Personal Record
Hugh married Maria Bower, the daughter of farmer Charles Bower from Copenhagen Farm, Pilsley, at North Wingfield parish church in January 1872, aged 20. Their first son, Charles Edward, was born three months later in early May 1872, followed by a daughter, Alice Maria in 1878.
After he was married, young Hugh probably continued working on his father's farm at Morton. His mother, Mary, died in 1874 and his grandfather died at Dairy Wood Farm in 1875. In late 1879 Hugh's father gave up his farm and moved to Dairy Wood Farm. It appears that Hugh was unwilling to take over the Morton farm and it may have led to his father deciding not to leave Hugh anything when he made out his will in 1878.
By the time of the census in 1881, Hugh, Maria and their two children had moved to a cottage at Belper Dally, a small hamlet just down the road from Dairy Wood Farm. Hugh's occupation was recorded as an agricultural labourer, so he was probably also working at Dairy Wood Farm. Another son, William Henry, was born there in 1881. In April 1882 at the Belper Petty Sessions, Hugh Hole was fined 5 shillings and costs for ill-using his horse at Belper on 26th March.
Hugh moved from Belper Dally to Denby, an industrial village two miles east of Belper with a growing population attracted by work in the new collieries and ironworks. It was here that Hugh and Maria's third son, John Isaac (grandfather), was born on 27th January 1885.
The family did not settle in Denby, but moved across the county border to Moor Green in the parish of Greasley in Nottinghamshire, where their fourth son, Leonard, was born on 1890. The 1891 census reveals that Hugh was still employed as a farm labourer. Interestingly, daughter Alice Maria was then working as a domestic servant with her aunt Mary Ellen's family at Hendon, London. Her age was given as 14 in the census when in fact she was only 12. In 1891 son Charles Edward, aged 18, was working on a farm at Shottle, some three miles north-west of Belper. In December 1896 he married Rosa Byard from Shottle - she was just 16.
By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved again and were living at 'The Common' about a mile west of the town of Hucknall. Hugh was working as a “shepherd on farm”, which was Beacon Hill Farm on the southern slope of Misk Hill. It was less then a mile from their previous home. Two sons were also employed on the farm: Charles Edward as a "waggoner" and John Isaac as a "cow lad", aged 16. The census showed that in addition to Hugh and Maria and their sons John Isaac and Leonard, Charles with his wife, Rosa, and their baby daughter Alice Evelyn were also living at the cottage. Daughter Alice Maria (age 22) was then employed as a domestic servant at nearby Beacon Hill House. Son William Henry (age 20) had left home.
In 1911 Hugh and Maria were living on their own at 79, George Street, Hucknall. Hugh was still working as a farm labourer. The census form, filled in and signed by Hugh, states that they had had six children, one of whom had died. No record, so far, has been found of this child. At the time of the census, one, Annice Tagg, aged 21, was a visitor. Two years later she married son Leonard Hole at Chesterfield.
Hugh and Maria lived the rest of their lives at 79, George Street, Hucknall: Maria died in 1916 and Hugh died in 1927. Both are buried in Hucknall Cemetery.
Hugh had a hard life. He struggled as a farm labourer through the great recession of the 1870's and 1880's, moving from cottage to cottage. It appears that Hugh's father had fallen out with him (possibly due to the circumstances of his marriage), because when he died in 1885, he left his entire estate to his daughter, Mary Ellen, who was was married to a prosperous accountant and living in a large house near London. Hugh, no doubt, was a bitter man.
Hugh and Maria's Children
Son Charley and Rosa had nine more children after Alice Evelyn: Percy Edward, Gladys Mary, Beatrice Ivy, Edgar Charles, Cyril Hugh, and Frances Maria were born at Hucknall. Around 1910 the family moved to Rowthorne Heath, a hamlet next to Hardwick Hall, near Chesterfield, where Charley's occupation was "horseman on farm" according to the 1911 census. There they had three more children: George H, Vera E and William L. Vera married Will Cowley and moved to Moor Road, Papplewick, just a few doors away from her cousin John Hugh Hole. Brothers George and William lost their lives in the Second World War.
Daughter Alice Maria married George Edward Maltby at Hucknall. They had a daughter, Annie, who in later life lived at Pleasly near Mansfield.
Son William Henry had left home by 1901 when he was 20 and was not recorded in the census that year. He reappeared in the 1911 census living near Chesterfield. William stated in the census that he had been married to Emily for six years, whereas in fact he did not marry her until 1918 when he was 37 and she was 56. They had no children.
Son John Isaac (grandfather) married Annie Moss Brown from Newark on 1st June 1911. (See separate Personal Record.)
Son Leonard married Annice Tagg at Chesterfield in 1913. They moved to Linby where they raised three boys and two girls. Leonard died in 1967.
Hugh and Maria had 24 grandchildren.