The Coates of Dore and Totley

Coates is one of the most common surnames in the area and the pages of Totley Independent and Dore to Door are full of references to family connections. The famous photograph of Totley's tug o' war team of 1919 in Brian Edwards's book Totley District in Old Photographs describes Duncan or 'Hunkie' Coates, of Hillfoot, as the 7th son of a 7th son. There is even a Coates-Taylor connection from the mid 19th century in the family tree of James Parker, one of the soldiers whose life story we have researched in our book Totley War Memorial WW1 1914-1918.

Charles Coates appears in each of our census transcriptions from 1841 to 1881. He was born in Dore circa 1823, so prior to the compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths in 1837.

His baptism does not appear in the transcriptions of the parish registers for Christ Church, Dore, which was a Chapel of Ease at the time. There were several Coates families with children baptised there around this time but Charles's baptism appears to be missing.

Charles's died in June 1881 aged 58 and his last residence was recorded as Totley, probably at The Crown Inn, where he had been living on census night 3 Apr 1881. His burial was at Christ Church, Dore but so far we have been unable to find a gravestone.

It would apear that most if not all of the 19th and early 20th century Coates families in Dore and later in Totley are descended from George Coats who was born outside Derbyshire circa 1761 and who died in Dore in 1842. George is commemorated on a large headstone leaning against the south wall of Christ Church in Dore.

George Coats's headstone, Dore Christ Church

The headstone reads:

IN MEMORY/of Helen wife/of George Coats/who died September/5th 1835 aged 75/Years./Also of the above/GEORGE COATS/who died/February 20th 1842/aged 80 Years.//

IN MEMORY/of Mary Daughter/of George and Helen/Coats who died/September 26th/1832 aged 43 Years./ALSO WILLIAM COATES/THEIR SON, DEPARTED/THIS LIFE NOVEMBER 21st/1872 AGED 76 YEARS.//

However, there appears to be no documentary evidence linking Charles Coates to George. Not only is there no record of Charles’s baptism in Dore but also there is no father’s name on his marriage certificate to Ann Taylor in 1844 (according to a source on the internet).

This suggests that Charles may have been illegitimate. If he was born in Dore around 1823 it is possible that he was the son of one of George Coats’s unmarried daughters.

June 2019 Update

David Hebblethwaite has sent us a copy of his recently published family history titled Working People and their Northern Roots. It contains an account of David's paternal ancestors who lived in and and around Halifax and of his maternal ancestors: the Coates Family of Totley and Dore.

David's grandfather Frederick Stanley Coates (1886-1938) was a third generation Totley scythe grinder who like his father and grandfather died at a young age as a consequence of his hazardous occupation.

David sets his family history in the wider social, cultural and political context of the time. By recognizing the contribution that ordinary people have made to our country, when faced with such challenges as infant mortality, infectious diseases, hazerdous working conditions and wars, it makes interesting reading.

Privately published by the author, the book has 105 pages and many photographs.

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