An Illustrated History of Sutton in St.Helens, Lancashire
Part 2 (of 58) - Sutton's Lords & Masters #1
d) Eltonheads | e) William Roby Pilkington | f) William Blinkhorn I & II
a) The Daresbury and Norreys Families
Of course as one researches history from almost a millennium ago, details are scant and not always reliable. Spelling of names varies and surnames were not properly adopted until after 1200 A.D. further complicating research. But the family names that are regularly mentioned in old documents pertaining to the Sutton district in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries are the Daresbury, Norreys and Holland families. By the twelfth century, the Daresbury family of Cheshire were recorded as overlords of Sutton township followed by the Sutton family who held three of the four local ploughlands. Around 1280 their estates were sold to the Holland family, although technically all land belonged to the King (see below for more on the Hollands). The Hollands served as lords of the manor for around 500 years, although the overlordship of Sutton changed hands several times during these five centuries.
b) The Bold Family of Bold
In 1425 Thomas de Bold was at Agincourt. In the levy of 1574, ordered by Queen Elizabeth, the Bold family provided as many horses and horsemen as any family in the county of Lancaster, apart from the Stanleys. When Sir Thomas Bold died in 1612 his estate's inquisition revealed vast wealth with enormous land and property rights in Burtonwood, Great Sankey, Bold, Eccleston, Rainhill, Widnes, Upton, Farnworth, Ditton, North Meoles and Hoole as well as in the township of Sutton.
The male Bold line ceased in 1761 with the death of Peter Bold MP who had built a new Bold Hall. His eldest daughter, Annie Maria, inherited the estates until her death in November 1813, aged 81. Then Peter Patten of the Warrington industrialist family succeeded to the Bold estates as he was married to a sister of Annie.
Upon Peter Patten Bold's death in October 1819, the estates devolved to his eldest daughter, Mary, who on December 21st, 1822 married Polish nobleman Prince Sapicha in Florence. The royal couple took up residence at Bold Hall at the beginning of August, 1823. However, Mary only enjoyed life as a princess for two years, dying in Rome in December 1824. An interesting sidenote is that despite Prince Sapicha's attendants at his wedding being Russian noblemen, his palace in Poland was plundered by the Emperor of Russia in October 1834. The Bold estates were then devolved onto the late princess's sister “the lady of Henry Bold-Hoghton, of Walton Hall, heir to the Hoghton baronetage and possessions, who by Royal license and permission, then took the name of Bold before Hoghton.“ (Liverpool Mercury 8/5/1893)
In 1860 all Bold property was sold to Wigan cotton merchant William Whitacre Tipping and the historic hall was demolished in 1893. (Also see article on Bold Hall)
c) The Holland Family of Upholland
Historically, Sutton Hall was the manor house and main residence of the lord of the manor of Sutton and was occupied by a junior branch of the ambitious Holland family for around 400 years. As well as being lords of the manor in Sutton they played an influential - if somewhat controversial role - in both Lancastrian and English life. Amazingly, two members of the family were executed, one for being a Protestant under a Roman Catholic monarch and the other for being a papist under a Protestant queen!
Roger Holland was burnt at the stake at Smithfields in 1558 after moving to London and abandoning Catholicism. He was unfortunate to have been charged and convicted of heresy during the last few months of Catholic Queen Mary's reign. Then during the reign of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, Thomas Holland, who was born in Sutton Hall in 1600, was found guilty of high treason for administering to London Catholics for eight years. Father Holland was hung and quartered on December 12th, 1642. The Hollands then had their estates sequestered at the end of the Civil War after fighting on the Royalist side. A similar fate also befell the remarkable Eltonhead family.
d) The Eltonhead Family
The Eltonheads not only developed extensive estates in America but, amazingly, have a direct family connection with both the English and American civil wars and two US presidents!
So in 1645, the sibling quintet of Jane, Agatha, Martha, Eleanor and Alice emigrated to America and their Uncle William was charged with finding them suitable husbands. This he dutifully did within the states of Virginia and Maryland. However, as the grooms were middle-aged, most of the young sisters were widowed within ten to fifteen years.
William was executed by firing squad after losing an encounter with the Puritans of Providence. However Edward Eltonhead had much better fortune in the New World and was granted 10,000 acres in Maryland for the act of providing fifty men for the province of New Albion.
Confederate general Robert E. Lee {1807-1870} was a descendant of Alice and the present US president, Barack Obama {1961- }, can also claim his lineage from the Eltonheads. President Obama, who between 1992 and 2004 taught constitutional law and General Lee, who rebelled against the American constitution, are fifth cousins, eight times removed.
Part of a deed which granted the Eltonhead family land in America
Back in England in 1676, Richard Eltonhead sold Elton Head Hall to Thomas Roughley of Sherdley for £2700 and died in 1688, leaving an estate worth just £5. The remaining family moved to Liverpool and later emigrated themselves. The street sign in Elton Head Road serves as a permanent reminder of the once powerful Sutton family who fell on hard times but did well across the Atlantic. Incidentally the Eltonheads were also the first to start mining in Sutton when, around 1540, a seam of coal was accidentally discovered during the digging of a clay pit. (See Mineworking in Sutton)
e) William Roby Pilkington
William Roby Pilkington (1827-1903) Lord of the Manor of Sutton
The Pilkington family have been highly influential in St.Helens for the past two centuries and William Roby Pilkington {1827-1903} made a major contribution to life in Sutton. He was a son of William Pilkington, one of the founders of the glassworks and was called William Roby to distinguish him from his cousin, William Windle Pilkington. His place of birth on March 11th, 1827 was at a house in Church Street when it was mainly a residential area for the better off, rather than the retail hub that it is today. Pilkington entered the glassworks when aged 16 and he was made a partner in 1853.
