FURLEY

I have the pleasure of having the middle name of FURLEY.

My great grandmother's maiden name was Furley,

and she married Edwin Mellor in Nottingham in 1886.

Their first son was named Edwin Furley Mellor.

His first son (my father) was named Richard Furley Mellor.

I am named Paul Furley Mellor.

My first son is called Michael Furley Mellor.

And his first son is called Max Furley Mellor.

In September 2000 my father, son Rik, and I went to Nottingham to visit some old family haunts as part of my research into my family history. Edwin Mellor had been a prominent businessman in Nottingham at the turn of the century and was the owner of a plain net and lace mill of which there were many in the city. Edwin was Mayor of Nottingham in 1912, and Sheriff of Nottingham in 1908 (but he did not catch Robin Hood).

We were able to visit all the old Mellor and Furley homes, but best of all was to find still standing part of the original Mellor mill. The photo below shows me outside the old main doorway with the still legible original sign. The factory closed in the depression of the 1930s.

My great grandmother was Anne Bertha Furley, a descendant of a line of Furleys whom I can trace back to John Furley born 1706 in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

Similarly I can trace back the Mellor line to John Mellor born 1771 of Marsden near Huddersfield in Yorkshire.