"The Pikes - the story of a Keyworth family "
September 2008 Meeting Report
Speaker - Margaret Wright
The September meeting of the Keyworth & District Local History Society was held in The Centenary Lounge, Keyworth, on Friday the 5th September. The presentation was given by one of the society’s members, Margaret Pike, and was entitled ‘The Pikes – The Story of a Keyworth Family’. The meeting was very well attended including several visitors, many with family connections to the Pikes. Some of these visitors had travelled from as far a-field as Wakefield.
Margaret began by relating how her own interest in family history had led her to take a similar interest in the history of some of Keyworth’s old, established families. Tonight’s talk was going to introduce the audience to four generations of the Pike family. These were; William Pike, his son Henry Pike, and his grandsons Joseph and Peter Pike, and Peter’s son, Claude Pike. An insight into village life could then be drawn with particular reference to the hosiery industry, education, and Primitive Methodism. Margaret went on to acknowledge the help and assistance that she had been given by Sheila Hodgett, John Atkins and Rosamund and Bob Hammond and Howard Fisher.
The story began with William, a framework knitter by trade, and Jane Pike. They married in 1809 and the union was blessed with ten children. William worked from home, at a time when fortunes in the industry were at very low ebb. The reason for this was primarily twofold. The war with America caused a severe cutback in the export trade and the fashion for longer trousers and shorter hose both combined to ensure that there was a considerable over capacity in the industry. This had the knock-on effect of lowering prices and thus depressing the market. Some idea of the conditions endured by the average framework knitter were highlighted as a result of an official enquiry into the industry in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire that was conducted in 1844. That enquiry concluded that the conditions of employment that were prevalent in the industry were ‘deplorable’. The hours worked were long, usually five days a week, from dawn to 10.00pm in winter, and during the hours of daylight in summer. This averaged out at 14 hours per day. In the case of William Pike his ever-increasing family meant that the bread-line was never very far away.
William Pike was an ardent non-conformist and was instrumental in helping to establish the Methodist religion in Keyworth. In the early 1800’s the Methodists preached in Keyworth but met with little enthusiasm for their new creed. The outcome of this poor response to the new faith was that the Methodist preaching in Keyworth was stopped. However, in 1818 the Primitive Methodists reappeared in Keyworth, largely due to the efforts of William Pike. Yet again though the response to the faith was poor, but slowly it increased until, in 1821, it finally became established in the village. It can reasonably be claimed that William Pike was the prime instigator in the establishment of the Methodist Church in the village, a faith which still flourishes here to this day. Other leading lights in the early Methodist Church were William Eggleston, a farmer who owned land in the Selby Lane area, Richard Roper, a labourer, Thomas Crook, another farmer, James Hayden, and a good many others too. James Hayden is of interest in as much as he died suddenly in 1839. The cause of death is recorded in the Parish Register and states that he died “ as a result of a visitation from God”. William Pike died in 1861 but the contribution that he made in helping to establishing the Methodist Church in Keyworth cannot be understated. William’s evangelical zeal lived on however in his sons, John, Henry and James. All three were to become leading pillars in the Methodist movement in Keyworth.
Margaret next showed a photograph dated around 1908/1909 that included a Keyworth resident called Polly Marriott. Polly lived in Attenborough’s yard with her father, John, who lived to be over one hundred years old. John Marriott had an allotment in the village and in his later years Polly used to push him up Selby Lane to his allotment in a wheelbarrow along with a billycan of tea and some sandwiches. With these provisions John was left for the day to pursue his gardening activities before Polly brought him home in the wheelbarrow at teatime! However, Polly was famous for something other than providing a novel form of transport for her father. When a death was imminent in the village the services of Polly were called on to help prepare the body for burial. Rather than ask if so-and-so had died it became the norm to ask if Polly had been sent for. If Polly had been sent for then it was a sure sign that the person in question had passed away. On reaching the significant milestone of his 100th birthday one of the villagers asked John Marriott what he could buy him as a birthday present. John asked for a new spade “as his old one had worn out”! John Marriott died in 1926 at the age of 102.
An invaluable source of information relating to the Pike family was the Minute Book for the Methodist Church Sunday School. This book covers the years from 1851 to 1884 and is in the possession of the Keyworth & District Local History Society. Further evidence of the Pike’s involvement with the Methodist Church in Keyworth can be found in the Minute Book. John Pike’s is the first name to appear. In 1853 and 1854 John Pike and his wife were responsible for preparing the food for the annual tea that the church provided on Easter Sunday. Some idea of the scale of this tea can be gauged from the fact that John’s wife Sarah, Sarah Brown and Mary Disney were responsible for producing 56lbs of plum cake. The three sons occupied various responsible positions within the church, ranging from that of Treasurer to the responsibility of purchasing new books for the Sunday School. Keyworth in the latter half of the 19th Century did not have any banking facilities for the working classes. This necessitated the Church Treasurer looking after the church funds themselves, usually in their own home. This was a very onerous responsibility and one which required a very trustworthy person to undertake the responsibility.
