Author: Wallis, James
Biography:
WALLIS, James (c. 1800-58?)
From a bibliographical point of view, the striking thing about Moses in the Ark of Bullrushes, a Sacred Drama is the place of publication: Belper, Derbyshire. The author of the well-meaning but clumsy play which appears to be his only publication was most probably the James Wallis, nail maker, who had established business in the town before 1830 after moving from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, with his young family. No birth record has been located but the Census records of 1841 and 1851 provide detail. His father’s name was also James. He gives his birth date as 1800 or 1801. Nothing is known of his education but it was probably very basic. His first marriage was to Esther Griffin at Bromsgrove on 15 May 1819. They had at least one child born there before they moved to Belper, and at least three more born in Belper. After the death of his wife Esther in 1845 Wallis married Ann (Walters) Roe (b 1815), a widow from Bromsgrove with three children, at Duffield, Derbyshire, on 29 Sept. 1845. They had one son, William. At the time of the 1851 Census the household at The Scotches, Belper, consisted of the Wallises; their three-year-old son; her three unmarried teenaged daughters and one of his married daughters, all of whom worked in the cotton factory; and his other married daughter, with a new baby. By 1861 there is no record for the parents and James Wallis Jun. (b 1830) was running the nail business and had a wife and three children; the married daughter Sarah Boardman, whose husband was a framework cotton knitter, also had three children and was still in Belper. Their father may be the James Wallis whose death was reported at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, in 1758. (findmypast.com 15 Apr. 2024; ancestry.com 15 Apr. 2024) HJ