She saw members of the Hall family 19 times in the year. The Halls were woollen manufacturers and merchants of Binn Lodge. Daniel the head of the family had retired but there were four sons continuing to work as manufacturers and merchants. Ann and her sister usually met with Sarah Hall. However, there were two Sarah's in their house a daughter aged 25 and a granddaughter aged 16. Benjamin Hall the youngest son was often around, even if it was for just collecting his sister to bring her home after tea at Hey Green. Benjamin Hall married Margaret Dowse (Mary's sister) in 1853⁵.

Mary also visited the schoolmaster's family. Joseph Webster was the first schoolmaster of the Town School in Marsden which was established in 1820 and he remained in post until his death in 1876⁶. By 1851, he had a daughter, who was a future teacher at the school. Mary regularly walked down into Marsden to visit the Websters on what is now Brougham Road and there were many return visits. The Websters also joined them on holiday in Scarborough, but more of that later.

Near neighbours were the Bowers. They lived a short walk down Waters Road at the Hey. Samuel Bower was a woollen manufacturer, who was in business with his brother-in-law James Robinson (John Bower Robinson's father). He had two sons and two daughter. The eldest son John was not recorded in the census of 1851 and was probably away at school. Mary's diary records 19 meetings with the family over the year. In the future, Hannah, Samuel Bower's eldest daughter, was to marry John Edward Dowse, Mary's younger brother; Amelia, Mary's younger sister, married John Bower.

The Curate of Marsden was James Maxfield. He was married with 4 daughters and a son. They too were part of Mary's circle meeting with one or more members of the family 17 times that year. On 6th March, there is an entry:

'M and I went to Mrs Maxfield and gave my God children coats…'

So it appears that Mary was Godmother to two or more of the Maxfield's children. On Thursday 10th April her diary entry reads:

'The Lord Bishop of Ripon preached in the Church on Thursday the 10th April at 7 o'clock in the evening. He took his text from Hebrews the 12 Chap verses 1st and part of second'

The visit of the Bishop obviously made an impact on Mary as shown by the formal way she announces his presence in her diary. The following day the Bishop walked up to Dowse's family home with Mr Maxfield. After refreshments, the Bishop was taken over to Golcar. Mary regularly attended church once or sometimes twice on Sundays, although prior to his visit there were several weeks when she was unable to attend due to illness. After his visit, she attended more regularly, but also started to write in more detail of her visit to the church as demonstrated by her entry on the following Sunday.

'I went to church in the afternoon Mr Haigh from Huddersfield preached. The text was in the 2nd of Kings the 5 Chap and the 12th verse. There was a collection for the curates and the sum collected was £6 6s 43/4d'

Apart from when the Bishop preached, this was the first time she recorded the text from the bible.

The Robinsons were the another family she visited regularly. She met them about 20 times during the year. Her main interest in the family was the eldest son, John Bower Robinson, or as her entries refers to him on most occasions as 'my dear John'. It is not clear whether they were engaged at the time, but she did go on to marry him four years later on 4th April 1855. In fact, reading her diary, she met with 'Dear John' not that frequently, certainly no more than once a month. John was a woollen manufacturer and at the time was heavily involved in the Mechanics' Institution. In May he spent several weeks in London, probably to see the Great Exhibition⁷, during which he wrote regularly to Mary, which she recorded in her diary. Although, John was often absent, she was friendly with his sister Sally with whom she spent a lot of time.

Apart from these families, there were several other families within her circle of friends, such as the Thurgolands, who lived at Blake Lea, but the ones I have highlighted were some of the more important members of Marsden society resulting in several marriages taking place between them.

Mary spent a lot of time with her wider family. Her father's unmarried sisters lived at Blake Lea and she regularly went up to see them for tea and they came down to Hey Green. In May, Mary went to stay at Priestley Green near Halifax with her aunt Elizabeth. Her mother took her to Huddersfield, after which she went by coach to the Red Lion. They were there for a week going for walks in the fields, attending church and receiving visitors for dinner and tea. On the 16th May, they travelled to Halifax taking dinner at the Old Cock, meeting her cousin Elizabeth and returning by train (probably to Hipperholme station). They were there for two weeks. I have not been able to establish why they visited Priestley Green. Perhaps they had other members of their family there. Certainly her sister Margaret went there in March, but Mary was unable to join them due to ill health. Perhaps her aunt Elizabeth went for rest as a result of her ill-health. Mary's diary didn't suggest anything of the sort at the time, but her aunt's ill-health was first recorded in January and by July her aunt Elizabeth was 'very poorly indeed'. Her aunt died on September 19th, while Mary was holidaying in Scarborough. She was unable to attend her funeral.

Mary also had close relations with her uncle and aunt, who lived in Edgerton. Her uncle, Thomas Varley, was a successful corn merchant and miller, who had retired from this occupation aged 51, continuing to make a living through banking, land and investments. His wife Mary was her father's sister, so there really was a very close connection between the two families. In 1851, the year of Mary's diary, Thomas and Mary Varley had two nieces, Sarah and Mary Varley, staying with. Her uncle Charles, Mary's father's youngest brother, also lived in Huddersfield on Commercial Street with his wife Martha. He also made his living from corn, but as a merchant not a miller. The 1851 census also records that he was a 'dye wood grinder'. Between the three families, and the sisters at Blake Lea, there were regular and frequent visits for tea, dinner, often staying over at each others' houses. A recurring theme though is the presence of aunt Elizabeth at these visits. It was her return from Edgerton in January when Mary records her illness for the first time: 'Aunt E came home from Edgerton very poorly.'

