Betsy DEAKIN [née HODSON] (1861-1892)

Betsy HODSON was the second daughter of Matthew HODSON and Margaret HARTLEY. Betsy was born on 10 December 1861 in Blackburn, Lancashire¹.

In the 1881 Census, Betsy’s occupation is recorded as ‘Upholsterer’, living at 36 Corporation Street, Wigan, with her father, Matthew (a ‘Draper’s Porter), her older sister Elizabeth Alice (a ‘Factory Worker’) and younger brother John Hartley (an ‘Apprentice to a Tea Dealer’).

Betsy married William Robert DEAKIN (1862-1843) in 1885 in Wigan². William and Betsy had the following children:

1. Samuel Wesley DEAKIN, b. 1886, Wigan, d. 1956
2. John Bertram DEAKIN, b. 1887, Wigan, d. 1977
3. Mary Elizabeth DEAKIN, b. 1889, Wigan
4. William George DEAKIN, b. 1890, WIgan
5. Bessie DEAKIN, b. 1892, Wigan, d. 1973

Betsy died in 1892³ at the age of 31, following Bessie’s birth, at 9 Lethbridge Road, North Meols, near Ormskirk and is buried in Wigan Cemetery (Lower Ince) in plot A356.

Betsy’s brother John went into partnership with William R. Deakin and Samuel P. Deakin,  as Deakin & Hodson, marmalade and preserves manufacturers and yeast importers. The partnership was dissolved on 31 December 1890.