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KEMPLAY

in Leeds

For earlier history of this family see KEMPLAY in Wakefield area

4.  [KEMP661] Joseph Kemplay (born 1796) lost both his 1st wife Ann and their daughter Elizabeth at Wakefield (born 1818), and it possible that for the time being he lodged with his father and stepmother. His father died in 1821, and it is possible Joseph (who was a shoemaker) and his step-mother (Ann) then moved to Leeds. Unfortunately, Joseph does not figure in Baines Directory of Trades, etc, for 1822. Joseph had several relatives already living in Leeds, including Benjamin Woodson (1773-1855) a carpenter and boat builder in Water Lane, George Thompson Woodson (1798-1866) a woollen cloth merchant in Lady Lane, and William Woodson (1756-) a book keeper in Vicar Lane.

Joseph Kemplay was next heard of in 1824, living in Top Close, (off [Upper] High Street), Leeds, when his eight-month old son George was baptised at Leeds, St. Peter, (25th December 1824). George's mother was shown as “Ann”. But there is no trace of Joseph having married again after his first wife Ann died in 1818, nor of a subsequent death of a second wife called Ann. A second child appeared later, Sarah c.1827-28, but her baptism record has so far not been found, so it is possible her surname was not recorded as Kemplay.

Several possibilities spring to mind. Firstly, Joseph was living with a married woman called Ann who had deserted her husband and was therefore unable to marry, a possibility here being Joseph Bolland's wife Ann (see BOLLAND family). Secondly, Joseph was living with a cousin of some degree, and therefore could not legally marry her. A third contender could have been Ann (born 1788, whose maiden name was Bolland), the wife of George Thompson WOODSON (as they apparently had no children). Joseph's two children were:

Afterwards Joseph, a shoemaker, married 2. (at Leeds, St. Peter, 14th October 1832) Elizabeth Robinson (born at Hunslet, 23rd September 1805, daughter of John Robinson). Elizabeth was ten years younger than Joseph, and already had one illegitimate child:

Joseph was next noted in 1839, when he was living at Mulberry Place Hunslet. At the 1841 Census, Joseph and Elizabeth were still in Mulberry Place, together with Joseph's son George Kemplay (apprentice mechanic), and Elizabeth's son William Robinson (also apprentice mechanic, though his surname was shown as Kemplay in the Census), together with Elizabeth's father John Robinson (journeyman mechanic). Sarah KEMPLAY was living elsewhere.

Joseph and Elizabeth were at 31 Mulberry Street at the 1851 Census, together with their 3-year old grandson William Kemplay, son of their son George.

Joseph Kemplay remained in Mulberry Street until 1853. In 1854-55 he was in Low Road, Hunslet. In 1856 he was a beer retailer in Meadow Lane, Holbeck. In 1856-57 he was a beer retailer in Sweet Street, Little Holbeck. Joseph and Elizabeth then moved to Upper Burmantofts Street, whilst Elizabeth’s son William moved to Nile Street. These two addresses are a walking distance apart, and also reasonably close to Haymount Place where Joseph’s first-cousin George Woodson lived.

William Robinson died (age 34, of phthisis) in Back Nile Street (21st February 1860). Later that same day Joseph died (age 64, of chronic bronchitis) at home. (Perhaps Joseph had caught a chill visiting his sick step-son William.) William Robinson and Joseph Kemplay were buried together at Beckett Street Cemetery.

Interestingly, Joseph's cousin George Woodson (not the same George mentioned earlier, whose wife was Ann) was present when Joseph died. This George had been a soldier in the 3rd Foot Guards, 1818-44. (This regiment became the Scots Fusilier Guards 1831, and finally the Scots Guards 1877.) George possibly married (at London, St. Martin in the Fields, 24th June 1837) Elizabeth Doolan. George and Joseph were presumably close friends.

Elizabeth has not been found in the 1861 Census, perhaps because her name is misspelled. She died (age 60, of cancer) in Noble Street (12th December 1865), and she too was buried at Beckett Street Cemetery, though in a different grave.

3.  [KEMP671] George Kemplay (born 1824), a mechanic of Hunslet, married 1. (at Leeds, St. Peter, 10th October 1847) Caroline Barker (born 1826, son of John, miner), of Hunslet Lane. They had one child:

Caroline died (age 23, of phthisis) in Mulberry Place, Hunslet, (8th August 1849, buried at Hunslet Cemetery, 12th August 1849). Afterwards, George, a mechanic of Hunslet, widower, married 2. (at Leeds, St. Peter, 12th October 1850) [MIDG672] Ann Midgley (born 1827, see MIDGLEY), of Holbeck. George and Ann had one child:

George died (age 28, of phthisis) in Queen Street, Hunslet, (5th October 1852, buried at Hunslet Cemetery, 10th October 1852), leaving his widow Ann to bring up their infant daughter. Later that month the infant Ann was noted at Halliwell, near Bolton (Lancs), staying with her uncle and aunt, William Midgley and his wife Hannah (formerly Appleyard). It is not clear whether both Ann and her widowed mother had gone to Halliwell to stay for a while, or Ann had been simply fostered out leaving her widowed mother behind to live with her mother Anna Midgley (widow) at Mann's Field, Holbeck, which incidentally was close to where Thomas Appleyard (Hannah's brother) lived. Both explanations seem feasible. How long these arrangements lasted is just a guess: days, weeks or months. But it does suggest that Thomas Appleyard, the Midgley's at Halliwell, and Ann Kemplay (widow) were well acquainted.

On 30th October 1852 the infant Ann was baptised at Halliwell, St. Paul's Church, noted as being the "daughter of George Kemplay of Leeds, deceased, late mechanic".

Less than three years later, Thomas Appleyard's wife Mary died (age 38) at Little Holbeck (July 1855), and three months later Ann Kemplay married 2. (at Little Holbeck 29th October 1855) Thomas Appleyard (a machine overlooker at a flax mill). One of the witnesses at the marriage was Ann's sister-in law, Sarah KEMPLAY, from Kirkstall, illustrating another example of families keeping in touch in those days. Thomas had six (surviving) children by his first wife, and Ann had just the one, so that between them they now had seven children. (It is believed that Ann's step-son, Joseph William Kemplay (born 1848), was being cared for by his grandfather Joseph Kemplay.)

Thomas Appleyard and Ann then had a further six children born and baptised at Little Holbeck as follows:

There is evidence that the Midgley's at Halliwell kept in touch with their relatives in Leeds, for as late as 20th November 1876, Hannah, daughter of William Midgley, married her first-cousin, George Arthur Cliff of Leeds, whose mother Elizabeth was Thomas Appleyard's sister.

Thomas Appleyard (latterly a greengrocer) died (age 62, of heart disease and dropsy) at 24 Back Derwent Street, Little Holbeck, (22nd June 1878, buried at Holbeck Cemetery, 24th June 1878). Twenty-seven years later, Ann died (age 78, of heart disease) at 24 Back Derwent Street (6th December 1905, buried at Holbeck Cemetery, 9th December 1905).

One of their children, James Midgley Appleyard, had a daughter Beatrice. At the 1891 Census Beatrice, then age 11, was described as having lost one leg and having weak eyes. Beatrice became a nurse, and when she learned in 1931 that her cousin Grace Beatrice Boddy (nee Lynes) was expecting a baby at the age of 41, she told her there was only one way she would have it and that was to go straight to bed and remain there, which is just what Grace Beatrice did, until some time after Maurice George was born. While this procedure probably saved the boy (who weighed exactly 11 lb. at birth), it no doubt contributed to the ill health suffered thereafter by Grace Beatrice.