This page sets out information that we have found about the Gedling 1 branch of Fairholme in England.
So far, there are 71 people on this tree.
This branch is headed by John and Mary Fairholm. We suspect that John was the eldest son of William and Ann Fairholm of Shelford, and so the uncle of Joseph who heads the Gedling 2 branch, but can't prove it yet. Mary's maiden name was probably Truman - in which case they married in 1798. John and Mary had five daughters and two sons, but we have only been able to identify descendants for the youngest child, William, who married Lucy Scothern in 1835. We only have current day descendants for William and Lucy's second youngest son, Joseph, who married Annie Wright in 1876. Joseph was a grocer.
The most recent information we have is that their descendants were living in West Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The spelling of the surname of this branch started to change from Fairholm to Fairholme sometime around 1840.
Gedling & Carlton
Gedling was a village to the east of Nottingham. The parish of Gedling included Carlton, which expanded rapidly and became a suburb of Nottingham. Members of the Gedling 1 and Gedling 2 branches lived in these settlements from the 1760s to at least 1901. During this time the population of the two settlements increased dramatically. The total was 1,373 in 1801 and was over 11,100 by 1901. The map shows them in 1835. Gedling is the rather spread out village
in the top right and Carlton is bottom centre. Both of the settlements now form part of the greater Nottingham urban area.
The old postcard shows Main Road at Carlton about 1916.
Reproduced with permission of Reflections of a Bygone Age from their book Carlton, Netherfield & Colwick on old picture postcards (ISBN 0 946245 64 9)
William Fairholm - oldest English male
William Fairholm was the son of John and Mary. He was christened on 18 October 1810. If his parents followed the custom of the time then he was christened only a few days after he was born. He died on 21 October 1903 - perhaps a week after his 93rd birthday. That makes him the oldest English family male that I have found in the records that I hold.
In dying at the age of 93 William had exceeded the expected life of his contemporaries by more than twice. Statistics are not readily available for his year of birth, but a male child born in 1841 could have expected to live to around 40. If he reached his first birthday then he could have expected to reach his 46th too. A child born today can expect to live to around 79.
William lived during the reign of five monarchs - including the whole of the reign of Victoria. The country changed significantly during that time, but he lived his whole life in the parish of Gedling. By comparing his neighbours as recorded in the censuses, he may have lived on the same street for at least 50 years. For most of his adult life William was a shoe maker (a cordwainer). For a few years he also had a smallholding of some three acres.
Since writing this story I have found an article written by Ann Vickers, one of William's grand daughters, in 1970. In this she describes William's house as a red brick cottage, with pigsty, stable and large garden. It was still there in 1970 (minus the pigsty and stable). The cottage was owned by Lord Carnarvon (the one who was later involved with the tomb of Tutankhamen). Also, she states that William was a carrier, going to Nottingham market twice a week. Perhaps, this work supplemented his work as a shoe maker. His favourite pony was called Boxer.
The next oldest English male was Donald Eric Fairholm of the Derby branch. He died in 1999 aged 92.
Includes information from ons.gov.uk, newspaper article (via britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).
Photograph by Pezibear on pixabay.com
I have lost the source of this image and so I have not been able to seek permission to include it on the site. If anyone knows the owner of the copyright then please let me know.
Click on the image to open a pdf of the early tree for this branch.
It will open in a separate window in your web browser.
The following abbreviations are used on the tree:
b : birth
c : christening or baptism
m : marriage
d : death
bu : burial.
Gedling 1 Branch
Produced by Roger Fairholm
