Joshua Fearnsides, a grocer, married Maria Green in the 4th quarter of 1878 in Wakefield. The 1881 census shows them living at Addingford Hill. They had two sons, William George born 10th November 1879 and Edwin Greaves born 17th June 1883 plus a daughter, Margeurite, born in 1896 who died 21st December 1903, aged 8. The family owned property on the High Street and Fearnsides Close behind it.
William George Fearnsides was a graduate of Cambridge University and became a Professor of Geology at the Sheffield University in 1913. In 1962 he gave a plot of land in Northgate known as Fearnsides Fold and on one of the bungalows is an inscription which reads, “This site was presented to the Council by William George Fearnsides, MA (Cantab) FRS Hon Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, June 1962.”
Edwin Greaves Fearnsides gained a double first in natural sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and studied medicine at the London Hospital and in Berlin, winning high distinctions and graduating as M.B, B.Ch, in 1908. Specialising in neurology, he was elected assistant physician to the Hospital for Paralysis and Epilepsy, Maida Vale. He was commissioned in the R.A.M.C. in 1916 and he published papers on neurological matters such as ‘neurosyphilis’ and ‘intracranial aneurysms’.
He died on 26th June 1919 at Four Mile Bridge, Anglesey, as a result of a boating accident.
http://www.horburyhistory.org/Fearnsides-Family/