Children of Jane and John Hewitson

01.  Mary Ann Hewitson

1811-03-07 b. Tedham, Northumberland TNA: RG 6/384; censuses; Annual Monitor; Ackworth Old Scholars' Association Annual Report (1906)
1841 of Cumberland Row, Westgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, living with her family TNA: HO 107/824/10 f6 p4
1851 living with her family and two house servants at 3 Springfield Mount, Leeds, Yorkshire HO 107/2321 f548 p23
1861 living at Woodlands, Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, with her family and a servant RG 9/3353 f45 p11
1863-06-20 co-administrator of brother William Watson Hewitson's estate National Probate Calendar
1870

"The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford," through their attorney or agent, William Paver, of Peckfield, Milford Junction, have during 1870 made the following claims, which they have enforced by distress warrants upon the respective parties:—

On Mary Ann Hewitson and Hannah Hewitson, of Headingley.

  £  s.  d.
For two years' rent charge in lieu of rectorial tithes 0  13  9
  Stated in the warrant to be ....................................... 0  16  3  
  Cost of levying ........................................................... 0    3  3
  Man in possession one day  ....................................... 0    2  6
  1    1  9

For this the following articles were taken:—

  Timepiece, value ......................................................... 1  12  0  
  Copper kettle .............................................................. 0    8  6
  Teapot ........................................................................ 0    5  0
  Table cloth .................................................................. 0  10  0
  2  15  6

[ . . . ]

The parties suffering these distraints are members of the Society of friends, who, believing in the freedom of the gospel ministry, and that all compulsory payments for religious purposes are opposed to the teaching of the New Testament, have, with their fellow-believers for long above 200 years, conscientiously refused to pay all such demands.

[ . . . ]

Leeds Mercury, 1871-01-10
1871 income from estates, of Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, living with her sister, a cook, and a housemaid RG 10/4569 f63 p14
1871-05-21 of Woodlands, Headingley, Leeds Mosscroft visitors' book
1880-11-02 Deeds of Carrs Hill, High Felling:
 
(1) Revd James Snape of the borough and county of Newcastle upon Tyne
(2) George Dell Clarke
(3) Mary Ann Hewitson and Hannah Hewitson of County of York

Transfer of mortgage, referring to three previous indentures involving the respective principal sums of £335 6s 4d, £300 and £965, which are still owing, but all interest has been paid to date. (3) have agreed to paid the first two sums to (1), and to lend (2) a further £2,999 13s 8d, with interest charged at £4 15% per annum, and repayments due on 20 June and 20 December every year. Lands involved are: Low Pasture containing 13 acres, 3 roods, 20 perches, Meadowfield containing 9 acres, 2 roods, 5 perches, Westfield containing 7 acres and 16 perches, Littlefield containing 4 acres, 2 roods, 12 perches and a stone quarry containing 2 acres and 7 perches as well as waste ground that is now used as a road. These are mortgaged by (2) to secure the total sum of £4,600. A map of the property is attached.
Catalogue of Newcastle Solicitors' Deeds, Durham University, NES/6/1
1881 of Woodlands, Headingley cum Burley, Yorkshire, living with her sister, a cook, and a housemaid RG 11/4538 f95 p18
1882-07-18 of Woodlands, Headingley, Leeds Bensham Grove visitors' books
1885-09-24
1890-11 "In coming home we paid a pleasant little call on Mary Ann & Hannah Hewitson whom we found a good deal failed, but cordial & hospitable as ever." Elizabeth Spence Watson's "Family Chronicles"
1891 living on her own means, of The Woodlands, Otley Road, Headingley cum Burley, living with her sister, a companion, a cook, and a housemaid RG 12/3709 f125 p1
1896-11-06 executor of sister Hannah Hewitson's estate National Probate Calendar
1900-03-29 Deeds of Carrs Hill, High Felling:
 
(1) George Dell Clarke of Kobe, Japan, gent
(2) Mary Ann Hewitson of Woodlands, Headingley, spinster

