Harper CROMPTON

Harper CROMPTON, the first child of Whyrill, was born 26 March 1906.
He takes his name from his great grandmother Fanny Harper of Auburn in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

On 28 February 1931 he married Florence BOOTE at Hoviley Brow Primitive Methodist Chapel. At the time of his marriage Harper was an engineering draughtsman living in Bexley Heath, Kent.

Florence was born on 23 June1906.

Right: A map locating Higher Henry Street in relationship to Thornley Street

1852info5a, sheet 2

At the time of her marriage Florence BOOTE was a typist living at 16 Higher Henry Street, just round the corner from Thornley Street. 'Harper used to visit my grandma [Maggie BOOTE, at 213 Dowson Road, Hyde,] as he was both her brother-in-law and nephew. Before the war Harper worked in Dartford, Kent for a while.' Source: Alison WARNER - Maggie BOOTE's granddaughter

Harper and Florence's children

The towns where their children were born show their movement around the country and link with his Morris dancing activities. (See below.)

Their first child, John, was born in Dartford in the third quarter of 1933

The registration district of Dartford includes the town of Bexley, where Harper lived at the time of his marriage.

In the first quarter of 1959 John married Valerie BUCKLEY.

Valerie BUCKLEY was born in the first quarter of 1936.

Harper and Florence's second child was registered as Gwynneth, but was known as Wendy.

She was registered in the third quarter of 1935 when the family lived in St Albans.
In the second quarter of 1955 she married Royston PICKLESs.

There is no obvious GRO birth record for Royston Pickles. The nearest match would be Dennis R PICKLES born in the first quarter of 1932  (GRO ref: Leeds North 9b 358).

1852info5a, sheet 3

Their second daughter, Kathleen

was born in the third quarter of 1939
and married John C Wilmot in the fourth quarter of 1965.

There is no obvious birth record for a John C WILMOT born in Leeds.

The artistic Harper CROMPTON

'[Harper] was a jig and tool draughtsman and an amateur artist. Every year he designed and printed his own linocut Christmas card.' Source: Alison WARNER - Maggie BOOTE's granddaughter Peter K. Sharpen, having found Harper on the web, wrote: I am intrigued about a picture that I found in an op-shop in Clowne, Derbyshire. It is, I believe, an original work using pen and ink measuring 14 x 14 cm of some heads. It is presently framed in a green (two sides) and gold (the other two sides) frame. The drawing was a little crinkley which was what led us to believe it was an original. It shows up, of course, in the larger black areas. It is signed Harper CROMPTON.

Harper the Morris Dancer

It is believed that Harper worked for a while at the de Havilland aircraft factory in Hatfield. This is possible because of his recorded connections with the St Albans Morris Men and because he later worked in an aircraft factory in Leeds during World War 2.

Harper danced with the St Albans Morris Men in 1935 when he was recorded as a 'de facto member of the first General Meeting'. In the reports of events and activities of 1935 he is mentioned as a member of the display team dancing in Croxley Green 15 March 1935, and there is another mention of him dancing at the Hertfordshire branch of the English Folk Dance Societies Festival in July 6 1935. They danced Black Joke (Adderbury) with two sides and also a sword dance from Earsdon; H CROMPTON was given as a member of the sword team as well as in one of the Black Joke sides. Harper attended the St Albans Morris Men AGM and Dinner on 4 April 1935, and sent his apologies for the AGM in April 1936, but there was no mention of him after that.

He appears to be on a photo of the sword team (in the St Albans Morris Men's log book), but there is too much camera shake for it to be usable.

Source: St Albans Morris Men, through Keith Ashman, The Manchester Morris Men

That there is no mentions of him after 1936 fits in perfectly with the fact that Harper was living in Halifax [source needed] by late 1936/early 1937. He had joined the Manchester Morris Men, based at Stretford.

1852info5a, sheet 4

'It is believed that Harper CROMPTON is in the white shirt dancing with the Manchester Morris Men on [12] June 1937. The occasion was an instructional of the Godley Hill Morris Dance, in the yard of the George Hotel in Tideswell [near Buxton?]. Harper was a morris man in the mid 1930s, and was involved in collecting morris dances in the area. In our club archives on the local dances, there is a typed transcript of a letter HC wrote on 9 March 1937 which says :- "Here is an account of our meeting last Sat. I am enclosing 1 copy only of the dance as I got it, because I want to get the opinion of the other men who saw it as to whether they agree with my version." Harper belonged to the St. Albans Morris Men in 1935.' Source: With thanks to: Keith Ashman Bagman (Secretary) The Manchester Morris Men

Above: An example of the morris dances collected by Harper CROMPTON - the original (or duplicated copy) of the last page of the three page description of the Godley Hill dance. Source: Keith Ashman, The Manchester Morris Men

1852info5a, sheet 5

During World War 2 Harper moved to Leeds to work in aircraft factory as a jig and tool draftsman.

From 1948 until his death in second quarter of 1983

Harper lived at 22 Oakwell Oval, Gledhough Wood Road, Leeds 8, telephone Leeds 58443. His son, John, started a business related to the aircraft industry (Source:?).

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This page was created by Richard Crompton and maintained by Chris Glass	Version A.10 Updated 07 January 2010