Logo for John Robert Poulton
John Robert Poulton was a cotton handloom weaver from the Haighton district (Lancashire) who raised a large family but died at just 49 years old.
John was the younger of two sons born to John Poulton and Margaret Hodson. Both boys were baptised in St Mary's Catholic church at Fernyhalgh, Lancashire (in the Haighton district). John's older brother (baptised on 29 November 1780) gloried in the name Thomas Saturninus Poulton. John was baptised on 6 April 1785.
He married Elizabeth Green at nearby Broughton on 26 October 1807. He was a 22-year-old weaver from Haighton while she was two years younger, having originated in Myerscough, 8 miles away. Their first child was baptised Margaret in the church at Fernyhalgh on 1 August 1808. Ten more baptisms followed there over the next 22 years but the twelfth child was baptised at Broughton.
Their marriage record describes John as a weaver of Haighton. At some stage the family moved to nearby Fulwood Row where it remained for decades. This move may have occurred early in the marriage because Fulwood Row is near Fernyhalgh where most of the children were baptised. Their children were: Margaret 1808; John 1810 (who must have died before 1830); Elizabeth 1811; Helen 1814; Mary 1816; Ann 1818; Dorothy 1821; Thomas 1823; Isabella 1825; Hannah 1827; John 1830; and William 1833.
John Robert Poulton died soon after the birth of his youngest child William. He was just 49 years old. His wife Elizabeth continued on with the family weaving business and lived for another two decades.