Tanneries take the raw waste hides of cattle, horses or other animals and treat them to make leather which was greatly in demand at the time ( no plastics ).  

 

The actual tanning process as carried out in Cheshire in the 19th century used the bark of oak trees as a source of tannin. During the tanning process the collagen protein of the raw animal skin undergoes a chemical change that results in a much more stable product which could be used for clothing, boots, riding saddles and bridles etc. Prior to that the skins are cleaned up i.e. fat and hair removed by other chemical processes which are usually rather odoriferous. The whole process is quite lengthy and requires good process control to produce a good product.

 

Wincham and Lostock Gralam are about 5 km outside Knutsford and very close to Northwich where rock salt mining had been carried out since 1670.  In the 1851 census there are many rock salt miners recorded in Wincham as well a number of agricultural workers. 

This is the description of the area around Northwich in the 1839 Pigot's Directory:

 

Northwich is a large and ancient market town situated on the conflux of the river Dane with the Weaver, and is one of the graet thoroughfares between Liverpool and London, and between Manchester and Wales via Chester.... A well endowed grammar school and a national school impart instruction to a great number of children. The salt trade is conducted here to an immense extent; indeed the neighbourhood of Northwich may be considered the concentration of this peculiar branch of manufacture. It is estimated that upwards of 100,000 tons from the brine springs are sent down the Weaver annually for exportation. The salt from the rock mines ( the principal ones being at Wincham, though not so much in demand as that from the springs, give, nevertheless, employment to a great number of hands and are wonderful subterranean curiosities.  

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Witton-cum-Twambrooks is an outer suburb of Northwich.

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Some time before Elizabeth's birth in 1839 Edmund and Mary Ann left Lostock Graham and the tanning industry and moved initially to Tipton in Staffordshire. No doubt this was precipitated by Edmund's bankruptcy. However it was probably a good move for the future of their sons who were coming into their teenage years and were thus given the opportunity to be trained and employed in alternative trades and so relocated to where such opportunities existed. Working in the salt mines of Wincham probably didn't appeal. 

 

At the 1841 census the Johnson family had moved to Tipton, Staffordshire where the father Edmund is found working as a labourer. The eldest son Thomas was 14 years old. Tipton was in the middle of a busy industrial area including a large ironworks and associated coal mining but close to Birmingham. Not long after they moved again to Stourport in the parish of Kidderminster where the younger Edmund was born in 1843.

 

At the 1851 UK census there is record of 3 of the Johnson family living in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, all born in Wincham Cheshire -

. . . . James . . . 19, carpenter’s apprentice

. . . . Henry . . . 18,  printer’s apprentice

. . . . Charles . . 15, wharfinger’s writing clerk.

 

Henry and James migrated to Australia - Henry in 1856 and James in 1857 - where they found employment using their skills in printing and carpentry respectively . James married Emily before migrating and Henry married Matilda Smith in Australia in 1857.  Their stories are detailed on the "Johnsons in Australia" page.

 

Charles later joined the rest of the family on the Isle of Man where he initially worked as a clerk at the Castle Hill brewery; later he and Walter worked as coal and salt merchants.