Mortgage, with a map of the area on the front cover; blue and red borders indicate areas conveyed by means of previous indentures (NES/6/1). Areas marked in blue were sold to purchasers, and areas marked in red are conveyed to (1).
Catalogue of Newcastle Solicitors' Deeds, Durham University, NES/6/3
1901 living on own means, of Woodlands, Otley Road, Headingley cum Burley, living with a housekeeper, a sick nurse, a cook, and a housemaid, with Alfred Moorhouse, actuary, as a "per. guest" RG 13/4247 f15 p21
of Woodlands Terrace, Headingley, Leeds Proceedings of the Ackworth Old Scholars' Association, Part XX, Eighth Month, 1901
1907-09-28 of 'Woodlands', Headingley, Leeds; d. Leeds RD Leeds Mercury, 1907-09-30; Annual Monitor; Adel Quaker Burials, accessed 2006-07-29; National Probate Calendar; GRO index
1907-10-01T15:00 bur. Adel Friends' burying-ground, Yorkshire Leeds Mercury, 1907-09-30; Adel Quaker Burials
 

DEATH OF A LEEDS "LADY BOUNTIFUL."

The death has occurred, at the advanced age of 97 years, of Miss Mary Ann Hewitson, of Woodlands, Headingley, Leeds. The deceased lady was well-known in the city as a friend of the poor and a helper of charitable institutions. Among Miss Hewitson's earliest recollections were the celebrations at Newcastle when George IV. came to the throne. She came to Leeds in 1852 with the rest of her family. A few years later her brother, who had worked as a draughtsman in the foundry of Lord Airedale's father, was admitted a partner to the firm. Miss Hewitson was a Quakeress.

Yorkshire Evening News, 1907-10-05, with sketch portrait
 

BOUNTIFUL LEEDS QUAKERESS.

A Leeds Quakeress, Miss Mary Ann Hewitson, has died at the age of 97 years, at Woodlands, Headingley. She was well known in the city as a friend of the poor and a helper of charitable institutions.

Among Miss Hewitson's earliest recollections were the celebrations at Newcastle when George IV came to the throne. She came to Leeds in 1852 with the rest of her family. A few years later her brother, who had worked as a draughtsman in the foundry of Lord Airedale's father, was admitted a partner to the firm.

Leeds Mercury, 1907-10-07
1907-12-06 will proved at London by Robert Spence Watson and Edward Watson; effects £57,466 8s 4d; resworn £35,068 9s. 8d. National Probate Calendar
  "a well-known member of the Society of Friends"; charitable bequests made totalled about £17,000, including: the Friends' Foreign Mission Association, £3000; the Friends' Bedford Institute, £2000; the Friends Surian Mission, £2000; the Headingly Boys and Girls' Orphanage, the Medical Mission in Constantinople, Ackworth School, and the Leeds General Infirmary, £1000 each Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 1907-12-10
 

BEQUESTS TO LEEDS.

TOTAL OF £6,400 TO VARIOUS CHARITIES.

The executors (the Right Hon. Robert Spence Watson and Mr. Edward Watson) of the late Miss Mary Ann Hewitson, of Woodlands, Headingley, Leeds, who died on the 28th day of September, 1907, inform us that by various testamentary dispositions she bequeathed the following legacies to the undermentioned institutions and societies:—

The Friends' Foreign Mission Association, £3,000; the Friends' Bedford Institute, £2,000; the Medical Mission, Constantinople, £1,000; Friends' School, Ackworth, £1,000; Leeds Public Dispensary, £500; Leeds Tract Society, £500, United Institution for the Blind, Deaf, and Dumb, Leeds, £500; Leeds City Mission, £500; Leeds Benevolent or Strangers' Friend Society, £500; Leeds Unmarried Women's Benevolent Institution, £500; British and Foreign Bible Society, £500; Anti-Slavery Society, £300; Aborigines Protection Society, £300; Protestant Italian schools visited by members of the Society of Friends, £300; Dr. Barnardo's Homes, £300; Hilton Crèche, Stepney, £300; Leeds Guardian Home, £200; Leeds Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society, £200; Newcastle-upon-Tyne Aged Females' Society, £200; British and Foreign School Society, £200; Leeds Hospital for Women and Children, £200; Belle Vue Mission, Paris, £200; the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, £100; the Headingley Orphan Homes, £1,000; Newcastle-upon-Tyne Preparative Meeting of Friends, £200; Leeds Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, £300; Allendale Preparative Meeting of the Society of Friends, £200.

