There are many branches of the Heaton family, but few who appear to have been researched, and it is hoped that this may encourage some responses from other members of Heaton families. This small section of the Heaton family has its roots to the east of the Pennines in England. This branch of Heaton family also highlights the once famous photographic retail business of Wallace Heaton Ltd, which was pre-eminent in this trade for at least the first half of the 20th century.

Any enquiries or information should be addressed to Michael Wallace Heaton at

The most distant relation of whom we are aware was a James Heaton, who married Rose Speight in Woodkirk, near Tingley, Yorkshire, in 1749. They had eight children including a David, who was born in West Ardsley, Woodkirk, on 7.3.1761. He married Henrietta Maria Bullock in Barwick in Elmet on 13.3.1783. One of their nine children was a son, John, born on 13.5.1791. The family stayed in Barwick in Elmet for John, a wood turner, married Mary Ann Milsom there on 2nd January 1814.

The family then moved to the centre of Leeds living first in George Street where their first child Joseph was born in October 1814. They moved a few doors away to East Lane where Charles was born on 17th March 1816 and Henry on 4th January 1817. Thomas was born around 1820 - his precise birth date eludes us. The family then moved a few streets way to Kirkgate where Frederick was born on Christmas Day 1824.

By 1841, the family had moved again and were now in Sheepscar Grove. John, still a wood turner, and his wife Mary Ann had had five more children - Sarah aged 12, John aged 9, Edwin aged 7 and Joseph aged 5 and they were living at home together with Frederick. Thomas' whereabouts are unknown, but Charles (also a wood turner) had married Mary (born c. 1821) and was living round the corner in Barclay Street with a 2 year old daughter Lucy. In 1851, John and Mary Ann had also moved to Barclay Street with their four youngest children, whilst Frederick (a brush maker) was lodging elsewhere in Barclay Street.

Thomas Heaton seems to have not followed into the wood trade of his father and other siblings, but instead had gone into the shoe trade. In 1846 he married Jane Anderson at Guisborough Parish Church. She was the daughter of John Anderson, a gardener from Guisborough. After their marriage, they moved to 9 East Street, Stockton, where their four children were born.

However, this marriage was marred by catastrophe. Their first son, John Anderson, was born on 21st May 1847, but died in 1849. Frederick Wallace, the second son born on 24th February 1849, survived. The next child, Sarah Jane, was born on 28th May 1853 and died when just 2 years old as well. The fourth child, Edwin, was born on 12th March 1855 and died 3 months later. The troubles did not stop there for, on Boxing Day 1855, Thomas died of 'Angina Pectoris' - probably literally a broken heart.

One cannot imagine the grief that Jane suffered. However, she picked herself up and found a grocer and confectioner, William Walter Webster, and they were married in Stockton in 1857. Undeterred, she had had two children with him by 1861, William H Webster born probably in 1858 and Elizabeth born in the last quarter of 1859. There was a third child (James A) in 1867, when they lived at 15 Cleveland Terrace, Thornaby, but Frederick had left home by then, and there is no sign of him on the census.

The origin of the Wallace, first found in Frederick Wallace Heaton's name, remains a mystery. It is found elsewhere, for we know that one of the grandchildren of John Heaton and Mary Ann, via their son Edwin born in 1834, married to Anne and living at St. Luke's Street, Leeds, was called simply Wallace Heaton, born in 1860, but died aged 10.

Frederick was married on 10.10.1876 at St. Paul's Church, Herne Hill to Mary Elizabeth Evans (born 1851 and daughter of a James Evans, Railway Inspector). Quite how he met a lass from Herne Hill, whilst he was living in Stockton. remains a mystery. However, the family home was set up at 15 Palmerston Place, Stockton and Frederick followed his stepfather's trade as a grocer. Frederick and Mary had, it is believed, just one child - Wallace Evans Heaton. He was born on 24.10.1877 at the family home, 15 Palmerston Street, Stockton. Mary died some time before 1894 as Frederick re-married in that year Florence Ada Allison. Around the start of the 1900s, we know that Frederick and Florence owned a hotel in Leyburn, Yorkshire called The Golden Lion.

Frederick Wallace Heaton

Wallace Evans Heaton

Wallace Evans Heaton was married at St.Peters Church, Preston Park in Brighton on 24.10.1903 to Ethel May Cundy (born on 29.4.1877 at 6 High Street, South Norwood). Wallace Evans Heaton was working in a chemist shop in Brighton at the end of the 1800s, where he became very interested in photography. Presumably because his roots were still up in Yorkshire, he decided to buy a photographic business in Sheffield in 1902, Watsons of High Street. On 2.9.1904, Wallace Evans Heaton's first child, Marjorie Heaton was born. Their second child, John Wallace Heaton was born on 5.9.1907 whilst the family were living at 36 Meadow Bank Avenue, Sheffield.

In 1919, Wallace Evans Heaton decided to take his photographic business to London and opened a shop at 119 New Bond Street as Wallace Heaton Ltd. The family moved to Lawton, 50 Marryat Road, Wimbledon.

On 6th July 1935, John Wallace Heaton married Mary Eileen Short (born 4.4.1911), a daughter of Ernest Short (born 22.11.1878). After their marriage, they moved into a house which they had had built - Burnt Oak, 60 Princes Way, Wimbledon. There were four children of the marriage - Joan Elizabeth (born 25.7.1937, died 5.5.1994), Michael Wallace Heaton (born 14.1.1940), David John Wallace Heaton (born 21.2.1947), and Patricia Anne Mary (born 28.7.1949). There are three children of Michael Wallace Heaton's marriage - Richard Wallace Heaton (born 4.3.1965), Annalie (born 4.6.1967) and Iona (born 11.12.1979) - but none from David John Wallace Heaton's short marriage.

John Wallace Heaton

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