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William Johnson CLEGG (1827-1895) Solicitor and Family Friend
WILLIAM JOHNSON CLEGG 1827-1895 Solicitor and Family Friend
The notes are intended to investigate the connection between William Johnson CLEGG and two very young sisters from a humble background. The conclusion is that the friendship between the CLEGG family and Elizabeth and Harriet EDGOOSE somehow grew out of the professional relationship between the COCKERs and their solicitor John Charles CLEGG, son of William Johnson CLEGG.
(1) HARRIET EDGOOSE (1858-1916)
The younger of the two sisters, Harriet EDGOOSE, was born on 14 November 1858, daughter of Joel EDGOOSE (1804-1883) and his wife Mary nee JONES (Circa 1814-1888). In her own words she "was the child of a poor home. A few acers (sic) of landndnd, a cow and a few sheep, were all the earthly goods my Father and Mother had when I came the eleventh child in their family, nine were living and I made ten, and ten we remained till I was nine years old". When she was about seventeen she felt that she could help her ageing parents most by leaving home, and she took a job as a housekeeper, sending home what little money she earned (Letter dated 11 February 1905).
In the early summer of 1879 she took a similar job at Hathersage in Derbyshire. There she met her employer's son John Armstrong COCKER, a 27 year old Hathersage merchant, and began a romantic courtship which was not to end in marriage for another four years. They married at Hathersage Parish Church on 5 December 1883. John Armstrong COCKER's parents, Joseph Robert and Margaret COCKER, were witnesses.
Harriet's happiness was, however, shortlived. According to a tombstone in Hathersage Churchyard John Armstrong COCKER of Belle-Vue, Hathersage, the beloved husband of Harriet COCKER and only son of Joseph ROBERT and Margaret COCKER, died on 14 December 1887. He was born on 15 November 1851. In his will made on 14 November 1887 he referred to his friend John Charles CLEGG (1850-1937) the Sheffield solicitor. John Charles CLEGG, later Sir Charles, was the son of William Johnson CLEGG.
In the letter referred to above, Harriet describes how she was tenderly watched over by her husband's half cousin, the wife of the Reverend John JULIAN of Hymnology House, and by her Solicitor John Charles CLEGG of Sheffield and his devoted wife during the first days and weeks of sorrow. She refers also to the fatherly care of Alderman [William Johnson] CLEGG, Mayor of Sheffield at the time.
Four years later, Harriet married the Rev. Marmaduke RIGGALL, Superintendent of the Devon and Dorset Methodist Mission, at the Wesleyan Chapel, Hathersage, on 24 November 1891. The former mayor of Sheffield, Alderman W.J. CLEGG, escorted her up the aisle of the Chapel. Witnesses were Wm. J. CLEGG and Robert W. RIGGALL.
(The Bradwell Wesleyan Circuit Monthly Greeting No. 24 December 1891)
(Marriage Certificate)
(2) ELIZABETH EDGOOSE (1852-1944)
Elizabeth, Harriet's older sister, was born at Swineshead, Lincolnshire, on 16 November 1852. According to her daughter Clara Strohmeier CLARK, her mother went to Sheffield when she was 13 years old to learn the dressmaking trade. By the time she was 18 years old in 1871 she was employed as a domestic nurse by general surgeon Herbert J. WALKER at 12 Paradise Square, Sheffield, Yorkshire.
No evidence has been found to support the contention in the Early History of Brown County South Dakota that a "Lady Terry", a member of the royal family, asked Elizabeth to come to live with her as her "ladies companion". This companionship apparently lasted until the spring of 1873.
She emigrated to the USA, landing at New York on 14 November 1873, two days before her twenty-first birthday. She lived with her sister in Chicago for 5 years before moving to Manistee, Michigan, for a further 7 years. Clara Strohmeier CLARK said that the Mayor and Mayoress of Sheffield, Mr. and Mrs. William Johnson CLEGG, saw her off when she left England in May 1889 and presented her with a manicure set in a leather case, her name embossed in gold on the lid, which was still in her possession in 1972. Whether or not they waved farewell in 1873, six years before her sister Harriet moved to Hathersage in Derbyshire, is unproven and unlikely.
See also Harriet EDGOOSE (1858-1916) and Elizabeth EDGOOSE (1852-1944)
(revised 24.04.2026)
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