find.

At the age of 23, he was working in Leeds, Yorkshire. Here he must have met his future wife, Annie Harrison, the daughter of a local Picture Frame maker. They married in the summer of 1866. The Harrison?s seem to be a very numerous local clan, which originate in the forest of Gisburn, on the Ribble Valley. I am completely stuck with Annie?s family.

Marriage Notes for JAMES BIRCHENOUGH and ANNIE HARRISON:
Married 28th Aug 1866 entry 360, in the parish church of Leeds, Yorkshire
James Birchenough 23 Bachelor Stone Carver of Templar Street, father James Birchenough Stone Carver
Annie Harrison, 20 Spinster of Templar Street, father William Harrison, Picture Frame Maker
Witnessed by Thos Johnson Brown and Edwin Moore

I can?t seem to pin him down until 1881, when he seems to have settled in the City of Nottingham, a look at the census returns shows that the children were born in London, Manchester, Nottingham, and his son went on to set up a stone carvers workshop in Sheffield. The 1881 census also has Annie Harrison down as being born in Holborn, London, which sidetracked me for years. However, the birth certificate of my g-grandmother Emily (numbered 11 on my Ahnentafel system) I managed to find Annie?s maiden name, and because of her Leeds weeding, I believe this to be a simple mistake, and that it should read Holbeck, an area south of the city centre.

Having established that Annie was born in 1846, I still have not found out when she died, but it must have been after the 1891 census and before the 1901.

The 1881 census return for the family shows the following, RG11 3353 / 169 Page Number 23, Coburg Rd, Nottingham St Mary,

James BIRCHENOUGH Head M Male 40 Worsley, Lancashire, England Stone Carver Mason
Annie BIRCHENOUGH Wife M Female 31 London Holborn, London, Middlesex, England
Emily BIRCHENOUGH Daur U Female 13 London Knightsbridge, London, Middlesex, England In Lace Warehouse
Ellen BIRCHENOUGH Daur Female 10 Manchester Scholar
Mary BIRCHENOUGH Daur Female 8 Nottingham, England Scholar
Thomas BIRCHENOUGH Son Male 6 Manchester Scholar
Annie BIRCHENOUGH Daur Female 3 Nottingham, England
James BIRCHENOUGH Son Male 1 Nottingham, England

Children of JAMES BIRCHENOUGH and ANNIE HARRISON are:
JAMES BIRCHENOUGH, b. Bef. 1867; d. September 1867, Westminster.
EMILY BIRCHENOUGH, b. October 15, 1867, Knightsbridge; m. ALFRED FULLER, March 05, 1896, Nottingham (my g/gparents)
MARY BIRCHENOUGH, b. 1873, Nottingham; m. GEORGE EVERATT MEAKIN, August 01, 1898, Nottingham St Ann,
THOMAS BIRCHENOUGH, b. Dec 18, 1874, Manchester; m. ELIZABETH ANN EDWARDS, Apr 03, 1899, Nottingham St Ann,
ANNIE BIRCHENOUGH, b. April 30, 1875. Nottingham
JAMES BIRCHENOUGH, b. May 07, 1879, Nottingham,
ELLEN BIRCHENOUGH, b. 1870; m. JOHN THOMAS CRAGG, April 19, 1897, St Anns Nottingham,
ALFRED BIRCHENOUGH, b. January 30, 1882, Nottingham,
ELIZABETH BIRCHENOUGH, b. October 15, 1884.
ARTHUR BIRCHENOUGH, b. June 02, 1887, Nottingham,


James father, also James was a stone carver/sculptor too, and is in Boston, New England working on the cathedral at the time, He went over with one of James brothers, but the information is very sketchy, he is on the 1880 US census with wife Ellen T9-1212, Page Number 436C at Providence, Rhode Island, where he made an awfully fine bust of one of the leading socialites.

James (numbered 22 on my Ahnentafel system) was responsible for many fine carvings in and around Nottingham, including the first gargoyles with eyes, (St Mary?s Church). However, the family seemed to fragment when my G-Grandmother Emily Birchenought married Alfred Fuller. It all boils down too the Birchenough?s (James) being temperance, and my G-grandfather Alfred being a steeplejack, who seemed to work exclusively for the brewing trade at Burton upon Trent for some time.

Only one relative from the Birchenough clan regularly visited my g-grandparents, and that was Godwin Birchenough, Dean of Rochdale, but I am unable to find out just how he fits into the family, as he was born in 1880, to late to be a child of James and Ellen Hussey, so he must have been a cousin of Emily.

James died before 1891, and I have yet to find out his details, but I do have good contacts with the descendants of Thomas Birchenough and Elizabeth Edwards, as they live 12 miles away from me, and we occasionally meet when she comes shopping in Portsmouth.