When William Shirley was born in 1852, in Bucknall, Staffordshire, England, his father, Charles Shirley, was 33 and his mother, Alice Williamson, was 29. He had at least 2 sons with Harriet Elizabeth West. He lived in Bagnall, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom in 1861 and Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom for about 10 years.
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The Crimean War was fought between Russia and an alliance of Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey on the Crimean Peninsula. Russia had put pressure on Turkey which threatened British interests in the Middle East.
School attendance became compulsory from ages five to ten on August 2, 1880.
Art Nouveau Period (Art and Antiques).
English: habitational name from any of the places so named, such as Shirley (Warwickshire), Shirley in Millbrook (Hampshire), Shirley (Surrey), Shirley in Owston (Yorkshire), and Shirley (Derbyshire). The placenames probably derive from Old English scīr ‘bright’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’, though some may have scīr ‘district, shire’ as the initial element if they lie on a boundary; for example, the Warwickshire place lies on the Warwickshire-Worcestershire boundary. The name Shirley first appears in Ireland in the late 17th century, following the granting of lands to a Shirley family in the barony of Farney, Monaghan.
History: William Shirley (1694–1771) was born in Sussex, England, and came to MA in 1731. He rose in the colonial service, was appointed governor in 1741, and was responsible for the British capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island, in 1745.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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