: ORMSKIRK SHOLICARS:

This section gives information on the family history research carried out so far into the Sholicars in Ormskirk, Lancashire.

Any additional information / contributions gratefully received!

Research notes on the Sholicar family history carried out by Debretts:

James Sholicar and Margaret Ann Rawsthorne married in April 1926.  James was born on 30 June 1899 the son of Richard Sholicar and Margaret Elizabeth Jennion, who had further children Annie, Harry, William, Nellie, Margaret, Richard and Robert.

We were provided at the outset of this research with a great many photocopies from various works and notes, which mention people named Sherlocker, Shurliker, Sharlacker, Shorlicar etc, showed that people of these names had been found in and around Ormskirk, Lancashire, for some considerable period.  It was therefore believed that the ancestral family’s roots would be found in Ormskirk and that connections would eventually be found to the persons mentioned in the family archive notes.

Our objective was to extend the ancestry of the Sholicar family back as far as we could in the time allowed.  A good many names and dates had already been supplied to for present day family members of the direct line and the siblings of James Sholicar, who was born in 1899.  We therefore began our research by searching for the marriage of James’ parents, Richard Sholicar and Margaret Elizabeth Jennion.  Civil registration was introduced in England and Wales on 1 July 1837, since when most births, marriages and deaths have been registered centrally at the General Register Office in London (now the Office for National Statistics).  Before March 1912, the quarterly marriage indexes do not cross-reference brides and grooms, who are listed alphabetically under their respective surnames.  The only information given in the indexes is the name of the bride or groom, the registration district and the reference number. To locate a particular marriage, therefore, the various entries for the two names have to be cross-checked until a matching pair is found.

Searching back from the birth of James we found that Richard and Margaret married in Ormskirk in 1895:

Marriage

The Parish Church of Ormskirk

County of Lancaster

15 Jun 1895       Richard Sholicar 21 Bachelor Flagger & Slater [of] Harts Lane,

Ormskirk [son of] father’s name & occupation left blank &

Margaret Elizabeth Jennion 21 Spinster [of] Tank Lane, Ormskirk

[dau of] William Jennion Roper

After Banns

Witnesses:          Mary Jane Hignett, William Hignett

Richard and Margaret married in Ormskirk on 15 June 1895.  Richard was a flagger and slater of Harts Lane and was born in about 1874; he was unable to name his father or give any indication of his occupation: this usually implies illegitimacy.  Margaret was the daughter of William Jennion, a roper.  She was also born in about 1874 and was living in Tank Lane when she married.

Decennial census returns were instituted in England, Scotland and Wales in 1801.  Personal returns survive from 1841 onwards, with precise ages and birthplaces given from 1851 onwards.  The latest census currently available is that of 1901 and is indexed by surname.  We asked for a check of this index for Richard and Margaret Sholicar, hoping to identify some information about their children and discover when and where Richard was born.  However, there were substantial problems with this index, which is only available on computer in London (and via the Public Record Office web site), and so it was off-line for nearly eight months.  As, at the time, there was no indication how long this service would remain unavailable, we decided to continue the research into the Sholicar family using other sources.  The only other UK census to have been fully index is that of 1881.  As both Richard and Margaret were born in about 1874, we expected to find them both in Lancashire aged about seven on the night of the census.  A search of the census index for 1881 found Margaret at home with her family as follows:

Census 3 April 1881 [index only]

Public Record Office: RG 11 3693

f.38, page 6

41 Brookhill Road, Bootle cum Linacre, Lancashire

                                                                      Occupation                       Where Born

William	Jenyon	Head	Mar	39	General Labourer	Lancs	Ormskirk
Ellen	D[itt]o	Wife	Mar	37		Do	Formby
Edward	Do	Son	Un	15	Do	Do	Bootle
Joseph	Do	Son	Un	12	Scholar	Do	Linacre
Margaret	Do	Dau	Un	10	Do	Do	Do
John	Do	Son	Un	6	do	Do	Do
Ruth	Do	Dau	Un	3		Do	Bootle
Ader	Do	Dau	Un	5m		Do	do

Margaret was born in Linacre and was the third child of William Jennion or Jenyon and his wife Ellen; this couple had further children named Edward, Joseph, John, Ruth and Ader.

