John Henshaw (1836-1922) & Susannah Mayon (1841-1906)
John Henshaw was born in Pendleton, Lancashire on 13 July 1836, the son of James Henshaw and Ann Baron. He was baptised on 28 August 1836 at the Methodist New Connexion Chapel in Pendleton. In 1851 John’s occupation was listed as errand boy, and in 1861 as a commercial clerk.
Susannah Mayon was born at Oak Street in Salford, the daughter of Daniel Mayon, a bookkeeper, and Susannah Archbald. The family remained living at Oak Street (1851 census) but had moved to Sharratt Street by 1861, at which point Susannah was working as a cotton weaver.
Susannah and John were married at the Cathedral Church at Manchester on 9 August 1862. John’s occupation was warehouseman and the address for both was Sharratt Street in Salford – which was just off the main road from Pendleton into Salford and Manchester. Their first two children were born in Salford – Albert Mayon on 11 May 1863 and James Edward in 1864.
Later accounts described how in his work at Salford John had commended himself to a director of the company, who was also a director of the Parkfield Colliery at Kingswood, Bristol, and who urged him to apply for the role of secretary. Thus, John and Susannah’s family moved from Salford to Kingswood, Bristol in the mid-1860s. He was appointed secretary of the Kingswood Coal and Iron Co Ltd (later Kingwood and Parkfield Company).
John and Susannah lived first at the Causeway, Kingwood and then at Lodge House (or cottage). They had seven more children born in Kingswood: William in 1867, Samuel in 1869, John in 1871, Anne in 1874, Archibald Mayon in 1877, Marie Margaret in 1881, and Daniel in 1883. According to Bay White’s Henshaw family reminiscences: “my mother told me that Annie and Maisie were taught carpentry and all the boys to sew – when they came home from school they put on aprons and worked in the garden growing vegetables etc…(my grandfather expected me to use very tiny stitches – I had to undo them if not!).”
John’s occupation was given as secretary to the Kingswood coal company in the 1871 and 1891 census returns, accountant in 1881, and colliery manager and employer in 1901, which partly reflect the increasingly important role John played in the colliery’s management, including representing the colliery in official matters such as action taken against striking miners in 1872 and 1874.
John’s position had brought him into close association with Handel Cossham, the colliery owner, who was also active in Liberal politics being Mayor of Bath (1882-1885) and elected MP for Bristol East in 1885 until his death in 1890. John was also a Liberal, and by 1874 was secretary of the Kingswood and District Liberal Association (Western Daily Press) and later became chairman of the Fishponds Liberal Club. He was a member of Stapleton District Council, serving as chairman, and also represented Stapleton on the Gloucestershire County Council. He stepped down in 1897 when the District Council was dissolved and became part the City and County of Bristol, however in 1905 he was elected as representative of the Stapleton Ward in Bristol Council, in which he served until 1908 when he again stepped down. John was also active in the wider community: he was one of the original members of the Kingswood Social Club which opened in 1886, and he and Susannah regularly supported events to raise funds for the school rooms attached to the Methodist Zion chapel and other community events. John was also a keen cricketer – he was a member of G B Britton & Sons team in the Bristol Leather Cricket League and was president of the Kingswood Cricket Club. His sons were also keen sportsmen – James was later chairman of Bath Football Club and Dan also “derived a love of cricket from W G Grace, an idol and neighbour of his youth” (Yorkshire Post, February 1953).
1. John Henshaw, 2. George Bryant Britton, 3. Samuel Britton, 4. George Ewart Britton
Several of John and Susannah’s sons had successful engineering careers: Albert Mayon became a mining engineer after his schooling in Bristol and eventually became manager and director of Talke colliery in Staffordshire, where he was married in 1889. James Edward started work as a colliery clerk, then became a colliery agent – he was also a JP and served as mayor of Bath in 1902. Samuel became chairman of the Staffordshire Chemical Company and in 1919 founder and first chairman of the National Benzole Company after serving as a director of various chemical companies, and joint managing director of Talke colliery. Daniel Mayon (known as Dan) was a master engineer, chairman of W. C. Holmes and Co. Ltd, a council member of the Society of British Gas Industries, and member of the Institute of Gas Engineers.
