When Mary Alice Rawcliffe Rothwell married John Bass on 2 March 1882 at the Furthergate Congregational Church, she laid the foundation for a new chapter in the Rawcliffe family story — one that continued to spin its threads in Blackburn’s weaving sheds and bustling neighborhoods.
John Bass, born around 1861, shared Mary Alice’s industrious spirit, and together they raised a large family against the backdrop of cotton mills and rapidly changing times. Their first child, Aquila Bass, arrived the same year they married, in 1882. Though his life was heartbreakingly short — he passed away in 1890 — he was the forerunner of a line that would carry the Bass name into the 20th century.
The couple’s second child, Martha Bass, born around 1885, also died in infancy. Despite these early losses, the family continued to grow. Their daughter Alice (born circa 1887) and son Samuel (born around 1888) would have come of age as Blackburn navigated the final decades of the Victorian era. The family's resilience was evident as they moved from Alker Street to Cook Street, where Mary Alice lived out her final years.
The youngest children — Harry, William, and Elizabeth Bass — were born between the mid-1890s and 1899. Records indicate Harry passed away in childhood, but William and Elizabeth likely saw the dawn of modern Britain, shaped by the industrial landscape their parents had known so intimately.
Living at 18 Cook Street by 1911, Mary Alice managed a household that had endured hardship yet remained rooted in love, labor, and endurance. Her death in 1916 at that address marked the end of an era, but the Bass children and their descendants would carry her legacy forward.
Though their stories are still unfolding, the Bass family’s roots in Blackburn are planted deep in the same soil that nourished the Rawcliffes — a testament to endurance, work ethic, and the bonds of kinship.
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