Hedley, Ann

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Ann Hedley (nee Ann Ridley) was the wife of John Hedley the farmer of Rawfoot and lived in 5 Percy Terrace as a widow, with her two spinster daughters. She was born in Warton, Rothbury and baptised on 26 February 1837. Her parents were John Ridley, an agricultural labourer and Ann Ridley and when she was four years old, they were living at Fairnley. She was already working as a general servant in 1851. She was employed by William and Elizabeth Miller in Little Tosson not far from Fairnley. William was only an agricultural labourer, and it may surprising that he could employ someone, but the census shows that they had four children under the age of six - and three of these aged three or under. In 1861 she had found employment as a housekeeper at Dalton, Hexhamshire looking after John Milburn, a shoemaker and his employee James Blake. On 5 December 1867 she married John Hedley in Bellingham. They had four children – Mary Jane Hedley (born 1868), Catherine Hedley (1870), John Hedley (1873) and Elizabeth A Hedley (1877), John junior died suddenly in 1899 whilst Elizabeth married Michael Walton, the other two girls remained unmarried. Her husband, John Hedley died on 15 May 1903, leaving an estate worth £4,665 7s. She and her single daughters moved into 5 Percy Terrace. Ann(ie) Hedley died in Bellingham, aged 78 in the second quarter of 1915.