Like any other family, the Levers family has its share of notable members, both respectable and disreputable. Here are the stories of a few of them.
Vincent Saxton Levers 1799 – 1861, Transported to Bermuda, Vincent was a double bigamist. After being arrested he was held at York Castle and tried at the Assizes. He was found guilty and sentenced to six months hard labour for the first offence and he was transported for seven years to Bermuda for the second. Whilst in Bermuda he was on board the hulk Dromedary. Conditions were appalling and he almost died of cholera. He was later transferred to the Hulk Defence in England at either Chatham or Portsmouth. He died in Nottingham Workhouse. (See a separate blog post for the full story).
William George Bingham 1869 – 1926, Mayor of Rotherham. William was a successful businessman with a provisions business and wholesalers. He lived in Rotherham, Yorkshire, (his mother was Rebecca Levers Ball, granddaughter of Vincent Saxton Levers). He was a councillor and an alderman and served as Mayor of Rotherham 1919 – 1920. Interestingly William was married to his first wife, then they divorced. He then he married a second time and was widowed. Soon afterwards he remarried his first wife.
William Levers 1881 – 1963, Father of Five Sons Serving in World War Two, William was the son of William Henry Levers and Mary Bombroffe, grandson of Vincent Levers and Eliza Richards. He was the father of five sons and three daughters, the family living in Brampton, Chesterfield.
During World War II, all five sons, served in the forces at the same time. The Derbyshire Times 21 Nov 1941 article shows photos of the five brothers. All the brothers survived the war.
Frederick Walker 1903 – 1962, Musical Genius, Fred was the son of Lucy Levers and Frederic Walker senior, and grandson of Vincent Levers and Eliza Richards. He was a talented pianist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His obituary in the Sutton in Ashfield newspaper labelled him a musical genius. He originally worked as a miner but ill health forced him to a sanitorium where he practised for hours on end. He eventually taught music and used his talent during World War II as a musician entertaining the troops with ENSA. He married but had no children.
Levers Descendants in the Nursing Profession
Interestingly, over the generations many of the Levers family descendants have entered the nursing and midwifery profession.
Dorothy Levers, born 1919 in Chesterfield was the daughter of Harry Levers and his wife Alice M. Twigg. She trained as a State Registered Nurse at the Chesterfield Infirmary, the old Workhouse, beginning training in 1938 and qualifying in November 1941. The Nursing Register states that her training was also associated with Whipps Cross Hospital, London.
After working thirteen months as a staff nurse at the Chesterfield Infirmary, Dorothy joined the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Nursing Service in 1943, serving abroad. She was one of the first party of nursing sisters to go to France, fourteen days after D-Day. She subsequently nursed in both Belgium and in Oslo, Norway.
