I hope this finds an appreciative audience.

I wonder if these could be the ancestors of Wilsons of Sharrow

Sort of puts the flesh and clothing onto snuff history.

Taken from the Sheffield Daily Telegraph 26th November  1858.

TO THE POLICE AND ALL CHRISTIANS - TWO POUNDS REWARD

Missing for two years, a youth named William Wilson Cecil.  aged 15 years. Grandson of the late Wm. Wilson, of Brightfield. Snuff Maker; seen at Mr George Wilson’s, the Mount.  Miss Harrison’s, Weston; and at  Mr Thomas Wilson’s, Kilnhurst Forge.

Supposed to be concealed under the roof of a Church Of England Clergyman - Apply at 62, Westbar, Sheffield.

I wonder what the outcome was.

How bizarre.  Where are you finding these old articles?

I don’t know where you live but in the UK we have sites that you can subscribe to , to look up your family history.     When I say subscribe , I mean you have to pay for a years membership.

Two such sites are   Find My Past    and   Ancestry UK.

They give you access to the National Census taken every ten years, this gives you the names , occupations, age, marital status, relationship to the head of the household, and  place of birth of everyone in the household on the night of the Census.  Taken every ten years and useful back to 1841.

Also, Newspapers back to the 1700’s,  Parish Records of births marriages and deaths, military records, shipping registers,  Trade Registers, and a whole load more.

Searching through the newspapers I find allsorts of quirky stories about snuff being adulterated and the sentences applied, bankruptcies of snuff firms never to be heard of again, accidents and deaths at snuff mills.   Situations vacant.  Snuff prices,  snuff etiquette,   anecdotes and articles about the filthy depraved habits and behaviours of snuff takers. Snuff and tobacco shops opening and closing. Allsorts of snuff stories.

I just found one this evening  about Frybourg and Treyer supplying Snuff to an Edinburgh firm in leaded containers, to be sold at London prices.

I find these stories interesting but they may not be every ones cup of tea.

It would be interesting to know if members like this sort of thing, then I would post a few more newspaper articles if they did.

I love this stuff as I am huge on history. Keep posting them and add them to the snuff house library category. Copy the whole article if practical.

@ArtChoo - by all means, please do continue to post interesting snuff-related articles from the past. I enjoy them.

I love how much language changes in a relatively short time. Not 100 percent sure what the article is saying, get most of it. But it almost sounds like he was last seen with the Wilsons. I knew there was something fishy about their old soyelent snuff.

I hope he didnt fall into the mill, sounds suspicious. It does seem they are implying they believe the clergyman was hiding the boy. It would be great to find out more information on this.

@ArtChoo Yes, please keep posting these stories. There really isn’t much out there about snuff. I have found three books on snuff I am going to order but it seems like there should be more considering the history of snuff and its popularity in centuries past. 

A book was written about the Wilsons.    “The Wilsons of Sharrow, The Snuff Makers of Sheffield” by  M.H.F.Chaytor.   I once had a chance to skim through it in a bookshop but not enough readies to buy it. At the time it was quite pricey.    I tried to memorise a few notable snuff locations in case I should be passing and possibly have a look.

One photograph that I remember from the book was a large neglected  farm house looking building,  I remember that the photograph had the caption saying it was  Kilnhurst Forge.

Kilnhurst Forge is mentioned in the old newspaper advertisement.  So putting two and two together and getting five there appears to be a connection here between the Wilson snuff family of today and William Wilson Cecil of old.

I shall trawl the papers in earnest and see what I can find.

You should put a book together. Snuff history for future snuff historians 

Illustrated London News 10th November 1866.

NOTICE.-YOUNG MR CECIL IS NOT LOST, but away for many years from painful family circumstances.

Mr William Wilson Cecil was confirmed at the Parish Church of Sheffield on 2nd October last, attained at his 23rd year on the 6th October and was born ( see advertisement in the Illustrated London News) at Wheatley Hall, near Huddersfield.  Mr William Wilson Cecil is only son and child of Edwin Cecil, Esq., late of Banner Cross, Eccleshall, near Sheffield, and grandson of Joseph Heald Cecil, Esq., late of Philadelphia, Sheffield.

See second answer to advertisement of Lost.

                                      …

Unable to find the second answer…

…

Illustrated London News  14th October 1843.

