Family Members
Father Richard Shenton 1804-1872
Mother Jane Hulmes 1797-1869
Spouse
Esther Greenfield 1838-1859
Mary Ann Nuttall 1840-
Children
William Shenton 1855-1913
Richard Shenton 1857-1923
Eliza Shenton 1858-1949
John, the second son of Richard and Jane Shenton was born
about 1832 in Hanford, near Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire. John first shows
up on the 1841 Census as a nine year old living with his family in Hanford.
There is a gap of over 14 years from the 9 year old in 1841 up to the next
known record which is his marriage age 23 in October 1855 , I have been unable
to find him on the 1851 census, sometime in this period the early 1850’s John
moved to Yorkshire, I believe John to be the first of his family to make the
journey from Staffordshire to Yorkshire, there are no records to show when or
why John moved to Yorkshire, but John was a Labourer living on Stanley Lane
close to Wicker in Sheffield when he married 17 year old Esther, the daughter
of Septimus Greenfield at The Parish Church Wicker, Sheffield on Monday 22nd
October 1855. Esther would be 7 months pregnant at their wedding, as two months
later on the 29th December 1855 their first son, William is born.
Since their marriage John and Esther have moved to Swinton,
where they are living at Swinton Bridge and according to Williams’s birth
certificate John is employed as “Labourer in Glass House”, I suspect this is
the South Yorkshire Glass Bottle Works which opened in Swinton about 1852, John
worked as a labourer in the Glass Works for at least another 4 years.
John and Esther had two further children, Richard born on the
8th July 1857 and Eliza 22nd September 1858, all three children William,
Richard and Eliza were christened at St. Margaret’s Parish Church Swinton on
Boxing Day 1858. A year later at the age of 21, John’s wife Esther died, she passed
away on the 18th December 1859 after suffering for about 3 weeks from
Gastro-enteritis and was buried at Saint Margaret's Church, Swinton.
Just over a year later, recorded at the census of April
1861, John is a lodger living at Spital Street, Brightside, Sheffield, as an
Engine Firer. His children William age 5, Richard,4 and Eliza,2 are all living with John’s elder brother
William Shenton and his wife in Walsall. It is known that John’s son Richard
lived for a number of years with Johns father Richard Shenton at Trentham,
Staffordshire.
It is assumed that the reference to ‘Engine’ on the Census is
in fact a Railway Engine, and this is the beginning of the Shenton’s long involvement
with Railways.
During the 1860’s, still employed on the railways John moves
back to the Swinton/ Mexborough area, where he is found in a report in TheSheffield Independent Newspaper of Saturday 12th December 1868, “A Chapter of
Accidents at Mexbro’.- On Wednesday morning an engine-tenter, named Shenton,
who is in the employ of the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Company, was accidentally knocked down by and engine near to Mexbro’ Station
and one of his feet was injured by being run over”. Also of interest is that in
October 1866 John’s younger brother Henry Shenton gains employment at the age
of 25 with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) as a
Shunter also at Mexborough, but must not have suited to railway life as he resigned
three years later in August 1869.
John was working for the Manchester, Sheffield and
Lincolnshire Railway at Mexborough, where the line and engine shed was actually
owned by the South Yorkshire Railway (SYR). Although from 1864 the South
Yorkshire Railway was leased to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire
Railway and eventually sold to the MS&LR in 1874. The South Yorkshire
Railway began operations in 1849, and the first locomotives were
"stabled" in the old literal railway meaning- that is, fed, watered
and looked after- in the South Yorkshire Railway's first Mexborough engine
shed, a single road structure at the north side of the line, which was in use
for the first few years only. In 1854-55
the South Yorkshire acquired a larger plot of land on the south side of the
line, in the "v" of the junction up to the Midland Railway at
Swinton. It was on this site that a larger two road engine shed with a two road
repair shop was built. Indeed, two locomotives were actually constructed in
this shop some years later and having built the two steam engines, SYR Nos 20
and 22, the modest collection of buildings was rather grandly known as
"Mexborough Plant".
At the 1871 Census John is listed as a widowed 39 year old
Engine Driver living at Springfield Terrace, Mexborough now reunited with his 16
year son William and 12 year old Daughter Eliza, John has not remarried but
living with John is Harriet, a 36 year old housekeeper. John’s second son
Richard has not returned but is living with John’s father Richard Shenton at
Trentham, Staffordshire. Also listed on the 1871 census is an Albert Shenton
age 14, who I have found no other records for and his identity remains a
mystery.
Plans were made to widen the three running lines at
Mexborough to five, which meant demolishing the existing buildings. Before this
could be done, it was clearly necessary to build a third running shed, to
replace the one to be demolished. When the building of this third, much larger
building commenced, is somewhat obscure, though a South Yorkshire Railway Board
minute of 17th August 1872 records: "The MS&L Railway has asked the SY
Railway to construct an engine shed and siding accommodation at
Mexborough". The new shed opened in the same year that the sale of the SYR
to the MS&L received the necessary parliamentary approval in July 1874 and
so its erection is thus credited to the SYR.
The men engaged at the old premises must have been truly
looking forward to July 1874 and the opening of the new Mexborough shed. It lay
half a mile to the east, adjacent to the new station and for the time, was very
large, with a long two road wagon repair shop, three road engine repair shops
and fifteen shed roads. There was standing room for over 90 of the small
engines of 1874.
Through the 1870’s John remained an engine driver working
for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway based at Mexborough, all
John’s children marry during the 1870’s William in 1875 to Mary Ellen Atkins,
Richard and Eliza both marry in 1879, John becomes a Grandad at the age of 43
in 1876 with the birth of Williams daughter, Lily Shenton.
On the 22nd February 1880 age 47 John re-marries,
to the mother of his son William’s wife, Mary Ann Atkins, who is also now
widowed. They marry at St.Pauls Church Sheffield.
At the 1881 Census, John is now 48, a Railway Engine Driver
living with his new wife at Garden Street Mexborough, but two years later on
the 24th August 1883 John died age 51 from Diarrhea, the same
symptoms as his first wife 24 years ago.
Shenton Family tree
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