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This history post is a sad, tragic tale, but Eliza Manikin Heyworth deserves to join our list of extraordinary Embsay-with-Eastby women. Her story is also important in the context of the present-day issues facing those who struggle against the odds to care for loved ones at home.

Eliza Manikin was born in 1844, the daughter of Edward Minikin (sometimes recorded as Manaker), a farm worker in the small village of Marton-cum-Moxby, near Easingwold. Born circa 1800, Edward’s census entries are confused about his place of birth – he is variously recorded as being born in Ireland, Scotland and Lancashire. His wife, Jane, (born circa 1817 in Newton-upon-Ouse), was much younger, but suffered from “brain fever” which caused blindess. The only girl out of four children, it was Eliza who stayed at home throughout her 20s to care for her mother. She was 31 years old when she finally registered her mother’s death (due to gastritis) in April 1875. She left home to become a domestic servant in Ingrow, near Keighley, and eventually became a servant for David Heyworth (1822-1883) of Eastby.  

David was a grocer, living with his spinster sister, Sarah (1803-1880).^[1] He had been ill for a long time, as noted in the diaries of his nieces, Elizabeth Greenwood, and Mary Alice (née Parker) Greenwood.^[2] Throughout 1876 and 1877 the two women had noted that their both their uncle and aunt were chronically ill, and their diary entries imply that David was suffering long-term depression. In November 1876, Mary wrote : “It strikes me they would both of them have been a great deal better married.” In February 1877, she was still worried about her uncle and aunt: “Uncle David is much the same as he was when I saw him last. It makes me feel quite unhappy after I’ve been there, they are in such a miserable way, he never sleeps a bit hardly and Aunt Sarah is about knocked up, poor body.”

In 1879, Elizabeth Greenwood’s diary for 28th June, announced: “David Heyworth married to his servant quite sly – Mrs Birch quite surprised.” (This was another of David’s nieces, Elizabeth Anne Parker, who had married William Birch^[3]).

Although 35-year-old Eliza was a relatively mature bride for the times, at the age of 57, her new husband was considerably older. But the marriage became a cause célèbre in the village, not only because of the age difference, and secretiveness of the wedding which had taken place in the Keighley district.

By June the following year, Elizabeth Greenwood’s daughter, Annie,^[4] remarked in her diary, how customers at their pub, The Masons Arms, in Eastby, were joking and gossiping about the Heyworths. Eliza had left her husband, even though she was heavily pregnant. The incident apparently caused great hilarity, as David was mocked as “a widow bewitched”, a colloquial term for a man separated from his wife.  However, on 1^st July, Eliza “returned from her wanderings.”

“We had a good laugh.” wrote Annie in her diary. “Spoke of David & his wife & their late quarrels. Then we had a good rise out of the Heyworth’s.”

4 days later, Eliza’s baby, Sam, was born. Annie paid a visit and reported that “she [Eliza] seems very nicely & it is really a fine baby.”

Tragedy struck the household the following October, with the sudden death of David’s elderly sister, Sarah.

Annie’s diary for the 11th of October, read: “Tom Girling^[5] called early & told me that Mrs David had got up in the morning about two & found poor old Sarah Heyworth dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. Poor old Sarah I did feel sorry, she had a busy life all throughout.” An inquest was held that evening in the Mason’s Arms pub, when it was found that Eliza had gone down stairs in the middle of the night to fetch milk for her baby, and had found 76-year-old Sarah dead at the bottom of the stairs, having apparently fallen down them. 

It may have hit David very hard, as in November, Annie noted that uncle David “had got a wee drap & to mend the matter he went & turned his Wife [out] & vowed vengeance.” The following day he regretted what he had done in his drunken state.

“David Heyworth was quite upset. He had turned his wife out…There is nothing but up’s & down’s.” Annie’s mother, Elizabeth, simply declared in her own diary: “‘What can a young lassie do wi an Auld man.’”

Nevertheless, Eliza apparently returned home within a few weeks. About nine months later, in August 1881, their second child, David, was born. The family suffered economic problems, which David appeared to try and downplay. Annie noted in January 1881, that uncle David had come into the pub, “he was talking tall of his wealth, but trade is awful bad, no improvement.”  

By July 1883, 61-year-old David was seriously ill, suffering from both physical and mental illnesses. His wife, Eliza, now 39 years old, was coping with him, a toddler and a baby, and had the grocer’s shop to run.

On the 13th of October David tried to hang himself. Elizabeth Greenwood’s diary recorded that: “Poor old David Heyworth attempted suicide by hanging but slipped. He was in a fearful state. Richard^[6] went to help & then fetched the Doctor. All the neighbours quite upset.” Indeed, two days later a man called Billy Mawson^[7] had a fit outside the pub “brought on by being over excited with old David Heyworth.”

Dr. Fisher tried to persuade Eliza to send her husband into an asylum, but she adamantly refused. She was determined, she said, to look after him herself. She took him to his nephew in Rochdale, Lancashire,^[8] to give him a holiday. On a doctor’s advice however, he was returned home after about ten days. It is clear that by this time David was highly unstable, or “low-spirited” as was said at the time. (Craven Herald and Wensleydale Standard Newspaper – Sat 3rd Nov 1883).  Again two doctors, Fisher and Liversedge, urged Eliza to have him committed. Eliza was told to have a man in at all times to mind her husband, and to hide all knives and other dangerous implements in case he might injure himself or others. And even though she was clearly told she would be held responsible for anything that happened, still she refused to let him go, and would not seek any help from poor relief officers. She arranged for a neighbour, an old navvy man called Henry Banks^[9] (himself not a well man – he died a few weeks later), to sit with him when she was busy with the shop and the children.

