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John Crossleyc Married Married Married Married Married Married Married Married: 1801 Martha Turner Fc | |||||||||||
| Francis (Frank) Crossley [CFT #13805] Born: 1817 Died: 1872 |
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| b Halifax, Yorkshire d Bellevue, Halifax, Yorkshire Sir Francis Crossley was baptised at Square Chapel, Halifax, Yorkshire and educated at Heath Great School, Halifax. 1st Bart (created 23 01 1863); DL, West Riding of Yorkshire; JP, West Riding of Yorkhire & Suffolk. John Crossley and Sons became a limited liability company in 1864. Sir Francis Crossley was Mayor of Halifax, 1849 and 1850; MP (Liberal) for Halifax, 1852-59; for West Riding, 1859-67, for the Northern Division of the West Riding, 1867-72. Following a visit to the USA in 1855, Sir Francis Crossley marvelled at the natural beauty of the White Mountains and resolved "to arrange art and nature that they shall be within the walk of every working man in Halifax; that he shall go to take his stroll there after he has done his hard day's toil, and be able to get home without being tired". He was determined to give a park to Halifax; and in 1856, gave the People's Park to the town, constructed at a cost of £50,000 (12 acres laid out by Sir Joseph Paxton), with a seated statue by Joseph Durham, 1860, of the donor in the pavilion, which was barricaded against vandals, and opened in August 1857. Between 1857 and 1864, in conjunction with his brothers John and Joseph, at a cost of £56,000, he built the Crossley Orphanage on Skircoat Moor in Halifax designed by John Hogg. In 1855, he had twenty-five almshouses built adjacent to the park in Margaret Street. In 1845 Crossley bought land and built a property he named Bellevue later remodelled and enlarged by G H Stokes in 1856/7. This became a family home. In 1863, Crossley bought the Somerleyton estate in Suffolk with over 3,224 acres from Sir Morton Peto, Bart, for it is said £200,000 (while Peto proceeded to bankruptcy in 1866. He died of overwork and a long illness. He is buried at Lister Lane Cemetery, Halifax. Taken from the records of Robert (Robin) Morley Fletcher (1935- 2015) (Vanessa Griffith May 2019) |
1: 1857 Savile Brinton Crossleyc W/C | ||||||||||
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