My examination begins with the BRIER families of Huddersfield and surrounding districts. The spelling of the name is very fluid in this area, but only rarely uses a "y" (as in BRYER). Instead, the variants noted, and used sometimes within a single family, are BREAR, BREARS, BRERE, and BRIER. BRAYER has also been noted, in the 1851 census, and one or two instances also of BRIAR, but by far the commonest spelling is BRIER or BREAR. I also suspect that the name BREARE was at one time pronounced
BREER-EE, since I have found usage of the variant BREARY within a family which otherwise spelled the name BREARE.
In Dr. George Redmond's fascinating booklet in the Yorkshire Surnames Series,
Huddersfield and District (ISBN 095085266X) none of the BRIER variants appears, because it is not a name indigenous to the area - in fact probably not indigenous to Yorkshire at all. It is most likely that most of the BRIER families came to Yorkshire at the start of the Industrial Revolution, to take advantage of employment in the mills; from whence, however, is yet to be discovered. There were a number of BREAR/BREARE/BREARA families already in Yorkshire, however, and the earliest date I have so far discovered is 1546, when Cuthberth BREARE married Elizabeth Midgely in Halifax.
The principle work opportunities in the Huddersfield area involved either the manufacture of cloth - wool, cotton, or silk - or masonry. There are strong themes of weaving and stonemasonry in the BRIER family. All the sons of a family would follow their father as stonemasons, and on a different branch all the children became weavers, bobbin winders, tenters, fancy cloth manufacturers, and so on.
George BRIER, who began as a Fancy Weaver, eventually had his own cloth manufactory, and employed upwards of 40 people.
One BRIER who stands out from the crowd is the intriguingly named
Peaker BRIER/BREARES (he used several spellings), who lived, and died in Kirkheaton, a small township on the eastern outskirts of Huddersfield. He was a tailor, and lived for much of his 74 years at
Boyfe Hall Kirkheaton. He was born around 1787, but not in Kirkheaton, and it was only when I found his entry in the 1851 census that I was able to unravel the mystery of his origins, and his unusual forename. In 1871 he died and was buried in Kirkheaton Churchyard, and a memorial stone can still be seen.
You can begin your journey through the BRIER families of Huddersfield by consulting the
boxchart.
Further information about Kirkheaton can be found at these websites:
Huddersfield and District FHS website
Genuki Yorkshire section, Kirkheaton information