Leeds Mercury, 1907-11-29
  personal bequests included: £4000 each to Robert Spence Watson and Edward Watson, as well as equal shares of the residue, and shares in trust for Lucy Fenwick Watson (£1500, Eliza Walton (£1000), Lucy Corder (£1000), and Mary Carrick Watson (£2000); as well as bequests to her servants Hexham Courant, 1907-12-14
 

Mary Ann Hewitson was the eldest of the three children of John and Jane Hewitson, née Watson, of Allendale, where she was born. Her parents removed to Newcastle when she was five years old, and the last fifty-four years of her life were spent in Leeds, whither she came with her family in 1853.

Her father was a "convinced" Friend, and his children were brought up in a carefully guarded manner. His younger daughter Hannah showed signs of "love for dress" which was duly admonished. She was very proud of a little purple silk umbrella which was given to her, and the first time she used it she was tripping lightly along holding it up, when, alas, a sudden gust of wind wrenched it from her grasp, and carried it over the tops of the houses and out of sight for ever. She was told it was "a judgment" on her "vanity." She mourned its loss in silence.

When eleven years of age, Mary Ann Hewitson was sent by stage coach to Ackworth School, where she remained for four years without a holiday. She was very loyal in her attachment to the school, and would never own that it was a mistake to have no holidays, though she frankly admitted that she was homesick for a year after going, with the prospect of four years there before her. After leaving school she resided at home, helping her mother in the care of her sister, who was six years her junior, and whom she looked upon as a child to the end of her life. She entered fully into the life of the young Friends of that day, living in the midst of a large circle of relatives and Friends, among whom a considerable share of nursing fell to her lot, in the days when there were no trained nurses, and when the care of the sick was lovingly shared by those who had leisure in the Meeting.

When forty-two years old Mary Ann Hewitson removed to Leeds with the rest of her family. Her father died two years later, and in 1863 it was a great blow to the sisters to lose their only brother. For ten years the two sisters were almost entirely cut off from social life, being in constant attendance on their invalid mother, whom they faithfully and lovingly tended till her death in 1870 at the age of ninety-five. When their task was over, it was found that they had been by no means narrowed during these quiet years; their hearts were full of loving sympathy and they again became regular attenders of meetings for worship and church affairs, and took a keen interest in everything connected with the Society of Friends. They were diligent readers of Friends' books, and read and re-read such lives as Daniel Wheeler, Stephen Grellet, James Backhouse, Joseph John Gurney, and many others, and could relate many anecdotes of the wonderful faith and power of the early Friends.

Mary Ann and Hannah Hewitson continued to reside at Woodlands, standing in its beautiful grounds. Of simple tastes and habits themselves, they looked upon their ample means as held in trust from their Heavenly Father, and it was their constant desire to use them in His service. For twenty-five years they employed a Bible Woman Nurse among the poor in Leeds, and no deserving case she brought to their knowledge was ever sent empty away. And it was all done so quietly and unostentatiously; the writer remembers their refusing to subscribe their names to a circular for a local colliery disaster, and the following day giving her £10 to slip into the collection box for them at First-day morning meeting for the same cause.

In 1894, Hannah Hewitson had a paralytic seizure, and passed two happy years before the call came for her. Her room was the brightest spot in the home, and many happy hours were spent with her. In conversation one day, she said that she had done "one very naughty thing," which she had "regretted" all her life; on being asked what it was, she said, "I was walking along the street with my mother, when I was a little girl, and I took one currant from a shop window, and I have been sorry that I did it ever since."

