CRABTREE, James
James Crabtree was born at Haslingden, Lancashire on 17 February 1891, eldest son of Frederick Barnard Crabtree (1860-3 March 1929), a mechanic, and his wife Elizabeth Hannah née Heap (1861-1916), who married at St Mary and All Saints' Church, Goodshaw, Lancashire on 1 October 1882. In 1911, James was a 20-year-old apprentice mechanic, living at 39 Whalley Road, Sabden, Lancashire, with his parents, 50-year-old Frederick and 49-year-old Elizabeth with four siblings, Mary 21, Martha 18, Barnard 11 and Gilbert 8. James married at Rishton Parish Church, Blackburn, Lancashire on 16 June 1928, Alice Rhodes (born 27 June 1897), eldest daughter of the late James Rhodes. In 1939, James was a press tool fitter, living at 95 Dover Road, Ipswich with his wife Alice and as James Crabtree Rhodes, an artist in watercolour and pen & ink, and a member of the Ipswich Art Club 1936-1939 where he exhibited from 95 Dover Road, Ipswich in 1936, four works 'Flatford Mill', 'Bixley Woods', 'Molt Metal' and 'On the Stour', he also exhibited two table lots, a candlestick and a pair of bookends, in 1938 he exhibited two watercolours 'Lilac Trees' and 'Ploughed Land' and a pen drawing 'Trees and a Lane'. By 1940 he had moved away from Ipswich. He is probably the James Crabtree who died at Manchester in 1953, aged 62.