The Kayll Family

For a long while, the earliest definite ancestor I had found was Charles Keyles, who was christened in St. Matthew's, Douglas, IOM, in July, 1760, as was his twin sister Isabel. His parents were recorded as George Keyles and Jane Cochran. However, there were several other references to Jane Cochran as being married to a James Kayll, and I am now convinced that the reference to George was an error, and that Charles's parents were James and Jane.

Although above I referred to the Kaylls of the Isle of Man, it has now been confirmed that they originated in Scotland. A James Kyle and a Jean Cochran in Paisley, Renfrewshire and their children are the link. It appears that they moved to the Isle of Man in about 1755, together with their children who had been born in Paisley. (By some great fortune for me, their son James was still alive for the 1841 census in Douglas, at the age of 89, and he showed Scotland as his birthplace.)  James, the father, is described as a merchant and flour dealer.

Later, the son James, through his second marriage - to Leonora Teare (nee Cowll) -  became the owner of a quite large area of land in Bride, which later passed to his son Arthur Cowle Kayll, and then to his son, also Arthur Cowle Kayll.  He was to become a member of the House of Keys (the Manx parliament).  A grandson - John James - from his first marriage, later became a partner in Hartley's Glass works and Mayor of Sunderland, and was an Alderman there for several years (see below).  John James Kayll's son, also John James, became a stained glass artist, with his company based in Leeds. He was responsible for several windows in Manx churches, and for many others mainly in Yorkshire, including one in St Anne's Cathedral, Leeds. Two other of his sons emigrated to Canada, enduring considerable hardship in the early years.

Several descendants of son James's brother Charles moved to Liverpool in the late 1830s, and another one, Mary Anne, was deported to Australia from the Isle of Man as a convict in 1839, marrying a James Raymond there, and from them there are many descendants, mainly in Australia but also in New Zealand.  Some amusing information has just emerged regarding Mary Anne and her parents.  Without consciously thinking about it, I had assumed Mary Anne had had just one encounter with the law, resulting in her deportation.  However, it seems she was the town's tear-away, and had several escapades. ".... and next to the Press Gang she was the Bogey of the town."   Her parents, Joseph and Jane (my ggg-grandparents) had a ginger-bread stall in the market in Douglas, Isle of Man, and were not renowned for being teetotal!  Joseph's eldest son, Charles, was a baker in Douglas and later a baker and flour dealer in Liverpool, and his youngest son, John, who was my great-great grandfather, also was a baker in Liverpool.  Life in Liverpool for him must have been a struggle.  His third son died aged two, and three years later, in 1869, John too died, aged only 36.  His fourth son when 13, stood only 4ft 3 1/2 inches and weighed only 68 lb.  He "Died by the Visitation of God from Natural Causes, aged 14, in 1881.  In contrast, other branches of the family prospered.

Links to the Methodist Church and to Industry and Politics

Several links between the Kaylls and the early Wesleyan Methodists have emerged, initially by accident.  I was viewing a microfilm and was scrolling quickly past a subject of no interest to me.  Stopping to see if I had reached what I was seeking, there staring out at me from the page was the name Kayll!   It turned out to be in a book, 'Methodism in the Isle of Man.'  It was in a section on the establishment of the first Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1786.  James Kayll (presumably the younger) was one of the trustees, and he was also a lay preacher.   Further information came to light through the kind assistance of Frances Coakley.   James's sister, Margaret, married a William Stevenson on the island in 1766, and  her daughter, Margaret Stevenson, married John Hartley.  After her first husband's death, Margaret Kayll married Robert Dall in 1779.  Robert, also from Scotland, was one of the first two Methodist Travelling Preachers to be appointed to the Isle of Man, in 1778.  Later, he returned to Scotland with his wife and family, and they were visited there by John Wesley, and apparently were highly regarded by him.  Margaret and Robert's son John Wesley Dall had thirteen children, and their first son, Robert Dall, married Sarah Ann Perks.  Another son was named John Hartley Dall, and a further son, Charles, married Maria Booth Hartley, daughter of John Hartley and Margaret Stevenson.  Two of Maria's sisters, Jane Longridge Hartley and Louisa Hartley, married Perks brothers, William and John.