In 1896 for these two, who seemed so inseparable, the time of parting came, and Hannah Hewitson was taken to her Heavenly Home. It was touching to see the elder sister thus left at eighty-five to pursue her journey alone, but she was surrounded by those who truly loved her, and she bravely held on her way. She loved to be read aloud to, till increasing deafness made it difficult for her to hear. Her favourite chapter was the seventh of Revelation, which she used to ask for every day. When Friends visited her, and had "a little message" for her, on being asked sometimes if she had heard, she would reply, "Not all, but I could feel it."

As years crept on, she became more and more helpless in mind and body, but when she realised who her friends were, when they called on her, her loving welcome was the same as of old. To those always about her, her mind seemed clearer, and only a few days before her death she sent a message to the little boy whose life had been linked in with her own so happily during the last few years of her life, and who was from home for a few days: " Tell little Jamie I have asked God to bless him." A few hours of discomfort in breathing, and then her gentle spirit winged its flight to Heaven; so peaceful was the close, that her loved ones standing by her could scarcely tell when the end came.

Truly of these two sisters it can be said. "The memory of the just is blessed." There are many who have cause to thank God for their hallowed lives, and the memory of them will ever remain sweet and sacred to those who came in contact with them.

Annual Monitor
 

MARY ANN HEWITSON (scholar 1821–5), daughter of John and Jane Hewitson, née Watson, was born at Allendale, Northumberland, in 1811, and lived nearly ninety-seven years. The family removed to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, when M.A. Hewitson was five years old. From there she was sent to Ackworth by stage coach, and she stayed at school four years without ever going home, and only on one occasion did she see her father.

In 1852, along with her father, mother and sister, M.A. Hewitson removed to Leeds to join her brother William Watson Hewitson, who was a draughtsman at Airedale Foundry, Leeds. After seven years he was admitted a partner in the firm of Kitson, Thompson and Hewitson, engineers. The home at Woodlands became a centre of hospitality in which the sisters took their full share. Throughout her long life M.A. Hewitson was keenly interested in everything that affected the welfare of the Society of Friends. She and her sister were diligent attenders of Meetings for Worship and Discipline. On their brother's death, in 1863, the management of his affairs devolved upon the two sisters. Their own wants were simple, and they were, therefore, able to gratify their large hearted and generous dispositions in giving freely to others.

M.A. Hewitson's sister Hannah passed away eleven years ago. It is interesting to note that her mother died at the age of ninety-five, so that the period covered by the lives of mother and daughter was 132 years. Mary Ann Hewitson died on the 28th of September, 1907, aged nearly ninety-seven.

AOSA Annual Report 27, 1908


William Watson Hewitson02. William Watson Hewitson

1814-08-28 b. Riding in Allendale, Northumberland TNA: RG 6/384; censuses; Annual Monitor; John William Steel (1899) A Historical Sketch of the Society of Friends "in scorn called Quakers" in Newcastle and Gateshead 1653–1898. London: Headley Brother
1824/1826 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; at Ackworth school Ackworth School Centenary Committee (1879) List of the Boys and Girls admitted into Ackworth School 1779–1879. Ackworth
  educated at Kendal Edward H. Milligan (2007) Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775–1920. York: Sessions Book Trust
 

Returning to Newcastle, he entered his father's business. It soon became clear, however, that his interests and abilities lay elsewhere, for in his spare moments he was always drawing models of details of machinery and locomotives.

