Mary Jane Shaw's Children

Mary Jane married George Henry Milward Herling on 4th October 1896 at St John the Baptist, Knutsford, Cheshire. His age was declared as 23. Prior to her marriage Mary Shaw had two children:

  William Shaw (later Herlingshaw), born 1884 in Altrincham, died 1956 in Middlesbrough

  Alice Shaw (later Shaw-Herling), born 1890 in Elton, died 1976 in Preston, married Alfred Southworth

After their marriage Mary Jane and George had three children:

  James Leslie Herling, born 1897 in South Manchester, died 1985 in Preston

  George Milward Herling, born 1899 in Bolton, died 1918 in France in the Great War

  Annie Frances May Milward Herling, born 1902 in Bolton, died 5th October 1911 in Preston aged 9

One can see how Mary Jane migrated north from her early days in Darley Dale and Matlock, to Altrincham, South Manchester, Bolton and eventually Preston.

Mary Jane's first husband George Henry Milward Herling died in 1914 in Preston. She remarried to recently widowed Robert Hargreaves in 1927 in Chesterfield at age 67 and died in Preston in 1950 aged 90. Why did they marry in Chesterfield? Probably because two of Mary Jane's brothers, George Henry and James, and two of her sisters, Elizabeth Ann and Martha Ellen, were still alive and were living there. They would have been 71, 70, 76 and 61 years of age at the time of Mary Jane's marriage. The marriage witnesses were her sister Elizabeth and also William Shaw. It is not clear whether the latter was Mary Jane's younger brother (b. 1868) or possibly her son William (Herling)Shaw. Her younger brother seems to have disappeared from the radar after 1891, he would have been 59 at the time of the wedding. However, her son was by then using the Herlingshaw name, not Shaw, so he is unlikely. Yet another possibility is that it was William (b. 1877) a nephew who was a son of her older brother George Henry Shaw (b. 1856)

Mary Jane's second husband Robert Hargreaves also died in Preston in 1950. He was 89 and had been a dairy farmer at Boyses Farm in Broughton, just north of Fulwood. Robert married his first wife Mary Ann Myerscough in 1888 in Broughton, she was a farmer's daughter born in 1864 and died in 1925 and they had three children, Esther born 1889, Jane born in 1890 and Thomas born in 1892.  Robert Hargreaves was the son of Thomas and Jane Hargreaves of Woodplumpton and one suspects that he was a customer at Mary Jane's Butchers and Commercial Hotel, close to the cattle market. Robert was born on 26th April 1860 and baptised on 3rd June 1860 at St John the Baptist, Broughton.

One of Mary Jane's sons, George Milward Herling, with the same name as his father, was Private 69904, 4th Battalion, The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). He joined the army on 1st May 1917 and was sent to France on 1st February 1918 as a sniper. He was killed only 16 days later.

Alfred Southworth, Alice's husband, was probably born in 1891 and died in 1964, both in Preston. Or (less likely) born in 1885 and died in 1956, both in Preston.

Another of Mary Jane's sons, James Leslie Herling joined the army on 11th September 1914 and became Gunner No. 1537 in the 9th Lancashire Battery, Royal Field Artillery. He was wounded in action in France in 1916 by gunshot but recovered and lived until he was 88. Unusually he seems not to have been given the Milward middle name. James Leslie Herling married Lone (a typo for Irene or Elena?) Watt in Preston in 1922. An Irene Annie Herling died in Preston in August 1985 aged 84, the same year as James Leslie, she was born on 29th November 1900. An Elena Ann Watt birth was registered in Preston in Q1 1901, probably the same person. James Leslie does not appear to have had any children and became a council employee.

Annie Frances May Millward Herling was buried at St John the Baptist church in Broughton.

The contents of this site are copyright © 2021, Ken Herlingshaw.