Crawshaw Family Skegness Town Council

By Angela Gooch on January 15th, 2008

Crawshaw Family History

This website is honoured to have been contacted by Mr Herbert N Crawshaw, whose grandfather helped form the first Local Board in Skegness in 1884.
Herbert was born in 1917 in Skegness and is the sole surviving son of the late Joseph Crawshaw who was four times the chairman of the Skegness Urban District Council in the years
1932 - 1933
1937 - 1938
1945 - 1946
1952 - 1953
The photo below, kindly supplied by Herbert, taken by himself in 1936, shows Councillor Joseph Crawshaw at Skegness Football Club.

Councillor J Crawshaw Chairman SUDC 1936 - inscription by Herbert N Crawshaw

Inscription on Skegness Clock Tower
Joseph Crawshaw was on the Committee when the Jubilee Clock Tower was erected in 1899, and his name is included in the inscription on the monument.
Here are links to the census reports for the Crawshaw family in Skegness:
1841 census
1851 census
1861 census
1871 census page 2
1881 census
1891 census
1901 census
Crawshaw Family Tree (research and compilation by Angela Gooch)
Crawshaw Family Tree (research by Robert John Shaw, Colin Winser Hughes, Peter Stanley Crawshaw and Herbert Noel Crawshaw.
page1 page2

The following text was compiled by Bert Crawshaw in March 2007.
Bert kindly tells us about some of his memories in Skegness:-

“Joseph Crawshaw obtained a lease on what was the triangular piece of land between Old Wainfleet Road and Wainfleet Road on which he built Cross Street - joining Old Wainfleet Road and Wainfleet Road, he also built two terraces of semi detached houses on Wainfleet Road (I think they are -or were- known as Westbourne Terrace) and on Old Wainfleet Road there was a large corrugated iron building that was used as Shepherd’s School - a private school whose headmaster was a Mr Shepherd.
Other than the large house “The Gables” at the end of the “triangle of land” which my grandparents occupied, the remainder of the land was never built on until my father built some bungalows on it in the 1930’s.
On the death of my grandmother we moved to The Gables from our house at the end of “The Yard” where all the carpenters workshops etc and timber sheds were located - this house looks out onto the railway lines; two rooms on the ground floor were retained as my father’s office and the remainder of the house was occupied by my father’s clerk - a Mr Hilsdon, I think his son was named Philip.
Subsequently a Mr Ernest Young became my father’s clerk and he occupied the house.

Going down Wainfleet Road you will see Alexandra Road on the left but about 100 yards before this on the left there is another road, pre-war and I think for some years after,was an unmade road with no exit as the house at the end is where we lived , I believe there is now a road to Alexandra Road which until is was sold after my father’s death, was occupied by workshops etc for his business.

I remember the Coast Guard Cottages on the sandhills between North Shore Road and the sea.
In the early 1930s I would go to St Matthews Church every Sunday morning with my mother after which we would walk to North Shore Golf Club to meet up with my father after his round of golf; sometimes we would walk through “The Jungle” (have a guess where this is!!).
I see Osbert House on the map - I believe this was the name of the end house pre Butlin House?
In respect of one Wainfleet Road photo I think this is at the East end of the road , on the other one I can see the corner of Alexandra Road on the left - I forget the name of the Grocers on the corner
I never remember the Old Lifeboat House, the only one I recall is the one about 200 yards from the Clock Tower on the Parade.
One of the Artistes in the 1933/35 era at Clements Theatre was Avrill Angers who died recently, she was often seen as a passenger in my brother Jim’s car!!!

In the 1924 - 1935 period (and later) we had a Housemaid her name was Cicely Alexander, her parents lived at Ingoldmells her father bred gun dogs , in school holidays and some Saturday morning I would cycle there, their house was just off the road - I am now talking about the time when there was nothing between the road and sea other than sand!
In due course Cicely married one of fathers employees, Fred Moody he died several years ago, Cicely lived on her own until three years ago and died in a retirement home about two years ago, whenever we came to Lincolnshire we always called to see her, they lived in a bungalow ” Byecroft” on the main Skeg-Wainfleet road about 1½ miles from Skegness.”

The Crawshaw Family Portrait 1937 (photo kindly sent in by Herbert Noel Crawshaw)

(Left to Right) Herbert Noel Crawshaw, age 19; four-times Mayor of Skegness Coun Joseph Crawshaw, age 55; Mary, wife of Sykes; Stanley Crawshaw, age 23; Jim Crawshaw, age 26; Edna, wife of William; Sykes Crawshaw, age 28; Mrs Sarah Crawshaw, age 57; William Crawshaw, age 30. The picture was taken in the garden of the family home, 10 Algitha Road, which is now the James Smith Partnership Solicitors Offices.