The Hartley family of glassmakers came originally from Dumbarton, Scotland.  John Hartley moved from there to Nailsea, Bristol in 1812 where he began working with Robert Lucas Chance. In 1827 he transferred to W E Chance's glass manufactory at Oldbury, where, in 1830 the firm began to manufacture sheet glass.  By 1832 John Hartley was experimenting with new German plate glass manufacturing methods which were taken up by his two sons, James and John, after he died in 1833.  In 1834 James and John Hartley were taken into partnership by W E Chance and the firm became Chance and Hartley.  In 1836 the Hartley brothers left Chance and Hartley (which then became Chance Bros and Co) and moved north to Sunderland to set up their own business.  The reasons why Sunderland was chosen as the site for their new venture are unclear, but it may have been because other family members (uncles and cousins) were already established in the glass making industry there.   The Wear Glass Works was established there around 1836, trading as James Hartley and Co. Two years later, on 25 November 1838, James Hartley was granted a patent for Hartley's Patent Rolled Plate, manufactured by a new cast glass process, and the firm concentrated on this for the next fifty years.

In 1839, John married Emma Thorneycroft, daughter of Ironmaster George Benjamin Thorneycroft. George had worked his way up from artisan to manager and partner in the Shrubbery Ironworks, in Horsely Fields, near Wolverhampton. He became first mayor of that town in 1848. In January 1840 John Hartley conveyed his share of the glassmaking-business to his brother, leaving James Hartley as a sole trader. Later John became a partner with his brother-in-law Major Thorneycroft, J.P. in Messrs J.B. Thorneycroft & Co.'s large Ironworks and Collieries. He became a member of the Royal Coal Commission and Chairman of South Staffs Iron Trade, and for many years was a Director of the L.& N.W. Railway. In addition, he was elected mayor of Wolverhampton in 1858, and also became deputy lieutenant for Staffordshire.

Around 1845, James Kayll's grandson, John James Kayll, became the London agent for Hartley's Sunderland glassworks, later moving to Sunderland, and becoming involved in the management of the works.  He became a Sunderland Borough councillor in 1859 and was Mayor in 1866.  In 1881, he was recorded as being a JP.  He was an Alderman from 1867 to 1886, but left Sunderland in 1886 so was no longer eligible for office.  He died in Staines in January 1891.

James Hartley also served on Sunderland Borough Council and was twice Mayor.  He was also a JP, member of the School Board and the Royal Infirmary Board, and, in 1865 was elected as one of the town's MPs.  Around 1860 James Hartley took into partnership his son, John and John James Kayll, and for a short period of time the firm was known as Hartley and Kayll.  When James Hartley decided to retire from the business on 31 December 1869, a new partnership was forged comprising the two remaining partners from the existing partnership, together with John's younger brother, Thomas Blenkinsopp Hartley and Hartley Perks Kayll.  At this point the Company style reverted to James Hartley and Co.  When Thomas Blenkinsopp Hartley died in 1872 the other 3 partners continued the business.  On 22 April 1878 John Hartley too retired from active participation in the business, leaving the Kaylls as co-partners.  James Hartley died in London on 24 May 1886 and his share of the business was divided between his two surviving sons, James and John. A month after his father's death, James sold his interest in the glassworks to his brother.

I've also found a reference to another Hartley. Relating to Douglas, Isle of Man, "....the first town missionary was a Mr Hartley, a tall, gentlemanly-looking Irishman, a Primitive Methodist, and grandfather of Hartley, of world-wide jam and marmalade fame. He was a very popular, good man, and open-air preaching was his strong forte."