The Oates ancestors came from the Bradford district in Yorkshire’s West Riding.
Arthur William Oates and Florence Flegg were married in the Parish Church of St James, Bolton, Bradford, on 12 September 1905. Arthur and Florence’s ancestors had lived in the hamlets and towns around Bradford for many generations, but with their son Jack Wilson Oates still a young infant, Arthur and Florence moved from Yorkshire’s West Riding to Western Australia. Jack later married Marjorie Jean Nye, and their descendants include the families of Lindsay William Oates, Roger John Oates, and Jeanette Margaret Harrison-Ince.
St James’ Church, Bolton, consecrated in 1877.
The Oates ancestors and related families had experienced the massive changes of the industrial revolution during the eighteen century, as Bradford rapidly changed from a dispersed rural farming district into a large manufacturing city. Canal connections to Leeds and Liverpool in 1774a, and railway connections from the middle of the nineteenth centuryb, each increased the flow of raw materials , products and people into and out of Bradford. Much information about Bradford’s interesting history can be found online (a, b).