Basford Branch
This page sets out information that we have found about the Basford branch of Fairholm and Fairholme in England
So far, there are 194 people on this tree.
This branch is headed by John and Mary Fairholm. John was the youngest son of Jarvis or Gervase Fairholm and a grandson of William and Ann Fairholm who lived at Shelford. Mary's maiden name was Parker. John and Mary had five children. The family seemed to travel far - their eldest son, William, born in Sheffield and their daughter, Mary Ann, in Belfast. The other children were born at Basford. John married a second time to Ann Armstrong (nee Ashley) in 1850. He was an agricultural labourer.
John and Mary's second son, George, married Jane Brown in 1839 and was a lace bleacher. The most recent information we have is that their descendants were living in Scotland and Staffordshire. Their third son, John, married Caroline Twells in 1868 and they have present day descendants from at least two of their sons, Frederick and William Henry.
The spelling of the surname changed quite a bit, but most of George's descendants became Fairholm whilst those of his brother, John, became Fairholme.
Click on the image to open a pdf of the early tree for this branch.
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The following abbreviations are used on the tree:
b : birth
c : christening or baptism
m : marriage
d : death
bu : burial.
Old Basford & New Basford
Basford was a village to the north west of Nottingham which grew rapidly in the Victorian period.
The old post card shows Lincoln Street. John and Caroline Fairholme were living close by at 72 Bailey Street at the time of the 1891 census.
The map from Ordnance Survey map from 1882 shows part of Old Basford. New Basford developed between the south of the village and the north of Nottingham, eventually connecting the original village with the city. Lincoln Street is the one running top to bottom near to the centre of the map.
Reproduced with permission of Reflections of a Bygone Age from their book Bulwell & Basford on old picture postcards (ISBN 0 946245 70 3)
OS Map 1882. Image produced from the www.old-maps.co.uk service with permission of Landmark Information Group Ltd. and Ordnance Survey.
John & Frederick Fairholme - Gambling on the street
In1886 John and Frederick Fairholme - sons of John and Caroline - were arested, charged and found guilty of gambling with cards on Whitmoor Road. Six other "youths" received the same treatment and each was charged 2s.
Although the gambling was illegal, it seems that they were arrested for the nuisance that they were causing. The upper classes were, in effect, permitted to gamble, but not the lower classes. Arrests of children and youths were reported frequently in the local newspapers for playing 'pitch & toss' and cards for money.
Photograph by Amanda C on Unsplash
Albert Fairholme Guyler - patent
Albert Fairholme Guyler and William Henry Boaler submitted a patent in 1939 for the manufacture of knitted fabric with a high degree of elasticity. Albert was the natural son of Annie Elizabeth Fairholme of the English Basford branch. This patent was one of several related to machine knitting with which Albert and William were associated between 1931 and 1953. Although the patent was signed in New York, Albert was connected with manufacturing companies in England, including Moses, Mellors & Sons, The Daimler Co, British L. M . Ericsson Manufacturing Company and British Celanese Ltd, which was based in Spondon in Derby.
The patent submission includes the following description of the invention.
"According to the present invention an elastic knitted fabric is produced on a circular knitting machine by knitting relatively inelastic yarn on the needles of the machine in a succession of courses, introducing an elastic yarn at intervals among said courses and to spaced needles, laying in said elastic yarn on said spaced needles and, in at least one later course, laying in the previously introduced portion of said elastic yarn on other needles spaced from each other and from the needles on which the said elastic yarn was previously laid in.
"...the elasticity appears not only in the direction of the course, but also in the direction of the wales of the fabric by reason of the fact that the elastic yarn between the different points at which it is laid in, extends over several courses.
"Even with quite simple means, however, substantial variations in the nature of the fabric can be produced..."
The written submission goes in great detail about the invention over fifteen pages and is supported by three pages of diagrams. The diagram opposite illustrates the interweaving of the yarn.
As an interesting aside, Albert's application to join the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1919 includes the various evening classes that he had taken. In addition to those related to technical engineering matters, he also took lessons in spanish, german, french and esperanto.
From the patent of 1939