Brock Family History

Clegg family · 5 generations back

Robert Clegg

1825 – 1919
✓ Validated against records · 2026-07-07

Robert Clegg was born in 1825 at Wardleworth, in Rochdale, and baptised that September into a Lancashire weaving family — the eldest son of Edmund Clegg, a handloom weaver, and Jane Schofield. He was fifteen when his father died, in January 1841; his mother, left a widow with a houseful of children, married again — a Castleton bleacher named Abraham Mills — and it was that second marriage that carried the whole family east. By 1851 the Cleggs and the Millses had crossed from Rochdale to Hull together, and the census finds them under one roof at Front Factory Lane in the Groves, a Sutton district that had become a colony of transplanted Lancashire cotton folk. Robert, twenty-five, was a cotton packer, the trade he would keep for twenty years.

In 1853, at St Andrew's, Drypool, he married Ellen Pizer — the register records him signing his name while Ellen made her mark — and they raised their family in the Groves, at Church Row and then Howard Street, where the 1861 and 1871 censuses find them. Ellen died in February 1870, at forty; the 1871 census shows Robert a widower of forty-six, keeping his three children still at home, his late wife's aged mother in the house. Two of the couple's children, Emma and John, had already died as small children.

Then his life doubled back on itself. With his children grown, Robert returned to Lancashire — not to Rochdale but to the Liverpool docks, where the 1881 and 1891 censuses find him a cotton porter, first with his unmarried daughter Sarah Jane keeping house, later a lodger among strangers. It was the cotton trade that had first drawn the family out of Lancashire, and the cotton trade that drew him back to it.

In his old age he came home to his daughter Elizabeth. By 1901 he was a widowed visitor in the household of Elizabeth and her husband William Henry Brock; by 1911, at eighty-five, he was the "wife's father" and a pensioner in their east-Hull shop at Dansom Lane. He died in 1919, in his ninety-fifth year, at James Reckitt Avenue in Garden Village, and was buried at St James', Sutton, beneath a stone that already carried his wife and his two lost children — a Rochdale weaver's son who had outlived the century he was born into and the first years of the next.