Milligan (2007)
1829/1836 apprentice at Robert Stephenson and Co. in Newcastle, then was for some time in the locomotive shops of Messrs. Fenton Murray and Jackson at Leeds Grace's Guide; Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Proceedings. 1894; Milligan (2007)
1832 joined Newcastle Lit. & Phil. Lit & Phil
1836 joined the firm of Todd, Kitson & Laird as a draughtsman Milligan (2007)
  in the following years the firm built large numbers of locomotives, both for home and overseas railways
1841 engineer, of Highgate, Hunslet, Leeds, Yorkshire, boarder, lodger, or visitor with Sarah Williamson, linen draper TNA: HO 107/1345/1 f40 p33
1842 entered partnership of Kitson, Thompson and Hewitson, locomotive manufacturers Wikipedia, accessed 2010-05-02; Hunslet remembered; Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Proceedings. 1894
1845-11-28 one of many signatories to an appeal to the Mayor of Leeds to call a public meeting in relation to the famine in Ireland and the repeal of the Corn Laws Leeds Times, 1845-11-29
1848 joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Proceedings. 1894
1849-07-27 present at a vestry meeting at Hunslet, to discuss the erection of a Mechanics' Institution Leeds Mercury, 1849-07-28
1850-11-29 of Springfield Mount; contributed a bust of George Stephenson to the annual Conversazione of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society Leeds Intelligencer, 1850-11-30
1851 engineer employing 400 men, living with his family and two house servants at 3 Springfield Mount, Leeds, Yorkshire TNA: HO 107/2321 f548 p23
1851-09-20 railway works of Messrs, Kitson, Hewitson, and Thompson, of Leeds—150 men on strike; the firm trying to fill their places by using 'non-society men'; five of these had breached their contracts and were being prosecuted; the court found in favour of the prosecution, rendering the men liable to 3 months' imprisonment, but were told that this would not be enforced if they returned to work and honoured their contracts, which they agreed to do Leeds Times, 1851-09-20; Leeds Mercury, 1851-09-20
by 1851-11-29 of Leeds; had donated £2 to the Royal Victoria Asylum, Newcastle Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury, 1851-11-29
1852 bought an estate at Headingley, where he enjoyed the acquisition of the latest inventions in microscopes and electrical appliances, and the opportunity to indulge his love of science Milligan (2007)
by 1852-12-25 had donated 1 guinea to the fund for the Yorkshire Union Village Libraries Leeds Intelligencer, 1852-12-25
1853-01-29 of Springfound Mount, Leeds; granted patent for "Improvements in suspending or applying mariners' compasses in vessels built of iron, or partly of iron" London Gazette
1854-06-20 a member of a committee to inaugurate the Leeds Auxiliary to the United Kingdom Alliance for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic. Leeds Times, 1854-06-24
by 1855-04-14 had subscribed £15 towards the relief of the destitute and distressed poor of the town and neighbourhood of Leeds; only four individuals had subscribed more Leeds Times, 1855-04-14
1856-02-08 subscribed £20 to the fund for the erection of additional buildings for the Leeds Guardian Society and General Penitentiary Leeds Times, 1856-02-09
1856-02-14 of Headingley, near Leeds; granted patent for "An improvement in casting the bearings or brasses of machinery" London Gazette, 1859-04-22
1856-04-23 left the office of visiting drawing master at Ackworth School Joseph Spence Hodgson (1895) Superintendents, Teachers, and Principal Officers of Ackworth School, from 1779 to 1894
1856-06-05 of Headingley; with William Hamond Bartholomew, patented the invention of "improvements in the construction of the furnaces or fire-boxes of tubular steam-boilers" London Gazette, 1856-06-20
1856-11-15 on the committee for a juvenile reformatory for Leeds Leeds Intelligencer, 1856-11-15
by 1856-12-19 had subscribed £5 to the new Infant School Buildings at Arthur's-hill Newcastle Courant, 1856-12-19
1857 founder member of the Leeds Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders, and designed the earliest part of the Adel Reformatory, Leeds British Listed Buildings
1857-01-23 had donated £25 and subscribed £2 2s. for the Juvenile Reformatory for Leeds Leeds Intelligencer, 1857-01-24
1857-11-28

LEEDS REFORMATORY SCHOOL, ADEL.— [ . . . ] The Reformatory School at Adel is, we think, most creditable to the designer, W.W. Hewitson, Esq., and the other members of the committee who have superintended the building along with him. The site is very eligible, and the interior arrangements are most commodious. It is adapted to contain about sixty inmates,—a considerably larger number than was at first contemplated. [ . . . ]

Leeds Mercury, 1857-11-28
1858 with the retirement of Isaac Thompson, the firm became Kitson & Hewitson  
1858-01-18 secretary to the Leeds Reformatory School; "Buildings were erected according to plans carefully prepared by Mr. Hewitson, who had personally visited several of the most important Reformatory Institutions in the kingdom; [ . . . ]" Leeds Intelligencer, 1858-01-23
 

[ . . . ] came to Leeds in 1852 with the rest of [his] family. A few years later, [having] worked as a draughtsman in the foundry of Lord Airedale's father, was admitted a partner to the firm.

