A very Sheffield family
Esme Gillott (1920) married William A Sanderson
George Gillott (1890) married Alice Darlow
Charles Gillott (1850) married Mary Ann Hinchliffe
Joseph Gillott (1811) married Mary Heeley
George Gillott (1781) married Hannah Spooner
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The Gillott surname, is associated with the area around Sheffield, and is said to be of French origin. Although this line of the ‘northern’ family, contains the highest number of ‘immigrant lines’, – from Northamptonshire, Ireland and Honley, it also includes local lines that stretch back deep into Sheffield history, and were employed in the typical local industries.
Grandma (Esme Gillott) was born 26th July 1920 to George Gillott and Alice (Darlow) she was the fourth of six children, and born at 14 Haden Street, Hillsborough, before the family moved to Bowness Road.
Grandma and her siblings were born over a period of more than twenty years from 1909 to 1931.
Doris 1909-1994 married Cyril Long,
George 1910-1987? married Louis Saynor in1935. When we visited them, they lived in a lovely old cottage in Bakewell. They often went on holiday with my Grandparents, later venturing to France and Spain on camping holidays.
Nora 1916-1921, died from miliary tuberculosis, soon after Grandma was born.
GILLOTT, Norah (daug of George, age 5). Died at Winter St Hospital; Buried on June 2, 1921 in Consecrated ground; Grave Number 5398, Section HH of Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield. Parent or Next of Kin if Available: . Remarks: Officiating Minister, L Webster: Removed from Sheffield Parish.
A childs rag book belonging to Norah, has been handed down in the family, and Dad now has care of it.
Esme 1920 – 2008,
Rita 1929-, Auntie Rita visited often, and was more like an older sister to Dad, her son Julian was a year younger than me, and disabled. he had a great sense of humour, and often had me in fits of laughter, he also loved having a ride in Dad’s ‘caravette‘.
Derek 1930 – 2011 married Edith
As the youngest were born, the oldest were leaving home and having their own families.
George Gillott was born 10th October 1888 at 5 Dun St, St. Philips Sheffield, to Charles Gillott and Mary Ann Hinchcliffe. Following WW1, he worked as a Tram Driver based at the Hillsborough Depot. and it was Esme’s job to take him his dinner each day. It was believed he fought in France during the 1914-18 War, but his war records state he was restricted to UK service from 1915 -18, due to his suffering from varicose veins, but by early November 1918, he was deemed fit enough to be sent to France. He was discharged in April 1919.
We were surprised to discover, that he had served in the Volunteers before this, from 1908 -1912. The volunteer attestation paper, stated his occupation was ‘striker’ a steel industry occupation, but by his 1915 sign up for WW1, he had become a Tram driver, an occupation he continued until retirement.
My parents had a colour cine film taken of their wedding and reception, this featured George Gillott, in full song. This is the image I have in my mind of my Great Grandfather. Although I expect I was introduced to him as a very young child, my first and only memory of him was in 1968, when we returned to England for a holiday, whilst we were living in Malta.
He was in hospital towards the end of his life, which I am told was the Middlewood Hospital in Sheffield. I recall standing outside next to a very tall brick wall.
Inside, in the older style ward, George was one of a number of patients, in beds lined along each side of the ward, although each patient had privacy curtains. I get the impression, that on the ward, a visit from a young family, was a happy event. Soon after this, I must have been told that George had died, ‘and gone to heaven.’ This created my first impression of heaven, which was a cross between a hospital ward and the a church. For years I was concerned about what would happen when the beds ran out. (Later, my impression of heaven was updated by the TV ‘Bounty advert’ and ‘the taste of Paradise’!)
George died 11th July 1968, at Wharncliffe Hospital.
Alice died a year later on 16th July 1969 at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, and was buried in Burngreave cemetery.
GILLOTT, Alice (Widow, age 80).
Died at Royal Infirmary; Buried on July 22, 1969 in Consecrated ground;
Grave Number 5398, Section HH of Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield.
Remarks: Removed from Sheffield Parish.
Esme attended Morley Street School and left aged fourteen to work in the Bassets Liquorice Allsort factory. This was known locally as the ‘spice factory’ and Grandma followed in the footsteps of her aunts and great aunts in the manufacture of sweets. Grandma told me that she used money from her first pay packet to buy herself a pair of french knickers which were all the rage at the time, and also that the workers were allowed to eat as many liquorice allsort sweets as they liked, but as it had an unfortunate effect on the digestive system, after the first day or two, the novelty wore off!
My great grandad George Gillott was married to Alice Darlow from a brick making family which originally came from Long Buckby, Northants. Her mother, Ellen Darlow, nee Sneyde, was the daughter of Irish immigrants. They landed in the mid 1800’s and migrated to Newton Heath in Manchester, before moving to Sheffield. The Irish were not well treated by the locals who accused them of undercutting wages and a review of the censuses shows that they changed their surname to Rowley, and then back again. They had many children and it is assumed they kept their catholic faith.
Rita Gillott and my grandma between them remembered several of their aunts and uncles from the Gillotts and Darlows. Unfortunately many of the Christian names were the same in each family, so it has been difficult to determine which side of the family they were recalling.
Charles Gillott was born c1850 to Joseph Gillott and Mary Heeley. He appears to have been the seventh of twelve children, and both he, and his father, Joseph, were Spring Knife cutlers.
On 17th September 1876, at St Marys Church Walkley, Charles Gillott married Mary Ann Moorhouse, nee Hinchliffe. She was a widow, with a young son, John William Moorhouse. Charles and Mary Ann, went on to have a further nine children, including George.
The family lived at 5 Dun Street, Sheffield. At that time it was a street of back to back terrace houses, leading down to the River Don. Today it is a redeveloped street of modern buildings, just yards from the Kelham Island Museum.
Mary E 1877 , Emma 1879, Joseph 1880, Thomas1881 – 87, Willis 1885 -1887, Charles1887-87, George 1890, Anna(ie) 1891, Alice 1892-4, Horace 1896 – 1917 (kia WW).
1887 must have been a very sad year in the household, as the three youngest children died within a few months of each other. Thomas aged 5, Willis 2 and Charles a couple of months. It can only be presumed due to one of the common childhood diseases, rife at the time.
Three years later, my gt grandfather George was born, with the death of his three older siblings, there was now a ten year gap between him and his closest sibling. Three more children were born after George. Anna 1891, Alice 1892, who died aged two in 1894, and Horace born 1896 and killed in action aged 21 in 1917.
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/42162/horace-gillott/
GILLOTT, Charles (Cutler, age 72).
Died at 2 Smilter Lane; Buried on May 25, 1922 in Consecrated ground;
Grave Number 2083, Section FF of Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield.
Parent or Next of Kin if Available: . Remarks: Officiating Minister, W G Largie: Removed from Sheffield Parish.
Plot Owner: of . Page No
GILLOTT, Mary Ann (wife of Charles, age 65).
Died at 138 Vauxhall Road; Buried on June 14, 1919 in Consecrated ground;
Grave Number 2083, Section FF of Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield.
Parent or Next of Kin if Available: . Remarks: Attending Minister, Edwin Castledine: Removed from Sheffield Parish.
Plot Owner: of . Page
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Death certificate of Enoch Heeley, (died 1851 in Liverpool), father of Mary Heeley. (Wife of George Gillott).
