Mike Williams Family Tree
See also

Robert EASTAUGH (1900-1992)

Robert EASTAUGH , 1 son of John Henry EASTAUGH (1873- ) and Ellen STEVENSON (1871- ), was born on 20 September 1900 in Preston, Lancashire, England. 2 In 1901 he was resident in Preston, 55 Lowdnes St. He was a Nurseryman. He was a Tackler in a cotton mill. He was a Milkman. In 1911 he was resident in Rochdale, Lancashire, England, 2 Off Clay Lane, Bamford. He married Ellen Jane PROCTER on 25 November 1946 in St Hilda's Bilsborough. 3 He died in July 1992 in Preston. 4

 

Rober Eastaugh suffered from respiratory problems in his childhood and as a consequence had very little formal education. He followed his father into the mill as a tackler which was the job of keeping the machines in working order. He wasn't considered fit enough to be sent to the trenches in the first war. After the war he was struck down by the Spanish flu that killed more than the war. He was in a coma for a week but managed to fight it off. He was left with damaged areas of lung that would bleed from time to time for the rest of his life. His family then sought work for him that would avoid the pollution of the cotton

industry. He lived in Kent for a while where the dry clean air was thought to be beneficial. There he did a milk round by bicycle with kits of milk secured down either side of the front wheel. On his return he worked on farms ploughing with shire horses but doing most other tasks manually. One farm when they found out about his involvement

with the mill machinery had the confidence to install the first

mechanical milking system in the area.

 

In 1933 he and his father bought a bungalow set in an acre of land on the outskirts of the town. Whilst still working for others he built greenhouses and set up to try to make a living from the place. With his health problems it was not envisaged that he would marry but after the second war he met Ellen Jane Procter, working in similar nearby greenhouses. She was from generations of hill farmers. Her mother had died in childbirth leaving Ellen at age 7 to have to become lady of the house. Her father had to give up his farming aspirations and work for others so when it came to Ellen's education after the age of 14 he could not afford it. They married in 1946. Ellen was 20 years younger than him.

As the town grew the bungalow, greenhouses and other surrounding farm land became ear marked as the site for a new hospital. There were nearly 10 years of blight before being bought out by the Health Authority in 1972. I suppose at age 72 it was time for him to think about retirement but the loss of what he had created was hurtful.

 

Ellen Jane PROCTER 1 was born on 26 April 1920 in Goosnargh, Lancashire, England. 5 She was baptised on 6 June 1920 in St James Whitechapel. She died in September 2004 in Preston. 6 She and Robert EASTAUGH had the following children:

 

John EASTAUGH

Mary EASTAUGH

Sources

21900 Oct-Nov-Dec Preston 8e 541.
31946 Oct-Nov-Dec garstang 10c 635.
4Jul 1992 Preston and South Ribble 40 1487.
51920 Apr-May-Jun Preston 8e 1159.
6Sep 2004 Preston and South Ribble A56C 135.