Michael was die seun van Michael Wortley en Ellin Morton.
1648. Op daardie stadium was die Firths prominente families in Shepley. Daar was twee afsonderlike families. Die vredeliewende Quakers was die rooikop Firths van Lane Head. Die Firths van Shepley Hall is beskryf as die swartkoppe. John Firth of Cumberworth, het Shepley Hall in 1629 gekoop en het daar gewoon tot 1682. Hierdie John Firth was koning gesinds in 1643 en hy is deur ‘n groep afgevaardigde soldate gedwing om hulle na die Kirkburtonse Parish Church pastorie te neem, waar hulle die Vicar Gámliël Whitaker inhegtenis moes neem, vir sy konings gesinde sieninge. Firth het daarin geslaag om in Box Ing Wood op die Shepley-Kirkburton lyk roete te ontsnap. Hy moes hy op 'n perd agter een van die soldate ry. Oppad Kirkburton toe het hy egter met geleentheid van die perd afgegly, skuiling in 'n aangrensende woud geneem en homself so bevry. (Morehouse, Henry James: The history and topography of the parish of Kirkburton and of the graveship of Holme, Holmfirth in the county of York. Huddersfield MDCCLXI. P. 24) Ten spyte daarvan dat hulle tot die aand toe na hom gesoek het, is Firth nie gevind nie. Die nou woedende soldate is hierna Kirkburton toe om vir Gámliël Whitaker in hegtenis te neem. Hulle het die huis en tuin deursoek, maar kon niemand anders, insluitende sy vrou Hester, vind nie. Op een of ander manier was sy vrou doodgeskiet. Die Revd. Whitaker is by Manchester in die trunk gesit waar hy ‘n maand later van hartseer en swak behandeling dood is.
Die Quakers se Lane Head Meeting House, is in 1689 van ‘n lisensie voorsien, alhoewel vergadering alreeds voor dit plaasgevind het. The oldest part of Lane Head House was constructed in the late sixteenth century and for many generations it was home to the Firth family, who became one of the first prominent Quaker dynasties in the region. Permission for a Meeting House was officially given in 1696; originally this was a temporary structure, but it was incorporated into the main building in 1709, making it contemporary with the more famous Friends’ Meeting House at High Flatts nearby. Supernatural disturbances were successively reported at Lane Head House. The Firth family were once bothered by ‘curious tappings and hammerings and ringings in the night’ which they initially believed to be tailors working late in one of the neighbouring outbuildings in preparation for Shepley Fest. One night, the cacophony became so persistent and infuriating that the patriarch of the family decided to investigate and ask whoever it was to keep the noise down. Yet a thorough search revealed no culprit and still the sound continued, leaving the family so afraid that all six slept together in a single room that night. A later occupant was alone in the house one night on St Valentin’s Day, caring for her sick infant, and, as midnight drew near, she decided to retire. Ascending the stairs with the child clutched in her arms, she was shocked to confront the hazy figure of a woman on the landing. The mother closed her eyes and ignored the apparition as she continued towards her room. Just as she closed the door, she took a glimpse back along the passage and saw the phantom fully. The ghost was that of an old, plainly dressed woman with long silver hair parted in the middle. Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she stared back, ‘sadly and sternly’. The mother resolved to keep the experience to herself, knowing that her husband would just dismiss her fears, whilst she did not want to alarm the superstitious household staff. However, a little while later one of the maids returned from an errand in Shepley village with a local tale that every year at midnight on St. Valentin’s Day, the house was haunted by the ghost of an elderly Quaker lady, who wandered the corridors in a state of distress as she attempted to find a hidden treasure. Another version claimed the woman met a untimely end in the house on that date. Phantom ladies are one of the most common apparitions in English ghost lore, and it is not surprising to find one associated with a building of thes vintage. It is also a common motif for such revenants to be guarding or searching for lost treasure in a state of distress. The explanation given for the spirit’s presence at Lane Head House, however, seems suspect. St. Valentine’s Dy held no significance for the Quakers and they were not known ofr owning ‘treasure’ – indeed, their women often spurned any form of personal decoration. It may, therefore, have been an apocryphal narrative that borrows a number of related tropes, designed to explain an existent haunting. (Roberts, Kai: Haunted Huddersfield)
(Roberts, Kai: Haunted Huddersfield)
Die Firth familie wat in 1763 in Shepley Lane Head gewoon het en wat prominente Quakers was word as ‘n belangrike familie in Shepley geag. Hulle was boere wat in die middle tot laat 1700’s ‘n groot fortuin bymekaargemaak het. Joseph III (1711-1787) ploughed with two yoke of oxen, named Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. His son, John Firth, (1752-1830) was a Maltster. The Firths became some of the biggest landowners in the Shepley area. They appear to have acquired a great deal of land during the common land enclosures of 1820. ‘n Thomas Firth (1722-1782) het ‘n besigheid in Huddersfield as ‘n drysalter (a dealer in dried and salted foods and oils) begin. Hy het blykbaar in die week in die Horse Shoe Inn in Westgate gewoon en naweke, huis toe na Lane Head gegaan. Geslagte van die Firth familie was groot en vrygewige weldoeners vir die dorp. Hulle het ook grond vir die skool, Chapel en vir ontspanning gegee. Firth Street is na hierdie familie vernoem. (Billington, David: Shepley, Believe it …… or Not!)
Kinders:
