|
|
HODGMANS IN HUCKNALL
Hucknall Market Place, featuring St. Mary Magdalene Church, burial place of Lord Byron
About this site
In the latter half of the nineteenth century Thomas Henry Hodgman a jet jewellery worker of Whitby, Yorkshire, brought his family to Hucknall to find work in the Nottinghamshire coalfields. Demand for the black jet popularised by Queen Victoria while in mourning after the death of her consort Albert, was in decline. Around the mid nineteenth century Cornishman John Dinnes was migrating north to find work, also in the coal mines. The marriage of these two families in 1930 eventually resulted in me and although I have followed many diversions in constructing my family tree, this site is strictly devoted to recording the male Hodgman line over the past three hundred years.
The population of Hucknall (Hucknall Torkard until 1916) grew from 4,000 in 1871 to 15,000 in 1901 due to the sinking of new coal mines and the consequent demand for labour. The current population is 30,000 - and rising.
Hodgman is an unusual name and although the name appears to have originated in Kent, there are now probably more Hodgmans in the rest of the world - notably the USA but also in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - than in England. As a matter of interest there were only 52 Dinnes's in the 1901 census so this branch of the Hodgman family has a rare pedigree.
Hucknall's coal mines have now been shut down and have gone the way of the towns once thriving textile industry. Except for the Rolls Royce engine plant there are no large scale employers in the town and with the recent addition of a frequent tram service to Nottingham, Hucknall is rapidly becoming a dormitory town.
The following pages will demonstrate how the Hodgmans did their bit to populate the north of England.
Visitor Number
This site was created 1st June 2005