From her diaries we get to understand the social and family responsibilities a young wealthy woman had in the middle of the 19th century. But she was still young. During 1851 Mary had her 23rd birthday, although it was not recorded in her diary. She was young enough to enjoy life with her siblings and friends. Her diary records trips with them in the family's phaeton. A phaeton is a form of sporty open carriage drawn by one or two horses. Is it far-fetched to imagine Mary and her friends charging through the tracks of the Colne Valley with her younger brother at the reins?

On several occasions, Mary and her friends 'went down to bathe'. The brevity of her entries gives us no more information than that. Was it bathing for fun or for cleanliness? Most of the bathing parties were recorded as taking place in June, July and August, suggesting it might be for fun, but the last record was on October 31st, which might be a little on the cold side for fun bathing. Her entry on Monday 11th August reads:

'Spent a pleasant day, went down to the Baths after tea and then returned home”

So perhaps bathing was not a 19th century form of 19th century wild swimming, but there is no information on where the baths were.

Her diary describes two picnics Mary went on in August. On the 4th August a large party went on a long walk to Saddleworth Church. Three days later she was part of a picnic party to Ashton water works. I assume that this journey was completed by train.

Over the year Mary attended seven parties. There was one at her home on the 8th of January, which 'broke up at 5 o'clock', but others were further afield. With her sister she attended large parties at the Peacocks and at the Norths in Huddersfield and there was a large party in Manchester. There were smaller ones nearer home, such as one at the Bowers.

On Friday 10th October, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made a visit to Manchester. This was a major event as it was the first time the monarch had visited this part of the country for over a century. The Royal party included the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Norfolk and Earl Grey. Such an occasion could not be missed and Mary recorded her trip to see them in her diary. She left Marsden on Thursday 9th October to stay with Mrs Lees in Oldham. Then on the Friday they all went to see the Queen in Manchester, perhaps she was one of the crowd in Piccadilly Gardens, and returned to Marsden on the Saturday. Her Friday entry in her diary simply reads:

'Went to Manchester to see the Queen and Prince Albert a Beautiful day'

In September, Mary went on holiday to Scarborough. As her boyfriend or fiancé was going to join them they had to ensure she was properly chaperoned. On Friday 5th September, she left with her father and Miss (Sally) Robinson, John's sister, to stay at Belgrave Terrace. On the Tuesday, they moved to Aberdeen Walk, where they met up with the Webster family and stayed with them for the remainder of the holiday. On the Wednesday, her father returned home. The weather was very fine and the holiday party took walks to Castle Hill, on the sands of the South Shore, another on the North Shore and several other walks. There was a donkey ride and the whole party went sailing. Around this time the party was joined by a mysterious Mr H, who went on rides and sailed with them. Two weeks into the holiday, John Bower Robinson joined the holiday party. They continued to take walks and rides, but they also went 'down to the Saloon', to the Pier and to see the Camera Obscura. By the end of the holiday, the weather had changed and was now very wet. When they came home on Friday 26th, Mary had been in Scarborough for three weeks.

It was after her return home from Scarborough that Mary went to Manchester to see the Queen. Shortly after she was on her travels again, this time with her mother and father to Ryhall in Rutland. They travelled first to Leeds to spend the night with Mrs Taylor, then took an early train to arrive at Ryhall at 6 o'clock in the evening. Her diary does not gives us any information of why they went. They were staying with or at least spending a lot of time with the Lowe family. The 1851 census has a John Lowe living in Ryhall who was a 'Miller & farmer of 500 acres employing 15 labourers and 8 millers', so it is possible that Mary's father was there on business and they were accompanying him. On the other hand, her diary entry on the 30th October, the last day of her visit, states

'We left Aunts to come home had a nice journey got home about 8 o'clock'

So perhaps the trip was just to visit a relative. While they were there, they went for walks, went to church services at nearby Essendine, visited Holbeach and Lymm and had a drive through the grounds of Burghley House.

This then is an insight into the year of a young wealthy woman living in Marsden in the middle of the 19th century. Although not providing any idea of her thoughts and feelings, her diary gives us an understanding of the social life of such a woman. Most of her network of family and friends had a lifestyle built on wealth from the industry of the people of Marsden, yet somehow this never seemed to impact on her day to day life.

Postscript

Mary Ann Dowse married John Bower Robinson at St Bartholomew's Church in Marsden in 1855, four years after this diary. They lived at Inner Hey until her death in 1882 (aged 53). She had four children Anna Dowse, Ada, Arthur and Lily. Arthur moved to Hey Green, his mother's childhood home, in the early part of the 20th century.

Biography

Steve Challenger moved to Huddersfield in 1974 from Loughborough in Leicestershire. With degrees in Animal Physiology and Cardiovascular Studies, he had a career in further and higher education in Leeds and Huddersfield. His main local history interests are of Marsden, the Colne Valley and Huddersfield, but also include Leicestershire and the South Wales Valleys.

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1. WYAS2071 WYK1214/3
2. 1851 Census
3. This is a modern day spelling of Hey Green. In her diary Mary spells it as Hay Green.
4. This is the modern day spelling. In her diary and on the OS map of 1854 it is spelt Lee.
5. WYAS KX460
6. D F E Sykes, The History of the Colne Valley, F Walker, 1906
7. Although her diary does not refer to J B Robinson going to the Great Exhibition, we know from newspaper reports that he gave lectures to local Mechanical Institutions on his visit e.g. Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser 7th June 1851