The other sons adopted a more peripatetic life: William emigrated to the USA in 1888, settling in New Jersey where he worked as a florist and foreman of greenhouses. John joined the merchant navy and was 3rd Engineer on the SS Dora Foster which sailed from Savannah on 23 January 1899 for Liverpool and foundered with all hands in heavy gales. Archibald Mayon (known as Mayon) also joined the merchant navy aged 16 and over the course of an eventful life he married four times, lived for a while in the USA and became a naturalised US citizen in 1898 serving in the US Navy 1917-18, and died in New Zealand in 1962 [iii].
In 1902, at the Zion Chapel, Kingswood, John and Susannah’s elder daughter, Annie, married George Bryant Britton, one of John’s neighbours and close associates in local sport, politics and Methodism. He was a boot and shoe manufacturer in Kingswood and later served as mayor of Bristol in 1920-21 and as MP for Bristol East; they lived at ‘Lodgeside’ in Kingswood. GB Britton and Annie had two children: John Henshaw (“Jack”) Britton who carried on the boot manufacturing business – initially with his elder half-brother George Ewart Britton – and Nancy (“Nan”) who married Robert Bernays (1902-1945), MP for Bristol 1931-1945.
George Bryant Britton was a widower when he married Annie; his younger son from his first marriage, Samuel Wesley Britton, married John and Susannah’s younger daughter, Marie Margaret (“May”), in April 1906. Dan Henshaw was best man.
Susannah died on 31 December 1906: “Death of Mrs S Henshaw of Kingswood. The death occurred at Lodge Hill, Kingswood, on Monday, of Mrs Susannah Henshaw, wife of Mr John Henshaw, Town Councillor for the Stapleton Ward. The deceased lady was of a retiring disposition, and in an unostentatious way she dispensed much kindness. She was a regular attendant at Zion Church Kingswood and took much interest in the progress of Free Methodism. She leaves several sons, one of whom is an ex-Mayor of Bath, and several daughters, one being the wife of Councillor G. B. Britton. Though Mrs Henshaw had been in weak health for some time, her condition did not give cause for anxiety until a fortnight ago. Much sympathy is expressed towards Mr John Henshaw in his bereavement. The deceased lady was 65 years of age.” (Western Daily Press, Bristol, 2 January 1907)
She was buried at Downend, Bristol on Thursday 3 January 1907, with five carriages for the family mourners. Her grave is inscribed: In loving memory of Susannah, wife of John Henshaw. Died 31 Dec 1906, aged 65. Her children arise up and called her blessed.
The colliery owner Handel Cossham had directed in his will that his estate was used for the building of a hospital. When the Cossham Memorial hospital was opened in 1907, John Henshaw became the hon. Secretary, later sat on the management committee and was closely involved in its running.
The area of Kingswood was originally a royal hunting forest – with a lodge (or “tower”) at its centre. Cossham hospital was built on this high ground and so is a notable landmark. The Britton family home, ‘Lodgeside’, was nearby; as was John and Susannah’s home, Lodge Cottage, which still exists on what is now called Henshaw Road. (The house and other houses and 4½ acres of building land owned by John were sold after his death.) Henshaw ward in the hospital was named in recognition of John’s active work amongst miners. His “careful administration” of Cossham’s estate “brought much benefit to the neighbourhood”.
In 1913, John travelled to the US, returning on the Mauretania with his son Albert and grand-daughter Jennie. They visited John’s son Archibald Mayon Henshaw at his home in New Jersey.
During the Great War he was an “active war worker in his capacity of chairman of the House Committee of the Cossham Hospital, where many hundreds of our wounded soldiers have received treatment” (Western Daily Press 19 June 1918).
John Henshaw died on 20 November 1922 at Lodge Cottage. An obituary gave a flavour of his character: “…it was impossible for anyone to live in Kingswood for a few years and not be made conscious that there was radiating from the character of their friend an influence that had been lofty and ennobling for the whole community…He was too big a man for all his energies to be absorbed in business. He was conscious that no business was independent of the community and there were duties to humanity to which Mr Henshaw had given himself. He had been most assiduous in the fulfilment of public duties.”
In loving memory of Susannah wife of John Henshaw
Died 31 December 1906 Aged 65.
“Her children arise up and called her blessed”
John, fifth son of John and Susannah Henshaw
Lost at sea by the wreck of the SS Dora Forster February 1899 Aged 27
“The Lord is mightier than the mighty waves of the sea”
John Henshaw of Lodge Cottage, Kingswood
Died 20 Nov 1922 Aged 86
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord“
(The grave to the right is that of Samuel Wesley Britton, John & Susannah’s son-in-law, who died in 1923.)