Taking Care of Business; International Velveteen Trade

'Taking Care of Business' is a writing prompt for mid May; the actual writing prompt for this week is 'Step'. I know what I want to write about for 'Step'; Hannah Standring, and the mystery of the 4 children she had prior to her marriage with my 2x great grandfather, William Nicholson Edgill. I have already written about three of those children; Florence Nicholson Edgill, Etholwyn Nicholson Edgill, and my great grandfather, William Nicholson Edgill. So before I tackle that tangle, I figured I would mix up the writing prompts a little and focus this week on their eldest sister; Nanna Nicholson Edgill.

Just as with her 3 younger siblings, I have not been able to find any birth record for her. She was baptised at the age of 18, with her younger sister Florence, on the 21st February, 1883, at St Paul's Withington, in Manchester. In the baptismal record her birth date was recorded as May 20th, 1865. The first time Nanna appeared in a census report was 1881, living with the large Edgill family at 77 Cecil Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock. Just as in her baptismal record, William Nicholson Edgill, clerk to the Guardians of the Chorlton Union, and superintendent registrar, was recorded as her father, and Hannah Edgill was recorded as her mother. At the age of 14 she was a scholar, and her birth place was recorded as Bowdon, Cheshire.

In early 1888 Nanna Nicholson Edgill married John Frederick Hithersay, in Chorlton, Lancashire. John was a velveteen manufacturer, with business on both sides of the Atlantic. John Frederick Hithersay was born in Manchester, in 1861, to John and Ellen Hithersay. John Hithersay (senior) was a lace manufacturer, and lace commission agent, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire. His father Benjamin Hithersay had also been a lace manufacturer. The Hithersays were a textile manufacturing family, with a focus on lace, making John Frederick Hithersay at least the third generation of textile manufacturers in the family, but the first to be manufacturing velveteen.

Victorian fashion demanded high quality, luxurious textiles, like lace, silk, and satin.

Velveteen, sometimes referred to as velveret, is a textile with a dense, short pile. It is different to velvet in that it is usually (but not alwayys) made from cotton, and has less sheen than velvet, due to it's pile being cut from weft threads, rather than the warp. Velveteen is a stiffer fabric, due to its shorter pile, and as a result has less drape than velvet. It is often used for upholstery, for fashion fabrics that are required to need stiffness and structure, and for the manufacture of toys, such as the famous Velveteen Rabbit, published in 1921.

It's an odd twist that the illustrator was named 'William Nicholson'!
No relation, as far as I know.

Whilst velveteen was usually made from cotton, this was not always the case. Obviously silk velveteen would be a more luxurious, and expensive fabric, than the cotton version. According to the 1891 Census of Englan and Wales John Frederick Hithersay was a manufacturer of silk velveteen. His interest in silk perhaps sprung from his work in the previous census (1881) when at the age of 19, he was working as a warehouseman for a silk manufacturer.

Nanna and John had two children together; two daughters, named Nanna Marjorie (born 1889) and Doris Standring (born 1890). Interestingly, in the 1891 census John and Nanna were recorded as living together with the 8 month old baby Doris, whilst the 2 year old Nanna was to be found living with her grandmother and various uncles and aunts, on a nearby street. I have a few theories as to why the child was not living with her parents, and new sister at this time, but none that I can prove.

A year or so later it seems that John made his first journey across the pond. He took this first step in the family's American adventure alone. Leaving Liverpool on the RMS Umbria, he arrived in New York on 31st October 1892, ready to do business. 

RMS Umbria, on Queen Victoria's birthday, 1896.

John Hithersay was the owner, or perhaps co owner, of a firm named 'Hithersay and Ramm', however I have not been able to find out anymore about his supposed partner, Ramm. The company held a trademark in the USA for the use of the term 'velveteens', and I have found records of the company having paid US taxes, but I have found no other record of the business. Meanwhile UK trade directories included references to Hithersay & Ramm, velveteen manufacturer, suggesting that his company was working an  international trade in velveteen.

