Albert
Cheetham
Born in
Died in
Albert was educated at
On returning to
He and Margaret separated in the 1970's, and Margaret subsequently married
Hubert (Bert)
In his later years Albert and Mary Chadwick became close companions and
Mary's family supported him to the end of his life. Mary, Barry, Paul, Gareth
and Matthew were with him when he died at lunch-time on 25 October 2004. He was
cremated in
It was in Langcliffe (near Settle in the Yorkshire Dales) that Albert spent much of his early life. His father, George Henry Cheetham, was born in Langcliffe, and his two sisters, Lizzie and Aida, lived there all their lives. Albert's mother, Grace, died when Albert was very young, and so he lived for long periods of time in Langcliffe with his Aunt Lizzie, George's sister, and her husband Jim Sparling. He attended the local primary school along with Lizzie's and Jim's only son Clifford.
Albert’s father was George H Cheetham born abt 1899 in Langcliffe Yorkshire.
Albert’s mother was Grace Heaton born abt 1900 in Burnley His sisters Ella and Peggy died in
George H. Cheetham’s father Alf Cheetham lived in Langcliffe and worked at the local quarry. He had one son (George) and two daughters (Aunt Lizzie and Aunt Aida). Lizzie married Jim Sparling and Aida married Ted Mercer.
Albert's grandfather was Alf Cheetham. They used to
call him the flycatcher as he used to open his mouth a lot. In his later life,
Alf lived with Ted and Aida Mercer in a back-to-back house overlooking the
Green in Langcliffe. He seems to have been quite old
when he died, possibly around 1950. Alf was probably born in Langcliffe & worked at the quarry as a dynamite
operative. I think the house that Ted & Aida Mercer lived in originally
belonged to Alf Cheetham.
Albert's mother was called Grace Heaton. She died young with 3 children:
Albert, Ella and Peggy. They are all dead now. Albert's father George could not
look after the three children on his own so Albert was sent to live with Aunt
Lizzie and Uncle Jim in Langcliffe and Peggy was
adopted.
Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Jim Sparling had a son called Clifford who had 2 children called Barry & Paul. Barry had asthma (or something) and died young. I never knew what happened to Paul Sparling. Mr. John Dent whom I met in Aug '05 in Langcliffe used to play snooker with Jim Sparling. Uncle Jim Sparling was sextant at the local C of E church (St John the Evangelist). There is still a picture of Jim Sparling in the village hall at Langcliffe.
I have a picture of my grandfather George in uniform on the western front in the first world war.
Alf must have been born around 1870/1880. Mr. John Dent may have been as much as 20 when old Alf Cheetham died. John introduced me to his friend Dick who was 3 years older and also remembered Alf Cheetham.
Aunt Lizzie and her sister Aida never spoke to each other for 30 years. It
is likely that this was because of religion. They both lived in Langcliffe. Aunt Lizzie's and Uncle Jim Sparling's
house was facing the C of E church. Its now called
Tallow Cottage. Aunt Aida and Uncle Ted's house is just round the corner &
in the same block facing the methodist chapel. Lizzie
was C of E and Aida was methodist. If you look an the Langcliffe web site, there
are some interesting facts about this religious divide. I have never seen Tallow
cottage occupied.
Some pictures of Albert Cheetham & others: www.cs.man.ac.uk/~barry/mydocs/Father/Pictures
Barry’s Uncle:
Jimmy
Born in
Died in