James Bottomley was born in 1819 in Southowram, Halifax. In the late summer of 1843 he married Elizabeth Shilitoe who was born in Brighouse in 1825.  By 1851 James and Elizabeth (their name being spelt Bottomly on the census sheet) lived at Park Street which is between  Hipperholme and Brighouse.  James was working as a Wollen Spinner and at this time they had four children.   
Rachel  b.1843     William  b.1845     Thomas  b.1847    Mary  b.1849

I was unable to find any trace of the family in the 1861 census but by 1871 they were living in Brookfoot, Brighouse and James was working in the chemical industry.  By this time they had six of their nine children living at home.  They were Thomas and his wife Jane,
Lydia b.1851,  Emily b.1856.  John R b.1867,  Elizabeth b.1859  and  Lucy Jane b.1865.
 Nancy Bennett (nee Shillitoe) the mother of James’ wife Elizabeth was also living with them, her husband Abel Bennett having died in 1870

Thomas married Jane Spencer at the Halifax Parish Church on 20th February 1871.  A witness to the marriage was John Shillitoe,  possibly Tom’s uncle.  By 1881 they lived at 7 Albion Place which is on the A644 between Hipperholme and Brighouse.  Tom was a silk dresser and he and Jane had nine children.   Eliza b.1872         Benjamin b.1874     Ellen b.1876     Samuel b.1879       Ann b.1882    Emma b.1884      Edith  b.1886     Martha b.1887    Thomas H b.1889.
Jane died in 1889 aged 38 possibly in childbirth. 

In 1901 Ann, Edith, Emma, Martha, and Thomas H. were living at 21 Beech Hill Terrace, Halifax (which has dissappeared in a redevelopment plan)  with their sister Eliza and her husband James Holt.  James was a French Polisher who lived at Clarence Street, Halifax at the time of their marrige.  His father, William Holt was a Chair Maker. There is no trace of Benjamin Bottomley at this time. Is it possible he was doing military service? (boar War 1899 - 1909

In 1896 Ellen married Hartley Ogden a farmer at Clifton near Brighouse. In 1905 Ann married Wilfred Cragg who was a baker and they lived at 1A Oates Street, Brighouse. In 1906 Emma married James Percy Cragg who was a compositer and they also lived at 1A Oates Street. In 1909 Martha married Harry Kershaw who was a Stone Dresser. They lived at 142 Hill Crest, Brighouse and in 1911 Edith married Arnold Blackburn who was a Quarry Worker.

On 14th September 1904 Benjamin Bottomley married Alice Stott at St Stephens Church Copley.  They were both 31 years old.  Benjamin is described as a Labourer and his father Thomas (deceased) a Silk Dresser.  Benjamin was living in Lightcliffe and Alice was living in Copley.  It is interesting to note that one of the witnesses to their marriage was Natalia Greenwood.  Natalia was an elder sister of Lucy Ellen Greenwood, the mother of Doris Schofield who became Benjamin’s daughter-in-law when she married Hubert the son of Benjamin and Alice.  Benjamin and Alice had three sons.
Selwyn  b.1905.    Cyril  b.21.o8.1907.   Hubert  b.10.10.1909
 I could find no further record of Cyril other than a death of a very young Cyril Bottomley in the Spring of 1908.

Hubert was a Moquet Weaver at J Holdsworth & Sons, Shaw Lodge Mills, Halifax. He was a valued employee and became a qualified instructor in the Weaving Department.  Moquet is a very hard wearing upholstery fabric which can be very decorative and used to cover domestic furniture but in the 20th century was widely used to upholster seats on trains and buses.
Hubert was a keen footballer and played on the Holdsworth Team.
He is fourth from the left in the standing row.

The silver medal on the right was presented to Hubert in 1933. He played Left Wing on the Hodsworth football team when they won the cup in the Halifax Workshop Competition.
Hubert married Doris May Schofield at St. Stephen's Church, Copley on 8th June 1935.  They lived at 72 Gibraltar Avenue, Halifax all their married life and had two sons.