The Sowry family at The Limes, Potterton Lane,
Barwick in Elmet
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The Sowry family at The Limes, Potterton Lane,
Barwick in Elmet (part 1)
Barwicker No. 127
Summer 2018
 |
| The Limes circa 1905 |
On 2nd June 1896, William Crossland, a wine merchant of The Limes
in South Milford sold a plot of land with a frontage of 50 yards onto
Potterton Lane in Barwick. The purchaser was A.M Sowry and the
purchase is recorded as being 'out of her separate ppty.' They built a
substantial four bedroomed, brick built house with an outbuilding
consisting of a main storage space with a small stable on the left side,
and a wash house with built in copper, fire and chimney on the other.
A large brick lined water tank was constructed under the driveway.
The house was built towards the back of the plot and on the right side
of the driveway from the road to the coach house. The left side of the
plot was given over to a vegetable garden and rose beds.
A.M. Sowry was Mrs Annie Sowry, wife of the well-known Leeds
master printer John P. Sowry. There is no record of why Annie Sowry
purchased the land. The land and then the land and house, were held in
her name alone.
The l90l census shows a large family living at The Limes. John
Sowry is 34 years old and head of the household, he is listed as a
printer and as an employer. His wife is Annie M, (née Ward) 33 years
old, and they have four young children: Eva aged 8; Margery aged 5;
Alfred, aged 3 and Gladys aged l. Also living in the house was John's
mother, Ann. aged 60.
However the l9l1 census shows the whole family, with the exception
of John's mother, living at 25 Well Close Place in Leeds. This was a
substantial dwelling, consisting of l0 rooms, (The Limes had eight at
that time.) However, Well Close Place houses were terraced and three
stories high. The street is located in the Woodhouse area of Leeds'
close to the University of Leeds. This census gives more information
about the family. Both John and his eldest daughter are described as
being born in Leeds, and his wife and three youngest children as being
born in Barwick in Elmet.
They also have living with them Sara Sommerskill, a 17 year servant
who was born in Garforth. That raises a number of questions. some of
which cannot be answered.
The 19l1 census also shows Raymond Kershaw, a 23 year old man of
private means, living in The Limes with Mary Reed. a 20 year old
servant who was born in Salford in Manchester.
Raymond Kershaw is shown as having been born in Prestwich, also in
the Manchester area. Ten years earlier the l90l census recorded
Raymond, then 13, living with his l5 year old sister Harriet Kershaw
at 44, St Andrews Road, St Anne's on the Sea in Lancashire. Harriet is
described as the head of the household, and they have two domestic
servants, Alice Hayes, their 4l year old housekeeper, and Margaret
Ross, a 20 year old servant.
Raymond's father was a surgeon, and so presumably a relatively
wealthy man. His mother had died in 1904, and hers was one of only
550 cremations in the United Kingdom in that year (this was just 0.I%
of deaths) and was, also unusually, a civil ceremony with no cards or
flowers. Raymond's father had also died by the time he moved into
The Limes. As his death did not occur until either 1907 or 1909 (the
records are not clear) the reason Raymond and his sister were living
independently of their parents in 1901. when they were both still alive,
is unknown. However, it could be inferred that Raymond's father
bequeathed him sufficient funds to be of 'private means'.
In 1939 the British government compiled a register of all residents not
in the armed forces. This was to enable identity cards to be issued in
preparation for war. That register shows that Raymond Kershaw and
his wife Florence were living at 45 Laverton Road. Lytham St Anne's
in Lancashire. They have two servants living with them, Della
Broderick, a 40 year old domestic servant, and George Bentley, 44,
who is their private chauffeur. Raymond, then just 52 years old. gives
his occupation as 'Private Means Architect (retired)'.
It is possible that Raymond Kershaw came to Leeds to study
architecture. Leeds Becket University School of Art, Architecture and
Design's website claims that it has a 'history going back 170 years'.
How and why he came to be living in The Limes in l9ll is unknown,
as is why the Sowry family moved out to what must have been a much
less desirable location than the attractive village of Barwick in Elmet.
ALAN STANLEY
Sources:
www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/school-of-art-architecture-and-design
http:/wwrv.pro-patria-mori.co.uk/index.html
http:/www.sitstandwork.co.uk/about-us
http:/www.secretleeds.com/viewtopic.php?t=4780
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