WILLIAM MOORHOUSE was born in Bradley, Skipton, probably around 1755. He earned his living by weaving and in that area it may well have been worsted rather than cotton or linen. He had a son JOHN MOORHOUSE. who was born in 1777 in Bradley, Skipton.

JOHN MOORHOUSE, another weaver, married ALICE SCOTT probably in Skipton about 1807. Alice was about ten years younger than John born in 1787 as shown by the 1851 census. By that time, they were living in Chub Buildings, Bradley Both, Skipton.

The children of John and Alice were seven in number though not all survived to adulthood.
ALICE MOORHOUSE was born on May 13, 1808 and christened on June 26th of that year in Skipton but died young.
MASON MOORHOUSE was born on March 27, 1815, in Bradley, Skipton. By 1851 he was 37, unmarried and an earthenware dealer living at Chub Buildings, Bradley Both with his elderly parents.
WILLIAM MOORHOUSE was born around. 1816 in Skipton.
DINAH MOORHOUSE born October 27, 1817 and nothing further is known
ALICE MOORHOUSE born 1823 in Bradley. In 1851 she was unmarried, working as a wool winder and living in the family home at Chub Buildings, Bradley Both, Skipton.
THOMAS MOORHOUSE was born two years later in 1831, in Skipton. By 1851 he was 20, working as a warehouseman and living in Chub Buildings.
ANN MOORHOUSE the final child, was born 1833, in Bradley, Skipton and by 1851 was a winder at the mill.

The above WILLIAM MOORHOUSE born about 1816, was an earthenware dealer like his bother Mason.He would appear to have travelled between Skipton and Burnley with his work, possibly in partnership with his brother. He married a Burnley girl, ELLEN 1841 saw William and Ellen Moorhouse living at Calders St, Burnley. William was a potter by trade and, perhaps, was producing his own earthenware that he was selling in later years with his brother Mason Moorhouse.
John, Dinah and Alice were born by then though the census has all three as having been born in Burnley. Later census returns show that Dinah was born in Skipton and certainly that was where she was christened, at the Zion Baptist Chapel.
There was also one other resident at the address. It is difficult to tell much about this person except that they were most likely related. The first name is Moorhouse and the surname illegible thought it might be Smith or N…sth. This person was a hatter aged 25 so would have been born around 1815 and likely to have been male. Possibly a cousin, child of William’s aunt Dinah ?

By 1851 the family were living in Burnley, first at Veever St, then Market Place. John seems to have given up being a potter and has become an earthenware dealer.
By 1881 Ellen was a widow and living at 127 Accrington Road, Habergham Eaves with their two youngest children.
WILLIAM and ELLEN had six children in total. Despite what the 1841 census says, other records show that the eldest three were born in Skipton and the youngest three were born in Burnley. Many of the Moorhouse names were repeated through his children.

JOHN MOORHOUSE was the eldest, born around 1836 in Skipton. He followed his father into the china business. John married MARGARET probably around 1860.
He became a glass and china dealer and was living at 17 Market Place, Burnley by 1881. Presumably he owned a small shop in the vicinity or ran one of the market stalls on Burnley market.
John and Margaret had five children, all girls, born between 1862 and 1875. JUDITH was a domestic servant, SARAH became a dressmaker and the youngest three and ADA were classed as scholars in the 1881 census. Nothing more is known of them and unless there was a late male child born, the Moorhouse name died out in this branch..

DINAH MOORHOUSE named after her aunt, was born in Skipton on the 22nd of February 1838. She married JOHN WHITTAM of Burnley on April 18, 1862 in Bethel Chapel, Hammerton St, Burnley and produced children.

MASON MOORHOUSE was born 1842, either in Skipton or Burnley. He married ELIZABETH WORMWELL in 1862 in Burnley. By 1881, he had become a painter and was living with his wife and children at 125 Accrington Rd, Habergham Eaves, next door to his widowed mother and two younger siblings. If the Moorhouse name carried on in Burnley it was through MASON’s children. He had two boys, WILLIAM HENRY MOORHOUSEborn 1862 who became a cotton bundler and STANLEY MOORHOUSE who was born in 1876. His daughters were SARAH born 1869, MARGARET born 1872 and ELIZABETH ANN born 1879. Nothing more is known of these children, as yet

THOMAS MOORHOUSE was the youngest child of William & Ellen born after the move to Burnley, in 1854. He went on to become a cotton weaver and in 1881 was living at 127 Accrington Road, Habergham Eaves with his mother and sister ELLEN MOORHOUSE who was, at that time, a domestic servant. She was born two years after Thomas.
It would be interesting to find out whether the Moorhouse name died out in Burnley or whether it was continued through Mason’s descendants, or perhaps those of his younger brother Thomas.