James Hall

22 August 1733 to 16 August 1778

The Hall Family

HAL00060

The Bakers Home Page Return to the Home Page of the Bakers Family part of the website

The Bakers of Highfields Story The Story of the Dods and Bakers and of Highfields, Fenton House and Hasfield Court. A journey through the history of Cheshire and Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who retained his lands after the Conquest, pottery at Stoke on Trent, an encounter with Elgar, and the history of an Elizabethan manor house at Audlem

The Bakers of Highfields The family tree of the Bakers of Highfields

The Dod Family The Family Tree of the Dods, predecessors to the Bakers of Highfields

The Bakers of Fenton House and Hasfield Court The Family Tree of the pottery Bakers of Stoke on Trent

The Bellyse Family The Family Tree of the Bellyse Family

The Farndale Story The main part of this website tells the story of the Farndale family from Yorkshire Descendants of Arthur Baker, the story of the Farndale ancestry is told through the main part of this website You can also return to the Farndale website home page

The Hall Family The genealogy of the family of James Hall, linked to the Baker family through marriage to Arthur Baker

I’m grateful to Mark Lindley-Highfield for keeping me right on James’s parentage and link to the Astley family.

Newcastle under Lyme

1744

James Hall, son of Robert Hall, was baptised on 25 July 1744 at Newcastle under Lyme (St Giles, Newcastle under Lyme PR).

1767

James Hall married Elizabeth Astley (1735 to 1814) on 5 July 1767 at Newcastle under Lyme (MR).

James Hall was a felter and hatter. He was a freeman of Newcastle under Lyme.

The most notable industry in Newcastle during the 17th and 18th centuries was the making of felt hats. As early as 1570 a hatter, Richard Norton, is met with and another in 1612, John Riggs. The existence of hatters presupposes that of feltmakers, of whom, in the 17th century, there was a considerable number as may be gathered from parish register entries. Late in the century the trade encountered difficulties because 'servants and others of inferior quality' had ceased to wear felt hats; at that time (1699) it was stated that there were numerous master hat-makers in the town who each employed nine or ten journeymen and many other persons, i.e. feltmakers, in producing the materials for hat making. Despite temporary setbacks the hat industry continued to flourish. At a borough election in 1734 out of 436 burgesses on the roll 159 were described as hatters. In the late 18th century the number of hat manufacturers totalled 27, while in 1822 out of 1,000 householders in the borough, 307 were described as hat manufacturer, feltmaker, or hatter. In the early 19th century machinery was introduced, in particular a carding machine and a blowing machine for the separation of short and coarse hairs from the wool or nap. The latter was the invention of James Astley Hall, a native of Newcastle and one of the chief hat manufacturers. Although in 1844 the chief manufacture of the town was still described as that of hats which were prepared for the finishers in London, the growing popularity of the silk hat for the upper and middle classes and of the cloth cap for industrial workers brought about a decline in the demand for felt hats. By 1850 the number of hat manufacturers in Newcastle had fallen to nine and 40 years later there were only two. By the early 20th century the local manufacture of hats had ceased. The fact that in 1836 there were three straw-hat makers and in 1851 twelve may indicate an attempt to establish an alternative, though short-lived, headgear industry of a very different kind. (A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1963, Newcastle-under-Lyme: Economic history and social life and Anon. Hist. Sketch Newcastle, 10; Newcastle Register of Electors, 1840 and 1845 (copies at Inst. of Hist. Research, London)).

1768

Freemen 1734=1829
Date admitted	Type	Name	Bapt/born	Description	Father	Admitted	Occupation	Comments
25 Sep 1758	FB	HALL, Edward
12 Feb 1734	FB	HALL, Elisha
15 May 1820	Gratis	HALL, George		Grocer				High Constable
05 Jan 1768	FB	HALL, James		Feltmaker	Robert
09 Jun 1818	FB	HALL, James Astley		Hat manufacturer	Robert		Hat manufacturer
26 Mar 1734	FB	HALL, Jeremiah
00 00 1674/5	FB	HALL, John
16 Jun 1790	FB	HALL, John		Feltmaker	Thomas		Feltmaker
26 Mar 1734	FB	HALL, Joseph
00 00 1715/6	App	HALL, Joseph
00 00 1662/3	App	HALL, Joseph
26 Mar 1734	FB	HALL, Leasura
07 Mar 1657	Gratis	HALL, Mr.		Clergyman
14 Nov 1654	Gratis	HALL, Mr. Raphe		Minister				for life only
16 Dec 1746	FB	HALL, Richard
15 Jun 1790	FB	HALL, Robert		Shoemaker	William, dcd.		Feltmaker
26 May 1790	FB	HALL, Robert		Hatter	James, dcd.		Hatter
25 Sep 1731	App	HALL, Robert
29 Apr 1760	FB	HALL, Thomas			Thomas
00 00 1639/40	App	HALL, Thomas
18 Apr 1734	FB	HALL, Thomas
00 00 1721/2	?	HALL, Thomas
09 Nov 1768	FB	HALL, William		Feltmaker	Robert

1769

Their son, Robert Hall (HAL00070), was born in 1769.

1772

Their daughter, Elizabeth Hall (HAL00071) was born in or about 1772, but died and was buried on 14 February 1773.

1778

James Hall, a hatter, died in 1778 and he was buried at St Giles, Newcastle under Lyme, on 16 August 1778 (DR).

Shortly after her father had died, their daughter, Elizabeth Hall (HAR00072), was baptised on 6 October 1778 (Mark email 14 March 2025). We don’t know if she was born before her father died.

1814

Elizabeth Hall died in 1814 and was buried at St Mary, Nantwich on 19 May 1814 (St Mary, Nantwich PR).