The only Richard Sholicar found in the 1881 census index of Lancashire was aged 23, too old to be the ancestor.  We found three Sholicar families in the Lancashire index, two of whom were in Ormskirk.  These families were later found to be relevant to the ancestral family and are discussed below.

While the registration of marriages and deaths could rarely be avoided, there was no penalty for non-registration of birth before 1875; thus births before this date, and sometimes after, were often not recorded centrally.  Richard Sholicar was born in about 1874 and so it was entirely possible that his birth would not be registered, particularly if he was illegitimate.  However, a search of the birth indexes found that his birth had been registered, as follows:

Birth

Registration District Ormskirk

Sub-District Aughton, County of Lancaster

8 Apr 1874         Richard [son of] father’s name and occupation left blank Hannah

Sholiker (x) Domestic Servant [of] Cottage Lane, Aughton

This was the only Richard Sholicar etc birth registered for the correct period, and it was registered in Ormskirk.  This child was indeed illegitimate and was the son of Hannah Sholiker [sic] a domestic servant of Cottage Lane, Aughton.

Our search of the 1881 census index of Lancashire had not found a Richard Sholicar, aged about seven, or a Hannah Sholicar, and so it appeared that Hannah might have married between 1874 and 1881 and that Richard would be found indexed under his step-father’s surname.  However, at this stage, we had no proof that this was the case.

The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is an index to baptisms and marriages compiled by the Church of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon Church.  The index, based mainly on parish registers, is arranged alphabetically by county; and while it is neither complete nor wholly accurate it is a useful guide to the original sources.  A search of the on-line edition found only one Sholicar entry anywhere in England:

The International Genealogical Index

22 Sep 1874       Henry Howard married Hannah Sholicar

Aughton by Ormskirk, Lancashire

The fact that a Hannah Sholicar married at Aughton just a few months after the birth of Richard Sholicar whose mother, Hannah, was living in Aughton, was too much of a coincidence to ignore.  We returned to the 1881 census index and found Henry and Hannah Howard, who had three children by the time the census was taken, including a seven-year-old Richard; we confirmed this entry in the original returns:

Census 3 April 1881

Public Record Office: RG 11 3755

Enumeration District 2 SRD & RD Ormskirk

f.34r  1C 6H Southport Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire

                                                                     Occupation                    Where Born

Henry	Howard	Head	Mar	28	Painter	Lancs	Ormskirk
Ann	D[itt]o	Wife	Mar	27	Housekeeper	Do	Do
Richard	Do	Son	Un	7	Scholar	Do	Do
William	Do	Son		4	Do	Do	Do
Ann	Do	Dau		2		Do	Do

Hannah was shown here as Ann (a common shortening of the name), but there was very little doubt that this was Richard Sholicar, the ancestor, with his mother and step-father in Ormskirk.  To be certain, we obtained a copy of the marriage certificate for Henry Howard and Hannah Sholicar:

Marriage

The Parish Church of Aughton

County of Lancaster

22 Sep 1874       Henry Howard [of] Full [age] Bachelor Painter [of] Southport [son

of] William Howard Painter &

Hannah Sholicar (x) 20 years Spinster [of] Aughton [dau of] James

Sholicar Bricklayer

After Banns

Witnesses:          Mark Bickerstaffe, Elizabeth Sholicar (x)

This confirms that the family found in the census was the ancestral family and that, in 1881 at least, Richard Sholicar was known as Richard Howard.  This could suggest that Henry Howard was his father, but he was more likely to have been his step-father, given the gap between Richard’s birth and the marriage of Henry Howard and Hannah Sholicar, and the fact that Richard later returned to using the name Sholicar and did not name Henry Howard as his father on his marriage certificate.