Births.      At Wheatley Hall,  Brighouse, Near Huddersfield,  the Lady of Edwin Cecil, Esq., of a son.

…

1861 Census  St Marys Road, Garston, Liverpool.  Eliza Cecil, Head of the house ,Married, age 48. Occupation, Income from interest???  Born. Yorkshire, Eccleshall.

At the same address,

William Wilson Cecil, son, unmarried, age 17  Occupation, scholar. Born Lancashire.

…

William Wilson Cecil   Birth year 1844  birth date 8th December 1843,  Baptism 29th January 1844, Brighouse, St Martins Church, Yorkshire.

Fathers occupation, Gentleman 1st name Edwin. Wheatley Hall,  Brighouse.

Mothers name   Eliza.

…

1842 Marriage indexes  vol22 p183  Edwin Cecil,                Halifax.

                                       vol22 p183  Eliza Wilson,               Halifax,   4th 1/4

so that appears to be the origin of Williams second two names     Wilson Cecil.

…

to be continued…

So looks like he left home at 13 years old and the family hadn’t heard from him until he was 23.

@ArtChoo does William Wilson Cecils father Edwin Cecil appear on there at all?

Thats a little strange for that time period Edwin took his wife’s last name.

Hello Aamon

The way that I read the records and press cuttings is as follows…

William Wilson (snuff maker) is the father of  Eliza Wilson

Joseph Heald Cecil is the father of Edwin Cecil

Eliza and Edwin marry and have a son William.   

They give William the double barrelled name Wilson Cecil ,    William Wilson Cecil

In 1858 The first        LOST 2 YEARS 15 year old boy       advert appears.

In 1861 Census  The mother Eliza Cecil from Eccleshall and her son William Wilson Cecil aged 17

                   are living in Garston, Liverpool on the West coast of England.

   Looking at the 1861 census they appear to be in reduced circumstances. No longer called the “The Lady Of Edwin Cecil” as at the birth announcements, remember Edwin’s occupation was “Gentleman” at the Baptism.  Her new neighbours occupations are Railway Clerk, Rope Maker, Customs Searcher and Coachman.

I have now found a link to Wilsons at Sharrow Mills in the newspaper article below.

…

Sheffield Telegraph 3rd February 1859

Five Pounds Reward-  Absent from his father, for more than two years, William Wilson Cecil.

Grandson of the late Mr William Wilson, Snuff Maker, Sharrow Mills,  detained by or with cognizance of friends to serve some purpose.

Seen at Mr George Wilson’s, the Mount, and Miss Harrison’s, Weston -  Address Edwin Cecil, Post Office Sheffield.

…

Wilson of Sharrow Mills.   Surely the snuff firm of today.    

The adverts never mention the boys mother Eliza Cecil only the father “Absent from his father”.

I would have thought that mention in the advert of a pining mother would have been one of  the first thoughts of the husband.

It is possible that Eliza left her husband Edwin and took the boy with her, ending up in Garston ,Liverpool on Census night 1861.  A long, long way from Wheatley Hall and Sharrow Mills.

By the way I have looked for Wheatley Hall and it no longer exists and there is very little on the internet about it.

This is like a mystery story, @ArtChoo. Very interesting!

An occupation of being a ‘Gentleman’? What did this entail I wonder, and where does one sign up? I’d make a good Gentleman, if the pay were befitting, naturally.

The Wilsons of Sharrow book mentions Eliza and Edwin Cecil. William was their only son. Eliza and Edwin married in December 1842, the same year that William Wilson died. Eliza had been a wearisome burden on her family due to her love of shopping. Her brothers were always forced to pay off her debts to keep her out of legal troubles.
Perhaps they thought her marriage to Edwin would relieve them of further responsibility, but it turned out that Edwin was even worse with money. It is possible that Edwin married Eliza thinking she was going to get a nice big inheritance from her father. It’s unclear how much she got. So Eliza’s brothers still had to support her, as well as Edwin apparently.

A quote from Selina Wilson, a niece:
“Aunt Eliza stayed once with us, and I don’t think I liked her very much, but she must have been very good-looking when young. She had quaint bunches of curls on each side of her head. I think her marriage was an unhappy one. Mr Cecil got through all her money, I don’t know if he had any of his own or not. They had one child, a son called Willie, who also stayed with us and was not any more popular than his mother.”

