Biography
Maria Ormandy Harrison was the fourth of eight children (six girls and two boys) born to Joseph and Ellen Harrison, although there may have been other children who died in infancy. Her brother Henry was Henry Harold Harrison’s father.
At the time of Maria’s birth, about 1863, and for many years thereafter, the family lived in the Poolstock neighbourhood of Wigan, moving from house to house every few years, likely as renters. During this time, Maria and her sisters went to school until about age 13, and then contributed to the family income by working as cotton weavers at one of the large textile mills in the area. Maria and her five sisters (Elizabeth, Jemima, Ellen, Alice, and Margaret) lived with their parents until after their mother Ellen died in 1893.
A year after Ellen’s death, Maria’s brother Edward and his wife Martha both died within a month of each other in 1894. Maria’s father Joseph moved then, along with his unmarried daughters, to the Boar’s Head pumping station to care for the couple’s six orphaned children. Joseph was given his deceased son Edward’s job at the pumping station, enabling the family to continue living in the company-owned house.
Maria was one of Joseph’s unmarried daughters who travelled to Boar’s Head (about 3 km north of Wigan) with her father at this time (1894). Her death certificate indicates that she died three years later at Thorn Hill, Standish. Since this location is only about 100 metres south of Boar’s Head at the modern-day location of the Standish reservoir, it is reasonable to assume that Maria died at the pumping station residence.
Maria may have continued throughout her life to work at a textile mill, and at the time of her death at age 33 on 16 January 1897, her occupation was listed as a cotton weaver (steamloom). The cause of death was recorded as morbus cordis mitral (heart disease, heart valve) and general anasarca (fluid retention that often accompanies heart malfunction).
She is buried in the same plot as her mother, father, and sister Margaret in the churchyard at St. Wilfrid, Standish.
Research Notes
Although little is known about Maria’s life, her middle name “Ormandy” provided a critical clue in researching her father Joseph’s history, since it links him to his parents John Harrison and Elizabeth Ormandy.
Source Documents
Details
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Residence:
6 Byrom Street, Poolstock, Wigan;
Parents' home.
Per Ellen’s Birth Certificate and 1871 Census.
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Residence:
1865-08-11, 22 Wood Street (off Chapel Lane), Wigan, Lancashire;
Family home.
Per Jemima’s Birth Certificate.
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Residence:
1871-04-02, 6 Byrom Street, Poolstock, Wigan;
Per 1871 Census.
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Residence:
1875-01-31, 31 Pool Street, Poolstock, Wigan;
Parents' home.
Per Margaret’s Birth Certificate.
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Residence:
1881-04-03, 64 Pool Street, Poolstock, Wigan;
Parents' home.
Per 1881 Census.
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Occupation:
1881-04-03 ;
Weaver in a Cotton Mill.
Per 1881 Census.
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Residence:
1891-04-05, 54 Poolstock Lane, Worsley Mesnes, Wigan;
Parents' home.
Per 1891 Census.
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Occupation:
1891-04-05, Probably Swan Meadows or Trencherfield;
Weaver at Cotton Mill.
Per 1891 Census.
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Residence:
1897-01-16, Standish Pumping Station, Boars Head;
Joseph Harrison family home.
Maria’s abode at her time of death. This is given in the death certificate as Thorn Hill, which is in the identical location.
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Occupation:
1897-01-16, Standish;
Cotton Weaver (Steam Loom).
Per Maria’s Death Certificate.
- Burial: 1897, Standish St. Wilfrid's Church Yard;