I noticed that the name Joseph Hudson showed up a lot as a witness to marriages in my family over generations back in the 1800s and realised that he must have assisted at many weddings and lots of people must have seen his signature on the wedding lines of their ancestors.

He was the parish clerk for Sheffield. Joseph Hudson and his successor John Kirk between them covered the period from 1815 to 1891 at the parish church (cathedral) and saw an immense number of baptisms, weddings and funerals, so I was interested in knowing a bit about the men behind the signatures.

Joseph Hudson (1793-1848) went to the Boys' Charity School, then was apprenticed at Roberts, Cadman, and Co. in Eyre Street (leading makers of Sheffield plate). He worked For Roberts, Cadman until 13 October 1815 when the parish clerk, Samuel Sorby, died and the Vicar offered Mr. Hudson the job on the same day. He stayed on at the church as parish clerk until he died.

Joseph died 24 August 1848. On Tuesday 22 August a special train brought day-trippers from Ashton to visit Sheffield. Some of the visitors went to the botanical gardens and some went into the parish church wanting to sing some Handel. Joseph's daughter played the organ for them to have a good old sing along, and Joseph Hudson himself was there too. He suddenly collapsed in "a fit of paralysis", was taken to his house nearby in Vicar Lane and seen by a couple of doctors. He was conscious enough to answer yes or no to questions but could not speak apart from that. He lingered on till the Thursday morning and then died.

Joseph was buried on the Sunday in the churchyard.

That information is from an article called "Death of Mr. Hudson, the Parish Clerk.-" in the Sheffield Independent of Saturday 26 August 1848.

The next parish clerk was appointed immediately, and he was John Kirk (1804-1892) who served 43 years as parish clerk. He was popular with the clergy and churchwardens who, along with some of his other pals, set up a memorial to him inside the cathedral. He was appointed sexton in 1832 and succeeded Joseph Hobson as parish clerk in 1848 then stayed on in the job until he was well into his eighties. He had spent at least 58 years working for the church including his time as a sexton.

John Kirk had also attended the Boys' Charity School.

By the 1890s, silver-haired and "one of nature's gentlemen", he was "almost as venerable in appearance" as the parish church which he "seemed a part" of. He had seen various vicars come and go, remembered key events of the history of Sheffield in the 1800s, had buried many Sheffielders in his role as sexton and seen a lot of happier ceremonies in the church as well.

He retired in 1891 and died the following year (23/1/1892) at his son-in-law’s house in Stafford Road.

The vicar, informing the congregation that John Kirk had died, said that Mr. Kirk had been present and assisted at "no less than 58,000" marriages and must have seen hundreds of thousands of baptisms.

John Kirk was buried in the General Cemetery (he had been clerk there as well, but retired from that "more than 20 years" before 1892). The funeral service was lead by the Archdeacon, and a ton of other clergy fronted up to show their respects. The bells of the parish church rang a muffled peal that evening in tribute.

Most of that information comes from “The Death of Mr. John Kirk the Parish Clerk" in the Sheffield Independent - Monday 25 January 1892 and "The Late Mr. John Kirk" in the Sheffield Independent - Friday 24 June 1892.

Incidentally, Samuel Sorby who proceeded Joseph Hudson had been clerk at the Hilltop Chapel in Attercliffe from 1795 to 1801, and then transferred to the parish church. Samuel Sorby was a weaver by trade. (“Attercliffe Old Chapel”, Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Tuesday 28 September 1909). You can find Mr. Sorby in the burial records on this site.

Hi Andrew,

Interesting information thanks for posting it.


Elaine in Ottawa.

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A big thank you to you Elaine for all of your hard work, and thanks also to the other people who work and contribute to make this site so good.

Andrew.

Very interesting! Thanks for putting that together.

Because they were often witnesses together in the marriage registers I tend to think of them as "the usual suspects".

Hugh