The Minor Family of Somerset

Name Suffix:<NSFX> of East Riddlesden
Extracted christening record for: Halifax, York County, Englan
d Batch P007491 Film #528766
will 1653, proved 1663
Mary Lacy was his cousin
Will of James 1653 "dated 17th Oct, 1653. It was butone week b
etween the stated date of the Will and the date of James's buria
l. In view of the complicated provisions in the Will, one hpe
s that James wasas he stated 'weak in body, but of perfect min
d and memory'/ Cromwell was in power, in Parliament, and had ju
st been proclaimed Lord Protector. These must have been hard ti
mes for royalists such as James. He commenced by stating the da
te as the seventeenth Day of October 1653. Before and after thi
s period Wills gave the date as ....the year of the reign of ...
..
"The Will first provided that his loving Wife Mary should have '
her rights according to the Law and Custom' To his second son
, Henry he gave Elam Grange in Morton and seven cottages belongi
ng to it. Two closes called Stephen Flatts. An annuity of 3 po
unds per annum bought of John Lacy in Midgley. Four houses in O
venden (including Long Can and Yew Tree) One of these four hous
es was occupied by Isaac Starkey, and he could have been a relat
ive of Nicholas Starkey, who marred James's daughter Grace in 16
43. Warley Mills and kilns....
To his4th and youngest son Thomas of Kershaw House, he left Ker
shaw House. Five houses in Ovenden an annuity of 5 pounds 18s. 4
d. a number of houses and fulling mill at Keighley. A rent ou
t of the Upper Fulling Mill and a house at Wadsworth. Land in t
he Parish of Chipping in the County of Lancaster. To the poor o
f the upper end of Warley and of Midgley he left 3 pounds. To t
he poorof Ovenden 20 s. To the poor of Morton 20s. to the Mini
ster at Luddenden 40s.
East Riddlesden Hall. from www.touruk.com.uk
In the 1630s the East Riddlesden estate was purchased by James M
urgatroyd a rich and respectable clothierand it is he who was l
argely responsibl for the present house.
The Murgatroyds later became infamous for their profanity and de
bauchery and members of the family were fined, imprisoned and ex
communicated. W.S. Gilbert is said tohave based the Bad Barone
ts in "Ruddigore' on the Murgatroyds and popular tradition claim
s that the River aire below the house change course in protest o
f the antics of the family.......
from www.visitbrontecountry.com/eastriddlesdenhall/
James Murgatroyd a staunch royalist from Halifax, bought the pro
perty in 1631 and remodelled it during the Civil War, at a tim
e when Bradford and Keighley were held by Parliament. this hous
e was one of nineteen houses which he owned, a true entrepreneur
, with interests in cloth manufacture, coalmining, farming an
d property in West yorkshire