I was contacted by David Wilson at the end of 2020 after he found mention of his grandfather, William Wilson, in an article on my website about the Mudd family. With David’s help I was able to put together a picture of the Wilson family’s history as cowkeepers in Liverpool. David was also able to provide some lovely old photographs.
Inevitably, we found marital connections with other cowkeeping families. The Wilsons are related to the Lambert family through three marriages between the offspring of Richard Wilson and those of Robert Henry Lambert. There is also a connection with the Shacklady family.
Inevitably, we found marital connections with other cowkeeping families. The Wilsons are related to the Lambert family through three marriages between the offspring of Richard Wilson and those of Robert Henry Lambert. There is also a connection with the Shacklady family.
Richard Wilson was born in Meathop, Westmorland, in 1871. He had his first taste of cowkeeping in Liverpool when he worked as a Farm Servant for his uncle, Rowland Harper, at 61 HIGH STREET, Wavertree (1891 census). In 1896 he married Margaret Alice Staveley (1874-1960), in Sedbergh. The couple had eight children (at least); the first two were born in Sedbergh but when their third child was born, in 1900, they were living in Liverpool.
The 1904/05 Electoral Register lists Richard at 38 FARNWORTH STREET, but also as having an interest in a house and shippon at 15 TULLOCH STREET. The 1911 census records the family at the Farnworth Street dairy. Richard’s occupation is given as Cowkeeper. The children are listed as follows: Mary Ellen (b. 1897, Sedbergh), William (b. 1898, Sedbergh), Margaret Alice (b. 1900, Liverpool), Fanny (b. 1902, Liverpool), Richard (b. 1903, Liverpool), Mabel (b. 1906, Liverpool), John James (b. 1907, Liverpool), and Elizabeth Annie (b. 1909, Liverpool). It would be Mary Ellen, William, Richard, John James and Fanny who would go on to have an involvement in cowkeeping.
The practice of a dairy being passed from one family member to another was common among the cowkeepers of Liverpool. It is a practice at which the Wilson family proved to be particularly adept.
In 1921, William Wilson married Elizabeth Lambert. They opened a dairy at 52-54 DAY STREET, Old Swan. 1924 was a particularly busy year for the family. William and Elizabeth moved to ASHFIELD FARM, PILCH LANE, and Richard Wilson (junior) took over the running of the Day Street dairy. Meanwhile, Richard (senior) moved with his remaining family to 2-2a BRIARDALE ROAD, leaving the Farnworth Street dairy to be run by Mary Ellen Wilson and her new husband, cowkeeper James Richard Shacklady (b. 1892).
In 1925, there were two more marriages. Richard Wilson (junior) married Dora Jane Lambert and they continued at the Day Street dairy. Also, Fanny Wilson married Dairyman Robert Henry Lambert (junior) of 177 BOALER STREET. In 1931 it was the turn of youngest son, John James Wilson. When he married Hilda Nora Myers, he was still living/working at his father’s dairy in Briardale Road. But, following family tradition, once married he and Nora took over the dairy at 54 DAY STREET.
The Electoral Register shows that although in 1930/31, James Richard Shacklady was still at the Farnworth Street dairy, by 1932/33 he had moved to 103 LEYFIELD ROAD. His business card refers to the property as Leyfield Farm Dairy. However, by 1939, they had moved to Chiswick Farm, near Solihull (listed as Jas. R. Shacklady), and the dairy at Leyfield Farm was being run by Richard Wilson (junior).
The 1939 Register lists the various members of the Wilson family as follows:
All occupations were given as ‘Dairy Farmer’. The Wilson dairy merry-go-round seems to have halted from this point, with the family remaining at these addresses until their eventual retirement.
- Richard and Margaret Wilson — 2 BRIARDALE ROAD
- Richard and Dora Wilson — 103 LEYFIELD ROAD
- John James and Hilda Wilson — 54 DAY STREET
- Fanny and Robert Henry Lambert — 58-60 VENICE STREET
All occupations were given as ‘Dairy Farmer’. The Wilson dairy merry-go-round seems to have halted from this point, with the family remaining at these addresses until their eventual retirement.
Although I’ve been unable to find William Wilson in the 1939 Register, David Wilson recalls his grandfather remaining at Ashfield Farm until he passed away in 1964:
“I recall being taken out to deliver milk as a boy on the Ashfield milk float, and tumbling forward onto the road, where the float then passed over me. I must have been in the presence of milk hands rather than my father, because I remember being dusted down and returned to my seat without much ado.
Much of the land associated with Ashfield Farm was made subject to compulsory purchase orders for housing. By the time my grandfather died, in 1964, there were only a few acres and a selection of buildings left. The family had stopped milking by then, and were buying-in milk to supply their long established milk rounds. These were eventually sold to the Hogg family. My dad continued to amuse himself with a few pigs and hens but when the local newsagents came up for sale he took a change in direction.”