1826-1910

Battle of Canton

William Lowley Staniforth was born on July 5th, 1826 to William Staniforth and Amy Susanna Lowley. He was baptised at the Sheffield Parish Church on December 19th, 1826. His grandfather was a notable surgeon at the Sheffield Infirmary, also named William Staniforth (see here). His father passed away before William was ten years of age, on June 28, 1835, he was interred at the Attercliffe Chapel on July 4th of that year.

Following his father’s death, his mother took William and his siblings overseas, first settling in Munich, Bavaria, where one of his siblings, Harriett, passed away in 1842, her remains where returned to Attercliffe, with the inscription stating that she passed in Bavaria.

From here they moved to Australia, in his mother’s obituary it notes that William joined the British Army during the families time in Germany.

On April 3rd, 1855, we find a marriage record at Valparaiso, Chile (likely recorded for Navy pension records), William, marries Isabel Alice Gaze.

On August 15, 1857, the Reading Mercury gives details of William’s participation in the Battle of Canton:

Admiralty August 10 - In consideration of the successful operations against Mandarin Junks up Escape Creek and the Sawshee Channel of the Canton River on the 25th and 27th May, and also of the attack on the fort and junks fleets in Fatsham Creek on the 1st of June, as recorded in the London Gazette of the 1st Instant, the following promotions have this day taken place - To be Commenders: Lieutenant William Lowley Staniforth

Amy Susannah Staniforth, Williams Mother

We next find mention of William on January 2, 1864 in the Portsmouth Times:

Coast Guard - Commanders - Joseph Robinson to be inspecting commander of the Clifden, Galway station vice J. W. Webb; William Lowley Staniforth to Montrose

In August 1876, we find the following article published on various dates:

Admiralty, 8th August 1876

In accordance with the provisions of Her Majesty's ORder in Council of the 21st July 1876, the undermentioned Commanders of the Retired List have been allowed to assume the rank and title of Retired Captain from the dates stated against their names: William Lowley Staniforth 10th August, 1872

William and Alice appear to have had two sons whilst living in Sydney, Montague William Staniforth, born September 1860 and Sydney Mansfield Staniforth, born July 9th, 1862.

The family emigrated to the United States in the late 1800s, appearing on the 1900 US Census in Marble Falls, Texas, boarding with another family. By the time of the 1910 US Census, they have moved to North Texas, appearing in Gainesville. The family consists of Montague at the head, with his birthplace given as ‘At Sea’, his wife ‘Belle’, his son Sneed Graham Staniforth and a daughter Agnes Staniforth, William and Isabelle are also in the home as ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ with William now being 84, and Isabelle 79. William would not survive long after this, as his burial is recorded in Gainesville Texas on 12 Nov 1910.

To read the full history of the Staniforth family in Texas, (see here).