Hannah stated that she was born in Ormskirk about 1854 and was the daughter of James Sholicar, a bricklayer.  Our searches of the 1881 census index of Lancashire had found a Sholicar household in Ormskirk headed by a James Sholicar who was the right age to be Hannah’s father; he was also the father of the 23-year-old Richard Sholicar.  We examined the full entry in the original returns:

Census 3 April 1881

Public Record Office: RG 11 3755

Enumeration District 2  SRD & RD Ormskirk

f.35v 38 Southport Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire

                                                                         Occupation     Where Born

James	Sholicar	Head	Mar	65	Labourer	Lancs	Ormskirk
Ellen	Do	Wife	Mar	62		Do	Do
Kate	Do	Dau	Un	27		Do	Do
Richard	Do	Son	Un	23	Labourer	Do	Do
Lizzie	Do	Dau	Un	13		Do	Do
Ellen	Do	Gdau		12m		Do	Do

James was born in Ormskirk in about 1815/6; he was a labourer of Southport Road in 1881.  His wife was Ellen, who was born in Ormskirk in about 1818/9.  As well as Richard and Hannah, they had two further daughters, Kate and Elizabeth or Lizzie (Elizabeth Sholicar was one of the witnesses to the marriage of Henry and Hannah).  Also in the house on census night was James and Ellen’s twelve-month-old granddaughter, Ellen.

We also confirmed two other Sholicar households found in the 1881 census index and, in the process, noted another Sholicar household in Southport Road:

Census 3 April 1881

Public Record Office: RG 11 3755

Enumeration District 2 SRD & RD Ormskirk

f.33v 1c 2 H Southport Road, Ormskirk

                                                                            Occupation              Where Born

James	Sholicar	Head	Mar	27	Grocer’s Asst	Lancs	Malton
Margaret	Do	Wife	Mar	24		Do	Ormskirk
Maria	Do	Dau		2		Do	Do
John H	Do	Son		11m		Do	Do

f.35r entry 89 34 Southport Road, Ormskirk

                                                                           Occupation               Where Born

John	Sholicar	Head	Mar	79	Carter	Lancs	Ormskirk
Ann	Do	Wife	Mar	66		Do	Do

Public Record Office:  RG 11 3754

Enumeration District 9 SRD Ormskirk, RD Scarisbrick

f.127r  entry 68 Martin Mere, Scarisbrick, Burscough, Lancashire

                                                                           Occupation               Where Born

Alice	Sholicar	Head	Wid	77	Formerly Gen DomServ	Lancs	Burscough
Mary	do	Dau	Un	34	Gen Serv Dom	do	do

James Sholicar, who was born in Malton in about 1853/4, was possibly another son of James and Ellen; he was married to Margaret and had children named Maria and John H by 1881.  James Sholicar’s place of birth was given as Malton.  This should probably read Aughton as Malton is in Yorkshire, not Lancashire.  Burscough lies to the north-east of Ormskirk and Scarisbrick is further west.

We returned to the quarterly birth indexes and looked for the birth of Hannah Sholicar in Ormskirk in about 1853/4:

Birth

Registration District Ormskirk

Sub-District Ormskirk, County of Lancaster

11 Aug 1853      Hannah [dau of] James Shorliker (x) Laborer [of] Green Lane,

Ormskirk & Elizabeth Shorliker formerly Winrow

It was James who registered the birth and his wife’s name was recorded as Elizabeth Winrow (James was married to Ellen in 1881), but a search for the marriage of James Sholicar back from the December quarter of 1854 found that he married Ellen Winrow in 1848:

Marriage

The Parish Church of Ormskirk

County of Lancaster

13 Mar 1848    James Shorlicar (x) [of] full [age] Bachelor Weaver [of] Ormskirk

[son of] John Shorlicar Labourer &

Ellen Winrow (x) [of] full [age] Spinster [of] Ormskirk [dau of]

Charles Winrow deceased

By Registrars Certificate

Witnesses:        Richard Pye (x), George Wignall

It appears that the name Elizabeth on Hannah’s birth certificate was an error.  James Sholicar was the son of John Shorlicar, a labourer; James was a weaver of Ormskirk in 1848.  Ellen, not Elizabeth, was the daughter of Charles Winrow, who had already died before his daughter’s marriage.