The Sunday School played a very important part in educating the children of the village. Reading and writing were taught there, classes were held during a weekday evening but also, presumably after much soul-searching, on the Sabbath. A Sunday School library was provided after the purchase of various, suitable books had been made. Books, particularly Bibles, were given to children for good attendance at the Sunday School. The school was so successful that classes began to be held during weekdays. Parents had to pay a few coppers a week for their children to be educated at this school. However that all came to an end when the Anglican minister, the Reverend Alfred Potter, managed to get a purpose-built school established for the children of the villagers. This school was a ‘National’ school which was established for educating the children of the poor in the principles of the Established Church. As an Anglican Minister the Reverend Potter had a vested interest in the children of the village being taught at this National School. Also, naturally, those parents who were ‘dissenters’ from the established church, of which the Methodists were but one group had an antipathy to this school. However, the 1870 Education Act allowed for the setting up of non-denominational Board School to be established in the village. This had considerable appeal to the dissenters who were all in favour of such a development. A School Board was elected in 1871 to further this end. One of those elected to the Board was Henry Pike. Alfred Potter was also elected to the Board.
Henry Pike. Henry was one of William’s sons. At the time of his marriage to Elizabeth in 1850 he was a framework knitter. The couple had five children and by the time of the 1871 Census Henry’s fortunes had allowed him to go from framework knitting to knitwear manufacturer. Funds were obtained from the Education Authority and the new school was set up temporarily in the Methodist Church hall. Alfred Potter was opposed to this and resigned from the Board. Potter’s opposition to the development of this school became stronger and stronger and he resorted to all manner of tactics to delay the progress of the school. Indeed, the resulting feud, for such it was, was finally settled in the House of Commons. The new school was built to hold 180 pupils and cost the princely sum of £1,400. Alfred Potter managed to keep his own school going until his death but once he had died the school very quickly closed down.
At this time the Methodist Church was using a building on Elm Avenue. Such was the popularity of the church though that these premises were proving to be too small. It was decided to erect a new building on Selby Lane. The Pike family played significant roles in this new venture. The new Methodist Chapel was opened in 1881 and Henry Pike was called on to lay the Foundation Stone. By the end of the 1880’s the membership of the church 111 and the Sunday School had 166 members with 21 teachers.
The British Empire had expanded to become the largest there had ever been. The British Army and the Royal Navy guarded this empire. Village life in Victorian England didn’t suit everybody and if a young man had adventurous tastes then a military career might satisfy him. Joseph Pike was one such man. He was born in Keyworth in 1831 but in 1848 he enlisted in The Grenadier Guards. However, it would appear that the life of a soldier wasn’t all that Joseph had hoped for and he deserted his regiment in 1851, after only three years service. He returned to his regiment and was sentenced to three months jail as punishment. However the outbreak of the Crimean War gave Joseph the chance to redeem himself and he was promoted to corporal and then sergeant. He fought with distinction at the Battle of Alma; indeed, at parade on the morning following the battle Joseph was called forward and personally praised for his gallantry in the action by the Colonel of the Regiment. Joseph returned to England, with his regiment, in 1856 and was once again in trouble. He was confined to barracks, fined and reduced to the ranks for improper conduct. Joseph was discharged from the regiment at the age of twenty-nine. His conduct was officially classified as ‘irregular’ and he was denied an army pension. However, at the age of sixty-five his circumstances were reviewed and he was awarded a pension of nine pence per day, a sum that was increased to one shilling per day after a recommendation by the local Grenadier Guards Association. Margaret knew these details as a result of a photograph of Joseph that was given to her which showed him in his regimental uniform. Margaret contacted the Grenadier Guards Association and they provided details of Joseph’s erratic military career. After his discharge he married, settled locally, and had eight children. He took up framework knitting but later went into the coal hauling business, eventually owning his own company. In 1897 Joseph’s wife, Elizabeth, died though he did re-marry in 1898. His second wife was Anne Disney. By this time two of his sons had emigrated to America.
Peter Pike is the next family member to feature in Margaret’s presentation. Peter was born in 1827 and married Elizabeth Lane of Bradmore in 1859. The couple had eight children. Like other members of his family Peter began his working life as a framework knitter but progressed to own his own workshop and machines and be a hosier manufacturer. Framework knitting in Keyworth fell into decline and did not survive very long into the 20th Century as a significant industry. Like other members of his family he was heavily involved with the Methodist Church in Keyworth. That involvement lasted throughout his life. Peter died in 1920, having survived most of his children, many of whom had died at a relatively early age. One had emigrated to Canada.
Margaret went on to say what a remarkable family the Pikes have proved to be through the generations that she highlighted. Each of the family members referred to had been intelligent, had risen to the challenges of the day, improved their lot in life, and been vital to the advancement of the Methodist movement in the village. The presentation was very well received and the audience were entertained with the history of a well-known Keyworth family.