East Cleveland Image Archive

Dennis Codling and his sister Isobel at the doorway of their home at Boulby Barnes. This chair is getting very photogenic; featuring in many images of the Codling family at Boulby Barnes.

Image courtesy of Janet Wilson.

This family portrait of the Codling family was taken in about 1907.

Back row: Margaret (Maggie), Isaac (Ike), Richard (Dick), Elizabeth (Lizzie), Matthew (Mattie), Thomas (Tom), Indiana (Indie).

Middle row: Thomas, Rachel, Mary, Hannah and Margaret with Daisy in her arms.

Front row: Greta, Violet.

Not shown on this picture is William the last and final baby of this generation of the Codling family. We are also advised (by Sandra Payne) that Indiana married Sarah’s great uncle Joseph William Cook in 1914.  Mavis Gray advises that Hannah married Albert Gray (her mother-in-law) in 1919.

Ann Bland told us: ”Lovely to see the photograph of the Codling Family. Violet Codling was my Gran. She married Edward Miller from Danby.They had two children Allen and Margaret both still living.Lizzie married a Newton, Maggie married a Bulman, Ike was killed in a mining accident at Tin City in 1910, Thomas and Matthew married the Thurlow sisters from Boulby Banks Farm. Tom married Georgina and Mattie married Ada. Matthew died of Typhoid in 1913 at Great Ayton.Hannah married a Gray and Greta married Herbert Dowson. Richard and Anastasia’s daughter Stella was a Health visitor at Whitby and won the MBE. She died just recently.”

Vicky Dawson assists with: “Richard was my grandfather. He married Anastasia Elliott and they had 9 children: Margaret, Mary, Stella, Anne, Bessie, Richard, Phillippa, Thomas (my dad) and Anastasia. Of these nine children, the youngest three are still with us. I am one of seven children. Me and my siblings all live in the Whitby area.” Peter Codling comments: “Tom Codling in the back row was my Great Grandfather who married my Great Grandmother Georgina Thurlow. Ike the Coldstream Guard was my granddad.” Joan Dickens adds: “I lived at No. 3 Glenfield Terrace, East Loftus. Number 2 Glenfield was where Tom Codling who married to Georgina Thurlow. They had six sons and one daughter. Isabel was six months older than me. We played in our back yard. There was Alan, Ike, Steven, he won a war medal. Ike was a Coldstream Guard and very handsome. Then there was Raymond, Alick, and the youngest was Dennis, who use to play in our backyard as well. Mrs Codling was a member of the Primitive Methodist Chapel, Arlington Street.” Janet Wilson (nee Codling) adds: “I am Thomas and Georgina’s grand daughter. Denis was my father. I remember Mr. and Mrs. Dickens at number 3. Mr. Dickens did one of his magic shows at one of our children’s parties in Liverton village hall probably n the early 1960’s. I had seven uncles, you missed out Sydney. There is a photograph in our loft of your wedding day.” Peter Codling asked: “Do you remember my Dad, Steve Codling son of Ike? Do you have any photographs of times that he visited Yorkshire?” Janet Wilson answered: “I remember one of Ikes sons visiting us when I was quite small. He was with his wife/fiance called Girda.” Peter Codling replied with: “That was my Uncle John (my Dad’s brother) and his Dutch wife to be, my Aunt Girda, they emigrated to New Zealand.” Whilst Ann Jackson commented: “I have Elizabeth Thurlow 1799-1862 in my family tree. She lived at Boulby and married John Hall. They had a daughter Isabella who is my great, great grandmother. I don’t know if there is a connection?”

Image courtesy of Kate Patton (nee Dowson) for this image and details. Also thanks to Sandra Payne, Mavis Gray, Ann Bland, Vicky Dawson, Peter Codling, Joan Dickens, Janet Wilson and Ann Jackson for the updates.

