Martin Mallinder 1803-1847

Martin Mallinder was born at Killamarsh in 1803 during the Industrial Revolution which was the transition from creating goods by hand to using machines. Its start and end are widely debated by scholars, but the period generally spanned from about 1760 to 1840. Killamarsh was a rural community that was changing as the industrial revolution effects encompassed Sheffield. Martin departed from Killamarsh and moved into Sheffield. He married Ann Ellis who was born at Spinkhill located next to Killamarsh. I recall my father mentioning an ancestor called Martin Mallinder but he did not know much more. I also recall my father telling me that the Mallinders had their own foundry; Martin's sons established a company called 'Mallinder Brothers' that was described as 'General Ironfounders'.

Wife

Ann Ellis (1807-1880)

At the time of Martin's death Ann would have been 40. The 1851 census shows Ann living with all her children and a lodger. By 1861 she is living with her three youngest children, Joseph, John and Francis whilst Thomas (Paternal Line) and Mary have moved out.

Ann died at Randall street June 7th 1880 and is buried at St Michaels's Roman Catholic Cemetery, Sheffield. Sect: JOS Row: W Plot :100.

One source states, Martin Mallinder 1803-1847, was a founder member of St Marie's Church in Sheffield. By 1814, Catholics were allowed to build modest churches, provided they were set back from the roadside. Sheffield Catholics bought the ageing Lord’s House in Fargate and built a small chapel in its back garden – between the present Cathedral’s Mortuary and Blessed Sacrament chapels. In 1846 (a year before Martin Mallinder's death) work began on the new Cathedral; St Marie's Cathedral opened in 1850.

In the 1841 census, ages of those over 20 were rounded down to the nearest 5 years, therefore a person age 38 (Martin Mallinder) would be shown as aged 35. Those under 20 years of age were recorded with their proper age.

A map of Sheffield dating to 1832. This map presents the proposed borough, parishes and townships. Pond Street was located in the dense populated area; shown in grey on the map.

An image of Sheffield in 1854. The image portrays family life in the foreground set against a backdrop of heavy industry. The colours create a sense of bleakness.

A picture of Pond Street in 1899. This picture does not show the domestic housing but rather buildings that were used for business.

A picture of Pond Street Brewery in 1890. Pond Street was well know for its beer brewery. At the bottom right is the brewery fuel, a mountain of coal.

A picture of Pond Street in 1910. This picture shows the domestic housing of Pond Street, arranged in "courtyard" with back to back housing.

A picture of Pond Street in 1930. This whole area was demolished in the 1970s and redeveloped.

A map of Pond Street today. This map contains "notes" that identify various locations recorded from census records of where the Mallinders (on this paternal line) lived. Pond Street is noted on the left margin.

Martin's Catholic Faith

When did the Catholic faith enter into my paternal line? I do not know for sure but I think from the evidence below it was when Martin Mallinder married Ann Ellis (Catholic) from Spinkhill, a core centre of our Catholic faith that survived Henry VIII's reformation.

Following England’s split with the Roman Catholic Church during the reign of Henry VIII and his establishment of the Church of England, Protestants of other faiths, Catholics, Quakers and Jews were considered Nonconformists. Availability of Nonconformist records for births, baptisms, marriages and deaths is inconsistent, particularly in the earliest years. Not all Nonconformist congregations kept records, and where they did, not all of the registers survived. At times, Nonconformists sometimes faced persecution and so didn’t want evidence of their involvement with dissenting religions. This was also true of Catholics, who faced particularly severe consequences prior to the passage of the Catholic Relief Acts of the late 1700s.

With the enactment of the Hardwicke Act in 1754, all Anglicans and Nonconformists, except for Quakers and Jews, were required to be married in the Church of England, though it didn't have to be at the local parish, provided you had the right kind of licence, or if at least one of the parties was resident in a parish for three weeks (long enough to have the marriage banns called). This means you’ll find many Nonconformist marriage records in Anglican parish records. Finding only marriages for your ancestors in Anglican parish records could be a clue that they were Nonconformists and that their births or baptisms were recorded elsewhere. Martin's birth is entered into an Anglican parish record suggesting he was perhaps not a Catholic at the time of his birth.

Perhaps the strongest evidence that Martin Mallinder converted to Catholicism is to be found in the Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers. The records show the names of the Godparents for the children's baptisms and no "Mallinders" are listed but only "Ellis" names. The Godparents would have to be Catholic for a Catholic baptism, therefore the Ellis family are obviously Catholic because they are listed as Godparents. I would infer that Martin Mallinder's siblings were not Catholic at this time because they are never listed as Godparents.