The Bansall Allens of Lane End and Newton
Tamah Bansall was born in Pilsley in 1826, and following the death of her father in 1840, her mother Elizabeth moved the family to Lane End Blackwell. Tamah had 3 sons, Henry, Robert, and Peter before marrying Joseph Allen in 1858. Together Tamah and Joseph moved to Newton.
The 1861 census records Joseph as a Framework Knitter there with 3 boarders also employed in the trade. 10 years later and Joseph was employing 11 men in Framework Knitting and a Grocer’s shop, and two daughters, Mary known as Polly and Louisa, had been born.
Such a success story was not heard often regarding the Framework Knitting Trade, where most lived very different poorer lives. However Blackwell provided the exception with this family and of course with Jedediah Strutt, whose acumen created wealth and employment for hundreds in his Derwent Mills.