Martin Farndale

Martin Farndale was born on 19 September 1845 at Fogga Farm near Skelton. His father, Martin, was working on the farm which belonged to James Taylor, his father-in-law. His mother, Elizabeth (nee Taylor) seems to have been James' only child and heiress. Martin was in fact the second son of Martin and Elizabeth. At the time of the 1851 census the young Martin listed is listed as grandson to the owner of the house he was living in (ie to James Taylor of Fogga); he was aged 5 and born at Skelton. Certainly his birth is recorded in Skelton Parish Register as "Born September 19th 1845 and baptised on October 20th 1845 as son of Martin Farndale." Although all his brothers recorded at Somerset House, Martin's birth is not recorded there. The family consisted of four boys, William (b1842), Martin (b1845), John (b1848) and Matthew (b1850).

Martin's eldest brother died at Skelton, aged 11, of inflammation of the chest on 29 January 1854. Martin was aged 9 at this time. He was probably going to school at Skelton. His father died at Guisborough on 12 July 1862 of empyma and at this time Martin was 17. There is a family story that his father had been kicked by a horse.

For the next 14 years it appears that Martin grew up in the Skelton/Brotton area. He probably went on working for his maternal grandfather for some time, taking on the responsibility of looking after his two younger brothers and his mother.

By 1877 however, Martin was described as a miner of Brotton on his marriage certificate. He married Catherine Jane Lindsay, daughter of Andrew Lindsay, a shoemaker of Darlington, at St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington on 7 July 1877. He was aged 31 and she was aged 28. The ceremony was witnesses by James Mattison and Polly Thompson and the service was conducted by the Reverend T E Hodgson vicar.

It appears that the newly wedded couple moved to a cottage at Kilton-Thorpe. According to Brotton Parish Register, their eldest son John was baptised on 17 February 1878 having been born 24 December 1877. He was born "to Martin and Catherine Jane Farndale of Kilton Thorpe, a miner." Their next child, a daughter, Elizabeth Lindsay was born two years later on 11 December 1879 and baptised at Brotton on 25 January 1850. Martin and Catherine were still living at Kilton Thorpe, but he was now described as a farmer. Their third child, Martin, was born on 8 June 1881 and was baptised at Brotton on 31 July 1881 and his parents were still at Kilton-Thorpe and described as farmers.

Sometime in the next two years Martin moved to Tranmire Farm near Whitby since his next two children were born there. There is a family story that Martin asked his brother Matthew to go to make a bid for Craggs Hall Farm near Brotton. The story goes that Matthew returned saying that he'd taken the farm - for himself! True or not that is where Matthew went and Martin went to Tranmire, a farm some ten miles along the road to Whitby - a poor moore farm near Ugthorpe situated on Roxby Moor. The other brother John spent his life working on the railway at Loftus. It was at Tranmire that their next son George was born in January 1883 and also their next daughter, Catherine Jane, named after her mother and always known as Kate; she was born on 16 June 1884.

But by the time James was born on 22 December 1885, the family had moved to Tidkinhowe farm on Stranghow Moor near Guisborough, an improvement on Tranmire. Eldest son John recalled driving sheep from Tranmire to Tidkinhowe when seven years old; this would mean 1884.

The young family were brought up at Tidkinhowe and the other six children were born there. William was born on 22 June 1887, but died only two years later on 19 July 1889. By this time Mary Frances had been born on 22 January 1889 and another son also to be called William, in January 1891. Two and a half years later came Grace Alice, named after her mother's sister and her mother's mother, Alice Lindsay. Then two years later Dorothy Annie was born on 24 May 1895 to be followed by the last and youngest child, Alfred on 5 July 1897.

By now Martin was 52 and his wife, Catherine still only 43. They continued to work the farm at Tidkinhowe and the eldest sons and daughters were now starting to work helping to look after the youngest who were going to school at Boosebeck. On 23 August 1903 Lynn (Elizabeth Lindsay) married George Barker and went to Tancred Grange near Scorton to live. John worked on the farm and in 18? Martin went to try his fortune in Western Canada, soon to be followed by his brother George in ?. The Canada bug hit the family hard and Kate went in ? to join her brothers; she never returned to England. In ? James followed though he was to spend his late life in the United States. Mary remained at home until she was married to George Brown in ? and went to live at ?. Meanwhile William had become a butcher at ?, but soon the Canada bug hit again and he went off to join his brothers in Canada, settling in Regina (?) in ?.

On 14 July 1911, Catherine Jane Farndale died at Tidkinhowe aged 56; she was buried at Boosebeck Parish Church. Martin was now alone at the farm, but surrounded by his family, though now five were in Canada, two (Lynne and Mary) were married and one, the first William, had died. John the eldest was on the farm and Grace, by now 18 and Dorothy 16 were there to help bring up the youngest, Alfred, aged 14.

When the war came in 1914 three of the boys became soldiers. James joined the American forces and fought in France. Soon he was joined by William, serving in the Canadian Army who was wounded near Ypres in 1917 and then by Alfred who served from 1916 to 1920 as a British soldier in the Machine-Gun Corps in France and Mesopotamia.

After the war James returned to America where in September 1917, he had married Edna Adams. William returned to Canada where he too intended to marry, but tragically he died on 20 November 1919 from the flu, contracted when he was still weak from his was wound. Alfred returned to Tidkinhowe in March 1920. But George Barker, Lynn's husband at Tancred Grange had died in ? and their young family wee unable to cope alone. Alfred went to help out and stayed until 1921 before he returned home to help at the farm. He remained at home until Martin died on 17 January 1928, aged 82, of pneumonia. Martin is buried beside Catherine Jane at Boosebeck Parish Church where there is an inscription which says "Catherine Jane Farndale, Died 14 July 1911 aged 56 years, also MARTIN, Beloved Husband of the above, Died 17 January 1928 aged 82 years of Tidkinhowe Farm."

There is more information about Martin at the entry on the Farndales of Tidkinhowe - this puts his life at Tidkinhowe and his wider family into some perspective.