The Pittock family of Eastrington, East Yorkshire

During the mid nineteenth century there was enough work for two blacksmiths in the village. For several years the Pittock family lived in Eastrington, working as village blacksmiths.

Mark Pittock

Mark Pittock brought his family to Eastrington in the late 1820s. He had been born in Newcastle on Tyne around 1798 and married Ann Petch at North Cave on 22nd March 1819. Their first child, John, was christened at Howden on 14th October 1819, followed by Mary Ann in September 1824 and Richard in July 1827. Henry was christened at Eastrington in December 1829 and it therefore seems reasonable to suppose that they moved between 1827 and 1829 to the village. Further children followed: Jane, James, Harriet and Eliza. They probably lived in the centre of the village with Mark Pittock working the smithy in the corner of the Black Swan yard on the corner of High Street and Vicar Lane.

In July 1850 16 year old Hannah Sanderson gave birth to a son Richard Piddack Sanderson [sic], christened on the 8th. This 10 month old grandson appears on the 1851 census living with William and Mary Sanderson, their son William and 17 year old daughter Hannah. Richard Pittock, the father, later married Hannah; it was very common then for unmarried girls who became pregnant to give their baby the probable father's surname as a Christian name. In January 1852 Jane Pittock gave birth to a son, William Chapman Piddack, and in February 1858 her sister Harriet gave birth to a son, Thomas Maw Pittock.

A family torn apart

Mrs Ann Pittock died in 1858 and, by 1861, Mr Pittock was living with his son Richard and his wife Hannah and their children Richard, now aged ten, James aged seven, Ann E. aged three and Arthur aged one. Also living with them was Richard's brother James, now 16. All the three men were working as smiths. Mark Pittock died in October 1868 and, by 1871, Richard and Hannah and their family, now including Fred, Mary, Ada, Walter, Susan, and Herbert, were living near Caville. But the next year brought tragedy to the family, when Mrs Hannah Pittock died after giving birth to her eleventh child, Henry. And five years later Richard Pittock died aged 50, so sadly by 1881 the whole family had split up.

Richard and Walter were still in Eastrington working as blacksmiths, Richard lodging at the Black Swan and Walter with his granny, Mary Sanderson. Arthur was married to Ellen and living in Hull with his brother James as a lodger, both working as blacksmiths. Ada and Mary were in service, Fred was boarding at Wressle station, working as a blacksmith but later going to work on the railway, while the three youngest - Herbert, Susan and Henry - were in Howden workhouse. Another of the family, Richard's elder brother James, was working on Hailgate, Howden as a blacksmith. He was married to Emma and had three children, Harry, Ethel and Martha.

A new blacksmith, John George Mays, came to Eastrington in the 1880s but, while several members of the Pittock family stayed in Hull, Arthur and his wife returned to the village and lived on Eastrington Common down Sleights Lane. Until recently his granddaughter, Mrs Brenda Green [nee Dalby] still lived in Eastrington.