Highley / Highly, Cinderford ? (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, February 17, 2019, 23:10 (2098 days ago) @ Avalon

Hi Avolon, welcome to the forum.
I'm from Cinderford but don't recall ever seeing or reading the HIGHLEY / HIGHLY surname before, altho' BUTT and RUCK are less rare as far as I recall.

Have you searched this site's Parish Records database ?. (See dropdown menu under "Resources" in main toolbar).

There are actually abt 200 HIGHLEY PRs, the vast majority are western Forest especially Monmouth area.
Always worth searching this forum for prior threads, but in this case only a few mention the HIGHLEY name, and they seem to all be Monmouth area.
eg see https://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=8938

I can only see one Mark, he's also the only one in Cinderford, think he's yours;

Record_ID: 66360
Entry_Number: 309
Year: 1918
Month: May
Day: 2
Surname: HIGHLY
Forenames: Mark
Residence: Valley R[oa]d Cinderford
Age_at_death: 71
Officiating_Minister: F W Baldwin
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/15
Page_No: 39
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex: H240

(So born abt 1847).

https://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/parish-records-search

Searching FreeBMD, to my surprise there are only seven ! results for the whole UK, 1837 until now !!. All bar one are in Halifax West Yorkshire, so gives a suggestion the HIGHLEY surname may originate there ?? (lots coal mining there so quite possibly a link if true).

This is the only local hit, but is he your Mark, did he marry again late in life, or is it a son ??;

Surname First name(s) Mother/Spouse/Age District Vol Page
Marriages Dec 1912 (>99%)
Brown Mary Highley Westbury S 6a 633
HIGHLEY Mark Brown Westbury S. 6a 633

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

Using GlosBMD searching Mark Highley in 1912 can confirm;

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
HIGHLEY Mark BROWN Mary Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1912 15 173
HIGHLEY Mark BRADLEY Mary Forest of Dean Westbury-on-Severn (FoD) Register Office 1912 15 173

http://ww3.gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/SimpleSearch.aspx

So that's a good reason we didn't find this in the Church aka Parish Records, as was at the local Registry Office.
This record shows that this was the bride's second marriage, her maiden name at birth was Mary BRADLEY, her first husband was a BROWN.

Re-searching FreeBMD and then the FoD PRs show a great many more records for Mary Highleys thro the decades. Again mostly are in Halifax area, but this one looks like maybe our lady.

Record_ID: 67120
Entry_Number: 1068
Year: 1929
Month: Sep
Day: 4
Surname: HIGHLEY
Forenames: Mary
Residence: St John`s Square Cinderford
Age_at_death: 69
Officiating_Minister: A M Parr Curate
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/15
Page_No: 134
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex: H240

(So born abt 1860.)

Note the same Register Reference as for Mark's burial earlier, suggesting this maybe an actual Plot number in the graveyard.

Once again can search for her earlier marriage to a BRADLEY;

FreeBMD;
Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
Marriages Jun 1893 (>99%)
Bradley Mary Westbury S. 6a 461
Brown Job Westbury S. 6a 461
Carter Albert Westbury S. 6a 461
Wintle Mary Jane Westbury S. 6a 461

GlosBMD confirms it's our specific area (W-o-S District covers all the eastern half of the Forest);

Marriage Details
Groom Surname Groom Forename Bride Surname Bride Forename District Parish Building Year Register Entry
BROWN Job BRADLEY Mary Forest of Dean Cinderford St John the Evangelist 1893 2 491

FoD PRs give detail;

Record_ID: 32992
Entry_Number: 491
Year: 1893
Month: Apr
Day: 9
Grooms_Surname: BROWN
Grooms_Forenames: Job
Grooms_Age: 36
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation: Labourer
Grooms_Residence: Cinderford
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: Brown
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: James
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Labourer
Brides_Surname: BRADLEY
Brides_Forenames: Mary
Brides_Age: 33
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation: [not stated]
Brides_Residence: Cinderford
Brides_Fathers_Surname: Bradley
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: John
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Labourer
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: Both sign
Witness_1: W. Bradley
Witness_2: Alice Brown
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: W[illia]m Lynes Vicar
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/5
Page_Number: 246
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex_Groom: B650
Soundex_Bride: B634

So Mary Bradley now Brown was born abt 1860, which perfectly matches the earlier Burial record, and she's "from" the Cinderford area like Mark.

Cannot find her Baptism in the PRs, but this seems to be her, again from FreeBMD & then GlosBMS confirming her mother's maiden name;

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page
Births Jun 1860 (>99%)
BRADLEY Mary Westbury on S 6a 177

Birth Details
Child Surname Child Forename Mother's Former Name Year District Office Register Entry
BRADLEY Mary REECE 1860 Forest of Dean Westbury on Severn, Newnham 20 281

-----

Husband Job Brown died in 1911, so a good fit for her second marriage to Mark Highley in late 1912.

Record_ID: 65892
Entry_Number: 1440
Year: 1911
Month: Jul
Day: 5
Surname: BROWN
Forenames: Job
Residence: St. Johns Tump Cinderford
Age_at_death: 54 years
Officiating_Minister: G. Watson Curate
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P85/1 IN 1/14
Page_No: 181
Parish_Chapel: Cinderford St John
Soundex: B650

Record_ID: 403834
Entry_Number: 716
Year: 1857
Month: May
Day: 2
Parents_Surname: BROWN
Child_Forenames: Job
Fathers_Forenames: James
Mothers_Forenames: Catherine
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Newnham
Occupation: Labourer
Officiating_Minister: E C Brice
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P228 IN 1/9
Page_Number: 90
Parish_Chapel: Newnham
Soundex: B650

---------

Least that's one theory re Mark Highley's later life, but it needs to be compared with the census info to see if I've got it right.
That would also prove, or not, if Mark was a miner. I've searched this site's Freeminer database but no luck there.

Wotyereckon Avalon ?

atb J