This family is different, at the present time, from the other regional families in two ways. Firstly the earliest reference to it is of a baptism rather than a wedding. The parents were JOHN TATTERSFIELD and Anne, and their seven children were all baptised in Independent (Congregational) chapels in the East of London. JOHN was a sailmaker of Cap Alley, Shadwell, presumably near the site of the present London Underground station of that name. He was mentioned as a grocer in 1777, and as a labourer at his death in September 1790.
Surviving children of JOHN and Anne included JOHN (1780-1831), who was listed as a sailmaker in Holden’s Triennial Directory of 1805 and 1808, and JAMES WARE (1787-1848), who was a fish dealer. The earliest known London baptism of a TATTERSFIELD was in 1774.
The second major difference is that no connection has yet been found between this family and Yorkshire, although it seems very probable that there was one. The search continues!
JAMES and SAMUEL were popular christian names in this family and a large number of the males were fishmongers.
One of JOHN’s grandsons, JAMES or JAMES WARE TATTERSFIELD, moved with his family to Leamington in Warwickshire in about 1843-45, where he and his sons continued as fishmongers. One of his daughters, MARION, married locally and then went with her husband to live in Broken Hill in Australia.
A son of JAMES, called HENRY, went to Dunedin, New Zealand, where he married and became a cabinet maker and builder. Some of his descendants still live in South Island, New Zealand, and, until recent years, had no knowledge of the Heckmondwike branch of the family, some of whom had gone to the Auckland area as described above.