Composed from validated records · 2026-07-07
Baptism
September 25th 1825, Wardleworth, Rochdale, Lancashire
Marriage
March 6th 1853 to Ellen Pizer at St. Andrew's, Drypool, Hull
Death
February 19 1919, Sutton, Hull (M.I.)
Parents
Edmund Clegg and Jane Schofield
Siblings
Robert Clegg September 25th 1825, Wardleworth, Rochdale, Lancashire Ellen Clegg baptised August 1824 , Wardleworth, Rochdale Mary Clegg baptised June 1828, St. Chad's, Rochdale James Clegg baptised December 19ff 1830, Wardleworth, Rochdale John Clegg baptised August 3rd 1834, St. Mary, Wardleworth, Rochdale Margaret Clegg born 1836, Rochdale Sarah Clegg baptised October 27th 1939,St. Chad's, Rochdale Jenny Clegg baptised April 5th 1841 St. Chad's, Rochdale
Children
Edmund Clegg baptised June 1 d 1856, St. Marks in the Groves, Hull Elizabeth Clegg, April 29 1858, St. Marks in the Groves, Hull Emma Clegg baptised May 13th 1860, St. Marks in the Groves, died 1861 aged 1 Sarah Jane Clegg, baptised June 8th 1862 St. Marks in the Groves, Hull John Clegg born 1866, Hull, died 1869 aged 3 years
1841c
Living with family in Rochdale Jane Clegg 1806 born Lancashire Robert Clegg 1826 born Lancashire Ellen Clegg 1826 born Lancashire, Cottonwinder Mary Cleggl 829 born Lancashire, Cottonwinder James Clegg 1831 born Lancashire John Clegg 1835 born Lancashire Margaret Clegg 1836 born Lancashire Sarah Clegg 1840 born Lancashire Address: Lower Place, Castleton, Rochdale Occupations Robert Clegg - Doffer (?)
1841
January death of Robert's father, three months prior to the birth of Robert's sister, Jenny
1841-1851
Marriage of mother to Abraham Mills, a Flannel Weaver also living in Castleton, Rochdale
1851c
Living in Sutton Parish, Hull with mother, stepfather and families Abraham Mills, Head, born 1808 Rochdale, Bleacher Cotton Jenny Mills, Wife, born 1802, Rochdale Robert Clegg , Son, born 1826, Rochdale James Clegg, Son, born 1835, Rochdale, Cotton Corder John Clegg, Son, born 1835, Rochdale, Card… Margaret Clegg, Daughter, born 1836 Rochdale Sarah A Clegg, Daughter, born 1840, Rochdale Mary Mills, Daughter, born 1831, Rochdale, Cotton Spinner Sarah Mills, Daughter, born 1833, Rochdale, Cotton Spinner Charles Simpson, Son in Law, born 1823, Rochdale, Labourer Ellen Simpson, Daughter in Law, born 1814, Rochdale Jane Simpson, Granddaughter, born 1849, Oldiand (sic) William Mills, Father, born 1783, Rochdale Address: 10 Front Factory Lane, Sutton (The Groves) Occupation: Packer in Cotton
1853
Marries Ellen Pizer in St Andrew's Church, Drypool Robert Clegg, aged 27, Bachelor, Labourer of Drypool and Ellen Pizer, aged 23, Spinster, of Drypool were married after banns on the dh of March 1853 in the presence ofJames Clegg and Anne Funk (?) Fathers: Edmund Clegg, Weaver Henry Pizer, Carder Robert signed his name; Ellen made her mark (x)
1856-1858
Living in Sitwell Street, Hull (Baptism Records)
1861c
Living in Sutton, Hull Robert Glegg (sic) Head, aged 35, born Rochdale Ellen Clegg Wife, aged 30 born Pleasley, Nottinghamshire Edmund Clegg aged 4, born Hull Elizabeth Clegg aged 3, born Hull Address: 14 Church Row (The Groves) Occupation: Packer
1870
February 13th. Death of Ellen Clegg aged 40 years
1871c
Living in the parish of Sutton Robert Clegg, Head, born 1825, Rochdale Elizabeth Tyser (sic), Mother in Law, born 1791, London Edmund Clegg, Son, born 1857, Hull, Cotton Operative Elizabeth Clegg , Daughter, born 1858, Hull Sarah J Clegg Daughter, born 1862, Hull Address: 2 Howard Street, Sutton (The Groves) Occupation of Robert Clegg: Packer at Cotton Factory
1871-1881
Returns to Lancashire
1881c.
Living in Liverpool Robert Clegg, Head, aged 56, Widower, born Rochdale Sarah Jane Clegg, Daughter, aged 18 born Hull, Dressmaker Address: 8 Athol Terrace, Scotland Road, St. Martin Occupation: Cotton Porter Dock
1891c
Boarder in Liverpool (St Paul's) with James and Eliza Jackson Address: 48 Leeds Street Occupation: Cotton Porter Dock
1901c
Staying with daughter and family in Hull William H. Brock, Head, born 1856, Tetney Elizabeth Brock, Wife, born 1858, Hull George R Brock, Son, born 1879, Hull William E. Brock, born 1881, Hull John H. Brock, Son, born 1882, Hull Robert Clegg, Widower, Visitor, born 1825, Rochdale, Lancashire Address: 73 Spyvee Street, Hull
1911c
Living with daughter and family in Hull William Henry Brock aged 55, born 1856, Tetney Elizabeth Brock aged 53 born 1854, Hull John Henry Brock, aged 29, Single born Hull, Labourer at Reckitts Canister Works Robert Clegg , Wife's father, aged 85, Widower, born Rochdale, Lancashire, Pensioner Address: 61 Dansom Lane Occupation: Shopkeeper (own account) The house had 4 rooms and William and Elizabeth had had 4 children , all still alive.
1919
February 5th dies aged 94 years whilst living at 139 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull Memorial inscription: St. James, Sutton, Hull In affectionate remembrance of Ellen wife of Robert Clegg who died February 8th 1870 aged 40 years. Weep not for me my life is past My love for you so long last Look now to Christ no sorrow take And love my children for my sake Also Emma Clegg daughter of the above who died March dh 1861 aged 1 year Also John Clegg son of the above who died October 31st 1869 aged 3 years Also Jenny Clegg mother and grandmother of the above who died August 2nd 1857 aged 55 years and was interred near this place Also Robert Clegg husband of the above who died February 12th 1919 aged 94 years. RIP 1870 Feb. 13th Ellen Clegg, Groves 40 1861 April Emma Clegg 14 Church Row Groves, 12 months 1869 John Clegg Groves 2 1857 Aug. 3rd Jenny Mills Jennings St. Groves 55 1919 February 15th Robert Clegg 139 James Reckitt Avenue Hull 94
In your grandmother’s words · from her notebook