,John was to make several other voyages to the USA, over the following years. Sadly, between his comings and goings, the family was to manage a great loss. Nanna, their eldest daughter died at the age of 4, on the 2nd June, 1893. She had 'tubercular meningitis' and died after 12 days of illness. She was buried 3 days later at St Paul's, Withington.

Despite this loss, or perhaps because of it, John and Nanna took the big step to move their small family to the USA. The US Federal Census of 1900 shows that they arrived to settle in the USA in 1895. In 1900 they were living at 189 Woodworth Ave, Yonkers, New York. They were still living in Brooklyn in 1905, according to the 1905 New York state census. But the family apparently moved to Summit, in New Jersey sometime later.

The Summit High School is probably where Doris went to school, during their time in the city.

Presumably business was doing so well, that John and Nanna were able to afford a family visit back to the UK. In December 1907 the family of 3 travelled from New York, to Liverpool, on the RMS Lusitanisa; the same ship that was famously sank by German torpedoes in 1915. After spending the holidays and the rest of the winter in Manchester, they returned on the SS Lucania (a winner of the famous Blue Ribband) from Liverpool, which departed on the 29th February, 1908. They travelled both ways in saloon class, which gives an indication of the wealth that the family were able to enjoy, and arrived in New York just a week later on the 7th March 1908. 

The first class dining saloon, on the Lusitania.

Sadly, this international life was to come to an abrupt end. John Frederick Hithersay died suddenly, at his home in Summit, New Jersey, just a few weeks after their return, on the 25th March, 1908. His obituary included the address of his place of work, which was situated in a beautiful building, in the heart of Yonkers, New York, near the neighbourhood now known as Soho. 

New York Times, 26th March, 1908

According to John's last will and testament, Nanna inherited his entire estate, and less than a year later,  Nanna took care of the family business. Once again the family was to cross the Atlantic in a cloud of grief. Nanna and Doris, travelled home to the UK on the RMS Baltic, in First Class, arriving in Liverpool on 3rd April, 1909. 

Mother and daughter settled in the Peak District initially. The 1911 Census of England and Wales recorded them living together, on their own means, in Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire. Her brother in law, lace and net merchant Herbert Hithersay was living just south of them in Buxton at the time. Within the next decade mother and daughter made another move, to St Anne's-on-Sea, just south of Blackpool, where Doris was 'school principal' and 'employer' for Norland House School. They had two pupils (aged between 5-7 years old) living with them. I've found no record of the school, and can't say if it was just those two students they had enrolled, or if there were more day students.

Shortly after the 1921 Census Doris met and married a widower by the name of Russell Stockton. Russell was an architect who worked for the Corporation of Manchester. (Later, during the war, Russell was to engage in civil defence work, under the direction of the city's architectural department.)

Nanna passed away in 1929, in St Anne's-on-Sea, and was buried on the 12th September 1829, in the Southern Cemetery, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where the lives of her husband, John Frederick Hithersay, and daughter Nanna Marjorie Hithersay were also commemorated. Russell and Doris both passed away in their early 60s, in 1948 and 1951 respectively. 

Whilst I'm not entirely sure what ultimately became of the velveteen company, Hithersay and Ramm, I do know that it continued trading for sometime after John's death. I have found mention of it in The City Record (for New York) of 1931. I have wondered if the company continued under the control of the elusive Ramm.

Now I have introduced all four of the siblings for whom I have so many questions, I hope to, in my next blog post, pose those questions and offer some answers.

#Edgill

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https://www.facebook.com/PreservingTheRMSLusitania/photos

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Umbria

https://greenerpasture.com/Places/Details/636

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Baltic_%281903%29

http://cityrecord.engineering.nyu.edu/data/1931/1931-06-10%20part%200005.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Velveteen_Rabbit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velveteen