LEST WE FORGET
Peter Hulland is named on the Forton War Memorial as one of those who fell in the 1st World War. Here we present a profile of this young man, and some information about his family following his tragic death.

This article appeared in the December 2008 issue of Village Voice
For the Remembrance Day service in Forton Village Hall in 2008, we printed some brief information on one of those named on our War Memorial, Peter Hulland. We were delighted when Mrs Margaret Spencer said that she knew of the daughter-in-law (Mrs Elizabeth Hulland) and the granddaughter of Peter Hulland, both of whom live in Clitheroe. We are most grateful to granddaughter Mrs Carol Pearson for providing us with much more information about Peter, and what happened to the family after his death.

John Hulland (born in Thurnham 1852) married Isabella Barnes (born in Bacup in 1861) in the old Shireshead church of St Paul on 6th July 1878. They had 10 children, two of whom died when young. Peter, born in 1894, was the 9th child. There would have been at least one addition to the large family if Isabella and her baby had not died tragically during childbirth on 17th July 1898. The log books of Forton School record Peter's admission on 20 April 1899. In January 1900 there was a diphtheria epidemic which led to the death of his cousin Sarah (11), and Peter and three of his siblings were "temporarily excluded on account of infection" on 22 January. They were allowed to return on 26 February.

His family appeared in the 1901 census living in a tiny house with just 4 rooms in Hollins Hill. His father John (46), described as a Road Labourer, was a widower with six children remaining at home: Janet (14), Naomi Barnes (13), John Henry (10), Thomas Herbert (8), Peter (6) & Lydia Susannah (4). They also provided a home for their father's brother William (41), a farm worker.

Peter was 20 when he married 24-year-old Maggie Christy in Clitheroe on 8th May 1915. According to the memories of Louie Wallbank Christy, a 4-year-old bridesmaid at the wedding: "My Auntie Maggie married a really handsome young man called Peter Hulland who came to work at Low Moor Farm. The reception was held at my grandmother’s house in High Street. These houses were so tiny I don’t know how they managed but it went off all right, if a bit quiet. The country was at war and gaiety was subdued. They put benches into a tiny kitchen and everyone rested the food on their knees. It was only a bit of ham salad and jelly but it was considered a jolly good ‘do’. Peter loved children. He said afterwards it was the children who made the wedding." The second from the left in the picture is Naomi Barnes Hulland, Peter's sister who was 7 years his senior. She was a witness on the marriage certificate. All the others are members of the Christy family.

In April 1916 Peter joined the 4th King’s Own and was then transferred to the 2nd/5th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment. He died on 27th November 1917 when he and three of his chums were killed in a dug out which collapsed when a shell fell on it. This information came from  Pte. H. Godbert who wrote to Maggie. He also wrote: ‘Pte. Hulland and I came out here together with the 4th King’s Own and were transferred to the East Lancashires. I can assure you that I missed him very much — he was such an amiable and agreeable chap. Although he had been with this battalion only a few months, he had made many friends’.

Maggie and Peter had two children: William John was born 1st October 1916 and died in 1932. Peter the 2nd was born on 15th May 1918 [i.e.after the death of his father] and died in 1974 aged just 56. Maggie died in 1964 having remarried ‘a brute of a man who thought nothing of beating his young stepsons half to death’. Peter the 2nd was a fine singer who was well known in Clitheroe and beyond. 

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Peter's Granddaughter, Mrs Carol Pearson, has provided further information as follows:
The children of Maggie and Peter
William John was born 1st October 1916 &  died 18th October 1932 aged 16 from a Cerebral Abscess following infection of frontal sinuses. Peter (my father) was born on 5th May 1918 after his father's death and died of a heart attack on 3 October 1974 aged 56 . Maggie died in 1964. From Peter’s line of the family there is just my brother Iain and myself. My brother married a Lancaster girl and they have a girl and a boy so the name will go on.

The children of John Hulland & Isabella Barnes, married in 1878.
The family lived in Hollins Hill, Forton:
Mary Alice  b 6 November1878  d 22 May 1884
Thomas Henry   b19 March 1880 d 27 days
Alfred Lawrence Barnes   b 4 May1881
Janet   b 1883
Elizabeth Ann  b 1886
Naomi Barnes  b 1888
John Henry   b 10 May 1890
Thomas Herbert  b 1892
Peter b 1894
Lydia Susannah   b 1896

Isabella died on 17 July 1898  in childbirth and the baby was also lost. John was remarried on 19 September 1910 to Grace Richardson a spinster from Galgate with 2 children, after the birth of their daughter Francis, born 6 March 1910 (but registered Francis Richardson). This caused a family dispute and Janet moved out of Hollins Hill with the children to live at Forton Lodge.

Peter left Forton to work at Low Moor Farm, Clitheroe, before becoming a time keeper for the CWS at Chaigley Farm a few miles from Clitheroe.

John obtained a Labour Certificate for Alfred when he was 13, but prior to that he attended school. According to the family story, John was a hard man taking all of Alfred’s hard-earned wages from him. The 1901 census shows Alfred at the Bleasdale Estate as a domestic farm servant, where the work was difficult and he was ill treated. This probably influenced his decision to travel to Canada in November 1903 where he remained until his death in Saskatchewan in1975.

John Henry and Thomas Herbert both travelled to Canada in 1910 and 1912 respectively.
John Henry (known as Jack) died in Saskatoon 1960/1962
Thomas Herbert ( known as Herb) died in Alberta 1987  
Janet married a Mr Ridge  in 1903
Elizabeth Ann ‘Tan’   married Luke Bilsborough
Naomi Barnes ‘Sis’ married Arthur Paget
Lydia Susannah ‘Lit’ married Harold Metcalfe, and their youngest daughter Murial lives in Garstang and has provided much family information.

The Canadian side of the family decided at some point to change their name to Holland, and Mrs Pearson is now working to trace that side of the family.