Leeds Mercury, 1907-10-07
by 1858-04-17 had subscribed £10 to the local fund for the British Association Leeds Intelligencer, 1858-04-17
1858-06-16

IN CHANCERY.

TAYLOR & OTHERS v. TAYLOR & OTHERS.

And in the Matter of an Act of Parliament passed in the Session held in the 19th and 20th Years of the Reign of her present Majesty, and entitled, and Act to Facilitate Leases and Sales of Settled Estates. And of the Estates Settled by the Will of Joseph Taylor, Deceased.

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that a petition in the above-mentioned Cause and Matters was, on the 11th day of June, 1858, presented to the Right Honourable the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, by JOSEPH TAYLOR, praying that the conditional agreement therein set forth, dated the 17th day of March, 1858, as modified by an agreement of the 1st day of April, 1858, for a Lease to JAMES KITS, ISAAC THOMPSON, and WILLIAM WATSON HEWITSON, of Leeds, in the County of York, Engineers, of part of the residuary real Estate of the Testator, Joseph Taylor, therein mentioned, consisting of certain Plots or Parcels of Land, situate at Hunslet, in the Parish of Leeds, in the County of York, coloured blue, red, and yellow on the Plan, annexed to the Agreement dated the 17th day of March, 1858, with all Buildings and Erections erected thereon; and also the Boiler, Steam Engine, Going Gear, Stocks, Shafts, Pipes, Machinery, and other Apparatus, to the said Premises belonging, with the Appurtenances, may be approved of, and that his Lordship will be pleased to direct that a lease carrying out the terms of the said Agreement of the 17th day of March, 1858, as modified by the said Agreement of the 1st day of April last, may be executed by the said Joseph Taylor, as Lessor, or by such other Person or Persons as Lessor or Lessors as to his Lordship may seem fit upon the said James Kitson, Isaac Thompson, and William Watson Hewitson, executing a counterpart of such Lease, or that his Lordship may make such further or other order in the Premises as to his Lordship may seem fit.

[ . . . ]

 

 

Yorkshire Gazette, 1858-06-19
1859-01-17 secretary to the Leeds Reformatory Leeds Intelligencer, 1859-01-22
  had a strong feeling for individuals, as witnessed during an attack of Asiatic cholera in the town, when he assiduously visited in their homes the 70 or so of the firm's workers who had been stricken Milligan (2007)
1860-01-18 with Benjamin Walker, civil engineers, of Leeds; have given notice of the invention of "improvements in steam hammers" London Gazette, 1860-02-21
1860-03-21 James Kitson, Isaac Thompson, and William Watson Hewitson, of Leeds, iron and brass founders—partnership dissolved Morning Chronicle, 1860-03-21; London Gazette, 1860-03-20
Child with Sarah Fannon: Mary Louisa Fannon (1860–1908) b. at Asselby, Yorkshire; the mother was a servant, presumably in his household GRO index; information from Maxene Rooke
1860-08-09 proposed to subscribe £50 for an extension to the premises of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society Leeds Intelligencer, 1860-08-19
1861 engineer master employing 1100 men, iron ship builder 370 men, colliery owner employing 285 men, living at Woodlands, Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, with his family and a servant TNA: RG 9/3353 f45 p11
  mechanical and locomotive engineer Edward H. Milligan (2007) Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775–1920. York: Sessions Book Trust
1861-04-10 of Woodlands, Headingley, near Leeds Cheltenham Examiner
1861-06 dispute over tithes he doesn't want to pay, as a member of the Society of Friends Grace's Guide
by 1861-12-07 had subscribed £250 for a new General Infirmary for Leeds Leeds Intelligencer, 1861-12-07
1862 formed a partnership with John Fowler, as Hewitson and Fowler, manufacturing steam-driven ploughs Wikipedia
  in later years, when business pressures had lessened, he was able on occasion to serve as a representative of Yorkshire QM to the national yearly meeting in London Milligan (2007)
1863-05-07 civil engineer, of 'Woodlands', Headingley, Leeds, Yorkshire; d. there Annual Monitor; National Probate Calendar; Milligan (2007); GRO index; Morning Post, 1863-05-12; Newcastle Courant, 1863-05-15
1863-05-12