In 1854, William Roby married Elizabeth Watson, the daughter of Lee Watson, the founder of St.Helens Foundry and in 1860 he purchased the Lordship of Sutton from Sir Henry Bold Houghton. William and Elizabeth chose to make Sutton their home, living at Sutton Grange before moving to Roby Hall in 1874. In an interview in the St.Helens Lantern newspaper on June 7th 1888, Pilkington said:
I was always partial to Sutton and its people, and was very fond of the Church there. Mrs. Pilkington is a very fair musician, and, between us, we tried to form and maintain a decent choir. 
Many letters from Rev. Vallancey and his successors addressed to William Roby have survived and bear witness to the generous support that he gave to Sutton parish church which included clearing the debt on the new vicarage and creating a Curacy Fund.
He also contributed to Vallancey's National Schools and in 1863, Mrs. Pilkington was invited to lay the cornerstone of their new school building. Her husband said:
The Schools were always an object of solicitude to us...and have since done such excellent work.
The family vault of William Roby Pilkington in Sutton Parish Churchyard at St.Nicholas
f) William Blinkhorn I & II & family
The Blinkhorn family originated from Bolton but made such an impression on Sutton folk that a street in Sutton Oak was named after them. They were industrialists but their grand-daughter married into the church and a great-grandson became a famous Arctic explorer and was awarded a knighthood.In the 1851 census, William Blinkhorn (I) (abt.1801-1865) is listed as resident at Leach Hall in Sutton, at the corner of Leach Lane and Gerards Lane. He was born c.1801 in Bolton where he became an alkali manufacturer. Blinkhorn's wife Elizabeth gave him a daughter Maria (b. abt.1830) and son William (II) (abt.1837-1898). The Blinkhorns relocated to Sutton around 1946, so William Snr. could take over as manager of the Sutton Glass Works in Lancots Lane. The London & Manchester Plate Glass Company had just taken over the struggling works and under Blinkhorn's leadership it became a successful enterprise.
Inscription on the reverse side of Victoria Bridge in Gerards Lane, Sutton
Blinkhorn built Waterdale House in Sutton during the early 1850s and they lived there for about twenty-five years. In Gerards Lane, where the Sutton Brook and former Whalley's Dam runs under the road into a reservoir, sometimes called St.Annes, there is a bridge of sandstone known as Victoria Bridge. On the reverse side of the bridge facing the old dam is a faded inscription which reads:
The Blinkhorn memorial in the graveyard at St. Nicholas adjacent to the Hughes family vault
William Blinkhorn was a great benefactor and during the 1850s threw annual balls at St.Helens Town Hall for his workers. As many as 400 participated, with some evenings being a square dance with music performed by a quadrille band. In between the dances, songs were sung by the workers. Although alcohol-free and only serving tea - described as the "cup that cheers but not inebriates" - these events helped to make Blinkhorn into a hugely popular figure.
William died on July 7th 1865 and on the day of his funeral, most shops in Sutton closed as a mark of respect. Many households closed their curtains and crowds lined the streets from Waterdale to Sutton Church, with many of them walking behind the funeral cortege. His son William Jnr. took over managership of the extensive glassworks and, like his father, was also said to be very popular with the workforce. He became a J.P. on the County Bench in 1876 and for many years was church warden at Sutton Parish Church.
A road in Sutton Oak was named after the family. It was originally known as Blinkhorn Row and later Blinkhorn Street and was situated by the side of Sutton Oak railway station, although it no longer exists. There also used to be a Blinkhorn Rooms in Waterdale Crescent, which was donated by Wm. Snr. to Sutton Parish Church. It was used initially for schooling, then as a meeting place for various church groups, including the Women's Fellowship and later as a boy's gymnasium. (read article on Blinkhorn Rooms here)
William Blinkhorn (II) had two daughters from his two marriages. Eldest daughter Elizabeth Blanche (? - 1926) married St.Helens Corporation Town Clerk William John Jeeves on January 7th, 1896, while Emily married Rev. Maximilian Frederick Breffit Binney (1860 - 1936). He was the second vicar of Sutton Parish Church (later Vicar of Richmond) and their marriage service took place in Kendal in 1898. Appropriately, Binney Street was created next to Blinkhorn Street and along with Dixon Street formed what was locally known as Colliers Square. The Binneys moved to Great Bookham in Surrey where Emily seems to have died shortly after giving birth.
As for William Blinkhorn's widow Sara, she seems to have moved to Berkshire to live with her sisters. Sara died on April 1st 1934 at Heathfield in Sunninghill and is buried in St.Michael and All Angels graveyard. The gravestone inscription says 'Widow of William Blinkhorn of Sutton Grange, St. Helens'.
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