Family

Parents

ECFatherEdmund Clegg1800–1841

The children of Edmund & Jane Schofield

Robert Clegg b. 1825this page · · · · · · ·

Marriage

EPSpouseEllen Pizer1829–1870

Children

ECChild · the line continuesElizabeth Cleggmain line1858–1928

Life

Confirmed — anchored to a recordEstimated — inferred
1825

Baptised — Wardleworth, Rochdale

25 September 1825 at Wardleworth

Robert Clegg — baptised 25 September 1825 — Wardleworth, Rochdale — son of Edmund Clegg (weaver) and Jane.— Baptism — Wardleworth, Rochdale, 1825
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:
  • Baptism — Wardleworth, Rochdale, 1825 — Baptism 25 September 1825, St Mary's, Wardleworth, Rochdale; parents Edmund Clegg and Jane. From Janet Brock's research. Findmypast's Rochdale coverage of this baptism is thin (index-only); the register image is a round-two read — but the paternity it records is independently confirmed by Robert's own 1853 marriage, which names his father Edmund. from Mum’s research
1841

Census · 1841

1841

Living with family in Rochdale Jane Clegg 1806 born Lancashire Robert Clegg 1826 born Lancashire Ellen Clegg 1826 born Lancashire, Cottonwinder Mary Cleggl 829 born Lancashire, Cottonwinder James Clegg 1831 born Lancashire John Clegg 1835 born Lancashire Margaret Clegg 1836 born Lancashire Sarah Clegg 1840 born Lancashire Address: Lower Place, Castleton, Rochdale Occupations Robert Clegg - Doffer (?)

— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1841

In 1841

1841

January death of Robert's father, three months prior to the birth of Robert's sister, Jenny— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1851

Census · 1851

1851

Abraham Mills — head — married — 43 — bleacher [cotton] — born Rochdale; Jenny — wife — married — 49 — born Rochdale; [with] Robert Clegg — son — unmarried — 25 — packer [of cloth] — born Rochdale; James, John, Margaret and Sarah Clegg; the Simpsons; and old William Mills, 68. 10 Front Factory Lane, Sutton.

— 1851 census — the migration, Front Factory Lane
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
  • 1851 census — the migration, Front Factory Lane — 1851 Census — The National Archives HO 107/2360, folio 211, page 30, schedule 12; parish of Sutton, the Groves; 10 Front Factory Lane. Read from the original enumeration page (Ancestry image), 7 July 2026. The whole Clegg–Mills clan on one leaf, newly arrived from Rochdale — every person Lancashire-born. read at the image
1851

The Groves — a Lancashire colony in Hull

The district the Cleggs settled in was not chosen at random. Along the east bank of the River Hull, in the Sutton parish streets that took their name from a former nursery ground — the Groves — clustered the mills and works of Hull's own textile and seed-crushing trades, and beside them the terraces of the people who worked them. Through the 1840s and 1850s those terraces filled with Lancashire families: warpers, winders, doffers, carders and packers who had left the cotton towns of the south Pennines for the growing port on the Humber.

The census leaves read like a roll-call of the Lancashire trade. On the Cleggs' own street in 1861, the neighbours are a cotton warper from Stockport, his daughter a winder, his son a doffer; and along the row a cotton-factory carder. It was among these transplanted trades that Robert Clegg raised his family — the same close, hard, familiar work he had been born to in Rochdale, carried the ninety miles east into Yorkshire.