There was no sign of the baptism of James Sholicar etc on the Lancashire edition of the IGI, and the only entry found on the on-line edition of this index was for the marriage of his daughter, Hannah, in 1874.  We therefore turned to the British Isles Vital Records Index on CD-ROM, which is another index compiled by the Latter-day Saints Church, and which includes many entries taken from civil registration indexes, parishes registers, bishops’ transcripts and non-conformist records not previously available on the IGI.  We found several baptism entries for the name Shorlicar  in Ormskirk as follows:

The Vital Records Index

Baptisms

Ormskirk, Lancashire

8 Jul 1821          Rebecca dau of Richard & Mary Shorlicar born 6 May

2 Mar 1823        Rebecca dau of Richard & Mary Shorlicar born 13 Feb

22 Aug 1825      Alice dau of John & Catherine Shorlicar born 9 Jul

31 Aug 1825      Margaret dau of John & Catherine Shorlicar born 9 Jul

11 Nov 1828      Richard son of Henry & Ann Shorlicar

19 Sep 1828       Richard son of John & Catherine Shorlicar

23 Jan 1830       Maria dau of John & Catherine Shorlicar

22 Mar 1831      Henry son of Henry & Ann Shorlicar

19 Apr 1832       Catherine dau of John & Catherine Shorlicar

11 Nov 1834      Helen dau of John & Catharine Shorliker

23 May 1834      Margaret dau of Margaret Shorliker

18 Sep 1835       Robert son of Susannah Shorlicar

Other Sholicar etc entries were noted for Liverpool, Standish and Formby, but there was no sign of a baptism for a James son of John Shorlicar etc.  We noted that John and Catherine Shorlicar baptised Alice, Margaret, Richard, Maria, Catherine and Helen at Ormskirk between 1825 and 1834.  As James, the ancestor, had named a daughter Kate and his probable son, James, named a daughter Maria, and Richard was the name given to the direct ancestor, it seems possible that John and Catherine were the parents of James Sholicar who stated that he was born in Ormskirk in about 1816.

We turned to the original records for Ormskirk and checked the baptismal register for James between 1814 and 1820 son of John Sholicar etc.  Nothing was found for either name but we did note the following Sholicar etc entries:

Ormskirk, Lancashire

Original Parish Registers

Baptisms

4 Mar 1814        Ann dau of Richard & Mary Shorlikar, weaver

26 Jan 1816       Rebecca dau of Richard & Mary Shorlicar, weaver, born 6 Jan

30 Mar 1817      Joseph son of Mary Herliker born 26 October 1816

Richard and Mary had been noted in the Vital Records Index baptising two daughters named Rebecca; they had another daughter with this name in 1816 and a daughter Ann; it seems apparent that at least two of the Rebeccas died in infancy.           The Vital Records Index also listed some Sholicar etc marriages, including five from Ormskirk, but none of these events could be connected to the ancestral family at this stage and there was no sign of a marriage for John and Catherine Sholicar.

There are two non-conformist chapels for Ormskirk with records surviving from the early 1800s.  We checked both for the period 1810 to 1820 in case James’s baptism would be found there but nothing was found for the name in either register.

At this point, the 1901 census index came back on-line and we were able to obtain a copy of Richard Sholicar’s entry:

Census 31 March 1901

Public Record Office: RG 13/3403

5 Brook Street, Wallasey, Chester

                                                      Occupation                        Where Born

Richd	Sholicar	Head	Mar	26	Flagger & Slater	Lancs	Ormskirk
Margt E	Do	Wife	Mar	26		Do	do
Annie	Do	Dau		4		Do	do
James	Do	Son		2		Do	Do
William	Do	Son		7m		Ches	Edemont

This tells us that Annie, James and William were, apparently, Richard and Margaret’s three eldest children.

This is the full extent of the research so far.

Further research should begin with further searches of the Ormskirk registers and then move on to search the registers of the surrounding parishes, and of any surviving non-conformist chapel nearby.

We should also check the original entries for the baptisms noted in the Vital Records Index, as an address for the family might be included in the register which we could use to try and locate the family in the census returns.

If we can confirm that James was the son of John and Catherine, we would then hope to confirm the connection between Henry, John and Richard Sholicar and take the family line back further.