Whatmore Family History

Clay House was the home of the Clay family from 1313 to 1687. It was originally a half-timbered house but it was rebuilt or encased in stone in 1654 by John Clay who called it ‘The New House at Clay Hill.’ 

In 1713, Clay House was bought by John Wheelwright, the founder of Rishworth Grammar School and when he died it became part of the Wheelwright Trust.

Clay House, Greetland            Source: ‘Ancient halls in and about Halifax’     Arthur Comfort     Published by the ‘Halifax Courier’ about 1913

An Ely Dyson was already a tenant of part of the house in 1713, but it is not clear whether he was the first Dyson to live there. In 1713, Ely Dyson took out a tenancy if the whole house, subletting half the property to Richard Ramsden.

This Ely Dyson was born in 1683 at Sunnybank, the son of Ely Dyson (1654 – 1706) and his wife Jennet Rooke.  This family were descendants of the Dyson family of Upper Swifts Place at Soyland.

Ely born 1683 married Rose Ramsden of Siddal Hall on 14 April 1707 at Saxton in Elmet.

Ely and Rose had a large family:

John Dyson 1708 – 1761 who married Frances Wilkinson in 1735

Mary Dyson 1711 – 1768 who married William Thompson on 11 May 1732

Jeremiah Dyson 1713

Jeremiah Dyson 1714 – 1749  who was educated at Goats House School, the expenses being paid by the Wheelwright Trust

Henry Dyson 1715

Abraham Dyson 1720 – 1757 who was educated at Goats House School, the expenses being paid by the Wheelwright Trust

 Eli Dyson 1722 who married Susannah Hall

Betty Dyson 1726  1727

Sarah Dyson 1726 who married the Rev. John Harrison on 27 September 1753 and remarried to Thomas Sunderland on 20 April 1768

Dorothy Dyson  1728 who married Thomas Aked on 5 November 1751 at York Minister and lived at Willow Hall, Cote Hill, Halifax (see later section)

George Dyson about 1730 – 1731

Marie Dyson 1731.

Ely Dyson born 1683 was a Trustee of the Wheelwright Trust. He died in 1734 at Clay House, his wife Rose having died the previous year.

The eldest son of Ely and Rose, John Dyson born 1708 inherited the tenancy of Clay House  and was a Trustee of the Wheelwright Trust. He married Francis Wilkinson in 1735. John and Francis had four children:

Mary Dyson 1736 - 1762

Frances Dyson 1737 – 1796 who married Thomas Lambert of Elland Hall,

Elizabeth Dyson1740 - 1764

John Dyson 1746  - 1791

John Dyson born 1708, died in 1761. His wife Frances died in 1768.

John Dyson born 1746  was too young to be appointed a Trustee of the Wheelwright Trust when his father died but was subsequently appointed as such when he was 26. John born 1746 was a trustee of the Rochdale, Halifax and Elland Turnpike Road Trust  and in 1786 he was one of the four trustees given responsibility for the construction of a toll collector’s house at  Brow Bridge.

John married Mary Gorton of Gorton Hall near Manchester on 27 December 1769 in Manchester Cathedral. The children of John and Mary were:

Mary 1770 – 1781

Thomas 1772 – 1773

Frances 1775 – 1782

John 1777 – 1819

Thomas Dyson (later known as Thomas Holland) 1779 – 1835

Margaret Dyson 1782 – 1786

Richard Dyson 1786 – 1787.

 John Dyson died on 24 April 1791 and the tenancy of Clay House passed to his son John born 1777. who became a Trustee of the Wheelwright Trust  when he reached the age of majority. 

John Dyson born 1777 married Elizabeth Pollard of Stannary Hall, Halifax.  He died on 23 February 1819.

The children of John and Elizabeth were:

John Dyson born 13 March 1800 became of Judge Advocate General of the Bengal Army. He  married Jane Hind Jennings and died on 23 May 1851

George Dyson born 3 March 1802  became a solicitor in Halifax and from 1839 was the Coroner for the town. He died 11 Dec 1874

Thomas Dyson born 15 December 1803 who married Mary Jennings on 5 June 1834 at All Souls, Langham Place, London.

Mary Dyson born 15 November 1805 who died 20 October 1826.

Henry Dyson born 25 January 1809.

Dr. Francis Dyson born 15 November 1810. he is believed to have studied medicine at Cambridge 9 although he is not listed in the alumini) qualifying as a surgeon and apothecary. He also practised as an accoucher. He married Sarah Jane Atkinson and they emigrated to Australia where he was a member of the BMA (Australia).but disappeared in 1860. Sarah  remarried to a James Douglas but there is a record  of a Francis Dyson  interred in Wallsend in the early 1900s  and since this is where Sarah died in 1903  it is possible that after James Douglas died, Sarah met up again with Francis Dyson.Their children were Eliza born about 1838 in Middlesex, George who was lost at sea and Frank born 1859 at Coleraine, Victoria. He married Majorie Isabel Maulseed Duncan in 1902 at Parmatta, New South Wales.  Frank died in 1937 in North Sydney.

Charlotte Dyson was born on 1 January 1812 and died on 25 January 1812.

Charles Dyson born 3 October 1813.

Arthur died born 22 January 1815 and died 20 May 1819.

Lucy Dyson born 15 October 1816 who died 9 January 1817.

It would appear that the Dyson tenancy of Clay House ended when John Dyson’s widow Elizabeth remarried to Patrick Agnew on 28 September 1824 at Elland. She died on 25 September 1839 at Ashfield Cottage, Hatfield.

Clay House, Greetland      Photograph Copyright: Humphrey Bolton  

Source: Geograph website and reproduced here in accordance with the terms of the site licence which can be viewed at this link:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

  Sources: 

‘Dr Francis Dyson’ – story on ancestry.co.uk.

‘Clay House, Greetland’ by A T Longbotham

Abstract published in the Journal of the Halifax Antiquarian Society 2 October 1934

‘Ancient Halls in and about Halifax’ by Arthur Comfort

Published by the ‘Halifax Courier’ about 1913.

‘Calderdale Companion’ – website of Malcolm Bull.