The move was of its moment. The railways had reached Hull in the 1840s; the port was booming; and a skilled or half-skilled cotton hand could find work at the Hull end of the trade without wholly leaving it behind. For the Cleggs it meant the family did not scatter — they moved together, and stayed together, in one corner of a strange town.

Historical context Evidence
Background composed for this site from published history. It frames the family’s world; it is not one of Mum’s records.
1853

Married Ellen Pizer

1853 at St Andrew's Church

No. 138. March 6th [1853]. Robert Clegg — 27 — bachelor — labourer — Drypool — father Edmund Clegg, weaver; Ellen Pizer — 23 — spinster — Drypool — father Henry Pizer, carder. Married after banns. Witnesses James Clegg, Anne [Leeck].— Marriage — St Andrew's, Drypool, 1853
The record image is with the family — family sign-in
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
  • Marriage — St Andrew's, Drypool, 1853 — Marriage register of St Andrew's, Drypool (Hull), entry no. 138, page 69; East Riding Archives ref PE109/34. Read from the original register (findmypast image), 7 July 2026. Names Robert's father, Edmund Clegg, weaver — the record that carries the line back into the 18th century. Robert signed; Ellen made her mark. read at the image
1856

In 1856

1856

Living in Sitwell Street, Hull (Baptism Records)— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1861

Census · 1861

1861

Robert Glegg [sic] — head — married — 35 — Packer [cotton mill] — born Rochdale; Ellen — wife — 30 — born Pleasley, Notts; Edmund — 4; Elizabeth — 3. 14 Church Row, Sutton.— 1861 census — 14 Church Row, the Groves
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
  • 1861 census — 14 Church Row, the Groves — 1861 Census — The National Archives RG 9/3574, folio 63, page 44, schedule 265; Sculcoates district, Sutton; 14 Church Row. Read from the original enumeration page (findmypast image), 7 July 2026. read at the image
1870

In 1870

1870

February 13th. Death of Ellen Clegg aged 40 years— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1871

Census · 1871

1871

Robert Clegg — head — widower — 46 — Packer at Cotton Factory — born Rochdale, Lancashire; Edmund — 14 — cotton operative; Elizabeth — 13 — scholar; Sarah J — 9; Elizabeth Pizer — mother-in-law — widow — 80 — born London. 2 Howard Street, Sutton.— 1871 census — 2 Howard Street, widowed
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
  • 1871 census — 2 Howard Street, widowed — 1871 Census — The National Archives RG 10/4773, folio 75, page 56, schedule 263; Sculcoates district, Sutton; 2 Howard Street. Read from the original enumeration page (findmypast image), 7 July 2026. The leaf reads Robert's birthplace 'Rochdale' — findmypast's index mistranscribes it as 'Rochester'; and records his condition as 'Widr', which the index drops. read at the image
1871

In 1871

1871

Returns to Lancashire— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1881

Census · 1881

1881

Robert Clegg — head — widower — 56 — cotton porter [dock] — born Rochdale; Sarah Jane Clegg — daughter — 18 — dressmaker — born Hull. 8 Athol Terrace, Scotland Road, Liverpool.— 1881 census — Liverpool, a cotton porter on the docks
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:
  • 1881 census — Liverpool, a cotton porter on the docks — 8 Athol Terrace, Scotland Road, St Martin, Liverpool; Robert Clegg, widower, 56, cotton porter (dock), with his daughter Sarah Jane, 18, dressmaker. From Janet Brock's research; the original image is a round-two read. from Mum’s research
1891

Census · 1891

1891

Robert Clegg — boarder — cotton porter [dock] — born Rochdale — in the household of James and Eliza Jackson. 48 Leeds Street, Liverpool.— 1891 census — Liverpool, a lodger
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:
  • 1891 census — Liverpool, a lodger — 48 Leeds Street, Liverpool (St Paul's); Robert Clegg, cotton porter (dock), boarding with James and Eliza Jackson. From Janet Brock's research; the original image is a round-two read. from Mum’s research
1901