While Eliza was in the shop, Banks left the room for a few moments; David took a kitchen knife and slashed his own throat. The next-door neighbour, David Drummond,^[10] was called in to staunch the wound until the doctor arrived.

Elizabeth Greenwood wrote in her diary: “Poor old D Heyworth cut his throat this morning !!! All of an uproar.”

But despite the doctor’s efforts David died the following day, the 28^th October.  The coroner’s inquest was held the following evening at the Mason’s Arms pub. The verdict recorded on his death certificate was “Cut his throat whilst in a state of insanity.”

He was buried in a quiet funeral at St Mary’s Church 3 days later.

You may be surprised that a suicide was buried in the churchyard – but by the late Victorian period, it is a myth that they could not be buried in consecrated ground, although the law was unclear on the issue. In practice it was often at the discretion of the clergyman of the parish church whether to go by common law, canon law or civil law regarding these burials.  Attitudes were changing throughout the Victorian period – with opinions less strongly divided and increasing compassion being shown, especially where the person was obviously insane.

Since 1823, suicides could legally be buried in consecrated ground, provided they took place at night and without any religious ceremony. Subsequently, the Burial Amendment Act of 1880, allowed suicide burials at any time of day, attended by prayers at the graveside (the decision to allow a funeral service inside the church remained at the clergyman’s discretion). Nevertheless, until 1961 suicide was legally a criminal offence, and dependants could not claim on their life insurance. 

One wonders how this affected Eliza and her small children. She died 12 years later, in 1895, aged 50 – leaving her boys, aged 13 and 14. Someone must have taken good care of them – they both became drapers, and married with families of their own. The younger, David, learnt his trade at the famous Affleck and Brown’s store in Manchester, and later moved to Harrogate. He is presumably responsible for the commemoration to his older brother Sam – a salesman for a gents’ outfitters – which was inscribed in 1944 on his parents’ gravestone in Embsay churchyard (Sam was buried in Bradford).

In the light of the current situation, where carers at home are often struggling valiantly without the necessary support and respite they need, it is fitting to remember Eliza’s dedication to her family. Despite the marital strains and difficulties, she stuck by her husband’s side through the toughest of times.  

Article notes:

^[1] Sarah Heyworth (1803-1880) had been a cotton weaver and bread baker, but by the 1870s had retired to look after her brother. However, in the 1870s she became chronically ill. It is clear from her nieces’ diaries that she was much loved. She never married and lived with her brother and his wife until she died.

^[2] Elizabeth Parker (1831-1909), was the daughter of Thomas & Dorothy Parker. Her father’s brother, William, married David Heyworth’s sister, Mary (1807-1873). In 1854, Elizabeth married Thomas Greenwood, and together they ran the Mason’s Arms pub. On becoming a widow in 1871, Elizabeth continued to run the pub for many years with the help of her children; Mary Alice Parker (1850-1923), daughter of William and Mary (Heyworth) Parker, was therefore Elizabeth’s first cousin.

^[3] Elizabeth Anne Parker (1848-1916) was the daughter of David’s sister, Mary (née Heyworth) and William Parker of the Heugh, Eastby. In 1877, she married William Birch of Intake Farm.

^[4] Annie Parker Greenwood (1855-1911), helped her mother run The Mason’s Arms pub in Eastby before marrying in 1881 to George Dinsdale and emigrating to America.

^[5] Tom Girling was a navvy, a regular customer at the Masons’ Arms, who helped the Greenwoods out on the farm at harvest time. In 1882 he married local girl, Ann Harragan, at St Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church, in Skipton. 

^[6] Richard Greenwood (1860-1928), was Elizabeth’s son, and Annie’s brother. He inherited a farm at Cononley and lived there from his 30s until he died. His mother, Elizabeth, went to live with him when she retired in 1885 from running her own farm and the Mason’s Arms.

^[7] James William ‘Billy’ Mawson (1861-1941), was a young general labourer, the son of Samuel (also a general labourer) and Ellen (nee Stackhouse) Mawson; He married Susan Wright in 1889 and working (despite his apparent condition) as a limestone quarryman (1911C). He does not appear to have been living in the parish after the First World War, but was buried at Embsay when he died in 1941.

^[8] Richard Heyworth (1829-1899), was the son of John Heyworth, a stonemason of Eastby. He was a farmer when he married Hannah Horner in Rochdale in 1851; Briefly a bookkeeper, by 1861 he was the relieving officer for Rochdale Poor Law Union. Widowed in 1878 he re-married in 1886. He became Dearnley Workhouse’s first Master. When he visited family and friends in Eastby, he often stayed at the Masons’ Arms. Elizabeth Greenwood described him in 1877 as “quite a nice fellow”, and her daughter, Annie, wrote in her diary, in 1880, that he was intelligent and pleasant. 

^[9] Henry Banks (1822-1883) had arrived in Eastby as a navvy for the Barden reservoirs in the 1860s. In 1863 he married local girl, Elizabeth Titherington, a mill hand. “Wild Harry” was a regular customer at the Masons’ Arms. He died in November 1883, aged 61.

^[10] David Drummond (1824-1903), was a railway labourer from Scotland, who came, with his wife and family, to work at Barden in the 1880s. His wife Janet, died in 1896, after which he left Eastby to work as a waterworks inspector at Ramsgill, near Pateley Bridge, and died in 1903.

Jane Lunnon, Embsay with Eastby Historical Research Group