THE LATE MR. HEWITSON.—The obituary in our paper of to-day contains a notice of the death of another of those self-helpers who have reflected honour on Newcastle. Mr. William W. Hewitson, of Leeds, was the only son of the late Mr. John Hewitson, of this town, cheesemonger. Being a member of the Society of Friends, he was educated first at Ackworth School, and afterwards at a school in Kendal under Mr. Samuel Marshall. He then for a short time was employed in his father's shop, but showed little inclination for mercantile pursuits. His desire was to become an engineer, and eventually with great reluctance his father consented to his going into the works of Messrs. Stephenson & Co.; but thinking that this step was only from a passing whim, he made it a condition that his son should be employed in the same manner as the sons of working men. The lad desired nothing more; and during his apprenticeship he might have been seen daily going to and returning from his work carrying his tin can amongst the crowd of operatives who at certain hours darkened Fort Street and the other streets in the neighbourhood of the manufactory. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, Mr. Hewitson went to Leeds in search of employment. He first became foreman, and afterwards a partner, in the large works there known by the name of the Airedale Foundry, which have been lately carried on in partnership by himself and Mr. Kitson, the lat Mayor of Leeds. Mr. Hewitson was also a partner in the firm of Richardson, Duck & Co., of Stockton, shipbuilders; and a few years ago he became connected with Mr. Fowler, the inventor of the Steam Plough; and to his scientific knowledge and indomitable perseverance are owing many of the improvements which have recently been made in that important invention. Mr. Hewitson had for some years suffered from the effect of exposure whilst a young man in the way of his business; but he had so often rallied from the attacks of illness, that the intelligence of his death, which took place at his beautiful residence at Headingley on Thursday last, came suddenly and unexpectedly. His was an honoured and honourable life, and he has left a mother and two sisters, and a large circle of attached friends, to mourn his loss.

Newcastle Daily Chronicle
1863-05-14

THE LATE MR. WILLIAM WATSON HEWITSON.—A few days ago our obituary recorded the decease of Mr. William Watson Hewitson, of the firm of Messrs. Kitson and Hewitson, locomotive engine builders and general engineers, of this town. Mr Hewitson came to Leeds about twenty-seven years ago, an unknown young man. He was employed for a while as draughtsman in the house of Todd, Kits, and Laird, and on the dissolution of that firm he joined Mr. James Kitson in establishing the works now so widely known as the Airedale Foundry. Along with engineering abilities of a very high order, Mr. Hewitson possessed uncommon talent for organising and conducting complicated business on a large scale. The eminent success of his firm has contributed to gain for Leeds its high position in what is now one of its important industrial departments. Apart from his rare scientific and business capacity, Mr. Hewitson was a man of sterling worth, of singularly kind and amiable disposition, and possessed a refined and cultivated taste. His benevolence found scope in a sedulous attention to the interests of the public schools of the Society of Friends, to which religious body he belonged. He was one of the founders of the Adel Reformatory, and we believe he himself designed the plans for the building in which it has been so successfully carried on. The funeral of this much-lamented gentleman took place yesterday, at the Friends' Burial Ground, Camp-lane-court, and was numerously attended by his fellow-townsmen, as well as by the workmen of the Airedale Foundry, whose stamp of respectability and intelligence must, we think, have impressed all who witnessed the mournful procession.

