Leonard Fairclough was born in Chorley on 17th November 1852. He was baptised 11 December 1852 as Leonard Waring, child of Mary Waring, single woman. He was probably born at his mother's home address of Fleet Street, Chorley. I can't confidently find her on censuses before Leonard's birth. However, she would have been aged about 20 on Leonard's birth, and having a child before marriage must have been a frightening experience.
Leonard may not have been his mother's first child born out of wedlock. There was a Thomas Waring, baptised 21 Jan 1848 in Chorley, also to a Mary Waring, single woman. This baby Thomas died aged 17 months. However, there aren't enough details to know for sure that this is the same Mary Waring.
On 5 March 1855, Leonard's mother Mary Waring married stonemason Paul Fairclough at the Collegiate Church, Manchester. At this point, Mary was heavily pregnant with another child, who was born about 2 months later.
Without running DNA tests, no-one can be sure whether or not Paul Fairclough was Leonard's biological father or his step-father. However, if we check the 1851 census, Paul Fairclough was living at his parent's address of Farmers Arms, Market Street, Chorley; just streets away from Mary's address a year later on Leonard's baptism. The couple would almost certainly have crossed paths, and probably at least have known each other.
Perhaps Paul was still serving his apprenticeship and unable to marry, or perhaps his parents disapproved of Mary. Regardless of DNA, Leonard was aged 3 when his mother married Paul Fairclough, and he probably didn't remember life without a father figure, and would still have thought of Paul as his father, whether biological or not.
Perhaps Paul was still serving his apprenticeship and unable to marry, or perhaps his parents disapproved of Mary. Regardless of DNA, Leonard was aged 3 when his mother married Paul Fairclough, and he probably didn't remember life without a father figure, and would still have thought of Paul as his father, whether biological or not.
The child the couple were expecting upon their marriage was baptised at Rivington Church, and as she born inside the marriage of her parents, was given the name Sarah Fairclough. At this point, the couple's abode is given as Anderton, and I can only imagine that Leonard is living with them.
A few years later, the couple moved to Adlington. By the 1861 census, Leonard's (step)father Paul was working as both a stonemason and a beerseller at the Railway Inn on Bob's Lane (now Railway Road). I have found no trace of this inn prior to 1861, so it is highly likely that the Fairclough family started this business. I have tried and failed to find out more about the location of this inn, but I can only imagine it was close to the Bolton and Preston Railway, and served travellers before and after their trains.
The family stayed at the Railway Inn until May 1872, when the license was transfered to another publican. By this time, Leonard was 19, and working as a stonemason, presumably with his (step)father.
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| A drawing of Leonard in later life - thanks to Chorley History Society |
By this time, Mary was about 16 weeks pregnant. Her father was Henry Miller, who farmed at Rigby House Farm, down Adlington Common. Their first child was born 31 March 1880, and was named Sarah Ann.
We can see the new family in the 1881 census, living at 37 Chorley Road. Unless house numbers have since changed, this was the white rendered house shown below.
According to AMEC (which was created when Fairclough's merged with another firm in the 1980s), Leonard started his own small stone-masonry business in 1883. And the rest is history! (May be continued at a later date)