There is not much in the book about Edwin or William, but one may infer that Edwin left Eliza destitute and abandoned her (?), and William grew up in a broken home, relying on money from his uncles to support his mother and himself. At some point the family stopped paying her bills and just sent her a pound a week. When Eliza died in 1886, she had no money, and her siblings had to pay her funeral expenses.
The book does not mention William’s disappearance.

Amazing we are still talking about this family’s history so far removed through time!  Compelling stuff.

…Now just think of how detailed our generation’s dirty laundry will be as people trawl through social media archives on backups of that antique “the internet” 140 years from now.  *gulp

 I now regret that I didn’t buy the Wilsons book when I had the chance.    

Eliza and Edwin sound  like characters from a Charles Dickens book.     The couple that I have in mind are Mr and Mrs Lammle  in “Our Mutual Friend.”     In the book they have a fashionable wedding, and  are the talk of genteel society.    The couple only find out on their wedding night that they have married each other for money and neither has any.

Strange that William Wilson Cecil is still a scholar at the age of seventeen considering his mothers circumstances.

Thanks cpmcdill for Eliza’s year of death.   

   From the year of death I was able to find a little more about her.

Looking at The National Burial Index I find her back at Eccleshall, Yorkshire.  

The entry reads as follows…

…

Eliza Cecil. Born 1812.  Died 1886. Age 74. Burial 1886. Burial day 13. Month 7.

Sheffield, Eccleshall, All Saints Anglican, Yorkshire. (West Riding)

…

So she was buried on 13th July 1886 at Eccleshall. Yorkshire.

Had she moved back home or was she taken home from Liverpool for burial?

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS   12 NOVEMBER 1864.

DEATHS.

On the 26th. ult., at Eccleshall ,  near Banner Cross, Shefield.  Edwin Cecil Esq.,  in the 46th year of his age, of carbuncle on the head.  His loss is deeply regretted by his wife and only child (a son).

Led by the Spirit of the Lord. To attend his house of prayer, his widow and son have hope in his death, and trust that he will obtain mercy on the “That Day.”

** The charges for the insertion of Births, Marriages and Deaths is Five Shillings for each announcement**

…

The end of the line for this branch of the Wilson family.

Sheffield Independent  23rd June 1855.

High School, Stonegrave, Westbourne, Sheffield.

The following young gentleman obtained prizes, in their respective classes at the close of the session ending  June 15th 1855.

Classics.                                         William Wilson Cecil.

Geographical Studies.                             ditto.

History and General Knowledge              ditto.

English Studies  Composition

and Orthography                                       ditto.

French and German.                                 ditto.

…

Stoneacre ,  Westbourne is only a couple of miles from Sharrow Mill.

…

Hampshire Advertiser  23rd March  1861

Naval Promotions and Appointments.

Navel Cadets.         William  Wilson   Cecil.

…

1861 is the year that he appears on the 1861 census at Garston, near Liverpool.

Garston was and still is a port on the River Mersey.  It was probably much busier than today and the proximity of ships could have been Williams incentive to join the Royal Navy.

…

The curtain comes down for William Wilson Cecil.

Articles in              Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencier  8th July 1867

and this one from                                        Liverpool Mail 13th July  1867

On the 5th instant at New Bath Hotel, Matlock in his 24th year,  William Wilson Cecil, Esq., son of Mrs. Wilson Cecil, Ledsome Terrace, Garston.

…

I did not expect this story to go on this far when I started, it was only supposed to be a snuff related snippet from the old newspapers.    How William died can only be revealed by purchase of a death certificate, and as we have seen earlier with the death of Edwin Cecil from his “carbuncle on the head” we would probably only find out if it was fair means or foul.

Appologies for drawing out the story but there was a lot of trawling through the records to be done. Once I had started, it would have been unfair to have left it half finished .

Probably more could be found out from family papers and letters but with the deaths of Edwin, Eliza and William this particular branch of the Wilson family could have vanished long ago.

Thank you for sharing the story @ArtChoo. It was worth the drawing out.

Incredible work @Artchoo!

pardon my ignnorance if it’s already been posted and excuse my morbid fascination but is there any chance you could post some accidents/deaths at snuff mills? 

Thanks Aamon and Tekno I shall have a look for some gory items for you.