Leeds Mercury, 1863-05-14
1863-06-20 letters of administration granted to his sisters at Wakefield; effects under £70,000 National Probate Calendar
1863-06-26 of Airedale Foundry; had taken out an annual subscription of £3 3s. to the Leeds General Infirmary
1865-11 estate resworn at the Stamp Office under £60,000


03. Hannah Hewitson

1817-03-04 b. All Saints, Newcastle on Tyne, Northumberland digest of Durham Quaker births: index; censuses; Annual Monitor
1841 of Cumberland Row, Westgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, living with her family TNA: HO 107/824/10 f6 p4
1851 living with one servant and a visitor at 11 Cumberland Row, Westgate, Newcastle TNA: HO 107/2404 f224 p5
1861 living at Woodlands, Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, with her family and a servant TNA: RG 9/3353 f45 p11
1863-06-20 co-administrator of brother William Watson Hewitson's estate National Probate Calendar
1864-02-08 of Woodlands Mosscroft visitors' book
1870

"The Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford," through their attorney or agent, William Paver, of Peckfield, Milford Junction, have during 1870 made the following claims, which they have enforced by distress warrants upon the respective parties:—

On Mary Ann Hewitson and Hannah Hewitson, of Headingley.

  £  s.  d.
For two years' rent charge in lieu of rectorial tithes 0  13  9
  Stated in the warrant to be ....................................... 0  16  3  
  Cost of levying ........................................................... 0    3  3
  Man in possession one day  ....................................... 0    2  6
  1    1  9

For this the following articles were taken:—

  Timepiece, value ......................................................... 1  12  0  
  Copper kettle .............................................................. 0    8  6
  Teapot ........................................................................ 0    5  0
  Table cloth .................................................................. 0  10  0
  2  15  6

[ . . . ]

The parties suffering these distraints are members of the Society of friends, who, believing in the freedom of the gospel ministry, and that all compulsory payments for religious purposes are opposed to the teaching of the New Testament, have, with their fellow-believers for long above 200 years, conscientiously refused to pay all such demands.

[ . . . ]

Leeds Mercury, 1871-01-10
1871 income from estates, of Otley Road, Headingley, Leeds, living with her sister, a cook, and a housemaid RG 10/4569 f63 p14
1871-05-21 of Woodlands, Headingley, Leeds Mosscroft visitors' book
1880-11-02 Deeds of Carrs Hill, High Felling:
 
(1) Revd James Snape of the borough and county of Newcastle upon Tyne
(2) George Dell Clarke
(3) Mary Ann Hewitson and Hannah Hewitson of County of York

Transfer of mortgage, referring to three previous indentures involving the respective principal sums of £335 6s 4d, £300 and £965, which are still owing, but all interest has been paid to date. (3) have agreed to paid the first two sums to (1), and to lend (2) a further £2,999 13s 8d, with interest charged at £4 15% per annum, and repayments due on 20 June and 20 December every year. Lands involved are: Low Pasture containing 13 acres, 3 roods, 20 perches, Meadowfield containing 9 acres, 2 roods, 5 perches, Westfield containing 7 acres and 16 perches, Littlefield containing 4 acres, 2 roods, 12 perches and a stone quarry containing 2 acres and 7 perches as well as waste ground that is now used as a road. These are mortgaged by (2) to secure the total sum of £4,600. A map of the property is attached.
Catalogue of Newcastle Solicitors' Deeds, Durham University, NES/6/1
1881 of Woodlands, Headingley cum Burley, Yorkshire, living with her sister, a cook, and a housemaid RG 11/4538 f95 p18
1882-07-18 of Woodlands, Headingley, Leeds Bensham Grove visitors' books
1885-09-24
1890-11 "In coming home we paid a pleasant little call on Mary Ann & Hannah Hewitson whom we found a good deal failed, but cordial & hospitable as ever." Elizabeth Spence Watson's "Family Chronicles"
1891 of The Woodlands, Otley Road, Headingley cum Burley, living with her sister, a companion, a cook, and a housemaid RG 12/3709 f125 p1
1896-08-28 of the Woodlands, Headingley, Yorkshire; d. there Annual Monitor; National Probate Calendar; GRO index; Leeds Times, 1896-09-05
  bur. Adel Friends' burying-ground, Yorkshire Adel Quaker Burials, accessed 2006-07-29
1896-11-06 will proved at Wakefield by sister Mary Ann Hewitson; effects £25,666 10s. 5d. National Probate Calendar


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