Census · 1901

1901

Staying with daughter and family in Hull William H. Brock, Head, born 1856, Tetney Elizabeth Brock, Wife, born 1858, Hull George R Brock, Son, born 1879, Hull William E. Brock, born 1881, Hull John H. Brock, Son, born 1882, Hull Robert Clegg, Widower, Visitor, born 1825, Rochdale, Lancashire Address: 73 Spyvee Street, Hull

— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1911

Census · 1911

1911

Living with daughter and family in Hull William Henry Brock aged 55, born 1856, Tetney Elizabeth Brock aged 53 born 1854, Hull John Henry Brock, aged 29, Single born Hull, Labourer at Reckitts Canister Works Robert Clegg , Wife's father, aged 85, Widower, born Rochdale, Lancashire, Pensioner Address: 61 Dansom Lane Occupation: Shopkeeper (own account) The house had 4 rooms and William and Elizabeth had had 4 children , all still alive.

— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1919

In 1919

1919

February 5th dies aged 94 years whilst living at 139 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull Memorial inscription: St. James, Sutton, Hull In affectionate remembrance of Ellen wife of Robert Clegg who died

February 8th 1870 aged 40 years. Weep not for me my life is past My love for you so long last Look now to Christ no sorrow take And love my children for my sake Also Emma Clegg daughter of the above who died

March dh 1861 aged 1 year Also John Clegg son of the above who died

October 31st 1869 aged 3 years Also Jenny Clegg mother and grandmother of the above who died

August 2nd 1857 aged 55 years and was interred near this place Also Robert Clegg husband of the above who died

February 12th 1919 aged 94 years. RIP 1870 Feb. 13th Ellen Clegg, Groves 40 1861

April Emma Clegg 14 Church Row Groves, 12 months 1869 John Clegg Groves 2 1857 Aug. 3rd Jenny Mills Jennings St. Groves 55 1919

February 15th Robert Clegg 139 James Reckitt Avenue Hull 94

— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1919

Died at Garden Village, Hull, aged 94

19 February 1919 at Sutton

"Also Robert Clegg husband of the above who died February 12th 1919 aged 94 years. RIP" — the memorial at St James', Sutton, which also carries his wife Ellen (d. 1870), their infant children Emma (d. 1861) and John (d. 1869), and his mother, buried near this place.— Death and memorial — St James', Sutton, 1919
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research, cited — not yet re-verified at the image:
  • Death and memorial — St James', Sutton, 1919 — Death February 1919, at 139 James Reckitt Avenue, Hull, in his ninety-fifth year; buried at St James', Sutton. From Janet Brock's reading of the family memorial inscription and burial register; the GRO death index is a round-two confirmation. (The memorial gives 12 February, aged 94; the burial register 15 February.) from Mum’s research

Records & papers

1 record image is with the family — family sign-in

Our research

Robert Clegg — across two cotton counties

Research · Rochdale, Hull & Liverpool

The spine of his life is read at the image: the 1851 migration leaf at Front Factory Lane, the 1853 Drypool marriage that names his father Edmund the weaver, and the 1861 and 1871 Groves censuses. His Liverpool chapter (1881, 1891) and his later Hull years with the Brocks (1901, 1911) rest on Mum's research and the Brock leaves; his 1825 Wardleworth baptism and 1919 death rest on Mum's reading of the register and the memorial.

  • His 1825 baptism register image — St Mary's, Wardleworth (Rochdale); findmypast's coverage is index-only, so try Ancestry / Lancashire OPC for the register. A round-two read.
  • The 1881 and 1891 Liverpool census images — 8 Athol Terrace, Scotland Road; 48 Leeds Street — to read the "return to Lancashire" chapter at the leaf, and to see who the Jacksons were. Round two.
  • The 1841 Rochdale census — Lower Place, Castleton — the family pre-migration, with the widowed Jane; read at the image. Round two.
  • His death certificate — GRO index, Sculcoates 1919 — to settle the date the memorial (12 Feb) and burial register (15 Feb) disagree on, and the cause at 94. Jon — a purchase.