Boulby Barns Farm is on the old road, near the top of the bank, between Skinningrove and Staithes. The Thurlow family gathered there for a special occasion in about 1907. Even the little girls are wearing wonderful hats. Can anyone tell us what the occasion was, or name any other members of the family?

Mrs. Wilson’s grandmother, Georgina Thurlow is third from the left on the back row. Two of her sisters, Lucy and Sarah are standing in the doorway. The other four sisters and their mother are sitting on the chairs, (from left), …2.Mary Ann with Marjorie, 3.Bessie with Lucy, ……5.Isabel Thurlow (their mother), 6.Barbara, and Ada with Billy at the end. As Owen says: “Amy (a grandchild) is the young girl standing between Barbara and Ada.”

Thanks to Owen Rooks for the following information: ”I believe that the girl (wearing the rather fetching large white hat) standing second from right on the front row is Amy Thurlow. Amy became a close friend of my mother in about 1920 when for a time they were neighbours at Boulby- my mother (before she married) may have worked at Boulby Barns. Many years later, Amy shared a home in Park Terrace, Loftus; with Florence (Flo) Fletcher and they both shared a life long friendship with my mother who died in 1973. In the late 1940’s, Amy and Flo ran a corner shop in Tees Street, East Loftus.”

Joan Johnson tells us: ”I think that Mary Ann must have been known as Polly. She married John Maine and had two children Marjory and John and they lived in Penrith after she married. I don’t really remember Georgina, but know that I did visit her as a child when she was known to me as Aunt Georgie. My grandmother was Ada and Billy was my uncle.” Diane Crosby-Browne tell us: ”Thomas was my Great, Great, Great, Great Uncle. Thank you for the information.” Paul Boden commented: “My Great Great Grandmother Mary Boden (nee Garbutt) was born in Boulby Barns in 1821 as was her sister Margaret, born in 1829. They were both baptised at Easington Parish church. Their father was John Garbutt. On both the Baptism records it states he was an Epsom Salts Maker. My question is was Boulby Barns a farm in 1821. If it was did the farmer have tenants?”

Peter Appleton added additional information with: “Some of the following information may not be new to those who are descended from the Thurlows but it all may be of interest to a wider audience.
Members of the Thurlow family were involved in the manufacture of alum at Boulby Alum Works. In the 1851 census we can see Robert Thurlow, aged 45 and a widower who is “Employed in the manufacture of Alum”. So is Thomas, aged 36 and married, and George, aged 27 and married. Ten years later, Thomas has become the Alum Agent’s Clerk and George is now a “Labourer in the Alum Works”. George’s son, John, aged 14, is an “Alum miner”. In 1871 Thomas is now a widower and is the Alum manufacturer.
George’s son, John, would have been employed in the quarry, using a pickaxe to break the alum shale away from the quarry face and a wheelbarrow to trundle it off along a trackway of metal plates to the clamp where it would be added to the existing pile of burning shale.
Thomas’s job as Alum Agent’s Clerk indicates that he was both literate and numerate. His job could have involved such aspects as copying outgoing business letters into the letter copy book, and keeping the financial records up to date in the many different ledgers that the works used. By 1871 (just a few months before the works finally closed) he had become the Alum manufacturer. This was, arguably the most important role in an alum works. In today’s terminology he would be something like the chief chemical engineer or chief industrial scientist.”

Image courtesy of Mrs. J. Wilson, with thanks to Owen Rooks, Joan Johnson, Anne Hindmarsh, Gordon Main, Peter Appleton, Diane Crosby-Browne and Paul Boden for the updates.

A lovely studio portrait of the two ladies, but we don’t know anything else about them. The lady standing on the left could be Isabel Thurlow of Boulby Barns Farm, the seated lady could be Mary Ann Severs (her mother). Perhaps somebody could assist?

Image courtesy of Mrs. J. Wilson.

John Thurlow feeding the chickens in the yard at Boulby Barns.

Image courtesy of Mrs. J. Wilson.